Warner Brothers invested heavily in Fury Road, and Duke’s films have always been the backbone of Warner’s movie business. They never relaxed for a mont when it ca to promoting Fury Road.
On the second Friday of April, the WonderCon ani convention kicked off. Although it didn’t have the impact of the San Diego Comic-Con, the attendees of WonderCon were younger and ford the core audience of the North Arican movie market.
That day, over one hundred thousand ani fans, sci-fi fans, and other pop culture enthusiasts gathered, eager to flood the Anaheim Convention Center, an hour’s drive southeast of Los Angeles. They had traveled far just for this three-day convention.
WonderCon had entered its 22nd year, organized by a group of pop culture fanatics. It was like a prelude to the massive San Diego Comic-Con held every sumr.
Though not as grand as the San Diego event, WonderCon was a favorite among fans, especially because it wasn’t as crowded, allowing attendees to participate in more activities daily.
This year’s schedule featured retrospectives on Back to the Future, Star Trek, and Star Wars series, along with nurous licensed ga exhibits, interactive talks by bestselling comic authors, and booths from a large number of movie studios and TV networks.
In fact, the biggest attraction of WonderCon was the premiere of the first trailer for Fury Road.
Norman Schiller arrived early at the Anaheim Convention Center, skipping other booths to head straight to Warner Brothers’ hall. He wanted to secure a front-row spot, but his wish was dashed the hall was already packed.
Nearly ten thousand people crowded outside the Warner Brothers hall, chatting about Duke, the movie, and the posters.
"Charlize Theron’s look is absolutely stunning!"
One fan pointed at the huge hanging posters, "Tom Cruise wearing that muzzle is insanely cool!"
"Their styles are so unique!"
"Is this self-destruction of their image?"
"Self-destruction? It’s a breakthrough! Even just looking at these two in such badass, powerful roles, I’d definitely watch it in theaters."
Looking at those two huge character posters, Norman Schiller had only one thought probably only a director like Duke in all of Hollywood could convince two superstars to willingly play such roles.
But he quickly discarded that thought because the trailer was about to be revealed.
Famous talk show host Ellen DeGeneres took the stage at Warner’s booth to personally introduce the trailer.
However, hardly anyone paid attention to the host; everyone’s eyes were glued to the big screen.
The giant screen showed Tom Cruise waking up in a dusty wasteland, dizzy and disoriented. He wore a tal muzzle, shackled together with Jas Franco inside a wrecked vehicle. He found a hunting rifle and tried to shoot his companion’s arm to free him, but the gun misfired.
Just as he was about to grab the companion’s wrist, he heard movent nearby. He lifted the unconscious companion and headed toward a truck, where a group of won dressed in white were washing dust off their bodies with hoses.
They were five Victoria’s Secret angels in flowing white dresses, like goddesses from Greece, appearing as an oasis in the desert, attracting all eyes. But when the cara shifted to Charlize Theron, nearly everyone instantly forgot about the models because the bald Charlize was like water in a desert oasis.
With water present, everything else in the oasis could be temporarily ignored.
Even more shocking was the fierce, maddening fight to the death between the tough characters played by Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise.
Tom Cruise aid a gun at one woman, ordering her to hand him a hose and using pliers to cut his shackles. Just then, the female leader played by Charlize Theron attacked him, and they engaged in close combat.
Tom Cruise resisted her attacks, and his companion Jas Franco woke from unconsciousness, seeing Charlize about to grab the rifle on the ground, he hurried to help. Tom finally grabbed the gun and fired multiple shots into the sand near Charlize’s head...
This was a tight, breathless action sequence—no fancy moves, only life or death!
Norman Schiller exhaled deeply; he knew Duke wouldn’t disappoint, and the facts proved it.
The trailer continued with car chases across desolate lands, breathtaking stunts, and dangerous canyon battles between Tom Cruise, Charlize Theron, and a gang of motorcyclists...
Every scene was spectacular!
"The most ambitious, anticipated, and exciting movie of the year has arrived!"
