Chapter 593: North America and Overseas

"Walt Disney has become a behemoth. No matter how capable Michael Eisner is, he needs help to control the entire corporate group."

On the terrace of Duke Manor, Duke, Tina Fey, Nancy Josephson, and a few others sat around a round table, sipping afternoon tea and discussing the current situation. Duke set down his coffee.

"Dick Cook is Michael Eisner's most important assistant," he said. "With his help, Eisner's position is rock-solid. It'll be exponentially harder for Robert Iger and Roy Disney to turn the tables."

"So, you encouraged Robert Iger to go after Dick Cook first?" Nancy Josephson asked knowingly.

"It's just a bit of revenge."

Duke had no need to hide anything from these people.

"Although there's no proof, that last leak is inextricably linked to Disney," he said bluntly. "And Dick Cook most likely orchestrated it."

Tina Fey gave a soft snort.

"If he dares to reach his hand over, we aren't just going to slap it away," she added, picking up where Duke left off. "We're going to try to chop off the whole arm!"

Picking up the silver teapot, Scarlett Johansson topped off everyone's cups.

"Can we really chop it off?" she asked curiously.

"How could there be absolute certainty with this kind of thing?" Duke said, leaning back in his wicker chair. "However, those two matters used to fall under Dick Cook's jurisdiction. Given Robert Iger and Roy Disney's capabilities, they definitely won't let an opportunity like this slip by."

Nancy Josephson nodded.

"I've dealt with Robert Iger many times. He's a highly capable man."

Frowning slightly, she asked, "What if Dick Cook falls from power? Are we going to fully support Robert Iger?"

"A powerful Walt Disney doesn't align with our interests." Duke rested his folded hands on the armrests of his chair. "The best-case scenario is for Robert Iger to reach a balance of power with Michael Eisner..."

Scarlett immediately understood.

"So they'll get caught up in internal fighting?"

Seeing Duke and Tina Fey nod slowly, Scarlett pressed on.

"Why not support Robert Iger's rise to power?"

"Because Robert Iger taking power does us no good, darling."

Tina Fey was the one who answered. She offered a brief explanation:

"Take just one aspect. Michael Eisner dislikes the Disney Animation Studio, but Robert Iger is dead set on reviving it. Don't forget that the Pixar Animation Studio is closely tied to us, and the market for animated films is much smaller than for live-action. If Disney Animation reclaims its former glory..."

She didn't need to say more. Scarlett had already figured it out.

Duke set down his teacup and looked toward Tina Fey and Nancy Josephson.

"Have someone keep an eye on Robert Iger and Disney," he said.

Speaking of animated films, Duke couldn't help but recall another matter. When he'd looked into it, he discovered that the DreamWorks Animation Studio had already come up with the concept for Kung Fu Panda and was preparing to enter pre-production. Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Brothers had already contacted Jeffrey Katzenberg several times. Although they hadn't completely secured the project, they were investing in it and would respectively handle the North American and overseas distribution for the animated feature.

By now, negotiations for the Warner Fox World project had reached their final stages. A formal contract with the other side of the Pacific Ocean could be signed at any moment.

However, there were also some obstacles.

For example, some individuals on the other side had tentatively proposed a condition: they wanted to invite Duke to direct the opening ceremony of that grand 2008 event.

But Duke was no fool; he knew where he could show goodwill, and which lines could not be crossed. Otherwise, even with his status, he would be ostracized.

At his current level, he had to consider issues from his own standpoint. It wasn't that he didn't want to do certain things, but rather that he absolutely couldn't. Doing them would only alienate both sides.

Therefore, as soon as this news reached him through unofficial channels, he rejected the offer without a second's hesitation.

In truth, once someone reached a certain point in Hollywood, they inevitably became entangled in politics. The vast majority of Hollywood celebrities were political activists. Take Tina Fey, for example; her political leanings were very similar to Harrison Ford's, strongly supporting the Federal Government's war on terror and the use of military force in Iraq.

Another example was Scarlett Johansson, a textbook supporter of the Democratic Party.

It was no exaggeration to say that politics were never far from Hollywood. Although Duke didn't have any obvious leanings, he wasn't going to put himself in a completely passive position.

After all, North America was his foundation now.

Even though declining the unofficial invitation would bring a bit of trouble, Duke knew very well that with an investment of this scale, such a minor issue wouldn't cause any earth-shattering changes.

