[Chapter 977: Opening Day Box Office]
Since City of Angels and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me premiered on the same day, Elisabeth hoped two days prior that Eric would accompany her to see the film. Eric arranged for a screening room at a theater in downtown Santa Monica.
However, Elisabeth called Eric in the morning and flew to New York without saying anything. Although Elisabeth didn't say it outright, Eric pretty much guessed what happened. Earlier in the year, Murdoch returned from a visit to Asia with a woman, and now it seemed that crisis had struck.
Eric wouldn't interfere in such personal matters. Elisabeth went back to New York, but he didn't cancel the reservation for the screening room.
Warner Bros. had been subtly promoting City of Angels as another ghost-themed romance like Ghost. Eric hadn't seen the film before, and he wanted to assess its quality himself, so he decided to bring Natasha Henstridge along as a way to relax after a week's work.
After leaving the Firefly Theatre, the two had dinner nearby at Venice Beach before heading to the cinema.
Led by a staff member, Natasha, holding popcorn and drinks, followed Eric into a luxurious screening room with only about ten seats. Spotting Eric hesitating beside the couch, Natasha asked, "Eric, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Eric shook his head and walked over, sitting down on the couch.
Natasha sat down as well, and Eric nodded toward the staff member, saying, "Let's get started."
The staff member politely responded and exited the screening room.
...
The lights in the screening room quickly dimmed, and when the Warner Bros. logo appeared on screen, Natasha inquired, "Eric, is this a Warner film?"
"Yeah, you don't think I only watch my own movies, do you?" Eric laughed, shaking his head. He explained, "This is City of Angels, starring Cage and Meg."
"Oh, I saw the poster for it," Natasha laughed shyly. "I thought you'd take me to see Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me instead."
"Why would you think that?"
Natasha thought for a moment. She felt like she'd been seeing Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me everywhere on TV and various billboards, and said, "It seemed like that movie was much more popular."
On the big screen, after the Warner intro, Cage's character, the angel Seth, guided a little girl's soul into heaven. It was followed by a conversation between two angels about touch: angels cannot sense mortals, just as mortals cannot feel the angels' touch; the two exist in the same space but seem like two worlds apart.
Having spent a long time in Hollywood, Eric found it difficult to simply enjoy a movie as an audience member anymore; while sitting in front of the big screen, he instinctively began to analyze the film's quality.
At first, the beginning of City of Angels struck Eric as rather mundane, and the subsequent soundtrack felt rather jarring.
Moreover, despite being decent friends with Cage, Eric couldn't help but secretly complain that Cage's portrayal of an angel seemed quite incongruous. The guy had passed his prime; his hairline was receding, completely devoid of the handsome appeal that made girls swoon a decade ago in Moonstruck.
As the film's plot and narrative pace appeared somewhat chaotic and rushed, Eric felt relieved after watching just over twenty minutes. At least City of Angels wouldn't pose any threat to the three films from the Firefly group.
...
While Eric and Natasha watched City of Angels, in the Midwest, Michael Wilmington, the resident film critic for the Chicago Tribune, bought a ticket for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Had it not been for his obligation to submit a review to the Chicago Tribune, Michael would have never purchased a ticket for such a parody film; he preferred art films.
Today, however, Michael's mood wasn't great. He had watched City of Angels with high hopes earlier in the day, only to be left disappointed.
During the initial promotional phase, Warner Bros. aimed to create yet another Ghost-like romance, but after viewing City of Angels, Michael could only describe the film with one word: mediocre.
Both the bland script and the contrived tragic ending felt very discomforting to him. As for the concept of angels and mortals, after Ghost, such ideas in Hollywood could hardly be considered innovative.
Once upon a time, Cage in Ghost and Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally... were simply stunning.
But Michael felt that City of Angels failed to showcase the allure of these two Hollywood A-listers, which he considered a massive waste.
He didn't buy popcorn or other snacks and didn't bring a notebook. He casually found a position in the screening room, and with his preconceived bias, he didn't intend to take Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me seriously. As for the review he had to submit, he thought he would jot something down later.
Before the lights went out, Michael looked around. Although he was in the bustling downtown Chicago, he was slightly surprised to see that the theater, which could seat around two hundred, had over eighty percent occupancy.
Considering the large-scale promotional efforts of Firefly, Fox, and MGM, Michael quickly accepted the situation.
As a film critic, he was well aware of the movie industry dynamics. Advertising and marketing had become increasingly vital, leading to shorter release cycles -- to the point where most commercial films recouped more than seventy percent of their North American box office in the first four weeks.
Given this change, cases where box office miracles were created solely by word of mouth had become quite rare in recent years. The bar for producing films in Hollywood had reached new heights; many believed that this trend would ultimately stifle the recently rejuvenated film industry. However, such industry trends were not easily shifted by any one person.
