Chapter 942: The King of Commercial Film

As the Chinese box office for Star Wars: The Force Awakens surged, its North American numbers slowed. After it crossed the $1 billion mark—becoming the first film in North American history to do so—audience numbers and attendance rates steadily declined.

After six weeks in theaters, the North American box office for Star Wars: The Force Awakens reached $1.08427 billion.

Without a doubt, the film had claimed the throne as the all-time box office champion in North American history.

Driven by the explosive Chinese market, the overseas box office for Star Wars: The Force Awakens also blew past the $1.5 billion mark.

Combined, the film's global box office neared $2.6 billion.

"The first $20-billion director in history has officially been born—let the whole world worship Duke Rosenberg!"

At almost exactly the same time, the Los Angeles Times published this on its front page. Media outlets across America and the rest of the world focused their attention on Duke. Since the birth of cinema, no one had ever achieved such a feat.

James Cameron couldn't, George Lucas couldn't, Steven Spielberg couldn't, and Stanley Kubrick certainly couldn't!

In the eyes of some, Duke's films might have nothing to do with art, but no one could deny he was the leader of global pop culture!

Just a month after the first $20-billion director in history officially emerged, Star Wars: The Force Awakens pulled in nearly another $300 million from North America and overseas, pushing its global box office past $2.9 billion.

The New York Times, Time Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post all issued special editions.

"Duke Rosenberg now holds the records for highest individual box office, highest-grossing single film in North America, and highest-grossing single film globally. He stands at the absolute pinnacle of commercial cinema!"

"With countless records to his name, Duke Rosenberg has achieved miraculous glory!"

"Looking across the world and throughout film history, you will never find another director as great as Duke Rosenberg!"

"The king of world commercial cinema—Duke Rosenberg truly deserves the title!"

The vast majority of North American media outlets brought out their most lavish praise, heaping it directly onto Duke Rosenberg's name.

Countless facts from his past also proved that Duke deserved it.

Just as the media proclaimed, few people today would object to calling Duke the king of commercial film. As for the voices claiming his films lacked artistic value, Duke himself couldn't care less. He had never aimed for art when making movies.

Art had never been the deciding factor in a Hollywood film's success anyway.

Box office performance was undeniably not the standard for judging whether a film was good or bad, but in Hollywood, it meant everything.

Although Star Wars: The Force Awakens only received a few technical nominations like Best Visual Effects in the latest Oscar nominations—coming up empty for major awards like Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Picture, and Best Director—its insanely high box office numbers destined it to be the most influential film of 2014 and 2015. Absolutely not just "one of" them.

As the old year passed and the new year slowly rolled in, major media outlets took stock of Hollywood and its recent releases. Among the top ten films of the year ranked by America's Big Three Newspapers—the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post—as well as magazines like Rolling Stone, Empire, Entertainment Weekly, and Time Magazine, Star Wars: The Force Awakens occupied the number one spot without any suspense.

The media would always have its biases, but in the annual best film poll launched by Instant Sharing, 18.76 million users participated. In the final statistics, 14.38 million users chose Star Wars: The Force Awakens, fully proving its status among ordinary audiences.

Compared to the Oscar Golden Statuette, which no longer held any attraction for him, Duke placed much more importance on the reactions of these ordinary audiences. After all, no matter how good the critical acclaim was, those critics wouldn't shell out an extra dollar for the box office or merchandise. Ordinary audiences were the ones truly willing to open their wallets and spend money on the film.

"According to incomplete statistics..."

At Duke's desk in Warner Studios, Tina Fey sat opposite him, flipping through a statistical report. "...as of last weekend, the North American box office for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is close to breaking $1.1 billion, and the overseas box office is nearing $1.9 billion. This weekend, it should become the first film in history to exceed $3 billion at the box office."

Duke kept his eyes trained outside the window. The sunlight was exceptionally bright, almost blazing. This year's Oscar Awards Ceremony was about to take place, and although he had received an invitation, he had absolutely no interest in attending. Instead, his mind was occupied with figuring out how to further tap into the potential of the Star Wars Series, as well as the Marvel Series, which was wrapping up its second phase in May.

Indeed, with his immense wealth and status, he could easily choose to retire early and live out the rest of his life in comfort.

