Made in Hollywood

The entanglement between 20th Century Fox and Duke is far deeper than that of Walt Disney. Looking back at the beginning, it was 20th Century Fox who released his first movie "Speed". Unable to reach an agreement, they parted ways, which led Duke to fall into the arms of Warner Bros. With the help of Warner Bros., he created the brilliant achievement of "Into the Deadly Island", which once again attracted the cooperation of 20th Century Fox.

The three parties jointly produced "Independence Day", which was a huge success, and Duke also became the most potential director of commercial films in Hollywood.

For a long time afterwards, Duke worked closely with Warner Bros., and mostly cooperated with 20th Century Fox. However, cooperation outweighed competition. When Shanghai Disney planned to be sent across the Pacific Ocean by Walt Disney, The cooperation between Duke and 20th Century Fox has become closer. With him as a bridge in the middle, Time Warner and News Corp. used Warner Fox World to top off Disneyland, making Walt Disney lose an important opportunity to rise .

This kind of cooperation has been maintained until the "Bugging Gate" broke out. The characteristics of the capital and the spokesperson of the capital are fully reflected in this incident. Duke and Time Warner have no intention of pulling the cooperation of the partner News Corporation, but with other media companies. It's like beating a dog in the water.

The reason is simple, a not particularly powerful News Corp. is more beneficial to him and Time Warner.

As a result, under the continuous pressure from the federal government, the British government and the Windsor family, News Corp. was inevitably split up. The world's largest media group had to be divided into News Corp., which was dominated by newspapers and print media. , as well as the two parts of the Fox Group, which mainly focus on TV, Internet and movies.

Although it is Rupert Murdoch's eldest son who controls the Fox Group, everyone understands that the once huge News Corporation. I can no longer be manipulated by Rupert Murdoch as before.

The split of News Corporation is also the beginning of Duke and Time Warner's change of position. Not to mention that News Corporation will not die even if it splits, and even if it dies, Duke and Time Warner will not stand by.

after all. There are still certain common interests between the two parties, such as the sequel to "Avatar", which has been repeatedly delayed by James Cameron.

The state of competition and cooperation between the two parties has once again resumed. In the face of sufficient interests, there is nothing that capital and the spokesperson of capital cannot talk about.

After the split, News Corporation simply cannot compete with Time Warner, which Duke continues to increase its shareholding in the short term.

After years of hard work, and after Steve Jobs passed away, he invested heavily in the acquisition of shares from his descendants. Duke's shareholding ratio in Time Warner has exceeded 15%, and most of them are Class A shares with voting rights. It is the veritable largest shareholder of Time Warner.

Although Time Warner is far from changing its surname to Rosenberg, Duke already has a heavyweight right to speak in the entire Time Warner by virtue of his shares and his status as a member of the board of directors.

But Duke was sober. Knowing that he is not very proficient in business, as long as his own interests are not touched, he will not interfere too much in the affairs of the group company.

Most of Duke's energy is still on movies.

Time turned to 2013. On the first day of 2014, Lucasfilm announced through an official instant share. The latest "Star Wars" project is officially approved. Except for Duke as the director, when the film will be released and how the investment situation is kept secret.

An air of mystery surrounds the entire project.

This is the "Star Wars" series after all, and there are obvious differences from other films. In many cases, secrecy is often more attractive to fans than earth-shattering hype.

The more mysterious it is, the more it can attract the attention of movie fans.

Of course, the core layer of the project headed by Duke is well aware of the situation of the entire project.

According to the established plan, the Star Wars film tentatively named "Star Wars 7" is expected to cost 250 million U.S. dollars to produce, with a publicity budget of 200 million to 250 million U.S. dollars. The film industry invested in the production, and Warner Bros. acted as the North American and overseas distributor of the film. However, according to the negotiation between the two parties, Warner Bros.' distribution fee was only 7% of the box office.

After all, Duke and Star Wars' famous name is enough for Lucasfilm to occupy an absolute dominant position in most negotiations.

In North America, it is not an exaggeration to divide commercial films into the "Star Wars" series and other commercial films.

In addition, Duke also placed the newly established Star Wars studio in Warner Studios.

Because the California state government has been actively promoting tax cuts for the film industry in recent years, so as to avoid the outflow of film projects one by one, the indoor scenes of this new "Star Wars" work that has already applied for tax cuts will definitely be held in Warner Studios Shooting with the Hughes Aircraft Factory, a considerable part of the exterior scenes will also be filmed in California.

