Kingdom of Heaven, shown in theaters, was not a bad film, but compared to its production cost of $130 million, it was simply too bland.
Aside from the piled-up war scenes, it even abandoned the most basic narrative logic.
Perhaps the disastrous failure of Alexander last year gave 20th Century Fox a sense of crisis, feeling that the slow narration and excessive length of epic films would bore audiences.
This led them to wield the ruthless scissors, despite Ridley Scott's objections.
Of course, even if it were Ridley Scott's edited version, it might not have achieved box office success, as this type of epic film seems to genuinely be outdated.
Kingdom of Heaven received a flood of negative reviews, and 20th Century Fox tried every method to avoid failure, but the facts proved that everything they did was counterproductive.
In its opening weekend in North America, Kingdom of Heaven grossed $19.6 million, with an average per-theater box office just over $5,000.
Even worse, several prediction agencies, including CinemaScore, were not optimistic about Kingdom of Heaven's future box office performance, believing that the film's North American box office would not exceed $50 million.
For Ridley Scott, this was a Waterloo, but he had enough confidence that it wouldn't cause fatal damage.
But it was different for Orlando Bloom.
Now that The Lord of the Rings trilogy was over, without the halo of Legolas, and having consecutively flopped with two major productions, Van Helsing and Kingdom of Heaven, even if he didn't want to, in the incredibly realistic Hollywood, he would be forcibly removed from the ranks of A-list productions by major film companies.
He wasn't without opportunity; when Legolas re-emerged in the future, he could become popular again.
The first major blockbuster of the summer season flopped, and subsequently, the attention of the media and moviegoers turned to Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which was scheduled for release the following weekend.
The promotion for Mr. & Mrs. Smith was in full swing, with various hard and soft advertisements appearing endlessly.
Universal Pictures and Summit Entertainment had never held any preview screenings, only a few short trailers that showed Matthew's male lead and Charlize Theron's female lead in a love-hate relationship.
Coupled with their highly publicized real-life romance, it created a sense of mystery and attraction.
"How will Matthew Horner and Charlize Theron, the real-life couple about to get engaged, fight each other in the film as a married couple?"
Similar promotional soft articles were ubiquitous in newspapers, magazines, and internet sites.
With the film's release imminent, Matthew and Charlize Theron, as planned, poured another bucket of oil on their already red-hot attention and exposure.
On Tuesday, while Mr. & Mrs. Smith had not yet been released, Matthew and Charlize Theron moved into their newly purchased luxury mansion in Beverly Hills, under the watchful eyes of countless paparazzi and entertainment reporters.
"Matthew Horner and Charlize Theron officially cohabit, their new home is worth $28 million!"
Similar news followed, grabbing another wave of entertainment headlines.
"How about this one?"
In the master bedroom on the second floor, Charlize Theron emerged from the dressing room wearing a goose-yellow Dior haute couture trailing evening gown.
She stood in front of a full-length mirror, turned her head, and asked Matthew, who was sitting on the sofa, "Does it look good?"
"Very beautiful!" Matthew praised her at the opportune moment, then added, "Sally, you're a natural clothes hanger; you look charming in anything you wear."
Charlize Theron turned back to look at herself in the mirror and said, "You don't have to say those things; I've always been very clear-headed."
She had never thought about getting engaged, let alone married; this was just a temporary relationship for the future.
Matthew stood up and walked behind Charlize Theron, embracing her from behind, and said, "Then should I cherish every minute and every second of the present?"
Charlize Theron broke free from Matthew's hands.
"This is the gown I'm wearing for the premiere; don't wrinkle it."
She then rolled her eyes, "Can you put away those evil thoughts of yours?"
Matthew spread his hands.
"How can this be called evil? If it weren't for these thoughts, humanity would have gone extinct long ago."
"You..." Charlize Theron didn't know what to say.
"This is a very sacred activity," Matthew continued, "It concerns the future and destiny of all mankind."
Charlize Theron was too lazy to respond to him.
She returned to the dressing room to change out of the gown, then entered the walk-in closet, dragged out two boxes, and opened them on the carpet, revealing dark fabric.
Matthew tilted his head and glanced at it, asking curiously, "What is this?"
"Dior-sponsored men's suits for you," Charlize Theron said, opening another box, "And leather shoes."
She stood up and moved aside, letting Matthew see clearly, and said, "Try them on.
I measured your size before..."
At this point, Charlize Theron suddenly remembered something exaggeratedly large that she had measured, and quickly shook her head.
"Hurry up and try them on.
Dior's haute couture is much better than the suits you rent."
"Free?" Matthew was very self-aware as a star now, "I'm advertising for Dior."
