Chapter 308: "Unexpected Success"

Simon's departure didn't much affect the competitive Thanksgiving holiday box office.

After the premiere on November 16, reviews for "Look Who's Talking" started to appear in major North American media. However, this family comedy, which used the gimmick of a baby speaking, didn't win the media's acclaim. Despite joint PR efforts by Warner Brothers and Daenerys, the movie only scored 6.2, barely passing. Mainstream newspapers like Variety, The New York Times, and The Washington Post all gave it negative reviews.

Variety commented that "a baby mimicking adult thoughts and tone of voice is not cool but anxiety-inducing," while The New York Times sharply criticized that "Billy Crystal's incessant voiceover smacks of desperation."

While many newspapers gave positive reviews like "very funny," "the idea of a baby talking is surprising," and "a delightful movie," Warner Brothers and Daenerys were aware of the PR element in these reviews and thus were concerned about the film's prospects.

From November 17 to 19, the film, featuring Mel Gibson and Billy Crystal (voiceover), grossed $20.46 million in its opening weekend, easily winning the weekend box office.

A $20.46 million intake over three days, compared to a $15 million production cost, was certainly excellent, but Daenerys Entertainment couldn't easily relax.

Everyone knew that the impressive opening was the result of vigorous pre-release promotion, and the film's total box office potential would ultimately depend on the second-week performance.

Due to the media's lack of endorsement, there were concerns the film's box office trajectory would plummet significantly.

"Scream 2" served as a reference, with more than 30% drops in its first two weeks.

After its release on October 27, "Scream 2" had a first-week box office of $31.77 million, a 33% drop in the second week to $21.29 million.

Typically, if a film's second-week drop is steep, the third week's decline should narrow. However, "Scream 2" saw an even larger 35% drop in its third week, only earning $13.73 million from November 10 to 16.

"Scream 2" grossed $66.79 million in three weeks, still a significant profit for Daenerys Entertainment. However, with this performance, the sequel might break $100 million but couldn't match the first installment's domestic total of $132 million.

"Look Who's Talking" lacked the sequel's popularity and stellar reviews. Its first-week box office was supported by pre-release promotion and cast, but facing the formidable release of "Back to the Future Part II" next week, if the drop exceeded 30% or even 40%, reaching $100 million domestically might be impossible.

With over $20 million in its opening weekend, surpassing $60 million domestically for "Look Who's Talking" was easily achievable, making it a profitable project.

However, due to the initial contract, if "Look Who's Talking" couldn't break $100 million, Daenerys Entertainment would have to continue collaborating with Warner Brothers on another project until reaching that milestone.

Thus, compared to Daenerys Entertainment's worries, Warner Brothers was relatively relaxed.

In this era, a domestic box office over $60 million was considered a big hit.

Regardless, Warner Brothers was set to make a profit from this project. Earning less this time might bring another collaboration opportunity.

Amidst varied sentiments, on November 22, Universal Pictures' blockbuster "Back to the Future Part II" was released.

The sequel, awaited by fans for four years, did not disappoint, quickly earning $15.18 million in just Wednesday and Thursday, easily securing the third place in the weekly box office for November 17 to 23.

Meanwhile, "Look Who's Talking" easily claimed the top spot in the weekly box office with $29.23 million.

Paramount Pictures' "Harlem Nights," starring Eddie Murphy, ranked second with a first-week gross of $23.72 million.

"Scream 2" finally saw a narrower decline, dropping 23% to earn another $10.56 million, ranking fourth behind "Back to the Future Part II," with a total gross of $77.35 million.

Among the six new releases that week, Disney's quietly released animated film "The Little Mermaid," with only 994 screens, ranked fifth with an $8.44 million opening.

Orion Pictures' similarly promoted "Magic Sea" failed to resonate with audiences.

With a wide release on 1713 screens, "Magic Sea" only brought in $4.1 million in its first week, ranking seventh.

"Magic Sea," a $15 million investment by Orion Pictures, was another setback for the financially struggling top-tier secondary film company.

Following this, the Canadian Seagram Group, intending to dip into Hollywood, didn't back down but proposed even stricter investment terms to Orion's major shareholder, John Kluge.

Additionally, Daenerys Entertainment's subsidiary, Highgate Pictures, released "My Left Foot" on November 10, earning $1.83 million in its first week and another $1.52 million in its second.

In two weeks, this low-budget biopic quietly accumulated $3.35 million on just 112 screens.

The film received unanimous praise from the media, and Eira Doichman began submitting it for various awards.

Thanksgiving fell on November 23 this year.

Starting with Thanksgiving on Thursday, the North American public typically enjoys a four-day holiday.

Thus, November 24 to 30 was the golden week of the Thanksgiving box office period, with a significant increase in moviegoers leading to many films experiencing a box office rebound.

Despite "Back to the Future Part II" having a large fanbase and a strong opening of $15.18 million, its reviews were just passable, like "Look Who's Talking," with most media attention still on this "blockbuster."

As other film companies adjusted their release schedules to avoid "Back to the Future Part II," Daenerys Entertainment went against the trend, releasing the Gucci documentary "The Mark of Gucci" on November 24 across 532 screens.

Daenerys Entertainment produced "The Mark of Gucci" primarily for brand promotion, not expecting significant commercial profit. The 532-screen release focused on core urban areas like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, where potential Gucci consumers resided.

