After $14.31 million in the opening weekend, "The Butterfly Effect" finally grossed $21.69 million in the first week, ranking first in the North American weekly box office without any suspense.

Apartment in the living room.

Simon looked at the box office data report in his hand, and his first thought was the next box office trend.

According to the current media reputation of "The Butterfly Effect", most people are very optimistic about the box office curve of this film, and Simon himself is not too optimistic.

If the box office of "The Butterfly Effect" falls by more than 50% in the second week, then, despite the high starting point of $21.69 million in the first week, the total box office of the film in North America can only reach about $50 million.

At $50 million, the box office performance is definitely very good compared to the film's production cost and the average data of this era.

The Butterfly Effect cost $10 million to make, and the actual publicity budget is usually half of the production cost. In this way, when the box office reaches $30 million, Fox has already begun to make a profit, not to mention the income from overseas distribution and later videotapes and TV broadcasts, Fox is enough to make a lot of money on this project.

However, this is definitely not a good thing for Simon.

The reason why Fox and Orion approved the sharing contracts of "The Grim Reaper" and "Vulgar" is entirely in the hope that Simon will be able to 'build on the good work' after "Lola Run".

The box office of "The Butterfly Effect" in the first week largely relied on the popularity brought by "Lola Run".

Right now.

The reputation of "The Butterfly Effect" has collapsed, and if the next box office is completely unworthy of its high starting point in the first week. Then, Hollywood will completely treat "Lola Run" as an accidental success, and the halo blessing it brought to Simon will also be invalid after "The Butterfly Effect".

Next.

Although neither the contracts of "Death is Coming" nor "Vulgar" cannot be reversed, it is clear that Hollywood studios will no longer consider the halo factor of "Lola Run" as Simon pushes for other subsequent projects of Daenerys Films.

Even Simon's age disadvantage of not yet twenty years old will be magnified again.

Ignoring the box office of other movies, Simon threw aside the report in his hand and looked nonchalantly at the big screen opposite.

On the screen is the classic Hollywood black-and-white film "Casablanca".

As a movie with a high ranking on the [IMDB] TOP-250 in the original time and space, Simon has seen it more than once in his memory. "When Harry Met Sally" also mentions this film in many details, so I bought the tape and planned to rewatch it.

Looking at Ingrid Bergman's sparkling eyes on the screen, Simon suddenly thought of Janet and Neil's words before leaving.

After a moment's hesitation, Simon took the phone and leaned back on the couch to dial a string of numbers.

After the usual series of beeps, the phone was picked up, and a kitten-like grunt came from the microphone, with obvious impatience.

Simon listened to the woman's reaction, but curled the corners of his mouth and said softly, "Baby, it's me." ”

In the bedroom of Palisad's mansion, Janet was curled up in a daze on the queen bedroom bed, and the telephone line on the bedside table was stretched out to the bedside.

Hearing Simon's voice, Janet cheered up a little, touched and fished a pillow next to her and hugged it in her arms, as if she was hugging someone, but her mouth was unforgiving: "Who is your baby, you want to call Jenny." ”

Simon was kind and good: "Okay, Jenny. ”

Janet was immediately dissatisfied, criticizing: "I really don't have a position. ”

Simon smiled and said, "Just wanted to call you to say goodnight." ”

Janet twisted herself in the bed, hugged the pillow in her arms a little tighter, and took the initiative to ask, "What are you doing?"

"Watch the movie," Simon said, glancing at the big screen, "Casablanca." ”

"Because 'When Harry Met Sally?'" Janet asked, and without waiting for Simon to answer, she said, "I've seen it before." However, I don't like this story very much, and everyone is cautious and not crisp at all. ”

Simon unconsciously fished a pillow from the side, but it was only on his knees, and said, "You must not understand." ”

"Huh?"

"Actually, Casablanca is definitely one of the most obscure love stories in Hollywood history, and it has a perfect ending. ”

"Huh?"

Simon smiled at the corner of his mouth and said, "Look, the story is actually supposed to be like this. In the chaotic town of Casablanca, Sheriff Reynolds is madly in love with the bar owner Rick, and in order to get Rick's attention, he deliberately disguises himself as a playboy and keeps changing women one after another. The arrival of Rick's ex-girlfriend Elsa makes Sheriff Renault feel a very strong crisis. However, Renaud is very smart, he is casual on the surface, but secretly pushes for it, not only succeeding in driving Elsa away, but also using this incident to make Rick understand his intentions. In the end, the two left Casablanca together, and since then they have been together for the rest of their lives. ”

On the other side of the phone, Janet listened to Simon's narration, recalled the plot of the movie in her memory, her beautiful eyes blinked, blinked, blinked, and suddenly screamed a little: "Ah, little bastard, Simon, you little bastard, I will never watch "Casablanca" again." ”

Complaining like this, Janet suddenly couldn't stand up for joy, rolled on the big bed and tossed for a while, suddenly realized something, the woman's joy came to an abrupt end in a blink of an eye, and quickly grabbed the microphone that she threw away: "Hey, little bastard, are you still there?"

