In North America, the vast majority of horror films are quick-consumption theatrical products, especially the blood-splattering kind. The box office for dawn of the dead dropped significantly on Sunday, falling 40 percent directly from Saturday, earning $7.1 million.
When the Monday box office statistics were released, dawn of the dead unsurprisingly sat atop the North America box office chart with a total gross of $34.1 million!
In just three days, the film's North America box office surpassed its production cost line.
A film with a production budget of only $28 million achieved a first weekend box office of $34.1 million. This was enough to attract widespread attention without further effort.
"Ha, $34.1 million. Isn't that a little exaggerated?"
Putting down the newspaper in his hand, Doug Liman looked at Akiva Goldsman opposite him and said, "the bourne identity only made just over $27 million in its first weekend."
Akiva Goldsman was reading a fax document. Hearing his words, he looked up and said, "How can the staying power of a horror zombie film compare to that of a spy action film?"
Doug Liman nodded. Aside from the film genres, the two films actually shared some comparability: one was a remake, and the other was adapted from a popular novel, both having a certain audience base... However, the bourne identity had a production cost of up to $60 million, while dawn of the dead was less than half of that.
Comparing them this way, Doug Liman suddenly had a thought: Matt Damon's drawing power during the bourne identity seemed inferior to Matthew Horner's current appeal.
"How much do you think the total North America box office for dawn of the dead will be?" he asked Akiva Goldsman.
"Definitely not as much as the bourne identity," Akiva Goldsman confirmed. "Cinema's prediction is that the final box office for dawn of the dead will be around $80 million."
This figure was similar to what Doug Liman himself had estimated. He said, "A production cost of $28 million! With $80 million in North America box office, plus overseas box office, the global gross could be around $200 million. Universal Pictures' profit from this investment is quite astonishing."
It was clear that dawn of the dead was bound to be a huge success.
Akiva Goldsman seemed a little emotional,
"If only our project could have such a high return on investment."
In fact, even if Akiva Goldsman didn't say it, Doug Liman knew he was under immense pressure. A $100 million production, while no longer the absolute top tier in today's Hollywood, was still a huge investment. If it failed, Akiva Goldsman would likely end up on the blacklist of The Big Six Hollywood studios, essentially ending his career with major mainstream productions.
As a director, his situation was not much different from Akiva Goldsman's. Fortunately, there was still the bourne identity, which was already being prepared for serialization, strengthening his resilience.
Doug Liman clearly understood that this pressure was precisely what drove Akiva Goldsman to hire two popular movie stars. Although popular stars command high salaries, they also mean greater box office drawing power and more ability to generate news. For someone like Matthew Horner, if the incident with Scarlett Johansson wasn't carefully planned, he wouldn't believe it even if you killed him.
The current box office success of dawn of the dead is the best manifestation of that publicity stunt's effectiveness.
For some reason, Doug Liman felt that if Matt Damon were compared to Matthew Horner purely from a star's perspective, he fell short. After attending the premiere party last week, he specifically had someone look into it. Everything Matthew Horner had said at the party was true, though slightly overly modest.
Starting from the needs of the project, he mentally placed Matt Damon and Matthew Horner side by side for a comparison.
Matt Damon's acting skills were slightly better than Matthew Horner's, but only marginally. He was also a decent screenwriter, though that was essentially useless here.
Matthew Horner's physical appearance was far superior to Matt Damon's. His athletic physique and wild demeanor were exactly to North America audiences' liking. He had been undergoing professional combat and firearms training, making him a "plug-and-play" type of actor. Furthermore, his reputation on every set was excellent; anyone he asked who had worked with Matthew Horner inevitably used the words "hardworking" and "dedicated."
One more thing: Matthew Horner was more shameless than Matt Damon!
Doug Liman wouldn't underestimate this fact. This was reflected in the dawn of the dead project by the overwhelming publicity generated by countless media outlets.
How many previously uninterested people did this draw the attention of for dawn of the dead?
Having a thick skin and daring to hype things up is definitely a huge advantage for a Hollywood Star.
A knock on the door interrupted Doug Liman's thoughts. an Assistant entered with a fax document, handed it to Akiva Goldsman, and quickly left.
Akiva Goldsman only glanced at it before saying, "Universal Pictures' internal statistics are out.
