Chapter 440: Fight Club Premiere
[Chapter 440: Fight Club Premiere]
To accommodate Izumi Sakai and others, Link arranged to buy a vacation villa in an upscale neighborhood in Miami, Florida, where they could stay for the time being. He promised to visit them once he wrapped up his filming.
---
"Link, here are last week's box office numbers. Do you want to take a look?"
At the Los Angeles film set, during lunch, Monica Lewinsky approached with a folder.
"No need, just highlight the main points."
Link was swamped with work, and starting this year, he rarely bothered to track which movies the company was releasing or how each was performing at the box office, preferring to review monthly company reports to grasp the overall revenue.
"Link, the weekly box office champion is still our comedy, Liar Liar."
Lewinsky opened the folder and briefly recapped the North American box office earnings for the previous week.
Liar Liar, starring Jim Carrey, had premiered mid-March in 2,845 theaters. It earned $44.57 million in its debut week. The second week brought in $37.49 million, retaining the top spot.
The third week took in $22.46 million, still leading the charts.
This week marked its fifth consecutive week atop the North American box office, with cumulative earnings of $136 million. It became the first film in '97 to break the $100 million mark in North America. Its dominance over five weeks was impressive.
Jim Carrey's fame continued to rise, ranking alongside Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks as a major movie star, commanding salaries north of $25 million.
The runner-up was Columbia Pictures' thriller Anaconda, starring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and Jon Voight. This week, it grossed $16.61 million, pushing its total to $32.74 million.
The film had a production budget of $42 million. Including overseas box office and home video sales, it was a solid hit.
Third place went to Warner Bros.' thriller Murder at 1600, starring Wesley Snipes and Diane Lane. It earned $7.96 million in its opening week.
Fourth was the art-house film Girl, Interrupted, directed by Sophia Coppola, starring Winona Ryder, and Angelina Jolie. Released in early March, it had accumulated $32.51 million.
With a production budget of $22 million, factoring in overseas earnings and video sales, this film was also a commercial success.
Additionally, Girl, Interrupted garnered critical acclaim, winning Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year and showing potential for an Oscar nomination next year.
...
"Not bad!" Link nodded after hearing the update.
Liar Liar breaking $100 million in North America helped Guess Pictures maintain its leading edge in the North American film market, putting pressure on the Hollywood Big Seven Studios and stirring competition among them.
Films like Girl, Interrupted, and Boogie Nights continued to grow their box office, with none losing money while maintaining good reputations -- proof that Guess Pictures' releases this year were quite stable in box office performance.
...
"Link, there's some negative press you should be aware of," Lewinsky added.
With Guess Pictures' films doing well in the past two weeks, especially the runner-up Anaconda starring Jennifer Lopez and the third-placed Murder at 1600 featuring Diane Lane, the fourth-ranked Girl, Interrupted was even more striking as its director, lead actress, and supporting actress were all Link's girlfriends.
Entertainment Weekly's latest issue teased that the North American film market was essentially dominated by Link and his girlfriends -- they had become the absolute stars of Hollywood, while others were mere supporting players.
Though tongue-in-cheek, the claim was backed by solid evidence, sparking controversy mostly negative in tone.
...
"We'll have to watch this carefully," Link acknowledged.
"This is completely unexpected, but you have a point. Next time their movies release, try to avoid overlapping dates," he instructed.
"Link, that's nearly impossible. You have dozens of girlfriends, most of whom are top-tier or talented actresses with plenty of resources. On average, each does two films a year -- over 100 films total. This means about a third of movies released in North America feature them. Avoiding their films hitting theaters concurrently is very difficult," Lewinsky shrugged helplessly.
Link chuckled, "No worries. Michelle, Sandra, and the others are all pregnant and won't be filming for a few years. Their movies will naturally have staggered release windows. Anything else?"
"Yes! Fight Club is releasing next week. Miramax and our company are co-promoting and distributing. Harvey's team has contacted us, wanting to invest more funds into marketing to maximize box office returns. Jon Gordon suggests following protocol as it's an art film -- to do limited releases in select theaters. Based on box office during previews, they'll decide how much to invest in advertising."
"Then let's follow Jon Gordon's advice," Link waved it off and, after lunch, continued shooting at the set.
---
On Friday, Fight Club opened in six theaters across the U.S., earning $47,200 over the weekend, an average performance. Guess Pictures' marketing department planned to deploy a C-level campaign for this film.
Each company invested $3 million in promotion.
In its second week, it expanded to 471 theaters, pulling $2.87 million.
