"Duke, there's no way we're going to put a lot of resources into a film on a consistent basis."

In the Independence Day studio, Twentieth Century Fox CEO Townsend? Rothman, explaining to Duke, who was sitting next to him sipping coffee, "Independence Day has built enough momentum that we just need to keep it up." ”

"I understand, Townsend." Duke is not the kind of person who messes around, and he is not stupid enough to think that he is the center point of Hollywood, and "True Lies" is about to be released, and Fox will definitely shift the focus of publicity.

Thomson? Rothman breathed a sigh of relief, obviously not wanting to cause any misunderstanding on Duke's part, otherwise he wouldn't have had to run from Century City to Warner Studios in person.

Yes, he attaches very, very importance to this young director, like never before, and even now he doesn't think it's too much to say that the other party is Hollywood's first-class director.

Don't talk about the brilliant and dazzling box office results of the first two weekends, look at the box office results of the day before yesterday and yesterday, $7.86 million on Monday, $7.67 million on Tuesday, more than $15 million in the two days, and the North American box office of "Independence Day" has exceeded $170 million.

If such a director is not worthy of attention, then what kind of director is worth paying attention to? Thomson? Rothman always remembered that the other party also filed an equally popular war-themed script in the Screenwriters Guild!

To say that Fox doesn't want to continue investing in Duke? Rosenberg's movie, that's definitely the funniest joke in the whole country.

"Townsend, I have only one request."

Now that he has enough capital, Duke certainly won't say anything, "Before next weekend, the number of theaters in "Independence Day" can't drop to 2,600. ”

There are not enough theatrical releases. No matter how good a movie is, it is unlikely to generate a high box office.

"This ......" Townsend? Rothman seemed a little embarrassed.

After all, "True Lies" is about to be released, and Fox must strive for enough theaters to ensure the income of this big-investment production.

"I understand that the number of theaters in North America is relatively limited."

Although he understands this, Duke will not give up, and the theater chain can make up for it from other places. "Townsend, have you noticed? Columbia Pictures' "The Shawshank Redemption," which was released last week, has slipped below $2 million in a single day on Monday and Tuesday, and there are still 1,600 theaters in theaters, so why can't we contact theaters to scale it down? ”

"As long as it doesn't improve at the box office today and tomorrow...... "Townsend? Rothman's eyes flashed, "Fox will definitely put pressure on the theater side to compress the number of theaters in "The Shawshank Redemption". ”

"You can contact Warner." "I'm sure Warners would be happy to see that, too." ”

There are only so many theaters in North America, and it won't increase too much in a short period of time. Twentieth Century Fox wants to make "True Lies" open on a large scale, and must have thought about reducing the scale of "Independence Day", which is a situation that neither Duke nor Warner wants to see, and if they want to maintain their own interests, the best way is to transfer Fox's knife to other films in the same schedule.

In addition to "Independence Day", "The Shawshank Redemption", which is now released on a large scale and has a relatively poor box office schedule, is naturally the best target.

In a competitive market, you want to protect your interests. Sometimes it's to the detriment of others.

In short, it is a hundred times better to see others unlucky than to be unlucky yourself.

When it comes to farewell. Thomson? Rothman politely invited Duke to the premiere of True Lies, but Duke politely declined.

Now the public opinion war with film critics is not over, it is the focus of many media attention, and he will not be stupid enough to steal the limelight from others at the premiere.

Prior to the release of "True Lies," the North American film market still maintained the dominance of "Independence Day," with two days on Wednesday and Thursday. Reported $7.43 million and $7.59 million respectively, the film's North American box office has accumulated as high as $190.44 million, and has touched the threshold of $200 million, and it is bound to break through this threshold this weekend.

Duke, on the other hand, came true as expected. After two consecutive days of a single-day box office of no more than $2 million, the theater chain was under pressure from Paramount, Warner Bros., Walt Disney and Twentieth Century Fox and many other companies, and such a box office was not convincing, even if Sony Columbia wore out his mouth and even the CEO himself went into battle, the number of theaters of "The Shawshank Redemption" still shrank sharply, from 1600 to more than 900.

Immediately afterwards, Sony Columbia Pictures reduced the scale of publicity and marketing of this film, and the film has been completely saved in theaters, and now Sony is no longer thinking about whether it can make a profit, but how to lose less.

Duke only paid a little attention and threw it aside, if the current trend continues, "The Shawshank Redemption" will inevitably take ten years or more to recoup its costs, as it once was.

