After its first weekend of 14.31 million U.S. dollars, "The Butterfly Effect" finally reached a box office of 21.69 million U.S. dollars in its first full week, undoubtedly ranking first in the North American weekly box office.

In the living room of the apartment.

Simon looked at the box office data report in his hand, and his first thought was the next box office trend.

According to the current media reputation of "The Butterfly Effect", most people are very optimistic about the box office curve of this film, and Simon himself cannot be said to be too optimistic.

If the box office of "The Butterfly Effect" drops by more than 50% in the second week, then, despite its high starting point of US$21.69 million in the first week, the film's total North American box office will still only reach about US$50 million.

With a budget of US$50 million, compared to the production cost of the film and the average data of this era, the box office performance is definitely outstanding.

The production cost of "The Butterfly Effect" is US$10 million, and the actual publicity budget is usually half of the production cost. In this way, when the box office reaches US$30 million, Fox has already begun to make a profit, not to mention overseas distribution and post-production video tapes, television

From broadcast and other income, Fox can make a lot of money from this project.

However, this is definitely not a good thing for Simon.

The reason why Fox and Orion approved the share-sharing contract between "Dead Man" and "Pulp Fiction" was entirely because they expected Simon to "keep up the good work" after "Run Lola Run".

The first-week box office of "The Butterfly Effect" largely relied on the popularity brought by "Run Lola Run".

Now.

The reputation of "The Butterfly Effect" has collapsed. If the subsequent box office cannot match its high starting point in the first week, then Hollywood will completely regard "Run Lola Run" as an accidental success, and the aura it brings to Simon will be blessed.

It will also become invalid after "The Butterfly Effect".

Next.

Although the contracts of "Dead Man" and "Pulp Fiction" are irreversible, in the process of Simon promoting other subsequent projects of Daenerys Pictures, Hollywood studios will obviously no longer consider the halo factor of "Run Lola Run"

.

Even Simon's age disadvantage of being less than 20 years old will be magnified again.

Not bothering to pay attention to the box office of other movies, Simon put aside the report in his hand and looked at the big screen opposite casually.

What is playing on the screen is the classic Hollywood black and white film "Casablanca".

As a movie ranked very high on the [IMDB] TOP-250 in the original time and space, Simon has seen it more than once in his memory. "When Harry Met Sally" also mentioned this movie in many details, so he

I bought the video tape and plan to review it again.

Looking at Ingrid Bergman's shining eyes on the screen, Simon suddenly thought of Janet and what Neil said before leaving.

After hesitating for a moment, Simon took the phone over, leaned on the sofa and dialed a series of numbers.

After a series of beeps as usual, the phone was picked up, and a kitten-like snort came from the phone, with obvious impatience.

Simon listened to the woman's reaction, but he curved his lips and said softly: "Baby, it's me."

In the bedroom of the mansion in Palisades, Janet was huddled in a daze on the big bed in the bedroom. The phone cord on the bedside table was stretched so long that it extended all the way to the bed.

Hearing Simon's voice, Janet cheered up. She fished for a pillow next to her and held it in her arms. She seemed to be hugging someone, but she said unforgivingly: "Who is it?"

Where is your baby? She wants to call her Jenny."

Simon followed suit: "Okay, Jenny."

Janet immediately became dissatisfied and criticized: "I really have no position."

Simon smiled and said, "I just wanted to call you and say good night."

Janet twisted in the quilt, hugged the pillow in her arms tighter, and asked proactively: "What are you doing?"

"Watching a movie," Simon glanced at the big screen and said, "Casablanca."

"Because of "When Harry Met Sally"?" Janet asked, without waiting for Simon's answer, she said: "I have seen it before. However, I don't like the story very much, so everyone is cautious.

Yes, not crisp at all."

Simon unknowingly also took a pillow from the side and brought it over, but he just put it on his knees and said: "Then you must not understand."

"Um?"

"Actually, "Casablanca" is definitely the most obscure love story in the history of Hollywood, and the ending is perfect."

"uh-huh?"

Simon smiled and said: "Look, the story should actually be like this. In the chaotic small town of Casablanca, Sheriff Reno fell madly in love with the bar owner Rick. In order to attract Rick's attention, he deliberately disguised himself as

A playboy who kept changing women one after another. The arrival of Rick's ex-girlfriend Elsa made Sheriff Reno feel a very strong crisis. However, Reno was very smart. On the surface, he acted as if nothing had happened.

But he secretly pushed for it, and not only succeeded in driving Elsa away, but also used this incident to make Rick understand his feelings. In the end, the two left Casablanca together, and have been working together for the rest of their lives, wandering around the world."

