Simon's departure did not significantly impact the fiercely competitive Thanksgiving holiday box office.
After the premiere on November 16th, reviews for 'Look Who's Talking' began appearing in various North American media outlets.
However, this family comedy, which capitalized on the gimmick of a baby talking, did not receive much praise from the media. Even with the combined PR efforts of Warner Bros. and Daenerys, the average media score was only 6.2, barely passing. Many mainstream newspapers, including Variety, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, gave negative reviews.
Variety commented that 'the baby imitating adult thoughts and speech is not cool at all, but rather unsettling,' and The New York Times sharply remarked that 'Billy Crystal's incessant voice-over conjures despair'.
While many newspapers still offered positive reviews such as 'very funny', 'the idea of a talking baby is surprising', and 'an enjoyable movie', both Warner Bros. and Daenerys were aware of how much PR was involved, thus inevitably feeling concerned about the film's prospects.
From November 17th to November 19th, the film starring Gibson and Billy Crystal grossed $20.46 million in its opening three-day weekend, easily securing the top spot at the box office.
Earning $20.46 million in three days, compared to a production cost of $15 million, this was certainly an excellent result. However, Daenerys Entertainment found it difficult to relax.
Everyone knew that this strong opening box office was the result of tireless early promotion. The true potential of 'Look Who's Talking' would ultimately depend on its second-week box office performance.
Due to the media's disapproval, Amy and others were very worried that the film's box office curve would decline sharply.
In this regard, 'Scream 2', which saw a drop of over 30% for two consecutive weeks, served as a reference.
After its release on October 27th, 'Scream 2' grossed $31.77 million in its opening week, then dropped 33% in its second week, earning $21.29 million.
Customarily, if a film's second-week drop is too steep, the third-week decline usually narrows. However, 'Scream 2's third-week drop further widened to 35%, earning only $13.73 million in the seven days from November 10th to November 16th.
'Scream 2' accumulated $66.79 million in three weeks, and Daenerys Entertainment was still making a significant profit. However, with the box office curve shown by this film, while the sequel might break $100 million, it certainly wouldn't reach the original's domestic total of $132 million.
'Look Who's Talking' lacked the popularity advantage of a sequel, and its critical reception wasn't outstanding. While the opening week's box office could be supported by early marketing and the cast, with 'Back to the Future Part II' looming next week, if the second-week drop exceeded 30% or even 40%, breaking $100 million domestically might be out of reach.
With over $20 million on its opening weekend, 'Look Who's Talking' would easily surpass $60 million domestically, making it a profitable project.
However, due to the original contract, if 'Look Who's Talking' failed to break $100 million, Daenerys Entertainment would have to continue collaborating with Warner Bros. on other projects until that milestone was reached. Therefore, compared to Daenerys Entertainment's worries, Warner Bros. was relatively more relaxed.
In this era, a film grossing over $60 million domestically was already considered a huge success.
Regardless, Warner Bros. was destined to profit from this project. If they earned a bit less this time, it would actually lead to another collaboration opportunity.
Amidst varying thoughts, on November 22nd, Universal Pictures' 'blockbuster' 'Back To The Future Part II' was released. This sequel, which fans had awaited for four years, did not disappoint, quickly earning $15.18 million in just two days of its Wednesday and Thursday opening, easily securing the third spot for the week from November 17th to November 23rd.
Meanwhile, 'Look Who's Talking' easily claimed the top spot on the weekly box office chart with an opening week gross of $29.23 million.
Paramount Pictures' 'Harlem Nights', starring Eddie Murphy, ranked second with an opening week gross of $23.72 million.
'Scream 2's decline finally began to slow this week, with box office revenue falling 23% from the previous week, collecting another $10.56 million, ranking fourth on the chart, and bringing its cumulative total to $77.35 million.
Among the six new films this week, Disney's animated film 'The Little Mermaid', which quietly opened in only 994 theatres, ranked fifth with an opening week gross of $8.44 million.
Further down, Orion Pictures' 'Prancer', which had a similar marketing budget to 'Look Who's Talking' and 'Harlem Nights', failed to resonate with audiences.
