Chapter 827: China-US Film Forum

"What?"

Hearing his agent's words over the phone, Dwayne Johnson stood up and rubbed his bald head.

"Is Nancy Josephson trying to poach me?"

"Dwayne!" his agent stressed over the phone. "If she wanted to poach you, would she have contacted me first? She reached out to me on someone else's behalf. He wants you in his next movie."

A faint guess formed in his mind, but Dwayne Johnson still asked reflexively, "Who is she representing?"

"Her biggest client, of course. The most famous director in Hollywood."

The agent stopped keeping him in suspense and gave it to him straight. "Duke Rosenberg wants you to audition for his next film."

Without a second thought, Dwayne Johnson said, "Take it! I don't care what kind of role it is or what I have to do, you have to accept it for me!"

Despite an incredibly tough exterior that made him look like a meathead, Dwayne Johnson possessed a meticulous mind beneath his brawn. Otherwise, out of all the people in the World Professional Wrestling Alliance trying to transition to Hollywood, he wouldn't be the only one to find true success.

However, this success was only relative.

For example, in Fast and Furious 5, which was slated for release next week, his role didn't carry much weight. Furthermore, he had been overshadowed by that dead bald guy from the beginning to the end of production.

Dwayne Johnson knew exactly what accepting a Duke Rosenberg film meant and what it could bring him.

As for what David Ellison and the Fast and Furious 5 crew would think? Or whether it would be doing a disservice to that dead bald guy? He didn't care in the slightest.

Gal Gadot, an original cast member of Fast & Furious, hadn't returned for Fast and Furious 5 anyway. Rumors had been circulating in the industry that she had latched onto ICM and Duke Rosenberg, preparing for a new role and completely looking down on a minor supporting part in Fast and Furious 5.

In Dwayne Johnson's eyes, Gal Gadot was just lucky, and now he had the chance to be lucky too.

Working with Duke Rosenberg was the absolute dream for anyone trying to make a name for themselves in Hollywood.

"Wait, Dwayne,"

His agent's voice came through again. "It's a villain role, the main villain of the movie!"

Dwayne Johnson still didn't hesitate. "Accept the audition. I want you to do whatever it takes to get me this role."

Ending the call, Dwayne Johnson put his phone away and sat back down on the sofa. His gaze fell back onto the newspaper he had been reading earlier, a faint sneer playing at the corners of his mouth.

"David Ellison is simply delusional. Did he really think hyping up the news of Vin Diesel's fatal car crash would allow Fast and Furious 5 to rival The Avengers?"

Looking at the weekly North American box office report in the paper, Dwayne Johnson was absolutely certain it was a joke.

"The Avengers made a dominant debut with an unprecedented opening of over $200 million. Not only did it top the charts without any suspense, but it also shattered a series of records, including the $192.26 million opening weekend box office record previously held by Duke Rosenberg's other film, The Dark Knight. Faced with the might of the Avengers, no other new films dared to open during the same period last week. The overall box office market surged by 335 percent compared to the previous week, reaching a total revenue of $271.21 million—a full 100 percent higher than when Inception kicked off the summer season at this time last year!"

"The absolute focus of last week's charts was naturally the official North American debut of The Avengers. The film launched a massive offensive across 4,480 theaters, achieving an astonishing per-theater average of $50,000. It ultimately raked in over $243.31 million in three days, easily breaking the opening weekend record previously held by The Dark Knight."

"Furthermore, although its midnight screening premiere box office of $33.8 million wasn't enough to defeat the fans of the little wizard and the vampires, its Friday box office of $100.66 million allowed The Avengers to set new records across three categories: opening day, single-day, and Friday box office. Its two-day haul of $82.54 million on Saturday and $60.11 million on Sunday defeated The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 respectively, ranking first in cinema history for Saturday and Sunday single-day grosses. As the first film in history to break the $200 million mark in its opening weekend, it naturally shattered the speed records for crossing the $100 million, $150 million, and $200 million milestones."

"At the same time, The Avengers has already surpassed the total North American box office results of Thor, Captain America, and The Incredible Hulk. Although the film currently trails behind the two Iron Man movies, overtaking them is merely a matter of this week. Given the film's current momentum, crossing the $500 million mark in North America is only a matter of time. And considering the highest possible A+ rating on CinemaScore, a $600 million goal is well within the film's firing range."

