Vol 2 Chapter 642: Over a billion

"Smile, Duke."
Scarlett put down the camera that was hidden in front of her eyes and said loudly to the other side, "Is it so difficult for you to take a photo with a tuna?"
"Hey, dear." Duke turned his head aside, keeping his nose away from the hanging tuna. "It's really fishy!"
"Hold on for another ten seconds. It is a kind of luck that you can catch such a big tuna. I want to record the luck."
After speaking, she raised the camera again, "5,4,3,2,1..."
Along with the sound of the shutter, Scarlett recorded the appearance of Duke standing by the fishing boat and holding the tuna in the camera lens.
"Okay!" She put down the camera, walked over to look at the tuna, and said, "I have contacted Air Express, and they will freeze this fish to Malibu."
Duke shrugged helplessly, and was too lazy to say anything, "If you want to, then transport it back."
"We captured this together!" Scarlett was obviously still very excited, "I will transport it back and find someone to make a specimen."
Taking out the tissue from the backpack and wiping off the fishy smell on his hands, Duke moved away from the fish and said, "I'll let Emma put it in your cloakroom."
↑, throwing paper towels into a trash can on the ship's gunwale, Duke pointed to the dock trestle, "They are here, let the professionals handle it."
Dukla took Scarlett to the side and watched the people remove the three-foot-long tuna from the hanging net bag. He made up his mind and went back to gather people to have a tuna dinner.
After the overseas fishing trip, the two walked up to the trestle bridge and left the dock area.
Although it is winter in the southern hemisphere, Vanuatu is hot all year round. Duke and Scarlett even changed very thin clothes. Did not go far, still sweating a lot.
"Let's take a break..." Scarlett dragged Duke into a shop on the side of the road, "drink a drink."
Because they had been to Fiji before, after they left Sydney, they went straight to Vanuatu, which is famous for its volcanoes, islands and tuna.
Duke and Scarlett have been here for some time. Also went to the famous Isul Volcano.
Sitting under the awning in the store, after waiting less than two minutes, the drink was brought up. Scarlett ordered one of Vanuatu's most famous drinks, called kava, also called drunk pepper.
When you come to Anuatu, the locals often say that you have not been to Anuatu if you haven't drunk kava.
The raw material of kava comes from a pepper shrub that is widely produced in the South Pacific island countries. The plant itself is called kava. The drink made from its roots is also called kava. It is a pure natural analgesic and sedative. It has a very high effect on nervous tension, depression and other symptoms, but after being made into a drink, it looks a bit like The thin mud, it tastes slightly watery and bitter, and the tongue tingles after drinking.
Perhaps because it is not delicious, the request is to drink it in one sip. Most people feel relaxed after drinking it. Happy mood, fatigue disappeared.
For a sensitive person like Duke, his eyes grew heavy after the first drink. He thought it would be better to eat something, but who knew he would walk around after eating. The result was like drunk, vomiting confused...
Therefore, he thanked Bumin for this local specialty, and just asked for a glass of water.
On the other hand, Scarlett not only thinks it tastes good. There was no adverse reaction after drinking.
Drinking the mud-like kava, Scarlett put down the cup, looked at the turquoise sea not far away, and said, "I really want to throw all my work aside, take a trip around the world and take a look around the world. Different scenery."
"There will be a chance in the future." Duke also put down his water glass.
Scarlett muttered, "To a workaholic like you, you will never find enough time to travel."
Duke shook his head, too lazy to answer her nonsense.
"I'm going back to Los Angeles soon." Scarlett continued to mutter, "I really can't bear it."
Following Scarlett’s gaze, the sun was like a red fireball at the end of the field of vision, falling to the sea level, changing colors as it fell, as if to show her dazzling colors to the world.
It shines golden light on the sea, like a lot of gold spreading on the sea...
The scenery is really beautiful.
"Wait until the yacht is built." Duke said slowly, "If there is time again next year, we'll be ready to sail around the world."
"Yeah." Scarlett nodded vigorously.
Duke looked at the time and stood up, "Let's go, we should go back to the hotel."
From the end of May to the end of June, Duke was on vacation. Even he could not finish one film after another without stopping. It would take time to rest and adjust in between, and his team’s work People need to do the same, after all, people are not machines.
Film production has its own rules. Some films cannot be accelerated too much. It takes time and money to produce qualified films.
