The last weekend of May, which was just after the American Memorial Day holiday, saw the release of two more wide-release films: "Madagascar" and "The Longest Yard." The former is a major work from DreamWorks Animation Studio following "Shrek," with an extremely broad audience; the latter is an American football film, which is also a major genre in North America.
Hearing Bella Anderson's words, Matthew didn't even lift his head and said directly, "Forward me a copy of the email."
Less than half a minute later, his private mailbox received the data statistics email from Universal Pictures. He clicked it open and quickly browsed through it.
Affected by the opening of the two new films, "Madagascar" and "The Longest Yard," the number of theaters showing "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" did not decrease, but the screening rate significantly dropped. The average daily screening rate last weekend fell to only fifteen percent.
This is unavoidable. Audiences mostly prefer novelty, and it's normal for newly released films to have a scheduling advantage.
Although the screening schedule decreased, the engagement scandal between Matthew and Charlize Theron continued, and the film's trend remained stable. In its third weekend, it grossed another $21.8 million from the North American market. Coupled with the $16.5 million earned during the previous four weekdays, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"'s North American box office successfully broke $200 million, reaching a cumulative total of $201.4 million.
Overseas, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" earned an additional $66.8 million, bringing the film's global box office to $378.2 million.
Universal Pictures also adjusted its North American box office forecast for "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" to $250 million and its global box office to $500 million.
Compared to "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Danny the Dog," released at the same time, dropped out of the top ten North American box office charts in just three weeks. "Kingdom of Heaven" was also in a rather bad situation; after earning $2.3 million this week, its cumulative North American box office exceeded $30 million. Whether it can ultimately surpass $40 million will depend on luck.
This weekend, the North American box office champion was snatched by "The Longest Yard" with $58.6 million, as American football films always have a strong market in North America. "Revenge of the Sith" failed to achieve consecutive wins, ranking second with $55.2 million. The newly released "Madagascar" stood at third place with $47.22 million, and "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"'s weekend income of $21.8 million ranked fourth.
In the following weekend, "Cinderella Man," starring Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger, will be released. The weekend after that will be Warner Bros.' reboot of "Batman." Basically, there won't be a shortage of strong films released every weekend.
Matthew was also well aware that at this stage of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"'s run, large-scale promotions had largely stopped. What Universal Pictures and Summit Entertainment wanted to do was to try their best to keep the film's subsequent performance stable and prevent a cliff-like drop.
Bella Anderson, however, closed her computer, packed her briefcase, and carried a large file bag. She stood up and told Matthew, "I need to go to Helen's office to discuss fan organization matters with her."
Matthew waved his hand, "Go ahead."
After Bella Anderson left, Matthew was the only one left in the large office. After flipping through some documents for a while, his phone rang. The British actor named Bill Nighy called specifically to express his gratitude.
Matthew exchanged a few polite words and hung up the phone. Before he could put it away, the office door suddenly knocked from the outside.
"Come in," Matthew said casually.
The door was pushed open from the outside, and a Black woman with long wavy hair walked in. She turned around, closed the door, and smiled at Matthew, saying, "Hello."
The woman had dark skin and was wearing a white spaghetti-strap bodycon dress, highlighting the athletic figure of a Black woman.
Matthew confirmed he didn't know her. He only rented an office in this building, and there were other companies on the same floor.
He subconsciously thought this Black woman had come to the wrong place.
He had never had Black friends, and what he had seen and heard in recent years also made him keep his distance from Black colleagues.
"Who are you looking for?" Matthew asked directly.
The Black woman smiled and said, "Hello, Mr. Horner."
Hearing this, Matthew immediately realized that the Black woman hadn't come to the wrong place.
The Black woman then introduced herself, "My name is Naomie Harris, and I'm an actress from the UK."
"An actress?" Matthew nodded and asked directly, "Do you need something from me?"
Naomie Harris pointed to a chair not far from Matthew's desk and asked proactively, "May I sit?"
Matthew frowned slightly and said, "Sit wherever you like."
Walking to the chair, Naomie Harris sat down, tossing her long wavy hair back, revealing her carefully made-up face.
"Miss Harris." Matthew didn't want to see her preening there and reminded her, "Please get straight to the point if you have something to say."
