Chapter 320: Break, Break, Break Record!

"*Pirates of the Caribbean 2* 60.8 million refreshes single-day box office record!"

"*Pirates of the Caribbean 2* breaks record and triggers a movie-watching craze!"

"*Pirates of the Caribbean 2* 60.8 million sets the highest opening record in North America!"

"The *Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest* released on the 9th had a box office revenue of as high as 60.8 million on its first day. This is the first movie in North American history with a single-day box office breaking 60 million. It not only broke the record before *Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith* last year, but also set the highest box office record for the first day and a single day in film history!"

When the first-day box office of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* came out, it directly shocked the entire Hollywood.

It wasn't that no one was optimistic about *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* before, but even those who were optimistic thought that *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* could reach the level of *Spider-Man 2*, which was already a remarkable achievement. More people thought *Spider-Man 2* would be the biggest winner this year, and *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* would be hard to surpass.

Unexpectedly, now the box office of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* not only surpassed *Spider-Man 2*, but also broke the record set by *Star Wars: Episode III*, raising both the premiere box office and single-day box office to over 60 million!

This is 60 million! The total box office of most Hollywood movies hasn't even reached this high!

Think about *Around the World in 80 Days*, *Catwoman*, and *King Arthur*, these three big productions of 100 million. The total box office of the first weekend didn't reach 60 million, but it was taken down by *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* in 1 day!

What he is excited about is that *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* has achieved such huge success, so Depp's box office appeal has been fully reflected. Now in America, no, the whole world loves Depp! Then when Depp goes to pick up movies in the future, he can propose super first-line treatment!

At this time, Depp's agent, Fat Jack, was both excited and regretful.

The other party opened his mouth and sighed: "The response plan is very simple. We do our own promotion, and at the same time, sing down *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* to lower its word-of-mouth. However, Will, I really can't guarantee how much effect this will have. The current *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* is hard to shake..."

For Spielberg, the idea of selling DreamWorks that had vaguely arisen before was completely dispelled. With such a profitable *Pirates of the Caribbean* series, sell a hammer!

In terms of movie quality, he considered it more refined than the previous life. And in terms of off-field factors...

Since Saturday can't go up, Sunday will definitely fall. This is unavoidable.

In the previous life, *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* was preceded by *Superman Returns*. Although this was also a money-losing product, it was much stronger than *King Arthur*. And now, the *King Arthur* before the release of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* was such a super flop, which really provided a good environment for *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*. Moreover, Wu Yuchen also fought for more opening cinemas.

An entertainment news host sighed: "All the box office losses of big productions this summer have been filled into *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*!"

Afterward, Wu Yuchen asked another important question he cared about: "How is the word-of-mouth of the movie?"

It wasn't until *I, Robot* was released that he realized these were all useless efforts...

But now, looking at it, good guy, the North American box office of this *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* has broken 100 million in 10 days. If there is a 10% share, it would be 30 million directly. What's more, the total North American box office will definitely be more than 300 million! Plus the 20 million base salary, originally Depp should have earned at least 60 million, but now he only got half.

It's only 2004 now. In many regions of the world, the Internet is actually not very mature. Wanting to do network promotion like more than ten years later is actually unrealistic. In the case of inadequate promotion, it is difficult to synchronize in some regions. Coupled with local protection and censorship in some regions...

On the other hand, the number of cinemas, which is 4,323 cinemas, the number of audiences it can carry and the box office amount it can create, the limit is about this much, unless you wait for the movie ticket price to rise later.

In the previous life, *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* broke the 1 billion box office, so he believes *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* will create a higher number!

On Sunday, the box office of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* fell quite a bit from the previous two days, 46.83 million.

What he regrets, of course, is the salary agreement signed with the production side back then. At that time, Wu Yuchen insisted on giving them cash instead of giving Depp box office share. At that time, Fat Jack compromised and agreed because he considered the risk of the sequel, and felt that the conditions Wu Yuchen gave were quite good, 30 million for the second part and 45 million for the third part.

