Who else would form a close bond with Yuffie after Taylor?
Luke didn't have an answer for that one yet, so he pushed the thought aside for now.
System, show me my current success rate for action scenes, he thought silently.
[Action Scene Danger Level C: Host Success Rate: 99.9%.]
[For C-level danger action scenes, the host will no longer receive attribute rewards.]
[Action Scene Danger Level B: Host Success Rate: 48%.]
As expected, with the addition of a few new master-level skills and another boost to his attributes, C-level action scenes were no longer a challenge. The system wouldn't even reward him for them anymore.
But his success rate for B-level danger scenes had jumped significantly—from 35% to 48%.
His attributes hadn't hit their cap yet. If he could keep racking up points through chained missions and pair that with new skills, he'd soon have a real shot at tackling B-level action scenes.
In Hero, getting a B-level difficulty scene to count as a B-level danger challenge was a rare opportunity. Without someone like Li Renjie's help, pulling it off with anyone else would've been tough.
Trying to game the system by dodging the real danger of B-level scenes? Pretty much impossible.
An opportunity like Hero's B-level difficulty was a once-in-a-blue-moon deal.
In the end, if Luke wanted to keep earning attribute points consistently, he'd have to face B-level danger head-on.
He'd done the math in his head: B-level action scenes would outdo anything ever shown on the silver screen. Maybe he'd be walking a tightrope between skyscrapers with no safety net? Free-climbing the Burj Khalifa? Or jumping out of a plane without a parachute?
Whatever it was, it'd be as dangerous as it gets.
Luke decided to play it safe for now—wait until his success rate was more solid before diving in. With everything he'd already achieved, recklessly risking his life didn't make sense.
…
The past month's intense shooting schedule had finally wrapped, marking the end of Luke's scenes.
He had high hopes for Hero's box office numbers. Sure, it might not compete with Hollywood's big blockbusters, but it still pulled in $177 million globally in its original run. Domestically, it earned $250 million, a quarter of China's total box office in 2002.
In North America, it made $53.71 million, plus another $21.7 million in DVD sales—a record no film had beaten by 2024. In Japan, it raked in 3 billion RMB. In South Korea, it drew 1.91 million viewers, setting another record for cinema.
This time around, with Luke's involvement, he was confident it'd do even better. He'd already built a bit of a reputation in the North American action movie market, and with Mr. Eisen's distribution muscle, the U.S. box office could realistically break $100 million. If he could crack the Japanese market too, the numbers could climb even higher.
All in all, for a film with a $30 million budget, Luke figured Hero could hit at least $250 million globally.
On the awards front, Hero didn't win any major international prizes in its original timeline—just a few nominations that didn't pan out. At the Oscars, it came up empty-handed, partly due to bad luck and partly due to its script not resonating with Western audiences. Its visual flair was what got attention, but that wasn't enough.
Plus, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had just swept up awards, so handing another Best Foreign Language Film Oscar to a movie felt like overkill to the Academy. They wanted to spread the love to other languages—classic award politics.
To change that, Hero would need to bring undeniable impact.
That's why Luke had pushed Director Zhang to tweak the script and poured his all into filming the epic showdown between Canjian and Wuming in the Qin Palace.
He wasn't about to let Hero follow its old, predetermined path.
But all that would have to wait six months. Hero was slated for release in May 2002, around the same time as The Mummy Returns, right at the start of the North American summer blockbuster season.
With his last scene done, Luke was headed back to New York to join the Pirates of the Caribbean crew.
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Bob drove him to the airport. The rest of the crew still had scenes to shoot, but Director Zhang had prioritized Luke's schedule to wrap his parts early.
Now, with his filming done, Luke was heading out first. Bob would follow after finishing his remaining scenes.
"Thanks for the ride, man," Luke said.
"No need to say thanks, boss. It's my job," Bob replied in his usual playful tone, which left Luke shaking his head.
Still, he couldn't help asking, "You're always so busy, barely getting time at home. Your wife and kids don't mind?"
Bob was 34—prime age for having young kids who need their dad around.
"No worries, man. I'm DINK—no kids to look after. As for my wife, she's already chilling in New York on vacation. I'll catch up with her when I get a breather," Bob explained.
"DINK? Like, full-on no-kids DINK?" Luke was surprised. In his mind, people from Hong Kong were usually big on carrying on the family line, so choosing to be child-free was rare.
"Yup, decided that ages ago with my wife. I got snipped over a decade ago. Even if I wanted to reverse it now, probably wouldn't work," Bob dropped casually, like it was no big deal.
"Dude, you're a legend for that!" Luke said, genuinely impressed.
"Cutting off my own 'chi'?" Bob paused, then burst out laughing, giving Luke a playful punch. "This is as far as I go. See you in Florida!"
…
In Mr. Eisen's study, the old man handed Luke the script.
Luke flipped through the first few pages and immediately sensed something was off—it wasn't quite like the version he remembered.
He kept reading until he'd gone through the whole thing.
Finally, he looked up and asked, "The script's been changed?"
Sure, Luke had a habit of suggesting script tweaks for almost every movie he joined, but this time, it wasn't his idea.
In the past, he'd pushed for changes to boost his role and grab the audience's attention. But for Pirates of the Caribbean, he'd planned to just focus on making the action scenes pop with his skills.
Now, though, this script was way different from what he remembered.
This was gonna set off a whole chain reaction, wasn't it?