Chapter 440: More Surprises

"If the time is right, I will accept your invitation."

Duke did not make any promises, offering only a vague answer.

Their market was indeed tempting, but that wouldn't be true for another ten years. Its current value was better than nothing. Even if the box office hit $100 million, a meager cut of ten-odd percent was completely negligible for his films.

Unlike traditional Hollywood directors, he knew exactly where that audience's psychological bottom line lay. Although he had directed standard, politically correct Great Americanism films over the years, he never crossed into taboo territory, and he certainly wouldn't in the future either.

Of course, Sino-American relations had improved significantly after 9/11. If the two nations held official film and cultural exchanges and extended a formal invitation to him, Duke would be more than happy to visit.

However, it would only be a visit. Duke knew very well that even if he were Chinese American—let alone a white foreigner—he would still be treated as an outsider if he actually tried to make any major moves there.

This was just a minor interlude on his trip to Europe. After spending the weekend in Cannes, Duke and his team flew to London, where the latest weekend box office data was forwarded to him by The Lord of the Rings Studio.

In its first overseas weekend, Britain remained the highest-grossing market. The Two Towers raked in $27.85 million over its first three days, setting the highest weekend box office record in British film history.

Across Europe, The Two Towers climbed to the top of the box office charts in almost every single country without exception. In France, where Duke had just led the cast on tour, the film ranked only behind Britain and Germany. Its $18.52 million haul was plenty dazzling.

In Germany, traditionally Europe's second-largest box office market, The Two Towers also secured the number one spot for the week without any suspense, pulling in a staggering $24.55 million!

Although the film wouldn't open in Asia, Latin America, and other regions until the following weekend, The Two Towers had already amassed $124.57 million at the overseas box office from Europe alone!

Meanwhile, the film continued its triumphant advance in North America.

Among the new releases in North America this week, only Universal Pictures' About a Boy opened in more than 1,500 theaters. However, heavily impacted by The Two Towers, this low-budget comedy suffered from a less-than-ideal screen share. Even with the star power of popular actors like Hugh Grant and Rachel Weisz, it posed no real threat to The Two Towers.

Universal Pictures also kept a low profile during the film's promotional campaign, clearly lacking confidence—otherwise, they wouldn't have scheduled its release for the weekend right after The Two Towers. The performance of About a Boy met market expectations, bringing in only $7.8 million during its opening weekend.

On one hand, the film's quality simply wasn't up to par; on the other, it had taken a hit from The Two Towers.

The Two Towers held incredibly strong going into its second weekend in North America. Compared to its opening weekend, the box office drop was a mere thirty-eight percent, raking in a staggering $63.87 million!

Even now in the year 2000, when a fair number of major commercial blockbusters could break the $50 million mark in their opening weekend, $63.87 million was still enough to crush the debuts of the vast majority of films. Moreover, it set the highest second-weekend box office record in North American film history!

"In ten days of release, the cumulative North American box office is $249.62 million, and the global box office is $374.19 million."

In a Warner Brothers office, Doug Walter and Jamie Jensen were smiling radiantly. The latter continued, "Could you have ever imagined a result like this?"

"I could!" Doug Walter said seriously. "Because the director is Duke Rosenberg!"

Jamie Jensen's eyes shifted thoughtfully. "Doug, how about a bet?"

"Bet on what?" Doug Walter asked curiously.

"We'll bet a week's use of your new villa," Jamie Jensen proposed directly. "If the North American box office for The Two Towers is under $500 million, I lose. If it exceeds $500 million, you lose. How about it?"

Doug Walter pointed to his head, joking, "Do you think there's something wrong with my brain? Why would I take a bet like that? If you flipped the terms, I'd definitely agree."

"Flip the terms? No, no..." Jamie Jensen wagged a finger. "You might as well say The Two Towers won't break $1 billion globally!"

"You know, Jamie," Doug Walter said, his tone turning serious, "$1 billion is just my bare minimum global expectation for The Two Towers."

"Duke has never disappointed anyone, has he?"

The two men exchanged a look and burst into laughter at the same time.

As their laughter gradually subsided, Jamie Jensen asked, "How are the merchandise sales doing?"

"Extremely well!" Doug Walter pulled out a document and handed it over. "In just ten days, North American merchandise sales have hit $187 million, and that's a conservative estimate!"

Jamie Jensen sighed. "Warner Brothers cannot afford to lose Duke."

"He's the largest individual shareholder of Warner Brothers," Doug Walter said. "Most of the time, Warner's interests are his personal interests."

