Chapter 242: The Magnificent Transformation of the Musical

"Duke Rosenberg's Counterattack—The Beginning of the Explosion Maniac's Successful Transformation!"

On Monday morning, Duke once again grabbed the entertainment headlines. Half the front page of the Los Angeles Times was dedicated to him and Chicago.

"When Hollywood's ultimate hypothetical—Duke Rosenberg directing an art film—became a reality, the entire town and the global film industry were shaken. Nobody could accept that he was shooting a musical, and many openly or secretly mocked him. Yet today! Over this past weekend! The man born when a comet struck Earth has successfully pulled off a counterattack!"

"Despite its limited release scale, Chicago achieved a staggering per-theater average of 31,875 dollars in its opening weekend. Expanding to 1,866 theaters this past second weekend, Chicago raked in 21.13 million dollars over three days in North America, overpowering Star Trek: First Strike—which continued to screen in 2,812 theaters—to seize the weekly box office crown!"

"As of yesterday, Chicago—produced on a total budget of 25 million dollars—has grossed 37.32 million dollars at the box office. After two weekends, its momentum shows no sign of fading, and Duke Rosenberg is bound for success once again. Recalling last year's profoundly thematic and deeply moving Saving Private Ryan, this young film director is quietly completing a transformation. Like a dream-making machine, he turns the impossibilities forced upon him by the outside world into reality!"

"From this, we can also imagine that Duke Rosenberg will inevitably experiment with more film genres in the future. His path to becoming a master has only just begun..."

Setting down the newspaper, Sherry Lansing furrowed her brow. She couldn't understand it. Chicago had originally opened in limited release across just 100 theaters, posing absolutely no threat to Paramount Pictures. Why had it suddenly ridden straight over Star Trek's head in the blink of an eye?

Although this was Chicago's first weekend of expanded release and Star Trek had already passed its hottest opening window, the latter still boasted 2,812 theaters. Earning 17.8 million dollars in its second weekend couldn't be considered poor by any measure. Yet Duke Rosenberg had suppressed it once again.

The two sides hadn't engaged in any fierce clashes this time, and nobody at Paramount Pictures believed Chicago's concurrent release would be a threat. Who could have imagined it would erupt so quickly and fiercely?

Even though the endless, practically bottomless promotional tactics of Warner Brothers and Duke Studio played a major role, Sherry Lansing knew the film's quality was its true foundation. Duke Rosenberg had somehow taken the traditionally slow and quiet musical genre and injected it with a brisk pace and rich black humor. It could even make adrenaline surge, completely shattering the inherent limitations of musical films.

Sighing, Sherry Lansing abandoned any plans to intervene. Star Trek's two most critical opening weekends had already passed. Its screening scale would hold at 2,812 theaters this week, making a box office drop inevitable. It was too late to take action against Chicago now; the losses would simply outweigh the gains.

Picking up another newspaper, Sherry Lansing glanced over it, a bitter smile touching the corners of her mouth. Back when Duke Rosenberg announced he was making a musical, media outlets had mocked him, claiming the end of the world had arrived. Now that he had succeeded, every single one of them was practically itching to kneel and lick his boots.

This was an article from the New York Times.

"The massive craze surrounding Chicago proves to us that musicals are not yet obsolete. Duke Rosenberg has already led Hollywood into a new era of musical films..."

Whether or not this film would spark a new era of musicals was unknown, but its rise past Star Trek to become the hottest movie in North America was a fact. On Monday, the film's screening scale expanded once more, reaching 2,015 theaters. This rising theater count didn't just fully stimulate the film's market potential; it also firmly suppressed the release scale of The English Patient.

The latter's theater count had seen some growth as well, but only from 593 to 617. In the box office market, Chicago and The English Patient simply weren't in the same weight class.

On Monday, Chicago grossed 4.59 million dollars, while The English Patient earned only 770,000 dollars. Star Trek, meanwhile, took a massive dive in its single-day box office, raking in a mere 2.76 million dollars despite screening in 2,812 theaters.

By Tuesday, those figures were 4.46 million, 680,000, and 2.47 million dollars, respectively.

Chicago briefly commanded the North American box office trends during this period. Over the subsequent Wednesday and Thursday, it reaped another 4.27 million and 4.38 million dollars respectively, bringing its cumulative North American box office to 55.02 million dollars!

Star Trek, screening concurrently, had earned 64.53 million dollars, while The English Patient sat at only 13.23 million!

Star Trek was suffering a severe box office decline, and The English Patient remained perpetually sluggish. Even if the studios behind both films poured in more effort, the theater chains wouldn't grant them any additional resource support. Chicago's screening network expanded yet again, reaching 2,500 theaters—a number usually reserved purely for commercial blockbusters.

