From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

As an agent, Carter had seen too many dark sides in the small world of Hollywood. It wasn't that he was judging people with a petty mind, but the spotlight of the fame and fortune always blinded eyes and ears, so that one was already deeply陷in it before realizing it.

What's more, the reality was indeed like this—

With the explosive box office success of "Spider-Man"'s premiere, heated discussions spread across the entire North American continent, and the "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones" crew was the first to be impacted.

There was no doubt that these two works were the biggest attractions in the first month of this year's summer season. All other works avoided them, and no one wanted to be caught in the crossfire, even summer blockbusters gave way.

"Spider-Man" and "Star Wars: Episode II" were released a week apart, meeting each other frequently, and competition between them was inevitable.

As expected, after "Spider-Man" ignited the market, the first to respond was the "Star Wars: Episode II" crew, and everyone's attention was on them.

Twentieth Century Fox's public relations and publicity work did not disappoint either.

"Warm congratulations to 'Spider-Man' for breaking 130 million US dollars in its opening weekend box office!"

The superficial work had to be done well, appearing as if they were sharing the glory and competing fairly; but in secret, the publicity and marketing team was busy inside and out.

Half was anticipation.

If "Spider-Man," which had no foundation and was not favored, could achieve such amazing box office results, wouldn't it be easy for "Star Wars: Episode II" to take in 100 million US dollars in its opening weekend?

Half was nervousness.

Did the sudden rise of "Spider-Man" overdraft the summer box office potential in advance, instead squeezing the market for "Star Wars: Episode II"? After all, the two were released only a week apart, and the box office might be suppressed.

Therefore, like a duck paddling, keeping calm on the surface while desperately flapping its feet underwater, anxiety and unease spread. The "Star Wars: Episode II" crew's attention also gathered.

What Carter and Hayden saw in the "Los Angeles Times" was just the tip of the iceberg.

"130,000,000! History."

"Spider-Man Arrives, Summer Blockbusters Return."

"Unexpected but Reasonable, 'Spider-Man' Rewrites North American Film History."

"Anson Wood, the Man Who Wrote a New Page in North American Film."

"Finally! Breaking 100 Million!"

"From 70 Million to 90 Million, a Full Four Years; From 90 Million to 130 Million, a Full Six Months. What Happened in This Process?"

"'Spider-Man': More Than Just 100 Million..."

"Spider-Man," "Spider-Man," besides "Spider-Man" it was still "Spider-Man." More than 260 media outlets across North America reported on the film's history-making news in the first time, igniting enthusiasm.

Not only in North America, but also in other countries and regions around the world, witnessing the moment when "Spider-Man" detonated the film market and wrote history. Although it was not the era of social networks, newspapers and magazines still ensured that every corner of the world could know and join the carnival.

Shock, impact, and a tidal wave of praise.

It is no exaggeration to say that "Spider-Man" created a popularity comparable to "Titanic."

At the end of 1997, "Titanic" was released, claiming an investment cost of more than 200 million US dollars, so that Twentieth Century Fox had to pull Paramount to add investment to share the risk in order to complete the film production, but it encountered an epic Waterloo in its opening weekend—

The opening weekend was only 28 million US dollars in three days.

Not to mention recovering the cost, it was simply a loss to the point of internal bleeding.

However, unexpectedly, Twentieth Century Fox planned a series of year-end couple viewing activities, and cooperated with the "doomsday panic" mood at the turn of the century to launch publicity, coupled with the film's own word-of-mouth spread, unbelievably opened the situation.

The film not only topped the North American weekend box office charts for fifteen consecutive weeks, but also controlled the weekend box office decline to below 10% for three full months, including four weekends of unbelievable box office reverse declines.

The rest is history.

Thus, the "disaster at the end of the century" also evolved into a "box office bomb at the end of the century," even viewers who had no interest in the film flocked to the cinema.

The topic's popularity was unmatched.

Now, "Spider-Man" seems to have a bit of such momentum:

Strongly breaking out of the circle.

Anson created the topic and traffic in the front, and the opening weekend box office created history in the back—and, it's not just breaking the record casually and reluctantly, but raising the existing record to a new height in one go.

Maybe, they should also buy tickets to enter the venue to find out?

In the first week of May 2002, the North American film weekend box office market showed a blowout state, and people felt the heat of summer again after a long absence.

Champion, "Spider-Man."

Runner-up, "The Scorpion King."

Third place, "Changing Lanes."

It is worth noting that "Spider-Man" is basically in a state of dominance. The runner-up "The Scorpion King" only pitifully took 9 million box office in three days on the weekend. The box office blood loss in the third week of release is still close to 50%.

Accurately speaking, "Spider-Man" swept away all the energy of the entire market like a Tyrannosaurus rex, and no one paid attention to other works in an instant.

"Murder by Numbers" is also the same. The weekend box office fell by another 43% this week, only taking 3.6 million, and the cumulative box office in three weeks of release was 23 million. Soon, no one will discuss Sandra's transformation attempt.

No wonder even "Star Wars: Episode II" is worried about the market being squeezed—

"Spider-Man" is indeed a monster.

Now, the most important and critical point has come, after "Spider-Man" exploded with such amazing energy in its opening weekend, what will be the subsequent decline? What about the second week, the third week?

If "Spider-Man"'s box office plummets in the second week, then "Star Wars: Episode II" doesn't need to worry; but if another "Titanic" appears, the "Star Wars: Episode II" crew may really not be able to cry.

However, everything in front of you is unknown.

After all, the subsequent box office trend of any previous film work has no reference value, because 100 million in the opening weekend is a brand new field.

The only thing that can be referred to and learned from is last year's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

The decline in the second week was 36.3%, and the weekend box office was 57 million US dollars.

First, there is only one reference sample, lacking promotion value.

Secondly, the special thing about "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is that the second weekend of release happened to be Thanksgiving, and family audiences flooded into the cinema in an all-round way. A 36% box office decline is a very, very good result.

From past comprehensive experience, a decline of less than 50% is worthy of applause; but these experiences are also useless and are only for reference.

The first person to eat crabs still needs to find a way out for himself—

In the second weekend of release, the decline was 31.1%, and the three-day box office was 96.5 million US dollars.