Chapter 140: New Project
After a long theatrical run, box office growth for Independence Day had slowed to a crawl, but it was still stubbornly climbing.
In North America, the film's theater count had shrunk to 211. With a cumulative gross of $339.77 million, it continued its arduous but tenacious march toward the $350 million mark.
Overseas, as the film landed in its final major markets, the international box office finally broke the $400 million barrier. The global box office totaled $742.15 million. Surpassing $800 million and claiming the number two spot in film history was just around the corner.
Indeed, Independence Day had only one rival left ahead of it at the global box office: Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. Not only had that film crossed the $900 million threshold worldwide, but it was still playing in a few remote overseas regions, continually pushing the highest box office record in film history even higher.
Catching up to Jurassic Park would be a monumental task for Independence Day.
However, even with its current numbers—combined with the successive triumphs of Speed and The Rock—Duke had already earned his place in the upper echelons of Hollywood. Any proposal he made would now be taken seriously.
After Nancy Josephson met with Walt Disney's representatives a few times and reached a private consensus, Walt Disney offered terms that outright exceeded those from Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Fox. Duke also subtly indicated a strong interest in working with the Mouse House. After much deliberation, Warner and Fox ultimately decided to absorb Disney's investment, forming a joint production entity among the three studios.
By October, the Saving Private Ryan project had successfully passed the review process at all three companies. Just as with Independence Day, while a script was a fundamental requirement for film production, it held little value on its own. The main reason the three studios rushed through their preliminary reviews and initial research as fast as procedure allowed was the director leading the project and his proven track record.
The completed review meant Saving Private Ryan could be greenlit at any moment. Before that could happen, however, the four parties—including Nancy Josephson representing Duke—had to negotiate the distribution of profits.