Affected by poor word-of-mouth, the box office of "Scorpion King" plummeted on Monday, the first workday of the week, with a drop of 75%, which was far beyond the norm for commercial entertainment films. Monday's box office fell from $1,107,000 to just $2.8 million, a very obvious trend of starting high and dipping low, common to movies with poor reviews.
Even on Tuesday, which is traditionally a discount day for movie tickets in North America, the daily box office revenue continued to decline, only garnering $2.1 million and was close to falling below the $2 million mark.
By Wednesday, despite news stories about the "Van Helsing" and the camaraderie between Matthew and Rex-Reed, "Scorpion King" still dropped below $2 million, only bringing in $1.85 million.
As a new weekend approached, some media predicted that the second weekend box office of "Scorpion King" would drop by more than 70%...
On Thursday, the revenue of "Scorpion King" dropped to its lowest since release, with a single-day income of $1.65 million.
Then, the film entered its second weekend. Thanks to the remaining promotional heat from Universal Studios and some outstanding selling points, the weekend box office did not experience the catastrophic drop some media had predicted, over 70%.
However, compared to the explosive first-week haul of $40.37 million, "Scorpion King" still experienced a 55% drop, taking in $18.15 million over the three days of its second weekend.
After ten days in release, "Scorpion King" had accumulated a North American box office total of $66.92 million.
With no strong competitors before May, most media outlets commonly believed that the final North American box office of "Scorpion King" would inevitably surpass $100 million.
Similarly, during this weekend, "Scorpion King" also began showing in some of the main overseas markets in Europe and America. Despite the overseas screenings being less enthusiastic than in North America, where the film had been a huge hit, the overseas box office for its first week was just mediocre.
In Australia, the first week yielded less than $1.9 million; in Brazil, Hollywood's largest market in South America, the first week saw just over $1 million; in Europe, France's first week reached $1.2 million, Germany nearly $2 million, but Italy was less than $500,000...
Fortunately, in the UK and Mexico, Hollywood's two largest overseas markets, the situations were better, with the former bringing in close to $2.5 million and the latter a strong $3 million.
"Scorpion King's" overseas box office in its first week was roughly estimated at over $13 million. Judging from the reaction of various markets, it seemed unlikely that the overseas box office would break $100 million.
After receiving the statistical data, Matthew analyzed the situation himself. Although he wasn't an expert in film marketing, he wasn't a newbie anymore and had some insights.
Compared to the first weekend in North America, "Scorpion King" premiered in nearly 50 overseas markets with average results.
In the overseas markets, especially in Europe, what were the biggest draws for consuming Hollywood entertainment films? He believed it to be stars and special effects. Stars created purely by Hollywood's commercial means had greater market appeal. As for special effects, Hollywood's advantage was too obvious, something even the developed film industry in Europe couldn't compare with.
"Scorpion King's" special effects were mediocre, with no grand scenes, and the battles focused entirely on the action scenes of the male lead, which wasn't a prominent advantage.
As for the stars, there wasn't even one actor who could be considered star-level before the movie's release.
For the male and female leads of "Scorpion King," they didn't have much advantage either. The male lead was acceptable, as his type of action actor had a market in Europe too. As for the scantily-clad and exotic Hu Kelly, European films never lacked daring and beautiful actresses who were willing to bare it all, so this aspect might not be very attractive to European audiences.
Then there was the promotional hype by Universal Studios, whether it was the kissing donkey event or hard and soft advertising, mainly targeting the North American market, with relatively little impact overseas.
Even the cast didn't run any overseas publicity.
With limited promotional funds invested by Universal Studios, the main focus naturally lay in the North American market.
In North America, despite "Scorpion King's" mediocre reviews and unstable performance, it managed to clinch the top spot on the North American box office charts for three consecutive weeks with $40.37 million, $18.15 million, and $9.45 million, although it was beaten in its fourth week by "Seeing Ghosts" and lost the championship title. Nevertheless, its fourth weekend's revenue of $4.25 million brought the total North American box office to over $90 million.
Subsequently, the traditional North American summer box office season kicked off, with this year's opening film being a small spider named Peter Parker. "Spider-Man," upon release, cleared the way for all other films, dominating the weekend's North American movie market with its massive number of screens and high scheduling rate, severely squeezing the screening space for other movies.