Simon said, "Yes." ”

Janet hesitated for a moment, and asked weakly, "You, you haven't been holding back too hard lately and are starting to be interested in men, right?"

Simon felt a black line float in front of him, and immediately said, "No." ”

Janet was visibly still a little worried: "Really?"

"Of course it's true," Simon nodded again, not wanting to continue discussing this kind of topic, and instead said, "However, without you by my side, I've been a bit of a mess here lately, how about taking the time to come and help me clean up?"

Janet refused without hesitation: "No, you find the cleaner yourself." ”

"You know," Simon continued, feeling the subject diverted, decisively "I don't like strangers in my house. ”

"But," Janet grabbed the pillow in her arms, changed her position on the bed, and said, "I'm also looking for a cleaner to clean the villa here?"

Simon didn't pay attention to these before, so he had to say, "This, I can't see it, so I pretend not to know." ”

"Hehe, then let Kate clean up for you. ”

Simon said helplessly: "Are you really a good girlfriend like this?"

"Otherwise, you'll have to settle it yourself," Janet pouted, but added, "You don't allow strangers to appear in your own territory, so you look like a lion." ”

Simon thought about whether he would take time to tidy up on the weekend, and after listening to Janet's words, he remembered one more thing, and said, "I always hear you talk about lions and the like, and I recently conceived an idea about lions," so saying, Simon got up, rummaged around, found a stack of sketches, put them on his knees and looked at them casually, and said: "This is a cartoon called "The Lion King", imitating the story line of "The Prince's Revenge". How about I make it for you, it's a birthday present. By the way, what's your birthday?"

Janet's voice was soft, and she whispered, "I'm only my birthday, and I feel sad when I think of my age." ”

Simon said softly: "Of course, it's eighteenth birthday, it's eighteen years old every year." Come, tell me what is your eighteenth birthday?"

Janet's tone softened a little, and she said softly: "March 13th, this year has passed secretly." Well, I don't want a bad story. ”

"You can take a look at it first," Simon continued, taking the day to heart, "how about tomorrow? I'm going to a party at Madonna's house tomorrow night, and you'll be my girlfriend, and we'll talk about it together when we get back." ”

"No, I'm not your girlfriend right now," Janet resisted slightly, and asked, "What are you doing at Madonna's house?"

"I wanted to invite Madonna and Sean Penn to play 'Vulgarity,' which is the opening scene of Bunny and Pumpkin. ”

"Hehe, invite both of them," Janet pouted mockingly, "I happen to remember the one they played together last year." The review said that the only good thing about that movie was that the audience could have a movie theater for themselves. ”

Simon couldn't help but laugh too.

"Magic City Surprise" is a movie starring Madonna and Sean Penn last year, with a production cost of $17 million, but the North American box office is only 2.31 million.

Before sending invitations to Madonna and Sean Penn, Simon also specially found the video of "Magic City Surprise" to watch it, which can indeed only be described as miserable, and Madonna also won her first golden plum worst actress at the beginning of the year.

Still, Simon eventually decided to give it a try.

Simon has always believed that there is never a completely hopeless actor in this world, and the key is to look at the role. Otherwise, Madonna would not have won the Golden Globe for Best Actress later with "Madame Peron".

Because of the hiccup on ABC's "Good Morning America" last month, after Simon finished the script of "Vulgar", the first thing that came to mind about the little rabbit and the little pumpkin in the opening scene was the Madonna couple.

Madonna's bold avant-garde and Sean Penn's fiery personality are perfect for playing a pair of mandarin duck robbers.

The most important thing is that Madonna's movie salary will not be too high, and Sean Penn is not a Grand Slam actor at the moment. If it's just a cameo, this idea is very feasible.

Thinking to himself, Simon asked, "Then are you going tomorrow or not?"

Janet refused again: "No. We're breaking up now, and we're still preparing for a lawsuit. I was taken out by you so quickly, I have no face. ”

"All right," Simon said, "then that's it, good night." ”

"Uh-huh, good night. ”