Chapter 132: Head-On Collision
"Duke, we can't keep pouring massive resources into a single film." Twentieth Century Fox CEO Thomas Rothman had rushed over to Independence Day Studio in person to explain this to Duke, who sat nearby sipping coffee. "Independence Day has already built enough momentum. We just need to maintain it."
"I understand, Thomas." Duke wasn't the type to be unreasonable, nor was he foolish enough to think he was the center of Hollywood. True Lies was about to premiere, so Fox was bound to shift their promotional focus.
Thomas Rothman breathed a sigh of relief. He clearly didn't want any misunderstandings with Duke, or he wouldn't have come all the way from Century City to Warner Studios in person.
Yes, he valued this young director immensely—more than anyone before. He wouldn't even think it an exaggeration to call him a top-tier Hollywood director now.
Set aside the dazzling box office numbers from the first two weekends and look at the last two workdays: $7.86 million on Monday, $7.67 million on Tuesday. That was over $15 million in two days. Independence Day had accumulated over $170 million at the North American box office. Even if God Himself came down, He probably couldn't stop it from breaking the $200 million mark in North America this week!
If a director like this wasn't worth taking seriously, who was? Thomas Rothman remembered very well that Duke had registered another equally explosive war script with the Writers Guild!
Claiming that Fox didn't want to keep investing in Duke Rosenberg's films would be the funniest joke in America.
"Thomas, I only have one request."
Now that he had enough capital, Duke naturally wouldn't hold back. "Before next weekend arrives, the theater count for Independence Day cannot drop below 2,600."