Although the British side also offered preferential treatment and invited the crew to film in London, Duke is not a British director and has no special feelings for the British Isles. Moreover, Scarlett Johansson's main work location will be in the next year or so. It is also in the greater Los Angeles area. For two people who get together less often, this is also a rare opportunity to get along for a long time and enhance their relationship.

As he grows older, Duke's mentality will inevitably undergo some changes, especially his understanding of family and responsibilities, which will definitely not stay the same as ten or twenty years ago.

The film project did not hold any press conference, but it attracted the attention of countless media. Due to the limited information released by Lucasfilm, the Warner Studios, where Duke frequented, became a gathering of paparazzi and entertainment reporters. Especially on the day when the official preparatory meeting for the film was held, several TV stations even drove their live TV vans directly to the gate of Warner Studios.

George Lucas and Duke, who came to participate in the preparatory meeting, were stopped by reporters and answered some questions.

When a reporter asked what he thought of Duke as the director of the new "Star Wars", George Lucas replied, "As a director, Duke's ability to tell stories has left a deep impression on me. He couldn't have been more ideally placed to direct the Star Wars series."

Not long after George Lucas entered the Warner Studios, Duke, who had just got out of the car, was also interviewed. Facing the reporter’s microphone and camera lens, he said modestly, “It’s really cool to be able to direct the new Star Wars. Unbelievable! It still feels surreal to me!"

When the reporter asked about the specific content of the film, Duke said with a bit of mystery, "It's too early to talk about this, but I am very much looking forward to starting work immediately."

Breaking out of the siege of the reporters, Duke took a battery car and rushed directly to a small meeting room in the studio. Apart from George Lucas, who was invited by Duke, there were many people here.

The three major producers Kathleen Kennedy, Charles Rowan and Robin Grande are all here, Duke's team members will still be the backbone of the crew, Anna Prinz as the first assistant director, John Schwarz Ziman is the director of photography, Jimmy Carter is responsible for setting all the action scenes, and Hannah Serena wants to make the scenes of the whole film arouse everyone's nostalgia and love for Star Wars...

The only difference is that Hans Zimmer, who has worked with Duke for many years, did not appear. He was replaced by John Williams, the soundtrack master of the Star Wars series. In order to understand and have a higher level of soundtrack composer, Duke is also at ease about the soundtrack.

In addition, everyone involved in the meeting, including Duke and Lucasfilm CEO Katherine Kennedy, signed a non-disclosure agreement. During the pre-production process of this film, confidentiality will be the most important topic one of.

"The first thing we have to do is the old actors."

Sitting in his seat, Duke looked at Charles Rowan and asked, "How is the negotiation with Harrison Ford going?"

Charles Rowan shook his head slightly, "It didn't go well."

Duke warned, "You continue to follow up on this matter, don't worry."

His bottom line is very clear, a salary of 20 million US dollars is acceptable, but the income sharing is not negotiable.

In the "Star Wars Triangle" back then, only Harrison Ford continued to surpass himself with his outstanding appearance and superb acting skills, and finally became a first-line superstar; "Princess Leia" Carrie Fisher could not bear the overnight popularity. The huge contrast between the temptation and the immediate fading, once depressed and even addicted to drugs; and Mark Hamill also could not get rid of the stereotype of "Luke Skywalker". After the "Star Wars Trilogy", he was briefly active in The Broadway stage is now just a humble voice actor behind the scenes.

Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill can easily handle, and even Duke is confident that their salaries will be under a million dollars.

In contrast, Harrison Ford is really difficult to deal with, and it is difficult to impress him without enough price.

It’s okay if it’s another type of film. One of the main selling points of this film is feelings. Any investment must consider the return on investment ratio. In Duke’s eyes, investing a certain amount of money in Harrison Ford can get enough money. Return, which is also the main reason why he continued to let Charles Rowan negotiate with Harrison Ford's agent.

Otherwise, Duke would have thrown Harrison Ford behind him and removed his role.

However, it is not enough for the new Star Wars film to have sentimentality. The sentimentality can attract the older generation of Star Wars fans, but teenagers will not like it, so Duke intends to make a big fuss about the real starring role of the film. (to be continued ~^~)

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