From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", $23.3 million, a 2% increase in the second weekend.

After accurate statistics, Focus Features announced adjusted figures on Tuesday, reaffirming with a calm and objective stance that the box office numbers were correct.

After twenty-four hours of digestion and adjustment, Hollywood still couldn't fully process the whole thing. Bewilderment and shock permeated the air.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"?

Wait, were they talking about Charlie Kaufman's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"? That was Charlie Kaufman! What was going on?

The movie that countless people complained about, saying they "couldn't even remember the title"?

This… this was truly… shocking.

The entire Hollywood was in stunned silence.

In just two weeks since its release, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" had easily surpassed $55 million in cumulative box office revenue, creating a new career high for Charlie Kaufman without a doubt—

Not just a little higher, but completely overturning the situation.

The parent company was stingy and frugal when investing in projects, splitting every cent in half; but after acquiring a subsidiary specializing in award-season films, it became extravagant, casually throwing away millions as if they were just dollars—

With $20 million, Universal Pictures could create a comedy or horror film that easily grossed over $100 million in North America, but it seemed Focus Features was purely burning money.

Without the financial clout of Warner Bros., it was trying to appear more capable than it was. Focus Features' investment planning strategy was truly uninspiring.

These complaints were still vivid in everyone's minds; no one could forget them.

But no one had expected that Focus Features would remain so discreet, patiently waiting for the opportunity, and then launch a thunderous attack, delivering a fatal blow.

Who would have thought that "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" wouldn't even need to wait for the awards season to arrive before entering the profit-making stage?

Thus, the entire Hollywood shut up obediently, avoiding further embarrassment.

For the second consecutive week, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" occupied the spotlight with an unexpected but absolutely powerful presence, completely shattering Hollywood's stereotypes and bringing new inspiration to the promotion of independent and art films—

From "Elephant" to "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," people hadn't expected Anson, this pretty boy, to become a ray of dawn for industry transformation.

However, with the huge box office success of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," the long-feared hidden dangers finally erupted:

"Incomprehensible," "Profound and brain-taxing," "Senseless moaning," "Self-pity of literary youth," "The movie is simply a mess," "Can't see the reason for the collective frenzy," "Terribly bad," "Besides Anson's looks, it's worthless," "It needs looks for plot, and it still has looks for emotion…"

Blah, blah, blah.

Complaints, attacks, criticisms—these different voices arrived as expected.

At this moment, it could be seen how precious Focus Features' rationality was. If they had rashly released the film nationwide, the word-of-mouth that the film had painstakingly accumulated might have collapsed overnight, leading to a disaster.

But now?

Focus Features' calmness and composure limited the negative reviews to a certain range, preventing them from causing damage and instead promoting dialogue and communication among movie fans.

Rational movie fans stated, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" established its tone from the beginning. This is not a romantic comedy that everyone will love. On the contrary, it may be a strange work that deviates from mainstream aesthetics. There is no need to force yourself to go to the cinema to chase the trend and watch a work that you don't like just because of the clamorous praise.

"Please note that this is a work with a viewing threshold."

These voices held the line in the midst of the noisy negative tide.

This further strengthened Focus Features' judgment:

The reason why "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was able to achieve such incredible box office results was still due to Anson. They should not be blinded by greed and desire; the film was not the type with explosive box office potential.

Because of this, Focus Features' subsequent expansion strategy was very steady.

Third week, 685 screens.

Fourth week, 707 screens.

Fifth week, 733 screens.

Not only slow but also solid, aiming for long-term word-of-mouth dissemination.

The following April and May saw major film companies launching new summer blockbuster experiments, and the film market presented a chaotic scene. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" temporarily retreated to the second tier, failing to attract much attention.

Focus Features always controlled the screening scale of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" to below 1,000 screens. The largest scale was in the seventh and eighth weeks, with 877 screens, but it only lasted for two weeks before starting to reduce the number of venues.

Thanks to Focus Features' calmness and composure, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" stayed away from the forefront of controversy and relied on word-of-mouth to spread steadily among true film enthusiasts, attracting box office revenue in a step-by-step manner.

Anyway, they had already entered the profit-making stage, and any further box office revenue was worth celebrating.

Because of this, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" shone silently in a space away from the media radar. The subsequent box office curve rose slowly but steadily, lacking explosive power but with lasting momentum.

Initially, the media checked the box office numbers of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" every now and then, but from the third week onwards, the box office numbers didn't fluctuate much. The weekend box office showed a slow downward trend, and the cumulative total box office continued to rise at a snail's pace, making people lose interest.

Gradually, the media also lost patience and even completely forgot that there was such an anomaly in this year's summer blockbuster craze.

Until one day, a media outlet whimsically reconfirmed the film's box office numbers and was directly hit with 100,000 points of damage, immediately announcing it to the world.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" North American box office surpasses $100 million!

In an instant, the entire North American market was stunned, comparable to a thunderbolt. This was even more exciting and stimulating than this year's summer box office battle.

Charlie Kaufman's screenplay works, until now, have always struggled to break through $20 million in North America box office, never truly winning market favor. Now, it has undergone a transformation like a carp leaping over the dragon gate, finally owning the first work with $100 million in North American box office in his career.

Was all of this really happening?

Looking back now, the entire Hollywood initially positioned "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" as an awkward work that was neither too high nor too low, not artistic enough to stir up waves during the awards season, nor commercial enough to ignite enthusiasm in the box office market.

As a result, they were all wrong, outrageously wrong.

One hundred million dollars in North American box office—this single piece of data alone was jaw-dropping. Everything was all thanks to Anson.

"Anson Wood: The Box Office Myth Continues!"