The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 169

On a typical Saturday morning, Rex left his house early and headed to the main street of town. He bought a newspaper and stepped into a cafe for his morning coffee. Given his status, he wasn't required to be at the newspaper's office—he only went in two days a week.

Perhaps because it was still quite early, the coffee shop was nearly empty. Rex ordered a coffee, made his way to his usual spot, sat down, and unfolded the newspaper to read.

He had just finished the current events section when another person walked into the cafe.

"Hey, Rex," the visitor greeted him. Rex glanced up, offering a slight nod. "Hey, John."

The man, John, started to walk past but stopped short, asking with curiosity, "Rex, are you ready?"

Rex gave him a puzzled look. "For what?"

John replied, "Haven't you read the paper? The Scorpion King has already earned more than ten million dollars at the box office."

They were well acquainted, so John said nothing more and ambled toward the back of the room.

Just then, the clerk arrived with the ordered coffee, just in time to overhear the exchange. He placed the coffee down, collected Rex's tip, and whispered, "You're not actually going to kiss a donkey's ass, are you?"

Rex shot him a sideways, annoyed glance, and the clerk hastily retreated.With two people in a row asking the same question, Rex couldn't resist. He flipped the newspaper straight to the entertainment section and quickly found the column with yesterday's box office report. There, in first place, was The Scorpion King.

This meant that The Scorpion King was yesterday's North American box office champion.

He scanned the figures and couldn't help but feel a flicker of shock. $13.8 million!

Although he had been prepared for this, Rex was still taken aback; the box office figure was surprisingly high. Universal's own projection for the entire weekend was only between $15 and $20 million.

With $13.8 million on Friday, even after subtracting the $3.4 million from Thursday's previews, The Scorpion King had grossed over $10 million in a single day. That put its three-day weekend potential as high as $30 million—a massive success for a film with a mere $40 million budget.

But it was a mindless popcorn flick! He shook his head, realizing that he, a film critic, was too far removed from the teenage demographic—the market's primary audience—to truly grasp their psychology.

Just then, his phone vibrated. Rex pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and answered. "What can I do for you, Carter?"

The caller was none other than Carter Hodgson, the man who had approached him some time ago.

"I'm calling to make it official," a man's voice announced over the phone. "The Scorpion King has grossed more than ten million dollars in its first week in North America."

Rex remained composed. "I know," he said.

The voice on the other end continued, "Don't forget to show up tonight. I'll be waiting for you at the studio."

"Of course," Rex stated. "Contact the network. I'm ready."

Hearing the reply on the other end, Rex hung up. He finished his coffee and left the cafe earlier than usual, ready for his trip to New York.

He had no intention of backing down from his word. This whole donkey affair would only enhance his notoriety, and besides, he certainly wasn't going to refuse when the second half of his $300,000 fee was still outstanding.

As for saving face... did a critic like him really need to worry about that?

...

In a conference room at Universal Studios, Los Angeles, a group of executives was in the middle of a meeting.

"Despite the poor word-of-mouth, The Scorpion King had an excellent pre-release promotional campaign. Plus, the film has undeniable selling points and distinct advantages."

Sean Daniel, who was sitting on one side of the conference table, looked quite animated. "We expect today's single-day box office numbers to rise significantly compared to Friday's," he said.

Across from him, Jet Brighton commented, "A strong opening weekend for The Scorpion King is good news, but can we maintain the promotional momentum?"

"That fire is going to burn even brighter tonight," an executive from marketing and promotion declared. "If you have some free time this evening, I suggest you watch NBC Two."

Laughter filled the conference room.

Philip Cranston, the director of production presiding over the meeting, remarked, "I didn't expect a film like this would be Universal's first breakout hit of the year."

In truth, everyone's expectations for The Scorpion King had been rather modest; otherwise, they wouldn't have capped the investment at $40 million.

"The only pity," Brighton said, showing no real regret, "is that the reviews are so bad. Otherwise, we could have shot a sequel."

Everyone knew that sequels to popular films were less risky and often more profitable for Hollywood studios.

The executive from marketing chimed in, "But the buzz around the lead actor, Mathayus, has been phenomenal! Matthew Horner is getting nearly unanimous praise from the press and the fans. There's some criticism, sure, but it's negligible."

