Chapter 81: The Pinnacle of Action Films

The three-month Summer Season from May to July was North America's most important movie release window of the year. The period was packed with films vying for high commercial returns. Almost every weekend saw more than five movies hit theaters, inevitably including around two major commercial blockbusters with real box office competitiveness.

During this window, no film was given too much time to rake in huge box office numbers. Since the late 1980s, the box office a Summer Season film captured in its first ten days—or even its first week—often accounted for a third or more of its total North American gross. Whether a movie would become a massive hit was clear at a glance, determined simply by its opening weekend box office and the drop-off rate during the subsequent workweek.

No film could escape the inevitable box office plunge during its second-week workdays, and The Rock was no exception.

On Monday, the film's single-day box office slid from Sunday's 11.13 million dollars to 4.87 million dollars. Over the next three workdays, its daily box office largely maintained this level, raking in 4.95 million, 4.62 million, and 4.77 million dollars respectively.

By this point, the film had been in North American theaters for exactly a week, and its total full-week box office successfully broke the 50 million dollar threshold, reaching a whopping 56 million dollars!

Interview with the Vampire, which premiered during the same period, was hamstrung by its genre and rapidly declining audience word-of-mouth. However, Tom Cruise's star power remained astonishing. Even though Duke and Warner Brothers continuously smeared the film, Cruise still led it to post a solid box office performance, capturing 43.25 million dollars in seven days!

As for how much of that came out of Tom Cruise's own pocket, that remained a secret.

A new weekend was fast approaching. This was also the final phase of Warner Brothers' high-intensity promotional blitz for The Rock. Starting next week, Warner would inevitably pivot its main resources toward other Summer Season releases. Meanwhile, after successfully suppressing Interview with the Vampire, The Rock was about to face a powerful new competitor—Sylvester Stallone's Cliffhanger!

Because The Rock was already in its second week of release, the competition between the two films wouldn't be as fierce as before, and their standards were slightly higher. At the very least, Duke hadn't spotted any signs of mutual smearing in the major media outlets yet.

While the producers of Cliffhanger were building hype, the final intense promotional push for The Rock had sparked a new wave of frenzy, with its primary target shifting to ordinary moviegoers.

David Gilf was a field reporter for the NBC movie recommendation program Movies This Week. He specialized in interviewing everyday audiences to gauge their reactions to the films reviewed on the show.

For this episode, the main featured film was the currently playing The Rock.

"Anna..."

In the living room of an apartment near New York University, Aerin sat cross-legged on the sofa and shouted toward the bedroom, "Hurry up! They're reviewing our movie! It's The Rock!"

"Since when did it become your movie?" Anna walked out at a leisurely pace.

"It's the movie we like!"

Once Anna sat down on the sofa, Aerin popped open a can of beer and shoved it into her hands.

"Even though it's another Duke Rosenberg work featuring car chases, crashes, and explosions, The Rock is much more thrilling than Speed. The themes are deeper, and the narrative structure and emotional conflicts are far more logical..."

On the television, the host endlessly rattled off the film's merits, looking as though he wanted to teleport the viewers straight into a theater to buy tickets. Many of his flattering remarks even made Anna, a film major, feel a bit embarrassed...

For example, he praised the slow-motion sequence of Goodspeed sending the signal at the end.

"At the conclusion, the sight of Goodspeed waving the flares, set against that soaring score, is breathtaking and profoundly moving! It is destined to become an indelible classic shot in cinematic history!"

"That shot really is pretty good." Aerin set down her beer can and pointed at the TV screen. "I bet a lot of movies in the future will definitely borrow this scene from Duke!"

"If I were shooting a similar film..." Anna thought it over for a moment. "I'd definitely borrow it too."

"Aside from the bomb's-eye view, the young Director Rosenberg has pioneered another entirely new cinematic technique!"

Aerin had barely finished speaking when Anna tugged her arm. Pointing at the television, Anna said, "Could you be quiet for a second, Miss Lauder? The live feed is starting!"

As they spoke, the TV broadcast cut to Times Square. David Gilf was stationed in the lobby of an AMG Cinema Chain theater. Facing the camera, he said, "A screening of The Rock just ended. Now, we're going to interview a few audience members."

He quickly stopped a male moviegoer. After a brief self-introduction, he asked, "You just watched The Rock? What did you think of the film?"

"It was amazing!"

The male audience member made no effort to hide his excitement, clearly still riding a massive adrenaline high.

"What did you like most about the movie?" Gilf asked.

"The action scenes!"