'Prancer' opened in a wide 1,713 theatres but only brought in $4.10 million for Orion in its first seven days, ranking seventh on the weekly box office chart. This $15 million production, a story about a girl and a reindeer that Orion Pictures had high hopes for, failed again, further impacting the financially deteriorating top-tier second-line film company.
Seeing this situation, the Canadian Seagram Group, which had recently approached Orion Pictures to test the waters in Hollywood, did not back down but instead proposed more stringent investment conditions to Orion's major shareholder, John Kluge.
Additionally, 'My Left Foot', distributed by Daenerys Entertainment's Highgate Film, grossed $1.83 million in its opening week after its release on November 10th, and then another $1.52 million in its second week. In two weeks, this biographical film quietly accumulated $3.35 million across 112 screens.
The film also received unanimous critical acclaim as expected, and Ira Deutchman had already begun submitting it for various awards.
This year's Thanksgiving was on November 23rd.
Starting from Thanksgiving Thursday, the North American public typically enjoys a four-day holiday weekend.
Therefore, November 24th to November 30th is also the most golden week of the Thanksgiving holiday season, with a large number of audiences flocking to cinemas during the holiday. The sudden and significant increase in viewership usually leads to an inverse box office trend for many films during this week.
With its predecessor as the annual box office champion accumulating massive popularity, and earning a strong $15.18 million in its first two days, even though the critical reception for 'Back to the Future Part II' was only barely passing, similar to 'Look Who's Talking', most media attention remained focused on this 'blockbuster'.
While other film companies adjusted their release schedules to avoid 'Back to the Future Part II', Daenerys Entertainment went against the tide, with Highgate Films Gucci fashion documentary 'The House Of Gucci' officially opening on November 24th across 532 screens.
Daenerys Entertainment's primary purpose in producing 'The House Of Gucci' was to promote the Gucci brand, and they did not expect it to generate significant commercial profits. The opening scale of 532 screens might seem small, but all of them were concentrated in core urban areas of North America like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, where potential Gucci consumers are concentrated.
Moreover, the documentary, originally budgeted at $3 million, inevitably went over budget to $5 million due to the demanding requirements of Sophia and others. After Gucci company proactively prepaid marketing and distribution fees, Highgate Film invested an additional $5 million in marketing and distribution.
With a total of $10 million heavily invested, coupled with the gimmick of being the first fashion documentary to be released in theatres and the vigorous promotion by a host of celebrity supermodels and fashion icons, 'The House Of Gucci' had already attracted significant attention before its release.
At the same time, the film also benefited significantly from its release schedule.
With various studios avoiding the impact of 'Back to the Future Part II', if you exclude 'Back to the Future Part II' which opened two days earlier, on November 24th, only 'The House Of Gucci' was a new film opening in North American theatres.
The mediocre reviews for 'Back to the Future Part II' had already dampened media enthusiasm in the first two days, and the market would cool down in the first two weeks of December with a lack of noteworthy new releases. As a result, many media outlets turned their attention to this highly-hyped fashion documentary.
The over-budgeted $5 million was certainly not wasted.
Simon repeatedly emphasized during the project's preparation phase that for this documentary to interest audiences, it had to tell a complete and engaging story.
The creative team brilliantly executed his vision.
The documentary centres on Tom Ford, beginning with the 28-year-old designer taking on the controversial role of Gucci's creative director under pressure. It follows the preparations for the September fashion week as its main storyline, depicting his adjustment to the Gucci management team, his struggles with brand design, and the challenges of fashion week preparations, culminating in the successful completion of the Gucci Spring/Summer 1990 women's collection show at Milan Fashion Week on September 22nd, amidst widespread acclaim.
Beyond the complete story, the documentary also perfectly interweaves a large number of classic Gucci products, enough to make fashion-conscious women scream, as well as many fascinating industry gossips. The intermittent appearances of numerous celebrities and supermodels also provided more selling points for this documentary.
Because a small-scale premiere was held in advance, on the day of its release on November 24th, most mainstream North American media published reviews for 'The House Of Gucci'.
Compared to the lukewarm critical reception of a series of films last week, 'The House Of Gucci' unexpectedly garnered a great deal of praise.
Variety magazine, which had consistently given negative reviews to 'Scream 2' and 'Look Who's Talking', this time generously lauded 'The House Of Gucci' for 'creating a beautiful and dreamlike fashion world'. The Hollywood Reporter also praised the documentary's 'meticulously crafted narrative structure that leaves most Hollywood films in the dust'.