Nodding, Jamie Jensen asked in a low voice, "Has there been any progress on your situation?"

"Don't mention this to anyone else."

After issuing the warning, Doug Walter continued, "Last year, the revenue from the two projects I oversaw—The Fellowship of the Ring and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone—accounted for thirty-seven percent of Warner Brothers' total annual revenue. The corporate group has basically confirmed that starting in July, I will take over Jeff's position."

"Congratulations on becoming the new CEO."

At this point, Jamie Jensen offered a reminder, "Doug, I think it's highly necessary to notify Duke in advance."

"Without his support, I could never have gotten this position." Doug Walter gave him a reassuring look. "I had someone inform Duke yesterday."

In truth, Doug Walter felt he had won this bloodless battle for the CEO position fairly easily. Aside from leveraging his connections, his greatest strategy had been identifying the most powerful figure within Warner Brothers and aligning with him without hesitation.

To outsiders, this move seemed utterly devoid of technical skill.

There was even a rumor spreading through Hollywood—the person who truly decided the CEO of Warner Brothers was Duke Rosenberg!

Duke had caught wind of these rumors, but he didn't pay them much mind. Doug Walter becoming the new CEO of Warner Brothers fit his needs perfectly. Having collaborated for years, the two understood each other's habits and methods, which would only benefit his ongoing partnership with the studio.

After spending nearly a week in Europe, Duke led the cast to the Far East. Starting in Tokyo, Japan, they passed through Seoul, South Korea; Hong Kong and Taipei, China; and Manila, Philippines; before finally arriving in Sydney, Australia, to promote the Far East release of The Two Towers.

Even excluding Australia, this tour took them far away from the Western world where The Lord of the Rings had taken the cultural zeitgeist by storm. Yet everywhere Duke and his team went, they set off waves of frenzy. During their promotional stop in Tokyo, Orlando Bloom was recognized while out sightseeing and was quickly mobbed by thousands of young Japanese men and women. Even after the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department was mobilized, it took quite a long time to rescue Legolas from the crowd.

Between the two most popular pieces of eye candy in the first two Lord of the Rings films, Duke had chosen to bring along Orlando Bloom instead of Alessandra Ambrosio as a preventive measure.

Since he had agreed to officially date Ivanka Trump, Duke intended to take the relationship seriously. If he carried on like he had in the past, even if Ivanka was generous enough to forgive him once, she absolutely wouldn't put up with it forever. No woman possessed infinite tolerance when it came to that sort of thing.

When he was single, he could fool around all he wanted, but now that he had a girlfriend, Duke had decided to rein himself in.

He knew his self-control was somewhat lacking at times, so minimizing his time around other women was undoubtedly a smart strategy.

The Far East tour led by Duke was a massive success, triggering tremendous responses at every stop. After an explosive first week in Europe, the hype for The Two Towers inevitably cooled down slightly. The Far East and Latin America then stepped up to shoulder the overseas market, performing exceptionally well.

During its second weekend overseas, The Two Towers raked in a spectacular $189.23 million, bringing its cumulative overseas box office to $372.57 million!

There was no suspense in North America, either. In its third weekend, The Two Towers didn't just maintain its theater count—it expanded once again, reaching an unprecedented 3,977 theaters across the continent. The average screen share remained close to eighty percent. All of this ensured that the box office would continue its robust trend this weekend, keeping the drop to just forty percent and pulling in $38.32 million.

Factoring in the $32.11 million earned over the previous four workdays, the North American box office for The Two Towers successfully broke the $300 million threshold, soaring to $320.05 million.

In less than twenty days, the global box office for The Two Towers had already reached $692.62 million!

By this point, even industry outsiders could see clearly that $1 billion globally was just a milestone for The Two Towers, not the finish line!

Duke knew very well that the film's ability to achieve such results—harvesting wealth at the box office and in merchandise sales even faster than The Fellowship of the Ring—was due to multiple factors.

First, while The Two Towers wasn't a sequel in the traditional sense, it enjoyed the exact same treatment as the follow-up to any massive blockbuster.

Second, the film's quality, marketing, and theater distribution were equally robust. Moreover, as the director, he had spent a decade building a resounding reputation for himself.

Finally, in what should have been a fiercely competitive May, The Two Towers had faced no heavyweight rivals, allowing it to effortlessly secure its third consecutive box office championship.

But this advantage was about to vanish. Next weekend, George Lucas's magnum opus, Star Wars Prequel: Attack of the Clones, was set to strike with a vengeance.