Chapter 299: Surrounding Explosion

On Monday and Tuesday, The Matrix grossed $14.51 million and $12.78 million respectively, maintaining a steady hold. However, the widespread coverage of the Josh Cooke shooting directly disrupted the film's box office on Wednesday and Thursday. The impact hit hardest on Wednesday, when the daily gross plummeted by thirty-three percent, bringing in only $8.56 million.

By Thursday, as Warner Bros. and Duke Studio rolled out their crisis management campaigns, the box office stabilized without further decline, closing the day at $8.59 million.

With that, The Matrix concluded its first full week in North American theaters with a cumulative box office of $98.62 million—poised on the brink of breaking the $100 million mark!

Based on the adjusted estimates Warner Bros. had drawn up after the opening weekend, The Matrix had been guaranteed to cross the hundred-million threshold by this point, but now it had fallen just short.

Neither Duke nor Warner Bros. were the type to absorb hits passively without launching a counterattack.

Where was this negative press coming from? Who was aggressively pushing it from behind the scenes?

There was no need to think or investigate, nor was there any point. Media outlets closely tied to Sony Entertainment were reporting on the scandal in a frenzy, while Walt Disney added fuel to the fire. The culprits were glaringly obvious.

During those two days of box office turbulence for The Matrix, the media outlets under Time Warner did more than just run crisis PR. Their primary counter-offensive aggressively targeted Sony Columbia Pictures' Godzilla.

The Matrix and Godzilla were about to collide head-on this weekend!

"The Jean Reno situation is in the past. Rehashing it is completely pointless and won't attract enough attention. Plus, with Morgan Freeman's incest scandal stealing the spotlight beforehand, the actual impact would be heavily discounted anyway."

Even while recovering from his illness, Duke stayed fully updated on the situation through Tina Fey and offered his own strategic input at the right moments. He was on the phone with Jamie Jensen, the head of the Warner Bros. publicity department.

"Actually, what we need to do is very simple," Duke said. "We need to launch a massive, widespread, and relentless campaign to remind the public that Godzilla is a foreign import. It's a Japanese monster!"

Japanese culture carried a certain level of influence in North America; in fact, it was easily the most prominent branch of East Asian culture there. That easily gave people the illusion that Japanese cultural products could naturally satisfy the demands of the North American market.

But was that the reality?

The truth wasn't so obvious in this era. Sony Columbia Pictures and Michael Ovitz had joined forces, harboring grand ambitions to forge Godzilla into a super monster franchise on par with Jurassic Park, and quite a few people throughout Hollywood actually believed they could pull it off.

In Duke's past life, Japanese culture had made numerous attempts to break into North America. It was easy to see from those efforts that a significant portion of Hollywood still harbored strong confidence in its potential.

While there were certainly profitable Japanese properties adapted for the big screen, none had ever achieved the massive success of Jurassic Park—not even ones that fell a tier or two below it.

Whether it was the monster Godzilla, video games like Resident Evil and Final Fantasy, the mechas of Pacific Rim, or the hand-drawn animation of Spirited Away, all of them ultimately fell far short of true, sweeping success.

In truth, the simplest and most effective way to counter Godzilla was to constantly remind audiences, right before its release, that Godzilla was not American, nor was it a product of the Western world.

That alone was bound to sway the choices of a portion of the audience.

Of course, Duke was well aware that the North American monster movie craze was an objective reality. Godzilla was destined to engage in a vicious brawl with The Matrix, and it was hard to say who would have the last laugh.

The late May sun shone brilliantly, bringing a widespread rise in temperatures across North America. Rising right alongside the heat was the fervor of the film market.

"There are a ton of movies playing this weekend."

A group of young students sat around a stone table near the water in Central Park.

"Are those low-budget movies totally out of the running for us?" asked one of the guys who was standing.

"Come on, Frank!" someone yelled. "It's the summer season! We're obviously watching a blockbuster!"

Frank clearly held a certain amount of sway over the group.

"Then we've got three choices," he continued. "Deep Impact, The Matrix, and Godzilla. Bill, Bryce, Harden, Zack..."

He glanced around at his friends, asking for their opinions.

"Let's skip Deep Impact."

The girl named Bryce looked up from the copy of the New York Times in her hands.

"I don't want to look at Morgan Freeman's ugly face," she said, the first to speak up.

"Right! What he did was absolutely disgusting!" Bill agreed. "So much for being a 'gentleman.' He's honestly even worse than that fake gentleman Sean Connery!"

Seeing that his friends were all repulsed by Morgan Freeman, Frank spoke up again.

"Then we choose between Godzilla and The Matrix," he said.

"Let's do Godzilla. I already saw The Matrix."

The others all turned to stare at him. Unable to withstand their burning gazes, Harden quickly defended himself.

"I swear, I'm a massive fan of The Matrix!" he said. "I've already seen it twice!"

"I've seen it twice too," Bill chimed in, "but I still want to go for a third viewing."

The group found themselves split over whether to watch Godzilla or The Matrix, unable to reach a consensus.

"Stop arguing. Just listen to me for a second."

