On December 27, three new films opened in North American theaters once again: Fried Green Tomatoes distributed by Universal Pictures, For the Boys from Fox, and The Prince of Tides from Warner Bros.
However, neither Fried Green Tomatoes, which Daenerys Entertainment had taken over from Universal, Fox's musical For the Boys, nor The Prince of Tides produced by Warner Bros. and directed and starring Barbra Streisand showed any threat to The Flash.
After its opening weekend of 72.86 million dollars, The Flash only dropped 27 percent in its second weekend, earning another 36.01 million dollars over three days.
In ten days, this superhero blockbuster had easily surpassed 100 million at the box office, reaching 108.87 million dollars.
Following The Flash, The Prince of Tides, made with a budget of 30 million dollars, ranked second. This drama film earned 10.03 million dollars in its opening three days. While it couldn't compare to The Flash, it still met Warner's expectations.
However, the film's overall media score was only 6.8. Even with Daenerys Entertainment stepping aside, Warner Bros. would face considerable difficulty if they wanted to push this movie for an Oscar. After all, not to mention anything else, Highgate Pictures' previous film The Piano had achieved a media score of 9.2.
Fox's For the Boys was an old-school musical starring Hollywood veteran James Caan, who had received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather. The director, Mark Rydell, had been nominated for Best Director for On Golden Pond.
As a CAA package project, the musical had a budget of 40 million dollars.
However, after opening on 1,308 screens, the box office results were a complete disaster for Fox.
With a 40 million dollar production budget, it only earned 4.53 million dollars in its opening three days.
As a genre film with Oscar ambitions, For the Boys also had a pitiful media score of only 4.3.
With such media reception and box office start, For the Boys' North American total was likely to stop under 20 million dollars. Fox would therefore suffer tens of millions in heavy losses.
The last new film, Fried Green Tomatoes, starred actresses like Kathy Bates and Mary Louise Parker. It told the story of two girls growing up together and forming a deep friendship in a small town in Alabama in the early 20th century.
The theme of Fried Green Tomatoes was very similar to Daenerys Entertainment's stage adaptation film from two years ago, Steel Magnolias. Both were set in conservative Southern small towns, both focused on female stories, and both conveyed warm elements about family, friendship, and love.
Additionally, Fried Green Tomatoes had the lowest budget among this week's three new releases, only 11 million dollars.
Universal had originally planned Fried Green Tomatoes as an awards contender. However, Daenerys Entertainment already had enough award projects this year. Moreover, they weren't really planning to chase Oscars. In Simon's memory, Fried Green Tomatoes had performed very well at the box office, so the film was released directly as a commercial title, opening on 1,021 screens.
In its opening three days, Fried Green Tomatoes not only achieved a media score of 7.4, slightly higher than The Prince of Tides, but also smoothly earned 9.63 million dollars. On this weekend's box office chart, it ranked third, just behind The Prince of Tides.
Toy Story dropped 17 percent this weekend compared to the previous week, earning another 9.15 million dollars. It fell behind The Flash, The Prince of Tides, and Fried Green Tomatoes, ranking fourth on the weekend chart.
At the same time, Toy Story's cumulative box office reached 154.51 million dollars, steadily heading toward 200 million.
Hook continued to earn 7.87 million dollars in its third weekend, dropping 19 percent from the previous week, ranking fifth with a cumulative of 40.05 million dollars.
Oliver Stone's JFK earned 4.69 million dollars in its third weekend, slightly ahead of Fox's new film For the Boys. This well-reviewed and hyped historical drama, unfortunately timed, had only accumulated 23.68 million dollars by its third weekend.
Judging from the film's continued modest drops of 13 percent last week and 19 percent this week, JFK still had the potential to reach 50 million dollars through long-term release.
Of course, compared to its 40 million dollar production budget, Paramount Pictures was under considerable pressure to recoup costs.
Moreover, with Daenerys Entertainment voluntarily withdrawing from this year's Oscar race, JFK would undoubtedly become The Prince of Tides' strongest competitor.
Besides these, another film worth mentioning on this week's chart was Highgate Pictures' The Piano.
This critically acclaimed art film had been using a limited long-run release strategy, so it hadn't occupied a very prominent position on the charts since its release.
However, since opening on December 6, The Piano's box office had been steadily increasing. Last week, after expanding to 335 screens, it earned 5.69 million dollars from December 20 to December 26, with a per-screen average of 17,000 dollars. Including previous limited previews, the cumulative box office reached 9.1 million dollars.
