After the release of Pixar Studio's masterpiece "Looking for Nemo", it unexpectedly broke the dominance of "Return of the King" and ended the latter's four consecutive summer titles.

This animated feature film with the ocean as the main theme once again showed the strength of Pixar Studios to the whole of Hollywood, opening in 3,374 theaters in North America, getting a box office of 70.25 million US dollars, and a single box office of more than 20,000 US dollars, which is also the best opening result in the history of Pixar Studios and animated films.

There is no doubt that "Looking for Nemo", which was released in the first week, became the second box office leader since the beginning of the summer season in 2003.

"The Return of the King", which previously won four consecutive championships, also ended the hottest screening stage, both the number of theaters and the film scheduling rate began to decline, but this week it still stood in the second place in the box office list, with 3458 theaters in North America and 14.22 million US dollars.

No movie can be hot forever, not to mention that this is still in the summer file.

Because of the need to avoid the edge of "The Return of the King", many big productions chose June, and with the arrival of Memorial Day, May also came to an end.

Since June, a series of big productions have been released, such as "X-Men 2", "Terminator 3" and "The Imposter", all of which have achieved good opening results, and by the end of June, "The Return of the King" is no longer visible in the top five of the North American weekly box office list.

But even after nearly two months of release, the film still circled in the top 10 of the box office charts, and by July 1, the film's North American box office had finally crossed the $500 million mark, reaching $515.87 million.

In terms of global box office, "The Return of the King" also exceeded $1.3 billion. Reached $1,352.77 million!

As the film continues to cool down and major commercial films are released in North America and overseas, the global box office has slipped below $4 million, and it has begun to rely on time and lengthy screenings to accumulate box office.

After the screening of "Return of the King" entered its third month, the global Lord of the Rings craze has largely faded, but the hacker craze has struck again.

Last year's "Reloaded" grossed $795.5 million worldwide. And after removing those inexplicable things, although the audience reputation of the film has declined compared with the first one, it remains within the scope of normal sequel films, and the relative simplification and de-philosophical thinking of the film have also achieved good results.

This "Matrix Revolution" is also good overall, and the box office of $92.12 million in the first weekend is enough to ensure the final commercial results.

Two sequels to The Matrix have received a good response from the market, and Duke's former assistant Zack? Schneider immediately became a highly sought-after director in Hollywood.

Even, many companies have issued 1+2 contracts to invite him to direct films.

This is Hollywood. When struggling to move forward on the road to success, no one cares, even if you are really talented, Hollywood giants will not show appreciative eyes, and even if they show appreciative eyes, they will never easily let go of their purse strings.

When it succeeds, even if you stand still, the invitations will fly like snowflakes.

"Are there any new plans?"

In the Duke's studio. Duke looked at Zack? Schneider, "About the future or the next film." ”

"I desperately need to take a vacation."

Zack? Schneider's bearded face. "In the past, although I saw from you that it would be very stressful to be in charge of a project independently, but when I really stepped into it, I realized how terrible the pressure that accompanies me all the time." ”

He let out a long sigh, "From the official takeover." I haven't had a good night's sleep until now. ”

"You'll get used to it slowly." Dukla opens the drawer and will Frank? Miller's illustrated novel was handed to him, "Go on vacation, and take a look at this novel by the way." ”

"Three hundred Spartan warriors?" Zack? Schneider glanced at it, "I've seen it a long time ago. ”

"Interested in adapting it into a movie?"

This kind of thing must not be forced in any way. Duke added, "If you're not interested, I'll have to go to someone else." ”

The two are friends and partners who have known each other for more than a decade, Zach? Schneider was also polite, "Put it here for the time being, I'm going to study it." ”

Duke didn't plan to interfere too much, and nodded, "DC Comics only gave me five years of adaptation rights, don't think about it for more than five years." ”

Zack? Schneider laughed, "I'll definitely give you a definite answer when I get back from vacation." ”

A soft knock on the door, Tina? Phyye pushed the door open and walked in, "Mr. Neeson is here." ”

"Then I'll take my leave." Zack? Schneider stood up, right, Tina? Faye nodded and walked out of the office, waiting for his figure to disappear before Duke said to Tina? Fei said, "I'll go see him." ”

Leaving the office, Duke walked into the reception room on the same floor, where he saw the people who had invited him.

