Chapter 730: Dreamscape

After its first weekend in North America, Fury Road entered its first workday. Monday's box office dropped fifty-three percent from the previous day to 11.34 million dollars. The PG-rated The Adventures of Tintin saw a gentler drop, but its revenue was already low, pulling in just 2.65 million dollars for the day.

The two were simply not in the same weight class.

Even the most optimistic market forecasting agencies didn't believe the North American box office for The Adventures of Tintin could surpass one hundred million dollars.

"Let alone a hundred million," Tina Fey said to Scarlett Johansson on the plane. "Even breaking fifty million dollars will be extremely difficult."

Scarlett rubbed her chin. "I wonder where I can run into David Ellison," she muttered. "He's the person I want to see the most right now."

Duke looked at the two women but didn't say anything.

For a film like The Adventures of Tintin, the production budget was definitely over a hundred million dollars, and the promotional costs were nearly equal to that. Aside from word-of-mouth, its poor North American box office might also be due to the audience's failure to adapt to a foreign cultural product. The film's overseas box office might fare slightly better, but it would be incredibly difficult for David Ellison to recoup his investment.

David Ellison didn't like him, and he didn't like David Ellison. This was common knowledge in Hollywood.

After the economic crisis, David Ellison had used his massive liquid capital to win the favor of companies like Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks. In Hollywood, however, he was destined to be an outsider ostracized by traditional powers.

In truth, what Duke wanted was simple. Kicking David Ellison out of this circle would be enough.

The Ellison Family possessed tremendous funds, and Larry Ellison had a net worth on paper no less than his own, but this didn't mean David Ellison could mobilize those resources. Moreover, as long as he kept failing, Larry Ellison would lose patience. If he continuously botched major investments, securing his family's support and outside financing would become incredibly difficult.

Without Larry Ellison's support, David Ellison was nothing more than a featherless vulture.

The four projects David Ellison had taken over all required massive investments. Even if he didn't use too much of his own money and raised outside funds, the consequences of failure would still be severe.

The distant ones couldn't be evaluated yet, but the current situation with The Adventures of Tintin was highly unoptimistic. Across four workdays including Monday, this family-friendly movie had only pulled in a little over 9 million dollars. Although it pushed its North American box office past 20 million dollars, it had basically zero competitiveness in the fiercely contested Summer Season.

In those same four workdays, Fury Road earned 42.68 million dollars. Its North American box office easily crossed the one-hundred-million-dollar threshold, reaching a staggering 117.51 million dollars.

At the same time, it raked in nearly 70 million dollars overseas, pushing its global box office past 300 million dollars.

A new weekend arrived. North America welcomed the important Memorial Day release window, and Alvin and the Chipmunks also hit North American theaters.

This was a PG-rated animated film. Its audience was completely different from that of Fury Road, or else the distributor, Twentieth Century Fox, wouldn't have released it on Fury Road's second weekend.

Fury Road wouldn't suffer much of an impact, but The Adventures of Tintin was different. Sharing the same target audience caused its second-weekend box office to plummet. Over the three days, it garnered a mere 4.52 million dollars.

Unsurprisingly, Alvin and the Chipmunks took the North American box office crown for the weekend, pulling in 48.8 million dollars. Sitting right behind the animated film was Fury Road. Just as predicted, strong word-of-mouth gave the R-Rated Film an incredibly stable trajectory; its second-weekend North American box office dropped by only forty-two percent, closing at 43.4 million dollars.

Ten days into its release, Fury Road's North American box office had accumulated 160.91 million dollars, with a global tally of 412.06 million dollars.

Outstanding marketing, explosive word-of-mouth, and the immense star power of Duke, Charlize Theron, and Tom Cruise combined to make this R-Rated Film a massive hit.

Since the crew's promotional tour was split into three legs, Duke met up with Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise when he arrived in New York. The three of them sat down together for an exclusive interview with the NBC Television Network.

There was nothing particularly special about the interview; it was just one link in the overall promotional campaign. The only notable moment was Duke revealing that Fury Road would become a franchise, potentially followed by a standalone movie about Furiosa. Furthermore, he announced a collaboration with DC Comics to release a Fury Road comic book series, which would focus especially on the highly anticipated Rock Warrior and detail his origins.

And, of course, there were plans for his new project.

"I already have an idea for my new project," Duke said candidly to the camera. "It will still be a sci-fi film, themed around dreams and how to utilize them!"

He deliberately leaked a few details, but no matter how the host pressed him afterward, Duke refused to disclose anything more.

