As the negative reviews spread widely, combined with the film's limited appeal and the competition from 'Chaos City' and last weekend's release of 'Fast & Furious 5,' which had only been out for a week, 'Thor's' occupancy rate began to quietly and steadily decline starting from Saturday morning.
The decline was quite noticeable and had already attracted the attention of many theaters.
In New York, the AMG cinema near Times Square, known for its high foot traffic and occupancy rates, was bustling with people on weekends. During the summer season, the spacious cinema lobby seemed crowded with the influx of moviegoers.
It was almost 3:30 PM before the duty manager, Wilshire, had his lunch. After tidying up his desk and making rounds to the ticket counter and concession stands, he walked into the cinema's server office, turned on a monitor, and began checking the day's data.
Being a Saturday, the revenue from both ticket sales and concessions looked promising.
Ignoring the high-profit concession sales, he opened a statistics table and clicked on real-time data. The statistics for all films showing at the cinema appeared on the screen in front of him.
The top earner was no longer yesterday's 'Thor,' but Murphy Stanton's new film 'Chaos City,' which had already sold nearly $30,000 worth of tickets from the morning until now. Considering that the evening crowds could be even larger, this film could generate over $50,000 in a single day at this one cinema alone!
If he remembered correctly, this was the best single-day revenue for any movie this year.
Wilshire looked further down and couldn't help but shake his head. 'Thor' seemed to be underperforming.
Yesterday at this time, 'Thor' had already made over $20,000. Now it hadn't even reached $18,000, showing a significant decline.
A nearly $20,000 half-day box office would be a massive hit for over 95% of cinemas in North America. However, at this AMG cinema, one of the highest-grossing and most frequented cinemas in the country, such performance in the summer season could only be considered mediocre.
Marvel's superhero film appeared to be much worse off than 'Iron Man'!
With years of experience in this job, Wilshire could easily conclude that if 'Thor' couldn't surpass 'Chaos City' tonight, the weekend's box office champion might...
As a New Yorker, he didn't want to see a Los Angeles director's film outperform one produced by a New York company.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as he wished. Around 10 PM, Wilshire walked into the server office again and checked the real-time data. 'Chaos City' still topped the single-day box office revenue list for his cinema, further widening the gap with 'Thor.'
'Chaos City' unsurprisingly broke the $50,000 mark in a single day, while 'Thor' barely reached $30,000.
Not only had the positions of the two movies switched, but 'Thor' had also significantly dropped compared to the previous day.
Wilshire knew this was due to the difference in quality and audience reception between the two films. The word of mouth for 'Thor' and 'Chaos City' was completely different, like night and day.
The phone rang suddenly. Wilshire picked it up, spoke briefly, and hurried out of the office towards the theater manager, Christian's, office.
As the duty manager, Wilshire knew Christian was the actual person in charge of this AMG cinema.
He knocked on the office door lightly. Upon hearing the "come in" from inside, he pushed the door open and entered.
"Boss?" Wilshire, familiar with his boss's work style, directly asked, "What's up?"
Christian pushed a fax towards him. "The head office just sent a notice to adjust the schedule for the films currently showing. The details are on this."
"Got it."
Wilshire stepped forward, took the fax, and glanced at it. The most noticeable part was the instruction for AMG cinemas to adjust the screening rate of 'Thor' down by about 5%, freeing up screens for Murphy Stanton's 'Chaos City.'
"Should we adjust too?" Wilshire asked cautiously.
"Of course we need to adjust!" Christian said decisively. "Given today's trend, 'Thor' will continue to decline tomorrow. Keeping its current screening rate with so many screens is just a waste."
Standing up from his office chair and pacing twice, Christian continued, "So, after midnight, empty theaters 5 and 6 previously showing 'Thor' and switch to 'Chaos City.' Theater 12 will show 'Thor' in the morning, but if the occupancy rate doesn't improve, switch to 'Chaos City' in the afternoon!"
"Uh..." Wilshire hesitated.
Christian, not a New Yorker and uninterested in the New York-Los Angeles rivalry, intensified his tone, "Do you think this is inappropriate?"