Fundamentally speaking, however, that was exactly what it was: a commercial movie wrapped in the outward appearance of a musical.

The two concurrent films were no longer capable of competing, but Chicago had also welcomed a powerful new rival—the live-action 101 Dalmatians, produced by Disney and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures.

Adapted from a classic animated film, this movie boasted a broad audience base and a distinct sense of nostalgia. As a family-friendly title, it opened in 2,841 theaters—a truly menacing arrival.

No one believed that Chicago, now in its third week of release, would be a match for 101 Dalmatians. Duke himself and Warner Brothers were no exception. This was the genre Disney excelled at most, and the likelihood of them messing it up was exceedingly low.

This proved true. Although 101 Dalmatians didn't experience an explosive breakout, its box office results were still eye-catching. An opening week haul of 33.5 million dollars was more than enough to snatch the weekly box office throne from Chicago's hands.

However, 101 Dalmatians's failure to break out explosively wasn't entirely unrelated to Chicago maintaining its strong momentum this week. In its third weekend, Chicago pulled in 20.58 million dollars across 2,500 theaters, following closely behind 101 Dalmatians to seize second place on the weekly box office charts.

Over the following week, Chicago continuously trailed right on the heels of 101 Dalmatians. Across the four workdays, it grabbed 2.56 million, 2.34 million, 2.21 million, and 2.27 million dollars, breaking the 80 million dollar threshold in North America to reach 84.98 million dollars!

With Christmas fast approaching, North America had entered the second most important movie season of the year. More and more films began to join this fierce, chaotic market slaughter. On the surface, the various movies and their respective studios were merely clashing over promotions. But in places hidden from the public eye, everything from movie star scandals to theater counts and promotional events was part of a vicious battle.

Chicago certainly couldn't maintain screenings at such a scale. Before the new weekend began, its North American theater count rapidly plummeted from 2,500 down to 1,986. Due to its steady performance, 101 Dalmatians saw its theater count rise to 2,901.

This weekend, Chicago also faced new competition from a Miramax film. Scream, jointly produced by Harvey Weinstein and famous horror director Wes Craven, opened in North America on a scale of 1,413 theaters.

Although it was a horror film entirely unsuited to the Christmas atmosphere, produced on a budget of just 15 million dollars, and unfavored by forecasting agencies and media outlets, Duke remembered that this would be the start of a successful franchise. The film also featured a thoroughly reformed Drew Barrymore, and rumor had it that Spielberg had even attended the premiere. It absolutely did not lack for talking points.

However, lacking a sufficient number of opening theaters, Scream didn't make much of a splash. After three days, it ended its opening weekend campaign with 6.35 million dollars, failing to break the 10,000 dollar threshold for its per-theater average.

101 Dalmatians, on the other hand, served as a real-world example of starting high and dropping low. While its theater count increased in its second weekend, its box office took a nosedive. Dropping nearly sixty percent compared to its opening weekend, it harvested only 13.19 million dollars across three days.

Star Trek marched into its fourth weekend, but its box office had severely shrunk to 3.43 million dollars, bringing its cumulative North American total over four weeks of release to 76.72 million dollars!

The English Patient remained in a half-dead state. After making 2.12 million dollars over the three-day weekend, its North American box office crept up to 17.76 million dollars.

"Harvey, two of our films in a row have been impacted and hit by Chicago!"

Inside a luxury sedan driving toward the Hollywood District, Bob Weinstein looked at the report in his hands, his face showing uncontrollable astonishment.

"How many people could have thought, or even dared to think, that Chicago, facing so many competitors right before Christmas, would actually take a second weekly box office championship?" he asked.

"To dare produce a musical in such a commercialized way," Harvey Weinstein sighed, "in all of Hollywood, only a director like Duke Rosenberg could pull that off."

He didn't look at the report in Bob Weinstein's hands because he had already seen it too many times. On the freshly released North American weekly box office charts from early this morning, Chicago, earning 14.78 million dollars across 1,986 theaters, had suppressed all its competitors in the same release window to comfortably take the champion's seat.

"If I remember correctly, Chicago's cumulative North American box office is at 99.76 million dollars." Bob Weinstein still seemed to find it hard to believe. "A musical is actually about to break a hundred million in the blink of an eye! And a commercial blockbuster like Star Trek was actually overtaken by a latecomer like Chicago, getting completely blown away at the box office!"

"Who asked its director to be Duke Rosenberg?" Harvey Weinstein glanced toward the distant hotel where a party was being held and continued, "The power of the King of the Summer Season stepping into the Thanksgiving and Christmas release window is not something anyone can ignore!"

The car came to a stop at this moment.

Before pushing the car door open, Harvey Weinstein said, "We've suffered a complete defeat at the box office right now, so we absolutely cannot lose on the other battlefield!"