In essence, Hollywood still views Anson as a "pretty face."
Despite The Butterfly Effect outperforming Master and Commander at the box office, achieving a surprise premiere success, and Anson's first-time efforts as a producer igniting the market's excitement, the "pretty face" label remains firmly attached to him.
For this reason, Hollywood largely believes Anson still has more to prove. Walk the Line may provide him a breakthrough to superstardom, while Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is dismissed as unable to accomplish this.
Prejudice? Discrimination? Stubbornness?
Perhaps, all of the above.
In real life, pretty faces often receive an almost imperceptible harshness, imprinted in the subconscious as people look down and criticize. They have to work ten times harder to earn just a fraction of recognition.
Johnny Depp joined the ranks of superstars with just one Pirates of the Caribbean film, and Russell Crowe, with Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, was almost there. Despite their successes, Anson's Catch Me If You Can holds equal box office success but earns him no such media treatment or industry respect.
This is the dilemma all "pretty faces" face.
Only a few can set aside bias, judging calmly and rationally, and see the reality behind the fog.
Take Roger Ebert, for example.
Yet even Roger couldn't have predicted what happened next.
The fourth weekend of November 2003, North American Weekend Box Office Rankings:
1st: The Butterfly Effect, $39 million.
2nd: The Cat in the Hat, $38 million.
3rd: Gothika, $19 million.
Stunned silence, shock, amazement—
A disbelief spread, and people questioned what they were seeing. In its second weekend, The Butterfly Effect saw an unbelievably low 11% drop in box office, continuing the momentum it had generated from its release with a three-day weekend total of $39 million, holding its place at #1.
With a decent opening weekend, a second-weekend box office drop of less than 30% would be a win.
But what happened here?
Not only was it less than 30%, it was an astounding 11%.
The entire North American film market was in an uproar!
Following Elf's 20% drop earlier in the month, this was the second time a wide-release film achieved such a feat within a month; both films were from New Line Cinema.
New Line was suddenly in the spotlight.
Comparison makes everything sharper.
Take a look at Master and Commander: after an opening weekend that fell short of expectations, its second weekend saw a 39.4% drop, pulling in only $15 million.
Things did not look good. 20th Century Fox was stunned.
Master and Commander fell to fifth place, still trailing Elf, with a cumulative two-week total under $50 million. No one saw this coming.
This made The Butterfly Effect's second weekend performance all the more baffling, shocking Hollywood and the press alike.
With a record-breaking performance, The Butterfly Effect held off The Cat in the Hat by less than $1 million to retain the #1 spot.
Universal Pictures: speechless.
The Cat in the Hat, despite high hopes, suffered a critical disaster, with a media rating of just 19 and zero positive reviews.
Even setting The Butterfly Effect aside, The Cat in the Hat's $38 million opening weekend box office couldn't justify its enormous budget. It was a total flop.
Gothika fared no better, with dreadful reviews and audience ratings, unable to draw a crowd despite Halle Berry's recent Oscar win. The $19 million debut weekend was far from impressive, though with a budget of just $40 million, Warner Bros. might still break even.
The Cat in the Hat was a different story.
But did anyone care? Very few.
All eyes were on The Butterfly Effect.
The real headline wasn't the repeat #1 ranking; it was the cumulative box office.
In two weeks, The Butterfly Effect crossed $100 million.
Boom, boom, boom!
What did this mean?
The Princess Diaries, Spider-Man, Catch Me If You Can, The Butterfly Effect.
Every film Anson has released in North America has grossed over $100 million.
Years ago, Tom Cruise and Will Smith became members of the $20 million club by achieving five consecutive $100 million hits.
Now, Anson Wood has done the same.
Someone might argue, "What about Elephant?"
First, Elephant was never released widely in North America.
HBO never intended to release it widely, as theater distribution wasn't its strong suit.
Second, even if Elephant never grosses $100 million, it's irrelevant—it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
In other words, five hits in a row!
Even more importantly, The Butterfly Effect?
No one expected it to break the $100 million mark—a film made on a modest $10 million budget achieved a success as shocking as Spider-Man's $600 million.
Initially, The Butterfly Effect struggled to find a distributor.
Now, it was a goldmine in Anson's hands, bringing New Line Cinema over $30 million in net profit within just two weeks.
If Anson isn't acknowledged as a superstar after this, that would be foolish.
Even Roger Ebert was surprised. He'd expected The Butterfly Effect to perform well, but never imagined it would generate this kind of momentum.
$100 million in two weeks?
It was crazy—absolutely crazy! The Butterfly Effect overcame critical reviews to succeed, driven by Anson's star power.
This was a familiar scene.
A tidal wave spread across Hollywood.
It seemed there was no need to wait for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Walk the Line. The Butterfly Effect had already accomplished the task.
After the unexpected incident earlier this summer, the North American market responded emphatically, witnessing Anson's growing influence, propelling The Butterfly Effect to box office success.
Hollywood was stunned. No one foresaw this, but for the second consecutive year, Anson dominated the holiday season, disrupting the market and cementing his superstar status.
(End of Chapter)