Chapter 491: Simultaneous Release in China and the US

Duke knew perfectly well that neither he nor Peter Weir were directors the Academy favored. Weir had made a film mocking the entire film industry, while Duke was a commercial director through and through.

Because of this, even though he held the advantage, Duke never slowed down his efforts on this front.

Most of the people entangled in the Christophe Rocancourt incident had expressed their support for him, whether explicitly or implicitly. Frank Pierson in particular, the vice president of the Academy's rotating committee, had subtly relayed through Nancy that he would support The Return of the King at this year's Oscars.

In the period leading up to Christmas, aside from filming Taken, Duke constantly carved out time to attend various parties. Even if he didn't need to canvass for votes in person, he still had to show he was actively competing for them.

Duke Studio threw large parties under various pretexts every week, and the attendees never left empty-handed.

Elaborate luxury DVD box sets were essential for the judges to evaluate the films, and with DVDs, they needed something to play them on. Duke Studio loaned the judges a batch of custom-made disc players from Sony Electronics. Though they were officially on "loan," the return date was an unspoken secret.

The custom Lord of the Rings porcelain set from British Royal Albert was merely a small complimentary souvenir...

By Christmas, Duke Studio had handed out tens of thousands of these DVDs and porcelain souvenirs alone, taking care of every Academy member and greasing every possible connection.

Strictly speaking, this definitely pushed the Academy's bottom line. But at today's Oscars, almost every competing project did the same, and some went even further. As long as it was kept within certain limits, the Academy would usually turn a blind eye.

Even if the Academy couldn't stand it, they would drag out a couple of small fry to make an example of to warn the others. Over the many years of the Oscars, especially since the 1990s, the trend of throwing money at PR had become increasingly obvious. Had the Academy ever punished a prominent figure?

The Weinstein Brothers played every PR trick in the book. Had the Academy ever issued them a direct warning?

After spending Christmas with his mother in New York, Duke returned to Los Angeles. He temporarily handed off his PR affairs to Penny Kalis and Nancy Josephson, then led the crew onto a chartered flight bound for Paris, the fashion capital of the world, to kick off the final location shoots for Taken.

Although France was famous for producing arthouse films, a glance at the country's annual box office rankings made it easy to see that commercial films always dominated the top spots—often commercial films out of Hollywood. As the most representative director of Hollywood commercial cinema, Duke and his crew had barely set foot on the Champs-Élysées before they were swarmed by a horde of reporters and fans, bringing filming to a temporary halt.

"Looks like I'm still quite famous in France."

While the crew's security detail struggled to maintain order, Duke stood behind the camera.

"Though right now, I'd much rather be a nobody," he said self-deprecatingly to Tina Fey.

The gathering of fans and reporters inevitably disrupted the shoot, even though many had begun consciously following order.

"You should have had a clear understanding of this long ago," Tina Fey said, handing Duke his water bottle. "It wasn't until I went to the East that I realized just how massive your influence truly is. You are the most famous Hollywood director over there. The people there who know anything about Hollywood might not know Steven Spielberg, but practically all of them know you."

Duke laughed, looking exceptionally delighted.

"I visited the cultural markets in the major cities over there and talked with a few people," she said.

In recent years, Tina Fey had gradually become the de facto manager of Duke Studio. She was clearly studying the market.

"Discs of Speed, The Rock, Saving Private Ryan, and Black Empire can be seen everywhere," she continued. "They're among the best-selling discs. Many people over there got to know you and your movies through them."

"It's a pity..." She shook her head. "None of the discs I saw were authorized by us or Warner."

Tina Fey looked at Duke in confusion. "I suggested suing them. Duke, why did you veto it?"

"Spend endless energy fighting a cross-border lawsuit?" Duke shook his head. "Do you think it's worth it, Tina?"

Let alone in 2003, even more than a decade later during his final days in his previous life, copyright was often just empty talk. Moreover, countless people—himself included back then—were beneficiaries of weak copyright protection...

Seeing something and actually doing it were two completely different things.

Duke never deluded himself into thinking he could change the overarching climate of an entire industry, let alone an entire country, all on his own.

"Also, Duke, how do you plan to respond to their invitation?" Tina Fey asked.

During her trip, Tina Fey had met with an official in charge of film affairs over there. Representing a certain department, the official had extended another invitation to Duke, hoping he would pick a suitable time next year to bring his film across the Pacific Ocean.

Following the September 11 Attacks and the signing of the WTO's memorandum on films and other package agreements, more and more Hollywood film crews were showing up over there. During the summer, for instance, George Lucas had taken Star Wars Prequel: Revenge of the Sith to shoot on location in a city famous for its scenic landscapes.