"Scorpion King" was directly reduced to less than 1,500 theaters, with an average of less than five screenings per day in each theater.
Without any suspense, "Spider-Man" ruled the weekend's North American film market and set a new North American premiere box office record with $114 million, the first film in North American movie history to break $100 million in its opening weekend.
Under the pressure of "Spider-Man," other films saw relatively lower box office numbers, and "Scorpion King" only managed to earn just over $2 million on its fifth weekend.
However, adding up the previous four weekdays, "Scorpion King's" North American box office finally broke through the $100 million mark!
A $100 million North American box office in this era was undoubtedly a watershed for Hollywood films.
As the absolute protagonist of the film, Matthew undoubtedly became a highly sought-after Hollywood actor in April and May. Whenever he attended any public event, there was an endless stream of people asking for autographs. As soon as he left his house, paparazzi would follow him. Occasionally, he managed to shake off the paparazzi, but they would quickly catch up.
His street shots and stills from the film would appear on the internet and in newspapers and magazines from time to time.
Even his past experiences as a car repair apprentice, construction worker, and taxi driver were dug up by the gossip media.
Some gossip reporters even brought up his past rumors with Britney, stirring up speculation and attracting more paparazzi to follow Matthew. However, after following him for a while, the paparazzi realized it was just a publicity stunt, as Matthew had never met Britney.
Although there were no sensational gossip stories to capture, paparazzi still enjoyed following Matthew because there was indeed material worth capturing, and the readers and consumers seemed more willing to see it.
At Santa Monica Beach, two female paparazzi sat under a sun umbrella on the beach with their cameras, looking towards the sea not far away, waiting for someone. Today, the beach wasn't very crowded. They had followed him all the way from North Hollywood to this spot, planning to take some swimsuit photos of their target.
"He looks so stylish when he's dressed, like a natural clothes hanger..."
The short-haired paparazzo muttered to her assistant, "His physique in 'Scorpion King' seemed great, but who knows if that was just post-production magic. We'll use a telephoto lens for close-ups later!"
The long-haired assistant adjusted her camera lens and said, "It shouldn't be too far off. When I hurried over here, I saw his back, and it was... just perfect."
She had arrived at the beach earlier but, due to parking, only managed a glimpse of their target's back before he went into the water.
Since this wasn't a pre-arranged shoot, and there were other swimmers in the sea, they didn't approach for pictures, deciding to wait for him to come ashore.
In the clear blue sea, Matthew poked his head out, wiped the water from his face, and continued swimming away from the shore. Originally, he wasn't a good swimmer, but the person before him had been excellent at swimming, though it was a self-taught skill.
Because the role he was competing for might involve on-location shooting in the Caribbean, Matthew added swimming to his training regimen. Additionally, swimming is universally recognized for its fitness benefits. His first week of swimming was spent in indoor pools, searching for that feeling left behind by his body's previous owner.
This was his second time swimming at the beach, but the last time he went to the private beaches of Malibu, where paparazzi couldn't enter, not aligning with his recent strategy. So today, he specifically chose the public Santa Monica Beach.
After swimming another thirty meters, with no one in sight, and the shark net not far ahead, Matthew turned back towards the shore. Soon, he reached the shallow waters where he could stand, resting while surveying the beach.
Santa Monica Beach, blessed with its location, backed by continuous green hills and facing the vast Pacific Ocean, was much quieter and more peaceful than Malibu, without the tumultuous waves and roaring surf, particularly tranquil and azure blue.
It was also the famous endpoint of Route 66, a once-renowned road that has gradually lost its glory. This road has appeared in many Hollywood films.
The scene Matthew remembered most clearly was from "Forrest Gump," where Tom Hanks, playing the lead, ran across Route 66.
A young girl, wearing a swimming ring, passed by him and suddenly stopped, looking at Matthew in surprise.
"You..." She widened her eyes in astonishment. "Are you the Scorpion King?"
She looked at Matthew again for confirmation, "Are you Matthew Horner?"
Matthew smiled and replied, "Yes, I am."
The girl excitedly chatted with Matthew for a while before leaving.
Watching her leave, Matthew felt more certain that he had truly become famous. Even swimming in ordinary attire on a regular beach, people recognized him.
"This feels really good."
He walked towards the beach, looking around, and muttered, "Where are the reporters? The paparazzi? Come on, take my picture, come on and shoot..."
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