章 823: Chapter 824: What Happened
[Chapter 824: What Happened]
On December 28, Saturday, the Christmas holiday had already passed for two days, and New Year's was fast approaching. Jeffrey Katzenberg had originally planned to take his entire family to Europe for a vacation during the holidays. Despite being a workaholic, he still needed a break. However, due to the situation with Titanic, Katzenberg had to cancel all travel plans and didn't even return to New York to spend Christmas with his parents.
Titanic had grossed $54.25 million in its opening week, far exceeding the initial projections from both Firefly Group insiders and ticketing agencies, which estimated around $40 million. This unexpected number was somewhat of a relief. However, given the film's massive production and marketing costs, this opening week performance still fell short of success.
At this point, the situation seemed irreversible. As the CEO of Firefly Group, Katzenberg's main task was to ensure such a box office disaster would not happen again.
Habitually waking up at five, Katzenberg didn't rush into his daily work routine as he normally would, since it was a holiday weekend. After a light morning workout, he prepared breakfast for his wife and children, fulfilling his occasional duties as a husband and father.
...
Meanwhile, at Firefly Group's Burbank headquarters, George Leck and Phil Lopolus, two staff members responsible for box office statistics, were perplexedly rechecking the data faxed over from various theater chains.
In recent years, with the rapid development of the internet, ticketing systems across major North American chains had become interconnected, which greatly increased the efficiency of box office reporting. However, there was still no standardized data shared among different chains, requiring film companies and specialized box office statistics agencies to consolidate separate data from each theater chain.
After re-verifying the December 27 box office figures, George and Phil even made several follow-up calls to confirm some confusing numbers directly with the theater companies. Once they confirmed the accuracy of the data in their hands, they exchanged bewildered glances. Having worked in the film industry for five to six years, they were both 100% certain this was the strangest subsequent week box office figure they had ever seen.
While nearly certain the numbers were correct, George still said to Phil, "Phil, should we double-check once more? If we get this wrong and the BOSS gets our hopes up for nothing, we might be out of a job!"
Phil's earlier fatigue, stemming from the all-nighter job, vanished as he waved the paper in his hand, replying, "Do you really think it's necessary?"
"Maybe we should call Mr. Thompson first?" George suggested again. "Let's send these figures to the BOSS. I can't shake this uneasy feeling."
The Robert Thompson George mentioned was their immediate boss, the president of Firefly's distribution department.
Phil glanced once more at the daily box office figures for Titanic. An astonishing $12.12 million!
In its opening week, Titanic had not recorded a single day with earnings over $10 million, which was one reason many believed the film failed at the box office. Based on typical box office patterns, Titanic's earnings for the following weekend should have been around $6 million. Instead, the data showed it was projected to be double that. This indicated that, rather than declining, Titanic's box office had experienced an irrational surge in its second week.
Phil had seen instances of increasing box office performance before. Many critically acclaimed films often faced a rise in earnings during their second week, but those increases tended to be minor -- rarely exceeding 10%. However, compared to the $8.65 million from last Friday, Titanic's subsequent Friday earnings were up a staggering 40%.
"Alright, let's go ahead and make that call," Phil finally agreed, feeling similarly apprehensive.
...
By 7 a.m., key executives of Firefly Group -- including Katzenberg, Frank Wells, Carolyn Elliott, and Kenneth Horne -- hurried to the Burbank headquarters. Michael Lynn, who had left the company but still held a board seat, even rushed over from his Malibu mansion after hearing the buzz.
Robert Thompson entered the conference room, causing the chatter to cease as everyone turned to look at him.
"Mr. Katzenberg, everyone, I've personally verified the figures. While there may be some margin of error, Titanic's daily box office yesterday was definitely around $12 million," Thompson said, pausing before adding, "That means compared to last Friday, Titanic's box office not only didn't decline but actually increased by $3.5 million -- a 40% rise."
Thompson indicated for his secretary to distribute the photocopied box office reports to all the executives present.
Eagerly receiving the detailed report, Katzenberg quickly examined it. Preliminary statistics showed that on December 27, the total domestic daily box office amounted to $29.5 million, with Titanic leading the pack at $12.12 million. Warner Bros.' newly released political satire, My Fellow Americans, ranked second with a first-day revenue of $5.7 million, followed by films like Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire, and Star Trek: First Contact.
Since detailed daily box office rankings had already been compiled, Katzenberg felt confident the data could not be wrong.
Staring at the $12.12 million figure, he felt no excitement, merely confusion. Looking around, he noticed similar expressions among the executives; they all seemed to have the same question: What happened?