According to statistics, the aggregated media score for 'The House Of Gucci' also reached an excellent 8.3 points, the highest among all eight new films in the past two weeks.
On the other hand, 'Back to the Future Part II', which most people almost certainly expected to be a huge hit, performed significantly below expectations in its first weekend after opening.
On Friday, November 24th, 'Back to the Future Part II' had a daily box office of $11.19 million, a 41% increase from Thursday, which was within expectations.
However, entering Saturday, 'Back to the Future Part II's box office performance surprised many.
Anyone who pays a little attention to movie box office knows that, typically, a film's box office performance over a three-day weekend will generally follow a downward-opening parabolic curve: lower on Friday, a big jump on Saturday, and a drop on Sunday.
However, 'Back to the Future Part II' grossed a strong $11.19 million on Friday. Based on this data, many people expected the film's first full week's box office to break the $40 million mark. Yet, the film's Saturday box office unexpectedly dropped by 7% compared to Friday, sliding to $10.40 million.
If the Saturday box office drop for 'Back to the Future Part II' could barely be explained by a large number of fans of the previous film rushing to see it on Friday, then the subsequent Sunday, with a massive 40% drop compared to Saturday, sealed the fate of this film, preventing it from replicating the glory of its predecessor.
It's important to note that the Sunday drop for generally successful films, compared to Saturday, usually doesn't exceed 20%.
'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade', which had a similar opening pattern to 'Back to the Future Part II' during the summer, only saw a 9% daily drop on its first Sunday compared to Saturday. 'The Sixth Sense' which currently tops this year's box office chart, even saw an inverse trend throughout its opening weekend.
Compared to the rapid decline shown by 'Back to the Future Part II' in its first weekend, 'Look Who's Talking's box office performance also surprised many.
However, unlike the weak performance of 'Back to the Future Part II', 'Look Who's Talking' unexpectedly achieved an inverse trend, riding the wave of the Thanksgiving holiday. More precisely, because 'Back to the Future Part II' performed below expectations, the inadvertently available market share allowed many other films during the same period to achieve an inverse trend.
In the three days from November 24th to November 26th, 'Back to the Future Part II' won the weekend box office champion by a very slight margin. However, this sci-fi comedy, which most other films actively avoided, was surpassed by 'Look Who's Talking' during the weekdays.
Ultimately, for the full week from November 24th to November 30th, 'Look Who's Talking' once again claimed the top spot on the weekly box office chart with $33.38 million, with the film's box office showing a 14% inverse trend compared to the previous week.
In just two weeks since its opening, 'Look Who's Talking's North American cumulative box office quickly reached $62.61 million.
Daenerys Entertainment's concerns after the film's opening week were completely swept away.
With over $60 million in two weeks, no one would doubt 'Look Who's Talking's ability to break $100 million in North America. Moreover, following this box office trend, 'Look Who's Talking's North American total box office would far exceed $100 million.
Following closely, 'Back to the Future Part II' ranked second with $32.71 million. This 'blockbuster' film, on which Universal Pictures had placed high hopes, lost the top spot on the weekly chart in its first full week and might not secure another weekly box office champion position throughout its entire run.
Beyond the two heavyweight films, Eddie Murphy's 'Harlem Nights' failed to see an upward trend like 'Look Who's Talking' this week, instead dropping sharply by 42%, ranking third on the chart, collecting another $13.61 million, bringing its two-week cumulative total to $37.32 million.
'Harlem Nights' projected domestic total of $60 million was considered mediocre.
Disney's animated film 'The Little Mermaid' also achieved a 13% inverse box office trend, collecting another $9.63 million.
Subsequently, 'The House Of Gucci', which unexpectedly knocked 'Scream' out of the top five on this week's chart, was undoubtedly the biggest highlight on the chart this week.
Due to its excellent quality, various gimmicks, and extensive marketing investment, 'The House Of Gucci' grossed $9.55 million in its first seven days with an opening scale of 532 screens, trailing 'The Little Mermaid' by less than $100,000.
Moreover, this fashion documentary's average weekly per-theatre box office of nearly $18,000 surpassed all other films on this week's chart.