Made In Hollywood

The North American film market is booming, with new movies being released every week. However, not everyone likes the same film, making it challenging to cater to all audiences. To attract moviegoers and even the general public to theaters, pre-release and post-release promotion is crucial.

To a certain extent, promotion is about sparking curiosity and interest in potential audiences, drawing them into theaters to contribute to the box office.

Duke standing in front of the cameras and verbally sparring with film critics was intended to generate buzz and fuel the movie's promotion.

The combination of extremely low critical scores and exceptionally high audience approval and box office figures for *Independence Day* created an unusual phenomenon. If this topic were heavily promoted, it would undoubtedly stir public curiosity—Why is a film so poorly rated by critics drawing such a large audience? How appealing or terrible is Duke's film to spark such controversy? Why did the director publicly lash out at professional critics? Was it merely a reaction, or was he supremely confident in his work?

This was a promotional tactic frequently used by a well-known director in the past. The more he clashed with critics, the more audiences flocked to theaters.

Although the internet couldn't yet be leveraged for this kind of promotion, Warner Bros. and Fox, along with their massive media platforms, were powerful enough to ignite the conversation easily.

The results of these efforts were most clearly seen in the statistics.

On Tuesday, July 5th, after the Independence Day holiday had ended, all films experienced a box office drop, with *Independence Day* falling below the ten-million mark, bringing in $9.27 million.

That same Tuesday evening, Duke appeared on a Fox program that reached millions of households through the fourth-largest TV network in the U.S. The next day, Warner Bros. and News Corp's various media outlets picked up the story, fanning the flames of the ongoing feud between Duke and the critics. This feud grabbed the attention of many curious onlookers, prompting those unfamiliar with *Independence Day* to buy tickets and see what all the fuss was about.

On Wednesday, despite being a weekday, the film's box office saw a modest increase, earning $12.53 million. By Thursday, that figure had risen again, reaching $13.49 million.

Shortly after, Duke received a report showing that nearly 20% of surveyed viewers hadn't initially planned on watching *Independence Day* but were drawn in by the buzz.

The promotion had achieved exactly what Duke had hoped for.

By the end of its first week in theaters, the film had grossed a total of $116.93 million in North America, breaking the $100 million mark and setting a new record for the fastest film to reach that milestone in just six days.

With *Independence Day* performing so strongly, the studio and distributor were in a position to request additional screenings from theaters. Three major theater chains—AMG, Empire Entertainment, and National Artists—promised that some of their newly available screens this week would be allocated to *Independence Day*.

The theater chains weren't foolish. With the film's recent box office rebound and its hot topic status, where Duke and the critics were almost at each other's throats, it would be foolish not to expand its screening schedule to maximize revenue.

Nearly 200 additional theaters were enough to make the *Independence Day* studio celebrate, though other films, especially the new releases of that week, inevitably suffered.

"This is Columbia, I'm Ralph..."

In Sony-Columbia Pictures' office, Ralph, the deputy head of distribution, was yelling into the phone, "Why did AMG reduce the number of theaters promised for *The Shawshank Redemption* by forty? We had an agreement! Yes, it was a flexible agreement, but we're in our opening week, and *Independence Day* is in its second week…"

After receiving a noncommittal apology, Ralph hung up, dissatisfied, and dialed the number for Empire Theaters. After another round of disputes, he ended up empty-handed.

After making several calls to different theater chains, Ralph was no closer to the outcome he wanted. The ripple effects of *Independence Day*'s massive success were apparent.

Although everyone had anticipated that *Independence Day* would be a summer hit, its success far exceeded expectations. Its record-breaking opening week performance even surpassed Sony-Columbia's highest estimate of $45 million. If the film's momentum continued, similar to *Jurassic Park*, the overlap in their audiences wouldn't impact Sony-Columbia's movie too much.

Now, though, that was less certain. Duke's clash with the critics had turned into a full-blown war, with both sides leveraging their respective media platforms to stage a public battle. As a result, many people who hadn't initially been interested in *Independence Day* were buying tickets to see what the fuss was about. This momentum had persisted and would undoubtedly affect all other movies in theaters that weekend.

