June 17, Friday.
Another box office week began, and "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," entering its third week, saw its momentum slow down further.
Two new films hit North American theaters this week, both highly anticipated. One was the horror movie "The Conjuring," produced by New World Pictures under Daenerys Entertainment, and the other was Columbia Pictures' sequel to the 1991 hit comedy "City Slickers," titled "City Slickers 2."
As the planned kickoff for the 'Conjuring Universe,' Simon had been personally overseeing this project.
"The Conjuring" had a production budget of just $15 million. After completion, multiple internal screenings confirmed positive feedback from both media and audiences, leading Simon to approve a marketing budget of $30 million, double the production cost.
Hollywood movies usually allocate only half the production budget for marketing.
As a non-sequel film, allocating twice the production budget for marketing is a bold move only Daenerys Entertainment could make.
Mainly, Simon hoped to quickly establish a market presence for the 'Conjuring Universe.' If successful, this $45 million investment in a horror film would be well worth it.
With ample marketing funds, "The Conjuring," despite the strong presence of "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," had garnered significant audience attention over the past few months.
On online platforms, the trailer for "The Conjuring" on Egret Portal was the second most viewed trailer of the summer, only behind "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises." It was hailed by many entertainment media outlets as the most terrifying horror movie trailer of 1994.
Although the New World Pictures team kept Simon's advice to not prematurely announce the 'Conjuring Universe' ambition, "The Conjuring," based on the real-life experiences of paranormal investigators the Warren couple, spread widely online. Several books about the Warrens' lives, specially recommended by Amazon, even entered the bestseller list.
Taking advantage of the shifting audience interest following the release of "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," and through a concentrated marketing blitz over the past two weeks, "The Conjuring" held a grand premiere at Hollywood's Chinese Theatre on June 15.
On June 16, the film's reviews were released.
North American mainstream media overwhelmingly gave positive reviews.
The Hollywood Reporter praised, "'The Conjuring' perfectly taps into the deepest fears of the audience, making it more spine-chilling than 'The Ring.'" Variety also gave high praise: "One of Hollywood's most perfect horror films, without any gimmicks or pretentious buildup, it grips the audience's heart and delivers a constant scare."
Many media outlets also highlighted the tagline on "The Conjuring" poster: "Heart patients, please watch with caution!" Despite knowing this was a marketing tactic by Daenerys Entertainment, many viewers couldn't resist verifying if "The Conjuring" could truly scare them out of a heart attack.
Initial statistics showed that "The Conjuring" had an excellent combined media score of 8.6 after its premiere, increasing curiosity among potential viewers.
Movie marketing ultimately aims to stimulate the audience's desire to watch the film. The New World Pictures team perfectly achieved this, with audience interest reaching its peak before the film's wide release.
As the most direct competitor this week, Columbia Pictures kept "City Slickers 2" under wraps until its release on Friday.
June 17.
"The Conjuring" officially opened in North American theaters with 2,362 screens.
"City Slickers 2" opened with 2,243 screens.
However, compared to the overwhelmingly positive reception of "The Conjuring," the Billy Crystal-starring sequel to the $123 million domestic grossing comedy from three years ago received dismal reviews, with a combined media score of just 1.8 on its release day, with few positive remarks.
Newsweek's critic harshly ridiculed, "'City Slickers 2' is a meaningless, trashy sequel. I'm curious how the filmmakers concentrated their efforts to produce such a terrible work."
Hollywood film reviews and box office are never directly correlated. The market always has a fixed demand for movies, and if there's no strong competition, even poorly reviewed sequels like "City Slickers 2" with a popular predecessor could still attract a decent audience.
However, this time, "City Slickers 2" faced stiff competition from the well-received "The Conjuring" and the still-popular "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" in its third week. For the audience, choosing between the new "The Conjuring" or rewatching the value-for-money "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" was far more appealing than a poorly reviewed sequel.
As a result, "City Slickers 2," with a production budget of $40 million and an expected modest return of $30-50 million in less competitive circumstances, was thoroughly overshadowed by "The Conjuring" and "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises."
June 17 to June 23.
"Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" easily achieved a three-week reign, with a 27% drop in box office after last week's halving, earning another $47.51 million, bringing its total to $240.23 million, making it the first film of 1994 to surpass $200 million domestically.
"The Conjuring" ranked second on the chart.
Although expected, the film's opening box office still exceeded many expectations.
In its first seven days, "The Conjuring" grossed $42.39 million, becoming the second film of 1994 to open with over $40 million, following the phenomenal "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises." Before this, the highest opening this year, besides "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," was "Stargate" with $36.61 million.
Many media outlets hailed "The Conjuring" as another "The Sixth Sense" or "The Exorcist." Simon didn't have such high hopes. "The Conjuring" was more of a perfect commercial film with exemplary marketing, without reaching the phenomenon level of "The Sixth Sense" or "The Exorcist."
Even so, just the opening week's $42.39 million gross had already recouped much of the $45 million investment, with no doubt about the film breaking $100 million domestically and potentially reaching $150-200 million.
Simon's primary hope for approving a marketing budget double the production cost was to give the 'Conjuring Universe' a strong start. As for the box office, breaking $100 million was ideal, but even $60-80 million would be satisfactory, allowing the series to progress smoothly.