In the new week starting December 27, The Piano's screen count increased to 556, earning another 4.76 million dollars over the weekend, bringing the cumulative to 13.86 million dollars.
Not only that, in the latest Golden Globe nominations announced on December 23, The Piano had secured six nominations, including Best Drama Film, Best Director, and Best Drama Actress.
Considering The Piano only had a 7 million dollar production budget, this niche art film was expected to bring Daenerys Entertainment even higher profits than many big-budget films in the year-end period.
After the last weekend of 1991, New Year's Day 1992 was approaching.
The various disturbances in the outside world, including the major changes in Eastern Europe, had not affected Simon's family of three enjoying a lively and warm Christmas.
On December 31, the last day of 1991, it was a Tuesday.
The C girl, Claire Grey, arrived outside Dume Point Manor around 10:30 a.m.
Since she was no longer a maid of the Westeros family, security specifically checked her appointment upon arrival. Only after confirmation was she allowed to drive into the manor.
This detail inexplicably made the C girl feel a bit more lost.
As the car drove along the manor's driveway, looking out the window, the entire estate was clearly still immersed in the festive atmosphere. The surroundings were decorated like a colorful fairy tale world, noticeably different from last Christmas.
She understood in her heart that this was obviously because of a certain little one's birth.
After parking the car in front of the Shell Villa, just as she got out, Claire saw a pair of girls replacing the colorful decorations on the lampposts beside the driveway. Christmas had already passed. Ordinary households obviously wouldn't do this, but here it seemed they wanted to extend the festive mood.
These were girls from housekeeper Alice Ferguson's team. Claire naturally recognized them. One was named Zoe Parks, with big eyes and a somewhat baby face. It was said she had some unclear relationship with Alice.
The girls all knew about the housekeeper's sexual orientation.
The other was Isabelle Dunn. Isabelle's most obvious feature was having the hottest figure among all the girls. The way her chest swayed with her movements could make even women unable to resist.
Over time, Claire increasingly understood that the lady of the house had deliberately placed a group of beautiful and delicate vases around the master.
Anything, if you saw too much and got it too easily, you would develop resistance.
Thinking about Hollywood stars who had beautiful wives and concubines at home but still had sex scandals with ugly maids, Claire felt that Janet was really very shrewd.
Of course, the premise was that the master had enough self-control.
Even Claire couldn't help sighing at this point.
There was no shortage of rumors outside about her boss being surrounded by flowers, but in reality, it was far from the case.
The girls privately all knew that a large group of vases surrounded him, and they all had thoughts of not minding some ambiguity with the master. However, until now, that guy actually hadn't touched any of them, not even during the lady's pregnancy.
It seemed that collecting them around him was purely for visual enjoyment.
It seemed... it really was like that.
After greeting Zoe and Isabelle, Claire entered the Shell Villa. In the spacious hall, there were also girls busy at work.
She walked straight toward the housekeeper who was holding a folder and directing several other girls to arrange the huge Christmas tree in the center of the hall. After exchanging a few words, Alice pointed to the west side of the hall and said, "The madam is in the gym."
Claire nodded to the other girls, smiled, and walked toward the gym. In her heart, however, she felt a little sympathy for the housekeeper who was always kept by Simon's side.
Alice Ferguson managed the very important Ystore team for Igret, and was recently preparing the Amazon online store that would open after the new year. However, unlike Claire who could switch to full-time, Alice still had to fulfill her duties as housekeeper for the Westeros family.
This decision had been made by Simon.
Her boss's thoughts were often quite hard to figure out.
But upon returning to this home, the first person she still had to pay respects to was the mistress.
Arriving at the gym on the west side of the hall, she gently knocked on the doorframe to announce herself. Janet, who was wearing pink yoga clothes and practicing yoga under the guidance of a girl who clearly looked Indian, glanced at her. With just that look, Claire obediently walked inside.
Casually sitting down on a mat nearby, Claire couldn't help but observe the Indian girl guiding Janet.
Although she had obvious Indian features, the girl's skin was quite fair. She wore a two-piece flesh-colored workout outfit that made her waist appear alluring and supple, the kind that easily stirred men's hearts. From the little Claire knew about India, judging by the skin tone, this girl likely came from a high caste.
Looking at her, Claire couldn't help recalling the Asian model her boss had promoted a few months ago, Yasmin Garey.
He had even doodled "waist spirit" on her waist.
Claire roughly understood that it was just her boss doing something casual on a whim, yet it had caused those two models, whose careers had just been starting, to surge dramatically in popularity.
At this moment, the Indian girl before her seemed to fit the "waist spirit" feature even better.
