From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Time marched from 2002 into 2003. Winter in the Northern Hemisphere was draped in silver, covered in a flurry of heavy snow, with many cities experiencing blizzard conditions as the winter's howl briefly reached its peak.

However, this still couldn't stop people's enthusiasm for going to the cinema to watch "Catch Me If You Can."

To be precise, the impact was objectively present. The heavy snow made travel inconvenient, and people generally preferred to stay at home. After returning from school or work, they stayed in the warm indoors, refusing to brave the snow.

It wasn't just cinemas; shopping malls, restaurants, amusement parks, cafes, hotels, and everything else all welcomed the unavoidable off-season slump of the year.

But, if one got tired of being at home and simply wanted to go out and breathe some fresh air, or if one was trying to escape the television and craved some other entertainment, a warm cinema was indeed a good choice.

At this time, looking at the movie listings in the cinema, "Catch Me If You Can" easily stood out. In the past two weeks, the buzz surrounding this movie had swept across North America. Everyone knew about it, it was even becoming a trend that everyone was discussing.

Men, women, young, old, different ages, different genders, different classes, all were no exception. The movie was even bundled with Christmas to become synonymous with family leisure and entertainment, becoming the choice of many parents.

Following the first week of January, the second week was still dominated by "Catch Me If You Can."

This week, the newly released "Just Married" attempted to replicate the smooth sailing of romantic comedy movies during the holiday season, but unfortunately failed.

"Two Weeks Notice" had Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant holding the fort, and "Maid in Manhattan" had Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes leading the way. Both had advantages in market appeal and buzz. However, "Just Married," starring Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy, temporarily lacked such appeal.

Moreover, it's worth mentioning that this was a severe test of market marketing strategy. When 20th Century Fox was promoting "Just Married," they were conventional and followed the rules, completely failing to anticipate "Catch Me If You Can" bursting onto the scene in such a manner, leaving them flustered and at a loss, pushing them into a difficult situation.

In the past two weeks of market promotion and marketing, "Just Married" was completely suppressed by "Catch Me If You Can." Discussions on different platforms and among different groups all revolved around "Catch Me If You Can," leaving 20th Century Fox completely dumbfounded.

In fact, it wasn't just 20th Century Fox; any other film company wouldn't have fared much better. They were all shocked and, in a short period of time, couldn't come up with a response, dumbfounded and led by the nose by the hype surrounding "Catch Me If You Can."

This was a brand new experience, an eye-opener for all the major Hollywood film companies.

The only thing to say was that "Just Married" was unlucky, choosing the wrong release window.

Finally—

Seventeen million dollars.

"Just Married" took this figure at the opening weekend box office, far from the performance of the new films in the previous weeks, and ultimately failed to break through. However, everyone at 20th Century Fox breathed a sigh of relief.

The reason was that the film's production cost was controlled at only eighteen million dollars. Although whether "Just Married" could achieve profitability through box office revenue still depended on subsequent developments, at least the box office hadn't completely collapsed, and losing money was likely a small probability event.

Whew.

Amidst difficulties and crises, 20th Century Fox had no ambition at all. They were already very satisfied with such box office performance and had no need to complain. However, when they saw the box office figures of their competitors, they couldn't help but feel envious.

The focus still fell on "Catch Me If You Can."

The second week of January, which was also the film's third weekend of release, "Catch Me If You Can" rightfully extinguished the little bit of doubt and suspense that was quietly emerging, once again claiming the weekend box office champion with an absolutely dominant posture, taking the weekend box office three-peat as easily as reaching into a pocket to grab something.

Thirty-five million dollars over the three-day weekend.

In its third week of release, "Catch Me If You Can" inevitably suffered from the impact of heavy snow, coupled with the end of the flash events. The heat obviously declined. Although people were expecting to see another "Titanic" or another "Spider-Man," reality pulled the fantasy back to the ground. This week saw a box office drop of more than 45%, almost halved, once again showing people the invincible power of nature in the winter season.

Although but—

"Catch Me If You Can" was ultimately not "Titanic." The latter wrote history relying on the word-of-mouth recognition of the whole people and the concerns about the end of the world at the end of the century, while the former's spread was entirely a victory of marketing and, accompanied by Anson's footsteps, was more limited to the city and failed to truly spread and form a wave.

However, topping the charts with double the box office of the second place was still worth celebrating. The movie just failed to continue to make history. As far as the results themselves are concerned, it's already very bright in the winter season.

No need to be exacting.

Most importantly, in the three weeks since its release, "Catch Me If You Can" lightly and effortlessly crossed the barrier, grossing three hundred million dollars in North America.

The film not only surpassed "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," which was in its fourth week of release, to take the lead in entering the top ranks of the Hollywood box office pyramid with a three-week cumulative box office breakthrough of the $300 million threshold; it was also about to become Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' highest-grossing film in North America—

Incredible.

Steven Spielberg has had countless brilliant box office performances in the past. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" and "Jurassic Park" both exceeded $300 million at the North American box office. "Catch Me If You Can" is the third film to accomplish such a feat. Three completely different films have written brilliance separately, which is definitely a unique honor in the long river of film history.

Tom Hanks is no exception. This iconic Hollywood actor also has a series of high box office performances. More than one hand can count the works with over 200 million in North America. "Toy Story" and "Forrest Gump" both exceeded 300 million, which are his highest scores to date. Now, a third is about to be added, solidifying his position in the industry.

Currently, "Catch Me If You Can" is still in theaters and continues to climb to new heights. It is almost certain that it will become Steven and Tom's highest-grossing film in their personal careers, but the focus is not on the box office itself, but on the fact that the film that created a new box office high is actually this movie—

Unexpected, absolutely unexpected.

Including Steven and Tom themselves, they didn't expect the film to perform so well. The two superstars, who had already left their mark in film history, relied on "Catch Me If You Can" to break new career highs. This is the most interesting and magical landscape.

"Well, I guess this is the so-called Christmas miracle."

Tom was still Tom. He made a small joke during the interview, deliberately not mentioning Anson, avoiding the focus that people were most concerned about and looking forward to, but such an answer made everyone smile knowingly.