As he pondered these matters, the screening of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me had begun.
...
The first film's sultry lead, Elizabeth Hurley, made a cameo, playing a female robot who kicked Mike Myers out of a hotel room while he was completely naked. The movie continued to employ the humorously playful method of the first film, employing a variety of risque positions that had the audience bursting into laughter.
As a seasoned critic, Michael was familiar with the various gags in the film, but his instinctive distaste made it hard for him to feel anything about it.
After patiently watching for several minutes, Michael considered whether to leave early; just then, a segment featuring the female lead pulling a series of gimmicky items from various places on the male lead sparked peals of laughter from the audience.
Michael scanned the room, recalling the past several minutes. It seemed the audience erupted in laughter roughly every two or three minutes.
Suddenly, he dismissed the notion of leaving early, settling back into his seat, but his attention shifted from the screen to the surrounding audience.
...
The laughter continued for a solid ninety minutes, and even when the credits rolled, the audience didn't immediately get up, as the bloopers accompanying the end credits kept them in stitches.
"Ha! That was hilarious; maybe we should come back and watch it again!"
"Elizabeth Hurley is still so hot!"
"It was definitely a mistake for Peter and the guys not to come see this movie."
"That naked scene was outrageous -- wonder if they really showed everything in the shoot."
"Mike Myers is such a genius."
"..."
"..."
...
As he joined the crowd exiting the screening room, soaking in the frenzied discussions around him, Michael Wilmington seemed contemplative.
He still found it difficult to give this film a positive review -- compared to the first installment, this was just another compilation of overused gags. However, being able to make the audience laugh was at least a sign of superiority over the cringe-worthy City of Angels.
Upon returning home, Michael Wilmington turned on his laptop, ready to write a review for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Remembering something, he closed the document, opened his browser, and logged onto the Yahoo Movie section.
He located the page for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and skimmed through the film's general ratings.
Yahoo Movies' evaluation system seemed rather innovative to many, featuring both professional critic scores and average audience scores. Everyone knew that Yahoo was essentially the online media platform for the Firefly group, which led to ongoing questions about the site's impartiality.
The critic score for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was only 5.1, which Michael Wilmington thought might still be a tad generous.
Being a relatively young medium, many well-known critics had yet to join Yahoo Movies. Though he had received an invitation from Yahoo in the past, he had declined like many others. The critics on Yahoo Movies were either part of the Firefly group or lacked significant renown. In Wilmington's view, there was no way they could rate a film without bias.
He glanced next at the audience score, labeled the "Popcorn Index" by Yahoo, which stood at a staggering 7.6.
Even though he had anticipated this somewhat in the screening room, Michael was still taken aback by how high that number was. If he had to score, he would give the film a 3 for professional rating, while for the so-called Popcorn Index, he would only assign a passing score of 6.
Looking at City of Angels' ratings, its critic score was currently 6.3, barely passing. Meanwhile, its Popcorn Index was even lower than that of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, at only 7.3.
Although he also disliked City of Angels, Michael felt that its Popcorn Index should theoretically not be lower than that of such a crass parody film as Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
While he questioned Yahoo's site impartiality, Wilmington didn't think his own bias was out of line.
Thus, he searched several other film critique sites. Though the scores varied, the general trends in reviews were markedly consistent. Critics disliked Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me but grudgingly acknowledged City of Angels, while the average audience clearly favored Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and showed little enthusiasm for City of Angels.
Since films emerged, the dominance of critics in shaping a movie's reputation in North America had never changed. This lent an air of superiority to Michael Wilmington as he approached Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
However, after browsing several movie sites, he suddenly felt a slight sense of threat.
How could regular people lead a film's reputation? That would completely undermine the traditional critics' livelihoods!
With this instinctive aversion and vigilance, his initial recognition of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me evaporated.
He reopened the document and began typing his review: it seemed that Mike Myers would never escape the shadow of Saturday Night Live. Not to put too fine a point on it, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is just another compilation of various tired cliches...
...
Neither City of Angels nor Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was a blockbuster; although both studios organized premieres to compete or promote, neither produced midnight shows.
As a result, the reviews for both films began to spread widely only by Saturday morning.
In contrast with the initial ratings above 7, after Friday's large-scale release, the reviews for City of Angels noticeably declined, barely holding above a 6 overall.
On the other hand, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me experienced a 'decisive' plunge, where media reviews fell directly to the 5 level of terrible films.
Yet, while the North American media largely rejected both films, the opening day box office numbers for both films astounded everyone, particularly the data for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
In Beverly Hills, Joe Roth, the president of 20th Century Fox, was jolted awake by the ringing of his phone early in the morning. When he heard his assistant report the opening day box office for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, he almost thought he was dreaming. After confirming it several times, Joe Roth finally accepted it and quickly spread the news.
*****
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