The weight of the latter is equally important. This is Hollywood, a circle that relies on commercial performance to speak. Duke has established his power and position in Hollywood with one after another big-selling movies.
It is everyone’s freedom to choose a director’s film path, but Duke is convinced that if he chose not to be a commercial path, he would never create the current situation.
Even one person can decide the future of the entire dc comic series and Marvel series.
Warner Bros. attaches great importance to Duke's words, and has rejected those superhero scripts that are too serious and dark, not only because of Duke's brilliant past, but also his films continue to create new horror achievements.
Although the box office of "The Dark Knight" has slowed down since the release of "Spider-Man 3", the North American box office of this film has crossed the $500 million threshold when it just entered June. The 29-day result set a new record for the fastest box office in North America to exceed $500 million.
Standing next to "The Dark Knight" and looking back, almost all the North American box offices in the past have fallen.
After spending the sixth weekend in North America, "The Dark Knight" surpassed "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" with a box office of 521.45 million US dollars and reached the top three in the historical box office of North America. Second only to "Lord of the Rings 3: Return of the King" and "Titanic".
However, after the North American box office crossed the $500 million mark, "The Dark Knight", like a person who was relieved after entering the success, obviously slowed the pace of progress, especially as it exceeded the "Lord of the Rings 2: The Two Towers" "Arabic Soldier" seems to have used up most of the enthusiasm of movie fans, and the single-day box office on weekdays has fallen to about 1.3 million US dollars.
With such a single-day box office acquisition rate, if there is no miraculous skyrocket or long-term screening, it is difficult and difficult to break through 600 million US dollars.
Moreover, according to Duke and Warner Bros., the film's screening time is at most until next year's Oscar nominees lunch.
Warner Bros. knows better than Duke what the key role of Heath Ledger's death can play in getting a statuette. Obviously, he wants to take advantage of the overwhelming trend of public opinion after the Oscar nomination list is announced next year. Release the DVD of "The Dark Knight" and strive to make another big profit.
Duke has no opinion on this, this is the best way to maximize the benefits of "Dark Knight".
Once the DVD is released, even if Warner Bros. does not want to withdraw, the North American Theater Alliance will soon end the tour of the "Dark Knight" theater.
It can be said that Warner Bros. has formulated a series of rigorous plans for the "Dark Knight" and are also implementing them. For example, the best supporting actor to be declared for Heath Ledger is an important part.
Not only is the best supporting actor, there are a series of technical awards, and Warner Bros. is also preparing to declare the best film and best director for the "Dark Knight".
Of course, Duke and Warner are very clear that these two awards, let alone the petty golds, are very difficult to nominate.
The discrimination against superhero movies by the academy and Oscars is deeply ingrained.
It's not that it's impossible. If Duke is like Heath Ledger, the academy will inevitably give up discrimination, and the best director will be thrown over in all likelihood.
However, this possibility Duke absolutely does not want to see.
And he will not deliberately pursue Oscars anymore, even for the nomination of public relations.
Beginning in mid-June, "The Dark Knight" has completely entered the stage of relying on time to accumulate box office. By late June, the single-day box office fell below $1 million and it gradually became the norm.
It is impossible for any film to remain hot indefinitely. The pre-screening stage of "The Dark Knight" consumed too much audience enthusiasm. Compared with the "Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King" a few years ago, the trend in the later stage should be more apparent. Slightly weaker.
When the time passed in June 2007, the North American box office of "The Dark Knight" did not exceed the US$550 million mark, staying at the figure of US$545.82 million.
At the same time, the film has also landed in cinemas in nearly 120 countries and regions. During the nearly two-month screening, the film received a total of US$512.85 million.
The style of the film is destined to have a lower overseas response than North America.
But the global box office totaling US$1,058.67 million is enough to disregard all competitors this year.
The screening of "The Dark Knight" is not over yet, and there is still room for continued growth in both the North American and overseas box offices. However, Duke has ended his vacation and Warner Bros. has given him the exact information, even if he asks for the new project. The minimum production cost is no less than US$200 million, and Warner’s audit committee passed the audit.
Such a huge investment has also created Duke’s highest single-film production cost record. Most of these funds will be spent on special effects production. New films need to use realistic cg special effects to create a group of intelligent lives Huge robot. (To be continued...)
ps: Ask for monthly and recommended tickets!