Why do these Hollywood film companies operate Oscar campaigns and invest huge sums of money into them? If in the past, the cost of a film’s Oscar campaign ranged from tens of thousands to a maximum of one million dollars—such as this year’s Chicago, which totaled just over one million dollars—then since The English Patient, when Miramax officially joined the ga, Oscar campaign expenditures have skyrocketed to millions, even tens of millions of dollars, in no ti.
By the turn of the century, spending tens of millions beca the entry-level guarantee for winning awards.
Why do film companies invest so much? For the sake of honor and artistic achievent? That’s certainly a noble reason, one that raises their prestige considerably.
But in reality?
Perhaps last year’s massive success of Saving Private Ryan is the best example. The film won nine Oscars but had essentially concluded its global theatrical run by the ti it won the awards. The golden statuettes didn’t contribute much to the box office.
But! Don’t forget that a film’s revenue is not limited to its box office. Over ti, the proportion of box office earnings in total revenue decreases continuously!
After last year’s Oscars, Saving Private Ryan released VHS and VCD editions globally, including both sales and rentals. By New Year’s, its global revenue in this category had reached $144.58 million!
Additionally, television broadcast rights brought in a global total of $41.8 million!
Moreover, the film collaborated with Hasbro to launch action figures of the rescue squad and Private Ryan. While sales were diocre, they still brought in more than $4 million.
The Best Picture win played a significant role in this.
Before the internet was fully developed, information had yet to explode, and the Oscars hadn’t beco completely niche or politicized. Back then, Oscar nominations and Best Picture wins served as major indicators for many audiences when choosing films. Except for rare cases like The Shawshank Redemption, films with multiple Oscar nominations generally saw a significant increase in comrcial revenue.
After the Oscar nominations were announced, Chicago expanded its North Arican release significantly, jumping from a dwindling 428 theaters to 1,550 theaters overnight. Just like last year’s Saving Private Ryan, the Oscar nominations stimulated audiences who hadn’t planned to watch the film to step into theaters, while those who had already watched it returned for another viewing.
In its first weekend after the theater expansion, Chicago rebounded sharply at the box office, grossing $10.78 million over three days. In the following three weeks, the film earned $8.75 million, $5.89 million, and $4.58 million, respectively, accumulating a North Arican total of $169.81 million.
As Chicago exhausted its North Arican box office potential, theater counts dropped again, with fewer than 500 theaters continuing to collect the last bits of revenue.
Simultaneously, after the nomination announcents, Chicago officially opened its international release, entering markets in Europe, Latin Arica, Australia, Asia, and even parts of Africa.
With ten Oscar nominations giving the film a shining halo, Chicago faced cultural barriers for musicals outside the Western world. During Duke’s and Charles Roven’s discussions over four weeks regarding New Zealand matters, Chicago grossed $11 million in Australia, $6.37 million in France, $5.32 million in Germany, and $9.22 million in Spain.
The two largest overseas markets for the film turned out to be the UK, culturally aligned with the US, and Japan, heavily influenced by Arican culture. They grossed $27.33 million and $25.93 million, respectively. Combined with other million-dollar markets, the film’s overseas box office quickly reached $100 million!
By late February, Chicago’s global box office had reached $287.55 million!
Subsequently, Duke’s studio collaborated with Warner Records to release the Chicago soundtrack album. Within two weeks of its release, North Arican sales surpassed platinum certification, hitting 1.52 million copies.
The album also launched in overseas markets, and by mid-March, cumulative sales had exceeded $30 million globally. Although Duke’s studio had to split revenue with Warner Records and distributors, this single revenue stream recouped a quarter of the film’s production cost!
The film’s success also spurred the developnt of other rchandise. Around the sa ti, Duke’s studio struck a deal with Mattel, selling the rights to produce Velma and Roxie dolls for $1.5 million. Although, per Hollywood conventions, one-third of this went to Naomi Watts and Catherine Zeta-Jones for their likeness rights, the remaining $1 million was still a significant gain.
Duke’s studio and Warner Bros. were also negotiating with several TV networks. NBC purchased the North Arican first-run TV rights for $3 million.
