Over the next week, the screening rate of "Shrek" continued to increase, from 15% to 30%.
With the increase in screenings, the weekly box office reached $60 million.
Not only that, the IMDb score continued to rise, from 7.7 to 7.9. It could be said that it was thriving in all aspects and was unstoppable.
If the performance of "Shrek" was already very impressive, then "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which was released just a week ago, had dropped countless jaws.
In its first weekend, it grossed $120 million.
It was not inferior to the box office performance of "The Mummy Returns" in its first week.
But this was achieved with a 25% screening rate, and without any box office inflation, demonstrating the dominance of a true box office king.
Lin Yuan loved the "Harry Potter" movie series in his previous life, and he loved it even more in this life.
After all, it was an ally that helped him dig a trap to bury Director Sommers, even if it was just an unintentional coincidence.
He also noticed a detail: the actors in the "Harry Potter" series of movies were all British!
This was something he hadn't noticed in his previous life. At that time, he was just an ordinary audience member. Who would be interested in knowing what nationality the actors were?
It was said that to maintain the pure British flavor of the "Harry Potter" series of films, author J.K. Rowling strongly demanded that all actors be British. Americans, Canadians, and New Zealanders, who were also Anglo-Saxons, did not have that flavor, so they could not be used.
This might be enough to fool fans outside the industry, but for Lin Yuan, who was also in the industry, it was simply ridiculous.
Since when did the original author have such a high say?
It was obviously the result of the operation of capital in the British film industry. They needed a star product to mass-produce a group of British stars, so they invested all their money in this project.
Director Sommers could only see the production cost of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," but he could not see the countless potential support systems behind it, while Lin Yuan saw it all.
Therefore, the strong performance of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was not only due to the high quality of the film but also because of the desperate gamble of the British film industry capital behind it to create a phenomenon.
How could a movie that took so much effort to create use foreigners?
J.K. Rowling's disagreement was just a convenient excuse.
As a reborn person, Lin Yuan certainly knew that the "Harry Potter" film series supported 25% of British actors. From the leading actors to the supporting roles, all were British. This was the real livelihood of millions of British workers.
Not having played a role in "Harry Potter" became an eternal pain for British actors and evidence of being excluded by the mainstream.
The reason why Lin Yuan cared about this matter was that the capital power of the British film and television industry was not only strong but also his natural ally that he could unite with.
Its strength was reflected in the fact that the later TV series "Game of Thrones" was also a masterpiece that the British film and television industry had replicated.
This TV series was claimed to be an American drama, but the actors were almost all British, so it could be called a British drama.
The point of unity was that when facing the rigid-minded old white men in Hollywood, Lin Yuan needed more external force and help.
In any case, capital from the British film and television industry was a good choice.
In response to this, Lin Yuan extended his olive branch and used his influence on IMDb to help positively guide the film rating of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
As a result, the score of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" on IMDb quickly rose to 7.6 points, and together with "Shrek" with a score of 7.9, it squeezed "The Mummy Returns" with a score of only 6.4 points, creating a crushing effect in word-of-mouth.
With the explosive success of "Harry Potter," it was inevitable that the screening rate would be further increased, and the screening rate of "The Mummy Returns," which originally had only 20%, would be further compressed.
It could be said that in the past week, the situation of "The Mummy Returns," which seemed to be very strong, was completely reversed.
Everyone could see that it was doomed to fail.
But Director Sommers obviously did not want to accept his fate and was still struggling.
At the Egyptian Theatre, where the premiere of "The Mummy Returns" was held, which was considered the base camp cinema, the screening rate that was previously as high as 60% had now been reduced to only 25%.
Director Sommers stopped the cinema owner, Mr. Rand, at the lobby door.
"Mr. Rand, I beg you to schedule more screenings for me, at least for another two weeks, and don't rush to reduce my screening rate," Director Sommers' voice was a little humble.
It was his turn to bow his head now. The high publicity and promotion costs of "The Mummy Returns" were coupled with the current declining box office.
If this continued, he would be further and further away from the goal of a global box office of $600 million, and he would definitely be in trouble.
If he really lost to Lin Yuan, he would absolutely not be able to accept it.
The Egyptian Theatre represented the attitude of hundreds of cinemas in California. If they could deal with Mr. Rand, they could stabilize the screening rate.
"Director Sommers, I also want to help you from a personal perspective. But this is a matter involving hundreds of cinemas, and no one can go against money. Your request is really too difficult for me," Mr. Rand rejected his request.
"What do you want me to do to help you?"
"Unless you promise to guarantee the box office and make up the difference yourself, then I can consider continuing to maintain your screening schedule," Mr. Rand put forward his own conditions.
"…"
Director Sommers hesitated. He had already put his savings of many years into buying tickets himself. Now, if he promised a box office guarantee, he would have to mortgage his property for a loan.
If something unexpected happened in the end, he would really lose everything.
Did he want to give it his all and take this gamble?
Director Sommers began to have second thoughts in his mind: why not just give up, at least don't destroy my own future.
"Hey? Isn't this Director Sommers? You look like a clown now."
A sharp laugh was heard, and this sound made Director Sommers hate it to the core.
If it weren't for him, how would I have ended up in this situation?
The budget was manipulated by him, and we were forced to bear the high publicity and promotion costs, which made it difficult to back down.
He also designed the premiere time himself. At first, he thought May 4th would be a better time, but he didn't expect it to be a hellish monster room.
"Lin! Yuan!" Director Sommers roared word by word, his eyes red as he stared directly at Lin Yuan: "Damn it, why are you here?"
"I'm here with Director Cohen to visit Mr. Rand. After all, our movie is coming out next month."
"Nothing good will happen to you!"
"It must be better than you! You are about to lose, and it's really ugly to look like you can't afford to lose," Lin Yuan's smile was full of sarcasm.
"No! I haven't lost yet! I still have a chance!"
"Since we've met, I'll give you some advice: Stop it! Don't let yourself lose everything."
Lin Yuan certainly knew that saying this would only have the opposite effect, but this was exactly what he wanted.
"No! I will win. I will see you leave in disgrace," Director Sommers said viciously, as if he had made up his mind.
He turned to look at Mr. Rand, the theater owner: "I'll give you a guaranteed minimum; please continue to support me."
Seeing this scene, Lin Yuan sneered and said nothing. He knew that Director Sommers was completely finished.
The road to hell is paved with extravagant hopes.
The strong wind on the rooftop is quite fierce...