A feature report from The New York Times sparked a wave of excitement—

Again and again.

Without a doubt, over the past two weeks, Catch Me If You Can has been the top sensation across North America, maintaining high levels of buzz and going viral beyond expectations.

This makes people curious: how will such a popular event conclude? And will it be able to break its own limits and deliver more surprises?

The result?

Catch Me If You Can not only delivered another surprise but did so in a grand yet pure way, reigniting the artistic soul of New York City.

"Grand" because over 10,000 spectators gathered at Washington Square, easily redefining people's understanding of flash mobs.

"Pure" because the event returned to its cinematic roots, momentarily putting aside commercial marketing and focusing entirely on the film itself—

Choosing the Superman series was a stroke of genius. On one hand, it resonated with the retro era of Catch Me If You Can, and on the other, it mirrored the Flash within the film and Spider-Man outside of it. From any angle, it was a brilliant choice, especially enhanced by the discussions that evening.

Step by step.

Catch Me If You Can firmly held the public's attention, undeniably becoming the hottest title of this Christmas and New Year holiday season, a fact reflected in its box office numbers.

The first weekend box office results for 2003 are in.

This weekend spanned January 3rd, 4th, and 5th, so it had a unique feature:

First, the previous weekend coincided with the Christmas holidays, leading to across-the-board box office surges, with nearly every film seeing a reverse in their typical downward trends.

Second, the December 31st and January 1st holidays sparked a movie-going frenzy, with midweek box office numbers reaching their peak.

Naturally, this weekend's box office typically experiences sharp drops, with declines over 50% being common. Anything below a 40% drop would be considered a victory, as the midweek numbers were the real highlight.

However, when the North American weekend box office results were released, they brought another surprise and a collective gasp—

1. Catch Me If You Can

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

3. Two Weeks Notice

4. About Schmidt

5. Maid in Manhattan

6. Gangs of New York

Judging purely by rankings, nothing is out of the ordinary. The only surprise was About Schmidt, which had just entered wide release. Riding the buzz from its Golden Globe nominations and the star power of Jack Nicholson, it easily grossed $8.8 million, breaking into the top five.

As for the rest, there were no changes. It was essentially a copy-paste of the previous week's rankings. The fact that Catch Me If You Can held off The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers to retain the top spot was a moderate surprise, but that was about it.

The real shock came from the percentage declines.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers dropped by 48.8%.

Two Weeks Notice dropped by 28.3%.

Maid in Manhattan dropped by 31.2%.

Gangs of New York dropped by 33.9%.

It's clear at a glance.

The larger the previous week's box office, the more severe the decline this week. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers took a big hit and couldn't stop its downward trend, while rom-coms like Two Weeks Notice and Maid in Manhattan performed unexpectedly well, attracting holiday crowds.

After the cold reception of Murder by Numbers, Sandra Bullock made a timely comeback. While Two Weeks Notice still underperformed at the box office, grossing $68 million after three weeks, it at least proved Bullock's continued appeal in the rom-com market.

Clearly, the big surprise wasn't from the above films. That leaves just one—

Catch Me If You Can, with a decline of only 24.5%.

Amazing, astonishing, breathtaking.

It left everyone in awe.

Following its impressive opening weekend, Catch Me If You Can once again delivered, displaying an overwhelming, unstoppable enthusiasm across North America and completely dominating this holiday season.

Numbers speak the loudest.

In the first week of January, Catch Me If You Can comfortably topped the North American weekend box office with $61.9 million, far ahead of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which earned $25 million. With this powerful showing, it rewrote history once again.

$61.9 million is an overwhelming number. It crushed the competition, unaffected by rivals like The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Even if you compare it to the debut weekend of The Two Towers, it still holds its ground—a feat no one expected before the holiday season began.

And this wasn't even its opening weekend; it was its second week.

The shockwaves are palpable.

With box office records shattered everywhere, it's clear that this isn't the January market as people knew it. Old patterns and experiences are no longer reliable—welcome to a new era.

No one anticipated that Warner Bros.' attempt to innovate during the holiday season would fall short, only for Hollywood to witness a winter storm in January.

In just one move, Hollywood found itself facing a whirlwind of questions, lost and more shaken than when summer box office records were broken.