Vol 2 Chapter 338: Counterattack

After many years of waiting, Star Wars fans finally ushered in a new Star Wars series, but since the premiere of "Phantom Menace", people have been constantly complaining, and even some extreme Star Wars fans attacked George Luca. Si personally destroyed the beautiful image of this series in their minds.
No matter how fierce the criticism and criticism are, this is a Star Wars series. Although George Lucas is not good at telling stories, he is one of the best technical directors. The special effects of "Phantom Threat" are in this era, absolutely Is the top level.
After attending the Star Wars premiere, Duke deliberately participated in a high-level meeting of Marvel. He didn't say much. After introducing his agent in Marvel, he only advised Marvel to temporarily stop the random authorization behavior of its comic characters.
With Duke’s investment, Surprise’s financial problems have been improved to a large extent. If it weren’t for the fact that it was difficult to operate some time ago, the entire company could go bankrupt at any time, and Surprise would not sell its heroes cheaply.
This weekend, Duke stayed in New York. As the three days of the weekend passed, the new weekly box office list was released. "Phantom Threat" did not create an unprecedented first weekend box office of over $100 million as the media expected. The record, only to take the weekly box office championship with more than 65 million US dollars.
￥≡, affected by the impact of Star Wars, other films released during the same period have declined. Duke’s "One Hundred Thousand Urgent" is no exception. With the number of theaters in North America dropping to 2023, it will earn $5.98 million in three days over the weekend and the North American box office. A total of 79.13 million US dollars.
With the release of more summer blockbusters, the market space of "One Hundred Thousand Hot" will be further compressed. According to Duke's estimation, the profit of the film is definitely not a problem. It is very difficult for the North American box office to pass the $100 million mark.
Just after the weekend, Duke received a strange call. Someone invited him to a coffee shop on Long Island to have a good chat.
This is an old cafe with not many customers. When Duke entered, he found the girl in a baseball cap sitting in the corner and reading the newspaper, and walked over without hesitation.
"A latte. Thank you."
Asking for a cup of coffee casually, Duke sat on the hardwood chair and looked across.
Natalie Portman wore a simple student cowboy outfit with a Yankee hat on her head. Her sturdy face was clearly without makeup, and she could clearly see the faint freckles and small moles on her cheeks.
"Thank you."
After receiving the coffee from the waiter, Duke asked for a tip. "What's up?"
"It's nothing." Natalie's words seemed plain, "I just want to read something for you."
"Read something?" Duke frowned strangely.
On the night of the premiere, he was merely speculating based on his previous knowledge and observations, deliberately trying to tear off the disguise on the other side's face to see what was hidden behind him.
And besides busy work, such a game is also a good adjustment, isn't it?
Natalie did not answer Duke's words, instead her eyes fell on the newspaper. A crisp voice rang softly, "After last weekend. The North American box office of "One Hundred Thousand Urgent" has reached 79.13 million U.S. dollars, which will exceed the 80 million U.S. dollar mark at any time. The production cost of the film is only 10 million U.S. dollars. It is considered a success no matter how you look at it. ."
The girl coughed deliberately, seeming to remind Duke to listen carefully, "But the fact is the opposite. The reason why this film is so popular. Duke Rosenberg played a key role with his personal appeal built up successfully in the past, according to According to a survey conducted by an authoritative organization, nearly half of the fans entered the theater because of the director!"
"The quality of "One Hundred Thousand Hurry" is definitely not as good as the box office performance. It is an extremely mediocre work and the film is a big seller. It just confirms Duke Rosenberg’s creditworthiness in consumption. In other words, it is often the beginning of a downhill road. The audience will pay for his "Hundred Thousand Rage"? But will the audience still pay for his next bad work..."
After reading this, Natalie Portman suddenly stopped, a trace of triumph flashed in her eyes, and raised her head to look at Duke, "This is a column by the famous film critic Roger Albert."
"Oh..." Duke did not express.
Natalie didn't want to let him go, "Do you have any thoughts?"
Duke didn't answer her, but calmly asked, "My dear, what do you want to see? Disappointed? Depressed? Desperate?"
"No, I've never thought about it like this before. I know these words won't do anything to your cheeky!" She closed the newspaper and stared at Duke and said, "I just want to fight back! I want to tell you, I It’s not that easy to bully!"
She stood up, threw the newspaper to Duke, picked up her bag, put a dollar on the coffee table, and walked out of the cafe without looking back.
Duke couldn't help but was stunned, then shook his head and smiled, as if he really angered the Jewish girl.