The entire Hollywood went crazy!

"*Pirates of the Caribbean 2* plays with special effects, refreshes the first-weekend record!"

After all, the first part was pioneering. People would be amazed by this new, novel, and mysterious pirate world that emerged. But by the second part, even if you are expanding the worldview and revealing more mysterious veils, this kind of amazement will no longer exist, at most it is continuing the audience's experience.

"*Pirates of the Caribbean 2* let the audience have a more thorough audio-visual addiction. The huge octopus, the pirates who are a mixture of humans and marine life, the meticulously crafted pirate ships, etc., in the atmospheric and exciting music, highlight the charming charm! Of course, the most shocking thing is the record-breaking 169 million box office off the field!"

Will Smith was cursing quickly in his mouth at this time.

After this number came out, it made everyone in Hollywood breathe a sigh of relief. They were really afraid that *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* would become a monster against the sky, and even the law of Sunday's decline could be violated. Fortunately, this didn't happen now!

Actually, a single-day box office of 46.83 million is very high for 99.9% of movies, but the continuous single-day break of 60 million in the first two days really had too much impact on Hollywood, so that now seeing this number, I can't help but feel that it's just okay.

Even if he runs until he is tired, it's useless. The box office of this *I, Robot* is doomed to lose money, and he can only rely on DVDs to return blood. Anyway, Will Smith has thick blood, it's just a movie, it can't affect him much.

Wu Yuchen nodded after listening, without any signs of anger. In fact, the word-of-mouth of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* is destined to decline.

And the well-known forecasting agency CinemaScore also very rarely issued its box office forecast for *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* immediately after the premiere: North American first weekend 150 million US dollars, North American 500 million US dollars, global box office 1 billion US dollars!

Each of these numbers is very exaggerated. There are only a few movies that have broken 1 billion, and the first weekend of 150 million US dollars will break the record of 138 million US dollars just set by *Spider-Man 2* before, but CinemaScore just dared to shout it out!

When the box office on Saturday came out, everyone believed that this forecast would definitely come true, because the Saturday box office number was 61.28 million, raising the North American single-day box office record again!

In just two days, *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* took 122 million US dollars. At the same time, this is also the first movie in the world to cross the 100 million box office mark on the second day of release!

Spielberg also couldn't suppress his excitement and joy when interviewed:

Everyone felt that this *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* was crazy!

After finishing speaking, he also glanced at Wu Yuchen, fearing that this super director who had just set a crazy box office record would be dissatisfied with the result and get angry at him, so he immediately added a sentence: "However, we think it is because quite a few people expressed dissatisfaction with the suspense left at the end."

Before investing, he was also worried that the risk of filming the two and three parts of *Pirates of the Caribbean* together was too great. Now he just wants to continue filming a few more, preferably a ten-part series!

And this momentum of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* put a lot of pressure on *I, Robot*, which was to be released in a few days. Now North America is crazy about the milestone set by this movie, and the promotional effect of their *I, Robot* will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the overseas box office of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*, which has been released for 10 days, looks much lower than North America. But after overseas are released one after another, its box office will rise. After all, with such a big movement in North America this time, it must have been passed to the whole world.

"We were obviously frightened by this situation. Whenever you break an industry record, the word 'ecstasy' will appear in your mind! I don't know what the end point of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* will be, but the number of 169 million in 3 days is a number I couldn't imagine before! I just want to enjoy the surprise of the moment!

Yes, whether it is director Wu Yuchen, or Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Keira Knightley, they are all very great and are indispensable parts of *Pirates of the Caribbean*!"

Friday, *I, Robot* 13.11 million, *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* 23.28 million;

Saturday, *I, Robot* 15.23 million, *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* 30.15 million;

Sunday, *I, Robot* 10.22 million, *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* 22.54 million;

Undoubtedly, *I, Robot* failed to win the box office championship in its first week of release and was firmly pressed under *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*.

And at this time, *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* has been released for ten days, two weeks of box office champion, and the total North American box office has reached 315 million US dollars!

