Chapter 132: Head-On Collision

"Duke, we can't keep pouring massive resources into a single film." Twentieth Century Fox CEO Thomas Rothman had rushed over to Independence Day Studio in person to explain this to Duke, who sat nearby sipping coffee. "Independence Day has already built enough momentum. We just need to maintain it."

"I understand, Thomas." Duke wasn't the type to be unreasonable, nor was he foolish enough to think he was the center of Hollywood. True Lies was about to premiere, so Fox was bound to shift their promotional focus.

Thomas Rothman breathed a sigh of relief. He clearly didn't want any misunderstandings with Duke, or he wouldn't have come all the way from Century City to Warner Studios in person.

Yes, he valued this young director immensely—more than anyone before. He wouldn't even think it an exaggeration to call him a top-tier Hollywood director now.

Set aside the dazzling box office numbers from the first two weekends and look at the last two workdays: $7.86 million on Monday, $7.67 million on Tuesday. That was over $15 million in two days. Independence Day had accumulated over $170 million at the North American box office. Even if God Himself came down, He probably couldn't stop it from breaking the $200 million mark in North America this week!

If a director like this wasn't worth taking seriously, who was? Thomas Rothman remembered very well that Duke had registered another equally explosive war script with the Writers Guild!

Claiming that Fox didn't want to keep investing in Duke Rosenberg's films would be the funniest joke in America.

"Thomas, I only have one request."

Now that he had enough capital, Duke naturally wouldn't hold back. "Before next weekend arrives, the theater count for Independence Day cannot drop below 2,600."

Without enough theaters showing it, even the best movie couldn't generate high box office returns.

"This..." Thomas Rothman seemed a bit torn.

After all, with True Lies about to premiere, Fox definitely had to secure enough screens to guarantee a return on their massive investment.

"I know the number of North American theaters is relatively limited."

Duke understood this, but he wouldn't yield, especially when those screens could be pulled from elsewhere. "Thomas, have you noticed? Sony Columbia's The Shawshank Redemption premiered last week, and its daily box office for Monday and Tuesday has already slipped under $2 million, yet it's still playing in 1,600 theaters. Why can't we contact the theater chains and shrink its release scale?"

"If its numbers don't improve today and tomorrow..." A sharp gleam flashed in Thomas Rothman's eyes. "Fox will definitely pressure the theater chains to cut screens for The Shawshank Redemption."

"You could reach out to Warner," Duke chimed in. "I'm sure Warner would love to see that happen."

There were only so many screens in North America, and they weren't going to multiply overnight. For Twentieth Century Fox to give True Lies a wide release, they had definitely considered shrinking the footprint for Independence Day. Neither Duke nor Warner Brothers wanted to see that happen. The best way to protect their own interests was to guide Fox's knife toward another film in the same release window.

Aside from Independence Day, The Shawshank Redemption—which had a wide release but relatively poor box office performance—was naturally the perfect target.

In a fiercely competitive market, protecting your own interests sometimes meant damaging someone else's.

Anyway, watching someone else's luck turn bad was a hundred times better than suffering it yourself.

When he took his leave, Thomas Rothman politely invited Duke to the premiere of True Lies, but Duke tactfully declined.

His war of public opinion with the film critics hadn't ended yet and was currently the focus of many media outlets. He wasn't stupid enough to go steal someone else's thunder at their premiere.

Before True Lies premiered, the North American film market remained utterly dominated by Independence Day. Wednesday and Thursday pulled in $7.43 million and $7.59 million respectively, bringing the film's cumulative North American box office up to a staggering $190.44 million. It was already knocking on the door of $200 million and was bound to break through that barrier this coming weekend.

On the other hand, Duke's prediction came true. After suffering two more consecutive days with daily earnings under $2 million, the theater chains faced mounting pressure from Paramount, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, and Twentieth Century Fox. Box office numbers like that held no persuasive power anyway. No matter how much Sony Columbia talked themselves hoarse—even with their CEO stepping in personally—the theater count for The Shawshank Redemption plummeted sharply, dropping from 1,600 to just over 900.

Immediately after, Sony Columbia Pictures slashed the film's marketing and promotional budget. The movie was completely beyond saving in theaters; Sony was no longer thinking about whether it could turn a profit, but rather how to minimize their losses.

Duke only paid it a little attention before tossing it out of his mind. If things kept developing along this trend, The Shawshank Redemption was destined to play out exactly as it once had, taking ten years or more just to recoup its costs.

Nothing was more persuasive than box office success. Just as the weekend began, Nancy Josephson sent word: that copyright agency in London had finally nodded, agreeing to negotiate alongside Duke Studio with the film rights holder, Saul Zaentz, to secure that epic masterpiece!

