Hollywood Director 1992

[T/N: Because the numbers weren't matching, I made changes to previous weeks' box office numbers. If oyu are interested, updated The Firm weekly numbers in millions are:

$28.74

$28.07 - $56.81

$18.46 - $75.27

$16.17 - $91.44

$6.58 - $98.02

$18.91 - $116.93

$18.16 - $135.09

$15.53 - $150.62]

[Chapter 178: The Counterattack Begins]

"Link, with Paramount Pictures playing these games, do you still have confidence in winning the bet?" Tim Robbins asked with a smirk at the WMA agency bar.

"It's tough to win, but I don't have much choice. There's a lot of media coverage revealing evidence of box office fraud for The Firm, yet Paramount refuses to admit it, and the film association isn't stepping up to condemn this behavior. All I can do now is hope my movie brings in a decent box office when it releases," Link replied.

Sam Haskel chimed in, "You shouldn't have made the bet in the first place. You were going up against a whole team from CAA, plus Hollywood's most powerful player, Michael Ovitz. There was no way you were going to win."

Link chuckled, "I was too young and naive. I thought we were competing on box office numbers, but I realize now that it's all about the ability to cheat. According to The Firm's initial release numbers, the North American box office should've maxed at $160 million. Now, it's going for $200 million. Paramount and that CAA crew are throwing out all ethics just to win this bet."

Tim Robbins responded, "Don't lose heart, though. They're trying desperately to boost The Firm's box office because they recognize your talent. Your movie's potential is too big for them to ignore, so they're pulling out all the stops to inflate those numbers. The more they elevate this film, the more it reflects how seriously they view you."

"Should I be thanking them for valuing me?" Link joked.

Sam Haskel warned, "You need to be careful, though. When The Firm premiered, they had no qualms using these tactics to boost the numbers. When your movie hits theaters, they will definitely try to find ways to sabotage your box office success. They're coming at you with the confidence of certain victory."

"I understand."

"Link, are you nervous?" Jennifer Connelly asked as she linked her arm through his.

"Nervousness won't help. All I can do is focus on promoting the film and hope it stands a chance when it's released," Link said.

Tim Robbins laughed, "You're quite the optimist, considering that's over $70 million, not just seven."

"I'm still young; money doesn't matter much to me," Link replied with a smile, before getting back to serious matters.

...

During his visit to the WMA agency, he planned to collaborate with them to utilize the media in launching an attack against CAA for manipulating box office numbers and disrupting the film market, applying additional pressure on CAA.

He had also promised to provide WMA with some resources for future film projects, deepening their collaboration.

WMA agreed to help but warned him that their support in this area had limitations. To truly prevent CAA from maliciously inflating The Firm's box office numbers, he would need to think of other ways.

Link understood that while WMA and CAA were rivals, their competition mainly lay within talent management, so cross-competition in other areas didn't provide much advantage. Thus, WMA wouldn't invest substantial efforts into this issue.

He recognized this, yet still sought WMA's partnership, hoping to find allies. Even a small contribution from WMA against CAA would still be significant.

He had also reached out to UTA's president, Marty Bauer, to arrange a deal, and UTA would apply pressure on CAA and Paramount using their connections.

...

As CAA continued shamelessly inflating The Firm's box office, the media began to voice numerous complaints about Paramount Pictures' conduct, with even members of the Film Association and theater chains stepping in to criticize the studio.

This put tremendous pressure on Paramount.

At a press conference, a Paramount spokesperson insisted that the box office data for The Firm was accurate and welcomed oversight from the film association and the media.

While such a response was firm, it indicated that Paramount was preparing to make concessions in light of the situation and accept third-party scrutiny.

Consequently, the film association sent people to investigate the box office issues surrounding The Firm.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), established in 1922, served as a trade organization for the film industry with primary functions including protecting movie copyrights, promoting industry development, regulating film production and distribution, and combating piracy and unfair competition.

The association was primarily composed of the presidents and chairpersons of the seven major film and media companies in the U.S., which included Warner, Disney, Universal Studios, Fox, Columbia, Paramount Pictures, and MGM.

Although the chairman of Paramount was a member of the association, there was still competition among the major studios.

After the film association announced their involvement, even if Paramount wanted to continue inflating the film's box office numbers, it would now come at a higher cost.

...

After the announcement by the American Film Association, box office earnings for The Firm plummeted, dropping from $15.53 million in its eighth week to $7.8 million, marking a decline of 50%.

With a cumulative North American box office of $158.42 million, surpassing The Blair Witch Project with $158 million, The Firm was the second-highest-grossing film of the first half of the year, right behind Jurassic Park.

"This is a solid second place in annual box office earnings. Should we stop any further funding?" Kiefer Sutherland said while flipping through the newspaper at the bar.

Robert Downey Jr. looked at Richard Gere, "Is Mr. Ovitz still planning to inflate The Firm's box office? Now that the film association has its eyes on the numbers, it may be quite difficult to manipulate."

Richard Gere replied, "No rush. Let's wait for Mr. Ovitz's guidance. If he believes $158 million guarantees victory over Link, we won't need to add any more funding."

Kiefer Sutherland and his friends exchanged glances, realizing that they had just handed over their money and, right after, media outlets exploded with news surrounding the box office fraud allegations, which prompted the film association to announce an investigation.

Now, the decision to invest further remained with Michael Ovitz. Whether to continue or not was entirely up to him. They would have to wait for his decision.

...

After The Firm's box office results came in, Michael Ovitz pondered whether to increase investments to continue inflating box office numbers.

With the media and film association scrutinizing their actions, raising the numbers would cost a fortune.

If they refrained from any more inflation and let the film's box office grow at a crawl, they estimated it would likely settle around $180 million, making it difficult to cross the $200 million mark.

Would $180 million be enough to guarantee victory over Link? That remained a question.

Michael Ovitz stated, "We were too impulsive when we placed our bets. We should have let Link's movie premiere first, and then released The Firm, or perhaps released them simultaneously. That would have given us more room to operate. Now, with The Firm released first and Link's film coming afterward, we find ourselves in a reactive position."

Ron Meyer added, "No need to rush. Not to mention whether Link's new movie can even gross $100 million, even if it can, once it's released, we can find ways to block its box office success. The advantage still lies with us in this bet."

Tom Cruise remarked, "If The Firm, an excellent film, only manages to gross over $180 million, Link's new movie can't possibly earn more. We should stay vigilant about potential box office manipulation on Link's part; with his previous three films being hits, there's a high probability he might resort to trickery."

Michael Ovitz nodded, "Let's take it one step at a time and decide later whether to ramp up promotion for The Firm."

Kiefer Sutherland and his friends received the news and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure that came from borrowing to gamble weighed heavily on them, so avoiding any further spending on publicity helped ease that burden a bit.

*****

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