The next day, as the major newspapers hit the stands and the number of professional reviews on Rotten Tomatoes surged, the score for Mr. & Mrs. Smith continued to drop, soon settling at fifty-six percent, which ant the film was officially rated "rotten."
On another fan-rated site, IMDb, however, Mr. & Mrs. Smith garnered an average score of 7.6 from 10,000 users.
Of course, everyone knew that these ratings ca mostly from preview audiences, a significant portion of whom were fans of Matthew and Charlize.
The situation was similar to that of National Treasure upon its release, with a stark division between the critics' and the fans' scores.
Among the nurous critics' columns, there were few, if any, highly-rated reviews, and most of them were dismissive.
"Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a haphazard ss that uses the star power of Matthew Horner and Charlize Theron as a selling point to create a ridiculous, over-the-top, and belligerent on-screen couple."
In contrast to the critics, Mr. & Mrs. Smith received much better reviews from its fans.
"Loved it from start to finish. Matthew and Theron are a great couple."
"Matthew and Theron are perfect in the movie, but even more perfect in real life!"
"An average action movie held together by the chemistry between Matthew and Charlize."
"Lighthearted and fun, presenting so real relationship conflicts behind a humorous facade, which was pretty innovative."
...
In a luxurious suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, French director Louis Leterrier sat on the sofa, glancing over the latest statistical data.
After a quick look, Louis said to the portly Luc Besson sitting across from him, "The critical reception for Mr. & Mrs. Smith is much worse than our Danny the Dog, which has a 'fresh' rating of nearly seventy percent on Rotten Tomatoes."
He asked, a hint of hope in his voice, "Is there a chance we can outperform them?"
Luc Besson, despite being French, was a purely comrcial director, and having entered the North Arican film market over a decade ago, he knew far more about it.
He shook his head. "Danny the Dog earned just over 1.5 million dollars from the midnight screenings. Do you really think we can beat Mr. & Mrs. Smith?"
Louis was about to say sothing more, but Luc Besson stopped him by raising a hand. "Sotis, a film's box office has nothing to do with what the critics think."
Luc stood up and paced around the room. "The North Arican film market is very insular. We're ultimately outsiders here, and Jet Li, even with all his fighting skills, isn't a bigger box office draw than Matthew Horner."
Louis nodded. Forget Jet Li; even Jason Statham, whom he had worked with, couldn't compare to Matthew Horner.
Though Luc Besson was a French director, he possessed a rare business acun. "I'll be satisfied if Danny the Dog makes a third of what Mr. & Mrs. Smith pulls in at the box office this opening weekend."
For the film to turn a profit, or even just break even, it would have to rely on markets outside of North Arica. He was well aware that none of the films he had been directly involved in had ever earned more than $100 million at the North Arican box office.
Even though Danny the Dog had a much better critical reception, it simply couldn't compete with Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
...
Just as Luc Besson had predicted, Mr. & Mrs. Smith easily crushed both Danny the Dog and Kingdom of Heaven, which was still in wide release, on Friday alone. The impact on Danny the Dog, which opened that sa weekend, was painfully obvious.
And Besson's estimate of one-third had clearly overestimated the buzz and appeal of both himself and Danny the Dog.
In Google's Friday search query list for the "movies" category, Mr. & Mrs. Smith ranked first with over 143,000 searches, while Danny the Dog didn't even manage a fraction of that number.
The situation beca even clearer on Saturday when the latest box office figures were released.
In a single day, Danny the Dog grossed only $2.73 million. That was even less than Kingdom of Heaven, which took in $2.87 million that day.
The day's box office champion was, naturally, Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The romantic action-cody, fueled by red-hot buzz and its high-profile star duo, easily grossed $28.6 million in over 3,600 theaters across North Arica.
Many websites and dia outlets comnted on the box office performance.
The Los Angeles Tis wrote on the front page of its entertainnt section that the chemistry between Matthew and Charlize, both on and off-screen, was the key factor in the action film's success.
"The success of Mr. & Mrs. Smith is further proof of Matthew Horner's box office appeal and value to comrcial cinema. This rapidly rising young Hollywood star is worth the $10 million or more that any producer would pay for him," wrote Entertainnt Weekly Online.
Yahoo Entertainnt was also quick to comnt: "Every film Matthew Horner has starred in since The Scorpion King has been a box office success, proving that action stars are not yet out of fashion!"
The New York Tis dedicated an article to its opinion: "The first-day box office success of Mr. & Mrs. Smith is less a victory for the film itself and more a triumph for Matthew and Charlize, two of Hollywood's most in-demand stars who rescued an otherwise diocre action flick."
According to a reliable source, over 70% of the opening day audience surveyed by Universal Pictures was drawn in by Horner and Charlize. In other words, the presence of Matthew and Charlize directly contributed to 70% of the first day's $28.6 million gross.
Such a calculation is, of course, not entirely reliable, but it does offer so insight into the importance of Matthew and Charlize to the promotion of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
...
Early Saturday morning, Matthew and Charlize arrived at the ABC studio in Burbank to appear on the ABC show Good Morning Arica. They were doing the interview via satellite link, as the hosts and the live studio were located in New York's Tis Square.
The interview began right after the weather segnt on Good Morning Arica.
"Good morning, Matthew!"
In the brightly lit studio, host David Gibson smiled at the large screen before him. "Good morning, Charlize."
Matthew and Charlize waved at the cara lens. "Good morning, David."
The host, David, quickly got to the point. "Congratulations to you both. You starred in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which had an excellent box office opening yesterday."
Charlize and Matthew settled onto the sofa, and Matthew imdiately replied, "Thank you."
David asked, "In the movie, your character and Charlize's character clash over their relationship. Have you ever had conflicts like that in real life?"
Matthew remained silent, while Charlize expertly fielded the question. "Of course, we have conflicts, but they're minor and are usually resolved after a few argunts."
"So, do you shoot at each other with pistols during these argunts?" David asked deliberately.
This ti, Matthew was the one to answer. "Fortunately, no."
David smiled. "Is your engagent ceremony still going ahead on schedule?"
Matthew nodded. "Of course, right on schedule."
Charlize added, "Basically, everything is ready."
Matthew continued, "Not even the end of the world could stop us from getting engaged."
"I'm jealous of you both." David, playing along as expected, asked, "Can we find out when and where your engagent party is? Because I'd love to go too."
Charlize knew perfectly well that since the engagent was a show, how could the press not be invited? She imdiately replied, "Next Wednesday. The engagent party will be at the new house Matthew and I share."
This ti, Matthew added, "David, your invitation is in the mail, so I think you'll get it tomorrow."
"Is that true?" David looked at him, surprised. "I can attend too?"
Of course, it wasn't true. Matthew and Charlize had only said it for promotional purposes.
Charlize smiled and said, "You'll know if it's true when you get the invitation."
David also smiled. "Well, in that case, I'd like to offer my early congratulations on your engagent."
"Thank you," Matthew said again.
David steered the conversation back to the film. "Will you be starring together in other movies after Mr. & Mrs. Smith?"
Charlize shook her head. "There are no such plans for the near future."
Matthew added, "If the opportunity arose in the future, we would definitely work together again."
Due to the show's format of short segnts, the interview on Good Morning Arica was brief, and it wrapped up successfully after ten minutes.
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