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Chapter 49: Hot in Theaters
On its opening day, Pirates of the Caribbean grossed 110 million, directly breaking the domestic opening day box office record in Germany. This was thanks to the massive player base of the Pirates of the Caribbean game, as well as Unreal Entertainment's extensive promotion over the past few weeks. Most importantly, the film's quality was exceptional. The movie's special effects, in particular, earned rave reviews from audiences.
It looked like this film was going to be a huge hit. As the main investor in this film, Matthias Engel would receive the largest share of the profits. The only thing he regretted was that the film's box office performance did not count towards his Game Producer System score. If he could convert the box office into game currency, he would be ecstatic.
It's important to note that the 110 million box office was only for the domestic German market. With a simultaneous global release, international box office figures had not yet been fully tallied. The first wave of international audiences to enter theaters were mostly loyal fans of the game. For seven days, cinemas were packed daily, with audiences flocking to see Pirates of the Caribbean.
The film's popularity during these days almost dominated the trending topics across Europe. A large number of Jack Sparrow fans emerged. The male lead, Jack Richard, also found it hard to believe; he never expected the movie to be so popular. Originally, his social media account only had tens of thousands of followers, but in just a few days, his follower count skyrocketed, breaking a million in a short time.
At the same time, the appearance of this film shocked Hollywood. They never expected a project rooted in a different European market could produce such a meticulously crafted film, which utterly outshone typical Hollywood special effects, making it a rare commercial blockbuster. In its first week of release, the domestic box office reached 630 million, with a global total of 1.3 billion. And the momentum showed no signs of slowing down.
A Pirates of the Caribbean craze swept the globe, with frequent discussions about high-seas adventure and Captain Jack Sparrow. Of course, the actress who played Elizabeth, Laura Schmidt, also garnered considerable attention. This newly debuted artist, who had just graduated from university and was previously unknown, reached the pinnacle of her career directly through the film. Even Laura herself hadn't expected it.
Laura opened her social media account, and the flood of private messages from fans was overwhelming; every time she checked, it showed '99+'. Moreover, many people tried to reach her via video calls, mostly movie fans, so she had no choice but to temporarily disable her public contact features. Although her fan growth wasn't quite as fast as the male lead Richard's, the speed was still astonishing. During the film's promotion, she filmed several short videos encouraging everyone to support the movie in theaters. These videos all had thousands of likes and the comments were filled with hearts.
"I think I'm famous!" Laura still felt a bit surreal.
Maria Schmidt was even happier than Laura. Her phone had also been ringing non-stop because, due to their collaboration with Unreal Entertainment on promotional activities, Maria's company received special thanks in the credits. So, in recent days, many people had called to seek cooperation.
"You're famous, and our company is famous, haha, this is great, Laura!" The two sisters hugged each other happily.
"Maria, I still find it a bit unbelievable. A few months ago, no one paid attention to me, and now I have 800,000 followers."
"You're a big star now!"
Seeing the two of them so happy, Matthias silently glanced at his own account. Matthias Engel, 200,000 followers. These were followers he gained when he was the CEO of GG Games. Having not updated videos for a long time, his follower count had dropped significantly.
The more followers one has, the greater their commercial value. Of course, Matthias was not interested in these numbers for fame's sake. He wouldn't take on typical commercial orders or sell goods; he wasn't short on money now. When the global box office for Pirates of the Caribbean is distributed, he will receive another large sum. These earnings are only temporary; there will be various ongoing copyright fees and streaming fees which will continue to generate income. In his opinion, relying on social media accounts was actually the least efficient way for him to grow his wealth.
The box office battle of the holiday week ended almost before it began. Many people had initially been optimistic about Shadow Chasing, but it turned out to be a massive flop. The first day's box office was decent, but subsequent word-of-mouth plummeted. There was no way around it; its opponent was Pirates of the Caribbean.
The film Shadow Chasing itself lacked humor, leaned towards a slow artistic style, and its story wasn't particularly stunning. A spy plot that felt mediocre compared to the magic of the sea. In Matthias's view, a film like Mission: Impossible would have been needed to even stand a chance.
But Hans Richter didn't see it that way; he felt it was unfair. So, during the holidays, Hans constantly spoke out in the media. He appealed to everyone to give the film a chance, pressuring cinemas to schedule more screenings for Shadow Chasing, claiming they needed time for the word-of-mouth to grow.
However, the cinemas weren't buying it. They relied on the holiday season to make their annual profits; if they scheduled Shadow Chasing, the attendance rate was only half, so they naturally prioritized the sold-out Pirates of the Caribbean. Seeing the continuously declining box office, Hans couldn't sit still anymore. He started speaking out again, this time directly slandering Unreal Entertainment, accusing them of using unfair competitive tactics.
However, such statements were refuted by the moviegoers.
"Herr Richter, I suggest you actually go to the cinema and watch the competition."
"You're a developer; maybe movies aren't your lane."
" Shadow Chasing put me to sleep, but I was excited throughout Caribbean, understand?"
Hans was so heavily criticized that he directly closed his comment sections. Out of sight, out of mind. The public's eyes were sharp; if it was good, people would pay for it.
At the same time, television stations reported on the global success of the film. They stated:
" Pirates of the Caribbean, invested and distributed by Unreal Entertainment and directed by the renowned director Kevin, has recently become a global phenomenon. Its depicted world is impressive, especially in terms of special effects, marking a milestone for adventure films."
"Next is our station's interview with Carl Schmidt, CEO of Unreal Entertainment."
Being reported by major news stations made Matthias feel it was all worth it. He felt that making Carl the public face of the company was the correct decision; it drew all the focus away from him. Matthias, on the other hand, was not someone who enjoyed the spotlight. For now, he needed a quiet environment to focus on his next projects.