Chapter 288: The Pros and Cons of Film Ratings

Theaters, promotional campaigns, and the public's attention were all fiercely contested battlegrounds for Summer Season films. Yet everything ultimately served a single purpose: the film's release. Whether a Summer Season movie succeeded or failed depended entirely on market response and commercial performance. As long as a movie achieved massive box office success and stood out from the fierce competition, any negative news in the media would simply be reduced to a farce.

So, when Deep Impact held its North American premiere on May 7, the Big Three of DreamWorks appeared together to build momentum for the film.

An $80 million investment was absolutely considered a major production in this era, and DreamWorks threw a lavish premiere to match.

The only discordant note was the presence of numerous child advocacy groups holding a protest rally near Chandler Hall, where the premiere was hosted. The entire red carpet ceremony was accompanied by the sound of protests, and Morgan Freeman himself did not appear at the event.

Protests became the prevailing theme accompanying Deep Impact's opening week. The Big Four Television Networks repeatedly broadcast scenes of the protests along with the reasons behind them during their programming, inevitably driving away potential audiences.

Deep Impact carried a PG-13 Rating, meaning its target demographic naturally included family audiences. However, the scandal and the protests—especially the appeal from the National Parent Teacher Association—caused a significant number of parents to reconsider taking their children to see the film.

A film's quality was merely the foundation of its success; the factors that could dictate its ultimate triumph or failure were simply too numerous.

So, when the new week began, Spielberg's face looked exceptionally grim.

"Many teenagers still chose our film," Mellody Hobson, the vice president of DreamWorks, said, maintaining her composure in the face of the gloomy expressions from the DreamWorks Big Three and the head of CAA. "We didn't lose too much ground with younger audiences, but the family demographic..."

She glanced at the statistics in her hand. "Due to the fallout from the Morgan Freeman incident, quite a few families pivoted to the family-friendly film The Parent Trap released by Disney. Furthermore, theater chains reducing our screening scale has dealt us a massive blow."

David Geffen's harsh gaze swept across Martin Bob's face as he spoke coldly, "The box office numbers! I want the opening weekend box office numbers!"

Mellody Hobson answered directly, "In 2,410 theaters: $7.57 million on Friday, $9.21 million on Saturday, and $6.24 million on Sunday. Deep Impact pulled in $23.02 million over its three-day opening weekend, falling short of our expected $40 million."

Martin Bob suddenly spoke up. "However, we still crushed The Parent Trap's $19.88 million and took the weekend box office crown."

Hearing Martin Bob's attempted consolation only made David Geffen's expression uglier. "The weekend box office crown? What use is a box office crown to DreamWorks when it doesn't even reach $30 million? Martin, is this the success you promised DreamWorks? We grossly overestimated your abilities!"

The words were incredibly harsh, yet Martin Bob could not refute them. He had solemnly sworn that Deep Impact would bring a completely new situation for DreamWorks.

He certainly brought a new situation—only this one left DreamWorks in an even worse predicament!

David Geffen's gaze was ice-cold as he looked at Martin Bob and Steven Spielberg. Although he had built his fortune in the American music industry, he understood the fundamental laws of the film business. Unless Deep Impact somehow transformed into the still-screening Titanic, the film would absolutely fall far below DreamWorks' expectations!

DreamWorks' management had to provide an explanation to their shareholders and investors.

Even Duke never expected that Deep Impact's underwhelming first-week performance would cause a rift among the Big Three to emerge ahead of schedule.

However, none of this had much to do with him. Duke's primary focus remained on Deep Impact's box office trajectory.

For such a massive production to fail to break ten thousand dollars in per-theater averages during its opening weekend could only be described as exceedingly mediocre. If its weekday box office numbers did not improve, then by the time The Matrix premiered over the weekend, Deep Impact would inevitably be unable to maintain its current scale of theater allocations.

But for a film whose opening weekend box office fell short of expectations, just how difficult was it to maintain a stable trajectory?

Deep Impact was certainly no Titanic!

On Monday, the drop for this DreamWorks blockbuster was still considered normal as it pulled in $5.11 million. By Tuesday, however, bogged down by negative press, the film clearly lacked staying power, and its single-day box office slid to $4.75 million.

By Wednesday, Deep Impact only brought in $4.01 million...

Just before The Matrix was set to release, Deep Impact's cumulative North American box office stood at $34.89 million. Even after six days in theaters, it had yet to reach the opening weekend numbers DreamWorks and Martin Bob had initially expected.

