Chapter 330: Stepping Down in Gloom

"Daylight? Yes, that's the movie we just watched."

Outside the theater, Hiller was being interviewed by a reporter. He had mixed feelings about the film he had just watched.

"In my opinion, it's a highly watchable movie. The final shootout and the happy ending were done brilliantly, but the pacing is an issue."

He paused for a moment to organize his thoughts.

"If Daylight were the work of another director, I'd say they made a very successful film. But for someone of Duke's caliber, Daylight is a bit too mediocre."

"In short, my personal view is that Daylight is Duke's most mediocre work."

After thinking it over, Hiller added, "We're all looking forward to the second installment of The Matrix. A movie like Daylight simply can't satisfy us."

This hardcore fan of The Matrix undoubtedly voiced the sentiments of many moviegoers. Daylight wasn't bad—it was far from receiving negative reviews—but compared to the high expectations The Matrix had set for Duke's diehard supporters, it was hard to call it truly outstanding.

"Daylight has prominent highlights—the thrilling shootouts—but its flaws are just as obvious: the slow pacing. The film didn't disappoint, but it didn't bring us many surprises like The Matrix did. Furthermore, judging by the investment scale and production time, it seems like a film Duke didn't put much effort into."

On Duke's personal website, this fan's comment had been pushed to the top by countless replies, undoubtedly representing the thoughts of many.

However, perhaps because no truly outstanding films were released during this slow season, or perhaps because its highlights were simply that prominent, the movie did not lack an audience, even if it failed to become a massive hit.

It was just that compared to the explosive summer season films, Daylight's attendance rates and box office accumulation were somewhat lackluster.

After earning 4.21 million dollars on its opening Friday, the film saw a brief peak in attendance the following Saturday. The single-day box office rose by twenty-seven percent, taking in 5.34 million dollars.

By Sunday, Daylight couldn't escape the normal market trends. The box office dropped by twenty-one percent, closing the day at 4.41 million dollars.

"It took in 13.96 million dollars over the three-day opening weekend, with a per-theater average of 6,345 dollars."

Inside Paramount Pictures, Michael Ovitz and Martin Bob sat beside Sherry Lansing. Ovitz spoke to the CEO of Paramount Pictures.

"During this slow season, such a box office could be considered a success for other directors. But this is a Duke Rosenberg work, and these results can only be described as very mediocre. Sherry, no one can succeed forever, and no one fails forever."

Just like their early days at CAA, Martin Bob and Ovitz worked together in perfect harmony. Bob chimed in, "Daylight only has a professional rating of 5.2, and its audience approval rate has dropped to seventy-five percent. For Duke Rosenberg, such word-of-mouth is a failure. Daylight has already set new lows across the board for his directorial career!"

"Sherry, I'm sure you know very well that every director experiences creative peaks and valleys. Even someone as great as Steven Spielberg is no exception."

Looking at Sherry Lansing beside him, Michael Ovitz still wore his picture of absolute confidence. "Obviously, Duke Rosenberg is entering a slump. I—oh, no, many industry professionals, including Roger Ebert, believe that Duke's next few films will likely continue this downward trend."

Sherry Lansing's brow remained slightly furrowed, her eyes flashing with a thoughtful gleam, but she didn't reply to the two super-agents from the Artists Management Company.

Indeed, after leaving CAA and taking some time to reflect, Martin Bob had once again become Michael Ovitz's right-hand man.

"Therefore, Sherry, the condition you proposed to us carries an enormous risk," Michael Ovitz continued his persuasion effort, which was bound to take a long time. "You insist on inviting Duke Rosenberg before you are willing to hand over Star Trek: Enterprise to me for packaging..."

Sherry Lansing gave a resolute nod. The Star Trek series was undoubtedly Paramount Pictures' flagship franchise, but even counting all the revenue over the past few years, the previous film, Star Trek: First Strike, had only barely recouped its costs. The audience reception was an absolute disaster. Paramount Pictures naturally wanted to salvage the franchise rather than ruin it completely.

Because of this, their original plan was to wait until Duke had an opening in his schedule to negotiate, rather than casually handing it over to someone else.

But Michael Ovitz was extremely well-informed. Sherry Lansing had no idea how he had obtained the relevant information, but he had recently been showing up tirelessly in front of Paramount Pictures' executives.

"Sherry, if you let me handle Star Trek: Enterprise, I will select suitable new actors and a new director, doing everything in my power to build a fresh team." Michael Ovitz also knew that Sherry Lansing was perfectly sane and wouldn't make an immediate decision; he was merely doing his best to add weight to his side of the argument. "I can also sign a new profit-sharing agreement with Paramount Pictures. If the profits for Star Trek: Enterprise fail to meet Paramount's expected baseline, the Artists Management Company will waive any right to a revenue cut."

