A new month has begun, and for now, there will be two updates daily, one at 9 AM and one at 9 PM!
For Duke, the main tasks at this stage are first to complete the post-production of The Return of the King, and second to follow the progress of several negotiations. Among these, the most important negotiation is undoubtedly the one between the Harry Potter Studio and J.K. Rowling regarding the copyright for the remaining films in the series.
As Duke had predicted, it was a long and difficult negotiation, filled with wrangling and conflicting interests.
Especially regarding J.K. Rowling's share, both parties were essentially fighting over a fraction of a percentage, and with companies like Walt Disney causing trouble, the negotiations had started after Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released and had continued until now, taking over six months. After both sides made certain compromises, they finally reached a new agreement.
From Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban onward, J.K. Rowling would receive 95% of all peripheral revenues, including box office earnings, and the Harry Potter Studio would pay a one-time basic fee of $60 million for the rights to adapt the last four books.
This was inevitable. There is no such thing as free profit in Hollywood. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone had been a huge success, and J.K. Rowling and her management team weren't foolish. How could they abandon the profits they were entitled to?
Meanwhile, the crew had signed new contracts with all the actors. Most of the recurring characters' salaries had been increased, especially for the younger actors, whose new contracts raised their pay to the million-dollar level and provided compensation from the profits of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone's success.
As long as it didn't affect the profit-sharing, replacing actors was only a last resort. The crew still preferred to use the original cast as much as possible.
However, the entire series' progress would be slightly delayed. There were two main reasons: one, Chris Columbus no longer wanted to continue, and Duke was also considering replacing the director; two, the young actors were entering their voice-changing and rapid development stages, so the project would pause for a year.
Additionally, these young actors were required to take acting lessons at Duke's request. Similarly, since the crew was paying them high salaries, they had to deliver corresponding performances. Those few actors from the earlier films, especially the Golden Trio from Gryffindor, had performed terribly in the later films. If not for the established image of the series, their acting was no better than that of the lowest-tier extras in Hollywood.
In fact, Duke and Warner both knew that compared to J.K. Rowling, these young actors were the real problem. At most, they had two more films, and their agents and parents would likely come back to renegotiate, even demanding a share of the profits.
But after so many years in Hollywood, with Warner Brothers assisting, Duke had already prepared the means to deal with this. He would sign a box office profit-sharing agreement with the young actors when the time came.
The Harry Potter Studio was a separately registered company and could easily raise funds from Duke Studios and Warner Brothers through loans...
As time passed, the hype for The Two Towers continued to fade. In August, North America only earned $23.5 million in box office revenue, even though the soundtrack and DVD packages hadn't been released yet. The promotion for The Return of the King had officially begun.
Because the release was still far off, and especially with the success of the first two films, the market was full of anticipation for the finale. Warner Brothers continued to focus the promotion around The Two Towers, while Duke only occasionally leaked some information after completing the post-production work for The Return of the King.
"Director Rosenberg, any chance you could share some details about The Return of the King?"
Outside the Lord of the Rings studio, Duke was stopped by several entertainment reporters. Hearing their questions, he rarely cooperated, answering a few sentences, "I will use my Instant Share account to publish the latest posters, trailers, and release news. You can follow at any time and feel free to repost."
"Instant Share account?"
One reporter paused, while another reminded him, "It's the social website where the first poster for The Return of the King was released."
Duke smiled and, with two bodyguards escorting him, walked into the studio. He greeted the publicity department and, every few days, would use his Instant Share account to post the latest updates about the film.
Though his involvement on the website was minimal, Duke still helped promote it within his capabilities. After the earlier posts, the website saw a massive surge in registration, reaching over 500,000 users thanks to the success of the Lord of the Rings films.
For a website still in its early stages, this was an impressive number.
"Hi, Duke."
As soon as he entered the office, Wallace Lee knocked on the door and entered, seemingly wanting to discuss something.
"Lee, what's up?" Duke gestured to the chair opposite his desk after sitting down.
Wallace Lee sat down, knowing Duke's working style, and directly asked, "How do you think I've been performing lately, Boss?"
