In the West, Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox. This year that was April 3, and American high schools and colleges usually give students one or two weeks of spring break around then. Since young people are the core movie-going audience, the Easter corridor is naturally a window Hollywood prizes every year.
After two straight weeks of word-of-mouth build-up, the Easter corridor officially arrived for when harry met sally.
On March 25, 'When Harry Met Sally' went wide on 1,077 screens.
The same weekend, Universal Pictures' 'Biloxi Blues', Orion Pictures' Johnny Good and Paramount Pictures' 'A New Life' also opened, all aimed at the same youth audience.
The star of 'Biloxi Blues' happened to be Matthew Broderick, who had previously clashed with Simon, which was hardly surprising, since Broderick and Back to the Future breakout Michael J. Fox were the most popular teen heart-throbs of the year.
More importantly, unlike his last two lukewarm vehicles, Broderick's new film won unanimous critical praise. Had 'When Harry Met Sally' not burst onto the scene, 'Biloxi Blues' would have owned the Easter corridor.
Now, thanks to two weeks of buzz and the media circus around Meg Ryan's restaurant scene, 'When Harry Met Sally' towered over every rival in both reviews and column inches. Besides, it was a film people would still be quoting decades later, not some committee-built teen pic manufactured for the holiday.
From March 25 to 31, its first wide weekend, 'When Harry Met Sally' breezed to $17.81 million, leaving the pack in the dust. Second-place 'Biloxi Blues' managed only $9.13 million from 1,239 screens, while 'Johnny Be Good' and 'A New Life' were left even farther behind.
Including its earlier platform dates, the three-week total sailed past $20 million to $21.56 million.
When Daenerys Pictures had shopped 'When Harry Met Sally' the year before, almost every studio passed; only by partnering with indie Handcraft Films did they scrape together the $15 million budget.
In the subsequent distribution deal, Daenerys signed what was widely seen as a lopsided pact with Disney Company.
Although no one trumpeted the details, nothing stays secret in Hollywood, and the contract became running gossip. After Simon's windfall in stock-index futures, his recent "spree" was dismissed as the flailing of a greenhorn, a fat sheep, a nouveau-riche upstart.
Now, with the film in theatres, the town suddenly sobered up and began re-examining Simon Westeros every move.
One wide weekend and the gross had already topped $20 million; with reviews this glowing, a $100 million North America take looked not just possible but, barring a meltdown, virtually certain.
It would clearly be the first 1988 release with a realistic shot at nine figures domestic.
A hundred million sounds simple, yet it's a summit countless filmmakers chase their whole lives without reaching.
Consider: each year Hollywood releases four to five hundred pictures. In the last decade alone, the average number each year clearing $100 million domestically was fewer than five. Most that did combined the industry's top talent and massive marketing pushes; black-sheep breakouts like when harry met sally were rarities.
Yet for a kid who had barely been in town two years, the once-mythic $100 million mark now looked routine.
Last year Simon Westeros three releases took the yearly crown, cracked $100 million, and, even the "worst", earned $70 million-plus to land ninth on the chart.
Now, in the new year, a counter-genre romance everyone had written off was flirting with nine figures again.
Four films, four clean sweeps.
No one with a functioning brain could still call it luck.
"Meg Ryan is gorgeous—and that scene, haha, classic. I'm definitely buying the tape when it drops".
"..."
"Does Meg Ryan have any other movies?"
"She was Goose's wife in top gun, how could you forget? But she looked awful and kind of overacted, so it's understandable. Seems Sally suits her better".
"..."
"New York in autumn is beautiful. Toby, let's go this fall, we can stay at my aunt's place".
"..."
"Count 'Good Morning, Vietnam' and it's five for five", CAA president Michael Ovitz told Disney CEO Michael Eisner as the crowd filed out of a Burbank theatre. "Simon Westeros wanted to sign Robin back then because he knew the film would explode. I blocked it, we had our spat, and now the part's gone to Robert De Niro. I'm starting to wonder if I blew it".
Though Disney was distributing 'When Harry Met Sally', Michael Eisner could have had a print delivered with a word. Instead, he and Ovitz had slipped into a multiplex to feel the audience reaction firsthand.
