[Chapter 27: A Shocking Scene]
On November 18th, the day after Eric flew to New York, Ho Alone and 17 Again officially premiered. Ho Alone opened with 1,000 screens, while 17 Again had 1,279 screens, surpassing Ho Alone by more than 250. Fox had no worries about any wager agreents, so they threw everything into the promotion right from the start.
Also opening at the sa ti were Universal Pictures' animated film The Land Before Ti with 1,395 screens, and Disney's Buena Vista International distributing the animated film Oliver & Company with 952 screens.
With three children's films premiering at the sa ti, the dia thought Eric had a lower chance of winning the wager, but Eric wasn't too worried. While the two animated films might cause so box office pressure on Ho Alone initially, in the long run, they wouldn't hold a candle to Ho Alone. In its previous iteration, Ho Alone had pulled in over $10 million for ten consecutive weeks.
After attending two premiere events, Eric and the crew returned to the hotel around eleven at night. At that ti, there wasn't the advanced box office reporting system we have today, so they would have to wait until the following week to get the box office numbers for Ho Alone and 17 Again.
...
Back in his room, Eric had a shower and was about to go to bed when the phone suddenly rang. The only one who would call at this hour was Aniston.
"Hey, Eric, are you asleep?" Aniston asked, her tone tinged with excitent.
Eric sat up on the bed, towel-drying his damp hair. "Not yet, just got out of the shower. What's got you so excited, Jenny?"
"Guess what?"
Eric joked, "Oh, I know! You're pregnant! Don't worry, I'll take responsibility."
"Ugh, you big perv, is that all you think about?" Aniston spat into the receiver, "I just got out of Ho Alone and saw sothing really amusing."
Eric smiled, "What happened?"
"So, I ca out of the theater and saw this five or six-year-old boy yelling to see Kevin. His parents wouldn't let him because they just watched it, and the kid threw himself on the ground crying. People thought the parents were kidnappers and started beating them up. They even called the cops, and multiple squad cars showed up. It was hilarious, haha!"
Aniston rely shared this as a fun anecdote from her movie outing, but Eric saw deeper implications in the story. After chatting with Aniston a bit longer, he hung up and lay back in bed, feeling a bit giddy.
Because things were unfolding exactly as they had back in the day. The reason Ho Alone achieved such astonishing box office success back then was due to a wave of rowdy kids who kept watching it over and over, eager to imitate Kevin's every move, ultimately driving its incredible box office performance.
...
As Eric suspected, on the first day of release, Ho Alone and the two animated films had similar box office figures, but as positive word-of-mouth spread remarkably fast among children, the next day, Ho Alone's daily gross doubled, with a significant increase again on the third day, prompting lines outside so popular theaters.
After all, animated films can be watched anyti, but the clever and mischievous Kevin is a character kids can't encounter every day. Most kids fantasized about growing up quickly to do things they couldn't do now. Ho Alone presented a perspective where kids could experience what they imagined but couldn't dare or achieve in real life.
A wave of imitation swept through North Arica's children. A San Francisco newspaper even reported on a real-life Ho Alone incident, where a nine-year-old boy, after watching Ho Alone, locked himself in his room while his family prepared to go on vacation to Hawaii. Astoundingly, the parents of six children didn't realize this until they reached Hawaii, where they discovered the boy wasn't with them. They had to abort their vacation and fly back to San Francisco, only to find a ssy ho and a boy waiting for "dumb burglars." Unfortunately, he was t by his frantic parents instead.
...
A week later, the box office results for the first week rolled in. Although the previously apparent signs of success had prepared everyone sowhat, Ho Alone's jaw-dropping $27.55 million opening week box office still astonished everyone.
While over $20 million couldn't compare to the hundred-million-dollar opening weekends of films in later years, in that era, this achievent overshadowed all recent high-grossing movies. Even Spielberg's E.T. hadn't reached such an impressive start. The only franchise surpassing Ho Alone was George Lucas's Star Wars, but that series had a budget well over a tens of tis that of Ho Alone.
anwhile, 17 Again also perford well, securing second place with $13.12 million. The competing animated films, The Land Before Ti and Oliver & Company only garnered $7.12 million and $3.98 million respectively, far below what both studios had expected. Undoubtedly, Ho Alone crushed the box office for the two animations, leaving both Universal and Disney executives lanting the dominance of Ho Alone while envying Columbia's good fortune.
...
Columbia did have a stroke of luck, but upon seeing the first week box office results, Columbia's president Cohen Blount was not in a good mood. He even found himself breaking his teacup several tis out of frustration.
According to the first week box office data, Columbia reassessed and determined that Ho Alone's North Arican box office would definitely exceed $200 million, and it might even surpass $300 million. Cohen Blount was filled with regret, wishing he had insisted on acquiring the Ho Alone rights instead of signing so ridiculous wager agreent. If he had, Columbia would be raking in hundreds of millions from this movie this year.
Now, due to the wager agreent, if Ho Alone hits $300 million, Columbia would pay $120 million in shares to Eric, leaving them with only $45 million, and after subtracting distribution costs, Columbia's profit might barely a fraction of Eric's $120 million share. Cohen Blount had entertained the idea of tearing up the agreent multiple tis, but that wager agreent was now common knowledge across the nation. If he tore it up, Columbia would likely lose the lawsuit, and he would beco a laughingstock, with him as president sure to be scapegoated and ousted.
"No, I need to find a way to recover losses, I must..." Cohen Blount mumbled to himself when his assistant knocked and entered, saying, "Mr. Blount, everyone has arrived; we can start the
eting now."
Cohen rubbed his temples, stood up, and headed to the conference room.
Once seated, Cohen directly questioned Lester Reed, responsible for the Ho Alone project, "Lester, how's the data analysis coming along?"
Lester Reed was supposed to return with the Ho Alone crew on a late-night flight, but an urgent call from headquarters had him returning to Los Angeles half a day earlier. Upon arriving at Columbia headquarters and learning about Ho Alone's first-week box office results, Lester felt instinctively uneasy.
Glancing nervously at Cohen's stoic face, it was Cohen Blount who had rashly agreed to the wager agreent in the first place. Given Cohen's stubborn nature, it was likely he would take
his frustrations out on Lester.
"Mr. Blount, according to the analysis from our data departnt, based on the wager agreent, we can expect to receive around $50 million in shares, with the peak share value being approximately $225 million. Here's the data curve."
Cohen took the analysis docunt, glancing at the red parabolic line representing Columbia's profits and the green line indicating Eric's share, causing his temples to throb again.
Bang--
Another teacup shattered against the redwood floor with a muffled thud, causing everyone in the conference room to flinch and lower their heads in silence.
In general, a $50 million box office share would make many film executives smile in their
sleep; even among the six major studios, this decade saw yearly box office profits top out at around one or two hundred million.
However, comparing that with the potentially over a hundred million that Eric might earn, all
of Cohen's excitent vanished in an instant.
"So, you were responsible for signing the wager agreent. What now?" Cohen coldly surveyed everyone in the room, his gaze finally landing on Lester Reed.
*****
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