May 14th, Friday, a new week for movie screening started. High School Musical was officially screened on a large scale. It was on the movie listings of 3,150 cinemas!
This day, numerous students ran out of school when classes were over. They rushed to the closest cinema to buy tickets for the first session this night to watch High School Musical. However, to many students’ surprise, the tickets for the first session had been sold out. Where did all of the tickets go? Most of them were sold at midnight. And most of the rest was sold at noon. Just before school was over, some students who had arrived “a little early” had bought the rest.
“Oh, come on. How is this possible?!” In a cinema in Chicago, a white high school student was looking at the box-office clerk with a pitiable face. “If I can’t get any tickets today, my girlfriend will beat me! Man, she has been looking forward to this movie for months. Is there really no ticket left for the first session?”
Spreading his hands, the middle-aged clerk said, “Young man, I can relate to you, but there are no tickets left. All sold out.”
Gnashing his teeth, the white high school student said, “Oh, hell. She said she must watch it today. Give me two tickets for the second session, then!”
The box-office clerk was kind of gloating. Smiling, he said, “I’m sorry, but there are no tickets left for the second session, either.”
Opening his eyes wide, the high school student screamed, “What?!”
The students behind him all screamed, “Oh, hell! I came over as soon as school was over. There are no more tickets left?!”
“Oh, my God. Can’t you open one more screening room to show it? My girlfriend also said she wanted to watch it today!”
“A piece of advice for you. Wait a few days and then come to watch it.” The box-office clerk shrugged his shoulders. The students yelled, “We can’t wait anymore!” Smiling, the clerk answered them, “But there are no tickets left for today. If you want to watch it tomorrow, come back at midnight. Tickets will be surely available then.”
That white high school student said in anger, “I won’t leave then. Tomorrow is a holiday. We don’t need to go to school anyways.” He turned around to walk to the chairs in the hall. He said to himself, “I have to get the tickets. I don’t want a breakup…” So, he stayed in the ticket hall. His girlfriend chewed him out on the phone. Then, in the evening, when he saw those who had bought all of those tickets walking into the cinema with their girlfriends, he really hated their guts.
However, in the whole of North America, he was not the only person who stayed in the cinema until midnight. This day, large amounts of students went back home pretty late because of High School Musical, either for watching it or for snatching tickets for the next day. That being said, they all left the cinema smiling. Those who had watched the movie were smiling because they had watched a good movie, while those who had stayed for the tickets also got what they wanted.
High School Musical’s box office gross on the 14th did not disappoint the cinemas. Neither did it disappoint Flames Films. On average, each of the 3,150 cinemas had 500 seats. Shown in two sessions every night, High School Musical gained an attendance rate of 100% in the first session of the 14th, which was incredibly high. And the attendance rate of the second session reached 93%, which was also satisfying. With these two sessions, the movie pulled in $19,758,300 at the box office! This figure explained everything. This movie was a super sell. It was a sultry trend.
On the 15th, the attendance rate of the first session was still 100%, while in the second session, it dropped to 75%. The attendance rate kept dropping in the next few days. Especially after the release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace on the 19th, there was a drastic drop for the attendance rate. Despite that, it was fair to say that High School Musical had swept over North America this week. It pulled in $68,521,500 in all at the box office, nabbing the first spot of the North American weekly box office from May 14th to 20th. It beat Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in the latter’s first week!
Certainly, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, the winner of the second place, had only been on for two days, and it pulled in $40,840,200 at the box office in only two days. Such a failure at the North American weekly box office did not seem to count at all. However, many Star Wars fans felt extremely angry. After all, this was one of the Star Wars series! A blockbuster with a production cost of $115,000,000 was beaten by a senseless teen musical. What the hell?!
