Late at midnight
Philips sitting in his chair, was looking through the papers which recorded the midnight box office collection as well as the audience reaction.
The midnight collection of movie seemed decent, as it was a low-budget movie, but looking at the paper which recorded the audience's rating, it mostly showed A's and some sparse B's as well.
Philips was shocked and happy at the same time because a low opening of the movie can still manageable by the studios but if the audience rejects the movie on the first day, it will be a disaster.
But Sam's movie didn't have to worry about either, as the movie box office was decent and more importantly the this movie has shown a great reaction from the audience.
Philips called his secretary to put the box office results and audiences evaluation in the chairman office at his desktop which can be viewed by him early in the morning.
With that, Philips beaming with a smile, went home to share the good news with his wife.
His wife was also worried for Philips as the past year for him was not so good, as he produced two flop films.
By having three consecutive flop films, a person comes under difficult situation in the film industry.
The reason is simple because nobody in Hollywood believes giving more chances to the failures.
Next morning ,
Sam opened his eyes slowly, looked at the unfamiliar environment and recalled yesterday night he stayed at Charles house because of his aunt's insistence.
Sam smiled a little, thinking that some people in this world are kind to him and which makes his heart a bit warmer.
Sam comes down from the first floor for having breakfast at the dining table after washing up and getting ready at 9 am.
While sitting on the chair, Sam was also thinking about yesterday's box office result, as he didn't go to Philips office nor he receive any call.
As he was eating the breakfast, Sam received a call from Philips which might be regarding the box office, he picked up old brick looking phone and answered.
Philips on the other end of the call of laughing gleefully and said,"well done Sam, the box office results of yesterday is amazing and word of mouth from audience is also excellent."
"And as of yesterday, our movie has received around two million dollars on the opening and about two thousand dollars average per theatre."
Average per theatre is very crucial for any film, as it decides whether movies can be allocated more screens or even extension can be made for a movie to stay in the theatre for more time.
Sam nodded and told the news to the Rolex couple and they were also very happy and praised Sam again for making such a film.
Philips continued," We are currently thinking about increasing the screens as this is an off season for the movies, and we can also urge the theatres to increase the screens accordingly because of low competition."
"Alright, you are the expert in this regard, i can just cheer from the back" shrugged off Sam, as he didn't have any tricks at the moment, like the using of internet.
Because internet is currently in its infancy, not many people pay attention to it ,so not much can be done about it.
Sam went home after saying goodbye to them and he plans to stay at home for a long rest for about a month to relax his body, the intensity of making a movie has drained his body.
He also informed Elijah to come to his house, if anything urgent.
Back at the Big E studios, Philips with the permission from the chairman, told the distribution head in the company to urge the theatres to increase the screen for their new movie.
The weekend was uneventful for Sam but during this time period, the box office collection of the movie,"laugh in mayhem" was around 10 millions.
Many newspaper praised the movie and also the new director for such an achievement.
Los Angeles times: a family entertainment for children and adults alike.
Chicago sun: a comedy film without much vulgarity which is a freshner for the industry.
Washington Post: twist at the end of the movie sublimates the whole story.
Some also criticised like;
New York Times: a normal movie with some cliché moments which are also hyped
California sun: no depth,no length, a movie made for few people by few people.
For ordinary people, seeing the box office results, they made up their mind go and watch the movie, but for the film industry insiders, it was shocking.
For a film made with the budget of 2 million and earning 10 millions in return on the first weekend means blockbuster, because the subsequent theatres run, Dvd market and TV right is the real essence of income for production houses.
Sitting in his office, Lewis was fuming angrily, with a red face, thinking of his last movie which was a disaster while even more angry with Philips for producing such a good movie.
Lewis produced a romantic movie which premiered last month, with the budget of about five million dollars with a top-tier romantic star James Anderson as the male lead.
That movie only stayed in the theatres for about three weeks with total box office collection of about three millions.
For a production company to make profit at theatres, they need atleast double the dividends of the production cost. Rest of the income can be made through Dvd market and TV rights.
The movie invested by him had hit the streets while the movie invested by that guy Philips and directed by a newcomer became a success.
One can imagine the stark contrast between the producers, as he would laughed off by many people in the company.