Although it would still take time to finalize the deal, it gave Duke a massive boost of energy. With the explosive popularity of Independence Day, he knew perfectly well that he had to pivot after his next film. If he kept relying on relentless, heavy barrages, it wouldn't be long before the audience grew tired of it.

At the same time, Duke had a detailed discussion with the two screenwriters he had hired at Duke Studio. He handed them the play purchased from Broadway, along with the outlines for the two registered drama and sci-fi films, kicking off a long process of revision and writing.

A pivot wasn't something he could do just by saying so; it required a massive amount of prep work. While keeping an eye on the box office trends for Independence Day and reviewing memoirs from the 101st Airborne Division and the Ranger Unit, Duke was also flipping through reference materials on jazz musicals.

Independence Day entered its third weekend in theaters. Although its $24.57 million weekend gross lost to the $28.56 million pulled in by True Lies, costing it the box office crown, it still smashed through the $200 million threshold in one fell swoop, sending Duke straight into the ranks of the $200 Million Club.

Looking across all of Hollywood, there were only a handful of members in the $200 Million Directors Club.

The media under Time Warner and Twentieth Century Fox rejoiced at this achievement, wishing they could broadcast it to every corner of the globe to build hype for the gradual overseas rollout of Independence Day. Meanwhile, film critics continued their fierce attacks, arguing that the movie's massive sales were merely the result of Duke's shameful tactics. They claimed the film lacked both depth and artistic merit, offering nothing but technical showboating and sheer ostentation.

Roger Ebert even boldly declared in his own column that Duke Rosenberg and Independence Day were the biggest frontrunners for next year's Golden Raspberry Awards!

In a Chicago studio, Roger Ebert was on the phone with a friend. The man on the other end was John Wilson, the founder of the Golden Raspberry Awards.

"John, it is our duty and our obligation to warn Hollywood against the over-commercialization of cinema! What this world needs is The Shawshank Redemption, not trash like Independence Day! Please think about it carefully, my friend. There won't be a worse movie than Independence Day this year, and there certainly won't be a worse director than Duke Rosenberg!"

"Roger, I promise I'll seriously consider it, but for a young director, this..."

Hearing the slight hesitation in the other man's voice, Roger Ebert switched to an earnest, heartfelt tone. "This is to save Duke Rosenberg's directing career. We can't just stand by and watch a talented young man go down the wrong path..."

Judging solely from his tone, it sounded as if he were genuinely looking out for Duke's career.

Hanging up the phone, Roger Ebert sat behind his desk, his expression incredibly grim. He could pretend not to see the massive box office numbers for Independence Day, and he could pretend not to care about them either, choosing to view the film purely from an artistic standpoint to seek the psychological comfort of labeling it a bad movie.

However, that young director had viciously trampled over his dignity and that of many other critics. Although Duke had spoken out less and less after the first weekend, it was obvious that he and the studios backing him were blatantly using their scathing reviews to generate hype for the film!

Trampling their dignity and then using it to turn a profit? How many people could actually stomach something like that?

Furthermore, Duke Rosenberg's actions directly threatened the financial interests of the film critic industry. Setting others aside and just looking at himself—he was originally supposed to attend the test screenings for Clear and Present Danger and The Mask, which would have earned him a handsome sum. But after Independence Day became a massive hit and Duke Rosenberg made his remarks smearing the critics, the studios had canceled their test screening invitations for the critics...

That was a tangible financial loss!

How many years had it been? How many years had it been since a director openly traded insults with the film criticism community?

Brows furrowed tight, Roger Ebert recalled the past in detail. Back when they attacked George Lucas, the man simply kept quiet and made his fortune. When they criticized Ridley Scott, the Brit hadn't offered a single tough word in response. Even James Cameron, universally acknowledged as having the worst temper in the directing world, had never truly gone head-to-head against the critics...

Since the fifties and sixties, if critics launched an attack, over ninety-five percent of directors would choose to swallow it, turning a blind eye and a deaf ear. When his previous two films were released, their professional scores hadn't been high either, and there was no shortage of critical backlash, but Duke had never responded. He had chosen to remain silent.

The reason Duke chose to step out this time was simple: he had signed a tiered box office profit-sharing agreement. As long as he could ignite a conversation and drive up the box office numbers, he couldn't care less about the critics' feelings.

Of course, becoming the public enemy of film critics required a remarkably resilient mindset; otherwise, those sarcastic reviews could drive a person mad.

Time slowly rolled into late July. Just as the North American box office for Independence Day crossed the $250 million mark and was fighting its way toward $300 million, the film's overseas box office also broke past $250 million!

With a combined global box office of $500 million, this was already one of the highest-grossing performances in cinematic history. Moving into August, even the media outlets that had previously attacked Duke and Independence Day changed their tune and began showering him with all sorts of praise, especially the newly published issue of Vanity Fair. The article inside was absurd enough to make one both laugh and cry.