He also took out a paper money, put it on the table, and followed Natalie out of the cafe.
The street outside was empty and quiet, and there were no pedestrians around. Duke took a quick step and walked side by side with Natalie.
"I'll call the police." Natalie didn't even look at him.
"Whatever you do." Duke pointed to the Bentley parked on the side of the road ahead. "Nat, I think you made a mistake. My car is in front."
Natalie's face began to darken, "Are you so rude when facing the opposite sex?"
"No, no, Nat." Duke shook his head as he walked, "I have always been very polite to people, but when facing you, there is always an impulse..."
"Impulse?" Natalie stopped and turned to look at Duke, with sarcasm in her voice, "The urge to go to bed with me?"
"you misunderstood."
Duke did not stop, passing by her, and said lightly, "I just want to see what is hiding under your smart, calm, and indifferent appearance."
Going to the car, Dukla opened the door, turned back, and said, "Want to see if Natalie Portman is really different from other actresses."
"Are you satisfied now?"
Duke didn't answer her at all, pointing to the co-pilot's position, "You shouldn't be driving, right? Get in the car and I'll take you back."
Natalie came over, stood by the car and looked at Duke for a while, then gave him a vicious look, turned to the other side of the car, opened the door and sat in the co-pilot.
"Go home?" Duke started the car. "Or go to school?"
"Turn left at the second intersection ahead and walk one mile forward." Natalie pulled her baseball cap downwards, covering half of her face, "I got off there."
Following the path set by Natalie, in just five minutes, Duke saw where she was going to get off. It was not a school at all, it looked like a bar in every way.
Natalie drove the car door, got out of the car, and turned to look at Duke, "Go, I'll buy you a drink."
Looking at the sign of the bar and then at Natalie, Duke frowned slightly. If I remember correctly, Natalie Portman will be 18 years old next month...
Although the legal provisions in this area are often nonsense, it is definitely troublesome if someone really cares.
The smart girl seemed to have guessed what Duke was thinking, and suddenly raised her eyebrows, "If I get drunk, you can send me home."
Hearing these words with a faint temptation, Duke immediately came to his senses, standing in front of him, but a girl with extremely complicated mind and less than eighteen years old, this is New York again...
"Someday, I may come to New York next month."
By next month, when she will be eighteen years old, Duke put out a big smile, "At that time, I will find a place where we will drink together, and we will never stop if we are not drunk."
"Okay." Natalie said with her arms folded and raised her brows. "You know my phone number."
After speaking, she turned her head and walked towards the bar on the side of the road, her brown eyes flickering, obviously she was moving her mind quickly. When she walked to the front of the bar, she looked back and saw that the black Bentley had disappeared into the distance. .
Natalie didn't mean to enter the bar at all, changed direction and walked along the sidewalk towards the school.
"You are lucky," she muttered.
In the next few days, Duke maintained necessary contact with New Zealand and stayed in New York temporarily to deal with investment and stock matters. At the same time, he reminded his mother that if he has a large amount of related stocks in his hands, he should try to replace them with other stocks. Types of investment products.
In addition, Duke also met twice with the top executives of Victoria's Secret, and reached an agreement on the role of the angel model in "The Lord of the Rings" and how to operate it in a high-profile manner. Unfortunately, the angels of Victoria's Secret went to Miami for a location. There was no chance to meet the few Brazilian models who just joined.
At the same time, the North American box office of "One Hundred Thousand Rush" has continued to decline. After "Star Wars: The Threat of Ghosts", it has experienced the impact of "The Mummy" and "Ace Powers 2" for two consecutive weekends, even though the film director The name of Duke hanging in the column, "One Hundred Thousand Rush" can't compete with these real commercial masterpieces.
The works of well-known directors are indeed easier to attract audiences, but they cannot change the huge gap in investment and genre.
If it can be changed, major Hollywood companies don't need to make big investments, just pull the first-line directors and actors together, and just shoot whatever they want.
By the end of May, "One Hundred Thousand Hot" had been with several commercial masterpieces for three consecutive weeks. The number of North American theaters fell to 421, and the North American box office totaled 88.13 million U.S. dollars. The box office of the single library on that day was less than 100 U.S. dollars. The theaters forced a downgrade.
In the end, Duke's experimental film received 88.13 million US dollars from the North American box office market.
The film has also been introduced to overseas markets. The overall performance is not much different from that of North America. It has received more than 90 million US dollars in 45 countries and regions that have been released. And the screening has not yet ended. It is not difficult for the global box office to finally exceed 200 million US dollars. (To be continued...)