Chapter 889: Two Major Categories of Commercial Films

The entanglement between Twentieth Century Fox and Duke ran far deeper than his history with Walt Disney. Twentieth Century Fox had distributed his directorial debut, Speed, but the two sides eventually parted ways over investment and compensation disputes, driving Duke into the embrace of Warner Brothers. Leveraging Warner's resources, he achieved phenomenal success with The Rock, which ultimately lured Twentieth Century Fox back for another collaboration.

The three parties jointly produced Independence Day to massive success, and Duke skyrocketed to become Hollywood's most promising commercial director.

In the years that followed, Duke worked closely with Warner Brothers. His relationship with Twentieth Century Fox was a mix of cooperation and competition, though cooperation generally won out. By the time Walt Disney sent the Shanghai Disneyland plan across the Pacific Ocean, Duke and Twentieth Century Fox had grown even closer. With him acting as the middleman, Time Warner and News Group used Warner Fox World to displace Disneyland, costing Walt Disney a crucial opportunity for growth.

This partnership lasted until the Phone-Hacking Scandal erupted. The nature of capital and its representatives was on full display during the incident: Duke and Time Warner showed no intention of lending their partner, News Group, a helping hand. Instead, like all the other media companies, they relentlessly kicked them while they were down.

The reason was simple: a weakened News Group was much more beneficial to him and Time Warner.

Consequently, under continuous pressure from the Federal Government, the British Government, and the Windsor Family, News Group was inevitably forced to restructure. The world's former number-one media conglomerate split in two: a News Group focusing on newspapers and print media, and a Fox Group centered on television, the internet, and film.

Although Rupert Murdoch's eldest son took control of Fox Group, everyone understood that the once-massive News Group could no longer be directed at Rupert Murdoch's every whim as it had been before.

The fracturing of News Group also marked a shift in stance for Duke and Time Warner. Even ignoring the fact that News Group wouldn't simply vanish after the split, Duke and Time Warner would never have just stood by and watched if it did.

After all, the two sides still shared certain mutual interests—such as the Avatar sequel continually delayed by James Cameron.

The two sides once again restored their dynamic of competing while cooperating. In the face of sufficient profit, there was nothing capital and its representatives couldn't negotiate.

In the short term, the fractured News Group simply could not compete with Time Warner, where Duke was continuously increasing his stake.

Through years of effort, combined with the shares purchased at a premium from Steve Jobs's heirs after his passing, Duke's stake in Time Warner had exceeded fifteen percent. Furthermore, the vast majority of these were class A shares with voting rights, making him the undisputed largest shareholder of Time Warner in both name and reality.

Although Time Warner was far from changing its surname to Rosenberg, Duke's shares and his position on the board of directors gave him a heavyweight voice throughout the entire conglomerate.

However, Duke remained clear-headed. He knew he wasn't particularly skilled at corporate management, so as long as his personal interests weren't threatened, he refrained from interfering too much in the conglomerate's affairs.

Most of Duke's energy was still focused on movies.

As 2013 came to a close, on the very first day of 2014, Lucasfilm announced via its official Instant Sharing account that the latest installment of Star Wars had been officially greenlit. Aside from Duke serving as the director, details such as the release date and investment budget were kept strictly confidential.

A veil of mystery shrouded the entire project.

This was the Star Wars Series, after all, distinctly different from other films. In many cases, secrecy could attract the fans' attention far better than earth-shattering hype.

The more mysterious it was, the more it drew them in.

Of course, the project's core leadership, headed by Duke, knew the situation inside and out.

According to the established plan, this Star Wars film, temporarily titled Star Wars 7, had an estimated production budget of 250 million dollars and a promotional budget of 200 to 250 million dollars. It would be funded and produced by Lucasfilm—which Duke almost entirely controlled—while Warner Brothers would serve as the North American and overseas distributor. Based on their negotiations, however, Warner Brothers' distribution fee was a mere seven percent of the box office.

Ultimately, the resounding combination of Duke and Star Wars was enough to give Lucasfilm absolute dominance in most negotiations.

In North America, it was no exaggeration to say that commercial films were divided into two major categories: the Star Wars Series, and everything else.

In addition, Duke placed the newly established Star Wars Studio at Warner Studios.

Because the California state government had been actively promoting tax breaks for the film industry in recent years to prevent movie projects from leaving the state, this new Star Wars installment, having already secured a tax rebate quota, was confirmed to shoot its indoor scenes on sets built at Warner Studios and the Hughes Aircraft Plant. A significant portion of the exterior shots would also be filmed in California.