Reading up to this point, Dwayne Johnson marveled at how utterly astonishing the film was. What kind of influence would the actors in this movie generate across North America and the rest of the world? To what terrifying heights would their paychecks soar next?

A villain? So what if it was a villain?

Leaving the Joker aside, just look at the villain in The Avengers—Tom Hiddleston absolutely outshone many of the Avengers!

At that thought, Dwayne Johnson's desire to land this opportunity through the audition burned so fiercely it threatened to overflow. He took a deep breath, suppressing the swarm of thoughts in his head, and continued reading the North American box office report.

"North American audiences gave the film the highest possible grade of A+. On professional review sites, The Avengers is an equal winner, currently boasting a towering 9.3 rating on IMDB, a 93% freshness score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a MetaCritic media aggregate score of 87."

"Several outlets awarded it a perfect score. The New York Times stated the film 'contains genuine poignancy, humor, and surprises; beyond being a standard comic book blockbuster, it is also filled with the director's unique touch, making everything about it border on perfection'; the Los Angeles Times remarked that 'the most incredible thing about the film is that it actually breathes new life into the superhero genre, which is truly a remarkable achievement'; the New York Post also hailed director Duke Rosenberg as the 'true hero of this film: he displays both the passion of a comic fan and a profound understanding of this genre'."

"Even outlets that didn't give it a perfect score maintained a praising tone. Entertainment Weekly felt that 'the large-scale special effects sequence in the streets of New York at the end of the film is, in every sense of the word, explosive'; Rolling Stone magazine noted that director Duke Rosenberg was 'the key to this $200 million monster of a movie being so spectacular and vivid; such complex and varied content ensures that audiences will barely notice the nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime...'"

"Empire magazine commented, 'The Avengers have assembled, and for the most part, Duke integrates them brilliantly. The perfect blend of heroism and humor allows the film to maintain the successful individual traits of each hero while elevating its overall quality.'"

"The Hollywood Reporter also praised, 'Director Duke Rosenberg and his colleagues have combined all the personalities and materials together so beautifully, serving up a delicious feast that, while familiar, remains utterly irresistible.'"

"The Washington Post stated that 'the film successfully satisfies almost all the demands of superfans; relying on plenty of self-deprecating humor, its adults in bizarre costumes manage to feel real and believable'; USA Today pointed out that 'Duke Rosenberg allows every character to reach their full potential—their screen time might not be exactly equal, but the audience still leaves feeling completely satisfied. This is a very smart approach indeed.'"

In truth, the box office Dwayne Johnson was focusing on was only one aspect of The Avengers' revenue.

With the film's hot theatrical run, the heroic figures of The Avengers also became highly sought-after properties in the eyes of major retailers. Aside from licensed theaters taking the lead in rolling out derivative trinkets like mugs and keychains to grab the audience's attention, major fast-fashion clothing brands also released T-shirts featuring the characters' likenesses, achieving staggering sales.

Other items such as chibi hero figurines, hero-themed flash drives, Thor's Hammer, Hawkeye's Bow and Crossbow, and Iron Man's Mask were all hot commodities in the merchandising market.

It wasn't just the film's box office that sold massively; merchandise like comics, action figures, toys, and character licensing also brought in colossal revenue for Marvel Comics. Over the exact same three-day period, ignoring everything else and solely counting character licensing, Marvel Comics raked in $350 million from across the globe!

At the same time, The Avengers' statistics from various markets worldwide were gradually forwarded to Duke by Warner Brothers. With almost no exceptions, the film claimed the weekly box office crown in nearly every overseas market where it opened concurrently. Furthermore, in China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia, it broke all existing first-week box office records.

This was especially true in China, where its performance of nearly 400 million RMB in three days left the local filmmakers utterly dumbfounded. In their eyes, this was simply unbelievable.

Nowadays, the target for most domestic Chinese films was set at 100 million RMB...

Only a select few domestic films like Let the Bullets Fly could ever hope for a box office exceeding 400 million RMB.

Duke's trip to China wasn't just to participate in the promotion for The Avengers. He also had to attend a China-US Film Forum co-hosted by Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox, and China Film Group. The forum was held at the newly opened Warner Fox World.