According to the latest news from across the Pacific Ocean, all that Warner Fox World lacked was a formal contract.

The impact of this investment was already beginning to show. The other side of the Pacific Ocean would become one of the earliest overseas markets to screen Iron Man, and their desire to import Batman 2: The Dark Knight was also quite strong.

For the sake of the future, Duke also needed to make some adjustments to that film's setting. If left exactly as it had been in his past life, the movie would definitely fail to pass the censors, and it might even destroy the relatively neutral stance he had established over the years.

Just as he wouldn't obsess over shooting on film, Duke wasn't Christopher Nolan; he wouldn't cling to artistic insistences that he saw as completely unnecessary.

Staying in Los Angeles until Monday night, Duke met up with the rest of the main crew and kicked off their North American promotional tour. During the tour, Robert Downey Jr. became the most popular attraction. This genius actor, who had once fallen from the peak to rock bottom, had finally returned to the mainstream through the role of Tony Stark, stepping onto the path of stardom once again.

For the current Robert Downey Jr., this was absolutely a good thing, but for the Downey who would become a megastar in the future, it would become a hurdle.

Right now, it was Robert Downey Jr. playing Tony Stark. But after one or two more Iron Man films, Robert Downey Jr. would simply be Tony Stark.

No actor wanted to face that situation. Once they did, there was a high chance that playing any other character would only end in failure.

But Duke was certain that Robert Downey Jr. would never regret choosing the role of Tony Stark.

The fanatical reaction Robert Downey Jr. sparked from fans everywhere they went was a true reflection of the market's response.

Once the work week began, the daily box office for Iron Man started to drop significantly. Compared to Sunday, Monday plummeted by 58 percent, raking in 15.49 million dollars.

For a movie with such a strong popcorn flavor like Iron Man, weekdays generally exhibited a continuous downward trend. However, buoyed by positive word-of-mouth from both the media and audiences, the decline was consistently kept to a minimum.

On Tuesday, Iron Man took in 14.86 million dollars in North America. On Wednesday, the daily gross was 14.38 million dollars. On Thursday, it brought in 13.81 million dollars.

When the new weekend began, the cumulative North American box office for Iron Man had easily broken past 150 million dollars, reaching 184.49 million dollars.

Although new movies like Speed Racer were opening this weekend, the outside world unanimously predicted that Iron Man would secure its second consecutive box office championship, and its North American gross would inevitably surpass 200 million dollars.

Over in Las Vegas, starting from Wednesday, bookmakers had closed betting on Iron Man reaching a 300-million-dollar North American box office, while simultaneously adjusting the odds for the 350-million-dollar mark to one-to-one.

Riding the massive success of Iron Man, Marvel Pictures, Marvel Comics, and Warner Brothers held a joint press conference to announce new Marvel superhero movie plans. The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and Iron Man 2 were all placed on the schedule.

Casting and director selection for the various films would also begin in succession.

This drew the attention of many, especially fans of the original comics, and it somewhat stimulated the second-weekend box office for Iron Man. Speed Racer, opening this weekend, couldn't pose any substantial threat to Tony Stark.

Just as the weekend passed, Premiere published its latest weekend box office bulletin through its Instant Sharing account.

"Iron Man defends North American box office crown; Speed Racer's engine stalls."

"Invested in by Universal Pictures and directed by the Wachowski siblings, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, Speed Racer unfortunately became the first casualty of this year's Summer Season. Squeezed by last week's champion, Iron Man, it raked in only 20.21 million dollars over three days, falling far short of the industry's anticipated 45-to-65-million-dollar opening."

"On the other hand, the critically and commercially acclaimed Iron Man remained unstoppable this week, successfully defending its title with an outstanding 58.5 million dollars. Its cumulative North American earnings have reached 242.99 million dollars—a figure that brings a taste of reality to Iron Man ultimately breaking the 350-million-dollar milestone."

"Driven by this superhero, although the sum of the North American Top 10 box office fell by about 22 percent, it set a new historical record for the same period with a total market value of roughly 117 million dollars, shattering the 115-million-dollar record set six years ago when Spider-Man 1 took the lead."

"Duke Rosenberg's new film is as dominant as ever, once again validating his title as the king of the North American Summer Season."

It was also this weekend that Iron Man landed in major overseas markets like Europe, Latin America, Australia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. However, compared to its explosive surge in North America, Iron Man encountered a situation similar to Batman Begins: it did not experience the same box office boom.