In terms of fame, the Saturn Awards are far inferior to the Oscars, but they still attract considerable attention from movie fans. After Transformers won the Best Science Fiction Film award, Warner Bros. heavily promoted it, which in turn influenced the film's performance at the box office.
After all, Transformers is a popcorn flick. Following its first month of intense popularity, its pace in raking in box office revenue gradually slowed down. After the Independence Day holiday, the number of theaters showing the film began to shrink, and its weekend box office dipped below $10 million.
However, spurred by the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film, Transformers saw a small rebound in mid-July, with two consecutive weekends of box office gains in North America, which successfully pushed its North American total past the $400 million mark, reaching $411.24 million.
In terms of global box office, Transformers became the sixth film to surpass $1 billion worldwide after Titanic, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and The Dark Knight. Its $1.05233 billion haul still had plenty of room to grow with more showings.
In the Chinese market, after obtaining the extended screening permit through the "big scissors" secret key, Transformers smoothly surpassed 1 billion RMB, becoming the first film in China's history to break the 1 billion domestic box office mark.
Its cumulative box office in China now is also nearing 1.3 billion RMB.
Correspondingly, Transformers merchandise sales were extremely hot, especially the toys—many versions were completely sold out.
For example, in Peter Kerr's chain stores and his newly launched online flash sales business, the reserved Transformers merchandise stock was almost entirely sold out. Duke received three calls from him in one week asking for more supplies.
As the largest offline and online marketing distributor on the West Coast, Duke gave him proper consideration. The revenue generated by merchandise from this film clearly exceeded that of The Dark Knight.
"Although The Dark Knight was very good, I still prefer Transformers."
Inside a car driving out from the airport, Irene Lauder shrugged and said to Duke, "You could say I haven't grown up yet, but I watch movies mainly to relax and be entertained…"
"I'll have someone send the Optimus Prime model to your Long Island villa," Duke glanced at her and added, "And Megatron, too."
Irene Lauder didn't hold back at all, "Then I'll gladly accept."
The car left the airport area. Duke turned his head to look out the window and asked, "Where to? Hotel?"
"Not the hotel," Irene Lauder gave the driver an address and added, "My apartment in Los Angeles has been renovated. I won't have to stay in a hotel when I come here anymore."
Duke asked curiously, "When did you buy an apartment in L.A.?"
"At the beginning of the year," Irene Lauder reminded him, "During the lowest slump in the housing market. I thought it was a good time to bottom fish."
That's what she said, but Duke knew clearly that Irene Lauder had no interest in real estate she was fully focused on running her cosmetics and luxury goods business.
Like Duke, she bought the house simply to live in.
The car soon arrived at the destination. It was a high-end community in North Hollywood, not far from where Duke had once rented. Whether in terms of security or environment, it was one of the most suitable choices in Greater Los Angeles.
The two took the elevator to the top floor. Duke helped Irene carry her luggage and followed her to two white wooden doors.
"This is it."
Irene Lauder didn't seem to come here often. She glanced at the door number to confirm, then took out the key and opened the door, stepping in first, "Hmm, not bad, quite to my taste."
Duke put down the suitcase, looked at the spacious living room, nodded slightly, and followed Irene Lauder as they toured the apartment.
The apartment covered more than 2,500 square feet and used black and white as its main tones. The rooms were quite bright, and the layout was minimalist yet grand.
The apartment's design didn't decorate the small details excessively—the exposed ceiling pipes and reddish-brown brick walls gave it a raw touch. In the key parts defining the style, the apartment perfectly interpreted "low-key luxury." The living room and family room were covered with black hardwood floors, the furniture had simple lines but superior materials, and a giant vintage clock on the dining room wall served as decoration, giving the entire apartment an aura like its owner—elegant and composed amidst grand simplicity.
In addition, being a penthouse apartment, it also had a rooftop garden filled with blooming flowers.
"I hired professionals to take care of it."
Standing in front of a bunch of hydrangeas, Irene leaned in to smell them and added, "Looks like they did a good job."
Duke nodded. The small garden was neat and orderly whether it was the green plants or the blooming flowers, they all exuded vigorous life.
Back in the apartment, Irene Lauder grabbed a bottle of juice from the bar and poured a glass each for herself and Duke, saying apologetically, "This is all I've got for now."
