Chapter 488: Breaking 1.5 Billion

In this industry, many actresses became extremely popular because of a single film, catapulting them onto the A-list, only for their subsequent projects to fare worse and worse as their careers went into steep decline. By the turn of the century, past fame aside, whenever people mentioned their work, the only movie anyone remembered was the one from years ago.

Demi Moore and Meg Ryan, for example.

The former rose to fame with Ghost, which became the undisputed peak of her career. Within a few years, she was box office poison, and not even stripping completely naked in Striptease could change that.

The latter's situation was much the same. She became America's Sweetheart with Sleepless in Seattle, but never followed it up with anything truly commendable. Actresses had relatively short shelf lives, and by the turn of the century, calling her a B-lister was a stretch, let alone an A-lister. For a final gamble, the former sweetheart also chose to take her clothes off, but In the Cut, released this spring, was an absolute failure both at the box office and in word of mouth.

It was no exaggeration to say that Meg Ryan was finished. Over forty years old with a negative box office return rate, she had been abandoned by the mainstream film industry...

Barring a miracle, the former America's Sweetheart would only be able to scrape by in small supporting roles in indie productions from now on just to maintain a presence.

Nancy Josephson had recommended Meg Ryan. She was Nancy's newly signed client, and after Duke watched one of her auditions, he locked her in to play the mother.

A-list and even B-list actresses generally refused to play older mothers unless they had no other choice. Taking such a role meant kissing goodbye to ever being cast as a public heartthrob again, a trade-off that simply wasn't worth it.

Meg Ryan, however, was out of options. Her salary was also a mere two million dollars.

Her audition was solid, and her asking price wasn't high. All else being equal, Duke naturally prioritized actors recommended by his own people, just as he had on past projects.

By mid-August, aside from a few roles like Agent Bryan's daughter, the cast was largely locked in. Liam Neeson officially joined the crew, training under action choreographer Jimmy Carter and a firearms expert.

"Liam, we can use a stunt double for many of the action scenes."

In the studio's training facility, Duke spoke to the older tough guy, who had just finished his session.

"But there are some scenes you'll still need to do yourself," Duke added.

"I don't think my weight will be an issue, since I've always made a point to maintain it." Liam Neeson tossed his sweaty towel to an assistant. "I'll step up my exercise routine and take on intense combat training. I've always wanted to be a martial arts master."

"Are you interested in playing a villain?" Duke suddenly asked.

"A villain?" Liam Neeson thought for a moment before replying, "Whatever you need, Duke."

"Liam, there are certain qualities about you that I really like." Duke meant it. The veteran actor's range might not have been the absolute greatest, but whether playing a gentleman or a ruthless thug, he brought the character to life flawlessly. "After Taken, I have a new project lined up. There's a villain in it—a fanatic who delusionally wants to save the world through destruction..."

"May I ask what movie it is?" Liam Neeson asked, rather intrigued.

"The project is under wraps for now, so keep this between us," Duke cautioned first, then added, "I'm planning to reboot Batman."

"Batman?" Liam Neeson hesitated slightly.

He was well-connected enough to know that Batman and Robin had practically killed the franchise years ago, forcing Warner Brothers to ice it indefinitely. Wouldn't rebooting Batman be far too difficult?

But then he quickly realized that the man standing in front of him was no ordinary director. If Duke could turn The Lord of the Rings Trilogy into a cinematic masterpiece, what was Batman?

"Not a problem," Liam Neeson said. "Whenever the project is ready to go, just let my agent know."

Liam Neeson got ready to head back to the locker room to change.

"If you're free tonight, come join the party," Duke told him.

"Sure," he agreed without hesitation.

It was a reception hosted by The Lord of the Rings Studio, primarily for distributors of The Lord of the Rings merchandise. Anyone in business understood the importance of distribution channels. In an era where e-commerce was just emerging, long before its inevitable rise, traditional retailers remained the key to strong movie merchandise sales.

Global merchandise sales for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy had long surpassed two billion dollars. The biggest beneficiary was naturally The Lord of the Rings Studio, but the distributors had also made a fortune.

Duke mingled his way around the banquet hall until two men approached him.

"Director Rosenberg..."

"Just call me Duke."

Duke was always polite to people who made him money, especially considering the two men standing before him were the largest West Coast distributors for The Lord of the Rings merchandise.

"Hello, Peter. Hello, Edward."

Duke shook hands with the two wealthy Chinese-American businessmen one by one, then glanced at the people beside them.

