After spending its first weekend in North America, Fury Road welcomed its first weekday. On Monday, the box office dropped 53% compared to the previous day, earning $11.34 million. Meanwhile, the PG-rated The Adventures of Tintin saw a smaller drop, but its box office was never high to begin with, only bringing in $2.65 million that day.
The two were simply not in the same league.
Not even the most optimistic market forecasting agencies believed The Adventures of Tintin could surpass $100 million at the North American box office.
"Forget about a hundred million."
On the plane, Tina Fey said to Scarlett Johansson, "It'll be very, very hard to even surpass fifty million."
Scarlett rubbed her chin and muttered, "I wonder where I can see David Ellison. He's the one I most want to meet right now."
Duke glanced at the two women but said nothing.
For a film like The Adventures of Tintin, the production cost was certainly over $100 million, and the promotional expenses nearly matched the production budget. The poor box office performance in North America, apart from audience feedback, might also be due to foreign cultural products not adapting well to the market. Perhaps the film would fare slightly better overseas, but it would be extremely difficult for David Ellison to recoup the investment.
David Ellison didn't like him, and Duke didn't like David Ellison either this was common knowledge in Hollywood.
After the economic crisis, David Ellison used his vast liquid assets to gain favor from companies like Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks. But in Hollywood, he was destined to be an outsider rejected by traditional forces.
In fact, what Duke wanted was simple kick David Ellison out of the circle.
The Ellison family had deep financial resources, and Larry Ellison's net worth was no less impressive than Duke's on paper, but that didn't mean David Ellison could mobilize those resources. As long as he continued to fail, Larry Ellison would eventually lose patience. If he kept botching major investments, getting support from the family and outside investors would become increasingly difficult.
Without Larry Ellison's backing, David Ellison would be nothing more than a bald vulture.
The four projects David Ellison took over—all of them required massive investments. Even if he didn't use too much of his own money and raised funds externally, the consequences of failure would still be severe.
The distant ones remained unclear, but the current state of The Adventures of Tintin was not optimistic. Including Monday, the film earned just over $9 million during four weekdays. While this pushed the North American box office past $20 million, in the fiercely competitive summer season, it had virtually no competitive edge.
Over the same four weekdays, Fury Road raked in $42.68 million. Its North American box office easily crossed the $100 million mark, reaching a total of $117.51 million.
At the same time, overseas earnings added nearly $70 million, bringing the global box office past the $300 million mark.
A new weekend arrived. North America entered the crucial Memorial Day weekend. Alvin and the Chipmunks also debuted in theaters.
This PG-rated animated film had a completely different target audience from Fury Road; otherwise, distributor 20th Century Fox wouldn't have scheduled it for Fury Road's second weekend.
Fury Road wouldn't be impacted much, but The Adventures of Tintin was another story. Sharing a similar genre, its second weekend box office plummeted, earning just $4.52 million over three days.
No surprises here Alvin and the Chipmunks topped the North American weekend box office, grossing $48.8 million. Next on the list was Fury Road, and as expected, the strong word-of-mouth helped this R-rated film hold steady, with only a 42% drop in its second weekend and a total of $43.4 million.
In just ten days,Fury Road's North American box office totaled $160.91 million, and global earnings reached $412.06 million.
Exceptional marketing, overwhelming audience praise, and the combined star power of Duke, Charlize Theron, and Tom Cruise all contributed to the huge success of this R-rated film.
Since the press tour was divided into three parts, when Duke arrived in New York, he happened to reunite with Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise. The three of them also did a joint interview with NBC.
The interview itself wasn't particularly special just a regular part of the promotional plan. What stood out was Duke revealing that Fury Road would become a series. There might even be a spin-off focusing on Furiosa. In addition, he would be collaborating with DC Comics to launch a Fury Road comic series, especially focusing on the fan-favorite War Rocker, whose backstory would be detailed in the comics.
Of course, there were also plans for a new project.
"I already have an idea for a new film."
Facing the camera, Duke said calmly, "It'll still be science fiction. The theme is about dreams and how to utilize them!"
He shared a bit of content. After that, no matter how much the host pressed, Duke refused to reveal anything further.
"Is it that sci-fi script you registered long ago with the Writers Guild?"