Moreover, the documentary, initially budgeted at $3 million, inevitably went over budget to $5 million due to Sofia's perfectionism. After Gucci covered the promotional costs, Highgate Pictures invested an additional $5 million in promotion.

With a total investment of $10 million, combined with being the first fashion documentary to hit theaters and extensive promotion by a host of celebrities and fashion icons, "The Mark of Gucci" garnered a lot of attention before its release.

It also benefited from the release schedule.

With most studios avoiding "Back to the Future Part II," "The Mark of Gucci" was the only new release on November 24, besides the earlier released "Back to the Future Part II."

With the media losing interest in "Back to the Future Part II" after the first two days and a lack of notable new releases in early December, many turned their attention to this highly publicized fashion documentary.

The $5 million budget was well spent.

Simon emphasized during the project's preparation phase that to interest viewers, the

documentary needed to tell a complete and engaging story.

The creative team excellently executed his vision.

Focusing on Tom Ford, the documentary narrated the young designer's journey amidst controversy to become Gucci's creative director at just 28, his struggles with the Gucci management team, design challenges, and the hurdles of preparing for the fashion week, culminating in the successful Gucci 1990 Spring/Summer womenswear show in Milan on September 22.

Besides a complete story, the documentary perfectly interspersed numerous Gucci classic products and industry gossip, making it a delight for fashion enthusiasts. The appearance of many celebrities and supermodels added more selling points to the documentary.

After a small premiere, most mainstream North American media published reviews of "The Mark of Gucci" on its release day, November 24.

Unlike the lukewarm reception of last week's films, "The Mark of Gucci" surprisingly received a lot of positive feedback.

Variety, which had given negative reviews to "Scream 2" and "Look Who's Talking," lavishly praised "The Mark of Gucci" for creating a beautiful fashion dream. The Hollywood Reporter commended its meticulously crafted narrative structure as surpassing most Hollywood films.

With an excellent media score of 8.3, "The Mark of Gucci" topped the ratings among all new releases in the past two weeks.

On the other hand, "Back to the Future Part II," almost guaranteed to be a hit in many people's eyes, had a surprisingly underwhelming box office performance in its first weekend.

On Friday, November 24, compared to Thursday, "Back to the Future Part II" saw a 41% increase to $11.19 million, within expectations.

However, its box office performance on Saturday shocked many.

Typically, a film's weekend box office follows a pattern of a lower Friday, a significant increase on Saturday, and a decline on Sunday.

Yet, "Back to the Future Part II" collected $11.19 million on Friday, and many expected its first full weekend gross to surpass $40 million. Surprisingly, its Saturday box office dropped 7% to $10.4 million.

If "Back to the Future Part II's" Saturday decline could be explained by a surge of fans from the previous installment watching on Friday, its Sunday performance, with a whopping 40% drop from Saturday, meant it couldn't replicate the success of its predecessor.

Typically, successful films don't see a Sunday drop of more than 20% compared to Saturday.

"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," with a similar summer release pattern to "Back to the Future Part II," saw only a 9% Sunday drop from Saturday, and "The Sixth Sense," currently leading this year's box office, even saw an increase over its first weekend.

Compared to "Back to the Future Part II's" early decline, "Look Who's Talking" also surprised many with its performance.

However, unlike "Back to the Future Part II's" weak showing, "Look Who's Talking" benefited from the Thanksgiving holiday wind, unexpectedly achieving a rebound.

Specifically, due to "Back to the Future Part II's" underperformance, the market share it vacated allowed several concurrent films to rebound.

From November 24 to 26, "Back to the Future Part II" barely won the weekend box office crown by a slim margin. Then, this sci-fi comedy, which most concurrent films had avoided, was overtaken by "Look Who's Talking" during the weekdays.

Eventually, from November 24 to 30, "Look Who's Talking" reclaimed the top spot in the weekly box office with $33.38 million, a 14% increase from the previous week, swiftly accumulating a total of $62.61 million in just two weeks.

Daenerys Entertainment's concerns after the film's opening week were completely dispelled.

With a two-week gross over $60 million, no one doubted "Look Who's Talking's" ability to break $100 million domestically. Moreover, based on this trend, its total domestic gross was expected to far exceed $100 million.

Following closely, "Back to the Future Part II" ranked second with $32.71 million. This highly anticipated "blockbuster" from Universal Pictures lost the weekly top spot in its first full week and might not regain it throughout its run.

Aside from these two heavyweights, Eddie Murphy's "Harlem Nights" couldn't achieve an upturn like "Look Who's Talking" and instead saw a 42% drop, ranking third with $13.61 million and a two-week total of $37.32 million.

"Harlem Nights" was expected to reach a respectable $60 million total in North America.

Disney's "The Little Mermaid" also saw a 13% box office increase, earning another $9.63 million.

Then, surprisingly outshining "Scream 2" for a spot in the top five of the week's chart, "The Mark of Gucci" emerged as the biggest highlight.

With exceptional quality, various topics, and substantial promotional efforts, "The Mark of Gucci" earned $9.55 million in its opening week on 532 screens, narrowly trailing "The Little Mermaid" by less than $100,000.

Moreover, this fashion documentary's nearly $18,000 average per theater was the highest of any film on the week's chart.

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