As in any corner of the globe, as long as there was wealth and power, wealthy men in North America—regardless of their ethnicity—were never short of beautiful women. However, the women standing beside these two men looked awfully familiar to Duke.

Peter Coe was highly observant and immediately took the initiative to introduce her. "Duke, this is my date, Miss Amanda Seyfried."

He then gestured to the woman beside Edward Yang. "And this is Miss Zhang, from China."

Duke gave them a polite nod. He would never do anything disrespectful in such a public setting.

Seeing Miss Zhang clinging tightly to Edward Yang's arm was slightly surprising, but given her track record, it made perfect sense. Edward Yang's business was closely tied to Hollywood; knowing her usual style, she would likely throw herself at him even if he didn't pursue her.

That sort of thing was none of his business, however, so Duke quickly put it out of his mind.

"Duke, if you ever have the time, you're always welcome to visit us in San Francisco." Peter Coe was noticeably more grounded than Edward Yang, who had once punched Orlando Bloom. "We've always appreciated your full support."

"Don't mention it," Duke said with a smile. "It's a win-win partnership."

Their chain stores spanned nearly every major city on the West Coast, so naturally, The Lord of the Rings Studio prioritized allocating resources to back such massive distributors.

After exchanging a few more words, Edward Yang led Miss Zhang away first. Peter Coe seemed to have something else on his mind and stayed behind.

"Is something on your mind?" Duke asked, looking at him.

Peter Coe hesitated for a moment before probing, "I heard you're prepping a new movie, and the crew is casting actresses..."

Duke instantly understood what he meant. He thought it over, asked a waiter for a pen and paper, and jotted down Wallace Lee's phone number for Peter Coe.

Duke didn't care about such a trivial favor; tossing the matter to the casting director was enough. If Amanda Seyfried fit the bill, she could compete for certain roles. If she didn't, Wallace Lee wouldn't greenlight her anyway.

Although he highly valued traditional sales channels for movie merchandise, Duke knew perfectly well that the changes brought on by the internet had already begun. The internet would continue to strike heavy blows against traditional retail, so during this reception, he made it a point to speak with representatives from Amazon.

Just days prior, The Lord of the Rings Studio had signed relevant agreements with Amazon. However, compared to traditional theater and storefront sales, Amazon's merchandise shipment volume could only be described as better than nothing for now.

Still, Duke knew the future power of online shopping, which had already prompted Duke Studio to establish strategic partnerships with websites like Amazon.

Following the reception, Tina Fey and an executive from Warner Brothers flew to the far side of the Pacific Ocean.

Although the film market across the ocean could currently be ignored, and Duke had no short-term plans to target it, many of Duke Studio's operations still maintained close ties there.

Most importantly, from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy to the Harry Potter Series, a massive amount of merchandise was "Made-in-China," and it wasn't just Duke and Warner—companies like Walt Disney also sourced much of their merchandise from "Made-in-China."

Tourists shopping at Disneyland and other local gift shops actually had a high probability of buying goods exported from their own country, bringing them right back home.

Tina Fey had flown over as Duke's representative specifically to sign new manufacturing contracts with several factories.

Duke spent the entirety of August prepping for Taken and attending social functions. When September rolled around, aside from continuing prep on his new projects, he also reviewed the box office numbers for Return of the King over the past month.

After four months in theaters, the film's screen count in North America had dropped to fewer than 1,200. With its screen share and per-theater averages steadily declining, it only pulled in 18.2 million dollars domestically over the past month, signaling the final leg of its theatrical run.

However, the film's total box office in North America had reached a staggering 562.45 million dollars, drawing closer and closer to the 600 million mark. Duke and Warner Brothers had already communicated extensively with the North American Theater Alliance to keep the movie in theaters for as long as possible. Aside from pushing for that 600 million milestone, this was also to lay the groundwork for the upcoming awards season.

More often than not, whether a film was still playing in theaters could influence the votes of certain jury members.

As Return of the King continued to cool down in North America, the same held true worldwide. In that identical timeframe, the film earned 20.21 million dollars overseas, pushing its cumulative global box office to 1,480,590,000 dollars!

Although the movie was still a bit shy of the 1.5 billion mark, everyone could see clearly that the final global box office would inevitably smash through 1.5 billion dollars.

However, that remaining 20 million dollars wasn't going to be an easy hurdle. It wasn't until mid-November, right as Taken was preparing to start shooting, that the global box office for Return of the King finally breached the 1.5 billion dollar threshold, reaching 1,501,210,000 dollars!