Amid the media's praise for "Run Lola Run", the weekend passed quickly.
However, because February 16th is the third Monday in February, Presidents’ Day in the United States is one of the federal statutory holidays. According to convention, the weekend box office of the new week is calculated from the four days from February 13th to February 16th. This is actually an important reason why Orion chose to set the schedule on February 13th.
Tuesday, February 17th.
Due to being very busy recently, Orion Pictures President Mike Medowa did not take much rest during the past three days of vacation. However, he still arrived at the company early today.
Sitting in his office, thinking back on Orion Pictures' rough experience over the past year, Mike Medowa even felt a bit like he was going to survive a disaster.
In 1985, Orion produced and released 12 films. The best-performing film, "Looking for Susan," only received US$27 million at the North American box office, and 9 of them faced losses.
Due to the failure of a series of movies at the box office, Orion, which was in serious financial crisis in 1986, faced the fate of being taken over by the well-known Wall Street investment group Warburg Pincus. Once the trip took place, all the original company management would be fired.
At a critical moment, company CEO Arthur Crim persuaded his friend, media tycoon John Krueger, to buy 6.5% of Orion's shares, bringing the company the most needed working capital, and thus everyone's job be preserved.
Then everything seemed to go smoothly.
Orion's summer release of "Back to School" has completely lifted the company out of financial crisis with a North American box office of more than $90 million. At the end of last year, the company's key release "Platoon" had a cumulative box office of more than US$40 million as of last week. According to the current box office curve, the film's North American box office can easily reach the $100 million mark.
In addition, in terms of awards, Orion has also gained a lot this year. With the excellent reputation of the three movies "Platoon", "Hannah" and "Platform", Orion has received a total of 18 nominations at the upcoming 59th Oscars, more than any of the seven major films.
Now, in the blink of an eye, it is already 1987, and Orion seems to have completely inherited last year's good luck.
At the beginning of the new year, the company picked up a small box office 'dark horse' from the Big Seven.
"Run Lola Run".
Although the opening weekend box office data has not yet been seen, based on various information feedback in the past few days, Mike Medowa has no doubt that this movie will bring a good start to Orion in 1987.
While he was flipping through a document and thinking about these things, the secretary knocked on the door: "Mr. Medova, Miss Johnston is here."
"Let her come in," Mike Medowa responded. After thinking for a moment, he stood up and asked, "By the way, have the box office data for last weekend been sent?"
The secretary shook his head: "Do you need me to urge you?"
"No, just send it to my office later. Also, make two cups of coffee." With this instruction, Mike Medowa had already turned his desk and stretched out his hand to Janet who had already walked in the door: "Johnston Miss, it’s still so early today.”
Janet smiled, shook hands with Mike Medowa, and said, "Aren't you the same?"
"This is my job, of course I have to work harder," Mike Medowa said, motioning for Janet to sit down casually in the reception area, and he also sat across from the coffee table, saying: "Usually it's delivered at half past nine. Yes, it’s almost time.”
Janet also heard the conversation that Mike Medowa had just had with his secretary, and just nodded slightly.
The two sat down. Mike Medova was about to ask a few questions about Simon's recent situation, but the office door was pushed open again. The secretary raised a fax in his hand and said: "Mr. Medova, box office, Delivered."
Mike Medowa felt that the secretary's tone was a bit stuttering, his expression was doubtful, and he even had some bad premonitions in his heart, so he simply stood up and stepped forward to take the box office report.
After just a quick glance, Mike Medowa's expression also became strange. He turned around and asked his secretary, "Are you sure you're right?"
The secretary's mood seemed to have not calmed down yet, and he said: "I, Mr. Medova, how about I call and ask?"
Although he felt that there was little chance of problems with the data in his hand, Mike Medowa still nodded.
Janet also stood up and walked over at this time, stretched out her hand and said: "Mr. Medova, can I take a look?"
"Oh, of course," Mike Medowa handed the box office report to Janet and said, "The data should be fine, but this is really incredible, much higher than I imagined."
Janet didn't answer, but her eyes fell on the box office report in her hand, and she saw the name and box office figures of "Run Lola Run" at a glance.
$5.51 million.
not bad.
This was Janet's first thought. Then he began to mentally calculate that for US$5.51 million, based on the 15% fixed box office share agreed between Simon and Orion, and just the box office of the past four days, he would be able to get back more than US$800,000, even if he takes into account future payments. The cost of copying is already paid for.