"No problem," Duke took the glass and sipped it. "How long are you staying in Los Angeles?"
"I have two sponsorship contracts to negotiate."
Almost every well-known cosmetics brand seeks Hollywood stars as ambassadors. Irene Lauder's brand was no exception. "How long I stay depends on the pace of negotiations."
Every big-name Hollywood star is hard to deal with even if they're not too sharp, they have professional agents or managers around them.
"I plan to get Tom Cruise to endorse my men's line." Irene Lauder sat down in the single armchair across from Duke, gently massaging her forehead. "His agent, Pat Kingsley, is really tough to handle and he's not easy to deal with either."
"Need my help?"
Hearing Duke's offer, Irene Lauder shook her head. "I can handle it myself."
She picked up her juice and took a sip, then asked curiously, "I heard from Pat Kingsley that you're planning to work with Tom Cruise on a film?"
"That's right." Duke nodded slightly. "I intend to invite him to play the male lead in my new movie."
Irene Lauder lightly patted her forehead. "I remember you mentioned to me before that the female lead is Charlize Theron? Two superstars—oh… just thinking about it gives me a headache."
Duke just smiled. Having two superstars appear in a film indeed brings a lot of challenges.
"However, given your current status and standing," Irene added, "I suppose those two will be a little more restrained."
"If it can't be coordinated…" Duke shrugged. "I won't invite them."
In fact, for Duke, the two of them are not that difficult to deal with; it's the teams surrounding them that are troublesome. Charles Roven, who has ended his vacation, has already started negotiating with the agents of Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise. Although both have agreed to make concessions on their salaries, the extent of the concessions and other treatment-related details are being fought over fiercely by their agents.
In Hollywood, big-name stars just like directors such as Duke are rare resources. And no one gives up their interests easily. Just like how Duke used to view Tom Cruise, those who reach this level may sometimes lose sight of things, but their assistants, PR reps, and agents, whose interests are closely tied to them, are certainly not all fools.
Moreover, the treatment a cast or crew member receives directly reflects their status and influence in the industry. The kind of treatment a star receives is traditionally proportional to their standing in Hollywood.
Entertainment news often reports about stars acting like divas—yelling on set, scolding paparazzi, spontaneous feuds… but in reality, for the production crew of a blockbuster, these are trivial matters. Contracts are the real battlefield where the fiercest fights happen.
It is well known that Hollywood has a very strict union system. The Screen Actors Guild sets a minimum pay standard for its members, meaning that even for minor roles, union members have a guaranteed base salary.
Star actors, of course, are not satisfied with just that. They usually negotiate more favorable terms than the industry standard in their contracts. Not only do they get guaranteed pay, but they may also receive a share of the profits.
Profit-sharing in Hollywood is a contractual concept. If an actor has enough status and box office pull, through constant wrangling and compromise in negotiations, they can obtain profit-sharing rights that are more valuable than their actual pay. The bigger the star, the greater the box office appeal, and the easier it is to negotiate favorable clauses, including many beneficial fine print terms.
Aside from profit-sharing, major stars and their agents are never content. If a film achieves excellent box office results upon its theatrical release, the actor's agent may demand a box office bonus from the producers. The actor might even require that if the producers sell the film's overseas distribution rights or North American rights, a certain fee must be paid to the actor.
In some cases, they may even demand a fixed amount or percentage of the revenue from those rights transactions.
Hollywood's television system is not much different. A lot of American TV series start with pilot episodes. If the ratings response is good, they proceed to full production. Naturally, the main actors believe they contributed to the success. So, they'll preemptively include clauses in their contracts demanding development bonuses, distribution bonuses, and even awards bonuses if the show goes into production… leaving no gaps unexploited.
If anyone truly thinks that high-ranking actors are mere 'tools' or 'puppets' easily manipulated by talent agencies and investors, then that person would be the first one to be manipulated—because they don't even understand the basic reality of the industry.
Casually throwing out a script or a role, and having all the A-list stars rush over like brainless fans offering everything they have… Hollywood would become a sanctuary for fools if that were true.
Take Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise, for example. Although they are inclined to work with Duke and have promised to lower their salaries, they still won't give up on what they rightfully deserve.
Not just them—any other big-name actor would be the same.
Moreover, Hollywood's top stars are also very skilled at using third-party guarantees to protect their rights.
.....
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