Entertainment: Starting as a Succubus, Taking Hollywood by Storm

Chapter 43: The Titanic Sets Sail, Martin the Prophet

"Martin, what were you thinking? Why didn't you tell me first?"

As soon as Martin publicly stood up for Titanic and James Cameron, his agent, Jeff, was on the phone with him.

"We at CAA have analyzed this movie. Sure, it might do well at the box office—maybe even hit $600 million globally—but it's never going to recoup that $200 million budget from ticket sales alone. Fox made a huge mistake, and Titanic is destined to be a financial disaster."

"Martin, I get that you wanted to build a good rapport with 20th Century Fox and Cameron, but you jumped in way too early, really, way too early."

"You need to understand, Martin, neither Leonardo DiCaprio nor Kate Winslet—the film's main stars—have even publicly supported the film yet!"

"You should have waited at least a month after release before speaking up. By then, the critics would have had their say, and the controversy would've died down. That would've been a safer time to step in. And even then, predicting the box office numbers like that? Absolutely out of the question. Even the top data analysts can't precisely predict each film's revenue!"

"Do you know what you've done, Martin? You've put yourself right on the hot seat!"

Jeff's barrage of advice came from genuine concern, so Martin didn't argue back, let alone reprimand him. After all, Jeff simply lacked Martin's "inside knowledge."

The ridicule directed at Titanic and Cameron continued unabated—and now included Martin as well.

After its first weekend, Titanic's box office numbers were in: $28.62 million, beating out Tomorrow Never Dies and landing second on the North American box office list, just behind Scream 2 with $33 million.

This led to even more scorn, much of it aimed directly at Martin.

"Martin predicted Titanic would surpass $600 million in North America alone. With these opening numbers, and assuming a 30% weekly decline in ticket sales (typical post-opening weekend drop-off is around 40%), this film would need over 120 days to reach that goal. Haha, biggest joke of the century!"

"I think this movie is already a flop. Young Martin might be a genius, but he's still just a kid. He's made a fool of himself, but we can forgive him…"

"Our wunderkind Martin backed Titanic and Cameron, but it's made him look bad. This seems like an attempt to curry favor with Cameron and Fox."

"Titanic is destined to sink—it'll go down just like the ship did. This time, though, it's got young Martin along for the ride…"

Curiously, all the critics ignored the fact that Martin had correctly estimated that Titanic's opening weekend wouldn't exceed $30 million.

But the tables were about to turn.

The Monday following its opening weekend, Titanic's box office drop was negligible—less than 10%, and it took first place for the day.

Critics and reviewers collectively fell silent; they'd never seen a movie lose so little momentum after its opening three days, not even a Spielberg film.

And the miracle continued.

On Tuesday, Titanic's box office fell by less than 5% from Monday.

On Wednesday, it was almost unchanged.

By the following weekend, the numbers had actually ticked up slightly—not a huge jump, but enough to drop jaws.

This box office trend was unprecedented in Hollywood history.

Theater chains were thrilled; a stable box office trend like this one was far more profitable than a movie that simply exploded in its first few days.

It was well known that the longer a film stayed in theaters, the higher the percentage of revenue that theaters kept. After three months, theaters were essentially earning pure profit, without having to share with the distributor.

And so, the days went by, Titanic's box office numbers held steady, and the voices of doubt and mockery gradually faded away until they disappeared entirely.

Three months later, audiences were stunned to find that Titanic was still holding the top spot on the daily box office charts. Meanwhile, its former competitors, Tomorrow Never Dies and Scream 2, had long since left theaters.

At this point, people began singing Titanic's praises.

And Martin's prediction was brought up once more, only this time with admiration instead of ridicule.

"This is what you call a genius's vision. Who would've thought, after Titanic's opening numbers, that it would reach its current box office total of $470 million? Although it's still a ways from Martin's $600 million prediction, I doubt the theaters will pull a steady performer like Titanic anytime soon."

"Titanic has shattered everyone's assumptions about box office performance. No one expected a movie to still be earning over $5 million a day after more than 90 days in theaters. It's unbelievable. And equally unbelievable is our young prodigy, Martin Myers. He's the only one who dared to predict the film's success on its opening day—he even had more confidence in it than James Cameron…"

"Martin's words must be blessed by the film gods. James Cameron owes him a thank-you…"

"A genius prediction by a true talent. Martin Myers has hit it right once again. Maybe the big studios should start paying more attention to his insights…"

"Martin Myers and James Cameron—a pair of geniuses, 30 years apart—have joined forces to amaze the world…"

Martin had successfully ridden the wave of Titanic's success.

On March 23, 1998, the 70th Academy Awards took place in Los Angeles, and Titanic, a $200-million blockbuster, swept up 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Score.

As he accepted his award, James Cameron shouted his famous line, "I'm the king of the world!" But in a twist from the original timeline, he ended his speech by giving special thanks to Martin, which elevated Martin's fame to a new level.

And the "big ship" continued its voyage.

Martin knew that from the end of 1997 to 1998, Titanic would keep running in theaters for a total of 281 days, setting the record for the longest theatrical run in North America.

By then, audiences had become numb to the ever-rising box office figures.

In the end, Titanic achieved a stunning $600 million domestically, $1.2 billion overseas, and $1.8 billion worldwide, breaking every box office record in film history.

This record would remain unchallenged until James Cameron's next epic, Avatar.

By that time, Martin's own film, Born for Each Other, had already finished its theatrical run, achieving an impressive $157 million globally, including $108 million domestically.

[•———•——•———•]

𝙥𝗮𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣(.)𝙘𝙤𝙢/𝙂𝙤𝙙𝙊𝙛𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

✨ • 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝙂𝙚𝙩 𝟲𝟬+ 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚.