The new Matrix Reloaded gave Duke a different feeling: the colors, heavy and as if painted in oil, even though the film still maintained its predominant blue-black tones. Zack Snyder successfully incorporated his signature style into the movie, while reducing unnecessary complexities and philosophical elements. Combined with changes in the action style, the film earned a thunderous applause in the theater once the screening ended.
It was now the summer of 2002, and martial arts styles in Hollywood and North American audiences were no longer a novelty. Matrix Reloaded abandoned the overused martial arts that had dominated Hollywood action films, particularly the flashy, complex moves. The actors' fighting techniques, while varied, were much closer to a simple and direct style akin to the future.
Traditional Hollywood tough-guy brawls could lead to aesthetic fatigue, and martial arts could too.
Even in the heart of the global film industry, Hollywood's tendency to follow trends was no better than in Eastern cinema. Today's Hollywood action films wouldn't be complete without hiring a few action directors from Hong Kong, and without showcasing moves like Tiger Crane and Tai Chi, it would be hard to start production.
With so many similar films flooding the market, the consequences were easy to predict.
Duke's future plans meant action elements would play a large role, just like in Zack Snyder's Matrix Reloaded. He wouldn't use martial arts.
He was well aware that whether it was Thai boxing, taekwondo, kickboxing, or traditional martial arts, none of them would gain worldwide popularity just by being added to a film. Back when filming The Matrix, Duke had already instructed his action director, Jimmy Carter, to use Hollywood's technical methods while also learning from the Hong Kong-style filming of Yuen Woo-ping. By combining multiple close-quarters fighting styles, they designed a new action mode.
These new action routines didn't require overly elaborate moves but needed to be simple, powerful, fast, and direct, at least as seen through the lens.
As for promoting martial arts films, it was a challenge for someone like him, who wasn't a martial arts enthusiast. Martial arts were profound and complex, and they weren't something someone like him could fully grasp. Countless people on the other side of the ocean were much more suitable for that task.
After The Matrix Reloaded was released, the overall reaction was positive. Despite numerous critics blasting the film, claiming it was just nonstop fighting and explosions with no depth or philosophical insight, it didn't stop fans from enthusiastically buying tickets.
In the first three days of the opening weekend, Matrix Reloaded raked in $92.77 million in North America, setting the all-time highest opening record for an R-rated film.
The film's box office was a massive success. It immediately ended Spider-Man's three-week streak at the top and became the fourth blockbuster of the summer after The Two Towers, Attack of the Clones, and Spider-Man.
By the second weekend, although the film faced the limitations of its R-rating and couldn't maintain the extraordinary stability of The Two Towers, it still managed to keep its drop under 50%. In the second weekend, it grossed $51.02 million, reclaiming the North American box office crown. In just ten days, its North American box office surpassed $200 million, reaching $211.05 million!
It was clear: this was another film that would make over $300 million in North America.
By the end of July, when the summer of 2002 came to a close, the two films associated with Duke, The Two Towers and Matrix Reloaded, were undoubtedly among the winners.
The Two Towers started its wide release in the first weekend of the summer with 3,876 theaters. By August, the number of theaters had dropped to 1,462, but its North American box office had accumulated $478.55 million, and its global total had reached $1.123 billion. While Spider-Man performed well, projections showed its North American and global box office would only reach around $400 million and $900 million, respectively. Duke had almost secured the North American and global annual box office titles in advance.
Even constrained by the R-rating, Matrix Reloaded had a strong word-of-mouth from its predecessor and solid quality. After a month in theaters, its North American box office had already neared $300 million. It would certainly surpass $300 million, contending for the third spot in both North American and global box office rankings alongside Attack of the Clones and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which was released around Thanksgiving.
"What's more impressive than the box office is the performance of the two franchises' merchandise."
At the Warner Brothers board meeting, Doug Walter, the newly appointed CEO, was enthusiastic, saying, "From the release of The Fellowship of the Ring until the end of July, merchandise related to The Lord of the Rings has sold $1.732 billion worldwide, with the highest sales coming from The Fellowship of the Ring DVD set, which reached $521 million..."
