Made in Hollywood

After many years of waiting, Star Wars fans finally ushered in a new Star Wars series, but after the premiere of "The Phantom Menace", people were constantly complaining, and even some extreme Star Wars fans criticized George Luca Strikingly destroyed the good image of the series in their minds.

No matter how violent the complaints and criticisms are, this is a Star Wars series. Although George Lucas is indeed not good at telling stories, he is one of the best technical directors. The special effects of "The Phantom Menace" are absolutely in this era. is the highest level.

After attending the Star Wars premiere, Duke deliberately participated in a high-level meeting of Marvel. He didn't say much. After introducing his agent in Marvel's comics, he only advised Marvel to temporarily stop the random authorization of its comic characters.

With Duke's investment, Surprise's financial problems have been greatly improved. If it weren't for the difficulty of operating some time ago, the entire company could go bankrupt at any time, and Surprise would not sell its heroes cheaply.

This weekend, Duke stayed in New York. As the weekend passed three days, a new week's box office list was released. "The Phantom Menace" did not create an unprecedented first weekend box office of more than 100 million US dollars as the media expected. The record, but only won the weekly box office championship with more than 65 million US dollars.

Affected by Star Wars, other films released in the same period fell one after another. Duke's "Hundred Thousand Fires" was no exception. With the number of theaters in North America sharply reduced to 2023, it earned $5.98 million over the weekend and accumulated a total of 79.13 million at the North American box office. Dollar.

With the release of more summer blockbusters, the market space of "One Hundred Thousand Fires" will be further compressed. According to Duke's estimates, the film's profitability is definitely not a problem, and it is very difficult for the North American box office to pass the $100 million mark.

Just after the weekend, Duke received a strange call. Someone asked him to have a good chat at a coffee shop on Long Island.

This is an old cafe with not many customers. After Duke entered, he found a girl in a baseball cap reading a newspaper in the corner, and walked over unhurriedly.

"A latte. Thanks."

Asking for a random cup of coffee, Duke sat in the hardwood chair and looked across.

Natalie Portman wore a simple student denim outfit with a Yankees hat on her head. On her sturdy face, there was obviously no makeup, and she could clearly see the faint freckles and small moles on her cheeks.

"thanks."

Take the coffee from the waiter. Duke handed the tip and asked, "Anything with me?"

"It's nothing." Natalie's words were flat. "Just wanted to read something to you."

"Read something?" Duke frowned strangely.

On the night of the premiere, he just speculated based on what he had learned and what he had observed now. Deliberately want to tear off the disguise on the other party's face to see what is hidden behind.

And in the spare time of busy work, such a game is also a good adjustment, isn't it?

Natalie didn't answer Duke's words. Instead, his eyes fell to the newspaper, and a clear voice sounded softly. "After last weekend, 'One Hundred Thousand Fire' has accumulated a total of 79.13 million US dollars at the North American box office, and it will break the 80 million US dollar mark at any time. The production cost of the film is only 10 million US dollars. No matter how you look at this film, it can be regarded as a success."

The girl coughed deliberately. It seems to remind Duke to listen carefully, "but the fact is on the contrary, the reason why this film can sell so well is that Duke Rosenberg's personal appeal played a key role with the success of the past. According to an investigation by an authoritative organization, Nearly half of the moviegoers went to the theater because of the director!"

"The quality of "One Hundred Thousand Fires" is definitely not as good as the box office performance. It is an extremely mediocre work. For example, it is often the beginning of a downhill road, and the audience will pay for his "One Hundred Thousand Fires"? But will the audience still pay for his next bad work..."

After reading this, Natalie Portman suddenly stopped, a glimmer of pride flashed in her eyes, and raised her head to look at Duke, "This is a column by the famous film critic Roger Albert."

"Oh..." Duke didn't say anything.

Natalie didn't want to let him go, "What do you think?"

Duke didn't answer her, but asked calmly, "Honey, what do you want to see? Disappointment? Frustration? Self-defeating?"

"No, I've never thought about it that way, and I know these words won't do anything for your thick skin!" She closed the paper and stared at Duke, "I just wanted to fight back! I wanted to tell you that I Not so easy to bully!"

She stood up, threw the newspaper to Duke, picked up her bag, put a dollar on the coffee table, and walked out of the cafe without looking back.

Duke couldn't help but froze for a while, then shook his head and smiled, as if he really angered this Jewish girl.

He also took out a note, put it on the table, and followed Natalie out of the cafe.

