From his hotel room, Gilbert could see the plaza's billboards and the beautiful view of New York Bay. The weather in New York was still mild in May not too hot, pleasantly cool.
Less than two blocks away from Gilbert's hotel, several theaters were packed to the brim, crowded with enthusiastic movie fans.
People who went to midnight premieres were almost always the most loyal fans.
The combined star power of Gilbert and Tom Cruise was undeniable. This was their third film together, and naturally, it had drawn a crowd of passionate fans.
In fact, many fans joked that all the women should just step aside and let Gilbert and Tom Cruise live together — the idea sounded kind of perfect.
Zoe, a reporter for Headline Net, was mainly responsible for gathering and analyzing theater audience feedback.
She didn't have a media pass, so she had to buy a ticket to get into the theater. In recent years, as film critics' influence declined, many theaters had stopped honoring press passes altogether. Even full-time critics had to pay for their own tickets.
Of course, major outlets like The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times still had special privileges but reporters from Headline Net didn't.
As she watched, Zoe found herself thinking it was an excellent movie, all while observing the audience's reactions.
Needless to say, aside from a few casual viewers, most people who showed up for the midnight screening of The Last of Us were extremely satisfied with the film.
Still, Zoe noticed a family a father, a mother, and their child. Some of the scenes with the swarming infected were a bit too intense and had clearly frightened the child.
When the screening ended, Zoe immediately approached the family for an interview.
As expected, the mother began complaining: "I really like Gilbert's movies, and this one was great too. But why on earth is it rated PG-13?"
While comforting his frightened child, the father added, "These rating systems can't be trusted anymore. We thought we were coming to see a light movie, but it turned out to be something like this."
Zoe muttered to herself inwardly — the poster literally said sci-fi thriller, not family film. You chose to come anyway.
Still, she didn't say that aloud. What they said was material — potential for a small news highlight.
After interviewing the family, Zoe spoke with another seven or eight audience members — most of them gave overwhelmingly positive reviews. One particularly emotional viewer even left the theater in tears, deeply moved by the story.
But no one laughed at him. Many viewers who considered themselves tough couldn't help but get misty-eyed during a few key scenes.
The one thing everyone hated hearing in those moments was: "It's just a movie. What's there to be emotional about?"
Thankfully, no one said that — the audience empathized instead.
Of course, a few viewers had mixed feelings about Joel's final decision, thinking his choice was questionable. But when they put themselves in Joel's shoes, they couldn't really say he was wrong.
One large, burly fan said passionately in an interview, "If I were Joel and someone tried to hurt my Ellie, I'd go even further than he did."
Indeed, Ellie's character had been written and portrayed so well that she even overshadowed Tom Cruise's performance as Joel. Anyone who had seen the movie couldn't help but love that extraordinary little girl.
Zoe even held a small poll to see which character audiences liked most. Sure enough, Ellie was the clear favorite.
Joel came in second, and the third place went to Sarah, who had relatively little screen time.
She heard that Saoirse Ronan, the young Irish actress who played Ellie, had been personally chosen by Gilbert through auditions. Zoe couldn't help but sigh — this young actress was really on her way to success.
One thing was certain: Saoirse Ronan had become the most talked-about young actress overnight. Hopefully, she could handle this sudden surge of fame.
In fact, among online reviews, the one receiving the most praise was Saoirse Ronan.
People suddenly realized just how outstanding her acting was. This previously unknown girl instantly became a young actress on par with Emma Watson.
Of course, the Harry Potter series' popularity had a huge boost from its novels.
But Saoirse Ronan's Ellie didn't have that kind of advantage. Then again, with Gilbert and Tom Cruise involved, maybe she didn't need any.
These days, there were very few directors who could still make original screenplay films work — Gilbert seemed to be one of the few who could do it well.
Christopher Nolan once said that when a film is released in theaters, a director's work is already done.
But that statement didn't quite apply to Gilbert, because he wasn't just the director he was also the producer.
Even after drinking some tea, Gilbert didn't feel more awake. On the contrary, he started feeling drowsy. Unable to stay up any longer, he quickly washed up and went to bed.
Meanwhile, Naomi Watts received the midnight box office data. When she opened it, the results looked excellent.
"Where's that bastard?" Cameron Diaz looked around.
"Forget it, don't wake him — he's probably exhausted and already asleep," Naomi said with a smile. "When he sees tomorrow morning that the midnight box office hit 12.54 million dollars, he'll definitely be pleased."
"Indeed," Cameron Diaz nodded. "He's done it again. He always does."
After so many years, both women were used to it — Gilbert starts shooting a new film, Gilbert's film gets released, Gilbert's film becomes a hit.
It had been the same cycle for more than a decade, and everyone had grown accustomed to it.
"How's the online reputation?" Naomi Watts asked.
"IMDB hasn't posted the rating yet, but I'd estimate it won't be lower than 8.6. Most of the reviews I've seen are overwhelmingly positive."
Cameron Diaz said, "Gilbert mentioned that this movie would be perfect for a game adaptation. He wants me to talk to Warner's gaming division to see if they're interested.
If Warner doesn't want to do it, we can hand it over to Watermelon's gaming company instead."
Many IPs were well-suited for game adaptations. Recently, Warner was developing a DC-related game called Batman: Arkham City.
In addition, franchises like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and The Adventure of Jackie Chan had large creative potential and were all suitable for game development.
Gilbert had predicted that in the future, the gaming industry's revenue would surpass that of the film industry. That was why he had begun investing in and acquiring game companies early on.
But the most fitting project seemed to be Gilbert's next big idea.
Gilbert had long proposed a new concept — cinematic storytelling, the idea of making games feel like movies, where the player is both participant and audience.
However, at the moment, console and PC hardware weren't powerful enough to make that vision a reality. It would take continued hardware evolution and upgrades to achieve it.
.....
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