With *Independence Day* taking nearly 200 theaters from *The Shawshank Redemption*, the latter could only open in 1,900 theaters in North America. Although Ralph wasn't optimistic about his film's chances against *Independence Day*, even in its second week, he thought *The Shawshank Redemption* would at least outperform *Forrest Gump*, which had been in theaters for a month, and *The Lion King*, in its third week.

After all, the film had received unprecedentedly high scores from critics, and the June test audience feedback was also positive…

After several rounds of large-scale promotions and exchanges of insults with critics, Duke felt more exhausted than when he was filming. Still, he was in a good mood. After all, it felt satisfying to be able to fight back when criticized, and the back-and-forth had proven highly effective in terms of promotion. The midweek box office increase was the best proof of that.

The buzz from these promotional efforts had reached such heights that paparazzi were now staking out Duke's apartment in North Hollywood. Fortunately, he was just a director and not a high-profile celebrity, so there were only a few paparazzi around.

As *Independence Day* approached its second weekend, Duke was no longer worried about the box office trajectory. The biggest promotional campaign of the week wasn't going to impact *Independence Day*.

With his busy work temporarily over, Duke decided to take the weekend to relax. He had been tightly wound for too long.

Flipping through his phone contacts, he found a number and dialed it. As soon as the call connected, he heard an excited voice on the other end.

"Is that you, Duke?"

"Hey, Sally, it's been a while. Are you free? Let's have dinner tonight."

"Sure."

"Where are you? I'll pick you up."

"I'm at an acting class... It's just about to end. You can pick me up at the Andrew Acting School in Burbank."

Wasn't that the place Scarlett attended? Thinking about this, Duke left his office.

Half an hour later, a black Bentley pulled up in the open space in front of the school. Duke checked the time, got out of the car, and stood by, waiting for Charlize Theron to come out.

The place wasn't unfamiliar—he had been here a few times before, as Scarlett Johansson also took acting classes here.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Duke suddenly heard someone kicking the tires on the other side of the car, as if the person had a grudge against him. A series of dull "thud-thud" sounds followed.

"Scarlett!"

Duke turned his head. Even though he could only see the top of the person's blonde head, he immediately recognized who it was. "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing here?"

The blonde girl came around the front of the car and stared directly at Duke, looking upset. "Did you come here to pick me up?"

After saying this, she blinked her eyes and suddenly seemed much happier.

"I have a dinner date with a friend," Duke glanced at Scarlett, then turned his gaze back to the school entrance. "She also takes acting classes here."

"Who? Do I know her?" Scarlett moved to stand in front of him.

"No, you don't." Duke had already spotted the tall figure of Charlize Theron approaching the entrance. "Scarlett, who's coming to pick you up today?"

"My dad said he'd pick me up."

The little girl pointed to her children's watch. "But I've been waiting outside for half an hour, and he still hasn't shown up! He's late again!"

Hearing the sound of high heels approaching from behind, Scarlett glanced back and then timidly asked, "Can I go with you?"

"Sweetheart, your dad will be worried if he can't find you."

Hearing Duke's polite refusal, Scarlett pouted and muttered, "He won't! I haven't seen him all week, except for this morning!"

"Hi, Sally."

Seeing Charlize Theron walk over, Duke waved at her but then glanced at Scarlett standing nearby, suddenly feeling a headache coming on.

"And this is...?"

Standing in front of the Bentley, Charlize Theron curiously looked at the little girl. Just as Duke was about to introduce them, Scarlett's eyes gleamed, and she grabbed Duke's sleeve.

"Dad, let's go home," she said, not sounding like she was acting at all. "Mom's waiting for us at home."

"Dad... Dad?"

Charlize looked at Duke in utter disbelief, while Duke was nearly fuming.

"Scarlett, stop messing around!" Duke shot her a sharp look.

"I'm not messing around! I'm telling the truth," the little girl turned her head away "My mom is really waiting for me at home for dinner."

Duke couldn't just leave her here and asked, "Scarlett, do you have a phone number for your father?"

"for you."

Scarlett took out a sign from her body and handed it to Duke. Duke took out his cell phone and dialed the number on it. After the call was connected, he said a few words about the situation here and frowned. At the beginning, when Scarlett was not mentioned, the intense breathing sounds of a man and a woman could be clearly heard from the receiver.

"Well, Mr. Johnson, I'll take Scarlett home."

After hanging up the phone, Duke frowned even more. The other party didn't even ask who he was, but agreed!

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