By this point, Warner Brothers had given up on relentlessly pummeling Deep Impact in the media, pivoting their energy instead to Godzilla, which was releasing the following week. Regardless of where the Jean Reno scandal actually originated, they continued to fuel the hype. Furthermore, Time Warner had been deeply rooted in New York for decades and possessed profound connections; on Wednesday, Jean Reno himself had no choice but to accept a summons from the New York police. The only pity was that not only was he French, but his fame was also significantly lesser than Morgan Freeman's, making the resulting fallout far less impactful.

Of course, Jean Reno's sheer bad luck was also tied to the fact that he was from France. If he had been an American actor, or even an actor from Britain or Australia, none of this would have been possible at all.

Saying that actors from the European continent were second-class citizens in Hollywood was not just empty talk.

"Paul, I just want to remind you that The Matrix is an R-Rated Film!"

Inside the office of the Artists Management Agency Company, Michael Ovitz was on the phone. "Don't forget the relatively limited audience of an R-Rated Film! If AMG invests too many resources into this movie, it will very likely fail to achieve the desired results."

"Thank you for the reminder."

The familiar voice from the receiver remained strictly businesslike. "AMG has already decided to continue reducing the screening scale for Deep Impact. The freed-up screens need to have suitable content shown on them, and AMG believes there is nothing more suitable than the work of the King of the Summer Season. I understand what you mean, Michael, but our auditoriums cannot sit empty. If we don't choose The Matrix, are we supposed to choose that French movie, Taxi?"

"We are old friends, Paul," Michael Ovitz continued. "I won't interfere with AMG's normal commercial operations, but Godzilla, which I'm responsible for, is premiering next week. I'm requesting that you marshal more theaters and screens for it."

"That is not a problem."

Although he said that, the underlying meaning leaking through the receiver hadn't noticeably changed. "As long as The Matrix underperforms, AMG will reduce its screening scale, and the freed-up theaters will definitely be allocated to Godzilla."

Hanging up the phone, Michael Ovitz knew his call had basically been useless. If The Matrix didn't perform poorly, there was absolutely no way Godzilla would get the chance for a wider-than-planned release!

Reaching this point in time, Michael Ovitz was keenly aware that all he could do now was wait for the market response after The Matrix hit theaters.

He had allied with DreamWorks to manufacture the Keanu Reeves scandal, mobilized his connections alongside Spielberg to destroy the hopes of The Matrix receiving a PG-13 Rating, and even cast aside his pride to lobby the theater chains. After all that, what kind of result would he ultimately get?

The Matrix would inevitably be affected. Michael Ovitz could confirm that much just from Warner Brothers lowering their opening weekend box office projections, yet after making so many moves, he now realized that his confidence wasn't quite as robust as he'd imagined!

The King of the Summer Season was just a playful title from the media; it hadn't gained widespread acknowledgment in Hollywood, but it still spoke volumes.

Godzilla was the first project he had taken over upon returning to the entertainment agency scene. Its success or failure directly tied into the future development of the Artists Management Company, meaning there was absolutely no room for error.

According to his original thoughts, Michael Ovitz had referenced the two Jurassic Park films and believed that Godzilla's North American box office would come in higher than Jurassic Park 2 but lower than the first Jurassic Park. After all, the monster movie craze in North America was a very real, tangible fact.

Now, Michael Ovitz had decided to lower his expectations for Godzilla. If this PG-13 film could ultimately break even against an R-Rated Film like The Matrix, wouldn't that perhaps be considered a victory?

Michael Ovitz's current mindset was heavily influenced by the market's exceptionally high anticipation for The Matrix.

Advertisements, trailers, test screenings, online marketing, and the like—all the leaked information uniformly indicated that this was a high-quality, meticulously crafted production!

On the internet especially, those who had seen the test screenings became excellent vectors for spreading the word.

"If you don't want to miss an epoch-making sci-fi film, you must go see The Matrix."

Inside the Explosion Maniac Chat Room, Hiller used his Duke of Destruction handle to post continuously. "This movie is just cool to the extreme and dazzling beyond belief. I swear, if you guys don't go see it, you'll regret it for the rest of your lives!"

"I also attended the test screening in the Los Angeles area."

A person named The Big Ship Hits the Mountain left a comment. "The film uses a lot of unprecedented new technologies and new scenes, especially the action sequences. I honestly don't even know what kind of words to use to describe it."

The internet, the media platform with the fastest and freest flow of information, closed the distance between people and allowed them to share their perspectives in real time. The Matrix was intimately connected to the internet, and the massive amount of online news and hype marketing had created a phenomenon never before seen in cinematic history: even before its premiere, The Matrix was already insanely popular online!

Whether the ripple effect generated by the internet could actually translate into corresponding box office numbers would all depend on The Matrix's performance after its release!