Some gossipy media certainly would not let this topic go. Entertainment Daily even made it a headline: The Competition between Two USC Directors, Wang Yang Beat His Senior, George Lucas! The title was sensational. They mentioned High School Musical’s first spot at the weekly box office and Star Wars: Episode I’s second spot in the review. At the end of the review, they commented this way, “Facing fifty-five-year-old George Lucas, nineteen-year-old Wang Yang shocked the world. Why shouldn’t we compliment this magic guy? Go and conquer the world, young man!”
Sensational media were not just a few, but more media reported the craze for singing and dancing in the movie industry in a serious manner. “Magic Yang Did Magic Again, Breaking All Doubts!””A Promising New Super Star!” Such titles were innumerable. No media organization would jump out to strike a discordant note in such a moment. Even tabloids were paying compliments to him, not daring going against the trend. If it were other movies, they would have said something contrary to the mainstream to draw some attention, but they could not do so with High School Musical. If they tried to sling mud at High School Musical, countless young people would be offended, and young people were the best gossip lovers—and were whom those tabloids spoke to.
Los Angeles Times published another review under the title “The Young’s Counterattack, the Musical’s Revival!” This time, with the backup of the box office figure, they stopped being reserved. They complimented, “When that young director, at the age of eighteen, had declared his first camera movie would be a teen musical, everyone was dampening his spirits, predicting it would be a super terrible movie. However, we have seen it now. It was a wonderful counterattack. This young director, nineteen and three months, renewed the definition of ‘teen musical’. He introduced the musical genre to the young generation. He even enriched filmmakers’ knowledge regarding what a popular musical should involve. The box office figure for High School Musical gave us a sound reason to believe the musical would have a revival in every sense!”
The media were all writing about Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and High School Musical. The Mummy, in its second week, met its Waterloo compared to last week. Despite third place, it only pulled in $18,136,000 at the box office. It was worse for Entrapment, The Matrix in its seventh week, and other movies. The market was all carved up by the two movies in the first and the second place. Idle Hands? No one was paying it any attention anymore. It was already in the dumpster. It only grossed $174,000 at the box office.
However, not all voices were complimentary. There was one group that was especially unhappy with Wang Yang, and that group was called the parents. In the evening news of NBC, a rich, middle-aged white woman said to the camera in anger, “I hate Wang Yang. Last year, my daughter did not go back home the whole night because of his movie. And now he made my daughter skip classes! Skipping classes! Oh, my God. Is High School Musical supposed to teach students how to skip classes? My daughter will graduate from high school at the end of the month, and she needs to prepare for the final exam. But now she skipped classes to watch High School Musical earlier! My daughter needs credits. Apparently, that movie won’t give her any. However, Wang Yang has made lots of money with those tricks, at the cost of my daughter’s credits!”
The evening news aimed to discuss one topic induced by High School Musical—what the teenagers exactly needed. An educator accepted NBC’s interview. He said, “In fact, High School Musical has fully disclosed the teenagers’ needs. They want to show who they are, free their minds, and pursue the dreams they truly love… in real life, parents’ expectations and stressed school life have given them too many pressures. They just need to enjoy their youth more.” He also pointed out that high school seniors were extremely stressed because of the upcoming graduation, and watching High School Musical became their way to relieve the stress.
A report provided strong backing for the educator’s opinion. Natalie Portman, the actress who’d starred in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and also a high school senior that was facing graduation, was photographed watching High School Musical in the cinema by a journalist from the tabloid Entertainment Daily. She’d almost refused to attend the premiere of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace because she had to prepare for the final exam. Although she showed up in the end, she attended none of the other promotional events for the movie. However, she had the time to watch High School Musical?!
Caught by the journalist outside of the cinema, Natalie looked awkward, but she managed to speak in a calm tone. “I just felt I needed to know something about this film because all of my classmates are talking about it. I wanted to figure out why they liked it so much.”
Then, the journalist asked her, “So, you already watched High School Musical. How do you like it?”
It seemed Natalie did not want to drop too many comments. She simply said, “It is an excellent movie.”
However, the journalist did not give up. He asked another question, “What do you think about Wang Yang?”
