Compared with the awards season that seems to be without gunpowder, the competition in theaters is more direct and fierce. After the release of Pixar Studios' masterpiece "Looking for Nemo", it broke the situation of "Return of the King" as the dominant one, and ended the latter's four consecutive summer championships.

This animated feature film with the ocean as its main theme once again showed Pixar Studio's strength to all Hollywood. It opened paintings with 3,374 theaters in North America, and achieved a box office of 70.25 million US dollars, with a single-stage box office of more than 20,000 US dollars. This is also the best opening performance of Pixar Studio and animated films in history.

There is no doubt that "Looking for Nemo" released in the first week became the second box office champion since the start of the summer season in 2003.

"Return of the King", which had won four consecutive championships, also ended its hottest screening stage. Both the number of theaters and the screening rate began to decline. However, this week it was still at the second place in the box office list, with 3,458 theaters in North America winning US$14.22 million.

No movie can continue to be popular forever, and it is still in the summer season.

Because we want to avoid the edge of "Return of the King", many major production schedules have chosen June. With the arrival of Memorial Day, May has come to an end.

Starting from June, a series of major productions have been released one after another, such as "Men 2", "Terminator 3" and "Fake God", which have achieved good starts. By the end of June, "Return of the King" was no longer visible in the top five in the North American weekly box office rankings.

But even though the film was released for nearly two months, it still revolved among the top ten in the box office list. As of July 1st, the North American box office of the film finally exceeded the $500 million mark, reaching $515.87 million.

In terms of global box office, "Return of the King" also exceeded 1.3 billion US dollars, reaching 1.352.77 million US dollars!

As the film continues to cool down and large-scale commercial films are released in North America and overseas, the global single-day box office of the film has dropped below $4 million. It has begun to enter the stage of relying on time and long screenings to accumulate box office.

After the third month of the screening of "Return of the King", the global Lord of the Rings craze has basically faded. But the hacker craze has come again.

Last year's "Reloading" won a box office of US$795.5 million worldwide. After removing those inexplicable things, the audience reputation of the film has declined compared to the first one, but it remains within the scope of a normal sequel movie. The relatively simplification and dephilosophical thinking of the film have also achieved good results.

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

The two consecutive sequels of "The Matrix" have achieved good market responses. Duke's former assistant Zach Schneider immediately became a director sought after by Hollywood.

Even many companies have opened 1+2 contracts to invite him to direct the video.

This is Hollywood. When struggling toward the road to success, no one cares about it. Even if you are really talented, the Hollywood giants will not show appreciation. Even if they show appreciation, they will never easily let go of their wallets.

When successful, even if you stand there and don’t move, invitations will fly over toward the snowflakes.

“Are there any new plans?”

Duke looked at Zach Schneider in Duke's Studio, "About the future or the next movie."

“I need a vacation in a desperate situation.”

Zach Schneider's bearded face was so thin that he was almost all skin and bones left. "In the past, although it was very stressful to take charge of a project independently from you, only when you really got into it, can you know how terrifying the pressure that was always with you."

He sighed long, "I haven't had a good night's sleep since I officially took over."

"I'll get used to it slowly." Duke opened the drawer and handed him Frank Miller's illustrated novel, "Go on vacation and read this novel by the way."

"Three Hundred Spartans?" Zach Schneider opened and looked. "I've seen it a long time ago."

"Are you interested in adapting it into a movie?"

This kind of thing can't be forced to do anything, Duke added. "If you are not interested, I can only go find someone else."

The two have been friends and partners who have been acquainted for more than ten years. Zach Schneider is not polite, "Let's leave it here for now, I want to study it."

Duke didn't plan to intervene too much, and nodded, "D Comics Company has only given me five years of adaptation authority, don't think about it for more than five years."

Zach Schneider laughed, "I will definitely give you a definite answer after I come back from vacation."

A gentle knock on the door sounded, Tina Fee pushed the door and walked in, "Mr. Neeson is here."