After a moment, Katzenberg asked Thompson, "Did you send these box office figures to Eric?"
"Yes, Jeffrey. We send the previous day's box office data to Mr. Williams before 6 a.m. every morning," Thompson confirmed.
"Then he..." Katzenberg began but shook his head. If Eric had any feedback, he surely would have called either him or Frank. Not rushing to understand Eric's reaction, Katzenberg turned to the group. "So, what do you all think about this situation?"
Everyone exchanged glances, unsure of what to say.
As the silence lingered, Robert Thompson, sitting at the end of the table, tentatively said, "I believe Titanic's box office trend showed signs of change a few days ago."
Encouraged, Frank Wells turned to him and asked, "Robert, could you elaborate?"
"Of course," Thompson replied. After a moment's thought, he pointed to the whiteboard behind Katzenberg. With permission, he moved to it and began listing Titanic's daily box office figures from the previous week.
"Look," Thompson said after displaying the first week's seven days of data. "The opening weekend for Titanic was indeed mediocre, and there was a normal decline on the first Monday, but since Christmas, we saw $7.03 million on Wednesday, $9.05 million on Thursday, and $12.12 million yesterday. These figures indicate that after the initial mediocre numbers, Titanic's box office began to experience a significant upward trend due to... some factors."
Katzenberg, Frank Wells, and Michael Lynn, all veterans of the film industry, were starting to grasp what those "some factors" might entail.
However, Carolyn Elliott, the new CFO at Firefly, was somewhat lost and curiously asked, "Robert, what exactly do you mean by 'some factors'?"
Thompson hesitated before responding, "I think it's likely related to the film's word-of-mouth. Not the polarized reviews we see in the media, but what audiences are saying to each other. However, Titanic's box office trend differs significantly from other films that rely on word-of-mouth. Those might see an uptick, but nothing as drastic as Titanic's. So, I can't guarantee there aren't other factors at play."
After a lively discussion that yielded no conclusive results, Katzenberg cut everyone off with a wave of his hand, saying to Thompson, "Robert, you take charge of this matter. You have three days to figure out exactly what happened. Also, get me Eric on the line. Immediately."
...
The news of Titanic's shocking box office surge would not remain a secret for long; within the morning, many had already received the relevant information, including Eric, who was among the first to know.
However, due to his previous experiences, Eric had always remained unperturbed about Titanic's box office prospects unlike Katzenberg and Cameron, who felt the pressure. As such, he found it hard to appreciate the excitement from the upper management as Titanic's subsequent weekend box office began to soar.
Receiving Katzenberg's call, Eric sat in a Southampton cafe, accompanied by Sabrina, quietly reading George Soros's The Alchemy of Finance.
After all, this was merely the first day of the following week; the complete box office figures were not yet solidified, and Eric didn't rush Katzenberg to implement any of his recent ideas still forming in his mind.
After a brief, casual chat lasting around ten minutes, they ended the call. Eric then dialed up Cameron, who was in Australia promoting Titanic. Despite it being early morning there, Cameron was awake. Eric shared the news about the film's shocking box office reversal with Cameron, hoping it would bring some relief to his anxious colleague in Sydney.
...
If the Friday box office figures proved puzzling to Firefly Group executives, the next three days as the weekend figures were released left the entire North American media in a state of bewilderment. Nearly all media outlets were asking the same question: What happened?
Following Friday's $12.12 million performance, Saturday saw even higher numbers at $12.46 million, with Sunday bringing in $10.86 million.
Ultimately, Titanic's total box office for that weekend was $35.44 million, a substantial increase from the opening weekend's $29.18 million -- over $6 million more. While not as alarming an increase as Friday's, it still recorded a rise of over 20%.
Prompted by Katzenberg's instructions, Thompson prepared an initial report on the box office trend.
At this point, mainstream media feedback on Titanic's performance no longer held any reference value. Thompson then hired specialized research firms that collected 20,000 audience surveys over three days across major cities in the U.S.
The findings revealed that over 20% of attendees during Titanic's subsequent week were repeat viewers, and 30% had been persuaded to watch the film by friends and family's strong recommendations. Although many initially thought the film's three-hour runtime would deter them from watching, over 80% of viewers reported they completely lost track of time while enjoying the film.
The audience approval rating on a ten-point scale reached an astonishing 8.8, far surpassing the media's average of just 7. Titanic's reputation among viewers had also undergone a remarkable turnaround.
*****
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