The broadcast of this interview program immediately produced a related effect.
On one hand, stimulated by the news of Matthew and Charlize Theron's impending engagement, major media outlets once again brought up their romance for discussion, even dragging out all their past newsworthy events and putting them back in front of the public.
Matthew's experience, in particular, was definitely inspiring, as he had been aimless and a super poor boy before he turned twenty.
So, the tabloids featured many reports similar to "Matthew Horner, the former chauffeur, becomes a life winner, about to marry an Oscar-winning actress" and "Fairytale comes true, poor boy wins the favor of a princess."
These were just hype; although Charlize Theron started her career earlier and had an Oscar for Best Actress, in terms of actual net worth, Matthew is now much wealthier than her.
The hype in newspapers and on the internet also continued to expand the influence of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," helping to attract more people to buy tickets and go to the cinema.
When a movie is in its release period, whether it's positive or negative, as long as it has buzz and can spark discussion, it can be considered a good thing.
Even a flood of negative reviews is a hundred times better than no comments at all.
The human psyche is often a strange thing; when most people or media are discussing how bad a film is, some people will instead buy tickets to go to the cinema and see just how bad the film actually is.
Some bad movie crews and distribution companies even engage in promotions like "you're not qualified to comment if you haven't seen the film," tricking some moviegoers into the cinema.
Of course, while "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" received poor critical reviews, audience reception was quite good, and its current IMDB rating of 7.4 is a mid-range score for a commercial entertainment film.
On the other hand, stimulated by the exposure of the engagement time and place, the area in front of Horner Manor in Beverly Hills became a gathering place for paparazzi and entertainment reporters, with hundreds of entertainment journalists and paparazzi swarming in, blocking the gates of Horner Manor with cameras and camcorders.
An NBC Entertainment Channel broadcast truck arrived opposite the main entrance of Horner Manor on Saturday morning, seemingly preparing early for the upcoming coverage of the engagement ceremony.
Fortunately, Horner Manor is relatively far from other residences, and Matthew had previously hired professional security personnel from a reliable security company, which could effectively prevent certain overly enthusiastic reporters from crossing the line.
In addition to security personnel, Horner Manor also employed two maids; one was introduced by Lister, and the other was found with the help of Helen Herman.
Furthermore, some maintenance work for the manor was entrusted to Lister's team.
Media attention naturally led to intensive promotional reports, which also helped maintain the film's popularity, as the relatively poor professional reviews of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" would still affect its future box office performance.
Besides publicity and hype, Matthew's side also paid special attention to the now highly influential internet.
"Hello, Bryan."
In a small park in Westwood, Bella Anderson stood by a stone table surrounded by trees, and when she saw the tall boy walking along the small building, she took two steps forward, "We meet again."
Bryan Lister glanced at her rather uncommon reddish-brown hair and said, "Miss Anderson..."
"Bella!" Bella Anderson emphasized, "Didn't I say last time we met to just call me Bella?"
Bryan Lister nodded and asked, "Do you need me for something this time?"
Bella Anderson gestured to a stone bench next to the stone table and said, "Let's sit down and talk."
Bryan Lister walked to the stone table and sat down, and after Bella Anderson also sat, he said, "Bella, please get straight to the point, I have a date soon."
"It's like this," Bella Anderson said directly,
"Now, film critics and some competitors want to suppress Matthew, deliberately giving 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' bad reviews, especially slandering Matthew and the film on the internet."
"I've read many film critics' columns," Bryan Lister said, a bit annoyed, "Those guys are just looking for trouble!"
Those who like to rant at length about commercial entertainment films being shallow, lacking depth, and not focusing on humanistic thought are simply overfed and bored.
People who endlessly disparage commercial entertainment films probably like to watch films that make them seem tasteful; if they were so tasteful, they shouldn't even watch films like "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." Since they did watch it, it proves the film has merits that attract people to finish it, otherwise, those people are perverted masochists.
The main attraction of this film was originally the chemistry between Matthew and Charlize Theron; if they don't even understand this, then their grand criticisms regarding depth and exploration of marital and social issues are completely brainless nonsense.
Actually, he admired those people; everyone on Earth already knew this was a popular entertainment film, but they could still spend such a long time, through columns, telling others it was a popular film, and even list many pieces of evidence—they truly had too much energy to spare.
