The entanglement between 20th Century Fox and Duke went far deeper than that with Walt Disney. Looking back to the beginning, it was 20th Century Fox that had distributed his very first film, Speed. Later, due to disagreements over investment and compensation, the two sides parted ways, leading Duke to join forces with Warner Bros., through which he achieved the glorious success of The Rock, once again drawing 20th Century Fox back for collaboration.
The three parties jointly produced Independence Day, which became a massive success and propelled Duke into becoming Hollywood's most promising commercial film director.
For many years afterward, Duke worked closely with Warner Bros., while his relationship with 20th Century Fox remained one of both cooperation and competition. However, cooperation far outweighed competition. When Walt Disney's Shanghai Disneyland project was being pushed across the Pacific, Duke's closer collaboration with 20th Century Fox allowed him to act as an intermediary—helping Time Warner and News Corporation replace Disney with the Warner-Fox World project, thus depriving Walt Disney of a crucial opportunity for expansion.
This partnership lasted until the eruption of the "Wiretapping Scandal." The true nature of capital and its representatives was fully exposed during that incident. Duke and Time Warner had no intention of helping their partner, News Corporation; instead, like other media companies, they joined in beating the fallen giant.
The reason was simple—a weakened News Corporation was more beneficial to Duke and Time Warner.
Under continuous pressure from the federal government, the British government, and even the Windsor family, News Corporation was inevitably forced to split apart. The once world's largest media conglomerate had to divide into two entities: News Corp, focusing on newspapers and print media, and Fox Group, centered on television, online, and film businesses.
Although the Fox Group was now controlled by Rupert Murdoch's eldest son, everyone understood that the once-mighty News Corporation could no longer be commanded by Rupert Murdoch with the same effortless authority as before.
The division of News Corporation marked the beginning of Duke and Time Warner's shift in stance. Even though the company split, it would not disappear—and even if it did, Duke and Time Warner would not simply stand by.
After all, there were still shared interests between them—for instance, the long-delayed Avatar sequel constantly postponed by James Cameron.
Thus, the two sides once again returned to a relationship of both competition and cooperation. In the face of sufficient profit, there was nothing that capital and its representatives could not negotiate.
After the split, News Corp was in no position, at least in the short term, to compete with Time Warner, in which Duke had been steadily increasing his holdings.
Through years of effort, and after Steve Jobs's death, Duke spent heavily to buy shares from his heirs. His ownership in Time Warner had now surpassed fifteen percent, with the majority being Class A voting shares—making him the largest single shareholder of Time Warner in both name and reality.
Although Time Warner was far from being renamed "Rosenberg," Duke, through his shareholding and his position on the board, already held a heavyweight voice within the company.
Still, Duke remained clear-headed. Knowing he wasn't particularly skilled in corporate management, he avoided interfering in company affairs as long as they didn't affect his own interests.
Most of Duke's energy remained focused on filmmaking.
As time passed into 2013, on the first day of 2014, Lucasfilm officially announced through Instant Share that the latest installment of Star Wars had been formally greenlit. Aside from confirming Duke as director, the release date and production budget remained confidential to the public.
The entire project was wrapped in an air of mystery.
After all, Star Wars was unlike any other film series. In many cases, secrecy attracted fans' attention far more effectively than earth-shattering publicity campaigns.
The more mysterious it appeared, the more it drew the fans' eyes.
Of course, Duke and the project's core leadership team knew every detail.
According to the plan, the film—temporarily titled Star Wars Episode VII—would have a production budget of $250 million, with marketing costs ranging from $200 to $250 million. It would be fully financed and produced by Lucasfilm, now almost entirely owned by Duke, while Warner Bros. would handle both North American and international distribution. Based on negotiations, Warner's distribution fee would be merely seven percent of the box office.
Ultimately, with Duke's name combined with the Star Wars brand, Lucasfilm held an overwhelming advantage in nearly all negotiations.
In North America, dividing commercial films into two categories—Star Wars and everything else—was no exaggeration at all.
Additionally, Duke established the newly formed Star Wars Studio at Warner's production lot.