Philip nodded. "Have someone run a preliminary assessment for a Scorpion King sequel. A franchise would be more in our interests."

Almost everyone agreed. With a lead actor who was popular enough, a sequel was practically a sure thing.

After that discussion, Sean Daniel suddenly suggested, "Our market research shows that over sixty percent of surveyed audience members praised Matthew. I think we should move up the release of the Mathayus action figures and dolls. I'm confident they'll sell well, and it will give the film's publicity another boost."

Philip considered this for a moment, then agreed with Sean's proposal. "Get ahold of Horner," he said, "and make sure he cooperates with our plan."

...

That afternoon, Matthew received a notice from Universal Pictures, to which he had no objections. For one, it was part of the work stipulated in his contract. For another, the action figures and dolls used his likeness, and he was entitled to a share of the profits from his image rights.

There were laws and regulations governing such things. For instance, he earned a share from the sales of the Ronald Speirs action figure from Band of Brothers, released by HBO. It wasn't a huge amount due to limited sales, but it still came to several thousand dollars.

It wasn't much compared to his film salary, but the sales were constrained by the nature of the character and the series. He doubted that many viewers who liked Band of Brothers would also be interested in something like an action figure.

The Scorpion King, on the other hand, was a movie aimed squarely at teenagers, who tended to be far more impulsive with their spending when it came to their favorite things.

After dinner, Matthew skipped his usual workout and turned on his computer instead. He browsed the entertainment sections of several news sites, reading reports about The Scorpion King. He specifically checked Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB and saw that as more professional reviews and audience ratings poured in, the film's Tomatometer score and its IMDB rating were steadily falling.

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Scorpion King was down to just fifty-seven percent 'Fresh,' and with a pathetic average score of 5.3, it was safe to say the film had a bad reputation there.

On IMDB, the average audience score had also dropped to 6.0.

No matter how you looked at it, the reputation of The Scorpion King could no longer be described as mediocre; it was steadily slipping into the 'bad' category.

But Matthew knew one thing from his time in Hollywood: there were always a few commercial films that got terrible reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB but still pulled in huge numbers on their opening weekend. Those ratings had more influence on a film's long-term box office trend than on its first week's take.

The influence of those two sites on a film's box office wasn't as straightforward as it might seem.

As the lead actor, Matthew was privy to some of the studio's strategies. Both the production team and Universal Pictures were pulling out all the stops to ensure the film had an explosive box office run in its first two or three weeks.

A film like this was a fast-moving consumer product, and its theatrical market potential would be almost completely exhausted after twenty days.

After browsing online for a while, Matthew realized it was time. He shut down the computer, sat down in front of the TV, and switched it directly to NBC 2.

A familiar host appeared on the television screen, and after a few brief introductory remarks, the famous film critic, Rex Reed, was brought on.

"Mr. Reed," the host said, not without a smile, "Just yesterday, The Scorpion King earned over ten million dollars at the box office."

"Yes, yes, I know." Rex remained characteristically acerbic. "But I maintain that it's a bad movie! Nothing is going to change my opinion on that!"

The host asked curiously, "Is The Scorpion King really that awful in your eyes?"

Rex nodded firmly. "Yes!"

He then declared with unexpected solemnity, "But I do want to apologize to that Horner kid. He was magnificent in the role and did an excellent job."

Anyone willing to participate in a stunt like this was certainly no fool; he was clearly pandering to the mainstream consensus.

"I'm sure Mr. Horner would be happy to hear that from you," the host said, steering the conversation back to the main point. "Now, you'll recall saying last week that if The Scorpion King didn't gross more than ten million dollars in its first week—"

"I'd kiss a donkey's ass!" Rex interrupted, declaring boldly. "As a respected critic, I always keep my word."

The host asked with feigned astonishment, "Rex, are you actually going to kiss a donkey's ass, live on the air?"

"Yes," Rex affirmed. "They've already brought me a donkey."

A moment later, a member of the station staff led a gray donkey into the studio. Then, as countless viewers watched, Rex planted a firm, resounding kiss on the donkey's rear.