Chapter 227: Admiration

Chapter 227: Chapter 227: Admiration

The news of the box office "reverse growth" for My Big Fat Greek Wedding in its second week was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, causing a huge stir among the top circles of Hollywood’s major film studios.

After all, since Titanic created the myth of reverse growth with its phenomenal word-of-mouth, no low-budget film had been able to replicate such a miracle for years.

What’s more, this film had no superstar backing and no massive marketing budget, and the director was Irene Coppola, a "crossover" talent in her early twenties who had previously been known for big-budget blockbusters.

When the news reached Paramount headquarters, CEO Sherry Lansing was presiding over a quarterly project review meeting.

When the marketing director rushed to hand her the box office report and read out the numbers—"10.71 million dollars in the first week, a 12% reverse growth in the second week, and a cumulative box office exceeding 23 million"—the entire conference room fell silent instantly.

Sherry Lansing traced her finger over the name "Irene Coppola" on the report, her eyes sharp as a hawk. This legendary woman, who had been working in Hollywood for decades and had witnessed countless ups and downs, immediately sensed the extraordinary value within it.

"Pause all current agenda items," she said, putting down the report. "Notify the marketing department to set up a special task force to track the box office trends, audience word-of-mouth, and social media sentiment of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 24 hours a day. Give me a detailed analysis report every 48 hours."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the project department executives present.

"Additionally, immediately compile all information on Irene Coppola: her past works, creative style, the teams she has collaborated with, and her current projects awaiting launch. Especially her upcoming plans—I want the most core information.

Paramount must show the utmost sincerity to secure our next collaboration with her. Even if it’s just participating in the investment, we cannot miss out."

The executives nodded in agreement, all knowing deep down that Sherry Lansing never easily placed such importance on a young director.

But Irene Coppola had proven her "box office magic" with facts: she could handle big-budget commercial blockbusters with investments of over 100 million like Pirates of the Caribbean to create visual spectacles, yet she could also settle down to film a low-budget comedy with a 5 million budget and achieve a box office comeback through word-of-mouth.

Such "all-rounder" directors were already a scarce resource in Hollywood. Whoever could secure her first would hold the initiative for box office success in the coming years.

Almost at the same time, Warner Bros.’s executive meeting also revolved around Irene Coppola.

On the large screen in the conference room, the audience ratings and media reviews for My Big Fat Greek Wedding were playing on a loop: 95% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, 90% audience score, and major film critics were full of praise for Irene’s directing ability.

"We underestimated her before," said Mark Barrett, the chairman of Warner Bros., tapping the table with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"During The Italian Job, we thought she was just lucky. When Legally Blonde exploded, we thought it was just the subject matter being appealing.

But now, this My Big Fat Greek Wedding has told everyone with its reverse box office growth that she isn’t just some ’box office lucky charm,’ but a genius who truly understands the market, the audience, and the craft."

The vice president in charge of project cooperation immediately chimed in, "Mark, we have already contacted Shelly at CAA to express our willingness to collaborate.

Irene’s currently pending project, Million Dollar Baby, is a personal investment, but we can provide post-production support, global distribution channels, or even additional investment, just to be able to participate in her project. Also, can we polish those shelved female-oriented scripts we have and submit them for her to consider?"

"Absolutely," Mark Barrett said without hesitation. "Select the best screenwriting team and rewrite those scripts according to Irene’s style. She excels at depicting resilient, powerful female characters, which is exactly what the current market and awards season favor.

Tell Shelly that Warner Bros. is willing to give Irene maximum creative freedom—budget, casting, shooting pace, it’s all up to her. We will only act as the backing."

Besides Paramount and Warner Bros., other major film studios like Universal, Disney, and Fox also sprang into action.

For a time, Shelly at CAA became the busiest agent in Hollywood. The phone rang incessantly with invitations from executives at major studios. Some wanted to hire Irene to direct their S+ level projects, others wanted to invest in her personal works.

After all, one success might be a fluke, two successes might be good luck, but three or four consecutive successes meant that Irene Coppola’s ability was truly far beyond the ordinary.

"All of Hollywood is fighting over you now," Shelly said with a laugh to Irene over the phone.

"Sherry from Paramount keeps saying she wants to take you to lunch and is proposing again that you collaborate on Mission: Impossible, asking you to seriously consider it. Universal also hopes you can participate in their newly developed series Fast & Furious, and Warner Bros. is willing to let you pick any IP you want..."

"What if I want to direct the Harry Potter series?"

"...Maybe that’s not impossible?" Shelly’s voice was full of hesitation.

"I’m kidding. Tell them thanks for the kind offer, but I still have a lot of work to finish, so let’s take our time with collaborations."

She knew clearly that the adulation from these film companies stemmed from her repeatedly breaking expectations with her works, but this didn’t cloud her judgment. She wanted more than just to be a top director in Hollywood.

After hanging up, Irene seriously considered what Shelly had just said. Whether it was Mission: Impossible or Fast & Furious, both were blockbuster series that would remain popular for years or even decades to come.

Many popular IPs on the market had already been snatched up by major film companies. Fortunately, she had used her advantage of rebirth to lock in Pirates of the Caribbean first, but that was far from enough.

What she needed was an IP that, like Pirates of the Caribbean, possessed both commercial explosive potential and sufficient creative space.

Her fingers tapped unconsciously on the desk. Many of the IP series she favored hadn’t been created yet, so even if she wanted to fight for them, it would be useless. So, what other series could she secure at this stage?

Her gaze wandered around the study when she suddenly saw a car model sitting on the coffee table in front of her. It seemed to be something Nicholas had left behind. It looked like a yellow Ferrari.

Wait, yellow, Ferrari?

How could she have forgotten Transformers!

That was a top-tier IP capable of setting off a global box office frenzy in the future, absolutely no weaker than Pirates of the Caribbean!

The concept of transforming robots carried the DNA of visual spectacle, and it had incomparable advantages in both the presentation of action scenes and coverage across age groups.

But at the same time, the difficulty of securing this IP was far greater than developing Pirates of the Caribbean as an original IP.