Chapter 77: Amateur Mistakes

Beverly Hills was North America's renowned enclave for the wealthy and famous. Situated on the Southern Slope, Cruise Manor occupied half a small hill all to itself. As the residence of Tom Cruise, a Hollywood star striding toward megastar status, it was a magnet for paparazzi and media attention. Every move he and his beautiful wife made easily captured the eyes of the American public.

The morning sun had just climbed into the sky as Tom Cruise stepped out of his home gym. Grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from his head, he heard Nicole Kidman call out to him. He gathered all of the day's newspapers from the rack before strolling into the dining room.

"Darling, your breakfast."

He had just taken a seat at the table when Nicole Kidman brought over his coffee and a porcelain plate, setting them down in front of him.

Taking a sip of his coffee, Tom Cruise ignored his breakfast and opened a newspaper instead. Sitting across from him, Nicole Kidman frowned. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but held back.

He flipped to the entertainment section. After only a few glances, the corners of his mouth curled up. He was clearly in a good mood.

"Although The Rock boasts a star-studded cast and spectacular scale, its story is cliché and its plot leaves much to be desired. It is the kind of movie you forget the moment you leave the theater—a typical, brainless American popcorn flick!"

Clearly, the smear campaign launched by CAA and Twentieth Century Fox against The Rock had already begun.

"The action might be cool, but it is too heavily choreographed. The plot is cliché, and the logic is terrible..."

Even knowing most of this was the handiwork of his own PR team, Tom Cruise happily flipped through the entertainment section of every newspaper, drinking in the words. It was as if these reviews alone could transform The Rock into a spectacular flop despised by audiences everywhere.

However, in the next few papers, Tom Cruise saw plenty of negative reviews for Interview with the Vampire.

"The film is flashy but hollow, rambling and overly long. Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt's acting falls woefully short of doing justice to the vampires they portray!"

"A numb film, a senseless hodgepodge..."

Seeing this, Tom Cruise understood that Warner Brothers' PR department had not been idle. While heavily promoting their own film, they did not hesitate to ruthlessly attack their competitors, just as his side had done.

The phone in the living room suddenly rang. Nicole Kidman hurried out, returning a dozen seconds later with the cordless phone in hand.

"It's Pat," she said, handing it over.

Taking the phone, Tom Cruise listened to the numbers his agent recited, his face gradually darkening.

"Tom..." Seeing him lower the phone, Nicole Kidman asked tentatively, "How much did our movie make on opening day?"

"$13.89 million!"

The number sounded pretty good. If they could maintain that momentum over the next two days, the opening weekend box office could very well hit $40 million. Securing the weekend box office crown would definitely not be a problem.

"What about The Rock?" Nicole Kidman asked.

"$10.13 million!"

Hearing that number, Nicole Kidman instantly understood the shift in his mood. Just yesterday, her illustrious husband had contributed a full $3 million to the box office for Interview with the Vampire!

In other words, if no one else had manipulated the figures, the true opening-day haul for Interview with the Vampire was $10.89 million! That was barely $700,000 higher than The Rock, yet the latter was screening in only 2,512 theaters during its first week, while the former boasted a massive 2,689!

Nicole Kidman knew full well that everyone involved in the rival project, from the director to the actors, was relatively poor by industry standards. There was likely little padding in the opening-day figures for The Rock. Furthermore, their combined box office appeal was strictly limited; even added together, they couldn't hold a candle to Cruise. Could the promotional effect of that Super Bowl halftime commercial really be that terrifying?

But she did not know that Tom Cruise's expression had changed because of two other numbers!

As the screening scale expanded and more people saw the films, the polling firm hired by Twentieth Century Fox gathered a broader sample of genuine audience feedback. The audience word-of-mouth for Interview with the Vampire had plummeted from an A-or-higher rating of 79 percent at the midnight screenings down to 68.5 percent. By contrast, the A-or-higher rating for its competitor, The Rock, had dropped by a mere three points, still standing strong at 89 percent!

Although the opening-day crowd for The Rock inevitably consisted of action fans or those leaning toward the genre, didn't Interview with the Vampire also have plenty of book readers and his own personal fans?

Even someone as proud as Tom Cruise understood the simplest truth in the industry. For commercial blockbusters in the Summer Season, media scores and professional critic reviews added together and multiplied by two couldn't match the audience word-of-mouth when it came to reflecting a film's market acceptance. The first two were just marketing tools; the latter represented the true market response!

More importantly, according to the polling firm's feedback, there were varying degrees of early walkouts during screenings of Interview with the Vampire!