Since the California state government had been actively promoting film tax incentives in recent years to prevent productions from leaving the state, the new Star Wars film, which had already secured tax credit approval, would shoot its indoor scenes on sets built at Warner Bros. and Hughes Aircraft facilities, with a significant portion of exterior scenes also remaining in California.
Although the U.K. had also offered attractive incentives and invited the crew to shoot in London, Duke was not a British director and had no particular attachment to the British Isles. Moreover, for the coming year, Scarlett Johansson's main work location would also be in the Greater Los Angeles area—making this a rare chance for the two, often separated by work, to spend time together and deepen their relationship.
As Duke grew older, his mindset inevitably shifted—especially his understanding of family and responsibility, which had long since moved beyond what it was ten or twenty years ago.
Even without a formal press conference, the film's announcement drew massive media attention. Since Lucasfilm released very limited information, Warner's production lot—where Duke frequently appeared—became a gathering spot for paparazzi and entertainment reporters. On the day the official production meeting took place, several TV stations even parked their live broadcast vans outside the studio gates.
Both George Lucas and Duke, arriving for the meeting, were surrounded by reporters and answered a few of their questions.
When asked by a reporter about his opinion on Duke directing the new Star Wars, George Lucas replied, "As a director, Duke's storytelling ability has deeply impressed me. Letting him direct the new Star Wars series is the ideal choice—there's no one better for the job."
Shortly after George Lucas entered the Warner Bros. Studios, Duke, who had just gotten out of his car, was also interviewed. Facing the microphones and camera lenses, he said humbly, "Being able to direct the new Star Wars is truly unbelievable! Even now, it still feels surreal to me!"
When reporters asked about the film's specific content, Duke responded with a hint of mystery, "It's still too early to talk about that, but I'm really looking forward to starting work right away."
Breaking through the crowd of reporters, Duke took an electric cart straight to a small conference room inside the studio. In addition to George Lucas, whom Duke had invited, quite a few others were present.
The three major producers—Kathleen Kennedy, Charles Roven, and Robin Grande—were all in attendance. Duke's own team members remained the backbone of the crew: Anna Prinz as first assistant director, John Schwartzman as director of photography, Jimmy Carter responsible for designing all the action scenes, and Hannah Selina tasked with making the entire film's settings evoke everyone's nostalgia and love for Star Wars...
The only difference was that Hans Zimmer, who had worked with Duke for many years, was absent. In his place came Star Wars' legendary composer John Williams. With Hans Zimmer gone but replaced by someone even more familiar with Star Wars and of higher prestige, Duke could rest easy about the score.
In addition, all participants of the meeting—including Duke and Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy—signed a confidentiality agreement. During the film's pre-production phase, maintaining secrecy would be one of the most crucial matters.
"Our first task is to secure the old cast."
Sitting in his seat, Duke turned to Charles Roven and asked, "How are the negotiations with Harrison Ford going?"
Charles Roven shook his head slightly. "Not very smoothly."
Duke instructed, "Keep following up on it—no need to rush."
His bottom line was clear: a $20 million salary was acceptable, but revenue sharing was off the table.
Among the original Star Wars "trio," only Harrison Ford had continually surpassed himself through his excellent looks and superb acting, ultimately becoming a top-tier superstar. Princess Leia's actress, Carrie Fisher, however, couldn't handle the sudden fame and the drastic decline that followed—it led to depression and even drug addiction. Mark Hamill likewise failed to escape the "Luke Skywalker" stereotype. After the Star Wars trilogy, he was briefly active on Broadway but now was merely a little-known voice actor working behind the scenes.
Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill could be handled easily—Duke was confident he could keep their salaries below one million dollars each.
By comparison, Harrison Ford was indeed tough to deal with; without a high enough offer, it would be impossible to move him.
If this were any other type of film, it might not matter, but one of the main selling points of this movie was nostalgia. Every investment had to consider its return ratio. In Duke's eyes, allocating a certain budget to secure Harrison Ford would bring sufficient returns. That was why he instructed Charles Roven to continue negotiating with Ford's agent.
Otherwise, Duke would have long discarded Harrison Ford and written his character out.
However, pure nostalgia alone wasn't enough for the new Star Wars. While nostalgia could draw in the older generation of fans, teenagers wouldn't buy into it. Therefore, Duke planned to make major moves in casting the film's true lead roles.
...
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