At the end of June and early July every year, it is one of the most popular schedules in the North American film market. Four or five years ago, several first-line productions often start painting during this period. However, in recent years, the films starring Matthew has completely dominated the Independence Day schedule, resulting in the "Matthew-Horner schedule" in this period. Most first-line productions will avoid the weekend before Independence Day. Even if they want to take advantage of this period, their release is often prematurely or postponed by one week.

Of course, films released in the same period may not fail. For example, the "Ice Age" series was released on the Independence Day schedule with Matthew, and the final box office results were also quite good.

During this year's Independence Day schedule, two first-line productions have poured into the film market. One is naturally "Special Forces 2: A Comprehensive Counterattack" starring Matthew, and the other is "The Amazing Spider-Man" rebooted by Sony Columbia.

However, "Special Forces 2" was released on June 29, and despite the aura effect of "Amazing Spider-Man", in order to avoid Matthew's edge, the release date will be July.

At the end of June, Hasbro and Paramount Pictures held a grand premiere for "Special Forces 2" in Los Angeles.

Matthew and the rest of the creative staff also appeared at the premiere.

Although there was not much fun between Hasbro and Paramount Pictures, Matthew will still work hard to complete his work.

However, he found at the premiere that Paramount Pictures' attitude towards him and Stephen Somos suddenly improved.

Before the premiere, Paramount Pictures could not say bad to him, but it was more like a routine at work, which was significantly different from his collaboration with Disney and Warner Bros. However, when he met Paramount Pictures CEO Brad Gray at the premiere, Matthew could feel the sincerity in the attitude of the leader of Paramount Pictures.

It seems that Paramount Pictures relies specifically on him.

From Matthew's perspective, this must be because "Special Forces 2: A Comprehensive Counterattack" can bring huge benefits.

This film, which completely uses his role as the Duke, easily won $51.5 million on the first day of its release, squeezing the second place in the previous week's painting "Teddy Bear", becoming the box office champion of the day.

Although "Teddy Bear" has created a series of R-level comedy records, the single-day gain of $10.5 million is not enough to watch in the face of the golden signboard and huge market appeal that Matthew has built for many years.

On the second day of the release, that is, Saturday, "Special Forces 2" continued to maintain an extremely high attendance rate, earning US$49.8 million in a single day, and still dominated the top spot in the single-day box office rankings. Whether it was "Teddy Bear" the previous week or "Monster University" further ahead, it could not bring an impact to this film.

This weekend, "Special Forces 2" is the absolute overlord in the North American film market.

Three days after the first weekend, the film received a $142.1 million squeezing out $0.15 million from "Teddy Bear" and became the new North American box office champion.

At the same time, "Special Forces 2" is still being released in nearly 70 overseas countries and regions simultaneously, winning more than 80% of the week's box office championship. The cumulative overseas box office almost exceeded the $200 million mark in the first weekend.

The film took only three days to plunder $8.56 million from all over the world.

Whether in North America or looking around the world, "Special Forces 2" has dominated various box office rankings.

However, the reputation of the film is not particularly good, it is incomparable to Matthew's previous two films "Inception" and "Fast and Furious 5". The ratings in all aspects are comparable to "The Rise of Cobra".

But that doesn't prevent "Special Forces 2" from becoming a wonderful popcorn movie.

Countless facts in the past have proved that pure popcorn movies have a higher acceptance around the world.

“It’s not so much that this movie is a victory for Paramount Pictures…”

In the Hollywood area, in the office of Paramount Pictures headquarters, Brad Grey, as CEO, told Lorenzo Bonaventura, "It's better to say it's Matthew Horner's victory alone."

Lorenzo Bonaventura was dissatisfied with Matthew as early as the filming period, completely misunderstood Brad Gray's meaning, and took the opportunity to say, "This film in North America is $350 million, and the global $800 million is not a big problem. With such a high box office, how much will Matthew Horner take away? His personal income is almost equal to Paramount Pictures' profits. If this continues, this series will only have more income into Matthew Horner's personal pocket."

Brad Grey frowned slightly and glanced at Lorenzo Bonaventura.

Lorenzo Bonaventura said again, "Boss, I suggest to replace Matthew Horner!" He also thought about Paramount Pictures' interests. "We can start the third part, let the Duke die in battle and correct Qianning Tatum's flint. In this way, our support for actor remuneration can save more than half."

