Chapter 138： eternal

The North American screening of "Independence Day" just ended its tenth weekend. The North American box office has accumulated as high as 328.75 million US dollars, although it is far from the North American box office of the "Star Wars" series and "et Alien" that have been re-screened many times. , But it is extremely hopeful that "Jurassic Park" will hit the North American box office of $357.06 million.

It took more than 60 weeks for "Jurassic Park" to create this North American box office. Duke estimated that "Independence Day" would also need dozens of weeks to break through 350 million US dollars.

Ten weeks after its release, the North American box office of "Independence Day" has been weak. The number of theaters has dropped to about 1,000. Although the weekly box office decline has remained healthy, the number of theaters is still shrinking. It is estimated that by October, there will be remaining Hundreds of theaters would be great.

As long as the film can bring benefits to the theaters, "Independence Day" will not be forced down the stage like "Shawshank's Redemption", but will continue to be shown in North America with a small number of theaters, which is very likely to continue. 30 weeks or more.

This is also a situation that Duke is happy to see. The higher the North American box office number, the more revenue he will bring with 20% of the share.

In fact, up to now, theaters have conducted two North American box office divisions with 20th Century Fox, involving a total amount of ∑, up to 300 million US dollars, which means that the distribution of the US$300 million box office belongs to the issuer and producer has reached two. Tenth Century Fox’s account is only that 20th Century Fox, like all Hollywood companies, has not paid any share to other parties.

Duke’s remuneration is easy to calculate, 300 million US dollars multiplied by 20 percent, or 60 million US dollars.

This figure accounts for nearly half of the box office share that Fox received in the 20th century. It seems to be extremely detrimental to the publisher. In fact, Warner Bros. and the 20th Century Foxconn signed this contract with Duke. It already has the capital to bid. Secondly, the sharing agreement is stepwise, and the most important point is that the box office is only part of the film's revenue.

"Independence Day" has a big box office, and peripheral products such as TV, video tapes, and original soundtracks will all rise. These are long-term benefits. As long as the copyright is in your hands, you can bring a steady stream of income behind.

Knowing that it was divided into the accounts of 20th Century Fox, Duke asked his accountant to urge Fox to settle with him as soon as possible. Now Duke is no longer the little director who could only wait for him, even in the face of Warner Bros. and Twenty Hollywood giants like Century Fox speak loud enough.

Moreover, the two companies also hope to continue to cooperate with him.

Such a huge amount of income is indeed gratifying, but it also brings another trouble, that is, taxation.

If you pay taxes in accordance with normal circumstances. For Duke’s "Independence Day", a considerable part of the share that needs to be paid is tax, and the tax bureau is definitely not easy to provoke, for him who will develop in Hollywood for a long time and face fierce competition. , Tax evasion is just making trouble for yourself.

Legal tax avoidance has become the most appropriate choice.

Over the next few days, Duke met frequently with his accountants and lawyers. Hear opinions in order to set up a foundation for legal tax avoidance when the share is received, under the name of high income earners in the United States. Most of these funds are used for tax avoidance under the banner of charity or other, which is the norm in the entire Western society.

However, the share of "Independence Day" for Duke is too high. According to accountants and lawyers, even if legal tax avoidance is used, the tax he needs to pay is still a terrible figure, and the funds for tax avoidance . It will also be subject to certain supervision, and there are many restrictions and inconveniences when using it.

In this land, only paying taxes and death are eternal.

Due to the failure of his trip to Europe, Duke visited the Duke's studio almost every day during negotiations with major film companies in Nancy. I exchanged opinions with the two hired screenwriters on the writing of the new screenplay. The two screenwriters, the man and the woman, both signed their names on the scripts of "Independence Day" and "Independence Day". The income from the two films, It completely exceeds the sum of past income.

Duke could detect that both of them had some ideas, and probably wanted to be completely independent for another period of time. He did not intend to stay. In this circle, no one wants to become famous, and what he needs is not a screenwriter full of whimsical ideas. It's just part of the pipeline that fills in the script outline template. Such screenwriters are not too hard to find in Hollywood.

According to his guess, the two screenwriters will probably leave the Duke's studio after they fill in the script they are writing.

The Duke’s studio used for tax avoidance is just a shell. The finance is outsourced to an accounting firm. The only real full-time employee is a middle-aged Latin woman who is responsible for cleaning and answering the phone.