Furthermore, according to Twentieth Century Fox's plan, Star Wars Prequel: Revenge of the Sith would be released simultaneously in China and the US.

The hungry wolves of Hollywood had already set their sights on that massive market, just waiting for it to mature before opening their bloodthirsty maws.

"Tell Warner later. Have their international distribution department negotiate with them," Duke said.

In truth, Duke had been considering this ever since Tina Fey returned to Los Angeles and relayed the invitation. Now, he had made his decision.

"If they agree to a simultaneous release of Taken in both China and the US, I can go over for the premiere," he added.

Since they had repeatedly invited him and Sino-US relations were thawing, Duke decided to go take a look. Perhaps he could further boost his reputation, so that when that vast market exploded in the future, his films could also bring in staggering box office numbers.

As time passed, order at the temporary set improved. After making some adjustments, the crew quickly resumed filming. The shots here were basically devoid of any difficulty. Liam Neeson and a French actor stood on one side of a reflector panel, having a simple conversation.

Because the set was relatively noisy, Duke abandoned live audio recording, opting to dub the dialogue in post-production.

Due to the large crowds of reporters and fans watching, a few takes that were supposed to take two hours to shoot ended up consuming a full half day. It wasn't until night had completely fallen that Duke led the crew back to the hotel.

Upon returning to the hotel, Duke discovered that Ivanka, who had been on a business trip in London, had also come to Paris.

"Are you finished with your business in Britain?"

Leading her back into the room, Duke asked, "Did it go smoothly?"

He poured a glass of water, walked over to the sofa, and handed it to Ivanka, who was sitting there.

Ivanka took a sip before speaking. "It went okay. I reached a promotion agreement with two companies in Britain. Our website will officially enter the British and European markets."

"It's growing so fast," Duke couldn't help but marvel.

Ivanka tugged at Duke. Once he sat down beside her, she habitually leaned half her body against him and said, "If you hadn't helped me take that crucial first step in wide-scale promotion, it couldn't have grown this fast."

"Don't forget, I'm a shareholder, too." Duke reached out and gently pinched Ivanka's nose. "And a member of the board of directors."

"A member in name only," Ivanka mumbled.

Duke chuckled and leaned down to kiss her cheek. For the most part, his shares in Instant Sharing were managed by David as his proxy.

"Even though the company is growing rapidly, it still hasn't generated any real profit." Ivanka seemed a little worried. "I also owe the bank a lot of debt."

Any corporate expansion required massive funding, and Instant Sharing was no exception. Duke had plenty of capital, but Ivanka did not. Other than gaining control of her trust fund at twenty-one, her funds primarily came from bank loans.

It wasn't that Duke had never offered to provide her with funds, but Ivanka had refused.

In truth, it wasn't hard for Duke to guess Ivanka's mindset. While she was fine letting Duke take the lead in their personal lives, she still wanted to maintain a degree of independence in business.

This was not surprising. In a commercial society like North America, it was the most normal thing in the world.

"I heard Google is preparing to go public?" Ivanka suddenly asked.

Duke nodded. "Yeah. If nothing goes wrong, it should be in the second half of next year."

"Am I going to witness the birth of a miracle?" Ivanka deliberately put on a curious expression. "Are you going to become a multibillionaire?"

She remembered very clearly that although Google had undergone several rounds of financing and stock expansion, diluting Duke's shares to some extent, he still held a twenty-five percent stake through continuous investment. Given the outside world's optimism about Google and Wall Street's analytical forecasts, once Google went public, the value of those shares would inevitably turn into an enormous figure of wealth.

"Darling..." Duke gently wrapped his arm around Ivanka's waist. "You won't do too badly in the future, either."

Given Instant Sharing's current growth rate, if they managed to take it public in the future, it wouldn't necessarily fail to create a wealth miracle of its own.

Ivanka blinked, then suddenly asked, "What do you think about taking our company public?"

"Now?" Duke frowned slightly. This wasn't the first time Ivanka had brought this up.

She had mentioned the idea after returning from New York, but Duke had been busy shooting his new film at the time and hadn't taken it to heart.

"I think the timing is decent. The IT industry and the NASDAQ are both warming up." Even though Ivanka had her own thoughts on the matter, she still sought Duke's opinion. "The website's registered users have also surpassed five million. What do you think?"

"Let's wait a little longer," Duke said after a moment of thought. "We'll wait for Google to go public, then observe the situation first."

After pondering for a moment, Ivanka nodded. "Alright, then we'll wait a bit longer."