Yesterday morning, Tom Cruise had made a point to go see The Rock. In terms of pure artistic expression, Interview with the Vampire blew that film completely out of the water. But for the Summer Season, or for films in any release window for that matter, art had never been the deciding factor in market returns!

For a moment, he even felt a faint sense of foreboding in his heart.

"Tom Cruise's new film suffers total defeat..."

"Superstar unable to withstand the impact of a newcomer director..."

Without needing to think about it, Tom Cruise knew the media would jump at the chance to mock him. His path had been far too smooth these past few years. Countless people were just waiting for him to stumble so they could laugh at his misfortune and kick him while he was down.

At that thought, he picked up the cordless phone and dialed his agent's number. "Pat, I have something to discuss with you. Great! See you at CAA in half an hour!"

"Tom..."

A voice of warning filtered through the phone. Pat Kingsley clearly knew that Tom Cruise was not the kind of star who could be left unsupervised. If it weren't for her, CAA, and his PR teams painstakingly crafting his wholesome image over the years, he wouldn't have his current standing. His arrogant personality and his religious beliefs alone would have caused endless trouble.

"Interview with the Vampire just released, so there are definitely reporters and paparazzi staking out your estate. Don't say anything reckless!" Even their bedfellows didn't understand these stars as well as their agents did.

"I know." Tom Cruise impatiently hung up the phone, standing up and saying to Nicole Kidman, "I'm heading out."

"Do you need me to go with you?"

"No need!"

He strode toward the garage. Soon, a blue supercar roared out, heading straight for the manor gates.

As he turned out the gate, the car's speed inevitably dropped. A massive crowd of reporters and paparazzi carrying cameras, camcorders, and audio recorders swarmed the sides of the sports car. Even with Cruise honking continuously, he couldn't speed up. Outside the windows, deafening questions rang out one after another.

"Tom, the opening day box office and audience scores for Interview with the Vampire are out. Can you share your thoughts?"

"Mr. Cruise, did Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst really kiss on set? We heard the Child Protection Association stepped in to investigate!"

Hearing that question, Tom Cruise immediately thought of Warner Brothers. They were definitely the ones stirring up this trouble.

Instantly, his already gloomy mood worsened considerably.

"Mr. Cruise! Someone revealed that you went to see The Rock yesterday. Can you review this movie?"

Suddenly, an even louder voice rang out. Even through the car window, Tom Cruise could hear it clearly: "Also, according to data released in the media this morning by Warner Brothers, the audience word-of-mouth for The Rock completely crushes Interview with the Vampire. Warner believes The Rock will definitely come from behind and take this week's box office championship. If you lose the weekly box office crown, will it affect your subsequent film choices?"

Subconsciously, Tom Cruise stepped on the brakes. The sports car, already moving at a snail's pace, came to a complete halt. There were still two days left in the week, and the subsequent box office development was still an unknown! Yet in that reporter's eyes, it was as if his movie had already suffered a crushing defeat!

'Audience word-of-mouth for The Rock?' Tom Cruise sneered inwardly, feeling that he should do something. After all, he was a superstar with unparalleled box office appeal!

With no PR reps, no agent, and no deep-thinking Nicole Kidman by his side, no one could stop Tom Cruise. If Duke had been standing there, he definitely would have guessed that this guy—who was heavily packaged by Pat Kingsley and CAA but was actually erratic and arrogant in nature—was bound to speak recklessly!

The sports car's window slowly rolled down. All the reporters froze for a moment, and then countless camera lenses and audio recorders were aimed at the face in the window.

"Is The Rock outstanding? I don't think so. It is a film riddled with mistakes everywhere!"

Feigning a casual shrug, Tom Cruise suppressed the displeasure in his heart and flashed his trademark smile. Without even needing a reporter to ask, remarks targeting The Rock tumbled out one after another.

"You all know I've worked with the military and shot military-themed films like Top Gun. If you look at it with even a slightly serious eye, you can find that The Rock is full of mistakes. These are very amateur mistakes that severely impact the film's logic and the realism of its subject matter. It even makes people wonder whether the director, Duke Rosenberg, is trying to shoot a realistic film or a pure, mindless fantasy film!"

Hearing Tom Cruise's characteristically confident words, the reporters and paparazzi were whipped into a frenzy of excitement. They could see that there was no one else in the sports car to remind Cruise. Today, they were guaranteed to dig up a massive scoop!

"Tom! Tom!"

When a reporter asked a question, the others tacitly maintained their silence. "Tom, can you point out a few of the amateur mistakes in The Rock?"