Nothing is as convincing as box office results, and it's just coming into the weekend, Nancy? Josephson came with the news that the copyright commission agency from London finally nodded and agreed to work with Duke's studio and the film rights holder, Saul? Saz starts negotiations to win the blockbuster!

With the popularity of "Independence Day", he actually knows very well that after the next film, he must transform, and if he continues to bombard indiscriminately, it won't take long for the audience to get tired of it.

At the same time, Duke had a detailed discussion with the two writers hired at Duke Studios, and handed them the Broadway repertoire, as well as two prepared feature and science fiction compendiums, and began a lengthy revision.

While keeping an eye on the box office trends of "Independence Day" and reading some memoirs of the 101st Airborne Division and the Rangers, Duke was also looking through materials about jazz music and dance.

The screening of "Independence Day" entered its third weekend, and although the weekend box office result of $24.57 million lost to "True Lies" with $28.56 million, losing the top spot at the box office, it rushed to the $200 million mark in one fell swoop. Sent Duke into the $200 million club.

Looking at the whole of Hollywood, there are only a few members of the $200 million directors club.

The media at Time Warner and Twentieth Century Fox rejoiced at the achievement, eager to spread the word to every corner of the globe in order to build momentum for "Independence Day," which landed in overseas markets, and critics continued to lash out at it. thinks that "Independence Day" can be a big hit, but Duke used the most shameful means to obtain it, and the film has neither connotation nor artistry, and some are just technical show-offs and show-offs.

Even, Roger? Albert asserted in his column that Duke? Rosenberg and Independence Day are the biggest favorites for next year's Golden Raspberry Awards!

In the Chicago studio, Roger? Albert was on the phone to a friend, and the person on the other end of the line was called John? Wilson is the founder of the Golden Raspberry Award.

"John. We have a responsibility and an obligation to remind Hollywood to avoid over-commercialization of films! What the world needs is "The Shawshank Redemption", not a bad movie like "Independence Day"! Please, think about it, my friend, can't there be a worse film than Independence Day this year, and there can't be anything worse than Duke? Rosenberg's worse director! ”

"Roger, I promise, I'll think about it seriously. But this is ...... for a young director"

Hearing the voice of the other party with a slight concern, Roger? Albert changed to a serious tone. "Is this saving Duke? Rosenberg's career as a director, we can't afford to watch a talented young man go astray......"

Judging from the tone alone, it seems that he is really thinking about Duke's directorial career.

Hang up, Roger? Albert sat behind his desk, his gloomy face unusually ugly, and he could pretend not to see the box office of "Independence Day" a big hit. You can also pretend that you don't care about the box office of "Independence Day", and only watch this film from an artistic point of view, seeking psychological comfort that this is just a bad movie.

However, that young director viciously trampled on his dignity and that of many film critics. Although after the first weekend, he spoke less and less, but it can be seen that the other party and the film company behind it are clearly borrowing their criticism to hype the movie!

Trampling on their dignity and using it to their advantage? How many people can endure this kind of thing?

What's more, Duke? Rosenberg's behavior also directly touched the interests of the film critic industry, not to mention others, but to say himself, who would have participated in the preview screenings of "Burning Eyebrow" and "Strange Men in Disguise", so as to get a lot of money, but "Independence Day" was a big hit and Duke? After Rosenberg smeared the critics' remarks, the film canceled the critics' invitation to the test screening......

That's a substantial monetary loss!

How many years has it been? How many years has it been since there has been such a director who openly spews at the critics?

Frowns, Roger? Albert recalls that when they attacked George? Lucas, the other party just made a fortune in a muffled voice; Critique of Ridley? Scott, the British did not reply with a single strong word; And James, who is recognized as the most temperamental in the directorial world? Cameron, either, has never really worked against film critics......

Since the fifties and sixties, if there is criticism from film critics, more than 95% of directors will choose to endure it, or turn a blind eye and listen to it.

And this time, the reason why Duke chose to stand up is very simple, he signed a box office ladder sharing agreement, as long as it can detonate the topic and pull the box office figures, he doesn't care about the feelings of those film critics.

Of course, to become a public enemy of film critics, you must also have a strong enough psychological element, otherwise those sarcastic comments can make people crazy.

As the time slowly entered the end of July, the North American box office of "Independence Day" had just crossed $250 million, and when it was trying to climb towards $300 million, the film's overseas box office also exceeded $250 million!

With a combined global box office of $500 million, this is already one of the top box office results in the history of cinema, and in August, even the media that used to criticize Duke and "Independence Day" have turned around and begun to throw all kinds of praise words at his head, especially "Vanity Fair", which was the first to be published, and the articles on it are ridiculous. (To be continued......) R1292