Chapter 101

Now it depends on whether the box office is strong enough.

According to the Hollywood rule of thumb where a 1:3 investment-to-box-office ratio barely breaks even, Star River Pictures internally estimates that $50 million in box office revenue will suffice to break even.

The expected target is roughly $80 million, similar to the original box office in the previous life.

This would revitalize the entire Star River Entertainment in one stroke.

Otherwise, Star River Pictures burns money making films, and Star River Music burns money producing a new album for Taylor Swift.

The company has few employees up and down, but wages and daily expenses still constitute a considerable outflow.

If the box office this time falls below $60 million, the entire company will likely struggle to survive.

Generally, small production companies choose to co-invest with major studios to share the risk.

Happy Hogan had never seen a gambler like Xu Can, going all-in with his entire fortune to make a traditional-subverting action film.

This guy is simply crazy!

However, when the opening-day box office for John Wick came out,

it was Happy Hogan's turn to go mad!

"H-how much?"

"Uh, the specific number is on the screen, Mr. Hogan."

An employee under his hand pointed without hesitation at the conference room's projection screen.

According to real-time box office data derived from industry internal monitoring,

John Wick earned $45.75 million in box office on its premiere day!

In North America, it surpassed The Night at the Museum, 300, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Miami Vice, and other films released this year.

It temporarily claimed the title of the North American opening-day box office champion for 2007!

Films released in the same period, such as Disturbia, The Ice Age Twins, The Invisible Man, Next, and many other major Hollywood studio productions,

were instantly crushed into dust by the debut work of Star River Pictures, a startup production company with no name to speak of!

"Yes!! Woo-hoo!! Give-me-five, Xu!"

Happy finally jumped up excitedly; since the day the film was approved, he had been on edge until now.

Seeing the solid results come out, Happy's hanging heart finally settled back into his stomach.

The opening-day box office alone almost breaks even; every day's box office from now on is pure profit!

And it will continue to screen for another month!

Excited, Happy even planned to high-five Xu Can to celebrate, but Xu Can sat aside playing on his phone as if nothing had happened.

He, the person directly involved, showed not a single psychological fluctuation; could this be the calmness of a superior?

In reality, Xu Can had predicted this result before making the film; he was slightly surprised but not astonished.

"Don't get happy too early; The Twilight Saga is coming next week."

The vampire youth romance blockbuster produced by Summit Entertainment is about to clash head-on with John Wick.

For this work, Shi Sect Pictures invested nearly half of its funds in promotion.

Plus, this is an adaptation of a global best-selling novel, with resources flooding in to create a frenzy of hype in the early stages.

Even walking three blocks outside, Xu Can could see two giant posters of Sister Stone.

One can imagine that when the time comes, this film will inevitably have some impact on the box office of John Wick.

"Do you think we should invest in some promotion? It's still not too late to add promotion now!"

Happy quickly proposed, but Xu Can cut him off.

"Forget it; investing in this is meaningless. Without ten or twenty million dollars, it won't work at all."

Xu Can, in a suit and tie, looked exactly like John Wick in the movie.

He maintained a killer's calmness and slowly waved his hand.

"This money, if we use it to smash ads, is better spent investing in films."

"You mean Marvel's new work?"

"Correct; at that time, we will jointly produce with Marvel and will not seek other cooperation."

"No way? You're going all-in again?"

"Of course; you can't catch a wolf if you're unwilling to sacrifice a child."

"What the f***..."

Happy's good mood lasted only a few seconds before Xu Can's words left him speechless again.

The box office of John Wick hadn't even warmed up, and he wanted to invest it out again!

And it was a Marvel film!

"Spider-Man's success doesn't mean Marvel can succeed! They've sold off all their popular characters; what's left for themselves?"

In Happy's eyes, Xu Can was completely blindly confident.

A young person who just achieved some success and got carried away!

As a "veteran," he must dissuade Xu Can!

Working as COO at Marvel and helping them develop films is fine, but don't throw your entire fortune into it!

"Iron Man." Xu Can didn't even look up, speaking as if nothing were wrong.

"Huh?"

He knew Xu Can wanted to cooperate with Marvel, but what was Iron Man?

As a non-avid comic fan and a general reader who occasionally flipped through a few comic books.

Happy knew at most Spider-Man, Captain America, Lei Shen, Superman, Batman, and The Flash...

To this day, he still couldn't tell the difference between Aquaman and Namor.

He couldn't tell exactly who the X-Men were, or how many major events the Avengers had.

In North America, the vast majority of ordinary moviegoers were about the same as Happy — they didn't have a thorough grasp of American comics.

Iron Man, in the eyes of passers-by, was a complete third-tier character,

only able to show up and make token appearances in major events,

Were his personal stories even interesting?

"Xu…"

Happy still wanted to try to talk him round, but Xu Can waved his hand to interrupt spellcasting.

"Enough, Happy. I know you mean well, but I have my own plan."【】

Xu Can stopped looking at his phone, his gaze like John Wick in the movies — sharp as a blade!

"So, trust me, OK?"

"Alright, no problem, no problem…"

Happy nodded hurriedly and stopped trying to persuade him.

After all, this company was founded by Xu Can using his salary from "Spider-Man,"

and he held absolute say in the matter.

Happy bore the title of president of Starlight Pictures, but he was just an employee.

As Xu Can's agent, he was even less likely to defy his own moneybags.

Besides, Xu Can's gaze just now really gave Happy a creeping sensation on his scalp!

Xu Can was also stunned.

He hadn't meant to be fierce with Happy just now.

This agent who had followed him since his down-and-out days still resolved his worries and handled every big and small matter of the company.

He was truly very dedicated.

Xu Can might have been influenced by his roles, and in certain situations would occasionally trigger a character fusion.

Fortunately, this situation didn't affect daily life and rarely occurred, so Xu Can didn't pay it much mind.

"Looks like in the future I'll still have to act (ajbi) some positive-energy roles to balance it out — one moment a god of death, the next a clown. I really doubt my mental state later on."

Xu Can laughed at himself.

……

The opening day was a box office success, and the opening weekend naturally topped the North American box office chart.

"John Wick" raked in $120 million at the box office! Second only to last year's powerhouse fantasy blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean 2"!

"Holy crap?"

Even Xu Can was caught off guard by this result!