Monday, April 20th.
Having just celebrated Easter with his family, Peter Sanders received a call and rushed to Fox Studios before eight in the morning.
Ronald Goldberg's assistant sounded very hurried on the phone, hanging up before going into detail. Peter Sanders, however, knew very well that it must be related to the second weekend box office of 'The Butterfly Effect'.
Walking into a conference room in the studio's executive building, Peter Sanders found five or six people already waiting there, mostly senior executives from the distribution and marketing department, but Ronald Goldberg had not yet appeared.
Before even sitting down at the conference table, Peter Sanders keenly caught a certain number mixed in with everyone's discussions.
...11.86 million...
11.86 million?!
Strongly feeling that he might have misheard, Peter Sanders snatched the folder handed to him by the conference secretary and opened it directly, standing in place.
The first page was the latest box office report for the past three days of the weekend.
'The Butterfly Effect', $11.86 million, -17%.
It really was $11.86 million!
Moreover, compared to the first weekend's box office of $14.31 million, the second-week drop of 'The Butterfly Effect' was far beyond everyone's expectations, only 17%.
Peter Sanders couldn't help but quickly do some mental math.
If such a trend of a 17% box office drop in the second weekend continued, it would definitely be very possible for the total North American box office to exceed $100 million.
The question now was, what exactly happened?
Peter Sanders was standing there, somewhat stunned, when Ronald Goldberg rushed in with a few people and sat directly at the head of the conference table. Seeing Peter Sanders's expression, Goldberg amiably said, "Peter, what are you standing there for? Come sit down".
Peter Sanders came back to his senses, smiled and nodded at the other party, then walked to the conference table and sat down.
The conference secretary began to distribute another document.
Ronald Goldberg waited for everyone to sit down and then said directly, "Everyone should have seen it already. That's right, $11.86 million, and the second-week box office drop is only 17%. As for what exactly happened? I had someone temporarily summarize the recent audience survey results from the company's distribution and marketing department, which can probably explain the reason. However, that's not the most important thing. The key now is how to maintain this box office trend and how to make 'The Butterfly Effect' cross the $100 million threshold".
Having been in charge of Fox Pictures for several years, the company was finally about to welcome a film with a North American box office expected to break $100 million. Ronald Goldberg's tone carried an undisguised excitement.
Peter Sanders listened as Ronald Goldberg began discussing with everyone how to quickly increase the screening scale of 'The Butterfly Effect' and adjust the film's marketing strategy, while he opened the other document he had just received, reading Fox's distribution and marketing department's analysis of the reasons for 'The Butterfly Effect's second-week box office trend, doing two things at once.
In the report summary, several sets of data from audience questionnaires for 'The Butterfly Effect' across North America were specifically highlighted.
"Audience proportion aged 18-26: 43%."
"Audience rating on a 10-point scale: 7.7."
"Proportion of audience who chose to watch due to the influence of 'Run Lola Run': 81%."
"Proportion of audience unaffected by reviews: 33%."
"Proportion of audience who believe the film received unfair media reviews: 76%."
"Proportion of audience who plan to recommend to friends after watching: 69%."
In the conference room.
Just by looking at this set of data, Peter Sanders already roughly understood why the second-week box office trend of 'The Butterfly Effect' had surprised everyone.
The survey report also clearly pointed out that, compared to the overwhelming negative media reviews, the word-of-mouth of 'The Butterfly Effect' among the audience was much higher; an audience rating of 7.7 basically already falls into the category of an excellent film.
At the same time, because the audience for 'The Butterfly Effect' tends to be younger, this group of people rarely reads newspapers on weekdays and is more inclined to choose films based on friend recommendations. Therefore, the one-sided negative media reviews had far less impact on the film's box office than Fox had estimated.
The report also speculates that due to the popularity of 'Run Lola Run', 'The Butterfly Effect' attracted a very large potential audience base. Although some viewers temporarily gave up watching due to the negative media reviews in the first week, after the film's audience word-of-mouth spread, they still chose to re-enter theatres, which also contributed significantly to the film's low 17% drop in the second weekend.
Major Hollywood film companies generally conduct similar audience surveys for their key releases. Before the second-weekend box office of 'The Butterfly Effect' was released, this data already existed.
However, the media's negative review bombardment against 'The Butterfly Effect' was simply too fierce, and no one at Fox felt much security because of this data.
Now, with the film's box office results out, it became easy to deduce the reasons from the data.
Ultimately. filmmaking is, after all, a high-risk business as unpredictable as the weather.
Peter Sanders finished reading the report, looked up, and an executive from the distribution and marketing department was expressing his views.