Wilshire immediately became alert and quickly said, "No, I'll arrange it right away."
He left the office immediately and contacted his subordinates to adjust the screening schedule according to the instructions from AMG's head office and Christian.
Early on Sunday, Murphy received the good news from Kara Faith that 'Chaos City' was getting increased screenings at major chains like AMG, Emperor Entertainment, and Artists Across America. Along with this news came the Saturday box office statistics.
"How did we do?"
Murphy had just hung up the phone when Margot Robbie, sitting to Gal Gadot's left, eagerly asked, "Did we turn the tide?"
Gal Gadot didn't ask but looked at Murphy with interest.
"Of course! Our 'Chaos City' was yesterday's single-day box office champion!" Murphy said without holding back. He instructed the driver to head to Times Square and added, "We saw a slight increase from the day before, earning around $24.5 million yesterday. The exact figure is still being tallied."
"Awesome!" Margot Robbie hugged Gal Gadot and playfully kissed her cheek. "Let's celebrate."
"You..." Gal Gadot pushed her away. "You're going to mess up my makeup."
With two promotional events to attend today, smeared makeup would be a hassle.
Margot Robbie chuckled, "If I kiss again, Murphy will get jealous."
Murphy shook his head, not bothering to respond. He knew the friendship between Gal Gadot and Margot Robbie was exceptionally strong, comparable to his friendships with James Franco and Robert Downey Jr.
"By the way..." Margot Robbie asked, "How did 'Thor' do? Did its box office drop?"
"The drop wasn't huge. 'Thor' made about $15 million yesterday." Murphy calmly said, "But with reduced screenings today and the poor word-of-mouth effect, it will likely drop further."
He didn't mention that 'Thor' had mostly exhausted the enthusiasm of comic book fans over the first two days. For the general audience, the widespread negative reviews significantly reduced its appeal.
Compared to 'Thor,' 'Chaos City' was expected to maintain a relatively steady performance.
"Did you know?" Margot Robbie suddenly said, "'Thor's' lead actress is Natalie Portman."
Murphy pretended not to hear, leaning back in his seat to relax. Across from him, Gal Gadot and Margot Robbie seemed quite interested in the topic of Natalie Portman.
"Do you know her?" Gal Gadot asked.
Margot Robbie nodded. "I've met her once, but we only exchanged greetings."
"Be cautious when dealing with her," Gal Gadot said bluntly. "When I first met Natalie Portman, I considered her a good friend, but what she did behind my back..."
Shaking her head, Gal Gadot continued, if Hollywood women, including herself, were two-faced, then Natalie Portman was a master in this regard.
"Our movie will definitely beat hers," Margot Robbie suggested. "Next time we see her, let's mock her together, okay?"
Gal Gadot rolled her eyes. "Do you have nothing better to do?"
Margot Robbie grabbed Gal Gadot's arm and said, "Aren't we supposed to be the bad guys? Isn't that what bad guys do?"
She winked at Murphy, "Right, Murphy?"
"Yes, we're all bad guys," Murphy laughed, "And bad guys should do bad things."
The three of them laughed together.
The black van soon arrived at Times Square, where a large crowd of fans and media reporters had gathered. Due to the overwhelming number of people, Murphy and his team strictly followed 20th Century Fox's arrangements for media interviews and fan interactions.
These events primarily involved giving interviews to generate news and attract more viewers.
"Director Stanton..."
From the moment Murphy stood in front of the reporters, the questions never stopped. "Will 'Chaos City' be this week's box office champion?"
"Yes!" Murphy confidently said, "I've never doubted it!"
"What do you think of 'Thor'?" another reporter asked.
Murphy shrugged. "I haven't watched it yet."
A female reporter then placed her microphone in front of him and asked, "During the event, Miss Gadot mentioned that you wrote the framework for this film's theme many years ago. Is that true?"
"Yes." Murphy thought for a moment and then said, "Originally, I wrote it for another film."
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! $5 for all!!]
[w w w . p a t r e o n .com / INNIT]
[+50 PowerStones = +1 Chapter]