Chapter 835: A Little Regret

[Chapter 835: A Little Regret]

Titanic's box office had already hit $447 million last week, and it seemed almost inevitable that it would surpass the $460 million North American box office record of Star Wars this week. Eric wasn't overly surprised by this; listening to Christina's excited tone, it was obvious she was a fan of Titanic.

As his drowsiness faded, Eric turned over in bed, smiling as he looked at Christina, who lay next to him. "We'll talk about it later. Right now..."

As he spoke, Eric suddenly reached out, wrapping his arm around Christina's slender waist and pulling her close, rolling over in the process.

"Ah--haha, don't!" Christina playfully protested, laughing as she pretended to struggle against him.

With Eric towering over six feet, Christina, at only five feet one inch, was dwarfed by him, and as he moved, her petite form completely disappeared beneath him.

"Little kitty, remember this next time: waking a man suddenly can make him pretty grumpy."

Christina squinted at him, her cheeks flushed, stretching her arms as Eric removed her little T-shirt, begging softly, "Eric, I'm sorry; I won't do it again."

"We'll deal with the next time later; you still need to be punished this time."

"But I made breakfast! If you wait too long, it's going to get cold."

Upon hearing this, Eric felt hunger gnawing at him. He glanced out at the sunshine -- time was getting late. With the filming for Casino Royale wrapping up soon, he knew he had to oversee the final details himself. Resisting his temptation, he finally released Christina and rolled out of bed. "Alright, since you're being so good, I'll let you off this time."

...

Star Wars had grossed over $460 million after numerous re-releases in twenty years. Thus, if they were talking about first-release box office records, before Titanic, Eric's Jurassic Park, which had earned $450 million in North America, held that title.

Regardless, after twelve weeks in theaters, Titanic racked up a North American box office of $469 million, breaking all previous records and earning an unprecedented twelve consecutive weeks at number one in the North American box office.

Though everyone knew Titanic would break the North American box office record this week without question, the number of those as calm as Eric after the reality set in was few.

After getting up, in the half hour he spent having breakfast with Christina, Eric received five or six calls on his mobile phone.

The media in North America had focused on this achievement today; many of the newspapers Eric subscribed to displayed the headline news about Titanic breaking North America's box office record. Online, the excitement surged, with Titanic's large fan base flooding Yahoo Community and various movie forums to celebrate its box office success.

At the company's behest, ABC's morning show Good Morning America dedicated a full twenty minutes to recounting the film's journey from production to release. The host even connected live with several creative team members who were promoting the film in Japan, leading to a 30% increase in viewership for Good Morning America.

Just a few months earlier, no one had predicted whether Titanic would manage to break the North American box office record in that week.

However, today was March 14, with only ten days left until the 69th Academy Awards. After the nominations were announced, the release dates for the film in the remaining key overseas markets were scheduled in the subsequent two weeks to maximize Titanic's Oscar influence. This meant the number of countries where Titanic would be released internationally would soar from fewer than 30 to 68.

On this day, the number of overseas release countries for Titanic would increase by 17, including Germany, France, and Japan -- its most significant overseas markets.

In the original timeline, Titanic's first international run had grossed $1.2 billion.

Eric recalled that the Japan box office was about $200 million. Given the current $91 million box office figure from the UK market, both Germany and France, which had similar market scales, might also surpass $100 million. This meant these three markets would collectively account for around $400 million, representing about one-third of Titanic's previous international box office total.

With this in mind, Firefly was particularly focused on the releases in these three countries. In fact, the main creators of Titanic had already been rushing to attend premiere events across Europe and Japan, with Cameron and others still in Japan.

Eric was confident that after this new round of wide releases, Titanic's overseas box office would explode. Until then, due to Firefly's established distribution strategy, the overseas box office had barely reached $400 million.

...

After a busy morning at Firefly Studios, Eric headed to Burbank in the afternoon for a meeting about the next stage of Titanic's release.

The cumulative box office for Titanic in week twelve reached $469 million, which posed a minor dilemma -- or a regret -- for Firefly's distribution department.

"Even though Titanic's box office revenue has maintained a weekly scale of $20 million, based on our survey data, the majority of this consists of repeat viewings by core fans. These people keep returning to theaters, not only because of the film's inherent charm but also because of their passion for it and their hopes for it to create more box office miracles," Robert Thompson, the president of Firefly's distribution department, outlined the current situation during the meeting.

"So, Titanic has three promotional points to stimulate continued growth in its North American box office: breaking the North American box office record, reaching a total North American takings of $500 million, and the Oscars. If we can stagger these three events across three weeks, that would undoubtedly be optimal. But the current situation is that Titanic has already broken the record, and the remaining two points are likely to occur in the same week -- or even the same day. As the Oscars are just one complete week plus one weekend away, the awards ceremony is set for the Monday of the week after next. That's when the box office for the weekend's 14th week will be reported."