Since the film was still playing in around 300 North Arican theaters and earning tens of thousands of dollars daily, TV broadcasts had to wait until after the Oscars ceremony.
"Charles, in the end, we have to go there in person to assess things."
At Duke’s studio, Duke closed a thick folder and said to Charles Roven, "After I return from London, let’s call Robin and head to New Zealand together."
Charles Roven checked the ti and stood up, saying, "I’ll wait for your call."
The two shook hands and parted ways. Duke sat back at his desk. It wasn’t just New Zealand he wanted to visit; he also wanted to make a trip to Hong Kong to find so action choreographers.
New Zealand was for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Duke certainly wouldn’t make the mistake of adding kung fu elents, as it would render the films incoherent and likely lead to failure.
The action choreographers were for a sci-fi project he had planned years ago. Using martial arts to showcase programmatic conflicts, the project could be nad The Matrix—a na he was familiar with.
This would be a complicated film to produce. Beyond requiring substantial ti and manpower for special effects, training Hollywood actors to appear as martial artists would take months. Skimping on pre-training would lead to countless problems and even injuries during filming.
Moreover, Duke had consulted with the action choreography team he had worked with on several films. They would participate in the entire project and use high-speed caras to capture all training and performance processes, analyzing them fra by fra with advanced technology.
The purpose was clear: to learn.
Duke wasn’t a kung fu enthusiast and had no interest in flashy, complex fight scenes. Instead, he wanted his action team to combine kung fu, Muay Thai, wrestling, karate, and free fighting into more direct, brutal, and straightforward routines. He knew that kung fu films had a very short window of popularity in North Arica and the Western world. Once the novelty wore off, they would quickly fade.
Hollywood, being a lting pot, could integrate and adapt. But adhering rigidly to tradition would quickly lead to obsolescence.
For pushing kung fu films globally? Duke believed there were far more suitable talents in the East.
After so thought, Duke pressed the intercom and called in Tina Fey. His assistant had recently recovered from a terrifying ordeal that could have broken many people.
Duke gestured to the chair opposite him. Once Tina Fey sat down, he asked, "Are you moving out of North Hollywood?"
"Yes, I don’t want to stay there anymore."
Having worked with Duke for a long ti, Tina had found the right way to interact with him, knowing he treated those around him well. She replied frankly, "I usually stay at Duke’s estate and only occasionally return there on weekends, but after this, my impression of North Hollywood has turned utterly negative."
"Have you found a suitable place yet?" When Tina shook her head, Duke said, "For now, move your things to my place. You can take your ti finding a house. Also, I’m heading to London this weekend. Take a break and stay in Los Angeles."
"I’ve already recovered," Tina insisted.
Seeing her determination, Duke didn’t argue further. He waved her off, saying, "Make sure to book the tickets to London."
Tina nodded, stood up, and left the office.
Duke sighed. This woman was indeed strong.
On the last day of February, North Hollywood experienced the most severe bank robbery in Los Angeles history. Two heavily ard criminals, wielding AK rifles with drum magazines, robbed the Bank of Arica branch on Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Unfortunately, Tina happened to be at the bank handling her accounts and got caught in the incident, witnessing the entire ordeal.
Duke also saw it—live on television. When the robbery occurred, an ABC helicopter filming nearby for a show arrived on the scene and broadcast the incident to a nationwide audience. Through the lens, the criminals, wearing double-layer Kevlar and wielding automatic weapons, pinned down over fifty LAPD officers until SWAT arrived for backup.
Such events could leave a lifelong psychological scar.
Recalling the scenes he saw on TV, Duke suddenly had an idea: this might be excellent material for a film adaptation.
The narrative structure of the latter two Lord of the Rings films would beco highly fragnted, with dual or triple storylines being the norm. Given the imnse investnt in the films, failure wasn’t an option. Producing a smaller-scale, triple-storyline film as practice might prove invaluable.
Duke jotted down the idea in his notes. It was just an initial concept; whether to proceed would be decided after attending the annual Victoria’s Secret show in London.
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