"Then I'll say goodbye first." Zach Schneider stood up, nodded to Tina Fee, walked out of the office, and after his figure disappeared, Duke said to Tina Fee, "I'll go see him."

Leaving the office, Duke walked into the reception room on the same floor and saw the person who invited him.

“Hi, Duke.”

The tall male actor came up to greet him, "Long time no see."

"Yes, Liam."

Duke asked him to sit down, and asked someone to send him coffee again. Without going around in circles, he asked directly, "Is there a schedule for the second half of the year?"

Although he had a little guess after receiving the notification from his agent, Liam Neeson's eyes lit up immediately after hearing Duke say this, and he replied without hesitation, "Yes!"

"Tina." Duke greeted, and Tina Fee, who was sitting on the other side, handed a file bag to Liam Neeson's hands.

"This is..." Liam Neeson looked at Duke.

Duke made a gesture of invitation, and while watching the other party unpack the file bag, he said, "This is my next project, and it will start shooting in the second half of the year. A story about retired agents and daughter, an action movie type."

Liam Neeson nodded, opened the script and read it, Duke continued, "I think you're very suitable for the leading actor."

Although Liam Neeson could not make a decision casually even with the agent not present, he simply browsed the script and said, "Duke, no one can refuse your invitation."

In fact, in his opinion, the script level is just average. If it were other directors, he would not consider it at all. However, the director sitting opposite is one of the top Hollywood directors, and only fools would think that he can only make a film of ordinary quality.

Even if there will be professional negotiations in the future, Liam Neeson does not want to miss such an opportunity.

"Your character will be an agent," Duke said a few simple words, "Although he is retired, he is also very skilled. Therefore, Liam, if we can cooperate, you will have to undergo a period of professional training."

"No problem." Liam Neeson nodded.

Duke only reached a preliminary intention with him, and the subsequent negotiations were naturally discussed by Charles Rowan and Liam Neeson's agent. After the two chatted briefly for a while, Liam Neeson said goodbye and left the Duke Studio.

Since the Independence Day holiday, Duke has put "Hurricane Rescue" on the agenda. The project passed the review of Warner Bros. The production budget of the film is $40 million, which is no longer a big production in this era.

Duke didn't plan to do any big scenes with high investment. All the videos were invested by Warner Bros. The production cost was as much as $40 million, because his basic salary alone was as high as $10 million!

After the project was officially launched, the main members of Duke's team ended their vacations and began to work. Now, people like John Schwartzman have become top figures in their respective industries and inevitably become targets for other companies or crew members. Although most people choose to continue to work with Duke, some choose to change jobs.

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

This is a normal turnover, and Duke doesn't care too much. It's not too difficult to find a suitable substitute, but he won't trust the newcomer rashly and temporarily hand over the casting director position to Wallace Lee.

Although Hollywood-style casting has supervision such as the Actors Union and a relatively complete system, it is impossible to eliminate some private transactions at all, and no one will care about transactions that you like to do. As for Hollywood, there are no so-called unwritten rules, and the actors and performances themselves can completely determine the role, especially the ownership of some small characters, how funny is to the point of showing off...

As long as people who have no problems with their brains actually know that Hollywood has never been a pure circle.

Duke never asks his subordinates to pure standards, and it is impossible in Hollywood. As long as he meets his requirements, he doesn't care whoever plays those small roles.

In "Hurricane Rescue", the main characters such as father, daughter and mother, casting director and deputy director, basically have no say.

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

In the conference room, the preparations were underway. Duke explained to the new casting director Wallace Lee, "There are also Eastern European actors who play gangsters, and their appearance should be distinct enough. In addition, all prostitutes and women should be beautiful enough."

"No problem, Duke, I promise!"

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

He knew very well that those Eastern European actresses and prostitutes and actresses could make decisions themselves.

As long as the actors can meet the basic requirements of directors, he basically has the final say in the candidates. Such a position is highly sought after by young actors and their agents in Hollywood.

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