The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 349

It was a big night for new releases, and not just for Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Luc Besson's Danny the Dog also premiered, while Kingdom of Heaven, which opened last weekend, held its ground. Together, they were the three biggest films currently dominating the North American box office.

With two new films opening simultaneously, researchers from the market research firm CinemaScore were deployed across the United States. Their mission was to gather firsthand audience opinions, which would be used to promptly analyze and forecast the movies' box office performance, including their potential total North American gross.

Howard Miller was one such researcher. After a quick dinner, he made his way to one of the largest and most prestigious commercial movie theater chains in West Hollywood.

While the film was still running, Howard found the theater's operations manager. Being a regular in West Hollywood, he was on familiar terms with the staff at several of the major cinemas.

“Kohler,” Howard began, approaching a young man holding a cigarette, “how are the big three films doing?”

He took the cigarette Howard offered, glanced outside to make sure no one was watching, then lit it and took a long drag, a look of satisfaction spreading across his face.

Howard lit one for himself as well.

Kohler took a deep drag, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and answered, "Kingdom of Heaven had a weak opening last week, and attendance has been poor. Today's entire take for it couldn't even match the early evening ticket sales for Mr. & Mrs. Smith. That one, of course, was a complete sell-out. The turnout was phenomenal."

“A sell-out?” Howard glanced at Kohler, raising an eyebrow.

Kohler replied, “The Matthew Horner fan club from West Hollywood came through. There must have been a hundred and fifty of them, I didn't count.”Howard nodded, quickly pulling out his notebook to jot it down. “Just the one sell-out screening?”

“Just the one,” Kohler confirmed, then paused in thought before adding, “But I was on the phone with corporate yesterday, and they mentioned that Horner's fan groups have been organizing to see the advance screenings of Mr. & Mrs. Smith in AMG theaters in New York, Seattle, Phoenix, Houston, Chicago, and a bunch of other big and mid-sized cities.”

Howard realized at once that Matthew's fanbase was becoming organized. If what Kohler said was true, these coordinated fan efforts would likely push Mr. & Mrs. Smith to a much higher box office performance than initially projected.

Advance ticket sales for Mr. & Mrs. Smith had been strong, and the company's initial forecast for the opening weekend was between $50 and $55 million. It now looked like they had seriously underestimated Matthew's personal drawing power.

With that in mind, he asked, “Kohler, based on your experience, what do you think Mr. & Mrs. Smith will pull in for its opening weekend?”

Instead of answering directly, Kohler countered, “What's your company forecasting?”

“Fifty to fifty-five million dollars.”

Kohler waved a dismissive hand. “Way too low.”

He gestured toward a Mr. & Mrs. Smith poster in the lobby. “In this theater alone, it's drawn more than three times the audience and sold more tickets than Kingdom of Heaven and Danny the Dog combined. And look at the buzz—everyone's talking about Matthew and Charlize. Are the other two films getting that kind of attention? On top of that, corporate notified us this afternoon that starting tomorrow, they're cutting Kingdom of Heaven's showtimes by fifteen percent and giving all of them to Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”

Howard nodded slowly, taking it all in.

Kohler continued, “As long as the word-of-mouth from these advance screenings is good, I bet Mr. & Mrs. Smith will be playing on forty percent of all screens in North America by tomorrow.”

“So, Howard”—he'd been in the industry for over two decades and spoke with the confidence of experience—“considering the buzz around Matthew and Charlize, not to mention that fanbase, I personally think the opening weekend gross for Mr. & Mrs. Smith is going to be twenty to thirty percent higher than your forecast.

Don't forget, Matthew Horner's last three films were box office hits. He has enormous market appeal. His commercial value isn't something you can compare to one of those stars who just gets praised for their acting and wins a bunch of awards.”

As Kohler finished, something occurred to Howard. “I read a market analysis recently,” he recalled. “Some firms believe that Matthew Horner has demonstrated a level of market appeal that even many A-list stars can't match.”

Kohler snorted. “A lot of those A-listers are all about method acting, awards, and high fashion. How much real box office draw does a star like that actually have? I'm telling you, if Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a hit, Horner's going to be A-list.”

Howard conceded the point, but added, “It's a shame he doesn't have any major awards to his name.”

As the manager of a commercial theater, Kohler was utterly dismissive of the comment. “Awards?” he scoffed. “Ask any major or mid-level Hollywood studio if they give a damn about awards. The number one factor determining Matthew Horner's status in this industry is his paycheck, and that's based almost entirely on the box office performance of his last three movies.”

Howard interjected, “Kohler, you're only thinking about the box office!”

“It's not just me who's thinking about the box office!” Kohler retorted, stubbing out his cigarette. “It's the Hollywood producers who care about the box office!”

Hearing that, Howard Miller was speechless for a moment, unable to find a counterargument.

Kohler glanced at his cigarette butt, made sure it was out, and tossed it into a nearby trash can. “Once Mr. & Mrs. Smith becomes a hit,” he declared, “Horner's going to get several times more offers than this year's Oscar winner, Jamie Foxx.”

The digital watch on Howard's wrist beeped. He glanced down. "Danny the Dog is about to let out. I've got to go."

Kohler waved him off. “Drop by when you're finished. Coffee's on me.”

...

Positioning himself near the exit for Danny the Dog, Howard waited a few minutes for the audience to start trickling out. He spotted someone near the front of the crowd, hurried over, handed them a small complimentary gift, and began his survey.

When asked about the film, the man was visibly angry. “That movie was garbage,” he fumed. “I came because of Luc Besson and Morgan Freeman, but all I got was a ridiculous plot and awful fight scenes.”

After that man left, Howard stopped another viewer, who just looked bewildered. “I was so bored half an hour in that I actually fell asleep,” he admitted. “I have no idea what happened after that, so I can't really comment.”

Howard paused, thinking to himself, Just how boring does a movie have to be to put someone to sleep?

The next few people he surveyed offered similarly mediocre reviews. The most positive comment he received was a simple, “It was watchable.”

Before the last of the audience had even trickled out, Howard rushed over to the exits for the two Mr. & Mrs. Smith screenings, which were just letting out.

In terms of the value and importance of the data CinemaScore sold, how could a film like Danny the Dog possibly compare to Mr. & Mrs. Smith?

Luc Besson was famous, but his pull in the North American market wasn't in the same league as Matthew's. And as for Jet Li, who could possibly think his North American fame and appeal would be a match for a star on the rise like Horner?

Howard adjusted his backpack, grabbing a stack of questionnaires and a pen. Unlike the informal verbal poll he'd conducted for Danny the Dog, CinemaScore had prepared a specific written survey for Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

The survey consisted of three main parts: first, a one-sentence summary of their opinion of the film; second, a grade on a scale from A to F; and third, their primary reason for choosing to see the movie.

The doors to the two theaters opened, and a stream of people poured out of the first. Many of them were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Matthew's face. Howard knew without asking that these were Horner's fans. He had them fill out the survey and, as expected, received predictably positive responses.

Pressed for time, he only managed to get about a dozen surveys completed. Once he had them, he found a nearby bench and sat down to give them a quick look-over.

Across the dozen or so surveys, the highest grade was an A+, the lowest was a B-, with the average likely landing around an A-.

As for the final question about their reason for seeing the film, ten of the respondents had selected both Matthew Horner and Charlize Theron.