Now, with a potential $150-200 million domestic gross, global success was imminent, giving Daenerys Entertainment a significant boost for the 'Conjuring Universe.'
After the first week's box office results, Simon instructed New World Pictures president Danny Morris to begin promoting the 'Conjuring Universe' concept, prepping for the series' first spin-off, "The Haunting in Connecticut," slated for the Halloween season.
"City Slickers 2" ranked third on the chart.
However, compared to the box office success of "The Conjuring," "City Slickers 2" had a dismal start. In its first seven days, this $40 million production with a $20 million marketing budget only grossed $9.25 million, with a per-theater average barely over $4,000.
In stark contrast, "City Slickers 2"'s first-week gross was even less than "The Conjuring" on its opening day, which grossed $9.73 million on June 17 alone.
Since Sony took over Columbia Pictures, they had been cautious with projects like "City Slickers 2," but ultimately, it failed again.
"Speed" held a relatively steady fourth place.
In its fifth week, the film dropped 24%, earning $8.31 million, with a cumulative gross of $88.49 million.
"In the Army Now" ranked fifth.
Disney's attempt to replicate the success of "Good Morning, Vietnam" saw a 26% drop in its second week, grossing only $6.11 million. After two weeks, the film had a total gross of $14.31 million, with a per-theater average slipping to $3,412. Next week, its screen count would significantly reduce.
Outside the top five, it's worth mentioning that Daenerys Entertainment's "Stargate," released on May 13, crossed the $100 million mark this week, grossing $4.13 million for a total of $100.69 million.
Meanwhile, the lowbrow comedy "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," released during the Easter season by Daenerys Entertainment, officially ended its run this week. It grossed $97.63 million domestically after 11 weeks in theaters, just $2.37 million shy of the $100 million mark.
Neither Simon, who personally intervened in the film's release, nor other Daenerys Entertainment executives, regretted "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" not breaking $100 million.
It was intentional.
And not just to curb Jim Carrey's momentum.
The main reason was that, even without counting "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," branded under Warner Bros., Daenerys Entertainment had produced two of the three domestic box office hits of 1994: "Four Weddings and a Funeral," and "Stargate," both exceeding $100 million.
Regarding the most dazzling "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," no one could ignore the phoenix logo reborn from the ashes that followed Warner Bros.' intro during its theater run.
If "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" had also hit $100 million, it would mean Daenerys Entertainment had produced four $100 million domestic blockbusters this year.
The key issue was that none
of the other Hollywood studios had managed a $100 million blockbuster so far this year.
From the summer season's start until now, films like Warner Bros.' "Maverick," Disney's "In the Army Now," and Columbia Pictures' "City Slickers 2" all aimed for the $100 million club but fell short, either due to bad timing or poor performance.
Simon certainly wouldn't buy tickets for others to make Daenerys Entertainment less conspicuous.
Thus, the only option was to hold back on their success.
Pulling "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" from theaters, keeping its domestic gross under $100 million, would make Daenerys Entertainment's accomplishments seem less glaring compared to three $100 million films.
However, this subtle move could only keep Daenerys Entertainment under the radar for a while.
With "The Conjuring" poised to quickly break $100 million domestically, not to mention the upcoming potential blockbuster "Forrest Gump" on July 1. After that, there's also the 'half' film "True Lies," a joint project between Daenerys Entertainment and Fox.
Counting it up, that's another two and a half.
As for other studios, after seeing "The Conjuring" box office results, Simon reviewed the summer schedule.
Besides Daenerys Entertainment's films, notable releases include Paramount's "Beverly Hills Cop III" on June 24, Columbia's "Wolf" starring Jack Nicholson on July 1, Warner's romantic comedy "I Love Trouble" starring Julia Roberts on July 8, and Paramount's "Clear and Present Danger" starring Harrison Ford on July 22.
Among these, Simon recalled that only "Clear and Present Danger" had grossed over $100 million.
However, this time, "Clear and Present Danger" would go head-to-head with "Heat," starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, another Daenerys Entertainment production, on July 22.
The original "Heat," released inappropriately during the Christmas season, didn't break $100 million but still did well.
This time, considered one of the most classic cop films in Hollywood history, "Heat" is being released in the summer season. Although its release date is relatively late, the less competitive late summer period suits this nearly three-hour-long film to slowly build box office through word of mouth. After a series of blockbusters, many viewers would welcome the chance to enjoy a cinematic showdown between two legendary actors.
Thus, "Clear and Present Danger" vs. "Heat" would be a clash of titans. Even if the nearly three-hour "Heat" couldn't threaten "Clear and Present Danger," it would undoubtedly squeeze its box office.
Simon sincerely hopes "Clear and Present Danger" hits $100 million domestically, willing to slightly tone down "Heat's" marketing.
This way, the summer season would appear to have four $100 million films from other studios: "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," "Speed," "True Lies," and "Clear and Present Danger," matching Daenerys Entertainment's four $100 million hits: "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Stargate," "The Conjuring," and "Forrest Gump." This would make everyone look better.
However, if "Clear and Present Danger" failed to perform as "Maverick" did, there would be nothing Simon could do.
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