Although Britain had also offered incentives and invited the crew to shoot in London, Duke wasn't a British director and harbored no special affection for the British Isles. Moreover, for the next year or so, Scarlett Johansson's main workplace would also be in the Greater Los Angeles area. For a couple that rarely got to spend time together, this presented a rare opportunity to stay side by side for an extended period and deepen their relationship.

As he grew older, Duke's mindset inevitably underwent some changes. His understanding of family and responsibility certainly wasn't stuck where it had been ten or twenty years ago.

Though no press conference was held to announce the project's greenlight, it attracted the attention of countless media outlets. Since the information released by Lucasfilm was quite limited, Warner Studios, where Duke came and went frequently, became a gathering place for paparazzi and entertainment journalists. On the day of the film's official prep meeting in particular, several television networks even drove their live broadcast vans straight to the gates of Warner Studios.

Arriving to attend the prep meeting, George Lucas and Duke were successively cornered by reporters and answered a few questions.

When a reporter asked for his thoughts on Duke directing the new Star Wars film, George Lucas replied, "As a director, Duke's ability to tell a story has left a deep impression on me. Handing the new Star Wars Series over for him to direct is ideal; there's no better candidate than him."

Not long after George Lucas entered Warner Studios, Duke, having just stepped out of his car, also gave a brief interview.

Facing the reporters' microphones and camera lenses, he said rather humbly, "To be able to direct the new Star Wars film is truly unbelievable! Even now, it feels surreal to me!"

When reporters asked about the film's specific content, Duke said with a touch of mystery, "It's still too early to talk about that, but I'm very much looking forward to starting work immediately."

Breaking out of the reporters' siege, Duke took an electric cart straight to a small conference room inside the studio. Aside from George Lucas, whom Duke had invited, quite a few other people had arrived.

The three major producers—Katherine Kennedy, Charles Roven, and Robin Grande—were all present. Duke's team members would remain the backbone of the crew: Anna Printz served as the first assistant director, John Schwartzman was the director of photography, Jimmy Carter took on the heavy responsibility of choreographing all the action scenes, and Hannah Serena had to ensure the sets for the entire film evoked everyone's nostalgia and love for Star Wars...

The only difference was that Hans Zimmer, who had collaborated with Duke for many years, was absent. Replacing him was the Star Wars Series' maestro composer, John Williams. Losing Hans Zimmer but gaining a composer who understood Star Wars better and held an even higher status meant Duke could rest perfectly easy regarding the film's score.

Additionally, everyone attending the meeting—including Duke and Lucasfilm CEO Katherine Kennedy—had signed a non-disclosure agreement. During this film's pre-production process, secrecy would be one of the most critical subjects.

"The first thing we need to nail down are the veteran actors."

Sitting in his seat, Duke looked toward Charles Roven.

He asked, "How are the negotiations with Harrison Ford going?"

Charles Roven shook his head slightly. "Not very smoothly."

Duke instructed, "Keep following up on this, no need to rush."

His bottom line was very clear: a 20 million dollar salary was acceptable, but a cut of the revenue was out of the question.

Out of the original "Star Wars Iron Triangle," only Harrison Ford had continuously surpassed himself through his excellent appearance and superb acting skills, ultimately becoming an A-list superstar. "Princess Leia" actress Carrie Fisher had been unable to handle the temptations of overnight fame and the subsequent massive contrast of quickly fading from the spotlight; she had once fallen into depression and even drug addiction. Mark Hamill was similarly unable to shake off the stereotype of "Luke Skywalker." After the original "Star Wars trilogy," he had been briefly active on the Broadway stage, but was now just an inconspicuous behind-the-scenes voice actor.

Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill would be very easy to lock down; Duke was even confident he could suppress their salaries to under a million dollars.

In contrast, Harrison Ford was indeed difficult to deal with. Without a high enough price, it would be hard to sway him.

If it were any other type of film, he might have let it go. But one of this movie's main selling points was nostalgia, and any investment had to consider the return-on-investment ratio. In Duke's eyes, putting a certain amount of capital into Harrison Ford would yield sufficient returns. This was the main reason he had Charles Roven continue negotiating with Harrison Ford's agent.

Otherwise, Duke would have long since tossed Harrison Ford to the back of his mind and cut his character entirely.

However, nostalgia alone wasn't enough for the new Star Wars. Nostalgia could attract the older generation of Star Wars fans, but teenagers wouldn't buy into it. Therefore, Duke intended to make a big deal out of the film's true lead roles.