King of Hollywood

Chapter 443: Chapter 165: A Miraculous Box Office

Arranging for Ayumi Hamasaki to study in Los Angeles was a trivial matter; her potential scheming—if there was any—was just as insignificant. Adrian had many other things to keep him busy. By mid-August, the prep work for “Shakespeare in Love” had mostly been completed, and after scheduling everything that needed to be done, he embarked for the United Kingdom with Gwyneth and Blanchett.

In theory, these tasks were simple, but really organizing the heap of chores was far from straightforward. For instance, during the summer blockbuster season, various movie studios released many quality productions that reaped considerable box office returns. Among them, “Air Force One,” co-produced by DreamWorks and Bossworth with Harrison Ford in the lead role and serving as a not-so-subtle nod to government flattery, ranked in the forefront. To the increasingly confident Americans of those years, the image of a president battling terrorists aboard his own plane was undoubtedly an appealing spectacle.

Since Adrian had approached Spielberg to direct and produce “Jurassic Park,” it was inevitable for DreamWorks and AC Media to become allies, as both were ambitious newcomers eager to carve out a significant piece of the film industry pie. Unaware that AC Media was outpacing them, DreamWorks nonetheless shared the considerable box office success of “Air Force One” with Adrian, and chose to partner with them for the sequel to “Jurassic Park.” Spielberg was currently rushing production, delayed due to “Saving Private Ryan,” but the film was expected to hit screens by next summer at the latest.

“It’s just a bit of profit,” Adrian said casually, unconcerned. For someone who had already climbed to the top, how to share the success was the most crucial aspect, “Having ‘Titanic’ this summer is more than enough.”

Indeed, despite the success of various films presented by movie studios for the summer season along with significant box office earnings, they all seemed minuscule in contrast to the massive “Titanic,” akin to the visual comparison when the great ship embarked on its voyage. Except for a slightly lacking promotional effort in the opening week and a dip in the third week after a peak, “Titanic” has been dominating the North American box office charts for nearly two months!

And given the still-raging popularity, this trend might well continue. While it wasn’t impossible to get a ticket after long waiting lines, every weekend saw long queues forming outside major cinemas across the United States. The North American box office promptly rocketed past the 400-million-dollar mark, with overseas receipts performing similarly. Had the international release not been slightly delayed compared to North America, the figures might have been nearing half a billion.

Thus, the global box office had already surpassed 800 million! This number was absolutely staggering. Without accounting for inflation, the highest global box office had barely reached 600 million! “Titanic” effortlessly exceeded this figure and, considering the current craze, might even break the one billion threshold! Good God, what kind of minds do Cameron and Adrian have?

Hollywood studios were either beating their chests, grinding their teeth with envy, or admiring from afar. Cameron was well known to be a madman, a tyrant who could easily spend $100 million on films like “Terminator 2” and “True Lies.” It was understandable for him to burn nearly 300 million US dollars on a film production, but Adrian’s success seemed almost magical.

Although the title of Miracle Director was already known, and though everyone acknowledged his unique vision, his time in the industry was relatively short. Cameron, as surprising as he may have been, took years to secure funding for “Terminator,” and another decade to establish his current status. Yet Adrian had achieved significant success from the start of his filmmaking career, rarely encountering failure in just seven years, and almost every movie he was associated with performed well. One after another, actors and directors became famous or fulfilled their dreams through his guidance.