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The Lord of the Rings trilogy, if from Charles? Rowan was in Los Angeles to prepare for the formal communication, and the series took up seven years of Duke's time, a huge project, more complicated preparations than chaos, and unprecedented investment, Duke faced more than just huge pressure.

Only those close to him know how many midnights he tossed and turned, and no one knew that he was awakened in his sleep by a nightmare that he might face if the project failed.

There is no such thing as an easy and natural success, and Duke is well aware that his unique experience is important, as is his decades of careful effort and perseverance.

If he doesn't work hard, persist, learn, and recharge, he will never be able to make one movie after another from the fragmented image memories in his mind.

Not to mention that he is just an ordinary head and has no ability to remember, even if a movie can remember every detail from beginning to end?

As long as the head does not get in the water, everyone understands that watching a movie and making a movie are two very different things.

Every production, especially a large production with an investment of 50 million or even 100 million US dollars, he is moving forward under tremendous pressure.

He had a tough personality and never crushed him, even though the mountain pressure could make people feel restless and insomnia.

He worked hard, and the world may not succeed if he tries, but if he doesn't work hard, there is no possibility of success.

He has a clear goal, since more than ten years ago, he knows what he is best at, and he has been working hard for it, whether it is a woman or other temptations, it can't stop him for a moment.

Twelve years in Hollywood. After working hard for so long, Duke finally ushered in the most glorious moment of his directorial career.

"The Return of the King" has shown unmatched momentum in the North American and global markets!

Entering the third weekend of May, "The Return of the King" met a new film from Twentieth Century Fox in North America, and on Friday, May 16, "Sniper Phone Booth" was officially released in more than 2,400 theaters. First of all, the director and script were rejected by several companies one after another, and almost killed Batman's director Joe? Schumacher managed to get investment and make the film into an independent film, but then encountered a sniping incident in the United States, and the distributor Twentieth Century Fox repeatedly postponed the film.

Last year, I finally found a suitable schedule, but it didn't take long for it to collide with Warner's "Return of the King", which announced the release date.

However, Twentieth Century Fox did not change the date, one is that the film has been delayed for too long. The second is that this kind of small-investment distribution film is not worth their investment too much energy.

After the release of "Sniper Phone Booth", with "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin", he almost killed the director of this series, Joe? Schumacher, on the contrary, received unanimous professional praise for his films.

Perhaps in the minds of film critics, it is commendable that a commercial director can wake up and enter the independent film industry under their endless caustic attacks and guidance, but as for the quality of the film, it is secondary.

"There's a lot of drama in the film. The choreographer almost gave up the richness of the spatial hierarchy brought about by the transformation of multiple scenes that the film is good at, but the limitations brought by the lens frame have another deeper meaning. The film goes straight to the heart! ”

Roger? In his column, Albert gave the film a score of nine.

Another well-known film critic David? Dengbi also praised the film, giving it a high score of 8.5 points.

"Overall, the script of this film itself can only be said to be second-rate, and the director and actors control the rhythm of the entire film. made the film an absolutely first-class good work. ”

On the Rotten Tomatoes website, which collects film reviews from film critics, the freshness of the film is as high as 87 percent, while the freshness of "The Return of the King" is only 74 percent, and it is still declining.

If you only look at this one data, "Sniper Phone Booth" is definitely a movie that is higher than "The Return of the King" in terms of theaters and scheduling rate.

However. "Sniper Phone Booth" has more than 2,400 theaters, but all theater chains in North America have less than 10% of the film schedule, and refuse to add more screens to this film because they want to ensure that "The Return of the King" has a nearly 80% screening rate!

Cinema companies have never used critics' ratings and Rotten Tomatoes freshness as the basis for scheduling films, and in the few aspects that can be their basis, the performance of "Sniper Phone Booth" can only be said to be average.

The CinemaScore audience praise rate is only 71%, the theater audience score is 'B+', the popcorn audience love rate is 64%, and the MetaCritic media score 48 entertainment reporters have an average score of 67 points!

As a movie that comprehensively suppresses it, even if "The Return of the King" is released for half a month, these data also occupy an absolute advantage, with a CinemaScore theater audience praise rate of 92%, a theater audience score of 'A+', a popcorn audience love of 94%, and a MetaCritic media score of 82 entertainment reporters with an average score of 88 points!

