New York, Conrad Hotel.
"Director, the final box office figures for the opening week are in." The blonde, blue-eyed female assistant, wearing black stockings and high heels, came before Director Sommers with a folder in her arms.
Instead of sitting on the sofa, she plopped herself into his lap, then smiled as she opened the folder for him to review.
The movement was practiced and natural. Any trace of resistance she had once felt had long since vanished.
She had only become Director Sommers's assistant last month. When he first made improper demands, she had resisted fiercely for a time.
But under the combined pressure of Director Sommers threatening to fire her immediately and tempting her with a large sum of money, she had ultimately chosen to submit.
Would she resent her beauty for drawing men's covetous gazes?
Of course not! If she were not beautiful, her abilities alone would never have landed her such a high-paying job.
This was a white-collar position with a monthly salary as high as 30,000 USD.
Would she resent Director Sommers for coercing and tempting her?
Even less so. On the contrary, she was grateful for the chance to make such a deal. Would her life have been better if she had refused it?
A woman's youth was fleeting. Meeting a suitable buyer in the bloom of her life was an immense blessing.
The female assistant's heart brimmed with gratitude, and her alluring body unconsciously softened even more.
Director Sommers held the hot body in his arms and felt his head grow slightly feverish, wishing he could immediately plunge into battle.
But now was not the time. A veteran of countless battles, he still had that much self-control.
"120 million USD, 20 million higher than we expected. Our movie's box office exploded, Director. You're amazing at everything, no matter where it is—you make me swoon." The female assistant spoke with seductive eyes.
Upon seeing the results, Director Sommers was not overjoyed. Instead, his expression darkened.
Because the numbers had not met his expectations. With major theaters generally giving them a high 40% screening share, they had only pulled in 120 million USD?
One had to know that 30 million USD of that had come from tickets he bought himself.
That meant the real box office was only 90 million.
After burning through so much marketing and distribution money, even resorting to buying tickets himself, the box office had still come in 10 million dollars below expectations.
Those results cast a shadow over Director Sommers's heart.
"Has the theaters' screening share been relatively stable lately?" Director Sommers asked.
The screening share reflected the confidence theaters had in The Mummy Returns, and it would determine whether the film's box office after its opening week stayed strong or collapsed in a rush.
"There's a small problem. Our screening share will drop by 8% next week," the female assistant answered cautiously.
"Why are they cutting our screenings?"
An 8% drop in screening share was absolutely not a small problem. Director Sommers immediately became alert.
"Because Shrek's word of mouth and attendance rates are simply too good. The major theaters gave it some of our screening slots," the female assistant explained.
"Damn it! What kind of garbage cartoon is that? Its attendance rate is actually better than our blockbuster?" Director Sommers's fury shot straight to his head as he shouted.
The female assistant trembled in his lap, too frightened to get up and leave. She could only remain silent.
"Step up the ticket-buying efforts, or our screening share will keep dropping," Director Sommers said after calming down a while later.
"But our budget can't withstand it. This money wasn't included in the marketing and distribution plan," the female assistant reminded him.
"I'll pay for it myself first. Once we make the money back, I'll take it out of the box office revenue," Director Sommers said, forced into making a decision that pained him deeply.
At this point, he had no way back. He did not want to slink out of Hollywood in disgrace, so even if he had to spend all his savings, he had to grit his teeth and press on.
"Low attendance can be dealt with by buying tickets ourselves, but the poor word of mouth also needs to be addressed as soon as possible," the female assistant raised another problem.
"Manage the reviews. Prepare commissioned pieces from critics at all the major newspapers and media outlets," Director Sommers said.
"We've already done some of that. The results weren't very good."
"What? How could the results be bad?" Director Sommers asked in confusion.
"Because young people don't read that stuff anymore, so the results haven't been ideal."
"Then what do young people read?"
"They share and review things online, on a website called IMDB." The female assistant further explained, "Our movie has a 6.2 rating on IMDB, while Shrek is as high as 7.7."
"What's so good about that damn cartoon? Get that site's PR people to raise our score."
"They rejected our outreach and used even more space to mock our movie," the female assistant answered carefully.
"Fuck IMDB!"
Director Sommers naturally had no idea that Mr. Eisen had already bought a stake in IMDB and gained influence there. How could Lin Yuan possibly give him the opportunity to manipulate his movie's reputation?
Not only would he not give him that opportunity, he would not mind kicking him while he was down a few more times.
Damn it, nothing is going smoothly, Director Sommers cursed inwardly.
Holding the alluring body in his arms, he had a faint feeling that the good days before him seemed about to be gone forever.
No! I will never allow that to happen!
Those yellow-skinned monkeys were the scum who should be driven out of Hollywood. Hollywood should be the territory of us Anglo-Saxons. Did every kind of trash deserve to come in and take a slice of the pie?
"Director, another new movie is being released tomorrow. Is it a major threat to us?" The female assistant in his arms raised another question.
"You mean Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? It's a fairy tale made for children. It shouldn't pose much of a threat to us."
"But its production budget isn't low. It's a top-tier production costing as much as 130 million USD."
"They spent all their money on making the movie. Their marketing and distribution budget is less than half of ours, and they can't squeeze us out of our screening slots," Director Sommers said confidently.
If Lin Yuan had been there and heard him say that, he would have laughed himself crazy.
Who did you say wasn't a threat?
Over the next few years, the Harry Potter film series and The Lord of the Rings trilogy would be the only two godlike forces, jointly dominating the box office champion and runner-up spots for years to come.
The two might trade wins between themselves, but every other movie that faced them would be crushed without the slightest suspense.
Perhaps because of the butterfly effect caused by Lin Yuan's rebirth, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which had originally been scheduled for release in November, had been moved up to early June.
At the meeting chaired by President Smith earlier, the moment Lin Yuan saw the release date for that movie, he immediately knew that The Mummy Returns was finished and that Director Sommers had already lost!
This was the favorable timing Lin Yuan had mentioned.
The Mummy Returns was indeed a good movie, but caught between the twin assaults of Shrek and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, those two monsters would inevitably keep squeezing its screening share until it could only end in bitter defeat.
Director Sommers had yet to realize how severe the situation was. In his eyes, his opponent was merely a children's movie for kids, and its quality could never compare to his blockbuster.
But had he considered how much salary The Mummy Returns' big-name actors had taken away?
How much salary could the child actors in the first Harry Potter movie have taken away?
Although the production budgets appeared to differ by only 30 million USD, the actual money spent on making the films differed by several orders of magnitude.
This would inevitably put Harry Potter at an absolutely crushing advantage in quality.
The Demon King known as Harry Potter was about to descend, and Director Sommers would soon feel that bone-chilling cold.
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