The next day, day of another day, with the day begin a day after yesterday, so today is the day.
Kidding. Enough bullshit — let's get on the topic.
By right, today's weekend wasn't really vibing for Jihoon's Inception.
Not that his film wasn't attractive enough to the public, but it was released with another fierce competitor.
Well, it made sense, because it was summer season, and to any blockbuster-appropriate production, this season was the harvest season — the season where gold coins were ready to mine.
Which is why every summer of the year, any studio that had a blockbuster-type of bullet in their magazine was likely to discharge it during these months.
And depending on the bullet size they had, the higher damage they could deal.
Like Jihoon's Inception, and also their competitor, MCU's Iron Man.
These were the biggest bullets in the market now, and any clever studio executive would know to dodge them.
Because just by looking at their production cost, these people knew exactly what was at stake.
The two mentioned films were equipped with high-calibre gunpower — in another word, big production cost and big promotion budget.
When they entered the market, they entered with a dominance of aura.
They could easily tremble the market and overturn any box-office performance of any film foolish enough to stand in their way.
So when giants like this entered the battlefield, anyone with a damn brain knew how to react.
Small-budget films? Indies? Mid-range projects? They would get crushed instantly.
Which was why, after last month's HCU Buried, Jihoon didn't produce any HCU series for now.
He knew small production work like HCU couldn't compete in a month like this — not when the giants were swinging their clubs and roaring for blood.
And beside that, with the limited release cycle, the market could only contain two massive-sized productions within the given period.
Not that the world audience was small, but the competitive attention span was.
For instance, if we symbolically used 1000 people to represent the global audience, then two big production films would absorb the highest percentage.
When they did, the leftover audience wouldn't be enough to let any other film survive the theatrical cycle and come out intact.
So with that in mind, Jihoon's Inception'sbiggest rival for this month was Iron Man.
With that being said, only one could win within the limited theatrical cycle.
Both executives from Marvel and JH knew this was a showdown they couldn't avoid.
Because the opening window for every summer season was limited too.
Normally, the summer window was from May to August: four months of full cinematic warfare.
And on each month, only two blockbuster films were allowed to claim the main screening dominance.
Just like in this summer — in the month of May, JH's Inceptionand MCU's Iron Man secured the month's window.
The next following months were all secured by other big productions like Nolan's The Dark Knight, Disney's Wall-E, and many others.
One by one, each was more competitive than the previous.
So practically, it wasn't that Jihoon wanted to face MCU directly, especially one with a bigger fanbase than the HCU.
But the opening window for each month was already locked by the rule of thumb.
Every well-known studio had already booked the slot appropriate for them.
So, other than competitiveness, it was also a show of power.
Not everyone could secure a good opening slot during summer.
Which was why Jihoon had no choice but to go head-to-head and clash with the mighty MCU.
But, luckily, Jihoon had his own advantages — or let's just say JH had a dominant position too.
Because HCU was in his inventory and had compiled a substantial fanbase.
Although it wasn't comparable to MCU yet, at least in America Jihoon could proudly and confidently say that HCU had at least 100,000 fans.
And besides that, he was the founder of cinematic universe filmmaking.
Although the released film Inceptionwasn't in the series of HCU, JH Picture was now a household name.
In a world where film art became a brand, Jihoon was indeed the best luxury product — the founder of a unique brand with consistently top-notch quality.
HCU had already created a sensation that could push forward every JH production.
Under that influence, JH Picture and MCU Studio were standing in a break-even stance.
And right now, on the same release cycle, they were about to compete for this month's highest box-office performance.
Now, at JH office, Jihoon was sitting front-to-front with his competitor — Stan Lee.
Stan Lee came today not to add oil to the fire but with a face full of amusement.
He knew that both MCU and HCU would inevitably cross paths sooner or later.
Even their fans wanted to see them in a dogfight, just like Marvel vs. DC. The same rule applied here.
These were the only cinematic universes currently dominating the market.
DC would need a few more years before joining this battlefield.
Stan didn't come empty-handed.
He came holding today's newspaper — or, to be exact, today's entertainment tabloid.
He slid the paper across Jihoon's desk and gave him a smirking smile, as if he were ready to start a fistfight with headlines.
Jihoon looked at him in mild disgust but still picked up the paper. He knew Stan Lee was just an overgrown kid looking for fun in his old age.
And the headlines were exactly the type of chaos Stan lived for:
[Inception Stuns at Its Premiere; JH Picture and Marvel Studio Fans Already Loading Ammo for the Box Office War]
[Hollywood Meltdown: Inception Premiere Dominates Headlines as Jihoon's JH Collides Directly with Marvel's Iron Man]
[Jihoon's Inception Ignites the Summer, Pulling His Dream World Into Direct Combat with Marvel's Biggest Gun]
[Hollywood at War: Inception Premieres Like a Tsunami, Crashing Straight Into MCU's Iron Army]
[Fans Explode After Inception Premiere—Internet Declares "JH vs MCU: Only One Survives This May's Summer"]
[May's Summer Bloodbath: Inception vs Iron Man — Will They Walk Out Intact or Come Down Crashing?]
[Dream World Against Iron Suit — What Does the Audience Want?]
[Is Lee Jihoon Going to Create a Miracle Outside HCU? Or Will He Be Damned to His Low-Budget Production Curse?]
[Inception vs Iron Man — or Let's Just Say Lee Jihoon vs Stan Lee]
[2008 May Belong to the Lees' Fight]
Jihoon exhaled.
Stan Lee laughed like he had just won a lottery.