"Is it that sci-fi script you registered with the Writers Guild a long time ago?" Tom Cruise asked Duke as they left the dressing room after taking off their makeup. "How about letting me play the male lead?"

Although he had mentioned the project to Leonardo DiCaprio early on, and Xiao Li had shown immense interest, Duke didn't reject Tom Cruise outright. Instead, he asked, "Are you sure you have the time?"

Tom Cruise thought about it and could only shake his head. "I have to oversee the post-production of Mission: Impossible 4, and I have a new movie to shoot. I really don't have the time."

Walking into the parking lot, he checked his watch and said, "I have to catch a flight back to Los Angeles. I'm heading out first."

"Wait!" Duke called out to stop him. He had Tina Fey fetch a large gift box from the car and handed it to Cruise. "This is a present for Suri. I'll go see her when I get back to Los Angeles."

"You really are a proper godfather." Taking the gift box, Tom Cruise leaned in close to Duke and said, "Actually, I'd really like to be a godfather too."

Duke understood what Tom Cruise meant. He shrugged and said with a touch of helplessness, "That kind of thing just has to take its natural course."

He and Scarlett hadn't really been using contraception, but Miss Jensen hadn't shown any signs of pregnancy yet.

Besides, Scarlett was only twenty-four. She and Duke weren't in a hurry.

Tom Cruise's car hurriedly sped out of the parking lot. Just as Duke was getting ready to leave, Charlize Theron walked out of the elevators with her assistant. Instead of heading to her own car, she walked over to Duke.

"Something on your mind?" Duke asked, leaning against his Bentley.

"Nothing really." Charlize Theron took off her sunglasses, looked at Duke, and said, "I just wanted to remind you not to forget to vote for me during the awards season."

Duke frowned. "Is that all?"

In truth, Charlize Theron knew very well that given Duke's style of doing things, he would definitely cast his vote for her even if she hadn't come over to mention it. She shrugged and continued, "Back in New Mexico, didn't you mention your new film to me? Isn't there a female character with limited screentime? Will you give it to me?"

"Leo's salary isn't cheap..." Duke shook his head. "It's impossible for me to squeeze out another twenty million dollars in the budget."

Even though they hadn't formally negotiated yet, both he as the director and Leonardo DiCaprio would inevitably command hefty base salaries plus a cut of the backend profits. Tacking on Charlize Theron would drive Warner Brothers absolutely crazy, and it would also squeeze his production budget.

The current Charlize Theron absolutely had the clout to demand a 20 million dollar salary plus backend points.

"Didn't you say the role is small?" Charlize smiled. "Just give me a symbolic salary. Treat it as a friendly guest appearance."

Duke gave her a look, roughly understanding what she meant. She was using this method to repay the favor.

"Alright..." Duke didn't refuse. "Once the project is greenlit, I'll have someone talk to Nancy."

"I'll give her a heads-up beforehand." Charlize gazed at Duke for a moment before turning away. "Goodbye then, Duke."

Having said her piece, she showed no further hesitation and no lingering attachment, striding briskly in her own direction.

She was very clear on the kind of person Duke was. Some things couldn't be won just by fighting for them. Rather than clinging to him and making a mess, it was better to maintain a good relationship and an appropriate distance, paving the way for a better future for herself.

Tina Fey had been quietly watching Charlize Theron the whole time. Having been by Duke's side for so many years, she had personally witnessed the shift in their relationship. Among all the women Duke had dated, Charlize might not have been the smartest, but she was the one who best understood what to hold on to and what to let go.

Correspondingly, she was also the one who, even after everything was over, still made Duke care enough to look out for her.

Watching Charlize Theron's tall figure disappear into her car, Duke pulled his door open and slid into the Bentley. Once Tina Fey got in on the other side, he told the driver, "To Long Island."

He really liked Charlize's personality, and Duke would never deny that.

Of course, nowadays it was more akin to appreciation. He wasn't foolish enough to think that with Charlize Theron's current status, she would still maintain the kind of relationship they'd had in the past.

In fact, ever since he ended his previously chaotic lifestyle, Duke had never thought about reverting back to that state either.

As the car drove out of the parking lot, Duke turned to ask Tina Fey beside him, "Has the script reached Leo's hands yet?"

Tina Fey answered immediately, "Leonardo is vacationing in Mallorca, Spain. The script was given to his agent, Eno Martin, who will fly to Spain specifically to pass it on to Leonardo."

Duke had mentioned this project to Xiao Li a long time ago, and the other party had been very interested. Getting him to accept it wouldn't be a problem, so he wasn't particularly worried.