Chapter 363: A Very Interesting Release Window

The fact that *The Fault in Our Stars* topped the North American weekend box office, outperforming both *Rush Hour 3* and the second-week blockbuster sequel *The Bourne Ultimatum*, truly exceeded many people's expectations.

However, considering that *The Fault in Our Stars* is another film adapted from a Cao Yang novel and carries such high buzz, its appearance at the top of the charts is not entirely unacceptable.

Looking at the current box office, a massive breakout is certainly impossible; those breakout films that can easily pull in 300 to 400 million in North America—which one of them doesn't hit around 100 million in their opening three-day weekend?

According to North American box office patterns, a performance of around 50 million for the opening weekend usually sees most total box office figures stall at around 150 million.

Of course, there are exceptions, but they require exceptionally good word-of-mouth or the influence of special events.

Good word-of-mouth isn't enough; it must be exceptionally good.

For example, *The Bourne Ultimatum*, released last week, is a series that solidified Matt Damon's status as an A-lister, and its word-of-mouth has always been quite good.

*The Bourne Ultimatum* took in over 70 million dollars in its opening three-day weekend, but because its word-of-mouth didn't reach "exceptionally good," its box office for this three-day weekend was cut in half, dropping to less than 34 million dollars.

This counts as a drop within the normal range, as it didn't break the 60% threshold.

As long as word-of-mouth doesn't collapse and it doesn't drop past the 60% line, for most Hollywood films, multiplying the opening three-day box office by three gives a rough range for the total North American box office.

For instance, *Rush Hour 3* took in 50.4 million in its opening three-day weekend; if the second weekend's three-day box office doesn't drop past the 60% line, one can estimate the total box office will hover around 150 million.

The extent of the fluctuation is a reflection of word-of-mouth.

Of course, if the second-week drop is extremely low, such as not breaking the 30% line, that is a film with exceptionally good word-of-mouth, and the final box office won't be a simple multiplication of the opening three-day total by three.

Therefore, Hollywood film companies place great importance on the second-week drop.

Cao Yang was actually not surprised by the performance of *The Fault in Our Stars*, nor was it outside his expectations.

In the original trajectory, because *The Fault in Our Stars* was adapted from the bestselling novel *The Fault in Our Stars*, its opening day box office in North America reached over 26 million, with over 48 million for the opening three-day weekend.

And now, while the novel's fame might not be as great as in the original trajectory, Cao Yang's influence is huge; "Based on a novel by Cao Yang..." is not just a simple string of words.

Coupled with the "Wish Day" event organized by Columbia being in full swing, taking in 51.6 million in the opening three-day weekend is perfectly normal.

In Cao Yang's view, the power of the Wish Day event has not yet fully manifested; next week's box office might give everyone a surprise.

Cheng Long's feelings regarding the opening weekend box office of *Rush Hour 3* were, on the whole, mixed.

The happy part was that after the massive flop of *Around the World in 80 Days*, *Rush Hour 3* at least didn't crash, and the box office was passable.

The worrying part was that *Rush Hour 3* didn't sell out either; based on current word-of-mouth and box office, 150 million in North America is likely the limit.

A North American box office of around 150 million dollars looks decent, but one cannot look at box office alone; one must also look at production costs.

One must know that New Line poured 140 million in costs into *Rush Hour 3*; a North American box office of around 150 million isn't enough to look at, so they can only pin their hopes on the global box office.

But the distribution costs for overseas box office outside of North America are very high, so the share New Line can actually get is much less, generally around 30%.

That is to say, even if the overseas box office can match the North American box office, it is very difficult for New Line to recoup costs from the box office alone.

Not to mention, New Line still has to pay Cheng Long and the big black guy so much in shares.

New Line can still recoup quite a bit later from disc rentals and other areas; Cheng Long's films can usually stabilize between 50 million and 80 million, but this also requires giving the two of them a share.

After subtracting the shares, the remaining money, plus the box office revenue, will in all likelihood still fail to recoup the costs.

New Line won't be making money on this film anytime soon.

Cheng Long knows that his opportunities to star in films in Hollywood are likely running out.

However, it's not that there isn't a sliver of a chance, if Director Cao were willing...

Cheng Long's mindset toward Cao Yang now is truly one of looking up to him.

The man acted as a producer and controlled an art-house film with an investment of only around 10 million, yet he managed to suppress his own *Rush Hour 3*; this is truly a bit of a blow.

Cheng Long reckons that even if the final box office of *The Fault in Our Stars* is about the same as *Rush Hour 3*, that is still a massive breakout, isn't it!