By the third week, it was in 865 theaters, grossing $6.58 million.
After three weeks, total box office earnings reached $9.49 million.
The numbers were average, showing no blockbuster potential. Even with increased promotion, recouping the production costs would be tough.
...
"Why? Why is it like this?"
"This film was personally selected by Link. Initially, he planned to direct it himself but was too busy and handed it to David Fincher. These sorts of films don't usually lose money."
"Link personally chose it. Why would it lose money? Someone explain!" Harvey Weinstein shouted angrily in his office as box office data papers scattered on the floor.
"Maybe it's a fluke," Bob Weinstein said, unsure how to respond.
The project cost $42 million, with Guess Pictures and Miramax each covering half.
To break even, the film needed to gross at least $60 million in North America.
But after three weeks, it only made just over $9 million. Even with an extended run, surpassing $50 million seemed unlikely.
In other words, their investment was in jeopardy.
"Impossible! This was Link's pick. Every film he backed has been a hit. Why is this one a loss?" Harvey roared.
Fight Club seemed promising: a strong script, director David Fincher rising fast, popular stars Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie as the lead actress. These were among the most outstanding young talents in recent years.
Their performances were solid, and marketing wasn't lacking. According to logic, the box office should have been better.
But the numbers on paper told the truth.
Market feedback revealed the audience disliked the film. They found it too oppressive, lacking entertainment value, with a complex narrative structure that muddled the story, confusing average viewers.
Simply put, the themes were too dark and profound to appeal to the mainstream.
However, the film earned good critical acclaim, with many professional reviewers praising it in newspapers, calling Fight Club one of the best art films of the year and the most thrilling male-oriented mystery thriller so far.
The marketing team concluded the film was a critical darling but a commercial failure. They recommended cutting back advertising funds and relying on word-of-mouth to slowly recoup costs. Overspending on marketing could lead to even bigger losses.
"Could it be Link's scheme?" Harvey muttered as he calmed down and smoked a cigarette.
"We did many things against him over the past two years. He must know we were involved. As retaliation, he deliberately used this kind of film to trick us, and we were naive, going in without any guard and falling into his trap."
"That's right! Link knows our company is struggling financially and deliberately employed this tactic to drain our funds, making us invest heavily in two film projects with Guess Pictures. Once these films lose money, our company's debt load will increase, and Disney will be dissatisfied, pushing us out. Damn it! Link is a cunning, vile, and shameless bastard!"
Bob Weinstein frowned, "Is that so? You handpicked Fight Club and Evita from many projects; Link didn't mandate us to invest in any specific film. Besides, Fight Club is a quality art film. Though its current box office is modest, including international earnings and video sales, we still have a chance to break even. This hardly seems like a trap."
"No! You don't get it. This is a trap! Guess Pictures released 13 films last year; six crossed the $100 million mark in North America, proving their excellent film selection and high hit rate. Yet, the movies we partnered on, like Fight Club, didn't hit big, proving conspiracies at play," Harvey argued fervently.
"What can we do? We chose the films, and the co-marketing decision was yours. Now that the box office is disappointing, we can't seek compensation from Guess Pictures. If Fight Club loses money, they lose some too," Bob said cautiously.
Harvey's expression darkened. Bob was right; film investment involved risks, and investors bore the losses themselves. Even if the film flopped, they couldn't blame Guess Pictures.
"That's the most devious part of Link's plan -- making us suffer losses but with no grounds to accuse him," Harvey said, fuming.
Bob remained silent. Since Miramax's debt increased, Harvey grew increasingly anxious and often lost his temper, especially upon receiving any news involving Guess Pictures or Link.
"I have to inform Ovitz. Miramax is a Disney subsidiary. They can't watch Miramax get scammed and just stand by," Harvey declared as he picked up the phone to call Michael Ovitz. After a brief conversation, Harvey's face became even more grim, ending the call in under a minute.
"What did Ovitz say?" Bob asked.
Harvey grit his teeth, his greasy, bloated face twisted with rage, "That bastard wouldn't care. He told us to handle it ourselves and not to be hostile towards Link but treat him with friendliness and respect. Damn it! Michael Ovitz is a traitor; he's clearly switching sides to Link!"
"Maybe Ovitz is right. Link is now worth over $10 billion, the world's fifth richest man. We aren't even his equals, let alone rivals. Continuing hostility won't help us," Bob suggested tactfully.
Muscles twitched on Harvey's face, eyes burning with an unhidden hatred and fury.
*****
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