Made In Hollywood

The end of the world is approaching. Bruce Willis, playing the protagonist, becomes humanity's last hope. At the most critical moment, he presses the control button for the nuclear bomb. A massive explosion fills the screen, illuminating the theater. The images on the screen switch rapidly, showing the excitement of the people saved on Earth.

The film clearly uses explosions to stir emotions, and the sharp, quick cuts easily manipulate the audience's feelings.

The Earth is saved. The movie ends. Alan and Jones walk out of the theater.

"Why does this feel so familiar?" Jones asks Alan while heading toward the exit.

"Continuous rapid camera cuts, crazy explosions, cities destroyed by the blasts..." Alan picks up the conversation.

"This film feels so much like Duke's early style. Speed, Independence Day, and The Rock were all like this."

"Exactly," Jones nods in agreement. "Michael Bay is indeed the little explosion maniac. It seems he learned a lot from Duke."

"Unfortunately, what he learned is outdated—what Duke no longer uses," Alan sighs. "Duke has long moved past relying purely on sensory stimulation to attract audiences. Michael Bay is just a second-rate Duke Rosenberg. The gap between Armageddon and The Matrix is clear, and the gap between Michael Bay and Duke is even greater."

At the turn of the century, various doomsday rumors were circulating in society. Deep Impact and Armageddon emerged as timely products. However, due to different distributors, the two films received vastly different treatments. The former, backed by DreamWorks, faced suppression from major companies, while the latter, a Walt Disney production, opened in 3,127 theaters.

In his early career, Michael Bay conquered countless North American viewers with dazzling editing and insane explosions. Yet, the path he continues to tread is one where the first person gets the meat, the second person chews on bones, and those who follow might only get to sip the soup.

Armageddon is undoubtedly a culmination of Michael Bay's early work. It even pushed the genre of summer blockbusters—combining emotional explosions with other tacky elements—to a new peak.

But the situation has changed. Since the early '90s, North American audiences have been bombarded by Duke's explosion-heavy visual effects films, which significantly lowered expectations for this type of movie.

No one denies that Armageddon is a solid summer popcorn movie. But its first-day box office performance fell short of matching its $140 million production cost.

On its Friday opening, Armageddon grossed $9.66 million across 3,127 theaters.

This asteroid-impact movie barely outperformed the opening of the similarly-themed Deep Impact.

Undoubtedly, the steady box office performance of The Matrix influenced the subsequent releases of films like Armageddon.

On the opening day of the new weekend, The Matrix, which had been steadily declining, saw a rebound. Showing in 3,110 theaters, its Friday box office rose 27% from Thursday, earning $9.7 million—just ahead of Armageddon.

The rebound of Godzilla's box office also affected Armageddon. The monster film saw a 25% increase on Friday, earning $5.43 million.

Compared to The Matrix and Armageddon, Godzilla has fallen behind. This weekend's North American market is a battle between the first two films.

Online discussions and interpretations of The Matrix are heating up. At this stage, there's no need for internet water armies to guide public opinion anymore. Duke knows that the main audience for this type of film is teenagers, and the internet is most influential among this demographic.

Panny Kallis's online PR department sprang into action right after Armageddon's premiere, leaving traces of their activity across major sites and forums, including IMDb.

"Armageddon is painful to watch for the senses, brain, and anyone simply wanting a good film."

"Finding flaws in a film like Armageddon is like using a pea-shooter against an elephant. All the fatal flaws—absurd plotlines, weak character development, baffling performances, and deafening chaos—are present in abundance."

"Let me count how many reasons there are to hate Armageddon: one… two… three..."

"Armageddon feels confusing and lacks exciting plot pacing and character performance. This is largely due to aesthetic fatigue. Michael Bay is blatantly imitating young Duke Rosenberg—and doing so poorly."

On the relatively free platform of the internet, within just one day, negative commentary about Michael Bay and Armageddon spread everywhere. For traditional corporations, slow to adapt, this new virus-like method of spreading negativity caught them off guard.

Under these critical posts, many stirred-up netizens left comments. For most viewers, Michael Bay indeed seemed to be imitating Duke's early style.

"Michael Bay is just copying Duke. His movies have no originality."

"I went to see Armageddon. Yes, there were a lot of explosions, but those are techniques Duke discarded long ago. Compared to The Matrix, what garbage is Bay making?"

Walt Disney had heavily participated in last week's shooting incident coverage, with its subsidiary ABC being one of the most active. Even now, Disney's media outlets continue to milk the event, influencing many audience decisions.

Competition is everywhere in this industry, especially in the crucial summer season. While no one could criticize Disney's actions, Warner Bros. was not content to play defense.

Aside from Duke's online campaigns, Warner actively smeared Disney's major production in traditional media.

"Armageddon, though spectacular and noisy, lacks any originality. Michael Bay's techniques are all methods Duke Rosenberg abandoned long ago. Both are known for their explosions, but the difference between them is obvious..." —Time

"This is indeed a sci-fi movie. But the science in Armageddon is grounded in an absurd reality. We just want to ask, how implausible is the plot? Is there anything more ridiculous than sending ordinary oil drillers into space to drill on an asteroid?" —Los Angeles Times

Michael Bay today lags far behind Duke in every way except age. Traditional media's influence on teenagers may be diminishing, but in North America—the birthplace of the internet—the web has become indispensable to many teenagers and office workers alike.

For commercial films, Saturday's box office usually surpasses Friday's. Yet, impacted by this string of unfavorable factors, Armageddon's Saturday earnings dropped by 12.7%, bringing in $8.44 million.

Meanwhile, The Matrix continued its steady trend, with a slight increase in Saturday earnings to $10.11 million, once again surpassing Armageddon. The competition for this weekend was already leaning in The Matrix's favor.

Sunday came, and the trend became even clearer. Armageddon fell further, earning $8.11 million.

Even The Matrix followed typical market patterns, ending its weekend rebound and earning $9.21 million on Sunday.

Los Angeles Times reported, "In the just-concluded fourth weekend of May, The Matrix maintained its strong performance, grossing $29.02 million in its third weekend, surprisingly achieving a three-week streak at the top of the box office."

"Impacted by The Matrix's success, this weekend's Armageddon failed to meet Disney's expectation of $40 million, closing its first weekend with $26.21 million, ranking second at the box office."

"Ranking third is Sony-Columbia Pictures' mega-budget Godzilla. A steep drop in audience reviews caused a massive 50% decline, bringing in only $13.15 million."

"The Matrix has accumulated $211.47 million in North America, temporarily holding the year's top spot. Overseas, the film has grossed $156.99 million, pushing its global total to nearly $400 million—the highest grossing film of the year so far!"

With Monday, the traditional Memorial Day holiday in North America, most films saw minimal declines.

The Matrix earned another $8.95 million, pushing its North American total to $220.42 million. Armageddon performed steadily with $8.05 million, raising its total to $34.26 million. Godzilla added $4.95 million, bringing its North American gross to $64.82 million, with a strong chance of eventually crossing $100 million.

DreamWorks emerged as the biggest loser of the summer season so far. Deep Impact, after spending four weekends battling the combined pressure of the six major studios, failed to meet the psychological thresholds of theater owners in terms of per-theater and total gross. As a result, it became the target for forced removal from theaters by the North American Theater Alliance, with a final gross of $70.06 million.

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