The next day, as major newspapers hit the stands, the number of professional film reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes surged.
The Rotten Tomatoes score for "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" continued to slide, quickly reaching 56% and being marked as "rotten."
On IMDb, another website where movie fans rate films, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" received an average score of 7.6 from nearly 10,000 users.
Of course, everyone knew that these scores mainly came from preview audiences, with a significant number being fans of Matthew and Charlize Theron.
The situation was similar to when "National Treasure" was released; critic scores and fan scores were completely different.
Among the numerous film critic columns, even positive reviews were rarely highly rated; most were derogatory.
"The film is a chaotic mess, using the star power of Matthew Horner and Charlize Theron as a selling point to create a foolish, arrogant, and combative couple."
"This film is full of dread and madness; besides these two words, no other suitable descriptions can be found."
Compared to these, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" received much better reviews from movie fans.
"Matthew and Theron are so mischievous! Their bickering and firing at each other are exactly like my parents arguing and throwing plates!"
"Loved it from beginning to end; Matthew and Theron are such a perfect match."
"Matthew and Theron are perfect in the movie, and even more perfect in real life!"
"It's an ordinary action film, entirely supported by the chemistry between Matthew and Theron; their charm is simply too strong."
"It's lighthearted and fun, presenting some marital issues and conflicts hidden beneath an entertaining facade, which is quite innovative."
"This is an excellent entertainment film, with action, bright humor, handsome men and beautiful women, an unconventional love line… and, the two big stars are really sexy!"
In a luxurious suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, French director Louis Leterrier sat on the sofa, reviewing the latest statistics.
After roughly going through them, Louis Leterrier said to the chubby Luc Besson on the other side, "The professional reputation of 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' is far worse than our 'Danny the Dog.' On Rotten Tomatoes, ours is marked 'fresh,' with a score close to 70%."
He harbored a fantasy, "is there any chance we can come from behind?"
Luc Besson, despite being French, was a pure commercial director, and had entered the North American film market more than a decade ago, making him more knowledgeable about the situation.
He shook his head, "'Danny the Dog's' midnight box office was only over 1.5 million US dollars; do you think we can surpass that?"
Louis Leterrier was about to say something else, but Luc Besson raised a hand to stop him, "Sometimes, the actual quality of a film's content doesn't determine its box office."
Luc Besson stood up and walked around, saying, "The North American film market is very exclusive. We are ultimately outsiders. Even if Jet Li is a great fighter, his appeal cannot compare to Matthew Horner."
Louis Leterrier nodded slightly. Let alone Jet Li, even Jason Statham, with whom he had collaborated, couldn't compare to Matthew Horner.
Although a French director, Luc Besson possessed a business acumen rare among French directors. "I'd be satisfied if 'Danny the Dog's' opening weekend box office is one-third of 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith's.'"
For this film to break even and even make a profit, it would have to rely on markets outside North America. He knew very well that, to date, none of the films he had directly participated in had broken the 100 million dollar mark at the North American box office.
Even though "Danny the Dog" had a much better professional reputation, it simply couldn't compete with "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
The facts were just as Luc Besson had considered: throughout Friday, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," in terms of both screening rate and attendance rate, easily surpassed "Danny the Dog" and "Kingdom of Heaven," which were also widely released at the same time.
The impact on "Danny the Dog," which was released the same weekend, was extremely obvious.
Moreover, Luc Besson's one-third estimate clearly overestimated his own and "Danny the Dog's" buzz and appeal.
On Friday's Google search rankings, in the film category, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" ranked first with over 143,000 searches, while "Danny the Dog" didn't even come close to a fraction of that.
By Saturday, when the latest box office statistics were released, the situation became even clearer.
After one day of release, "Danny the Dog" only grossed 2.73 million US dollars, not even matching "Kingdom of Heaven," which had been released for a week and earned 2.87 million US dollars on that single day… The box office champion of the day naturally belonged to "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." This romantic action-comedy film, with its hot buzz and highly sought-after star combination, easily raked in 28.6 million US dollars from over 3,600 cinemas in North America.
Many websites and media outlets commented on this box office performance.