Janet was very focused while practicing yoga, so the C girl didn't interrupt and quietly waited on the side.
This continued until eleven o'clock. Seeing Janet finish her practice, Claire skillfully handed the mistress a towel.
Janet wiped the light sweat from her forehead with the towel and casually introduced the Indian girl beside her, "C, this is Alia."
When Janet spoke, the Indian girl proactively extended her hand and introduced herself in noticeably imperfect English, "Hello, I am Alia Mukherjee."
"Claire Gain."
Claire reached out to shake the Indian girl's hand. She wasn't quite sure how to spell Mukherjee. But imperfect English, huh? The boss liked women with accents the most.
Janet had already stood up. As she walked out she said, "Alia came from India. Her yoga is amazing."
Both Claire and Alia naturally stood and followed. After crossing the hall to the east side of the villa, Janet instructed Claire, "I'm going upstairs to shower. Simon is watching the baby. Let Alia take you there."
Claire offered proactively, "Madam, do you need any help?"
Janet glanced at her and shook her head with a smile. "No need. Everything upstairs is already prepared."
Watching the mistress's figure disappear up the stairs, the two girls finally exchanged a glance. Alia Mukherjee seemed to reappraise Claire and asked, "You're C?"
Claire detected the faint contempt in Alia's tone and immediately understood.
The A, B, C, and D girls. A, B, and D were still here.
This Indian beauty had clearly taken her for a maid.
Well.
It seemed that was also the truth.
Just earlier, watching this Indian beauty practice yoga with the mistress, Claire had been moved by her serene and gentle aura. Now that she thought about it, the mistress never kept actual empty vases around her.
At least, this Indian woman absolutely did not lack the necessary scheming mind.
It was obvious.
Just look at the flesh-colored workout clothes exposing her waist. They were definitely not meant to seduce the mistress.
Without answering the Indian woman's slightly provocative question, Claire said directly, "Where is the boss? Take me to him."
Alia frowned slightly but still walked toward the corridor beside them.
Claire walked alongside her. After a moment of silence, she could not help asking proactively, "Mukherji, what caste is that in India?"
"It's Mukherjee," the Indian woman corrected in a serious tone. Then she slightly raised her chin and said, "Brahmin[1]."
Claire did not know how India's caste system was divided, but from Alia's tone she understood somewhat. She continued, "Oh, I heard Indians really like eating curry. Do you like it?"
Alia glanced at Claire, clearly guessing her intentions. People who didn't understand India always stereotypically assumed that Indians who liked curry would carry the smell of it on them.
Frowning slightly, Alia still answered, "I am a strict vegetarian and do not eat things with overly strong flavors."
Claire could actually smell the pleasant feminine fragrance on the Indian woman beside her. Of course she was deliberately needling her, so she pressed further, "What if the boss asks you to eat meat?"
"Mr. Westeros is a very good person. He would not force me to do such a thing."
"I mean, if..."
Alia continued with her chin slightly raised, "You have no qualification to speak such hypotheticals on behalf of Mr. Westeros."
"..."
Having lost the verbal exchange, Claire did not continue.
Feeling somewhat annoyed, they arrived together at the door of a room. It was a sitting room.
Inside the room, besides Simon who was sitting on the sofa holding a little one and feeding milk, there were also D-girl Deborah and MGM CEO Sherry Lansing looking after things nearby.
When the two women entered, Alia shed all the arrogance she had displayed in front of Claire. Very respectfully she said, "Sir, the mistress asked me to bring this young lady over."
Simon put away the milk bottle and handed it to Deborah beside him. After helping the little one wipe her mouth, he greeted Claire, "C, perfect timing. We'll have lunch together later."
Claire smiled in acknowledgment and took the chance to glance at the Indian woman.
When Janet was present, the household maids had no chance to eat lunch with the master.
She was no longer considered a maid now.
After exchanging a few words with Sherry Lansing and Deborah, and carefully stepping forward to look at the little one while offering some compliments, Claire sat down on the sofa beside Simon.
Seeing that Simon did not ask her to stay, the Indian woman proactively withdrew.
After some conversation, Simon continued speaking to Sherry Lansing about the previous matter, "That's it for now. The 007 series must be reset. Tell the Broccoli family that there is no room for discussion on this matter. In addition, MGM also needs to obtain more control over this series. If they do not agree, then the following projects will be put on hold for the time being."
[1] Brahmins are the highest caste in Hinduism, traditionally serving as priests and teachers. Historically, Brahmins have worked in many fields, including governance and military, not just as priests. Today, Brahmins make up about 5% of India's population and work in various occupations. - Source: Google