Chapter 366: Shoddy Engineering

"It's a good thing we sold when we did, or we would have taken a massive hit this time."

Duke was having lunch with Tina Fey, just like always. No one came over to bother them, so his assistant went straight to the news she had received that morning. "The broader market took a hit last week, but a lot of people comforted themselves by calling it a market correction, believing it would keep going up. However, the NASDAQ plummeted the day before yesterday, and it hasn't shown the slightest sign of stopping for two days now..."

"There must have been signs before this, right?" Duke asked.

Aside from keeping his Apple stock, Duke had spent nearly a year offloading his other shares, completely cashing out by the end of last year. This stock market crash would have very little impact on him.

Tina Fey swallowed a bite of lettuce and said, "There were warning signs, but most people believed the stock index would at least hold out until the second half of the year."

Putting down his knife and fork, Duke picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. "I thought it was going to crash at the beginning of the year. I didn't expect it to last this long."

In his hazy memory, the IT stock crash had happened around the turn of the millennium. He hadn't known the exact date, but to his surprise, the bubble had dragged on until March of 2000.

"If the stock market continues to fall, it will still affect us," Tina Fey reminded Duke, having finished her lunch as well. "Apple's stock price has also taken a hit, and their market cap has dropped below eight billion dollars. As for your investment in Google, the general decline of IT stocks has two investment firms considering withdrawing their capital."

"Tell David to keep a close eye on them," Duke instructed. "If anyone really wants to pull their funding from Google, we'll take over their shares. But pay attention to the ownership ratio; don't upset Google's internal balance."

Those two founders of Google were definitely no fools.

Duke thought for a moment before adding, "Tell David to watch out for Apple sell orders too. With the massive drop in IT stocks, Apple will inevitably be affected, and people might start dumping their shares. I only have one rule for this: buy up every sell order he can find."

While he didn't know if anyone would actually dump Apple stock in bulk, common sense suggested that this would be an excellent opportunity to buy in.

"There's one more thing." Tina Fey picked up her cup and took a sip of her usual plain water. "After Ivanka returned to the University of Pennsylvania, she drew up a business plan. She sent copies to both you and David. I left yours on your desk."

"I'll take a look when I have time."

After filming wrapped for the night, Duke read through Ivanka's business plan. He wasn't exactly a business expert, so he waited a few days until he received an assessment from his investment team—the plan was somewhat feasible.

Given the current crash in IT stocks, however, David didn't recommend that Duke invest in it. The profitability of pure website companies—including Yahoo—was a major cause for concern right now.

But after a phone call with Ivanka, Duke decided to take a gamble. After all, an initial investment of $300,000 was practically nothing to him.

If it succeeded, the future returns would be unimaginable.

During their call, Duke also learned that Ivanka Trump would be putting up roughly the same amount of money. Part of it came from the allowance she had saved up over the years, and the rest came from her family.

Just as Ivanka had pitched, the website would initially establish its footing at the Wharton School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania. Whether it could eventually spread to the rest of the Ivy League was still an unknown.

The stock market was swallowed by gloom, and instead of improving like most people had hoped, the volatility only worsened. This actually impacted Hollywood as well. Stocks and real estate had always been the most important avenues of investment for movie stars and directors. A significant number of them had surely poured money into IT stocks over the past few years. Ian McKellen, a member of the cast, had lost quite a bit, even taking a special leave of absence from Duke to return to North America.

From March to April, the North American stock market drove global economic turbulence, and a few problems arose within the cast and crew of The Lord of the Rings. Quite a few people who had invested in the market were unable to hide the disappointment and even panic on their faces, which impacted normal filming. Duke rarely lost his temper, but he had to blow up twice before the situation improved.

The stock market wasn't the only cause. After more than half a year of filming, a sense of burnout had inevitably spread among the crew. Most of the staff and actors came from Britain and the US, so being stuck in New Zealand for such a long period naturally caused emotional fluctuations.

It was just like Duke had said—he, as the director, could endure many things, like working non-stop, but the actors and crew members beneath him might not be able to do the same.

Furthermore, the remaining scenes for the production were mostly scattered. Aside from the studio shoots, they constantly had to rush all over New Zealand. Sometimes, they would spend an entire morning working just to capture a few minutes of footage.

As time crept toward May, the crew was genuinely exhausted from the constant travel, and Duke finally granted them another long vacation. He also had matters to attend to that required leaving New Zealand. He needed to attend the upcoming premiere of Mission: Impossible 2. Before that, he also had to make a trip to Britain, where the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone production, led by Robin Grande, was preparing to hold massive casting auditions after more than two months of vigorous promotion.