On the other side of the phone, Janet listened to Simon's narration and recalled the plot of the movie in her memory. Her beautiful eyes blinked and blinked, and suddenly she screamed: "Ah, you little bastard, Westeros."

You little bastard, I will never watch "Casablanca" again."

With such accusations, Janet suddenly became overjoyed. She rolled on the big bed and writhed for a while. Suddenly she realized something. The woman's joy came to an abrupt end in the blink of an eye. She quickly grabbed the dropped microphone and said, "Hey, little bastard, you

still there?"

Simon said: "Yes."

Janet hesitated for a moment and asked weakly: "You, aren't you holding back too much recently and becoming interested in men?"

Simon felt a black line floating in front of his eyes and immediately said: "No."

Janet was obviously still worried: "Really?"

"Of course it's true," Simon nodded again, not wanting to continue discussing this topic, and instead said: "However, without you around, my place has been a bit messy recently. How about taking the time to come over and help me clean it up?"

Janet refused without hesitation: "No, you can find a cleaner yourself."

"You know," Simon felt that the topic had been diverted and continued decisively: "I don't like strangers appearing in my home."

"But," Janet grabbed the pillow in her arms, changed her position on the bed, and said, "I also hire a cleaner to clean the villa here, right?"

Simon didn't pay attention to this before, so he could only say: "This, I can't see it, so I pretend not to know."

"Haha, let Kate help you clean it up."

Simon said helplessly: "Are you really such a good best friend?"

"Otherwise you have to solve it yourself," Janet curled her lips, but then said: "You don't allow strangers of the same kind to appear in your territory. From this point of view, you really look like a lion."

Simon was thinking that he would take time to sort it out on his own over the weekend. After listening to Janet's words, he remembered another thing and said: "I always hear you talking about lions and the like. I recently conceived an idea about lions," he said.

With that, Simon stood up, rummaged around, found a stack of drawings, put it on his knees and flipped through it casually, saying: "This is a cartoon called "The Lion King", the story template of "The Revenge of the Prince"

.How about I make it and give it to you as a birthday present. By the way, when is your birthday?"

Janet's voice was soft and she whispered: "I'm just celebrating my birthday. Thinking of my age makes me sad."

Simon said softly: "Of course you have to celebrate your eighteenth birthday. It's your eighteenth birthday every year. Come on, tell me when is your eighteenth birthday?"

Janet's tone became a little softer and she said softly: "March 13th has already passed by secretly this year. Well, I don't want the story to be bad."

"You can take a look first," Simon remembered the date in his mind and continued: "How about tomorrow? I'm going to Madonna's house to attend a party tomorrow night, and you will be my female companion. We will discuss this together when we come back.

story."

"No, I'm not your girlfriend now," Janet resisted slightly, and then asked, "What are you doing at Madonna's house?"

"I would like to invite Madonna and Sean Penn to participate in "Pulp Fiction", which is the Bunny and the Pumpkin in the opening scene."

"Haha, invite them both," Janet curled her lips mockingly and said, "I happen to remember the movie "Magic City" they acted together last year. The review said that the only good thing about that movie is that the audience can be alone.

Enjoy a movie theater.”

Hearing what Janet said, Simon couldn't help but laugh.

"The Devil" is a movie starring Madonna and Sean Penn last year. The production cost was 17 million US dollars, but the North American box office was only 2.31 million.

Before sending out invitations to Madonna and Sean Penn, Simon also specially found and watched the video of "The Lost City". It can only be described as horrific. Madonna even got her first golden award for it at the beginning of the year.

May the worst heroine.

However, Simon finally decided to give it a try.

Simon has always believed that there is never a completely hopeless actor in the world, the key lies in the role. Otherwise, Madonna would not have won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in "Mrs. Peron".

Because of the episode on ABC's "Good Morning America" ​​last month, after Simon finished the "Pulp Fiction" script, the first thing that came to mind for the opening scene of the little bunny and the little pumpkin was Madonna and his wife.

Madonna's boldness and avant-garde, Sean Penn's fiery personality, it is perfect to play a pair of mandarin duck robbers together.

The most important thing is that Madonna's movie salary will not be too high, and Sean Penn is not a Grand Slam actor at the moment. If it is just a cameo, this idea is very feasible.

Thinking in his mind, Simon asked: "Then will you go tomorrow?"

Janet refused again: "No. We have broken up now, and we are still preparing for a lawsuit. It would be shameful for me to be taken out by you so soon."

"Okay," Simon had to say, "That's it, good night."

"Yeah, good night."
Chapter completed!