Humble Sony Chief Taken By Surprise By Hugely Expensive Blockbuster's Box Office Success
After finding out that her mega-budgeted Spider-Man 3 had, as many expected, shattered virtually all of the opening weekend box office records anyone cares about, no one would have begrudged head Sony cheerleader Amy Pascal a little celebratory gloating when the media came calling for comment. But to her credit, it appears that she decided to play things humble rather than declare she would be dedicating a large portion of the movie's proceeds to the hunting down and killing of any critic who dared doubt the project's inevitable, benchmark-setting success:
"In your deepest, darkest, most secret desires you could never expect it to do so well," said Amy Pascal, Sony's studio chairwoman. "We're floating."
Of course, now that new weekend estimates have been made available and the numbers have been revised upwards to $151 million domestic and a $382 million worldwide, maybe Pascal will abandon the humility (really, did she make the Most Expensive Movie, Like, Ever! By A Lot! With Inflation Figured In And Junk! without daring to dream they'd take down Pirates 2?) and partake in some public self-congratulation, inviting the press over to the Sony lot to watch her ceremonially don a custom-made Spider-Lady suit and paddle a pair of assistants dressed like Shrek and Captain Jack Sparrow until they beg for box office mercy.