With the brilliant results of "The Seven Deadly Sins" scoring nearly 39 million at the box office in the first weekend, Jude's name once again entered the eyes of the executives of major Hollywood studios.

After topping the weekly box office chart with $38.99 million last weekend, "The Seven Deadly Sins" topped the list with a second-weekend box office of $28.31 million, and the movie was released in 1,400 theaters throughout the week, grossing a total of $42.13 million at the box office, bringing the total box office to $81.12 million.

And "The Extraordinary Suspects", which has been compared by the media with "Seven Deadly Sins" before its release, earned a total of less than $8 million at the box office in the second week, and only a pitiful 4.19 million at the box office the next weekend, failing to even enter the top ten on the list.

The new line company held a celebration party at this time, which immediately attracted the attention of many people.

In the evening, reporters were already gathered in front of the hotel in charge of holding the party, and Jude and Kate appeared hand in hand, which immediately attracted a burst of wild shooting.

Kate, who has always been meticulous when she appeared on the camera, was also radiant tonight, wearing a black and gold one-shoulder dress that was glamorous and dazzling, coupled with her diamond-like smiling face, like a goddess, which was particularly eye-catching.

While waiting for Kate to take a photo, Jude was not idle, he was surrounded by several reporters asking various questions about "The Seven Deadly Sins".

"Director Locke, there is news that there are two different versions of the ending of "Seven Deadly Sins", and the version currently released is not your favorite one, is this true?"

"Mr. Locke, Denzel Washington broke the news on a talk show some time ago that you were once asked by an actress in the crew to change the scene, and in the end you agreed, is this actress Miss Beckinsale?"

"Locke ......"

"Mr. Locke......"

Two security guards teamed up to keep the group of reporters a meter in front of Jude. But the microphones and recorders in the hands of these reporters were handed to Jude over the wall formed by the security guards.

Jude raised his hand and pressed it down, signaling the reporters not to scramble for questions. Otherwise, he wouldn't know which question to answer.

"I don't know where you heard about the two different versions of the ending. But it's true. The ending of the other version is one minute longer than the version that is currently being released, and I personally do prefer the latter version, but the producers thought that such an ending was too dark and only agreed to release it as a video version, so you don't have to worry about not seeing this version in the end, just have to wait a little longer. ”

"What does Director Locke think of the movie "The Usual Suspects"? The film did a terrible job at the box office, and it is said that the producers are already considering moving to the film in advance and transferring it directly to the video for distribution. ”

"Really?" Jude's expression was surprised, "It's a shame. I just went to see this movie two days ago, and I have to admit that this is a very classic suspense movie, the flashback technique completely overturns the audience's inertial logical thinking, and the final ending is really surprising. When I say this, you must think that it is because "The Seven Deadly Sins" is now leading the box office by a large margin, so I showed such generosity to my original opponent, but it is not. The box office is the basis for determining whether a movie is good or bad, but it is definitely not the whole story, a sentence that I have always believed. The height of your opponent determines your height! So I'm glad that "The Seven Deadly Sins" was able to meet such a great opponent as "The Usual Suspects". ”

After answering two questions in one go, Jude found that Kate was already waiting, so he shrugged apologetically at the reporter, and then took his girlfriend's hand and walked quickly into the hotel.

In front of the hotel. He was greeted by a middle-aged man in his forties, whom Jude knew and was the head of the distribution department of the New Line Company. It looks like he should be waiting for him here.

The two sides shook hands and exchanged two polite words. The other party went to the front to lead the way, ready to lead Jude and Kate to the banquet hall on the sixth floor.

Just walked to the elevator door. An uninvited guest suddenly appeared next to him.

"Mr. Cook, it's still half an hour before the party officially begins, can you give Jude to me first?"

With a smile on his face, Litt stopped the way of the three of them, and secretly winked at Jude.

There were a few special guests at today's party, and Cook's task was to bring Jude directly to the banquet hall, trying not to give these people a chance to have private contact with Jude, but now it was Litte who came forward to pull people, which made Cook very difficult.

Litt is Jude's agent, who he wants to take Jude to meet, Cook really can't stop him, and in the end he can only watch Litt take Jude and Kate into the elevator.

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Kate couldn't help but ask, "What the hell are you two doing?" ”

"Jude and I made an appointment to meet someone, who is in the room on the 23rd floor right now." Leeter explained.