Brad Gray frowned even deeper and asked, "Have you considered the consequences of a replacement?"

"Ah?" Lorenzo Bonaventura was stunned for a moment, not understanding what his boss meant.

Brad Grey said lightly, "Channing Tatum's pay is indeed low, but have you ever thought about his appeal? I ask you, have you ever considered the main reason for the box office hit in the first weekend of "Special Forces 2"?"

Before Lorenzo Bonaventu could open his mouth, he took out a report, pushed it over, and said directly, "In the past three days, we have hired several survey and consulting companies to conduct first-hand cinema audience statistics across North America. Among the 5,000 answer sheets, the number of viewers who wanted to see Matthew Horner in the movie accounted for 88%, mainly because Matthew Horner went to buy tickets was close to 50%.

Hearing these data, Lorenzo Bonaventura was speechless for a moment.

Brad Gray emphasized, "Even if it is the most conservative estimate, half of the box office in North America's first weekend was directly related to Matthew Horner!"

He suddenly sighed, "I asked the market part to do professional analysis to eliminate Matthew Horner's appeal. "Special Forces 2" is the film that ran a box office of $50 million to $60 million on the weekend of the radical."

Lorenzo Bonaventura opened her mouth and ended up saying nothing. He could still complain when there was no data, but these data undoubtedly proved that Matthew Horner's salary was very high, but the benefits brought were equally objective.

But... Matthew Horner has taken too much from it. With a high basic salary and various share sharing, he may have to take away hundreds of millions of dollars from the income of this film, or even more.

"I still think Matthew Horner's pay is too high." Lorenzo Bonaventura is a department head and one of the producers of "Special Forces 2". Perhaps because she was not standing high enough, her eyes were always staring closer. "I was so stuck that I couldn't breathe when I thought about the share he was going to take."

Brad Grey knew that Lorenzo Bonaventura was considering the company, so he was not angry and said, "I'm not feeling well," he said, "but Paramount Pictures will continue to work with Matthew Horner."

Lorenzo Bonaventura resisted not asking why. He was Brad Gray's confidant, and Brad Gray would definitely explain it to him.

"Paramount Pictures now needs Matthew Horner, and the "Special Forces" series can continue to succeed stably." Brad Gray suddenly faced the fatigue, rubbed his forehead, and said, "Dreamworks has decided to break up with Paramount Pictures. They are going to switch to Disneyland, and we are missing an important partner."

Lorenzo Bonaventura tentatively said, "We have other partners, we have Tom Cruise."

This is a big trump card for Paramount Pictures.

Brad Gray asked back, "Do you think Tom Cruise can compare to Matthew Horner now?"

"They are all superstars..." Lorenzo Bonaventura's tone was a little weak.

"Tom Cruise is completely incomparable to Matthew Horner!" Brad Gray said very seriously. "In the past four or five years, except for the Mission: Impossible series, has Tom Cruise achieved the same success as Matthew Horner in other films? No!"

His eyes gradually became sharp, "The several films we invested in Tom Cruise have barely recovered their costs and even lost money. What does Tom Cruise like this have to do with Matthew Hornaby? Do you get Mission Impossible? Don't forget that the dominance of this series is in the hands of Tom Cruise, and we can only help him."

Lorenzo Bonaventura could only nod.

Brad Gray said again, "Paramount Pictures is going through a very difficult period. We need Matthew Horner's cooperation. Even if it's nothing else, this cooperation alone can ensure that Paramount Pictures' stable stock price!"

"I understand." Lorenzo Bonaventura knew that she had to speak.

"You have to understand this." Brad Gray knocked, "Lorenzo, I don't care what you think of Matthew, I must do it like me, put away all these views, and face Matthew Horner with the most sincere attitude, so that he feels that Paramount Pictures is sincere and willing to sign a new contract with us to star in "Special Forces."

Lorenzo Bonaventura dared not hesitate anymore and immediately said, "Yes! I promise to do it!"

Brad Grey waved his hand to Lorenzo Bonaventura, and when he left the office, he sighed. Who would like to share so much profit from his company to another person? Of course, he doesn't want to see such a situation, but without giving enough sincerity, how could he get a superstar like Matthew Horner?
Chapter completed!