Though Robert Thompson stated this, his tone didn't carry much regret, nor did anyone else in the meeting room.

Everyone could tell that with Titanic breaking the North American box office record this week and then perhaps breaking the $500 million mark next week, followed by an Oscar battle the week after, it looked like a perfect sequence of promotional events.

However, maintaining a weekly revenue of over $20 million was already a huge show of support from fans. While Firefly could easily inject $10 million to boost Titanic's box office past $500 million next week, doing so would be akin to scratching a perfect gem like Titanic, which would likely send their competitors into a frenzy of envy.

As everyone murmured amongst themselves, someone commented, "Robert, did you forget to consider the global box office breaking $1 billion as a promotional point?"

"Of course I considered it," Robert Thompson replied, "but that's not a new record -- Jurassic Park broke that four years ago. Besides, this figure will likely be available after the Oscars, and by then, there's a good chance the North American box office will start to decline significantly. We shouldn't expect much from the North American market."

Someone else chimed in, "What about a global figure of $2 billion?"

The meeting fell silent for a moment before everyone broke into quiet laughter.

Robert Thompson shook his head, looking at the speaker -- Kenneth Horne, the president of New Line Cinema.

Before Titanic's release, Kenneth Horne had experienced a significant boost in his position within the group as New Line had nearly matched the box office performance of Firefly's major production departments. However, with Titanic's explosive success, New Line's numbers were left far behind once again. Kenneth, who had been seeking more resources for New Line, naturally felt very frustrated, though he wouldn't show it in this setting.

Within the Firefly group, Kenneth Horne and Robert Thompson held similar status.

Kenneth Horne oversaw New Line Cinema, which included a complete production and distribution system. Although they primarily produced mid to low-budget films, New Line had consistently delivered impressive results over the years. Supported by former New Line personnel, Kenneth still received significant attention from higher-ups. Robert Thompson, as president of Firefly's distribution department, managed the global distribution of films for Firefly, Disney, and Pixar. Even though he didn't handle production, his control over major film releases made him a formidable player.

Though their businesses didn't overlap, both were competitive within the same framework.

"Kenneth, since you said that, how about a bet? If Titanic's global box office surpasses $2 billion, I'll treat everyone present to dinner. If not, you do."

"Sure thing. A dinner is something I can manage," Kenneth Horne replied without hesitation, glancing around.

In this celebratory atmosphere, no one minded this small wager, although almost everyone felt that while Titanic could undoubtedly break $1 billion -- even possibly reaching $1.5 billion -- $2 billion seemed too far-fetched.

Eric closed the document he had been reviewing, raised his head, and smiled at the two of them. "Alright, I'll take note of your bet. I'll pick the place, so you both better save your year-end bonuses."

As key executives at Firefly, both Kenneth Horne and Robert Thompson earned bonuses in the multi-million dollar range. When Eric mentioned this, Robert Thompson exclaimed in mock horror, "Eric, you'd be better off robbing a bank! No hotel in the world could cost millions for a single meal."

"Robbery is illegal, and I'm a law-abiding citizen," Eric chuckled, making a joke.

After sharing a good laugh, Katzenberg announced the next agenda item.

"After analyzing for some time, we discovered that many Titanic fans are incredibly interested in the filming process. We've perfectly preserved all the props used during Titanic's production, and the massive model of the ship still stands at the filming location in Rosarito, Mexico, while some key props have been taken back to Los Angeles and are currently stored in the studios' warehouse. So, let's discuss the feasibility of a Titanic-themed exhibition."

As Katzenberg finished speaking, there was a moment of silence in the room; everyone was flipping through the distributed survey reports.

Eric also began reviewing the survey in his hand.

Many people have a keen interest in collections. Props from classic films can often sell for astronomical prices, providing a rich cultural context for hosting an exhibition on the Titanic's props.

While unsure of the specific figures from the original timeline, Eric remembered that after Titanic's massive success, Fox had held grand prop tours around the globe. There's no way Fox would have undertaken such an endeavor had there not been substantial financial incentive.

Moreover, one thing Eric regretted most in the original timeline was that Cameron's 1:1 scale Titanic model, replicated perfectly at the Rosarito set, was dismantled and sold for scrap metal during the film's post-production phase to raise funds. This would surely be a sore point for many fans.

This time around, Eric had instructed the film's creators from the start to preserve all props carefully. His initial rationale was to support future productions of retro-related Titanic films, as those props had cost tens of millions to create.

However, now that Titanic had achieved similar success as before, the real reason behind this decision could be presented without hesitation.

While the Titanic-themed exhibition could not exist as long as a Disney theme park, Firefly, armed with vast experience in operating theme parks, could easily surpass Fox's attempts from the past.

*****

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