"What about me? Am I going to meet that person too? Kate continued.

"I've arranged a room for you next to it, and you can rest in it first."

Kate had nothing to say about this arrangement, but Jude had remained silent since he entered the elevator, because he knew that the person he was going to meet next would not be so easy to deal with.

Kate wisely didn't ask who this person was, and the three of them went to the 23rd floor in silence.

After getting out of the elevator, I didn't take a few steps to see two tall white bodyguards guarding the door of a room, and Litt walked to a room next to it, opened the door to let Kate in, and then walked to the room with Jude.

The two bodyguards nodded slightly when they saw Li Te, and one of them opened the door for the two of them.

Jude walked in first, and because of the backlight, he only saw a tall figure walking towards him.

"Director Locke, we're finally meeting."

Michael Ovitz, the former president of CAA and the current president of Disney, greeted him warmly, and Jude shook his outstretched hand and said politely, "Yes, Mr. Ovitz, we meet again!" ”

Ovitz was stunned for a moment, then laughed.

"I almost forgot, you used to be an entertainer at CAA."

"Although the CAA abandoned me in my most difficult time, I really don't hold grudges." Jude silently added "weird" in his heart, but the smile on his face became more and more sincere.

I have to say that his acting skills have improved again.

"If you had already shown such talent at that time, I'm sure CAA wouldn't have made that decision, of course, now that I've left CAA, let everything go by!" Ovitz shook Jude's hand hard, and the subtext was that he had drawn a line with the CAA, and now everyone was in the same trench.

Jude withdrew his hand and said politely, "This is the main reason why I am willing to come to see Mr. Ovitz today, I think your decision to leave CAA is definitely the right one!" ”

"Really?" Ovitz squinted, the answer he had heard from Littlet wasn't like that.

"Of course it's true, if Mr. Ovitz were still at CAA, this meeting would never have happened." Jude rubbed his nose with his fingers, "Actually, I really don't hold grudges!" ”

This is the second time he has highlighted this issue today, and the hint is already obvious.

If Ovitz is still in CAA, then everyone is an enemy now, and Jude is a person who really holds grudges.

Ovitz was well aware of this, so he didn't bring it up again.

After sitting down in the room, Ovitz looked at Jude sitting across from him with a cup of coffee, wondering how to bring the conversation to the cooperation between the two sides, and Littlet suddenly spoke to break the deadlock.

"The construction of the filming set of 'National Treasure' at Disneyland in Orlando is halfway completed, and the crew will be able to shoot in it in two months, and Sommers said on the phone with me yesterday that if everything goes well, the film will end shooting by April next year."

Jude never took his eyes off Ovitz's face when he lowered his head to drink coffee, and after putting down the coffee, he said, "I believe that Mr. Ovitz will definitely get a good time for this movie." ”

"This film is very much in line with Disney's brand image, and Ainas has promised me that he will vacate a release schedule between June and July, but in this way, the film will have to face the front and back of various summer blockbusters, and whether it can break through in the highly competitive market is the most concerned issue now."

Although Ovitz said this to Leeter, his eyes looked at Jude from time to time.

Jude briefly recalled the movies released in the United States in '96, and the highest-grossing films were either action movies or comedies, in short, none of them were of the same genre as "National Treasure".

"Of all the films of its kind that may be released next year, 'National Treasure' is definitely the best."

"If Locke were the director of this film, I certainly wouldn't doubt the reliability of the words, but ......"

Ovitz deliberately stopped here to see how Jude would react.

"I'm not fit for this type of film." Jude shook his head categorically, and then said: "But I believe in the ability of director Sommus, he will definitely make this movie well." ”

Jude choked all the words at once, and Ovitz had to say in a different way: "I heard that you still have a few scripts similar to "National Treasure" in your hands, have you considered working with Disney?" I'm referring to the kind of collaboration that is direct, not the kind of collaboration where you provide the script as a producer. ”

"My directing style is generally dark, and as you can see from my last three films, it's a far cry from Disney's brand positioning, right?"

Jude's question was so realistic that even Ovitz hesitated.

He tried to ask, "Can't you change it according to the script?" ”

"Of course you can, if Disney can come up with a script that makes me willing to change the style."

Will Disney have such a script on its hands? The answer, of course, is no, otherwise Jude wouldn't have said so. (To be continued......)