Since it was his future long-term meal ticket, and considering he served as a producer, Duke needed to make a trip to London.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone had already confirmed Chris Columbus as the director. He, Robin Grande, and Joanne Rowling formed the triangle of power for the project. Though Duke held the title of producer, the production was largely led by those three, save for major decisions.

Of course, the people with the most power would never be the original author, but rather Duke and Warner Brothers' representative, Robin Grande.

It was a ten-day vacation. Aside from the rotating staff left behind to keep watch, almost all the core members of the cast and crew would be leaving New Zealand.

Before leaving, however, Duke gathered the main actors and crew members in the set's large dining hall to offer some warnings and instructions.

"I know that the recent economic turbulence has distracted you, making it impossible to fully focus on filming."

For a director who rarely lost his temper, Duke's voice was extremely stern. "I can understand that, so I'm giving you ten days of vacation to handle your personal affairs. When the crew reconvenes in Wellington in ten days, I demand that you return to your pre-March state. I need dedicated professionals!"

He concluded, "If you're still in this state ten days from now, then I can only say I'm sorry."

The crowd quickly dispersed from the normally bustling set, which gradually returned to silence. The entertainment reporters gathered at the entrance chased after their respective targets. The Lord of the Rings fan protests, which had hardly ceased since filming began, were also temporarily put on hold, much like the production itself. Hordes of hardcore book fans retreated like the tide, saving their energy for the next outbreak.

Duke was among the last group of people to leave the set. He boarded his own business jet on a private tarmac at Wellington International Airport and flew directly to London.

Before the plane took off, Tina Fey received a phone call. Once the jet climbed into the sky and entered a smooth flight, she turned to Duke. "A message from Nancy. Marvel Comics has invited you to attend Twentieth Century Fox's premiere for X-Men in mid-July."

"X-Men?" Duke unfastened his seatbelt. He thought it over for a moment before replying, "Tell Nancy to hold off on giving them an answer for now."

It was still early, and Duke wasn't sure if he'd have the time when the day came.

However, discounting Blade—which had extremely limited influence and was produced like a B-movie—X-Men could be considered the true beginning of Marvel Comics' cinematic success. While Marvel's situation wouldn't see any particularly dramatic improvement after the film's release, it would make their executives realize the true value of the superheroes under their banner.

It was no exaggeration to say that his ability to invest in Marvel Comics had been a matter of seizing the very last window of opportunity. Had he waited until after the release of X-Men, getting such a chance would have been dozens of times more difficult, if not impossible.

Then there was that little spider, which would make all of America realize the cinematic value of Marvel Comics.

"One coffee, one water, please."

After ordering the drinks from the flight attendant, Tina Fey pushed the coffee over to Duke. Duke placed his cup in the holder and asked, "Tina, do you know anything about Sony Columbia Pictures' recent movements?"

"Hmm?" Tina Fey clearly didn't know where to start. After all, there were simply too many matters involving a major film studio.

"The films they're investing in, producing, and distributing," Duke clarified. "Big productions."

"Spider-Man, which has a $140 million investment from Sony Entertainment, has already entered the preparation phase," Tina Fey said as she recalled the information. "The director is Sam Neill, the director of the Evil Dead series. They're supposedly writing the script right now and searching for suitable actors for Peter Parker and Mary Jane."

Just as he thought, Spider-Man had already been placed on Sony Columbia Pictures' agenda.

Sighing inwardly, Duke knew there was nothing he could do. He had started paying attention to Marvel Comics far too late. Spider-Man had fallen into Columbia Pictures' hands as early as the late eighties. Getting the rights back would be impossible unless the Japanese executives' brains were entirely waterlogged or the film suffered a disastrous failure.

Neither of those possibilities was very likely in the near future.

Duke only entertained the thought in passing. The world was so vast; it was impossible for every good thing to fall into one person's lap.

There were some things that, even if known in advance, one was often powerless to change.

Picking up his coffee cup, Duke took a sip. The bitter taste dispelled the unrealistic delusions in his heart. Could a mere director like him manage to recover rights that Marvel Comics and Walt Disney hadn't been able to reclaim even when working together?

"There's one more thing being spearheaded by Sony Entertainment."

Relevant information continued to spill from Tina Fey. "I heard someone mention that Sony Entertainment is negotiating with the Hasbro Company. They want to buy the film adaptation rights to one of their toys."

Duke looked up at Tina Fey. "Which toy?"