At the same time, the global total box office of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* has also reached 558 million US dollars. It is not that the overseas performance of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* is much worse than North America. The reason why the overseas box office is lower than North America is because of distribution problems.

Even if *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* is known as a global simultaneous release, there are still quite a few regions where the release is later than North America.

"Captain Jack charms the whole world!"

In the following days, Will Smith was very busy, accepting interviews from reporters, recording programs, appearing on TV, and running to the radio station as a guest at night, and then rapping two sentences to call on black brothers to support himself.

And *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*? It only increased by 480,000, not even 1%...

Decisively, Will Smith gave up struggling. At this time, he lay quietly on the bed, just wanting to be a salted fish. As for promotion? He won't run anymore. Admit defeat!

After eliminating the hidden dangers of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*, the smile on Wu Yuchen's face also began to bloom. In fact, being able to achieve such good results, he, the director, is naturally very happy, but he just wants to make sure he can do better!

On one hand, the potential of the North American market has been developed to the maximum by *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*. The audiences who can be attracted in a single day have all come, and it can only be this much at most.

However, at this time, Wu Yuchen was looking at the two very close numbers of 6080 and 6128.

Up to this point, the first weekend of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* was also released, 168.91 million US dollars, about 169 million!

The first-weekend box office record of 138 million for *Spider-Man 2* two months ago was already shocking, and now, *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* has pulled it up by 30 million on this basis!

169 million in 3 days, nearly 20 million more than the 150 million predicted by CinemaScore!

Then what can its final box office reach? 1.1 billion? 1.2 billion? Or 1.3 billion? No one dares to say!

Because of his influence, the current *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* has achieved more dazzling results than the original version.

How can this not make him feel heartache and regret? That's 30 million!

Generally speaking, if a movie is released on Friday, its Saturday box office will be higher than Friday, and this range is about 10%-20%.

"Damn it! What kind of broken schedule did you choose! Why choose a time close to *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*? Isn't last month good? Isn't next month good? Fuck!"

Will Smith said to the person in charge of Fox's promotion: "Hey, what should we do now? You have to come up with a response plan!"

Therefore, the box office now is also higher than *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* in the same period, which is reasonable.

The person in charge of promotion glanced at Will Smith. If he remembered correctly, it was this guy who easily said he wasn't afraid of anyone, and Spider-Man couldn't do anything to him. However, he wouldn't mock him now. After all, he still has to rely on this big star for promotion!

Will Smith also knew that his cursing was useless. After easing his mood for a while, he could only discuss with the other party the itinerary of temporarily increasing promotion in the next few days.

Now no one dares to say anything like *Spider-Man 2* will become the annual box office champion. No one knows what number the final box office of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* will stop at.

In fact, Wu Yuchen also knew the reason. The reason for this is probably two situations.

In Wu Yuchen's view, A- word-of-mouth is enough, and even as long as it is above B, it is acceptable, which will not affect the long-term income of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*.

So leaving suspense at the end of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* is actually a smart move, because the novel feeling of this third part will further decline, and using suspense to hang the audience to walk into the cinema is very beneficial to the box office of the last part.

The person in charge reported to him somewhat nervously:

"Director Wu, according to our survey, the word-of-mouth of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* is currently A-, which has declined compared to the first part."

"Captain Jack drives a pirate ship to set off a box office craze!"

Of course, this approach is very bold and very risky. Once the movie content is not exciting enough, it will be sprayed to death by the audience, and the third part will be finished. Fortunately, the quality of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* didn't flop and maintained a high standard.

Through the market reaction of this *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*, he also completely saw the importance of Depp to the *Pirates of the Caribbean* series. As for the ghost talk that the *Pirates of the Caribbean* series no longer uses Depp, he won't believe a word of it now.

At this time, Fat Jack had made up his mind. If Wu Yuchen and DreamWorks film *Pirates of the Caribbean 4* in the future, if they don't offer Depp a salary worth 100 million US dollars, he will definitely not let go! ===== CHAPTER 321 =====