Chapter 226: Murphy's Biggest Problem

On a Saturday morning, as the sun just climbed above the horizon, Las Vegas, a city built in the desert, began to feel the heat. In a manor on the outskirts of the city, Ed Mints left the golf course and slowly walked towards his villa.

With age, he gradually delegated his responsibilities at the company. Apart from attending routine weekend briefings, he rarely interfered directly with the operations of CinemaScore.

Entering the villa, Ed Mints took a towel from a servant and wiped his hands before heading into the living room.

There, a young man sat on the sofa. Seeing Ed Mints, he quickly stood up. Ed Mints gestured for him to relax, "Arthur, you're here."

"Yes," Arthur replied respectfully. "Mr. Mints, I've brought the latest data statistics from yesterday."

"Go to the dining room and help yourself," Ed Mints said as he walked upstairs. "I'll change my clothes and then listen to your data."

Ten minutes later, Ed Mints, now in different clothes, sat in the dining room with a simple breakfast laid out before him. Arthur stood across from him.

Ed Mints sliced a piece of sausage and ate it. After swallowing, he asked, "So, any surprises in the North American movie market yesterday?"

Although the traditional summer season in North America wouldn't kick off until the next weekend with blockbusters like "X-Men 2", this week's market was not to be underestimated. "Sin City," a movie that cost $40 million and had gained a high reputation from previews, was under widespread industry attention.

There was also Joe Schumacher's new movie "Phone Booth Sniper" premiering this weekend. After leading the "Batman" series into a dead end, Schumacher's career was almost ruined, and he had to turn to independent, small-scale productions. Whether he could make a comeback was a significant point of interest in this weekend's North American film market.

"Yesterday, there were two major releases," Arthur began, "Sin City," directed by Murphy Stanton, opened in 2850 theaters, and "Phone Booth Sniper," directed by Joe Schumacher, in 2418 theaters…"

Arthur glanced at his notes, "Both movies have received good audience and critical acclaim."

Arthur knew Ed Mints' preferences. "According to the important data we have, 'Phone Booth Sniper' has a Rotten Tomatoes freshness of 73% and an IMDB average rating of 7.6; 'Sin City' fares a bit better, with a freshness of 84% and an IMDB average of 8.8."

"Hmm," Ed Mints nodded, unsurprised by these figures. "What about our statistics?"

Unlike some major studios' preview screenings, CinemaScore's surveys were conducted immediately after the audiences watched the movies. Their predictions based on these audience reviews often showed incredible accuracy.

"After the premieres and advance screenings the day before yesterday, the overall audience rating for 'Sin City' was A+, and 'Phone Booth Sniper' was A," Arthur reported, clearing his slightly itchy throat. "With the expanded screenings yesterday, both movies saw a decline in audience ratings. 'Sin City' is now close to an A, and 'Phone Booth Sniper' has dropped to A-."

As he spoke, Arthur placed a document in front of Ed Mints.

While flipping through the report, Ed Mints inquired, "What about their box office performance?"

"Including the advance screenings," Arthur replied promptly, "'Sin City' made $14.55 million on its opening day. With an overlapping target audience, 'Phone Booth Sniper', which had comparatively worse reviews, was impacted, earning only $4.27 million."

Hearing these figures and after reviewing the detailed company data, Ed Mints, an experienced film market analyst, quickly formed his own judgment. "'Sin City's' audience rating is dropping a bit quickly. Its narrow audience range means it will struggle to reach $100 million in North America. Miramax and Harvey Weinstein need to come up with marketing strategies."

Arthur, standing opposite, pulled out a pen and notebook like a magician and meticulously noted down Ed Mints' words.

"Joe Schumacher..." Ed Mints shook his head. "It's unfortunate for him to encounter another R-rated movie on the same weekend. 'Phone Booth Sniper's' likely North American box office endpoint is around $40 million."

He sighed lightly. Schumacher was once a very talented director, but his encounter with "Batman" was unfortunate for both Bruce Wayne and himself. He ruined the series, and it, in turn, dragged him down.