Naomie Harris glanced at Matthew, suppressing a hint of displeasure that arose in her heart. After all, she was asking for a favor, so she tried to be friendly, "Can I call you Matthew?"
Matthew was indifferent to names and said casually, "Sure."
Naomie Harris smiled, showing a mouthful of white teeth, "Matthew, you can just call me Naomie."
Matthew realized something and continued to ask, without changing his expression, "So, Naomie, what can I do for you?"
"I'm an actress, an actress who hasn't made a name for herself yet." Naomie Harris saw Matthew's growing impatience and quickly said, "I auditioned for 'Pirates of the Caribbean' a while ago, and the final round of costumed auditions is coming up soon."
She looked at Matthew, her eyes seeming to plead.
Matthew wasn't swayed by this at all and said indifferently, "Miss Harris, you've come to the wrong place. I'm just an actor and have no say in the crew's personnel." He switched to a formal tone, "I'm very sorry, I can't help you."
"is that so?" Looking at the person opposite her who was clearly lying, Naomie Harris smiled again and said, "The role I auditioned for is the witch Tia Dalma. If my information is correct, you recommended Eva Green to director Gore Verbinski, and now Eva Green is almost 100% going to win."
"Oh, you're talking about that." Matthew showed no embarrassment at all. He just found her rather strange, coming here to ask for his help and then exposing him to his face. Wasn't that a bit tactless?
He had very little contact with Black people and had limited understanding of this group, but from observing Hollywood circles, the mentality of Black people sometimes did seem a bit peculiar.
"I just casually greeted Gore." With Matthew's thick skin, he could say whatever he wanted. "I didn't interfere with the audition. Perhaps Gore thought Eva Green was more suitable for that role."
Naomie Harris looked at Matthew and didn't speak for a while, only feeling that this big star opposite her was much better at lying with a straight face than she was.
"As far as I know, Eva Green is not your friend." Naomie Harris brushed her hair aside and suddenly asked, "Matthew, what did Eva Green give you? To make you help her so much?"
Before Matthew could answer, she stood up, "What Eva Green can give you, I can give you too."
Hearing this, Matthew knew that this Black actress had clearly misunderstood, and he was too lazy to explain. He said directly, "Sorry, Miss Harris, I have work to do."
Naomie Harris seemed not to have understood Matthew's hint to leave. She took a step forward and said, "Matthew, I'm not joking. What Eva Green can give you, I can give you more."
She knew very well that empty words were not convincing at all. She came here to seduce Matthew Horner, and she believed that with her skills and strong combat power from all three sides, she could definitely seduce Matthew Horner and make him help her get the role of the witch Tia Dalma.
So, Naomie Harris took another step forward, pulled down the left strap of her dress, revealing half of her chest, and directly shouted at Matthew, "!"
Matthew glanced at her, then withdrew his gaze, lacking any interest, and said, "Miss Harris, please respect yourself."
Naomie Harris was stunned for a moment, then thought Matthew was feigning modesty. She reached out and pulled down the other strap, revealing a dark expanse.
Before she could speak again, Matthew interjected, "Miss Harris, if you continue like this, I'll have no choice but to call security to escort you out."
Then he emphasized, "Please respect yourself!"
"Uh…"
Naomie Harris was truly stunned this time. The person opposite her was clearly not being polite.
How was this possible? She couldn't understand it at all. After entering Hollywood, the few times she had used this method, it had always been successful. Was this person gay, to be so oblivious to a Black beauty like her... Matthew said again, "Miss Harris, I have work to do." He was afraid that this actress, whose thought process was different from ordinary people, wouldn't understand, so he said directly, "You can leave now. Don't waste any more time."
Naomie Harris came to her senses, confirmed Matthew's very firm attitude, and slowly pulled up the straps of her dress, unsure what to do.
Just leave like this? That would be too much of a failure. Why didn't the methods she used to get roles before work this time?
She was also unwilling to just leave. Her agent, Ronald, had analyzed for her that projects like "Pirates of the Caribbean," with individual investments exceeding $200 million, were almost a guarantee of success and very rare in Hollywood. Even playing a supporting role in them would bring in immeasurable benefits.
In the past, whenever she took off her clothes, she could always get the role smoothly.
Naomie Harris had never encountered a situation like this before, so she could only rack her brain, trying to find a suitable solution.