Soone in the crowd said, sparking widespread agreent. Even Norman Schiller, a veteran cinephile, couldn’t help but nod.
If a film like this isn’t worth anticipating, then what kind of film would be?
The movie’s promotion entered its most intense and frenzied phase before release. In the following month, Warner Brothers released four more TV teaser clips.
These teasers were visually fierce, highlighting a massive tornado assault, rogue warriors battling in the desert, car explosions, and delivered the most thrilling visual feast for eager fans.
"As director Duke Rosenberg said, Fury Road contains massive car scenes, packed with gunfights, car chases, explosions, and a strong post-apocalyptic vibe..."
Watching the TV screen, David Ellison’s expression was serious. Despite the film’s edgy content, he fully realized this was an extrely formidable competitor.
"Hey, David, good news."
His sister, gan Ellison, ran in from outside, speaking loudly, "I just ca from the company. There’s confird news: the MPAA rating for Fury Road is R."
"For a movie like this, it would be strange if it weren’t rated R," David Ellison muttered.
gan Ellison walked over, sat beside him, and said, "I rember The Adventures of Tintin was rated PG, right?"
David Ellison nodded.
"Steven Spielberg’s PG-rated family-friendly film versus Duke Rosenberg’s R-rated heavy-hitter..." gan shook her head, "This is completely an unfair match."
"Unfair?" David Ellison gave a cold smile. "Comrcial competition has never been fair! The one receiving unfair treatnt is The Adventures of Tintin!"
gan Ellison glanced at her brother curiously and asked, "Did sothing happen that I don’t know about?"
As she grew older, gan Ellison was able to control part of her trust fund and was also interested in the film industry, investing in David Ellison’s Sky Film Studios.
"The theater chains are idiots. They’d rather give an R-rated movie like Fury Road over 4,000 theaters than invest more resources in a PG-rated film like The Adventures of Tintin!"
At this, David Ellison couldn’t help but pound the sofa armrest.
gan Ellison just shrugged and said nothing. She understood the reasons and knew David Ellison understood even better.
Though headstrong, David Ellison was no fool and soon regained his composure. The Adventures of Tintin only opened in fewer than 3,600 theaters, which was still a concession made by the North Arican theater alliance because the director was Steven Spielberg; otherwise, the number would be even less.
Why is that? The reason is simple:Fury Road’s distributor is Warner Brothers, while The Adventures of Tintin’s distributor is Sky Film Studios!
At this point, David Ellison regretted not finding another distributor for The Adventures of Tintin. He had overestimated his company’s capability and underestimated the difficulty of building distribution channels.
Distribution is far more than just setting up a departnt and hiring so professionals with high salaries.
But now it was too late to change the North Arican distributor. What David Ellison could do was hand over the overseas distribution of The Adventures of Tintin to Disney Studios.
However, David Ellison still had so confidence because The Adventures of Tintin’s director was Steven Spielberg.
More importantly, PG-rated films have a huge advantage in audience reach compared to R-rated films. This advantage is enough to compensate for the fewer theaters at opening.
Moreover, as long as The Adventures of Tintin’s per-theater box office in the first week surpasses Fury Road, it’s natural for more theaters to be added later.
And there’s the Chinese market. David Ellison was eyeing that market as well. Transforrs had already shown him the potential of that market. Coming from a comrcial family, his business acun was sharp and he knew that market represented the future.
He was indeed no match for Duke Rosenberg right now, but he had only been in this circle for a few years what about the other party?
He had high expectations for his own future and for Sky Film Studios.
To realize these expectations and to beco an influential force in Hollywood, the key was solid market performance!
The Adventures of Tintin entering the Chinese market was without a doubt. Disney Studios had already received confird replies from across the sea, and Spielberg’s global influence remained huge.
Fury Road entering that market would be difficult, even though Warner Brothers had various partnerships with China Film Group. Whether it could pass the approval of whoever that person was...
David Ellison couldn’t rember the exact na but knew the chances of Fury Road getting approval were slim, even basically none.
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