On the 23rd, a sunny Friday, just past noon, around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the box office figures for the first day of "Miscreant" had just been released: $26.32M in earnings.
With nearly 2,850 screening theaters and an average ticket price of $6.5, the average occupancy rate was as high as 50%, and in some bustling areas, the average occupancy rate could even reach 80%.
There was no doubt that this achievement was impressive. Not only did it secure the champion spot for the first-day box office earnings in North America, but this number also allowed the film to directly rank sixth on the North American weekly box office chart for the period from May 19 to May 24. Just relying on the first day's performance to break into the top ten weekly chart positions also demonstrated the audience's support for the film.
And at the top of the list was the sequel to "The Matrix", titled "The Matrix Reloaded", with a production cost of $150M. It had accumulated $52.13M in earnings. However, it was already in its second week of release, and in terms of daily output, it was not as impressive as "Miscreant". The only difference was that the box office calculation included three additional days.
Upon learning the results, Brad Pitt's agent called him as per his earlier request.
Originally, Brad was taking a nap at home. But upon receiving the news, he didn't feel like sleeping anymore. He came to a seat on the balcony, looking at the scenery in the distance, feeling somewhat gloomy as he tried to adjust his rather complex emotions.
He had reasons to feel conflicted. After all, although he had watched the movie and knew that "Miscreant" wouldn't perform poorly, its popularity had exceeded his expectations.
Perhaps many male actors in Hollywood who belonged to the same type as him felt as complex as he did now. No, it should be said that he was the one most inclined to reflect on this.
Actors, they viewed movies differently from regular audiences. They always thought about more, and their perspectives were less pure.
When they saw a fantastic scene or work, besides admiration, they might also consider something else—how the movie or character would fare if they were the ones portraying it.
This is where the concept of typecasting comes in—actors who excel in comedy, in playing villains, in portraying comedic or ugly roles... and then there were those like Brad, who excelled in playing the handsome and charming roles.
Resources for each type of movie role were limited, and there were definitely more than one actor capable of playing each type. This led to issues of allocation and competition. What frustrated Brad Pitt the most was that originally he was Lyman's first-choice target. The opportunity was given to him, yet he turned it down.
If he had established a working relationship during "Fury", and given Lyman's preference for using acquaintances in casting, it was highly likely that Brad would have been the undercover character in "Miscreant". This truly made him... feel a bit overwhelmed.
Brad thought and sighed.
Last night, when he entered the theater to watch "Miscreant", he even subconsciously put himself into Tom Cruise's character and was contemplating how he would express emotions if he played the undercover role, wondering if the effect would be better than Tom's.
Only through this comparison would he realize what he had missed.
He even finished watching the movie and had some doubts about whether he could portray Tom's weary and melancholic temperament, that feeling of being carried forward by the currents of life.
God, Brad had always believed that his acting skills were better than Tom's, and the industry's evaluations could also attest to this.
When comparing the "Mission: Impossible" series to "Fight Club" or "Seven", there seemed to be no room for comparison.
Who had a more handsome face? That was just a stretch.
Brad considered himself to have been born a few years too late, missing out on good opportunities. Otherwise, he felt he could have easily taken over several of Tom's famous roles.
The industry would now have one less moniker, "Tom the Hunk".
On this matter, he was confident. Although both were selling hormones and good looks, he believed he could do it better than Tom.
Each year, the entertainment industry produced many works, but only a small portion received recognition and even became classics in cinematic history. Brad had experienced the profits brought by such popular works and wouldn't have accepted a pay cut to join "Seven" right before stepping into the ranks of A-list stars, resulting in a doubling of his worth.
The enhancement these successful and classic roles provided for an actor was tremendous. Yet, the more he realized this, the more he regretted: seeing "Wardaddy" and "Ian" slip through his fingers, the frustration of that feeling, only those who had experienced it would know.
Especially since it seemed like this might actually be happening.
"Miscreant" had an excellent premiere performance, with outstanding word-of-mouth as well. The undercover role was a tragic character.
It was well-known that tragedies often had a greater impact than a happy ending, leaving a deeper impression.
All the elements were aligned—timing, favorable conditions, and the right people. This time, Tom had it all.
The role itself was quite tragic: a police academy graduate forced to abandon his official identity, infiltrating the underground as an undercover agent. Not to mention later losing his loved one, then his best friend, and also being suspected by the police. These were all negative factors, and surprisingly, Tom deviated from his usual style and captured the character's emotions perfectly, making the character even more captivating. The reviews from the audience seemed to support this.
The heartfelt exchange on the hospital bed would undoubtedly become a classic scene people would talk about.
Brad was well aware that things hadn't been right since he declined that day. That's why he instructed his agent to inform him of the first-day box office results. Because at this point, he still had a slight glimmer of hope: what if the movie had great reviews but didn't perform well at the box office? In that case, it could reduce his frustration and displeasure a bit.
Although, considering the current situation, his hopes were indeed somewhat unrealistic.
And apart from other factors, he and Tom were inherently in competition. Their roles had high overlap, almost to the extent that when the production companies were choosing, it was like deciding between left and right hand to play the roles.
Now, Tom was going to move ahead further, which meant he would have to take a step back.
Good and bad, it all seemed to balance out.
...
The more he thought, the more agitated Brad became. He felt he should do something. After all, his relationship with Lyman wasn't a life-and-death competition. There seemed to be room for collaboration.
He walked into the bedroom, picked up his phone, and proactively dialed his agent's number.
"Cletus? Where are you?"
"Arrange a meeting with Ron Meyer for me."
"Set a time and call me."
Yeah, he was also a client of CAA, just managed by a different agent.
As the saying goes, where there are people, there is a society. In the realm of the entertainment industry, there could never be just one faction...