Chapter 43: Box Office Champion? Heartbroken and Breathless!

Although winning an award was out of the question, *Admission Notice* was never going to surpass *Gladiator* in either box office or artistic achievement, especially with *Gladiator* likely to win the Oscar for Best Picture. However, a nomination was still a possibility.

A nomination would undoubtedly increase the film's value.

After all, aside from the online streaming rights, all other rights to the film had already been acquired by Warner Bros.

Of course, whether to pursue this and to what extent would ultimately depend on how the film performed at the box office and what profits Warner Bros. would gain.

On this matter, both Warner Bros. and the crew members such as Sera, Mia, and others were anxiously awaiting the results.

Wayne, however, was relatively calm compared to them, even though he was somewhat excited.

Three days passed quickly, and it was now 6 a.m. on September 30.

Wayne, who had been sleeping soundly in bed with Jessica and Mia, was rudely awakened by Sera's congratulatory call.

"It's out! Wayne! The premiere numbers for *Admission Notice* are here!"

"3,075 theaters, $11.81 million at the box office, averaging $3,856 per theater per day!"

"Warner Bros. has already decided to continue reaching out to theaters to expand the release!"

"Oh my God, Wayne! We might just be the box office champion this weekend!"

On the other end of the line, Sera, who had become more mature and composed after nearly going bankrupt, was now as excited as a starstruck teenager. Her enthusiasm made Wayne quickly hold the phone away from his ear.

But it was understandable.

Based on the $11.81 million opening day box office, the North American box office for the first weekend would likely exceed $40 million.

Though this figure couldn't compare to *Spider-Man*'s $114 million opening weekend in two years, and there was still a significant gap from the current opening weekend record, it was more than enough to secure the weekend's top spot.

With such a strong opening weekend performance, as long as word of mouth didn't collapse, based on Hollywood's past patterns, the North American box office would likely surpass $100 million.

Globally, the box office was estimated to approach $200 million.

Such a result would be a point of pride for anyone involved in the film, especially for a producer like Sera, who had just experienced a devastating failure.

However, what pained her was that the film's rights had already been sold to Warner Bros.

Any subsequent income would have little to do with them.

If *Admission Notice* did manage to reach over $100 million in North America and $200 million globally, plus the sales of DVD rights and TV broadcast rights, Warner Bros. would likely make an astounding profit of over $70 million.

Yet, they had only paid $19.5 million for the rights.

At this moment, Sera, who had once been proud of selling a $8 million low-budget film for $19.5 million, was heartbroken to the point of almost being unable to breathe.

It was like a scene of extreme pain and pleasure, and such excitement was to be expected.

"Okay, Sera, calm down."

"First, the film rights have already been sold, so the subsequent performance doesn't have much to do with us."

"Second, although we won't see any of the box office revenue, the better the film performs, the more confidence we'll have when selling *Happy Death Day* next."

"So we need to look at the bigger picture."

Pausing, Wayne continued, "You didn't stay up all night, did you? That's not good! You're the CEO of the company, and if you collapse, the company will be in trouble. So I suggest you take a day off, have a bath, eat breakfast, and rest properly."

"Okay, Wayne, I think you're right." Sera took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.

"But I'll postpone the day off for now. I'll adjust myself."

After hanging up, Wayne went back to sleep.

Sera, after making herself a cup of coffee, returned to her desk.

Even though Wayne was right—the better *Admission Notice* did, they wouldn't earn a single extra cent—Sera couldn't help but keep track of it.

Plus, Mia and Jessica were also doing the same, which meant that even when Wayne wasn't participating in promotional activities, he still received daily updates on *Admission Notice*'s box office from Mia.

"Oh my God! The first weekend box office was $41.3 million! Darling, our film won the weekend box office champion!"

"The second weekend box office was $49.88 million! This means that after ten days of release, the accumulated North American box office has reached $91.18 million. Doesn't this mean that *Admission Notice*'s North American box office will surpass $100 million before the next weekend?!"

"Darling, do you think *Admission Notice* will really manage to break $200 million in the end?"

First weekend box office: $41.3 million; second weekend box office: $49.88 million; and the second weekend's box office report was $34.7 million, with a drop of only 15%, much lower than the usual curve.

Such astonishing results led Warner Bros. to further increase their promotional efforts and even started a global release ahead of schedule.

However, while everyone was optimistic about the film's future, Wayne knew that its potential was almost exhausted.

On Monday morning, after breakfast, Wayne sat on the sofa overlooking the estate, gradually getting used to picking up the newspaper handed to him by Hannah and started flipping through it.

The $34.7 million weekend box office hadn't helped *Admission Notice* secure the second weekend's box office championship because *Meet the Parents*, produced by DreamWorks and distributed by Universal, had premiered, achieving a first weekend box office of $47 million, which was significantly higher than *Admission Notice*'s first weekend result.

It was predictable that *Admission Notice*'s box office would be squeezed and lose some of its space.

But even so, Warner Bros. was already extremely satisfied and had made a huge profit.

After some thought, Wayne picked up the phone and called James Wan to check on the post-production progress of *Happy Death Day*.

Due to Jessica's surprisingly excellent performance, the filming of *Happy Death Day* had gone exceptionally smoothly and had been completed four days ago, on October 5. It had entered the post-production phase.

Wayne had originally planned to oversee it personally, as post-production was just as crucial as filming.

It could even determine the final quality and success of a film.

However, he was too busy with various promotional activities for *Admission Notice*.

With rare downtime and no enthusiasm to do much else, Wayne just wanted to relax at home and enjoy Jessica's and Hannah's care. So, after some consideration, he decided to leave the work entirely to James Wan.

This decision made the newcomer director, James Wan, somewhat overwhelmed and even inspired a "willing to die for a trusted friend" kind of sentiment.

According to Mia, who was in charge of follow-ups, James Wan had practically moved into the editing room, only leaving for the restroom, and had stayed there even for meals and sleep.

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*(End of Chapter)*