Compared to the aging Joe Schumacher, Murphy Stanton was definitely a rising star in the directorial field. His unique filming and production style made him stand out in the heavily homogenized Hollywood. On top of a personal style, he appropriately blended elements popular in Hollywood to ensure his films' market value, preventing them from being marginalized due to their uniqueness.

Most importantly, Murphy's age – he was only twenty-three – meant he hadn't yet reached a director's prime creative period. In fact, he was still at the beginning and exploring phase, but he was making steady progress, laying a solid foundation for his future.

If he were older, with a more mature production philosophy and style, and transitioned into mainstream cinema, what achievements could he create?

Ed Mints was eager to see the future of this promising young director.

Although "Sin City" and "Phone Booth Sniper" didn't engage in intense competition over the weekend, Ed Mints clearly favored the former. Schumacher was on the decline, while Murphy Stanton's career was soaring. There was no comparison between the two.

However, Murphy Stanton still had many challenges to address before joining the ranks of top-tier directors. His films' style and audience reach had always been an issue. To truly step into the league of super directors, he couldn't ignore his films' audience demographics like Quentin Tarantino did.

As Ed Mints thought, neither "Terror Planet" nor the current "Sin City" were mainstream movies. Murphy was aware of this, but these were the types of films he studied the most. At this stage, "Sin City" was the most suitable project he could find. Given his background, it was challenging to get someone to invest over $50 million in production costs.

Rather than taking overly large steps and risking negative effects, it was better to proceed steadily.

The summer season was about to begin, and most moviegoers were saving their money and energy, preparing for blockbusters like "X-Men 2." This made the audience numbers relatively low this weekend, which was related to the upcoming hot summer season and "Sin City's" style.

Despite the media and critics giving the film high ratings – even Roger Ebert rarely gave two thumbs up – this couldn't change the fact that most mainstream audiences found it difficult to accept.

"Sin City" achieved impressive box office results on Friday, but soon, data collected by Miramax reached Murphy. According to several research agencies they hired, the audience who watched the movie on Thursday and Friday were predominantly comic book fans, Murphy's fans, and supporters of Robert Downey Jr., James Franco, Jessica Simpson, and Jessica Alba, making up nearly 70% of the surveyed audience.

Murphy understood that broadly speaking, "Sin City" was not just a typical genre film but could even be classified as a fan movie.

Fan movies in this era of North America weren't what they would become in the future, and "Sin City's" R-rating also meant it couldn't become a typical teen fan movie like "Twilight" or "The Hunger Games."

Normally, for a newly released mainstream commercial movie in North America's summer season, the second day, Saturday, would usually produce the highest single-day box office, especially since Friday was a workday. However, "Sin City" was not in this category.

From Saturday morning, the 2850 theaters showing "Sin City" saw a decline in attendance rates to different extents, but fortunately, the decline was less than "Phone Booth Sniper," which premiered the same weekend.

Murphy had seen Schumacher's film and found it quite good. However, the movie had a difficult fate. Initially scheduled for release in November 2002, it was postponed due to the sniper tragedies in Washington and Maryland, which caused a strong public reaction and increased the risks of releasing the film. 20th Century Fox had no choice but to move it to this year.

This was a typical case of a movie being affected by its social environment. Plus, clashing with "Sin City" made this troubled film's public screening even more challenging.

But that's the North American film market – a highly competitive market filled with movies entering theaters each year. If not competing with one film, it would be another.

Affected by "Sin City," also an R-rated movie, and with "Phone Booth Sniper" not having particularly outstanding audience reviews, its Saturday box office inevitably slid, only making a little over $3.6 million.

Due to consuming a lot of its fan audience on the first day, "Sin City's" output also declined on Saturday. However, media, critics, and audience reviews were relatively firm, and the drop was not significant, closing at $12.15 million.

On Sunday, as the next day was a weekday, the evening box office would be affected, and both movies' single-day revenues dropped again. As the new week began, CAA, which provided package services for "Sin City," was very encouraged.

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