Chapter 452: Stealing the Spotlight at Cannes

As the weekend ended and the workweek began, an inevitable drop occurred—even though The Two Towers had grossed over a hundred million in its opening weekend and theater chains had increased its screen count and screen share. However, the market had already been primed by The Fellowship of the Ring the previous year. Aside from a slightly better performance by the American version of The Eye, The Two Towers faced absolutely no real competitors in its release window.

Even the performance of the American version of The Eye, which featured a different lead actress than in the original timeline, could be completely ignored.

After all, the opening weekend box office for The Two Towers reached a staggering 103.03 million dollars, while the American version of The Eye managed just over 17 million.

By Monday, a compressed screen share caused the daily box office for the American version of The Eye to plummet to just 1.02 million dollars. Meanwhile, thanks to its increased screen share and theater count, The Two Towers saw its box office drop by only forty percent on the first workday, pulling in 20.71 million dollars.

Although The Two Towers showed a steady downward trend over the following days, its box office remained largely stable overall. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, it pulled in 19.75 million, 19.53 million, and 18.66 million dollars respectively in North America.

By the time The Two Towers completed its first full week in theaters, its North American box office had reached 185.75 million dollars!

The film was completely crushing the market.

Whether in arthouse theaters or commercial chains, from border towns in Washington State in the northwest to the beach districts of Miami in the southeast, The Two Towers was everywhere. Whenever people gathered, whether or not they had seen it was invariably part of the conversation.

In schools especially, those who hadn't seen the movie faced subtle exclusion for failing to keep up with the times.

Duke's films certainly did not appeal to older housewives, but they were popular with many young girls and professional women.

Marketing played a massive, even critical role in a film's commercial success, but even the fiercest promotional campaign could not draw people into theaters as effectively as strong word-of-mouth.

Starting with The Fellowship of the Ring, the series had built an incredibly positive reputation with audiences. The Two Towers pushed that even further. While a massive viewing frenzy might trigger contrarian backlash in a few, it sparked the curiosity of far more, drawing them into theaters to contribute to the box office and turning them into loyal fans willing to open their wallets for merchandise.

The two released films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy were prime examples of this. Moreover, the PG-13 rating ensured the films had a suitably broad audience.

Before the second weekend arrived, the crew split in two. Duke led some members to Europe to promote the film's impending European run, while the rest continued making press rounds across major cities in North America.

It might be a slight exaggeration to say Hollywood films had conquered the world by now, but no one could deny that they had no real rivals on a global scale.

The first stop for Duke and his team was Cannes, France. Although The Two Towers had not been entered in the Cannes Film Festival's competition section, it would still be screened during the festival.

While he had no interest in the Three Major European Film Festivals, Duke could not deny their influence. Screening the film at Cannes was also a set promotional strategy for Warner Brothers.

No one expected The Two Towers to completely steal the spotlight at the Cannes Film Festival. Its Cannes premiere happened to take place on the exact same afternoon as Roman Polanski's The Pianist. Consequently, despite being heavily pushed by the organizers, Polanski's film was ignored by both the media and fans. There were barely any spectators or reporters flanking its red carpet; the turnout was better than nothing, but only just.

On the other hand, the scene for The Two Towers was grander than the festival's own opening ceremony. The line of waiting fans stretched from the Festival Palace all the way to the beach across the street. The interview area was packed with a sea of reporters, and minor physical scuffles constantly broke out over good spots. If they had not been in such a formal setting, fists likely would have flown.

Mirroring the responses the two films elicited from general audiences, Duke's premiere was a surging sea of people, while a short distance away, The Pianist was utterly deserted.

"The world's greatest arthouse directors have gathered in Cannes, only to have the spotlight stolen by a commercial director from Hollywood. This is, undeniably, a tragedy."

The next day, France's Le Figaro published a special commentary on the matter.

"Who knows what the organizing committee was thinking, actually agreeing to screen The Two Towers during the festival. Did they really believe the entries in the competition section could suppress Duke Rosenberg? The facts prove that the organizing committee of this year's Cannes Film Festival has made a colossal joke out of itself!"

After The Two Towers screened for three consecutive days in Cannes and tickets became impossible to find, Le Figaro spoke up again.

"Even adding all the films in the competition section together, their impact doesn't match the response of The Two Towers alone. As much as we may not want to admit it, we must face reality: Duke Rosenberg alone is going to defeat the entire Cannes Film Festival."