But anyone who knew him even a little understood that this would never be his choice.

In Duke's eyes, life was like sailing against the current—if you didn't advance, you were pushed back.

Besides, he was only in his forties, nowhere near retirement age.

Withdrawing his gaze, Duke gently swiveled his chair back around to face his desk. He looked at Tina Fey and asked, "What about merchandise? Do we have the latest statistics?"

"Merchandise sales growth is also slowing down..."

Tina Fey's words didn't surprise Duke. It was already late March, and the daily North American box office for Star Wars: The Force Awakens had slipped below a million dollars. While weekly merchandise sales hadn't been in a steady decline since early March like the box office, they had been selling hot since last November and had finally reached a point of gradual decline.

Of course, even if merchandise for Star Wars: The Force Awakens completely stopped selling from this moment on, the sales already generated amounted to a staggering figure.

"As of last weekend..." Tina Fey continued, "...merchandise and licensing for Star Wars: The Force Awakens brought in roughly $2.3 billion in North America alone. The combined revenue from various merchandise and licensing overseas also approached $2 billion."

Although this merchandise and licensing also included portions from the original Star Wars trilogy and the prequel trilogy, the driving force of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was unquestionable.

Clearly in a good mood, Duke gently tapped his fingers on the desk. "How are the negotiations with the actors progressing?"

"Fairly smoothly overall," Tina Fey said after a moment's thought. "Charles has already settled the salary with Daniel Wu, and we've basically reached a consensus with Daisy Ridley..."

Compared to the Walt Disney of the past, Duke's newly acquired Star Wars trilogy would be released at a pace of one film every three years. Even though Star Wars: The Force Awakens was nowhere near being pulled from theaters, Lucasfilm had already put preparation work for the next installment on the agenda. The first thing they had to settle was the salary for the new iron triangle of Daisy Ridley, Daniel Wu, and Oscar Isaac.

In the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Harrison Ford's salary alone was dozens of times higher than those of the three new actors. After Duke ruthlessly killed off his character, this situation would no longer occur. Moreover, after Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the trio of Daisy Ridley, Daniel Wu, and Oscar Isaac were no longer nameless nobodies. Daisy Ridley and Daniel Wu, in particular, were now extremely popular—describing them as such wasn't an exaggeration at all.

Compared to their previous salaries of less than $500,000, the figures in Daisy Ridley and Daniel Wu's new contracts had grown a full six times over. This was unavoidable; at the end of the day, filmmaking was a commercial collaboration.

"Also..." Tina Fey spoke up again. "Harrison Ford seems to have some issues with you and Lucasfilm."

Duke waved it off dismissively. "Don't bother with him."

Because Duke had killed off Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens over salary issues, Harrison Ford naturally harbored some grievances against him. Furthermore, Lucasfilm's collaboration with Harrison Ford wasn't limited to the Star Wars Series; there was also the Indiana Jones series.

Following the reboot and massive success of Star Wars, the Indiana Jones series was naturally put on the agenda by Lucasfilm. The core figure of the series was undeniably Dr. Indiana Jones, and Harrison Ford was practically the embodiment of Dr. Indiana Jones.

By the same logic, Harrison Ford naturally wouldn't pass up the chance to make exorbitant demands. That was his right, but skewing the Indiana Jones series younger was an inevitable trend that aligned with market demands.

Therefore, neither Duke nor Lucasfilm had any intention of using Harrison Ford. It wasn't a big deal anyway; the new Indiana Jones series could easily tell adventure stories from Dr. Indiana Jones's younger years.

Duke had personally finalized the new actor for Dr. Indiana Jones—Chris Pratt.

As for what Harrison Ford would think or say, Duke and Lucasfilm couldn't care less.

One by one, the latest resolutions passed through Tina Fey's hands and were transmitted to every corner of Duke's industries, particularly the film and television sectors. Franchises like the Marvel Series, the Star Wars Series, the Indiana Jones series, and so on, would all continue their money-making journeys.

Finally, as Tina Fey stood up to leave, she suddenly remembered something. She opened her handbag and placed an exquisitely packaged Tiffany gift box on the desk. "Almost forgot. Tiffany just sent this over."

Duke took it and looked it over. "The ring is ready?"