The street outside was empty and quiet, and there were no pedestrians around. Duke took a quick step and walked side by side with Natalie.

"I'll call the police." Natalie didn't even look at him.

"Whatever you want." Duke pointed to the Bentley parked on the road ahead, "Nate, I think you made a mistake, my car is in front."

Natalie's face began to darken, "Are you always so rude to the opposite sex?"

"No, no, Nate." Duke shook his head as he walked, "I've always been polite to people, but when I'm facing you, I always have an impulse..."

"Impulse?" Natalie stopped and turned to look at Duke, her voice sarcastic, "Impulse to sleep with me?"

"you misunderstood."

Duke didn't stop, passed by her, and said indifferently, "I just want to see what you are hiding under your smart, calm, and indifferent appearance."

Going to the car, Duke opened the door, turned around, and said, "Want to see if Natalie Portman is really different from other actresses."

"Are you satisfied now?"

Duke didn't answer her at all, and pointed to the co-pilot's position, "You shouldn't be driving, right? Get in the car, and I'll take you back."

Natalie came over, stood by the car and looked at Duke for a while, then gave him a vicious look, turned to the other side of the car, opened the door and sat in the passenger seat.

"Going home?" Duke started the car. "Or to school?"

"Turn left at the second intersection ahead and walk a mile." Natalie pulled her baseball cap down, covering half of her face, "I'll get off there."

Following Natalie's direction, Duke saw where she was going to get off in just five minutes. It wasn't a school at all, it looked like a bar no matter what.

Natalie opened the door, got out of the car, turned to look at Duke, "Go, I'll treat you to a drink."

Looking at the sign of the bar, and then at Natalie, Duke frowned slightly. If I remember correctly, Natalie Portman will be 18 next month...

Although the legal provisions in this regard are often nonsense, if someone really cares about it, it is definitely a troublesome thing.

This smart girl seemed to have guessed Duke's thoughts, and suddenly raised her eyebrows, "If I'm drunk, you can take me home."

Hearing these faintly seductive words, Duke immediately came to his senses. Standing in front of him was a girl with an extremely complicated mind who was not yet eighteen years old. This is New York again...

"For another day, I might come to New York next month."

She'll be eighteen next month, and Duke pulls out a big smile, "I'll find a place then, and we'll drink together, and we'll never stop if we don't get drunk."

"Okay." Natalie said with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised, "You know my phone number."

After she finished speaking, she turned her head and walked towards the bar by the side of the road. Her brown eyes kept flickering, and she was obviously turning her head quickly. When she walked to the front of the bar, she looked back and saw that the black Bentley had disappeared into the distance. .

Natalie didn't mean to enter the bar at all, she changed direction and walked towards the school along the sidewalk.

"You're lucky," she muttered.

In the next few days, Duke maintained the necessary contact with the New Zealand side, temporarily staying in New York to deal with investment and stock affairs. At the same time, he also reminded his mother that if he has a large amount of related stocks in his hand, he should try to replace it with other related stocks as much as possible. types of investment products.

In addition, Duke also met with Victoria's Secret's executives twice, and reached an agreement on the angel model's appearance in "The Lord of the Rings" and how to operate it in a high-profile manner. Unfortunately, the Victoria's Secret angels went to Miami to go out on location. Didn't get a chance to meet the few Brazilian models who just joined.

At the same time, the North American box office of "100,000 Fire" has continued to decline. After "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace", it has experienced the impact of "The Mummy" and "Ace Power 2" for two consecutive weekends, even if the film director With Duke's name hanging in the column, "One Hundred Thousand Fires" can't compete with these real commercial masterpieces.

It is true that the works of well-known directors are more likely to attract audiences, but they cannot change the huge gap in investment and genre.

If it can be changed, major Hollywood companies will no longer have to make large investments. They can directly pull first-line directors and actors together and shoot whatever they want.

By the end of May, "One Hundred Thousand Fire" has been with several commercial masterpieces for three consecutive weeks. The number of North American theaters has dropped to 421, and the North American box office has accumulated to 88.13 million US dollars. The cinema is forced to go down.

Ultimately, Duke's experimental film earned $88.13 million from the North American box office market.

The film has also been launched into overseas markets, and its overall performance is not much different from that of North America. In the 45 countries and regions where it has been released, it has received more than 90 million US dollars, and the screening has not yet ended. It is not difficult for the global box office to finally break through 200 million US dollars. (To be continued ~^~)