Mike Medova noticed that Janet just raised her eyebrows slightly, with a satisfied smile on her lips. Although he understood that she had just come into contact with this industry, it was difficult for her to understand what the box office data of "Run Lola Run" meant, but she still wanted to He loudly reminded the woman in front of him: "Is this how you react?"
At the same time, at the Fox Studios in Century City, Beverly Hills, less than a kilometer away from the headquarters of Orion Pictures, Ronald Goldberg waved the box office report in his hand and looked at his assistant with some gaffes. He questioned loudly: "$5.51 million! How is this possible? Did the theater chain make a mistake?"
The assistant held the folder in his hand, but he was not as panicked as Secretary Mike Medowa. He answered firmly: "Mr. Goldberg, I have called to confirm, yes."
Listening to the assistant's calm tone, Ronald Goldberg took a deep breath and waved his hand towards her.
The assistant left, and Ronald Goldberg, who sat down again, opened the drawer next to his desk, glanced at the cigar box inside, then closed it, picked up the box office report again, and scanned it line by line. .
North American box office data for the seventh weekend in 1987.
No. 1: Platoon; $12.87 million; Orion.
Second place, "Cruel Fate"; $6.31 million; Bo Wei.
No. 3: "The Show"; $5.99 million; Fox.
Fourth place, "Run Lola Run"; $5.51 million; Orion.
No. 5, "Over the Top"; $5.15 million; Warner Bros.
Among the top five films, except for the currently popular "Platoon", which is number one, with a box office exceeding 10 million US dollars, the box office of the other four movies does not seem to be much different. However, if you continue to compare the number of screening screens for several movies, you will find how huge the gap is.
Among the five movies, in addition to "Run Lola Run", even Fox's "The Show" was screened on 932 screens. The other three movies all have more than 1,000 screens. Stallone's new film "Over the Top" has a screen size of 1,758 this time.
In comparison, the number of screening screens for "Run Lola Run" is only 207, which is not even one-fourth of the number of "Brilliant" and one-eighth of "The Peak".
However, with such a meager 207 screens, "Run Lola Run" has a crazy box office harvest of 5.51 million U.S. dollars, and it has squeezed into the top five in the North American weekend box office list.
How can this not be surprising.
Moreover, it has received such excellent box office results at the beginning, but what’s next
You know, Orion is currently only distributing "Run Lola Run" in a few West Coast states and counties such as California, Nevada, and Oregon, even though this second-tier independent film company is unable to reach overseas markets. However, "Run Lola Run" has not yet been released in central, eastern and even northern Canada.
Well, let this box office momentum continue.
Ronald Goldberg suddenly shuddered slightly and almost didn't dare to think about it anymore. He couldn't help but think of many things that had happened in the past few months.
When Simon Westeros completed "Run Lola Run", the first person he contacted was Fox Pictures. After the film received good reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, Westeros still tended to hand over the distribution rights to Fox. Until the film finally won the award at the Sundance Film Festival, Fox still had a chance to win the film.
only.
All these opportunities were missed.
Now.
Oh, God.
What did I miss
After leaning back in his chair and thinking quickly for a moment, Ronald Goldberg pressed the call button on the landline on his desk, and his assistant quickly came in again.
"Say hello to David Giller and the others. I want to watch the sample film of "The Butterfly Effect" this afternoon. Also, there is another script by Simon Westeros, um, what is it called?"
The assistant reminded skillfully: "'The God of Death is Coming'."
"That's right, it's "The God of Death". You can contact WMA and send the script over. Also, Simon Westeros..."
Ronald Goldberg pondered for a moment, but before he made a decision, his assistant already took the initiative: "Mr. Goldberg, Simon Westero is currently in Arizona, participating in the filming of De Laurentiis Entertainment Investment A movie called Night of the Dead."
Ronald Goldberg was suddenly confused: "Is there anything special about this movie?"
"No," the assistant shook his head and said, "However, the director of the film is Kathryn Bigelow. During the filming of "Run Lola Run", Kathryn Bigelow served as the director's assistant to Simon Westeros. He should be in Return the favor.”
Hearing the words of his assistant, the doubt about who Kathryn Bigelow was flashed in Ronald Goldberg's mind, but he did not ask any more questions. He just waved his hand and said, "In that case, let's forget it for now. You can go and do it first." It just happened."
No matter how surprised, gaffe-like, and secretly regretful Hollywood film company executives who had the chance to obtain the distribution rights for "Run Lola Run" were, the astonishing box office figures of "Run Lola Run" in the first weekend spread quickly and appeared on many TV screens that afternoon. An important section of the evening newspaper.