A 10 million investment and a 140 million investment are certainly not the same concept.

If *Rush Hour 3* makes 150 million at the box office, that is losing money.

If *The Fault in Our Stars* makes 150 million at the box office, that is making a huge profit.

Cheng Long knows that Cao Yang's status and influence in Hollywood are likely going to increase once again.

Thus, Cheng Long patted his cheeks, made himself smile as naturally as possible, then picked up the phone and called Cao Yang to congratulate him on achieving success once again.

After the North American weekend box office charts were released, Cao Yang received a succession of congratulatory calls.

There were calls from Columbia executives he had worked with, from Fox Searchlight and 20th Century Fox, and from Disney, with whom he is currently collaborating, CEO Robert Iger called personally.

There were also calls from Warner Bros., with whom he is about to collaborate; CEO Barry Meyer called personally, as did Warner Bros. Pictures President Jeff Robinov, and Ian Howard, the company's vice president in charge of the production department.

Besides these, directors like Spielberg, Director Dong Mu, Old Martin, Nolan, and others also called Cao Yang.

The number of stars who know Cao Yang and called him was even greater.

It made it seem as if *The Fault in Our Stars* had set a box office record.

Cao Yang knows that the reason these people called despite the "mediocre" box office of *The Fault in Our Stars* was mainly because they were shocked.

Anyone could see that all those fancy things *The Fault in Our Stars* did were aimed at the Oscars, a way to "conquer" the Oscars in advance.

Who could have imagined that a low-budget art-house film could also be so powerful at the box office.

Of course, everyone's main goal was to get closer to Cao Yang—film companies want to work with him, directors want him to write scripts or adapt his novels, and actors want to appear in his films.

Cao Yang's continuous success made everyone who knew him become kind and enthusiastic; it seemed there wasn't a single "bad" person left.

At least, after the release of Cao Yang's *Milk*, the people surrounding him in Hollywood all turned into good people, and very few people opposed him.

Even the executives and CEOs of the seven major Hollywood film companies talked and laughed with him, without a hint of arrogance.

The world, in its essence, is just like this!

Just as Huang Bo said, when you are successful, you are surrounded by good people.

Even in the few hours before Zhang Jingchu left, she was still desperately "showing off" her shy and clumsy techniques.

After these few days of getting along and exchanging ideas in depth, Cao Yang was quite satisfied with Zhang Jingchu's hardworking performance.

He is not a heartless person; in his past life, he would even tip a dog author for a novel he liked, so for Zhang Jingchu's such hardworking performance, he certainly had to give a reward.

He did not give Zhang Jingchu extra resources; it was a transaction to begin with, and extra resources would have to be calculated separately. Cao Yang just gave her a phone number as she was leaving, saying that if she was bullied while filming, she could call this number, and it could help her solve a problem once.

Don't underestimate just helping to solve a problem once; if used well, making people unable to see through your true strength, then few people will dare to bully you again in the future.

Just like Dong Xuan, who hadn't yet won the Venice Best Actress award; Boss Han knew about her relationship with Cao Yang. After she was once made difficult by a very famous actress in the crew while filming, Boss Han took action in secret.

The crew was shut down for a week, and the director and producer didn't even figure out which big shot had taken action; in the end, that actress was directly kicked out of the crew.

Consequently, there were all kinds of rumors about Dong Xuan in the film and television circle; anyway, no matter which kind, good or bad, the point was that Dong Xuan definitely had a big shot behind her and was someone not to be easily provoked.

From then on, no matter what role Dong Xuan played, everyone treated her with courtesy, and she never encountered any difficulties again.

Another week passed, and *New Pirates of the Caribbean*, a collaboration between Cao Yang and Disney, finished production.

After discussing with Disney CEO Robert Iger, this rebooted film was officially titled *Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl*.

Originally, Cao Yang had thought he would need to come up with a new name for the film for the sake of sequels.

Who knew that after that *Pirates of the Caribbean* that flopped was made, because it wasn't filmed in a fantasy direction, they didn't use the name *The Curse of the Black Pearl*.

Now it's just right to use it, saving the trouble of thinking of other names.

"My dear Mr. Director, what do you think of the Christmas release window?"

Robert Iger was even more enthusiastic than last time; the way he looks at Cao Yang now makes Cao Yang a little scared.

The reason is simple: this week's box office is out.

*The Bourne Ultimatum* took in another 18 million-plus in its third weekend, bringing its total North American box office to 160 million dollars.

However, although the total box office is high, the 18 million-plus for the three-day weekend could only rank fourth on the weekend box office chart.

Ranking third was Cheng Long's *Rush Hour 3*, which took in 21 million over the three-day weekend, a drop of 58%.