Natalie did not stop walking, but she answered him, “Wang Yang is a very talented director.”
The journalist asked again, “So, do you like him… his movies?” Natalie said with a slight nod, “Yeah, kind of.”
Such a simple conversation was exaggerated into a seemingly true scandal by the tabloid. “Natalie Thinks Wang Yang Attractive!” The report did not make up what Natalie had said, but they spiced it up. “When our reporter asked ‘what do you think about Wang Yang’, Natalie seemed very shy. She looked like she was going to give away her heart. She said ‘Wang Yang is a brilliant, very talented director.’ When our reporter asked her ‘do you like him or his movies?’, Natalie, a flusher whenever topics about boyfriends are brought up, flushed again. She told us ‘yeah, kind of’.”
“Might this be a romantic love confession Natalie was sending to Yang? Or, could Natalie and Yang already be together? Think about it. We know Yang spent some time in New York when he was casting for High School Musical. He and Natalie might have been together since then.”
A ridiculous report, but with this report and a picture of smiling Natalie, the new issue of Entertainment Daily was almost sold out as soon as it came out. The leading actress of Star Wars: Episode 1 and the director of High School Musical—as both movies became a trend, this news certainly drew the attention of the young people, who loved gossips! It was a sure win.
Wang Yang had no idea about that at all. He did not read any tabloids. This day, he got up early just as usual to do some boxing and other physical exercises. When he was heavily sweating, he suddenly got a phone call. It was from a man who alleged himself a reporter from Entertainment Daily. He asked Wang Yang on the phone, “Yang, are you and Natalie Portman in love?”
Wang Yang, still wondering how this reporter had gotten the number of his home, was struck dumb. He involuntarily burst out laughing. He said, “Me and Natalie Portman in love? No way. There is no such thing. That’s absurd. I’ve only seen her on the big screen. Her acting performance in Léon: The Professional is fantastic.”
Wang Yang learned about this absurd rumor on the internet after the call. Then, he was afraid that he had spoken too much on the phone.
The next day, what he was afraid of became true. Entertainment Daily reported this way, “The Response to the Sent Love Confession: Natalie is Fantastic!” Wang Yang’s remark was spiced up again in the report. “When our reporter asked Yang whether they were in a relationship, Yang denied it at first, but then he expressed his appreciation and admiration for Natalie right away. He told us, ‘I really like her. I’ve loved her acting performance since Léon: The Professional. She is fantastic!'”
“We have reason to believe that Natalie is Magic Yang’s goddess! Magic Yang took fancy to this girl as early as 1994. Maybe his wall was covered with the posters of Léon: The Professional back then. Maybe his dream of being a director started because of this girl. Natalie, Yang responded to you. Will you say ‘yes’?”
The report sounded as if everything in it was true. Despite knowing that tabloids liked to talk nonsense, many of Wang Yang’s female fans dropped comments on the official website of High School Musical to express their disappointment. “Yang, you shouldn’t be with Natalie. She is ugly and short. She doesn’t deserve you at all!” Some female fans even threatened that if he and Natalie became a couple, they would not be his fan anymore.
Seeing more and more people believe the rumor, Wang Yang was speechless, but he could not help but laugh as well, because he did have a poster of Léon: The Professional in his room. However, he had never met Natalie Portman in person. It was really absurd that a rumor about them was spreading. He had to thumb up at the marketing of the tabloid, but he was not going to respond to it anymore. No matter what he said, it would only make the whole thing worse.
“Jessica, have you read about my scandal?” in the routine phone call they had every night, Wang Yang asked Jessica in a pretended serious manner.
On the other end of the line, Jessica giggled. She said, “I think, yes. You and Natalie Portman?”
Wang Yang laughed too. He said into the phone, “Yeah. Could anyone tell me what happened? Love confession sent by Natalie? Oh, my God!”
Jessica laughed for some seconds. Then, she suddenly said quietly, “Yang, we haven’t been dating for a long time. I miss you so much.”
