Hollywood (我就是好莱坞) Part I

CHAPTER 27 - SHOCKING EVERYONE

November 18th, Eric flew to New York the next day, while Home Alone and 17 Again had officially premiered. Home Alone was projected on 1000 screens, while 17 Again had 1279 of them. It was being screened in 279 more screens than Home Alone since the Fox hadn't signed any gambling agreement and could just put all its efforts in making it a success.

They were released simultaneously along with Universal Pictures' Land Before Time and its 1395 screens, and Disney's Buena Vista International Release animated Oliver & Company with its 952 screens.

Three children-oriented movies were released at the same time, and this made the media feel that Eric's chances to win the bet were getting thin, but the concerned party wasn't worried at all. These two might overshadow Home Alone a little at the beginning, but they wouldn't be able to compete on the long-time run. His past life's Home Alone had screened for ten consecutive weeks.

After attending the two premieres, when Eric and the crew came back to the hotel, it was already past eleven pm. This era's technology wasn't really advanced, so they could only wait until next week before getting the Home Alone and 17 Again box office data.

Back in his room, Eric took a bath and was planning to go to sleep, when the phone suddenly rang. Calling him so late, it could only be Annie.

"Hey, Eric, were you sleeping ?" The lass asked with a tinge of excitement.

Eric sat on the bed drying his wet hair with a towel, he said: "No, I just showered, Annie did something good happen ?"

"Guess ?"

Eric quipped: "Oh, I know, you must be pregnant, don't worry, I'll take responsibility."

"Bah, you big bad wolf, talking about those dirty things !" Aniston followed: "I just went to see Home Alone, and encountered a very interesting thing, hehe."

Eric smiled: "Tell me ?"

"Well, I came out from the cinema earlier, and there was a five-year-old boy shouting that he wanted to see Kevin again, the parents refused, saying that they had just went to see him, and the result was that the kid lied on the ground and started to cry. Some people mistakenly thought that his parents were child-traffickers, the poor parents were beaten up, and several police cars came, it was really funny, haha."

Aniston was just viewing it as a funny anecdote, but Eric could see the bigger picture. They chatted for a while before hanging up, and Eric lied on his bed, slightly excited.

Things were going in accordance to the past. Home Alone had been able to achieve such an amazing box office thanks to a big wave of naughty children who begged to watch it over and over, they imitated Kevin's every move, and ultimately, helped promote the movie like never before.

Indeed, things were as Eric had guessed, the first day of release of Home Alone, nothing major really happened. But with its reputation spreading at an alarming rate between children, Home Alone's entries doubled on the next day, and on the third, the growth was such that some popular theaters were having a queuing situation.

The children had seen comedies before, but nothing like Kevin's weird encounters. Home Alone, from a child's perspective, portrayed what the majority of them couldn't or didn't dare to do in reality.

Groups of children in North America stirred up a wave of imitation of Kevin, a San Francisco newspaper even reported on a real Home Alone event; a nine-year-old boy who had seen the movie, secretly locked himself in a room when the family got ready to go on a Hawaii vacation.