Without waiting for the reporter to prompt him, he spoke with the exuberant glee of a child eager to share a secret. "The action sequences in the movie are fantastic! Three of them will absolutely become classics. First is the car chase between the Hummer and the Ferrari; it's the most iconic chase scene I've ever seen! The fast cuts, the shaky camerawork, and the realistic crashes are incredibly intense. My heart and blood vessels almost burst!"

"Then there's the shower room firefight between the strike team and the Marine Corps, and the shootout during the mutiny of General Hummel's men. Both were incredibly tragic and stirring..."

The fan looked more than ready to keep talking, but Gilf couldn't afford to waste all his time on one person. He hurriedly handed over a small gift and switched to a new target.

"Why did you choose to watch an action movie like this?" The next person he stopped was a female fan.

"It's true that the whole film is incredibly masculine—it's a standard guy movie. But I know quite a few female friends who love it." The female fan let out a hearty laugh. "Haha, I think the director just gave the leads too much charm, and the film is packed with so many beautiful shots. This is already my second time watching it!"

Afterward, Gilf interviewed several other moviegoers.

"The film is masculine, profound, and full of tension. The score and camerawork are excellent. They say the director is only twenty-three; to have this level of control and coordination at that age is extremely rare!"

"I didn't know action films could be this good! It's intense, the music rocks, the visuals are stunning, and the actors are fantastic. It's simply the gold standard for commercial blockbusters!"

"I think this will be Director Duke Rosenberg's pinnacle work. The plot is flawless, and more importantly, he's taken his knack for explosions and destruction to the absolute limit!"

Of course, there were also those who weren't fans, and the interviews caught some harsh criticism.

"Director Duke Rosenberg and his movie are basically just noise machines!"

"You definitely need to take motion sickness pills before watching this movie, otherwise the shaky cam will make you throw up!"

Hearing these criticisms, Aerin, sitting on the sofa, indignantly pumped her fist in the air. "Nobody forced you to watch it!"

"Miss Lauder!"

Aerin's flailing fist bumped into Anna, nearly causing her to spill the beer she was holding. Anna had no choice but to say, "There isn't a single movie in the world that can please every type of audience!"

The television feed cut back to the studio, where the host delivered his final summary. "A tight story, an awe-inspiring score, razor-sharp editing, beautiful cinematography, and profound themes. The young Director Rosenberg has crafted an outstanding film that balances both commerce and art, soaring on a perfect blend of exhilarating thrills and poignant emotion! In my eyes, The Rock is destined to be the pinnacle of action films!"

As the program ended, Aerin grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. She picked up her beer can and drained the last few drops, her eyes drifting to the poster for The Rock plastered on the wall. Even though she came from a business family and knew perfectly well that the show she'd just watched was nothing more than a promotional tactic, she still couldn't resist the urge to see the movie again.

"Anna!" She tugged on her friend's arm, shaking it slightly. "Let's go watch The Rock again this weekend, okay?"

"You've already seen it twice!" Anna held up two fingers and waved them in front of her face. Aerin stubbornly continued, "But the movie is just so good! It's way better than that vampire whatever!"

"Fine, fine!" Anna relented.

On Tuesday, they had actually gone to see Interview with the Vampire, but the slow pacing and dreary plot had prompted them to walk out of the theater before they were even a third of the way through.

Starting on Thursday, the promotional campaign for The Rock, which had previously been cooling down, suddenly hit the gas. From NBC to ABC Television, from local tabloids to the Big Three Newspapers, and from gossip magazines to the professional Hollywood Reporter, news and reports related to the film were everywhere. Warner Brothers' goal was crystal clear: before the movie's hype could wane, they aimed to secure the highest possible box office numbers in its second weekend, and even fight the newly released blockbuster Cliffhanger for the top spot on the box office charts!

Duke and the main cast and crew had plunged into their busiest promotional phase yet. They'd be doing an exclusive interview with the Chicago Tribune in the morning, fly to Pittsburgh for radio appearances in the afternoon, and then rush to Boston the next day to discuss the film's plot and the future of cinema with students from Harvard University in Cambridge City.

This labor wasn't in vain. The constant media coverage drew the eyes of the public and moviegoers, coaxing those who had already seen the film into buying tickets again, and urging those who hadn't to hurry into the theaters...

When Duke arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday, the freshly released Friday box office figures thrilled the crew. With a single-day gross of 6.24 million dollars, The Rock had crushed the 4.87 million dollars posted by Stallone's Cliffhanger, which had just premiered the day prior. In this weekend's battle, they had seized the upper hand!

Meanwhile, although the box office for Interview with the Vampire also saw a rebound, its haul of 4.21 million dollars was only enough to rank third for the day!

After Duke reviewed the specific data analytics, he discovered that non-cinematic factors had played a significant role in allowing The Rock to surpass the opening-week numbers of Cliffhanger during its second week.