“Me, too.” Wang Yang said gently, “Jessica, let’s wait a few more days. You know that the original soundtrack of High School Musical will be released next week. Once it’s released, the market for the movie will be secured. We can go out dating every day by then. No more worries about paparazzi. If they want to take photos of us, then they can just take.”
Jessica said with a smile, “Yeah, I know.”
As early as the phase in which High School Musical was only shown in school cinemas, Flames Films had contacted several record companies, and they signed a contract with a small company, in the end, to authorize them to distribute the original soundtrack of High School Musical in North America.
A film financial valuer working from Wall Street made some predictions based on the current market. He estimated High School Musical would probably break $300,000,000 at the box office worldwide. That, plus the revenues from peripheral operations, like the original soundtrack and DVD, would eventually bring Flames Films at least $100,000,000 in profits after tax. Wang Yang would become a billionaire—the youngest billionaire.
Soon, this valuer’s estimation was further confirmed. When the curtains came down on the week of May 21st to 27th, High School Musical pulled in $47,383,600 more at the box office, getting the total box office gross over the line for $100,000,000. The exact number was $129,100,000! In the same season of past years, pulling in over $47,000,000 at the box office in one week would secure the movie’s top spot, but at the moment, it was only in the second place. The first place surely went to Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which pulled in $99,354,400 at the box office this week, nabbing the weekly championship overwhelmingly.
However, Flames Films had their reason to feel proud, because the production cost of High School Musical was $8,000,000, while that of Star Wars: Episode I was $11,500,000.
In this period, most teenage moviegoers would go to watch High School Musical, while others would watch Star Wars: Episode I. Consequently, other movies shown in the cinema were greatly affected. The Mummy only grossed $10,482,000 million at the box office this week. Idle Hands was certainly not among the affected movies, because it had been off the big screen.
In the new week, High School Musical’s original soundtrack was released to the North American market as well. It released 100,000 copies in the first phase. Each record customer would get a poster at random for free. Every poster had a leading role’s signature or Wang Yang’s signature on it. Only the first 100,000 copies had this bonus! This news had been announced on the official website. Numerous students had rolled up their sleeves. As soon as the 100,000 CDs were put onto the shelves, the students snapped up all of them. They were sold out across the country in one day!
Those who did not get the CD stayed at record stores, frustrated. They were reluctant to leave. A girl about 12-years old burst into tears. She had wanted the signatures so much. However, she had arrived too late and there was nothing left.
“Phenomenal director” was the newest title Wang Yang had received. It was from Roger Ebert. The famous movie critic who had spoken highly of Paranormal Activity was lavish with his praise for High School Musical as well.
“Magic Yang created another miracle. He drove the young people crazy once again! Lately, my little girl is always telling me, “Oh daddy, I want to take dance classes. That High School Musical is amazing.” With my age, I wouldn’t have been interested in any teen musical, but I went to watch the movie because of my little girl’s recommendation. I felt so warm. It was like sunbathing. The dark shade brought by Paranormal Activity was driven away. I have to say that, Magic Yang, this nineteen-year-old young man—he is a phenomenal director!”
In the end, Roger Ebert gave High School Musical two thumbs-up.
The description “phenomenal director” was quoted by many media organizations. It seemed a little funny that a nineteen-year-old director was called phenomenal, but the fact is the fact. He turned Paranormal Activity into a miracle in 1998 by pulling in $300,000,000 at the box office worldwide with a production cost of only $10,000. He shocked the whole world and showed people what viral marketing was. In half a year, he created this fever for singing and dancing. All young people were crazy about his movie. Who could say he was not phenomenal? If anyone had the nerve to say that, this person would be cursed by many of Wang Yang’s female fans.
As High School Musical succeeded, Wang Yang had more and more fans. There were quite a few crazy female fans. And some of his fans built a website to collect his pictures and information. However, be it a phenomenal director or the youngest billionaire, he had become a role model and an idol for many, many of his peers.