Michael Eisner listened to the excited chatter of the young people around him, a thoughtful look on his face, and said, "A film with De Niro, Michael, tell me more".
"A drama called Dead Poets Society", Michael Ovitz replied. "If you're interested, I'll have a script sent over".
Michael Eisner nodded, then suddenly asked, "Michael, do you think Disney could ever buy Daenerys Pictures?"
"After 'When Harry Met Sally', every studio will be thinking the same thing," Ovitz said with a smile. "But look at the kid's net worth, he's never going to sell his company".
"Simon Westeros has undeniable talent for filmmaking, but as a studio head he's a disaster. Take 'When Harry Met Sally', if I were in his seat, I'd never have signed that contract with Disney".
Under last year's deal between Daenerys Pictures and the Disney Company, on North American grosses up to forty million dollars Daenerys owed Disney a flat six-million-dollar fee; above forty million, Disney collected an 18 percent distribution commission.
The higher 'When Harry Met Sally' climbed at the North American box-office, the more the distributor, Disney, stood to earn, normally the opposite of how these things work.
Now, even if 'When Harry Met Sally' finishes with a hundred million in North America, Disney's commission alone would be eighteen million dollars. And Disney still retains first refusal on every downstream window.
Because the two men were close friends, Ovitz knew the details.
Thinking of Simon Westeros's whirlwind moves since his sudden fortune, and ignoring box-office results, it looked like reckless improvisation.
Still, Ovitz pointed at the screen. "Michael, if Simon hadn't signed what looks like a lousy deal, would Disney have thrown its full weight behind the picture?"
Eisner paused, then shook his head. "No. And with a standard distribution pact I'd never have given it Easter week and more than a thousand prints".
Ovitz shrugged. "So do you still think the kid can't run a company? He knows Hollywood at least as well as we do, and he understands trade-offs. He paid dearly to get what he wanted. Assume 'When Harry Met Sally' finishes with a hundred million. After the exhibitors' fifty-percent cut, Disney pockets eighteen million, nice, but Daenerys walks away with thirty-two. Against a fifteen-million budget that's a handsome profit, and it's only the beginning.
The auditorium emptied; the two men rose and headed out.
Eisner turned Ovitz's words over in his mind.
True, without Simon's concessions Disney would never have pushed the picture hard.
Disney's pipeline, two months of TV spots, a thousand-screen break, and prime Easter dating, all of it put 'When Harry Met Sally' where it is today.
Strip those away and, good as the film is, a hundred-million domestic gross would have been unlikely.
Now, on a hundred-million hit, Disney's eighteen-million fee suddenly looks like the short end.
After all, with overseas, TV, and video still expanding, a hundred million North American can triple
or quadruple in total revenue, and later windows need almost no ad spend, so margins grow fatter.
Studios usually buy all rights to an indie slate up front, yet here Disney merely has first refusal; most of the upside will stay with Daenerys.
Simon traded what looked like a bad deal for a far richer payoff than most sharp operators ever see.
They slid into a car outside the theatre. As the driver headed for Disney's Burbank lot, Eisner asked, "So what do you think of the slate Simon's putting together?"
"I've read nearly every script, 'Rain Man', which I shepherded for over a year, plus 'Dead Poets Society', 'Steel Magnolias'. They'll probably be fine films, but their commercial upside is anyone's guess. In this town you never know until opening weekend, though we've already seen one surprise."
"Good Morning, Vietnam", Eisner said.
Ovitz nodded. "Right. Simon may have read the script, but he never saw the final cut, let alone Robin's huge ad-libs. Yet he still bet the movie would work and signed Robin for Dead Poets Society before Robin was a bankable lead".
"So you think every Daenerys picture will hit?"
Ovitz shrugged. "If I were you I'd chase the ones still without distributors, and keep Daenerys sweet".
Eisner smiled. "Funny, you didn't do that when you were in my chair".
"He's an ambitious Little fellow", Ovitz said. "First meeting, he talks about bringing back the studio system. That era's gone; we're bound to be rivals".