The Los Angeles Times, in an article on its entertainment front page, opined: The on-screen and off-screen chemistry between Matthew Horner and Charlize Theron was the key factor in the success of this action film.
Entertainment Weekly's online edition stated: The success of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" once again proves Matthew Horner's box office appeal and value to commercial cinema. This rapidly rising young Hollywood star is worth more than 10 million US dollars in salary for any production team.
Yahoo Entertainment also reacted quickly: Since "The Scorpion King," all films starring Matthew Horner have achieved box office success, proving with facts that the tough action star is not outdated!
The New York Times published a special commentary article: The strong opening day box office of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," rather than being a success for the film itself, is a success for Matthew Horner and Charlize Theron. This coolest male and female star duo in Hollywood saved a mediocre action film.
TMZ even broke a bombshell: According to reliable sources, in a survey conducted by Universal Pictures among cinema audiences, over 70% of the first-day audience were drawn to the cinema by Matthew Horner and Charlize Theron. In other words, out of the 28.6 million US dollars in first-day box office, the presence of Matthew Horner and Charlize Theron directly drove 70% of the film's box office.
Such a simple calculation is, of course, unreliable, but it does reflect to some extent the importance of Matthew and Charlize Theron to the promotion and distribution of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
Early Saturday morning, Matthew and Charlize Theron arrived together at the ABC Television studio in Burbank to participate in ABC's flagship program, "Good Morning America." As the hosts and live studio were located in Times Square, New York, the interview was conducted via television link.
After the "Good Morning America" weather forecast segment ended, the interview officially began.
"Good morning, Matthew!"
In the brightly lit studio, on the large screen opposite, host David Gibson smiled and greeted the two, "Good morning, Charlize."
Matthew and Charlize waved at the camera, "Good morning, David."
Host David Gibson quickly got to the point, "Congratulations to both of you, your starring film 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' achieved excellent box office numbers yesterday."
Charlize Theron and Matthew each sat on a chair. She made a gesture where the camera couldn't see, and Matthew immediately said, "Thank you."
David Gibson asked, "In the film, your characters and Charlize's get into a big fight over relationship issues. Have you ever had conflicts in your real lives?"
Matthew didn't speak, and Charlize Theron interjected at the right moment, "Of course, there will be conflicts, but they are all minor issues, usually ending after a few arguments."
"Would you shoot at each other with guns?" David Gibson deliberately asked, "Blasting each other with shotguns?"
This time, Matthew answered, "Of course we would!"
David Gibson immediately showed an exaggerated expression.
Matthew then added, "We just had a fight in our new home yesterday…"
Hearing Matthew's words, Charlize Theron had an urge to drag him over and beat him up. They did indeed have a fight yesterday, but she didn't have a gun; the gun was on Matthew.
"Our new home is full of bullet holes," Matthew had already switched to a joking tone. "Before the show started today, the production team just bailed Charlize and me out of the police station. After the interview, we have to go back to jail."
David Gibson asked at the appropriate moment, "Will your engagement ceremony still be held on time?"
Matthew immediately replied, "Of course it will be held on time."
Charlize Theron added, "Basically, everything is ready."
Matthew followed up with, "Even the end of the world can't stop our engagement!"
"I'm so envious of you two!" David Gibson, following the set protocol, specifically asked, "Can I know the time and place of your engagement, because I also want to attend."
Charlize Theron knew very well that since the engagement was a show, how could media reporters be absent? She immediately said, "The time is next Wednesday, and the engagement ceremony will be held at Matthew and my new home."
This time Matthew added, "David, your invitation has already been mailed out. You should receive it tomorrow."
"is that true?" David Gibson showed a surprised expression, "I can also attend?"
This was, of course, not true; Matthew and Charlize Theron said so only for promotional purposes.
Charlize Theron said with a smile, "You'll know if it's true when you receive the invitation tomorrow."
David Gibson also smiled, "I'll congratulate you both in advance here."
"Thank you!" Matthew thanked him again.
David Gibson then shifted the topic back to the film, "After 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith,' will you two co-star in any other films?"
Charlize Theron shook her head, "There are no such plans in the short term."
Matthew then said, "If the opportunity is right in the future, we will definitely collaborate again."