The production team had a full set of publicity plans. Matthew's showdown with Dwayne Johnson wasn't released immediately; it would be saved for pre-release marketing to create buzz. Anderson Martinez had toyed with the idea of letting Matthew and Dwayne Johnson fight for real, but neither of them was interested for the moment.
Matthew still had other jobs to fight for; an injury would be a nightmare, even enough to stall his upward momentum.
He hadn't reached this point easily—it wasn't just his own effort, but also a lot of good luck.
After a week of shooting in Stage 10 at Disney Studios, the unit moved next door to Stage 9 to film the Trinity Church crypt scenes. Jerry Bruckheimer's Set-Building Team had started work the previous November and spent a full five months on it, not finishing until late March.
The schedule gave only a dozen-odd days to shoot here; once those were done, the sets would be torn down, most of it junked straight to the landfill.
The film business is a genuine high-investment industry—sometimes a set that took months to build is on camera for less than a day.
While shooting, Matthew kept an eye on the latest numbers for dawn of the dead.
The film had opened with a dazzling $34.1 million, drawing plenty of media praise, and the publicity pushed by Matthew's PR team and Universal added fuel to the fire.
'After the huge success of pirates of the caribbean, Matthew Horner uses his absolute lead in dawn of the dead to prove his box-office pull to Hollywood!'
'If the scorpion king and pirates of the caribbean showed Matthew Horner's strength in period action roles, the smash hit of dawn of the dead shows he can play modern action just as brilliantly.'
There was plenty of hype like this, much of it planted advertorials Matthew had paid for out of his own pocket.
Compared with the share of the gross he'd get from a hit, the publicity cost was nothing—and it boosted his fame.
After its explosive opening, dawn of the dead showed some weakness in the legs: Monday's $2.8 million was a 60% plunge from Sunday's $7.1 million, and the daily take slid steadily through the week.
By Thursday it was down to $2.2 million for the day.
The second weekend brought no strong competition, but like most gory horror films, its drop was on the steep side.
The three-day sophomore frame fell 58%, adding $14.3 million in North America.
With $9.8 million from the four weekdays, the domestic tally hit $58.2 million.
Even without counting P&A, the North American gross alone had already covered the budget.
After two weekends at No. 1, dawn of the dead had burned through most of its steam, the usual short legs of the genre showing plainly in subsequent runs.
Weekday grosses slipped to the $1 million-a-day level; the third weekend plunged another 60% to $5.7 million, pushing the domestic total to $67.9 million.
Universal and several tracking firms forecast that dawn of the dead would struggle to reach $90 million in the end.
But against its production cost—even with $5 million in P&A—North America alone would still net the film close to $10 million profit.
By any yardstick, dawn of the dead was a solid hit.
A survey firm later released data crediting Matthew and Zack Snyder as the key drivers: Matthew for crafting a tough yet emotional leading man audiences loved, Snyder for refusing to be shackled by the original and giving the film new energy.
While playing domestically, dawn of the dead rolled out overseas. The earlier 'elevator incident' between Matthew and Scarlett Johnson, amplified by Oscar buzz, had spread through the Western world, drawing huge attention. Zombie films also have a solid fan-base in the West, and the overseas curve was far healthier than for a typical splatter flick.
In the U.K. and Australia, two countries equally keen on zombie apocalypse movies, the numbers were much higher than usual for a gore horror: nearly $10 million in three weeks in Britain, over $5 million in a little more than two weeks in Australia.
By the end of its fifth North American week, when domestic passed $80 million, overseas had topped $70 million, putting the global haul above $150 million.
Moreover, Universal Pictures is still in commercial negotiations with distributors in numerous countries and regions so that dawn of the dead can enter even more overseas markets.
After five straight weeks of screening, dawn of the dead's North American run is nearing its end; this genre can rarely escape a short theatrical life.
Starting from the sixth week, the film's weekday gross had slipped below 200,000 dollars, even dropping under 100,000 on that Thursday. The three-day weekend take was only a six-figure sum—its cinema journey is basically over.
Likewise, North American theaters keep reducing screen counts and showtimes for dawn of the dead. In its seventh week the release was down to three hundred theaters, and those three hundred averaged fewer than four showings a day.
Still, dawn of the dead has accumulated 85.5 million dollars at the North American box office and more than 86 million overseas.
The film allowed Matthew to take his first successful step from second-tier toward top-tier stardom.
Its success was monumental for Matthew, and the rest of the crew also benefited greatly.
As the female lead, Jessica Alba received a test-screening invitation from 20th Century Fox for a major commercial project and landed the role of the heroine in Fantastic Four.
Director Zack Snyder also got plenty of offers from producers, but after this experience of working under many restrictions he is being cautious and hasn't taken on another job lightly.
When Matthew last phoned him, Zack Snyder said he was poring over Frank Miller's illustrated novel 300 spartans.
It is already May, and national treasure's shoot is winding down.
Inside Disney Studios' Stage Nine, the crew is filming the final part of the Trinity Church catacomb sequence.
Squarely in front of Camera One, Matthew, torch in hand, walks forward with a grave expression, his eyes flicking across the Room's golden vessels and props. Reaching an altar-like brazier, he picks up a gold coin, wipes the dust off on his clothes, studies it closely, then casually puts it back.
He looks interested only in the hunt, not so much in the treasure itself.
Setting the coin down, he runs his hand through the bowl, then thrusts the torch inside; flames leap up and, following the channel behind the brazier, race into the distance, soon illuminating the vast treasure chamber.
The crew spent five months building this vault, and its assorted "treasures" now emerge from the darkness. Even Matthew steps forward in surprise, halting at the top of the stairs and staring into the distance.
Although he knows it's all fake, standing here the view is nothing short of majestic.
One has to admit the production went all-out on the set construction.
Torch-bearing Jon Voight, Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha walk up in turn and stand beside Matthew, gazing out together.
"Yes!" Jon Voight slaps Matthew's back. "Ben, you were right! We were all right! This is the Templar treasure!"
Matthew grins. "We found it!"
Diane Kruger, also smiling, turns and asks, "Riley, are you crying?"
"Look!" Justin Bartha points to a corner of the chamber. "Stairs! A way out! We're not going to die here."
Matthew, Jon Voight and Justin Bartha all burst into laughter.
The shot ends smoothly, and today's work is wrapped.
Director Jon Turteltaub walks up behind the four actors. "Only one scene left. Tomorrow we shoot in Beverly Hills; a mansion happened to free up there and it's perfect for us."
Matthew turns his head. "So we don't have to come back to this stage?"
"Exactly," Jon Turteltaub nods. "They start tearing it down tonight."
"Jon…" Matthew says straight out, "can I pick a few souvenirs from this huge treasure?"
Diane Kruger cuts in, "Me too."
Justin Bartha raises a hand. "Count me in."
Jon Voight says, "I'll pass; I've got too many souvenirs already."
With that he smiles and walks off first.
"Of course," Jon Turteltaub says generously. "Jerry said these things are of no use now."
Matthew turns and heads off. "All right, I'm going to pick my souvenirs."
He walks straight to the dying brazier and lifts the ancient Roman coin; because it appears on camera it was crafted exquisitely.
Jon Turteltaub reminds him, "Don't forget—eight a.m. tomorrow at Beverly Hills for the final scene."
Matthew waves to him, his gaze settling on Diane Kruger; tomorrow they will shoot the big happy-ending sequence.