After removing his makeup and leaving the dressing room, Tom Cruise asked Duke, "How about I play the lead role?"
Although Duke had already told Leonardo DiCaprio about the project and Leo had shown great interest, Duke didn't directly reject Tom Cruise. Instead, he asked back, "Are you sure you'll have the time?"
Tom Cruise thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I need to supervise the post-production of Mission: Impossible 4 and shoot a new film. I really don't have the time."
As they walked to the parking lot, he checked his watch and said, "I have to catch a flight back to L.A., I'm off."
"Wait!" Duke called out, had Tina Fey fetch a large gift box from the car, and handed it to Cruise. "This is a gift for Suri. I'll come visit her when I get back to L.A."
"You really are a proper godfather."
Taking the gift box, Tom Cruise leaned toward Duke and asked, "Actually, I really want to be a godfather too."
Duke understood what Tom Cruise meant. He shrugged slightly and replied with a hint of helplessness, "That sort of thing can only be left to nature."
He and Scarlett weren't taking much precaution, but Miss Johansson still hadn't shown any signs.
And Scarlett was only twenty-four. Neither of them was in a rush.
Tom Cruise's car quickly sped out of the parking lot. Just as Duke was about to leave, Charlize Theron came out of the elevator with her assistant. Instead of heading to her own car, she walked over to Duke.
"Something wrong?" Duke leaned against his Bentley and asked.
"Nothing really." Charlize Theron took off her sunglasses and looked at Duke, saying, "Just wanted to remind you not to forget to vote for me during awards season."
Duke frowned slightly. "That's all?"
Actually, Charlize Theron knew very well that even if she didn't come over, given Duke's usual style, he would definitely vote for her when the time came. She shrugged and continued, "When we were in New Mexico, didn't you mention your new film? Isn't there a female role in it that doesn't appear very much? Could you give it to me?"
"Leo's salary is not cheap…" Duke shook his head. "I can't afford another twenty million dollar budget."
Although formal negotiations hadn't started, both he as the director and Leonardo DiCaprio were guaranteed to take high salaries plus a share of the profits. Adding Charlize Theron on top of that, Warner Bros. would go crazy. That would also compress his production budget.
Given her current status, Charlize Theron absolutely had the clout to ask for a $20 million paycheck plus profit share.
"Isn't the role small?" Charlize smiled. "Just give me a symbolic payment, let's call it a friendly cameo."
Duke looked at her and roughly understood what Charlize meant this was her way of returning a favor.
"All right…" Duke didn't refuse. "Once the project's approved, I'll have someone talk to Nancy."
"I'll give her a heads-up in advance."
Charlize stared at Duke for a moment before finally turning away. "Then goodbye, Duke."
With that, she didn't hesitate or show any lingering feelings. She walked off in long strides toward her own direction.
She understood Duke's personality well. Some things couldn't be forced. Rather than get entangled, it was better to maintain a good relationship and appropriate distance, to create a better future for herself.
Tina Fey had been quietly watching Charlize Theron the whole time. Having been by Duke's side for so many years, she had witnessed the evolution of the relationship between these two people. Among the many women Duke had dated, Charlize might not have been the smartest, but she was the one who understood how to make the right choices.
Correspondingly, she was also the one who, even after things ended, could still make Duke care about her.
Watching Charlize Theron's tall figure disappear into her car, Duke opened the door and got into his Bentley. Once Tina Fey got in from the other side, he told the driver, "To Long Island."
He really liked Charlize's personality Duke had never denied that.
Of course, now it was more of an appreciation. He wasn't foolish enough to think that someone with Charlize Theron's current status would still want to maintain the same kind of relationship they had before.
In fact, after ending his previously chaotic lifestyle, Duke hadn't thought about returning to that kind of state again.
As the car exited the parking lot, Duke turned to Tina Fey and asked, "Has the script been delivered to Leo?"
Tina Fey immediately replied, "Leonardo is currently vacationing on Mallorca Island in Spain. The script was handed to his agent, Ino Martin. He'll fly to Spain specifically to pass it to Leonardo."
Duke had brought up this project with Leo quite early. The other party was very interested. Getting him to accept it wasn't an issue, so he wasn't too worried.
.....
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