With the party over, Matthew headed back to Burbank in Helen's car, inevitably trailed by a pack of paparazzi.
With the movie's release date finally here and the buzz from the recent controversy still fresh, he was a pri target for the dia. Once again, journalists and their caras were camped outside his ho.
"Just take
ho," Matthew said, fumbling for the seatbelt.
...
When the car stopped in front of his house, Matthew got out. He paused before closing the door, turning back to ask, "Want to co in?"
He didn't an anything by it—just a polite invitation.
Helen waved a dismissive hand. "No, thanks. Your house gives
the creeps."
Matthew closed the car door and watched until Helen's car disappeared down the street. Then he unlocked his front door, stepped inside, and went straight to his computer. He pulled up a few film review sites, eager to see the initial reactions to "Dawn of the Dead."
It was nearly midnight by the ti he got back from the party. The premiere and the first late-night screenings had already finished, and in the age of the internet, early reviews for "Dawn of the Dead" were already flooding the movie websites.
Rotten Tomatoes had already posted the Tomatoter score for "Dawn of the Dead." It currently stood at seventy-eight percent—a slight dip from the last ti he'd checked.
"The only thing the 'Dawn of the Dead' remake improves upon is the quality of the fake blood!"
That was the latest professional review aggregated by the site, a clear jab at Zack Snyder's version.
But the overall sentint was positive.
"The 'Dawn of the Dead' remake is a slasher film filled with just as much dread, zombies, and death as the 1978 original. But Snyder isn't content with a simple rehash. He pushes beyond the typical zombie movie formula, taking a different approach—most notably in the poignant rooftop scene where Matthew's character plays chess with a friend, only to be forced to kill him when he turns."
There were many other positive reviews in the sa vein.
"A great zombie film—fast-paced, with a handful of survivors working together against a city of the dead. It unexpectedly highlights the best and worst of humanity. Matthew's performance is captivating; I even cried at the end."
While the Tomatoter score didn't have a huge impact on a comrcial film's opening weekend, positive reviews would definitely influence its legs in the weeks to follow.
Of course, it was unrealistic to expect a zombie movie to have the sa kind of staying power as a blockbuster like "Pirates of the Caribbean."
The genre was known for its short theatrical runs, often burning through its box office potential in a matter of weeks. That made the opening weekend numbers all the more critical.
Matthew navigated away from Rotten Tomatoes and clicked over to IMDb. He wanted to see how the influx of user reviews had affected the score. It was holding steady at a 7.8 out of 10.
For a horror film, and a zombie movie at that, the score was impressively high.
The comnts in the user review section below backed that up.
"For a directorial debut, Zack Snyder's remake is smarter, slicker, more thrilling, and ultimately more enjoyable than Roro's original. Long story short, I haven't seen a zombie movie this good in ages!"
"The plot is smooth, the characters are well-defined. Turns out Will Turner is just as good at killing zombies as he is at fighting pirates. That final scene... it made
cry."
"Great visuals, great makeup, great acting, great action, great sound. This is just a really, really good zombie movie. And that scene in the middle, where Matthew's character plays chess with his friend? Such a powerful mont."
"A fantastic zombie movie—light on the horror, heavy on the action. The entire film hinges on Matthew Horner as the lead, and he doesn't disappoint. He's every bit as badass as he was in 'Pirates'!"
The consensus on IMDb was overwhelmingly positive. Satisfied, Matthew closed the browser tab, plugged a flash drive into his computer, and pulled up his personal blog to post an update.
The drive contained a collection of official, unreleased photos from the premiere, and he uploaded all of them to a new post.
After a quick scan of the post, Matthew closed the blog and checked the ti. It was well past midnight, which ant the preliminary box office numbers should be out soon.
He opened his email client, waiting to see if anything ca through. After about ten minutes, a new email notification popped up on his screen.
Matthew clicked it open and his eyes shot to the number at the bottom of the ssage: $5.56 million!
A mont later, his phone rang. It was Helen.
"Did you see the email I sent?" she asked, getting straight to the point.
"I saw it," Matthew replied. "$5.56 million."
Helen's voice was business-like on the other end. "If there are no surprises, the film should clear fifteen million on its opening day. It will definitely hit the twenty-five-million-dollar projection for the weekend, and could even push past thirty million."
A jolt of excitent went through Matthew at the ntion of thirty million. "With a thirty-million-dollar opening, is there a chance it could break a hundred million dostically?"
"Hard to say," Helen's voice was as level as ever. "Movies like this tend to be front-loaded. The second-week drop-off can be steep."
Matthew leaned back in his chair. "Right. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's late, you should get so rest."
He stretched. "I'm heading to bed myself."
After hanging up, Matthew pushed all thoughts of the box office out of his mind and headed for bed.
The midnight box office numbers for "Dawn of the Dead" had given him a solid boost of confidence.
For a sumr blockbuster, a five-million-dollar late-night opening wasn't earth-shattering. But for a zombie movie with a production budget under thirty million, it was a fantastic start.
Between the current buzz and the midnight numbers, Matthew was certain "Dawn of the Dead" would recoup its entire production budget in its first weekend alone.
Once the dostic box office passed the production budget, his box office percentage points would kick in.
In addition to his five-million-dollar base salary, Matthew's contract included a backend deal. It was triggered once the film's dostic gross surpassed its twenty-eight-million-dollar production budget. As the undisputed lead, he would earn one percent of the North Arican box office once it hit $28 million. That share would increase to two percent at $50 million, three percent at $70 million, four percent at $90 million, and finally, five percent if it crossed the $100 million mark.
Five percent was the cap.
Financially, Matthew was rooting for the film to break $100 million dostically. That alone would net him another five million dollars from his box office cut.
Of course, that was a long shot. Otherwise, the studio would never have agreed to such generous terms.
Under normal circumstances, a dostic gross of over one hundred million dollars was little more than a pipe dream for a film like this.
...
Friday rolled around, and updates on the performance of "Dawn of the Dead" continued to trickle in from the studio. March was traditionally a slow month at the box office, and the film faced no serious competition, so attendance numbers were looking strong.
By evening, the total dostic gross was already approaching ten million dollars.
After all, Friday was a weekday, and the real box office surge always ca with the evening shows.
On Friday night, both the number of showtis and audience turnout for "Dawn of the Dead" swelled. In so of the more popular theaters, attendance was topping fifty percent.
When the final Friday numbers for "Dawn of the Dead" ca in early Saturday morning, Matthew could finally relax.
$15.2 million!
On its first full day in theaters, the film had already made back more than half of its production budget.
Fueled by good word-of-mouth, a lack of strong competition, and the lingering effects of the dia hype, Saturday's attendance numbers continued to climb. Major cinema chains added more screenings for "Dawn of the Dead," and more showtis directly translated into higher box office returns.
Saturday's box office for "Dawn of the Dead" saw a significant increase over Friday's. The film took in another $11.8 million, building on the $5.56 million from the midnight previews.
With the combined two-day gross, the dostic box office for "Dawn of the Dead" was on the verge of surpassing its production budget.
It was clear to anyone watching: the film was already a certified hit.
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