From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Wait, what's going on with the box office data? Could there be an update error?

If I remember correctly, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" had a weekend gross of $23 million last week. How is it still $23 million this week?

This is obviously a statistical error, or a mistake when the numbers were published, or a typesetting error when the newspaper was printed—

In short, it's an error.

How could a movie possibly have the exact same box office numbers for two consecutive weeks; especially when the number of theaters showing it has more than doubled?

Even if they were falsifying data, they should know to avoid such a low-level, stupid error, a blatant flaw that anyone can see is "unusual."

Heh, this scene is really too funny, worthy of being recorded in history.

When Hollywood professionals saw the latest issue of the "Los Angeles Times," the North American weekend box office chart for the fourth week of March was a joke.

In this chart, the data for other works were all fine, only "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" had an obvious error in its numbers.

1st place, "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed," $29 million.

2nd place, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," $23 million.

3rd place, "The Ladykillers," $12 million.

4th place, "The Passion of the Christ," $12 million.

5th place, "Dawn of the Dead," $9 million.

At a glance, there's more than one or two points of focus and discussion.

For example, "Scooby-Doo 2," which premiered this week, achieved good box office results despite a barrage of criticism. The media's overall rating for this purely spoof comedy film is only 34 points, which can definitely be called a flop, but it still continues the momentum of the "American Pie" and "Scary Movie" series in the box office market, no wonder this type of spoof film continues to emerge.

For example, "The Ladykillers" and "The Passion of the Christ" fought fiercely, and ultimately only relied on a slight difference of less than $100,000 to determine the winner.

"The Ladykillers" is directed by the Coen brothers and stars Tom Hanks. The film's distribution strategy has aroused widespread discussion in the media. The film is about to land in the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival two months later, but it did not choose to premiere at Cannes, but instead met with North American audiences first—

The Cannes Film Festival very, very rarely allows such things to happen, that is, to select works that have already been released into the main competition unit.

It has to be said that the Coen brothers and Tom Hanks sitting in charge are still different.

It is precisely because of this that this black comedy film has still attracted considerable attention. The gimmick of "watching the Cannes main competition works one step ahead" has aroused the interest of senior movie fans; and ultimately entangled with "The Passion of the Christ," which is still writing its own record in its fifth week of release, fighting to the last moment.

Another example is that "Dawn of the Dead" ultimately failed to withstand the pressure in its second week of release. Whether it is because zombie movies are ultimately a niche subculture, or because the quality and appeal of this remake are ultimately insufficient, the result is that the weekend box office in the second week ushered in a bloodbath—

A drop of nearly 60%.

If the media was more or less willing to pay attention to this remake last week, then this week "Dawn of the Dead" instantly lost its value, and was thrown into the corner by the media with a turn.

Zack Snyder?

However, the discussion value of these focuses all vanished in the face of the "error" on the chart, and the entire Hollywood inside and out collectively mocked it.

The second week's box office of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is wrong, right?

This is simply absurd. I can't imagine that the "Los Angeles Times" would make such a low-level mistake, making everything in front of me full of irony.

"I didn't expect the Times to be so stupid."

"Maybe the editor-in-chief is too thirsty, eager to push Anson to the throne of a superstar."

"Could there be traces left by the big shots playing against each other behind this?"

"It's simply a joke."

"Anson has lost face this time."

The air is stirring.

But it didn't last long, and people gradually noticed the anomaly.

The latest North American weekend box office charts published by mainstream authoritative media such as "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," and "The Washington Post" are all the same—

Across the board, the box office numbers for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" are all $23 million.

So, this is not a printing error? This is not a mistake by the "Los Angeles Times"?

Then it is... Exhibitor Relations?

In North America, the agency that compiles weekly box office data is called Exhibitor Relations. They get the exact data from the theaters on Friday and Saturday; and then estimate the Sunday data based on sampling surveys and related data, and publish the estimated weekend box office charts on Monday.

That is to say, the box office chart that people see on Monday is an estimated value.

Then on Tuesday, Exhibitor Relations will publish a truly confirmed chart.

However, although it is said to be an "estimate," Exhibitor Relations' statistical model is very accurate, with very little error; the subsequent adjustment data is often not much different, and the error value is basically within hundreds of thousands of dollars, which can be ignored.

Unless it is a work like "The Ladykillers" and "The Passion of the Christ," where the weekend box office difference is within $100,000, other rankings rarely change.

Of course, since it is said to be an estimate, there must be a certain deviation value. Since the "Los Angeles Times" did not have a printing error, the eyes of Hollywood professionals flocked to Exhibitor Relations—

Could it be that Exhibitor Relations made a statistical error? Or was there an error when Exhibitor Relations reported the numbers to the major media outlets?

Otherwise, there is no way to explain the data in front of you.

Tens of millions of eyes gathered on Exhibitor Relations, heavily crushing down. Exhibitor Relations also realized the seriousness of the problem, and they unprecedentedly issued an announcement:

The data is all normal.

To be precise, the second week's weekend box office of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" did not decrease but increased, rising by less than 2%. The specific data will be determined after the adjusted box office is released on Tuesday, but according to Exhibitor Relations' statistics, the box office numbers for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" are not wrong.

The entire Hollywood: …

Silence, dumbfounded.

How crazy the previous ridicule and complaints were, how loud the slaps in the face are now. Their expressions are stiff and their brains are malfunctioning, completely losing the ability to react.

Actually, there was no mistake?

When "Dawn of the Dead" had a bloodbath of 60% in its second week's box office, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" actually rode the waves and had a slight increase in box office?

Focus Features withstood the pressure, ignored the encirclement and hype of Hollywood, and insisted on expanding the release step by step, and actually reaped rewards?

The box office data from $23 million to $23 million easily awakened the classic scene of "Titanic" being released that year.

That year, the media also launched a collective mockery after the opening weekend of "Titanic." Everyone thought that 20th Century Fox had messed up, and their endless indulgence of James Cameron was backfiring. The film might become a complete disaster.

However, the second week's weekend box office numbers for "Titanic" did not decrease but increased, strongly slapping the faces of those critics, turning the tables overnight, and the rest is history.

So, who is the clown now?