However, it didn't drop past 60%.

This drop is actually a bit large; it looks like reaching a total North American box office of 150 million is a bit precarious.

Adding the 17.1 million from the four weekdays and the 50.4 million from the first week, the total box office reached 88.5 million dollars.

Ranking second was not *The Fault in Our Stars*, but a newly released film called *Superbad*, with a three-day weekend box office of 28 million dollars.

It is worth mentioning that the production company for *Superbad* is Sony Pictures Entertainment.

That's right, the parent company of Columbia, Sony Pictures, is also the company where Cao Yang's old friend Tom Rothman is going to serve as Global Vice President.

And *The Fault in Our Stars* was produced by Columbia under the leadership of Tom Rothman, and it is also the last film Old Tom made at Columbia before his transfer.

This is a bit interesting.

Could it be that the position of Sony Global Vice President that Old Tom took blocked the promotion path of certain people at Sony Pictures, so they want to give Old Tom a warning?

What a pity; if that's the case, they have greatly underestimated the explosive power of *The Fault in Our Stars*.

*The Fault in Our Stars* achieved a box office of 33.5 million over the three-day weekend, a drop of only 35%; although it broke the 30% "super" line, this is already a very, very healthy drop.

Furthermore, it also took in 28.3 million over the four weekdays, and adding the 51.6 million from last week, it has already achieved a brilliant result of 113.4 million after ten days of release.

You have to know, these are not art-house films released after winning an Oscar; being able to achieve this result now is already quite remarkable.

Not to mention that this is just a low-budget art-house film.

This is also the reason why Disney CEO Robert Iger is even more enthusiastic toward Cao Yang.

When Cao Yang heard Robert Iger ask him about the Christmas window, he knew he wanted *New Pirates of the Caribbean* to go to the Christmas window.

The Christmas window is the most important release window in North America; compared to the summer window crowded with blockbusters, it is no less significant, and its status is similar to the Spring Festival release window in the country.

In the Christmas window, the audience's demand for viewing is relatively concentrated, and the requirements for the quality and word-of-mouth of the film are also relatively high; a film with good word-of-mouth can easily obtain good box office results in this window.

It is now late August, and there are only about ten days left in the summer window; it is not appropriate to release *New Pirates of the Caribbean* on the tail end of the summer window.

Unless one doesn't want the box office.

Speaking of which, apart from the Christmas window, there is no other window this year suitable for a film with such a super-large investment as *New Pirates of the Caribbean*.

"Is the competition for this year's Christmas window fierce?"

Cao Yang asked curiously; it wasn't that he was afraid of competition, but he wanted to understand the situation of the Christmas window. Robert Iger must be quite knowledgeable about this kind of information.

The reason is also very simple.

Films released in North America also need to be reviewed and classified, and the one doing this work is the MPAA, which is the Motion Picture Association of America.

The American Film Association has seven main members, which are the current seven major Hollywood film studios.

So, do you understand now why, for so many years, those new American film studios—even DreamWorks, formed by Spielberg and Jewish capital—could never outplay the Big Seven?

Because those Big Seven hold the "core technology"; they can just be "strictly" demanding during the review process, finding even a flimsy excuse.

A film that could have passed as G-rated or PG-rated for general audiences gets slapped with an R-rating, requiring anyone under 17 to be accompanied by a parent—how much box office revenue would that lose you?

To give an example that might be slightly inappropriate but is very apt, it’s a bit like the five permanent members of the UN; if you aren't one of the five, you will never outplay them, and it is very hard to become one of them, unless you have the ability to beat up all five.

"If we're talking about a significant threat, it would be Warner's 'I Am Legend,' right? It stars the superstar Will Smith."

"Additionally, Disney also has a film, 'National Treasure 2,' planned for the Christmas slot. If 'New Pirates of the Caribbean' chooses the Christmas slot, we can stagger the release dates with 'National Treasure 2'."

Disney CEO Luo Bote said to Cao Yang with a smile.

"'I Am Legend'?"

Cao Yang nodded; Will Smith is one of the few black movie stars with box office draw, having even broken into the 20-million-dollar club.

This film's box office performance seems quite good.

A film produced by Warner is actually quite interesting.

Then should we clash with Will Smith and Warner during the Christmas slot?

It just so happens that it's about time to go to Warner to make a film; just thinking about it is very interesting.

For Europeans and Americans, the language they can understand quickly and the way to gain their respect quickly is through direct collision.

"Then let's release it in the Christmas slot; it's a very good slot, and it will certainly be very interesting."

(End of this chapter)