It was Monday morning. Steven Spielberg just made himself a cup a coffee when the phone started to ring. He picked up and said nothing. The man on the other side was silent too, but then asked, “Steven…?” “Yes,” Spielberg answered. “311 million,” the voice said. I imagine Spielberg dancing around in his bathrobe after these words, but that’s just speculation on my part.

This is the actual ritual Steven Spielberg has during his opening weekends. “What I do on opening weekend is my ritual is a total blackout, like a sequestered jury. No radio, no telephone, no internet, no newspapers. I don’t want to hear anything until Monday morning. I just want to hear one number, which is the Monday morning number,” Spielberg said.

I wonder what he does in the meantime. You’ll need some discipline to go a whole Memorial Day weekend without telephone, internet or radio. I can imagine some teenage girls rather killing themselves than spending one weekend without it. But I guess Spielberg has enough toys to keep him happy.