"Hi, Duke."

The tall actor took the initiative to greet him, "It's been a long time." ”

"yes, Liam."

Duke invited him to sit down, and asked people to bring coffee again, and without going around in circles, he asked directly, "Is there a schedule for the second half of the year?" ”

Although I received the notice from the agent, I had a little speculation, but when I heard Duke say this, Liam? Neeson's eyes lit up immediately, and he replied without hesitation, "Yes!" ”

"Tina." Duke greets Tina, who is sitting on the other side? Faye handed a bag of papers to Liam? Neeson's hand.

"Is this ......" Liam? Neeson looked at Duke.

Duke made a gesture of please, and while watching the other party open the file bag, he said, "This is my next project, and it will start filming in the second half of the year, a story about a retired agent and his daughter, action movie genre." ”

Liam? Neeson nodded, opened the script and read it, and Duke continued, "I think you're a good fit for the male lead. ”

Despite the agent's absence, Liam? Neeson couldn't have made a casual decision, but he skimmed through the script and said, "Duke, no one can refuse your invitation. ”

In fact, in his opinion, the level of this script is just average, if it is replaced by other directors, he will not consider it at all, but the director sitting opposite is one of the top Hollywood directors, and a fool will think that he will only make an ordinary level film.

Even if there will be professional negotiations in the future, Liam? Nissen didn't want to miss out on such an opportunity either.

"Your role will be an agent." Duke still said a few words, "Although he is retired, he is also extraordinary." So, Liam, if we can cooperate, you're going to have a period of professional training. ”

"No problem." Liam? Neeson nodded.

Duke only reached a preliminary agreement with him, and the subsequent negotiations were naturally decided by Charles? Rowan vs. Liam? Neeson's agent went to talk, and after a brief chat between the two for a short time, Liam? Neeson took his leave and left the Duke's studio.

Since the Independence Day holiday, Duke has put "Hurricane Rescue" on the agenda, and the project has passed the Warner Bros. review as quickly as possible, and the film has a production budget of $40 million, which is not a big production in this day and age.

Duke didn't plan to do any high-investment big scenes, the film was all invested by Warner Bros., and the production cost piled up to as much as $40 million, because his basic salary alone was as high as $10 million!

After the project was officially established, the main members of the Duke team ended their vacations and began to work. Schwartzman has become the top figures in their respective industries, and it is inevitable that they will be poached by other companies or crews, although most of them choose to continue to work with Duke, and some choose to change jobs.

John, the former casting director, for example, quit his team.

This is a normal turnover of personnel, Duke doesn't care too much, and it's not too difficult to find a suitable replacement, but he won't rush to trust the newcomer and temporarily hand over the position of casting director to Wallace? Plum.

Although Hollywood-style casting has supervision such as the Actors' Guild and a relatively complete system, it is impossible to eliminate some private transactions, and no one will care about the transactions you want to make, as for Hollywood does not have all kinds of so-called unwritten rules, and actors and performances themselves can completely determine the role, especially the attribution of some small roles, so to what extent should the head be funny......

As long as there is no problem with the head, it is actually clear that Hollywood has never been a pure circle.

Duke has never demanded pure standards from his subordinates, which is impossible in Hollywood, as long as it meets his requirements, he doesn't care who plays those small roles.

And the main characters such as father, daughter and mother in "Hurricane Rescue", the casting director and assistant director, basically will not have a say.

"Lee, I need a lot of Eastern European actresses."

In the conference room, the preparatory meeting is underway, and Duke is interested in the new casting director Wallace? Li explained, "There are also Eastern European actors who play gangsters, and their appearance must be distinct enough." In addition, all prostitutes. Women choose, the appearance should be beautiful enough. ”

"No problem, Duke, I promise!"

Wallace? Lee is still very happy to take on this job, on the one hand, it can prove his ability to Duke, and on the other hand, it is also a good position that everyone envies.

He is well aware of those Eastern European actresses and prostitutes. Actresses, you can make your own decisions.

As long as the actor can meet the basic requirements of the director, he basically has the final say in the selection, and such a position is highly sought after by those young actors and their agents in Hollywood.

"Anna." Duke turned to Anna again? Prinz, "You took over the part that Zach was responsible for before. (To be continued......)

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