Charlize Theron glared at him, "Don't worry, Dior is sponsoring them for free."
Matthew dragged the two boxes into the dressing room, changed into a shirt, bow tie, and men's suit, then put on the subtly gleaming leather shoes.
He came out, turned around, and looked at himself in the full-length mirror.
"Not bad," Charlize Theron came up behind him, "A perfect fit."
Matthew returned to the dressing room, changed back into his loose loungewear, and then found Charlize Theron tidying up clothes in the walk-in closet.
He hugged her from behind.
"Sally, your measurements were spot on," Matthew pressed her against a wardrobe, "Now it's my turn to measure you."
The two of them stayed in the master bedroom on the second floor until noon.
Since they hadn't hired a chef yet, Matthew personally cooked lunch.
They had just finished eating Chinese-style tomato and egg noodles when Lister directed a truck into the estate.
The truck was carrying Charlize Theron's belongings; women's moves were much more troublesome than men's.
Charlize Theron directed the workers to unload the truck.
Matthew stood in front of the fountain, waved to the truck, "Lister!"
His former boss at Red Penguin quickly walked over and said, "Matthew, is there anything else?"
"You know me," Matthew didn't need to hide anything in front of Lister, "I'm not good at managing such a large house.
Things like the garden, lawn, fountain, and woods all need regular maintenance.
I'm leaving all that to you."
Lister immediately nodded, "Okay, no problem!"
He had always kept this connection with Matthew precisely to get more business.
For such a luxurious estate, the monthly routine maintenance expenses alone were a considerable sum.
Matthew added, "You put together a plan and show it to me."
Lister, who wasn't dealing with Matthew for the first time, said, "I'll get it to you as soon as possible."
"Also..." Matthew thought for a moment, "If there are suitable housekeepers, please recommend them to me."
He was even more cautious in this regard.
He had already spoken to Helen Herman before and would decide based on the situation then.
Lister agreed again.
He knew very well that Matthew was on the rise, and as long as his side didn't make any mistakes, this would be a long-term business.
Moreover, Matthew now had a luxury mansion, and he would need even more services in the future.
As for the mistress, Charlize Theron, Lister never saw her as an obstacle.
In Hollywood, girlfriends and wives were never reasons for men to refuse revelry.
Bella Anderson came out of the house at that moment and walked directly to Matthew.
Lister was observant; he glanced at Bella Anderson, found an excuse, and returned to the truck.
"I just received an email from Universal Pictures," Bella Anderson, knowing Matthew's work habits, went straight to the point, "As of 24:00 last night, the total North American pre-sale box office for Mr. & Mrs. Smith was $16.3 million."
Matthew nodded, "It looks like the opening weekend box office won't be bad."
Bella Anderson asked curiously, "About how much will it be?"
Matthew smiled and said, "We'll only know that next Monday, but from the pre-sales, $50 million shouldn't be a problem."
After the truck was unloaded, Lister waved the driver and workers to leave together.
After exiting the Horner Estate, he settled the fees with the workers but did not return to the company.
He drove directly home to West Hollywood.
As soon as he got home, Lister heard his son, Brian, on the phone.
"Hello, Dany? It's me, Brian.
How are your contacts doing over there?" Brian saw his father, waved, and continued on the phone, "You've contacted thirty-one?
That's great; you have a lot of influence in our fan organization."
Lister didn't go far; he sat on the sofa near where Brian was talking on the phone.
Brian continued speaking into the phone, "I'm definitely doing better than you over here.
Don't forget, I'm one of the founders of Matthew's West Hollywood fan club.
I've confirmed fifty-two people who will go to the early screening with me.
I'll contact the cinema later to see if we can book an entire screening room."
"Alright, let's keep contacting people and try to get more, so we can both support Matthew and book a private screening room..."
After a few more sentences, Brian hung up the phone and said with a smile to Lister, "Dad, you're home very early today."
"Hmm." Lister nodded and asked, "Are you contacting people to go to the early screening of Mr. & Mrs. Smith together?"
Brian scratched his head sheepishly, "Yeah, I..."
Lister waved his hand at him and said, "Brian, I don't object to you doing these things.
Do you remember Bella, whom I introduced you to last time?"
"I remember!" Brian immediately recalled, "The girl with short red hair."
Lister said earnestly, "Think carefully about what she said.
Being a celebrity fan can totally be run as a career, and if you do it well, it has a lot of prospects."
Brian was stunned for a moment, then said, "I'll think about it carefully."
Before the official release of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Brian and Dany contacted over a hundred of Matthew's fans, booked a screening room for the film in West Hollywood, and then waited for the film to be released.