Doug Liman looked curiously at Akiva Goldsman. Akiva Goldsman didn't make him wait long and said, "Universal Pictures' on-site audience survey for dawn of the dead during the first weekend shows that the first week's audience was mainly divided into four categories: first, the influence of the original film; second, being attracted by Matthew Horner himself or related news about him; third, entering the cinema because they couldn't find a better choice; and fourth, other factors." He lowered his head and looked at the fax document again. "The first category accounted for thirty-seven percent, the second accounted for thirty-five percent, and the remainder were the third and fourth categories." "In other words..." Doug Liman stood up. "The box office figure brought in by Matthew Horner's personal drawing power accounted for one-third of dawn of the dead's first weekend box office?" He was slightly surprised. "That ratio is astonishing!" Akiva Goldsman remained calm. "You can't say that entirely. Not all of the one-third of the audience who came because of him are his fans; a large portion came due to the influence of that publicity stunt." Doug Liman nodded but replied, "Ultimately, it still counts under his name." Stars attract attention in various ways, converting that interest into economic benefits for the films they star in—this is precisely the greatest value stars bring to commercial films. Compared to these factors, acting skills are secondary. Akiva Goldsman handed the fax document to Doug Liman and said, "No need to wait any longer. Since we have finalized the script, send a screen test invitation to Matthew Horner and ask him to come for the audition in late May." The facts have proven that Matthew Horner is fully capable of carrying a film's box office alone, and modern action roles similarly possess strong drawing power. So, it's best to send him the screen test invitation early. This gives the actor time to prepare and adjust his schedule, and it also appropriately honors the relationship with Helen Herman. Doug Liman agreed, "Matthew Horner is indeed a good candidate." He suddenly remembered something else and asked, "What about Brad Pitt?" Just last week, Brad Pitt's Agent received some information about the crew and recommended Brad Pitt. "No rush!" Akiva Goldsman said directly. "Have you looked at Brad Pitt's resume? He is highly famous, a standard A-list superstar, but how many commercial films has he carried the box office for alone? In the last three years—no! Extending to the last five years—the only real box office hit he had was Ocean's Eleven, and he wasn't the lead actor!" Doug Liman thought back, and it seemed that was the case. Akiva Goldsman continued, "Among the current A-list male stars, Brad Pitt is the kind whose commercial drawing power is relatively average. Furthermore, he wants to invest in the project, but we are not short of funds; $100 million will be secured soon." "Should we reject him?" Doug Liman asked. "No, send him a screen test invitation too." Akiva Goldsman clearly had his own considerations. "We will wait. Brad Pitt's troy, where he is the absolute lead actor, opens in early May. Let's first see if he can independently carry the box office for a major commercial production." This was the most prudent approach. If the box office for troy was less than ideal, and Brad Pitt didn't demonstrate sufficient drawing power, they could simply reject him during the screen test using a reason like 'he doesn't fit the role.' Furthermore, Akiva Goldsman was wary of Brad Pitt investing in the project.
If an actor invests, they inevitably become a producer, and if issues arise, they become quite troublesome to handle. Currently, Hollywood has negative examples in this regard: Vin Diesel repeatedly invested in projects and proceeded to bully the director on set. Akiva Goldsman would never allow such a set troublemaker to appear in his crew. Brad Pitt's reputation in this area wasn't exactly good to begin with. Moreover, accepting investment means many preliminary plans would have to be scrapped and redone, and negotiations alone would consume a lot of time. In short, he was not in a hurry to make a decision; it would not be too late to decide after reviewing the box office statistics for troy. Doug Roman discussed some film preparation matters with Akiva Goldsman, said goodbye, and left his office. Akiva Goldsman watched the office door close from the outside, thought for a moment, and dialed Helen Herman's number. "Helen, didn't you say you were curious about the script for my new project a while ago?" Since he had decided to invite Matthew Horner to audition, Akiva Goldsman didn't mind doing another favor. "I have a copy here that I don't need right now. If you have time, come pick it up! Also, don't spread it around! Hmm... that's all." He hung up the phone, found a draft of the script from his drawer, and prepared to wait for Helen Herman to come collect it. Helen Herman had been following up on the new job. Since Universal Pictures and the dawn of the dead crew did not arrange too much post-premiere publicity, Matthew quickly returned to the shooting of national treasure. The remaining scenes were mostly interior shots within the studio.