Sitting on his hotel balcony, Duke looked at the yacht marina across the way. This was his first time in Cannes and his first time attending a European film festival, though he was destined to be nothing more than a passing guest.

"The organizing committee is giving us less and less support."

Sitting across from him, Tina Fey set down her coffee. Drawing her gaze back from the distance, she added, "And the hurdles they're throwing at us are increasing."

"It's to be expected," Duke said, slowly stirring his coffee. "To the Cannes Film Festival, we're nothing but disrupters."

Anyone would be unhappy about having the spotlight stolen by a film merely using their festival for publicity.

Tina Fey's mobile phone rang. She answered, exchanged a few words, and hung up. She turned to Duke. "Our guests have arrived. They're in the first-floor cafe."

"Let's head down."

Duke was meeting clients introduced by Warner.

Down in the first-floor cafe, the Warner representative had gone to the lobby to wait for Duke. Of the two people left waiting quietly, one seemed slightly anxious.

"Old Liu..." the slightly younger man said. "You've been through plenty of big scenes, and every major domestic director treats you with the utmost respect. Why are you suddenly nervous?"

"Can they even compare to him?"

The middle-aged man known as Old Liu knew the young man across from him had spent his entire career in their home country and didn't understand the foreign film market well.

He decided to spell it out. "Do you know how much this new movie of his made in North America in just three days? Over a hundred million dollars! Do you know what his last movie's final box office was? 1.1 billion dollars!"

"1.1 billion dollars!" The young man's jaw dropped. "One of his movies made more than our country's total domestic box office for the past two years combined?"

"That's just the box office!" Old Liu sighed, shaking his head. "What about film merchandise? Word is, all the merchandise for his last movie combined has already sold a billion dollars!"

"How much?" The young man could hardly believe it. "A billion dollars? You mean those toys and stuff? They can sell for that much? They're practically worthless."

"They're not worth much back home, true," Old Liu said, shaking his head. "But in Hollywood, the profit margin on merchandise can exceed fifty percent."

The young man drew a sharp breath. A single movie bringing in five hundred million dollars in profit on merchandise alone...

Old Liu spoke again. "Do you know what his directing fee is for a single film?"

"I've seen the reports back home. Some Hollywood superstars can get twenty million dollars a picture. I heard that's the absolute top tier in Hollywood."

Old Liu shook his head and waved two fingers at him. "At the most conservative estimate, he walked away with two hundred million dollars in backend profits from his last film!"

The young man nearly choked on the coffee he had just sipped. He hurriedly swallowed it down. "Two hundred million? How is that possible?"

"If anything, it's more than that!" Old Liu stated with absolute certainty. "Even though he hasn't won an Oscar, the status and treatment he enjoys in Hollywood and America is on par with Spielberg's, if not higher."

Footsteps approached from nearby. The two turned to look and hurriedly stood up.

"This is Director Duke Rosenberg, and this is Miss Tina Fey."

"This is Smith Liu, and this is Jensen Han..."

The Warner representative gave the two parties a brief introduction, then sat off to the side without another word. Coming from Warner's North American headquarters, he knew Duke's temperament well and had no intention of rashly interfering.

Since this was a professional meeting, Duke didn't beat around the bush. He asked directly, "Mr. Liu, Mr. Han, you sought me out through Warner. What can I do for you?"

"It's like this."

The two were clearly led by Smith Liu, and both spoke English fluently.

"Since 1995, our corporate group has consecutively imported the films you've directed: The Rock, Speed, Saving Private Ryan, The Matrix, and The Fellowship of the Ring. These films have received a tremendous response back home. Director Rosenberg, much like Director Spielberg and Director Cameron, you are one of the Hollywood directors most familiar to our domestic audience."

Duke looked at the man. He was no longer accustomed to this roundabout way of speaking; he preferred people to be direct.

Fortunately, the man did not keep him waiting long. "The leadership of our group hopes to invite Director Rosenberg, at an appropriate time, to attend the premiere of one of your imported films. This would also serve as a cinematic cultural exchange between China and the United States."

Duke felt no surprise at the invitation. Given the success he had achieved, it was a perfectly natural development. Furthermore, ever since Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman went over there to promote Moulin Rouge! the previous year, top-tier Hollywood actors and directors had gradually begun to realize just how vast that market was.

With Paramount Pictures leading the way, major Hollywood companies were gradually establishing Far East branches. A few had even set up liaison offices in the North. Even though their film industry was still extremely backward, a market could always be cultivated.