Chapter 153: Changing Plans
After wrapping up an intense battle sequence, the crew took a temporary break. Sitting among the ruins in the winter sunlight with a steaming cup of coffee, Duke had just finished reviewing the latest footage. The annoyance from the morning's interrupted shoot had completely vanished, replaced by a cheerful chat with Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio.
"Did we go a little overboard?"
Leonardo's young face still showed a hint of inexperience. "Won't an explosion like that cause some negative fallout?"
"Fallout?" Duke seemed perplexed, wearing an expression that suggested they had done nothing wrong. "We're just shooting on schedule. We can't just take the day off because plans changed, right?"
"Makes sense."
As the person perhaps most affected earlier, Tom Hanks fully agreed with Duke. "My schedule is tight, too. I can't drag these scenes out indefinitely. The Oscar nominations will be announced in a few days, and I have to head back to North America."
"Should I congratulate you in advance?"
Tom Hanks shook his head at Duke's words. "I should be congratulating you, Duke. You've already locked down last year's North American box office crown."
Moving into 1995, Independence Day was still screening in nearly 200 theaters across North America. After nearly half a year of sustained momentum, its North American box office had finally surpassed the $357.06 million of Jurassic Park to reach $359.91 million. It set the best North American box office record in recent years, beating out the already-closed The Lion King and Forrest Gump to firmly seize the 1994 box office championship.