Many film critics today are of very poor quality, their columns filled with unguided, irresponsible, accusatory, and abusive reviews. Such reviews, besides providing the author with a mental release, are simply meant to say that the film wasted his precious time. Indeed, the film wasted two hours of his time, and he wasted another two hours writing the review... a failure.
Watching movies is also a form of entertainment; for him, if a movie has great visual effects, it still counts as a good movie. But in some people's eyes, nothing counts as a merit except for depth and substance.
Watching movies is for entertainment, so why insist on creating depth and substance, or a profound social background? Isn't that just putting on airs?
By the way, who did Matthew offend? Those film critics gave him low scores for two consecutive movies; do they just have it in for him?
Entertainment films are entertainment films. If you don't think they're worth your appreciation, then go to Europe? After watching, you'll complain that European films only focus on the lower body.
As a commercial film, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" had everything it needed, right? Matthew, such an incredibly handsome man, paired with Charlize Theron, a top-tier beauty in Hollywood, plus smooth, tense, and exciting action scenes... isn't that enough? An entertainment film like this is already very good. What else do those film critics want?
Do they want Matthew and Charlize Theron to sit together and discuss the true meaning of life, the significance of marriage, and the mysteries of the universe?
Bryan was very sure that if that were the case, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" would suffer a terribly tragic fate.
Bella Anderson saw the thoughtful expression on Bryan's face and waited a moment before saying, "You have a lot of influence among movie fans in West Hollywood." She knew he was an absolute die-hard fan of Matthew, and her father also had significant business dealings with Matthew's side. "Bryan, rally more people to actively speak out on the internet, especially on influential movie websites like IMDB."
Bryan understood what she meant, nodded, and agreed, "No problem, leave West Hollywood to me."
"Try to mobilize as many people as possible," Bella Anderson urged again, "We can't let those haters endlessly bash Matthew."
"Don't worry," Bryan said confidently, "I can't guarantee a lot, but mobilizing a hundred people is definitely doable."
Bella Anderson stood up, "Alright, then I won't delay your date. You have my number; you can contact me if you encounter any problems."
Bryan also stood up, "I'll be going now. Goodbye, Bella."
Bella Anderson waved her hand, and after Bryan walked into the woods, she took out the recording jammer from her pocket and turned it off, then pulled out her phone to call a taxi, quickly leaving the small park, preparing to rush to Santa Monica to meet another person.
Her workload today was quite heavy; she had to personally visit several places.
According to Bella Anderson, Charlize Theron, the lead actress, the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" crew, as well as the production company Summit Entertainment and distributor Universal Pictures, were all engaged in various forms of word-of-mouth operations and marketing for the film.
After joining the industry, Bella Anderson learned that internet movie ratings, which seemed fair and just, with relatively complete rules and direct scoring by numerous users, were not as genuine as they appeared. Perhaps the ratings would gradually become more accurate over time, but during the screening period, they were influenced by many factors behind the scenes.
Internet word-of-mouth operations and marketing have also been increasingly emphasized by major Hollywood companies since this year.
Starting Saturday afternoon, the approval rating for "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" on websites like IMDB clearly began to rise.
"A rare and very exciting action film. The movie starts with a lot of suspense, like a flashback, or an interspersed film, but it's actually an action romance. The two leads have very similar temperaments, a combination of handsome man and beautiful woman!"
"'Mr. & Mrs. Smith,' Matthew Horner at his coolest meets Charlize Theron at her most beautiful, and then the two fall in love through the film. This movie actually represents a very large genre of Hollywood films, with the theme 'agents are people too,' but this one is cool, very cool, and also very funny. There's nothing to say but it's good to watch, especially the final gunfight, bango! bango! So cool!"
There were many similar reviews with scores of eight or nine, and by Sunday morning, the IMDB rating for "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" quietly returned to 7.6.
Meanwhile, Saturday's box office statistics were released.
Influenced by extensive publicity and hype, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" still had impressive Saturday box office numbers. Excluding the $8.8 million from early screenings, it increased by twenty-six percent compared to Friday, taking in another $25.2 million. Although Sunday screenings had just begun, the North American box office had already easily surpassed $50 million.
Compared to "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Danny the Dog" and "Kingdom of Heaven" continued to be completely suppressed, each taking in $2.9 million and $3.1 million respectively on Saturday.