New Box Office

After a weekend of fermentation, Legally Blonde reached a box office of $17.96 million across 1,200 theaters, far exceeding its production costs and successfully entering the top three of the weekly box office rankings.

This made the MGM executives grin from ear to ear, as everyone could see the film's bright future.

Expanding its promotion and screening scale once again, Legally Blonde finished its second weekend with its theater count increased to 2,210. It not only reclaimed the screens that had been snatched away by Eyes Wide Shut but even easily doubled its presence, and the film's name officially spread throughout North America.

The cast and crew began running promotional tours across major North American cities, and no matter where they went, the name Reese Witherspoon was always the loudest; she could be called the most eye-catching new actress of the summer.

An actress who can become a big hit naturally won't be lacking in social graces. Although Irene rarely participated in their promotional tours, not wanting to steal the spotlight from the actors, Reese mentioned her in every interview, describing how talented and hardworking the director was, practically praising Irene to the heavens.

In reality, the fact that Irene was working on her second script had inevitably leaked out. Although Reese herself knew the chances of her being cast as the lead again were slim to none, buttering up the director didn't take much effort—what if it worked?

The day before the official release of Julia Roberts' new film, Runaway Bride.

"Are the latest box office statistics out?" Julia Roberts and the other key figures of Runaway Bride sat in the Paramount building, also closely monitoring everything regarding Legally Blonde.

"Currently, the number one spot is held by Legally Blonde, with a North American box office of $62.43 million. It has been in theaters for exactly two weeks, and the final box office is expected to exceed $100 million," a relevant Paramount staff member replied.

Julia Roberts stopped her smoking motion, raised an eyebrow at her agent, and asked, "Will it have an impact on our movie?"

"Although I don't want to admit it, the word-of-mouth for Legally Blonde is just like Pretty Woman back in the day; it is very popular with young people right now. Our target audience overlaps quite a bit with Legally Blonde, so I'm afraid it might cause some trouble for our film."

"Then solve this trouble in advance!" Julia Roberts raised her voice, smashing her cigarette butt hard into the ashtray.

"Julia... their director and lead actress are both signed with CAA. I'm afraid we can't go too far."

"Are we just supposed to watch these nobodies climb over my head? Whatever method you use, squeeze them out for me. I want to see my movie ranked at number one!"

Starting the next day, Legally Blonde, which had been receiving rave reviews, began to see negative press.

"Legally Blonde is just a crude imitation of Pretty Woman and isn't worth mentioning at all."

"Legally Blonde lead actress Reese Witherspoon isn't a blonde bombshell at all; her hair color is dyed!"

"Legally Blonde is just a low-quality comedy with no substance and an empty brain."

Although the comments in the newspapers disparaged Legally Blonde as worthless, everyone in the industry could see whose handiwork this was.

On the premiere day of Runaway Bride, when Julia Roberts appeared with her signature smile, a crowd of reporters swarmed forward.

A microphone was thrust directly in front of her mouth. "Hey, Julia, some say Reese Witherspoon is you in your younger years, equally full of promise. What is your take on that?"

Upon hearing this, Julia Roberts' eyes sharpened slightly, but her smile didn't falter; instead, her mouth stretched even wider. "I am very happy to see newcomers in Hollywood because we will eventually fade away. Only fresh blood can keep Hollywood from ever decaying. Reese's acting is very outstanding, and I have high hopes for her."

After saying this, she smiled and left.

Back in the lounge, she immediately changed her expression and asked her assistant, "Which newspaper was that just now?"

"Chicago Sun-Times," the assistant replied hurriedly.

"Refuse all interviews from the Chicago Sun-Times next time. Doesn't this reporter know the industry? Why are they shoving such questions in my face?"

"But... Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times is our special guest critic for this event..."

Julia Roberts closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her voice squeezed out from between her teeth: "Then memorize that reporter's face. Don't let him appear in front of me again!"

At the same time, Legally Blonde was also conducting a series of promotional activities. The focus of everyone's interviews remained on Reese Witherspoon, and James Franco and the others beside her were filled with envy.

"It seems the recent negative news hasn't had much of an impact on Reese," James Franco said with an ambiguous snort.

Edward Nelson, seeing no one around to echo him, didn't want to make him too awkward, so he replied, "We all know those are just promotional tactics; we won't take them to heart."

"I heard you've been getting very close to Britney lately, and she's even going to take you on the red carpet in a while. Is there something going on?" James Franco, seeing that only Edward had replied to him, nudged him with his elbow in a brotherly fashion.

Edward hurriedly denied it. "It's just that the boss always tells me to take good care of her. But Britney is indeed a nice person."

"You're so tight-lipped. Then tell me something else—I heard the director is working on a new project?" Seeing that the other party didn't want to talk much about the little pop star—guessing they weren't officially together yet—James Franco changed the subject.

But Edward was even more afraid to admit he knew anything about this. "You're the male lead and you don't even know; how would a supporting actor like me, who's barely on the map, know? The boss is here today, why don't you go ask her yourself?"

Just kidding—Irene Coppola's new movie would certainly have plenty of actors wanting to participate. He had finally managed to get the boss to save him a spot; if others found out about this, who knew who might snatch it away? Keeping his head down and making his fortune was his life choice.

"You're so close to Britney, she hasn't revealed anything to you?" James Franco suspected Edward Nelson was hiding something from him.

"Come on, I'm just a little sidekick to her; how could she tell me about this?" Edward Nelson waved his hand. "Besides, you know what the boss is like. She doesn't like people trying to climb the social ladder. I'd like to go up and suck up to her, but she doesn't give me the chance."

James Franco felt disdain for Edward's uselessness in his heart, but said aloud, "That's true. Don't blame your brother for not giving you a tip: my agent said Director Irene is currently planning her second film. If you can whisper in her ear and have Britney put in a good word for you, there's still a good chance you'll be cast again."

Edward had no choice but to nod quickly to show he would try, while thanking James for the advice.

After James Franco left, he began to think about whether he should find a reliable agent himself. Irene and Britney were both at CAA; could he sign with the same agent? Then they would be the iron triangle.

The more Edward thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, and his eyes began to scan the area for Shelly Ovitz to see if he had come today.

As it happened, Shelly Ovitz had indeed arrived at the scene today.