"Ronald, besides these, I think we can fully leverage public opinion to highlight the strong contrast between the negative media reviews and the film's box office as much as possible, making people believe that 'The Butterfly Effect' has been treated very unfairly. We can even hint that someone is deliberately discrediting this film, which would maximize audience sympathy and rebellious psychology, guiding more people into theatres".
Ronald Goldberg listened, nodded in approval, and said, "Nick, quickly put together a detailed implementation plan, and I'll have New York cooperate. So, that's it for now, everyone get back to your work. Remember, I want to see the screening screens for 'The Butterfly Effect' increase to over 1700 by this Friday".
This was originally a meeting to adjust distribution and marketing strategies. Peter Sanders was only called because of his role as the vice president of production directly responsible for 'The Butterfly Effect', and he didn't express any opinions throughout the process.
Hearing Ronald announce the end of the meeting, Peter Sanders also stood up, and as he was about to leave with the others, he was stopped by Ronald Goldberg.
"Peter, the upcoming promotion of 'The Butterfly Effect' will still require Simon Westeros's cooperation. You're responsible for contacting him about this. Also, I remember Daenerys Pictures is still preparing a romance film. Have someone re-do an evaluation report for me".
Peter Sanders nodded in agreement, and after Ronald Goldberg left, he checked his watch. It was just nine in the morning.
At the same time.
As the new work week began, the second-weekend box office data for 'The Butterfly Effect' quickly spread throughout Hollywood.
Compared to the somewhat traceable box office curve of 'Run Lola Run' back then, the second-weekend box office of 'The Butterfly Effect' surprised too many people. It wasn't until that internal Fox report gradually spread that many finally believed the fact.
First week $21.69 million, second weekend $11.85 million.
In just ten days, the total box office of 'The Butterfly Effect' had already reached $33.55 million. Without a doubt, even if it ultimately couldn't break $100 million, this film would definitely make it into the top ten of the annual box office rankings.
Thinking of this, many people suddenly realized again.
Including 'Run Lola Run', which was still in theatres, a young man who had just emerged in Hollywood less than a year ago had, unknowingly, already created two films capable of entering the top ten of the North American annual box office chart.
Even Steven Spielberg had never created such a miracle.
Realizing this, Daenerys Pictures, located in an office building in Santa Monica, suddenly once again attracted strong attention from all of Hollywood.
In Hollywood, one success might be considered an accident, but two successes are already enough to prove too much. Now, having already created two miracles, Simon Westeros's good luck might not just stop there.
Daenerys Pictures Headquarters.
It was already afternoon.
In Simon's office, a heavyweight guest had arrived: CAA President, Michael Ovitz.
Due to the internal turmoil at WMA last year, CAA took the opportunity to poach a large number of top stars. Coupled with the company's mature packaging and operation mechanism, Michael Ovitz was undoubtedly one of the most powerful people in Hollywood at this time.
However, on the other hand, Michael Ovitz was also an extremely low-key person.
In memory, it wasn't until the late 1980s, as CAA's power grew stronger, and with the media's relentless digging, that Michael Ovitz, this 'crocodile' lurking within Hollywood, finally surfaced, and repeatedly topped Premiere magazine's Hollywood Power List.
In the reception area, Simon and Ovitz sat opposite each other on the sofa.
Michael Ovitz had a natural and approachable demeanour that made people feel close to him, yet his words were direct, saying, "Simon, these days, you have already sent cooperation invitations to many of CAA's clients, including John Travolta, Robert Redford, and Meg Ryan. So, to facilitate our cooperation, how about joining CAA?"
As soon as he spoke, Simon felt the strong desire for control from this CAA mogul.
However, he just shook his head slightly and smiled, "Sorry, Michael, I already have an agent. And even if I joined CAA, I wouldn't sign a profit-sharing contract with you".
"Of course, our company is actually very flexible in this regard. Spielberg is also our client, and we signed a fixed salary contract with him," Michael Ovitz also showed a smile, and finally added, with a hint, "Just like you at WMA".
"Since that's the case," Simon shrugged and said, "Michael, you should know that I would never easily break my contract with Joe. If it weren't for him, I might still be a cashier in some supermarket right now. So, let's talk about Bob's salary".
Michael Ovitz nodded, not pursuing aggressively as rumoured, or perhaps just not showing it yet, and very directly changed the topic, saying, "Bob called me. He wants to appear in your new movie. I've read the script, and frankly, I don't think it's too good of a choice. But you know, we always try our best to meet all of our clients' requests. So, Simon, $1 million, Bob is definitely worth that price".