Bryce flipped her copy of the New York Times open to the entertainment section and laid it out in front of her friends.

"There's a detail here that you guys might have overlooked," she pointed out. "This Godzilla monster is from Japan. To be more precise, it's something the Japanese dreamed up out of boredom..."

"A Japanese product?" Bill was the first to shake his head. "Not interested."

The others shook their heads in agreement. "What's so interesting about a Japanese monster?"

Finally, everyone's eyes fell on Harden, who had been insisting on going to see Godzilla. Harden curled his lip in disdain.

"A movie with a Japanese monster as the main character?" he scoffed. "Yeah, I definitely don't want to watch that!"

Frank suddenly laughed.

"Harden, you've made a wise choice," he declared. "We're going to watch The Matrix!"

As colleges across North America gradually let out for the summer, the film market continued to heat up. Even though it was only Friday—the start of the three-day weekend—massive crowds of moviegoers were already flooding into major theaters.

To compete for audiences, the studios behind major blockbusters exhausted every possible strategy to promote themselves and strike down their opponents, while low-budget productions desperately squeezed through the cracks, hoping to scrape up the remaining scraps.

Beginning on Friday, Godzilla opened in wide release, bringing the total number of films in the North American market with production budgets over $80 million up to four.

Unfortunately, Deep Impact was clearly losing steam. Its North American theater count had plunged to 1,520 locations, and its daily box office right before the weekend had dwindled to just $2.4 million. It had well and truly fallen out of the top-tier competition.

Titanic was still playing in theaters, but nobody believed it was a competitive threat anymore.

The only top-tier competitors reigning over this weekend were Godzilla and The Matrix. The former opened in 3,310 theaters, while the latter maintained a massive footprint across 3,220 screens.

From audiences and the media all the way to the theater chains, the collision between the two heavyweights was playing out in every conceivable corner of the film market.

"The Matrix is not just a landmark achievement in the history of film visual effects; it will stand as the foundation and guiding star for sci-fi cinema in the new century!"

The moment a movie recommendation program on the NBC Television Network finished its glowing praise of The Matrix, the CBS Television Network instantly broadcast a thrilling clip from Godzilla.

"The thrill ride Godzilla delivers is just like strapping into a roller coaster at a theme park!"

Naturally, while heavily promoting their own movies, neither side forgot to hurl blows at their opponent.

"Godzilla is an absurdly oversized monster, stripping the film of any surprise, excitement, or genuine thrills. It is just a boring, thoroughly unscary giant lizard from Japan."

—The New York Times

"The true philosophical core of The Matrix—whether reality is real or virtual—is a concept that has been explored by other films long ago. Duke Rosenberg merely slapped on a trendy coat of sci-fi paint with the rising popularity of computer networks. It might look nice on the surface, but at its core, it is nothing more than a rehash of old Hollywood tropes."

—Chicago Sun-Times

On top of all that, both sides poured tremendous effort into spreading negative press about the other, paying special attention to amplifying the negative reactions from everyday moviegoers.

"Hello, I'm Stu, a reporter."

A reporter working for a Time Warner media outlet stopped a moviegoer who had just walked out of a Godzilla screening. The sheer disappointment and frustration on the young man's face were incredibly obvious.

"Could you share your thoughts on the movie you just watched?" the reporter asked.

"It's a garbage movie. It's completely absurd, over-exaggerated, and severely lacking in humor. Sitting through this movie was incredibly boring."

The young moviegoer fumed with anger.

"It was a total waste of my time!" he snapped. "I seriously suspect the Japanese made this film themselves, considering how shockingly dull it was!"

The interview was instantly broadcast live, transmitted directly onto the television screens of countless households and viewers.

Just as that news segment wrapped up, Michael Ovitz changed the channel to the Columbia Television Network, where a nearly identical program was already airing.

Standing opposite a CBS reporter was a family of moviegoers. The father was currently speaking into the microphone.

"I deeply regret taking my kids to see The Matrix," he said. "The movie is excessively violent. There are countless scenes of dead bodies and intense gunfights. I highly recommend that family audiences like us avoid picking The Matrix..."

The interview was still ongoing when the door to the living room was suddenly pushed open. Michael Ovitz's most important client, Martin Scorsese, walked into the room. He briefly glanced at the program playing on the TV before taking a seat directly across from Ovitz.

"You seem very confident," Martin Scorsese remarked.

"You know me, Martin. I'm never short on confidence, even if the opponent is Duke Rosenberg and the King of the summer season!"

Michael Ovitz reached over and clicked the TV off.

"As for who will emerge as the true winner of this weekend," he continued, "we'll just have to wait for the final box office numbers to come out to know for sure."

Martin Scorsese seemed deeply intrigued by the unfolding box office war.

"Could I ask what your box office projections are for Godzilla's opening day and opening weekend?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

"Based on my own estimations, the opening day should land somewhere between $13 million and $15 million," Michael Ovitz said, showing absolutely no signs of false humility. His tone brimmed with absolute certainty as he continued. "The three-day weekend box office won't dip below $40 million. Personally, I'm leaning heavily toward a figure closer to $45 million."