"What?"
Hearing what his agent said over the phone, Dwayne Johnson couldn't help but stand up and touch his bald head. "Nancy Josephson is trying to poach me?"
"Dwayne!" the agent emphasized over the phone. "If she wanted to poach you, would she have contacted me first? She approached me on behalf of someone, and the other party intends to have you appear in his next film."
With a vague suspicion forming in his mind, Dwayne Johnson instinctively asked, "On whose behalf?"
"Of course, her biggest client, the most famous director in all of Hollywood."
At this point, the agent stopped teasing and directly gave the answer. "Duke Rosenberg wants to deliberately have you audition for his next movie."
Upon hearing this, Dwayne Johnson didn't hesitate and said, "Next! I don't care what type of role it is or what it requires. You have to secure it for me!"
Although outwardly extremely tough and looking like a mindless brute, beneath Dwayne Johnson's bulky appearance lay a sensitive heart. Otherwise, of all those in the World Wrestling Entertainment who wanted to transition to Hollywood, he would be the only one to truly succeed.
However, this kind of success was only relative.
For example, in the upcoming Fast & Furious 5, his role was not significant, and throughout the production, he was overshadowed by that deceased bald-headed man.
Dwayne Johnson knew very well what taking a role in Duke Rosenberg's film meant and what it could bring him.
As for what David Ellison and the Fast & Furious 5 crew would think—whether it would honor that deceased bald man—it was not something he even considered.
Originally, Fast & Furious veteran Gal Gadot was not participating in Fast & Furious 5. Rumor in the industry said she had aligned herself with ICM and Duke Rosenberg, preparing for a major role and had no interest in a minor supporting role in Fast & Furious 5.
In Dwayne Johnson's eyes, Gal Gadot was just lucky. Now he had a chance to be lucky too.
Collaborating with Duke Rosenberg was absolutely a dream opportunity for anyone in Hollywood who wanted fame.
"Wait, Dwayne."
The agent's voice rang again. "That's a villain role, the main antagonist of the film!"
Dwayne Johnson still didn't hesitate. "Take this audition, and I want you to do everything possible to get me this role."
Hanging up the phone, Dwayne Johnson put away his phone, sat back on the sofa, and his gaze returned to the newspaper he had been reading. A faint cold smile appeared on his lips.
"David Ellison is just delusional. Does he really think that hyping the news of Vin Diesel's death in a car accident will make Fast & Furious 5 compete with The Avengers?"
Looking at the weekly North American box office report in the newspaper, Dwayne Johnson was certain this was a joke!
"The Avengers debuted with an unprecedented over $200 million, easily topping the charts while significantly breaking a series of records, including the previous opening weekend record of $192.26 million held by another Duke Rosenberg film, The Dark Knight. In the face of the Avengers' strength, no other new releases dared to open concurrently last week. The market surged 335% compared to the previous week, with a total of $271.21 million—double what Inception earned during its summer opening last year!"
"Last weekend's highlight was naturally The Avengers, officially released in North America. The film opened in 4,480 theaters with an astonishing $50,000 average per theater, grossing over $243.31 million in three days, easily breaking the previous opening weekend record held by The Dark Knight."
"In addition, although the $33.8 million midnight opening didn't surpass the Harry Potter franchises, its Friday earnings of $106 million set new records for opening day, single-day, and Friday box office. The subsequent Saturday and Sunday earnings of $82.54 million and $60.11 million respectively surpassed The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, ranking first in history for single-day box office on those days. As the first film in history to surpass $200 million in its opening weekend, it naturally broke records for fastest to $100 million, $150 million, and $200 million milestones."
"At the same time, The Avengers has already exceeded the total North American box office of Thor, Captain America, and The Incredible Hulk. Although it is temporarily behind the two Iron Man films, surpassing them is only a matter of this week. Considering the current trend, breaking $500 million in North America is just a matter of time. With an A+ CinemaScore, even a $600 million target is within reach."
Seeing this, Dwayne Johnson had to marvel at how astonishing this film was, and what influence the actors in it would have in North America and globally, not to mention how their salaries would skyrocket afterward.
Villain, villain—so what?
Not to mention the Joker, look at the villain in The Avengers. Tom Hiddleston's performance absolutely outshines many of the Avengers themselves!
Thinking of this, Dwayne Johnson's desire to seize this opportunity through the audition surged almost uncontrollably. He took a deep breath, suppressing the flood of thoughts in his mind, and continued reading the North American box office briefing.
"North American audiences gave the film the highest A+ rating. On professional rating sites, The Avengers is also a winner, with an IMDb score of 9.3, a 93% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and an 87 on MetaCritic."
"Several media outlets gave full marks. The New York Times said the film 'contains genuine emotion, humor, and surprise; beyond being a standard comic movie blockbuster, it is filled with the director's unique touch, making everything appear perfect.' Los Angeles Times stated, 'The most incredible thing about the film is that it makes the superhero genre feel fresh again, which is truly remarkable.' New York Post called Duke Rosenberg 'the real hero of this film: both embodying the passion of comic fans and demonstrating a deep understanding of the genre.'"
"Even the media that didn't give full marks praised the film. Entertainment Weekly said, 'The large-scale effects in the streets of New York at the end of the film are spectacular from every angle.' Rolling Stone magazine stated that Duke Rosenberg is 'the key reason this $200 million monster film is so exciting and vivid; the complexity of the content keeps the audience from noticing the nearly two-hour runtime…'"
"Empire magazine commented, 'The Avengers have assembled, and for the most part, Duke has blended them exceptionally well. The perfect combination of heroism and humor not only maintains the unique traits of each hero individually but also enhances the overall quality of the film.'"
"The Hollywood Reporter also praised, 'Director Duke Rosenberg and his colleagues have combined all the personalities and material so wonderfully, presenting a feast that feels familiar yet remains irresistibly compelling.'"
"The Washington Post stated, 'The film successfully satisfies almost all the demands of the super-fans; relying on enough self-deprecating humor, those adults in their outlandish costumes appear genuine and believable'; USA Today pointed out, 'Duke Rosenberg has given each character ample opportunity to shine—their screen time may not be entirely equal, but the audience leaves feeling satisfied. This is indeed a very clever approach.'"
In fact, the box office that Dwayne Johnson focused on was only one aspect of The Avengers' revenue.
With the movie's popularity, the Avengers' heroic images also became highly sought after by various merchants. In addition to theaters authorized to first release derivative gifts like mugs, keychains, and other small items to attract attention, major fast-fashion brands also launched related character T-shirts, achieving remarkable sales.
Other popular derivative products included chibi hero figures, hero accessory USB drives, Thor's hammer, Hawkeye's bow, Iron Man's mask… all were hot items in the merchandising market.
It wasn't just the film's box office that was selling well. Comics, dolls, toys, and character licensing products also brought Marvel Comics enormous income. Even in just three days, only counting character licensing, Marvel earned $350 million worldwide!
At the same time, statistics from global markets for The Avengers were gradually forwarded to Duke by Warner Bros., with almost no exceptions. The film topped the weekend box office in nearly every overseas market where it opened, and in China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia, it broke existing opening-weekend box office records.
Especially in China, earning nearly 400 million RMB in three days left local filmmakers stunned; in their view, this was simply unbelievable.
Currently, most domestic Chinese films aim for a target of 100 million RMB…
Only a few, like Let the Bullets Fly, can hope for over 400 million RMB in box office revenue.
Duke's trip to China wasn't just to promote The Avengers. He also attended a China-U.S. Film Forum co-hosted by Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and China Film Group, held at the newly opened Warner Fox World.
...
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