Having struggled in the independent film scene for many years, he understood that opportunities had to be seized, and he would take the chance to promote himself when needed.
"Not bad," Duke nodded in recognition. "You've done better than I expected."
Duke knew some of the habits of people who had come from the independent film scene. Perhaps his old classmate had hit many obstacles in the indie world and didn't have much of an artistic aura, but his work in the post-production of The Two Towers and The Return of the King could indeed be described as excellent.
Duke understood what he was trying to say, raising his hand to stop Wallace Lee from speaking. After a moment of consideration, he said, "But that's not enough, Lee. I've already got the adaptation rights. You'll need to prove your capability in the coming period. Show me you're worth investing in."
If just the post-production work of two films could get him to invest millions of dollars, it would be a joke.
Like all Hollywood companies, movie investments were never simple. Decisions weren't made off the cuff. Every investment and every project launch was made with great caution.
"Lee, I need a one-and-a-half-minute trailer," Duke still gave him a chance to prove himself. "You're in charge of editing the first trailer for The Return of the King. If I'm satisfied with it…"
Wallace Lee's eyes immediately lit up, but Duke continued, "Next year, I'll have a new project. If the trailer meets my basic requirements, you and Anna can help me prepare for this film. This is your opportunity to prove yourself up close."
"Is it the new script that's going to be filmed in Paris?" Wallace Lee asked.
Duke nodded. "Yes, the script I gave Anna last week. You two can discuss it first."
After completing the outline and character settings for the script, Duke handed it over to the editorial department at Duke Studios, where other writers would fill in and refine it. The plot of the script wasn't extraordinary, and from the creativity to the story development, it was all typical Hollywood fare. Even the most touching father-daughter bond was nothing new or innovative.
Just as he had said before, popular blockbuster films had almost no connection to new and innovative ideas.
Take the project that was already named Taken, for example. If this script had been submitted by a newcomer to a film company, it would have had a 99.9% chance of being tossed into the script library after a quick glance, slowly gathering dust in a corner, not knowing when it would see the light of day.
But in the hands of a successful director and producer, it would receive very different treatment.
Although the script for Taken was completed, Duke wasn't planning to start production immediately. There was still a lot of work left to do on The Return of the King. This was a small investment, short-duration project, and there was no need to rush.
Starting in September, Duke's Instant Share account began to release posters and character designs related to The Return of the King. As a major shareholder, he had also communicated with Google to ensure that whenever anyone searched for The Return of the King or the social website, Instant Share would appear at the top of the results.
Moreover, under his suggestion, the Instant Share company had simplified the functions of the newly launched websites and social software to make them easier for users to use. This was one of the few things Duke could do to help promote the website for Ivanka.
After all, he wasn't a professional in this field. He mostly relied on his influence and works to help Ivanka promote the website.
Besides, Duke still held 45% of the shares. If the website really became successful, it would be a good thing for him as well.
By late October, thanks to aggressive promotion, the Instant Share website had surpassed 1 million registered users, with nearly 300,000 daily visits. Although it was still far from competing with blogs or other websites, it was already developing very well in its category.
At the same time, after long screenings, The Two Towers finally broke the $500 million mark in North America on October 25. It was the second film in history to cross the $500 million mark in North America, and Duke's first film to achieve that milestone. As for its global box office, it surpassed The Fellowship of the Ring, reaching $1.215 billion!
However, unlike when The Fellowship of the Ring crossed the $1 billion mark, the American media and movie fans were calm. They had already seen Duke's success several times before, and after the long wait, the media and public didn't find it surprising anymore.
"If The Two Towers doesn't break $500 million in North America and its global box office doesn't surpass The Fellowship of the Ring, that would be news!"
The review in The Los Angeles Times undoubtedly represented most people's opinions.
Nevertheless, it was an achievement worth celebrating. Starting from mid-October, Duke Manor had been busy preparing the banquet hall for a grand party, not only to celebrate the success of The Two Towers but also to celebrate Ivanka's 21st birthday.