The subsequent weekend box office also proved the correctness of the choice of theaters, and "Sniper Phone Booth" received $3.21 million in 2,433 theaters in the first three days of its first weekend.

On the third weekend of the release of "The Return of the King", the number of theaters in North America was still 4,013, and it was 39.89 million US dollars in three days!

Coupled with the $34.21 million earned in the previous three working days, the North American box office of "Return of the King" has reached $378.1 million!

The market once again proved that film critics could get out of the summer file.

Overseas, in the past week, "The Return of the King" cut another $101.26 million, thus pushing the film's global box office past the $1 billion mark, reaching $1,021.71 billion!

In less than twenty days, "The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King" completed the feat of exceeding one billion dollars at the global box office!

However, no matter how hot the film is, there will finally be time for the popularity to decline, and after the start of the new week, the weekday box office of "Return of the King" has slipped to $6.5 million, and it has shown a slight downward trend.

But there are no dissatisfaction and surprises on the part of Duke and Warner, which is the normal law of the market.

Of course, continuing to promote the hype is an inevitable job, and after a video conference call between Duke and Warner Bros., the promotional cost of "Return of the King" increased from $50 million to $80 million, and will continue to increase investment if necessary.

Without enough input, there will be no more output, not to mention a big production like The Lord of the Rings, Hollywood has successfully produced small and large productions in recent years, which one does not have astronomical publicity and marketing expenses behind?

Just as Duke was circling around Australia and flying to Europe with the crew, he received a message from Warner UK.

"Because of the huge success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and your contribution to promoting British culture."

On a business jet that just took off after refueling, Tina? Faye said to Duke, "The British royal family is considering giving you a medal." ”

"Sir Honor?" Duke asked.

"Yes." Tina? Faye reminded him, "You are not English, and you will definitely not be given a higher title." ”

"Hmm."

Duke nodded, Honorary Sir is also known as 'SIR', does he remember Ian? McLean has won such a title, to be precise, honorary knights are not uncommon in the world of sports and show business.

If the British royal family is willing to give, Duke will definitely take it, and if he is not willing, then he doesn't care.

With his current identity and status, this kind of title that is about to rot on the street, it doesn't matter if there is more or less.

"Tina, remember to inform Robin when you get off the plane." Duke pulled a blanket over and prepared for a nap, and before going to bed, he said, "I'll take time to go to the Harry Potter set." ”

The series was suspended for a while, and after the young actors passed the voice-changing period, the money-making journey started again, Robin? Grande, Joanna? Rowling and Harry Potter Studios finalised a new director at the beginning of the year, and it was no surprise that they chose Mexican director Alfonso again? Caron.

Of course, the Mexican director is just over-chosen, and now Joanna? Rowling's voice in the cast has grown, and Duke and Warner Bros. have promised her that they will eventually use a British director to complete the series.

As for who to choose, with Alfonso? Like Cuarón, Duke doesn't intend to intervene directly, and after the success of the series, as long as the latter parts don't cause catastrophic problems, the chances of failure are extremely small.

Joanna? Rowling also tried to let him take over, Duke chose to refuse without hesitation, and now this series, for directors, has many similarities with "007", and few directors who are really famous are willing to take over.

What's more, Duke's next plan has already been decided, and if it is executed, it will be a few years later.

The "Batman" trilogy will certainly not be produced using the method of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Duke plans to shoot it in three parts, and on the Warner Bros. side, in order to avoid risks, it is impossible to agree to invest so much money in the production at one time.

Filming a film, observing the market's reaction first, and then deciding whether to continue or not, is the wisest choice for film companies.

After arriving in London, Duke joined up with the crew who had come in early and began to run the announcement again, and he, the director, did not mind using himself as a publicity boo, and from the beginning of the promotion period of the film, he was trying to win the headlines of various media outlets.

Participated in two events in London, was interviewed by the BBC, and received invitations from some celebrities in London to participate in a celebrity party.

At this party, Duke met a Russian and was inspired by him to think of a good way to further the hype, the football-related propaganda hype. (To be continued......)