"The studio is still the same..."

Following Duke, who was holding the thick materials, walked into the office, Naomi Watts put the materials in her hands on the simple desk, pulled the chair and sat on it, rubbing her chest, panting and saying, " "Independence Day" has not been released yet, you have collected so much information!"

"You've been talking all the way when you came, my dear."

After taking the kettle, Duke helped Naomi pour a glass of water and pushed it over, "Singing and dancing, especially jazz singing and dancing, is a relatively unfamiliar field to me, and I always need to have some basic understanding."

"You always put your preparations at the forefront..." Naomi Watts picked up the glass and took a big sip. "Everyone is ready to go to vacation time, you are still busy."

Duke gulped the water in the glass, feeling the coolness that it brought, and filled himself and Naomi again. "Transformation is not an easy task. Although the next one is a war theme,..."

He shook his head and did not continue.

"Only those who are well prepared will succeed."

Naomi Watts, who is gradually gaining fame, is quite sure of the applicability of this sentence in Hollywood. She looked straight at Duke, "In fact, what you said to me helped me a lot."

"This is the result of your hard work." Duke turned a blind eye to the hot gaze and joked with a smile, "Perhaps waiting a few years for you to become a first-line actress, and looking back, I think it's not a big deal."

Although the first-line actresses are still weaker than the first-line directors, they also have enough money to speak up, and the first-line actresses often can't wait to break with the past.

"I will always remember you!" Naomi's eyes were full of sincerity.

Duke just smiled, but didn't say anything. He opened the thick information and was obviously ready to start work.

Seeing Duke starting to work, Naomi Watts wisely chose to shut up, drank the glass of water steadily, and found a random book from the pile of materials on the desk, combined with the intermittent intermittent in the past few months. I looked through the practiced singing and dancing seriously.

After turning for about ten minutes, Naomi seemed to feel uncomfortable in her neck. Naomi stood up cautiously, walked to the window, looked at the distance for a while, and then turned to look at Duke.

A few years later, this guy has changed from an unknown young director to a first-rate Hollywood commercial director, but he still maintains a serious and dedicated work attitude, and can always automatically block and forget other people around him.

Naomi was convinced of this, and made no noise. She had known Duke for a few years, and she gradually understood many of his habits.

"What do you think?"

Closing the information, when Duke looked up, he happened to see Naomi looking at him, "Very ecstatic."

"Seeing the information you prepared, I think I have to hurry up and prepare."

Walking back and sitting in the chair, Naomi Watts flipped through a book about jazz dancing, "If I don't perform well by then, you will definitely not use me, right?"

"Just understand." Duke didn't mean to deny anything.

Although he advises Naomi Watts to practice singing and dancing as soon as possible, he does not guarantee anything. If even the most basic auditions are not passed, there is no need to talk about the rest. After all, an unqualified actor can ruin a movie. Not without.

After staying in the studio until the evening, Duke and Naomi Watts went to a nearby restaurant to dine. After dinner, Naomi did not intend to return to Beverly Hills, and tacitly followed Duke to North Hollywood. In the apartment, the two people do not ask about the other, but explore and soothe each other's bodies with the utmost enthusiasm. While asking for physiological needs, they also provide each other with the most direct sensory stimulation.

Petite Naomi Watts is still so weak, can always make Duke more wild inadvertently, and even inspire his desire to destroy, but he understands that this kind of thing can only bring the greatest happiness when both parties enjoy it. It will not be as rough as treating those models.

The next day, because his mother returned to Santa Monica from New York a few days ago, Duke sent Naomi Watts back to Beverly Hills and went directly to Santa Monica's home.

"mom……"

He just walked out of the garage and saw his mother leading her goddaughter from the villa, "Are you going out?"

"The company has some work to be done."

"Hi, Duke." Scarlett beckoned to him.

"No class today?" Duke asked strangely.

"Scarlett's school has a short vacation." Mrs. Leah took the topic and directly pushed Scarlett to Duke, "Since you are back, Scarlett will take care of you today."

There was no discussion in the mother's words, and Duke said embarrassedly, "I have an appointment with a real estate agent in the afternoon to go to Malibu."

"I won't disturb you." Scarlett said obediently.

"Going to see the house?"

Hearing his mother's question, Duke nodded, "I have a good view of a seaside villa from the information, and I am going to take a look at it on the spot." (To be continued...)

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