Michael Ovitz was no fool, and Sherry Lansing was a qualified film executive. Thus, she replied, "Michael, I will consider it."

Having reached this point, Michael Ovitz knew this was as far as he could go today. After he and Martin Bob shook hands with Sherry Lansing in farewell, they walked out of Paramount Pictures.

"Don't be anxious, Martin."

Getting into the car, Michael Ovitz turned to him and said, "Daylight's box office isn't trending toward a massive hit. This will definitely affect Paramount Pictures' original intentions."

"Hmm..." Martin Bob thought for a moment before saying, "Compared to Paramount Pictures, I'm more worried about Walt Disney. I heard that Robert Iger, who's at the helm of Touchstone Pictures, intends to hand that major World War II project over to William Morris."

"It isn't William Morris they have their eyes on, but Michael Bay."

Gesturing for the driver to start the car, Michael Ovitz continued, "The director Robert Iger admires most is Duke Rosenberg, but they can't possibly hire Duke, so they chose the Little Explosion Maniac instead."

"You mean..."

"It's very simple..." Michael Ovitz chuckled. "I have already contacted Michael Bay. Everything is up for negotiation."

Daylight's opening weekend haul of 13.96 million dollars and its per-theater average of 6,345 dollars weren't dazzling, but during a release window where the market response was generally lukewarm, these were still numbers that other concurrently screening films could only dream of reaching.

The only film that could compare with Daylight was Miramax's She's All That, which premiered the weekend before the Oscar Awards Ceremony. However, this teen comedy had already been in theaters for three weekends, and its weekend box office was only 5.28 million dollars.

So, by Monday, Daylight's North American theater count had expanded to 2,652 locations. Nevertheless, weekday box office earnings still showed a downward trend. It brought in only 4.01 million dollars on Monday, rebounded slightly to 4.15 million dollars on Tuesday, dipped back to 4.02 million dollars on Wednesday, and finally slipped below the four-million mark on Thursday, closing at 3.98 million dollars.

By the time the film had been screening in North America for a full week, its cumulative North American box office had reached 30.14 million dollars.

Going into its second weekend, Daylight still lacked any heavyweight competitors, and it had the best per-theater average among all films playing in the same window. Thanks to Warner Brothers' communication efforts, expanding its screening scale once again wasn't much of a challenge.

Over the following three days, Daylight increased its count from 2,652 to 2,892 theaters. Because the screening scale was significantly larger than the opening weekend, this resulted in almost no drop in the second weekend's box office, finishing the frame with 13.56 million dollars.

Ten days after its release, Daylight had grossed 43.7 million dollars in North America.

The film's total production budget was 10 million dollars, and its marketing and distribution costs were only 6 million dollars. In just ten days, it had essentially recouped its costs.

Although the movie was never a massive hit, it wasn't a failure either. Even though its audience approval rating had slipped to seventy-three percent, its box office trajectory remained fairly resilient.

To a certain extent, it could even be called a standout film for the spring season.

Over the next four workdays, the film grossed a combined 11.25 million dollars. Because the release window was weak overall, Daylight's North American theater count increased to 2,966 locations going into its third weekend.

At present, there was simply no such term as the spring season. Looking back at Hollywood's prior cinematic history, it wasn't hard to see that over the past decade, very few films debuting in March or April had managed to break into the top ten or even the top fifteen of the annual North American box office charts.

This was also the main reason Duke and Warner Brothers chose this release window for a film that was relatively lacking in commercial competitiveness.

During the third weekend, the film's overall box office trajectory finally showed a clear downward trend, pulling in 10.35 million dollars over three days.

Starting from the fourth week, North America was already approaching the summer season, and most viewers' attention was drawn toward massive commercial blockbusters. The decline in Daylight's box office became even more pronounced, earning only 7.85 million dollars over four workdays.

By this point, Daylight's cumulative North American box office stood at 73.15 million dollars.

The commercial appeal Duke had built up over the years undoubtedly played a significant role in this.

These results were enough to secure substantial profits for Duke and Warner Brothers, and the film would also be released overseas later. However, by the weekend, Daylight's theater count plummeted abruptly. The first weekend of May—the opening weekend of the summer season—had arrived, and several highly commercial films were about to hit theaters.

Among them, the most famous was called Star Wars Prequel: The Phantom Menace!

After years of absence, amidst the eager anticipation of countless Star Wars fans, George Lucas's Star Wars series finally embarked on a new journey.

Duke had also accepted an invitation, specially returning to New York to attend the Premiere with his mother.