Chapter 76: Competition
People hurried across the Warner Bros. office floor. Even though he had just rushed back to Burbank from San Francisco in the early hours of the morning, Charles Roven was brimming with energy. Clutching the latest statistics, he strode up to Jeff Robinov's office, knocked twice, and pushed the door open.
"Jeff..." He walked straight to the desk, speaking before he even sat down. "The midnight box office numbers and audience reception are in."
Jeff Robinov looked up, and Roven spoke rapidly. "Playing in 2,512 theaters for the midnight screenings, The Rock took in 3.28 million dollars—nearly 800,000 more than we projected! Our polling firm immediately surveyed 5,877 moviegoers. The A-plus rating is seventy-eight percent, the A-and-above rating is ninety-two percent, and the C-and-below rating is less than one percent!"
Charles Roven's voice carried a faint thrill. Although he knew the midnight audience was limited and mostly comprised action movie fans—giving the ratings a natural bump—such explosive midnight word-of-mouth was something even the critically acclaimed Batman had never achieved, let alone last year's Batman Returns!
"Duke didn't let us down!"
Jeff Robinov slowly exhaled. He had his share of rivals within Warner Bros., and throwing his full support behind Duke's new film had put him under considerable pressure. The better-than-expected midnight box office and audience reception might not completely dictate the film's final trajectory, but it still proved a great deal.
"I feel like the 2,512 theaters we fought for in our opening week was a bit too conservative." Charles Roven finally took a seat.
"It can't be helped, Charles," Jeff Robinov said, shaking his head. "CAA and Twentieth Century Fox have also poured massive resources into Interview with the Vampire. There are only so many theaters and screens in North America. With them standing in our way, we couldn't possibly secure around 3,000 theaters like Batman did."
Charles Roven understood this. He also knew that with Warner Bros. in the picture, Interview with the Vampire couldn't dream of reaching a 3,000-theater release scale either.