[Chapter 158: The Mentor, The Talent Scout]
As Linton worked on integrating his company, May quickly arrived, and the film market was heating up with the bustling summer blockbuster season.
The film The Shallows continued to dominate in its second week, grossing $26.83 million over seven days, maintaining its position as the top box office hit. Its total cumulative box office reached $63.09 million.
Encouragingly, merchandise related to the movie, such as shark figurines, sold well, earning over $16 million in two weeks. Universal's prepared inventory of $20 million was expected to sell out soon.
However, the movie's original soundtrack didn't perform as strongly. Since Linton didn't personally contribute a song, the soundtrack's quality was just passable. Even with the movie's popularity boost, it sold only about 900,000 copies in two weeks.
On April 30, the summer blockbuster season officially kicked off, with numerous commercial productions releasing, including Warner Bros.' A-grade film Dave.
As a result, The Shallows's screening slots sharply declined from 3,000 theaters and 6,000 screens to 1,200 theaters and 2,600 screens.
Naturally, the third week saw a steep drop in box office to $12.46 million in seven days. Updates are released by novel★fire.net
However, after three weeks, its cumulative box office reached $75.55 million, enough for Universal and Linton Films to pop champagne in celebration.
Universal raised its North American box office forecast to $85 million.
Starting April 30, The Shallows began releasing overseas in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil.
Thanks to its roaring success in North America, the film also performed well overseas, earning $19.8 million across those ten countries in its first week.
Among these, Australia stood out, pulling in over $3.2 million in a week, ranking first for international box office.
The film's popularity in North America also boosted the fame of Australia's Lord Howe Island, with several North American tour companies reaching out to establish travel routes there.
This greatly motivated the Australian tourism board, which began nationwide promotion, helping The Shallows exceed expected market performance in Australia.
Seeing the film's impressive overseas box office, Universal started overseas promotions led by Cameron Michelle Diaz from May 5.
However, Zack Snyder did not participate in overseas promotions -- directors in this era were mostly behind the scenes.
More overseas markets were set to open soon.
Early in May, Michael Bay and Ryan eagerly came to Linton, seeking opportunities to direct films independently.
Although Linton was busy consolidating his company, he honored their appointment and set aside an afternoon for Robert from the screenwriting department to bring over the scripts for The Rock and Happy Death Day.
After more than two months of revisions, the scripts for The Rock and Happy Death Day were finalized. Linton handed Michael Bay the script for The Rock and gave Ryan the script for Happy Death Day.
"These are the two movies our company plans to launch in the second half of this year. You have one month to storyboard, develop a shooting plan, and make a detailed budget. If your submissions satisfy me, I'll consider letting you direct."
"Thank you, boss! We won't disappoint you," both breathed a sigh of relief seeing two different films instead of one, initially fearing competition for the same position.
Thinking of the current success of Zack, both felt inspired. They had served as his assistant directors, received his selfless guidance, been recognized by Linton, and were assigned to direct films backed by Linton -- they were confident they could succeed and become the next Zack.
It was true. During The Shallows's promotional tour, Zack repeatedly thanked Linton before the media.
He called Linton his mentor and shared that while serving as assistant director on Step Up, Linton had taught him generously, nurturing his growth, helping him transform from a music video director to a commercial film director.
Most importantly, Linton believed in him and gave him a chance, which made directing The Shallows possible -- something unthinkable at other studios.
When asked by a host, "Director Zack, with Linton as co-producer on The Shallows, what specific help did he provide during your directing process?"
"Three main aspects," Zack said. "First, during crew preparation, being a newcomer, he helped me build the crew, chose the lead actors, and reviewed the shooting plan."
"Wait, you said the female lead was chosen by Linton?" the host interrupted, addressing the audience's most pressing question.
"Yes, Linton wasn't only co-producer; he also wrote the script. Naturally, he knew best who suited the female lead.
I remember when he introduced Cameron to me and the producer, we all agreed she was perfect. So, how do you think Cameron performed?" Zack directed the question to the audience, engaging them interactively.
"You see, the audience's reaction proves our casting was spot on."
"Was he bossy about casting? I heard Naomi Watts was directly picked by him for Step Up."
"Not at all. On the contrary, he respected everyone's opinions on set. Take Naomi for example. At the casting meeting when I was assistant director, Linton introduced Naomi's profile to us, and we all thought she was the perfect fit. The movie's great success proved it, and Naomi won wide audience affection.
He has an uncanny insight for finding the perfect fit immediately. So, do you think Naomi performed well in Step Up?" Zack engaged the audience again.
"You mentioned Linton's first type of help. What about the second?" The host, slightly frustrated looking for juicy details, quickly shifted topics.
"Second, two days before shooting started, he flew to our set to check preparations. After the shoot began, he quietly observed the schedule for a day, then was satisfied and ready to step back.
At that time, for box office considerations, I asked him to cameo in the film, which he gladly agreed to, giving us that smooth surfing scene.
What do you think of his surfing shot?" Zack asked the audience again.
"Awesome! Too short, though!" came the enthusiastic cheers.
"What else did he do during filming?" the host quickly followed up.
"He confirmed on set that I could fully command the crew and shoot all required scenes, then completely trusted me and didn't appear again."
"He trusts you so much."
"Exactly why I call him a great talent scout. I believe many new directors have great talent but lack recognition and opportunities. Compared to them, I'm very fortunate."
"Is it really hard for new directors to get chances?"
"Very hard. Hollywood follows the rule of success -- directors are chosen based on previous success; no one dares risk giving a newcomer commercial film directing."
"What about Linton's third form of support?"
"Post-production. After filming, he gave me guidance and then entrusted me completely with post-production."
"You mean you handled post-production yourself?"
"I heard most Hollywood commercial directors don't even get final editing rights."
"True. But Linton fully trusted me and handed over all post-production responsibilities."
"He gave you full control over final editing?"
"Not entirely free reign. After my first cut, he and the producer reviewed it and gave precise, insightful feedback for revisions.
The version everyone sees now is based on his notes."
This interview episode achieved particularly high ratings, and throughout the subsequent promotional tour, the media repeatedly asked these three questions. Zack constantly found new ways to praise and thank Linton.
Universal saw this hype boosted box office and actively promoted it further.
Linton earned the reputation of the best mentor and talent scout.
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