Doug Walter looked at the board members around the table with confidence, saying, "The soundtrack and DVD sales of The Two Towers will undoubtedly surpass The Fellowship of the Ring."
As soon as Doug finished speaking, all the board members turned to Duke, who had singlehandedly driven almost a third of Warner Brothers' revenue!
Duke quietly sat there, saying nothing. After all, he was the largest individual beneficiary of the film.
In fact, compared to the overall profits from the film's box office and merchandise, the $200 million he had earned in net dividends seemed like nothing. But remember, film merchandise was more dependent on distribution channels than box office sales. Without the support of a conglomerate platform, merchandise could only achieve rough licensing revenues. This was why studios like Pixar, Blue Sky Studios, DreamWorks Animation, and other smaller companies eagerly joined or tried to join large conglomerates.
Perhaps many years from now, Hollywood's era of giants might end, but from the early 1990s to the following decades, Hollywood was undoubtedly in its era of giants.
His journey was extraordinary, but seeing it and experiencing it were two different things. The problem with Hollywood was not simply about making excellent films.
To put it bluntly, in Hollywood, new creators and ideas weren't valued much.
Without any past successes, could a screenwriter just send a script to a film company or director, and expect them to rush to sign them? Don't kid yourself.
Duke's experience was slightly better, thanks to his family background and his mother's influence. Many new screenwriters didn't even get the chance to meet the executives of film companies, and even famous directors and producers knew full well that scripts sent to them would never actually reach their hands.
Just like Duke and Tina Fey, which major directors and producers didn't have assistants?
Even at Duke's level, Tina Fey's team had more than ten assistants, and any script sent in would first go to these assistants. Who could expect these assistants to pass the script to the top?
Let's be clear, screenwriters hoping to work with big directors and producers could line up from Long Beach to Malibu.
Working with a top director meant a very real chance of success, and that success would provide the screenwriter, who was typically the weakest link in the project, with a chance to rise and become a sought-after scriptwriter.
Take Irwin Kruger, a former famous screenwriter. Did his plots make sense or were they brilliant? No, but he wrote several installments of Transformers, even though it was ridiculed by countless people, and the production companies still didn't replace him.
This is a brutally realistic industry. Experience and seniority carry far more weight than creativity.
The same goes for the so-called Hollywood blacklist, where many great scripts took years to become real projects. The reason for this is easy to understand.
It's like the rumors about Bill Gates bowing to Wall Street. A person trying to fight against the massive system is nothing more than a fool's dream.
So, from the beginning, Duke had chosen to align himself with big companies and collaborate deeply with them.
By now, Duke was very clear that without his mother's support, his first film might have never seen the light of day.
Just like with Speed, even though the film received rave reviews from critics and even had George Lucas' help, 20th Century Fox still chose the most conservative and advantageous release strategy, preparing to pull the film from theaters if the market response was poor.
Hollywood has countless ways to rise, but sending out a script to be appreciated by the big shots and companies is definitely a very unreliable one.
Moreover, many huge box office hits had very average scripts, and the ideas and plots were often recycled and overused.
As for innovation? The flip side of innovation is risk. When innovation is combined with a newcomer with no credentials, what choice will directors, producers, and movie companies make?
Believe me, if their heads aren't filled with water, their choice will be obvious.
And how many people who rise to the top in Hollywood's fierce competition are idiots?
The topics continued one by one at the board meeting, but Duke rarely spoke. However, when it came to discussions related to the film industry, he would speak seriously, and his words always carried weight with the Warner Brothers board.
For example, the board focused on the establishment of the Justice League Studio, which Duke was very supportive of.
Under the push from Duke and Doug Walter, Warner Brothers also decided to start talks with Marvel to secure the rights to distribute Marvel films.
Marvel and DC have a competitive yet cooperative relationship. While competition is far greater than cooperation, there's always a chance to collaborate if the profit is large enough.
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