"Why did you pull me along to attend such a premiere?"
In the VIP lounge, after dealing with a few people coming over to greet them, Irene Lauder turned to Duke beside her. "Have you noticed? So many people are looking at us with hostility."
Duke paid no attention to those strange looks and directly ignored the latter half of his friend's sentence. "Yesterday when we talked on the phone, you said you were a bit bored recently, so I thought I'd bring you here to watch a really interesting movie."
"Really interesting?" Irene Lauder rolled her eyes without showing much emotion. "Can it be more exciting than your movies?"
Before Duke could reply, someone else approached. It was a middle-aged man with brown hair, a few horizontal wrinkles on his face, and eyebrows raised so high they nearly reached his forehead, making him look extremely arrogant. Even someone unfamiliar with him could guess he had an overwhelmingly arrogant personality.
This man was very famous. Although his wealth didn't match Bill Gates', his fame was definitely not lacking.
Across the entire U.S., there were really very few who did not know Larry Ellison, this madman.
"Hello, Duke."
They had met on other occasions before. Larry Ellison came over, greeted him briefly, then turned to Irene Lauder. "Is this your new companion?"
Hearing such an impolite remark, Irene Lauder frowned slightly, but having good manners, she only furrowed her brow briefly before relaxing it.
Larry's personality was well known across the U.S. Before he could say more, Duke spoke up, "This is Miss Irene Lauder from the Lauder family. She is a good friend of mine."
"Oh..."
Larry Ellison extended his hand proactively. Perhaps because they were both of Jewish descent, his tone softened a bit, "Hello, Miss Lauder. Please give my regards to Mrs. Estée Lauder."
"Thank you," Irene said faintly.
It was obvious she didn't like Larry Ellison's personality.
However, Larry Ellison hadn't come for Irene. He was clearly here because of Duke.
"I heard you've refused David's investment proposals several times?" This madman spoke very bluntly. "Why?"
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Duke's mouth. Instead of answering directly, he asked back with the same tone, "Larry, if someone suddenly came to invest a huge amount in your company, would you accept?"
"Why should I?" Larry's eyebrows rose even higher. "Do you think I'm someone who lacks money?"
"Well, do you think I'm someone who lacks money?" Duke repeated his words.
Hearing this, Larry's raised eyebrows suddenly dropped. The arrogance on his face slightly retracted, and the look in his eyes turned serious.
Although arrogant and rude in speech, to become the third richest person in the U.S. and to be self-made, Larry Ellison was definitely no fool.
He immediately realized that standing opposite him was not just a Hollywood director!
This was someone like him, belonging to the top tier of North American billionaires!
A director worth nearly ten billion, how could he lack funds for filmmaking? Moreover, this director had close cooperation with a company like Warner Brothers.
Larry Ellison knew very well that at this level, saying too much was pointless. After thinking for a moment, he looked at Duke and suddenly laughed.
"I've seen David's movies; they're very impressive." His eyebrows rose high again. "He will defeat you."
Duke was never one to not fight back, and he smiled in return. "Larry, is that your opinion?"
"Of course!" Larry snorted.
"I'm just a movie director; I'm an amateur at predictions." Duke linked arms with Irene and prepared to leave. Before going, he said one more thing, "Just like your expertise is software design."
After finishing, he and Irene Lauder headed toward the theater hallway.
Larry Ellison was slightly stunned, watching their backs, suddenly understanding the meaning behind Duke's words. He snorted again, "Calling me an amateur at movies? Once 'Flyboys' is widely released tomorrow, you'll see who wins!"
He believed in David Ellison's abilities, especially with Michael Ovitz and Walt Disney backing him!
Entering the theater, Duke and Irene found their seats. Just after sitting down, someone came over to greet them.
"Hi, Duke."
"Hi, Ralph."
Duke lightly shook the hand Ralph Fiennes extended.
Ralph politely greeted Irene Lauder, then turned to Duke, "Never expected to see you here."
The reason Duke knew this very charismatic actor was through Liam Neeson, who was Fiennes's friend. During the filming of "Taken" and "Batman Begins," Duke had visited the sets multiple times.
"I was invited," Duke answered casually, then asked, "What about you? How come you're here?"
"My younger brother Joseph also has a role in it."
After saying that, he proactively changed the subject, "Batman Begins must have passed the $100 million mark at the North American box office, right?"
"It should have," Duke replied.
By Wednesday yesterday, Batman Begins had already reached over $94 million in North America. On Thursday, breaking the $100 million mark was almost certain.
As the Flyboys crew entered the theater, both Duke and Ralph Fiennes stopped chatting and turned to look toward the crew.
In Duke's eyes, there were familiar faces all over this crew. The lead was James Franco, with supporting roles by Joseph Fiennes and Jean Reno. Compared to the usual war-themed films, the cast was quite decent, and with an investment exceeding one hundred million dollars, the special effects were expected to be impressive.
In Hollywood, special effects are the clearest reflection of how much the producers invest. Outstanding special effects require big money.
A special effect budget of $10 million versus $30 million is immediately obvious on the big screen.
"It's about to start."
Sitting in the front row of the theater, watching the large screen gradually light up, David Ellison's face was full of uncontrollable excitement. This was his first film he invested in and acted in within Hollywood it would also be the start of his glorious career!
Although Duke Rosenberg wasn't seen in the VIP lounge, David Ellison glanced back. He knew Duke had come to attend the premiere and must be sitting somewhere further back.
That was fine. Let him witness with his own eyes how David succeeds.
If he couldn't defeat his rival in person, the joy of success would inevitably diminish significantly.
Turning back, David Ellison fixed his gaze on the big screen. The pivotal moment in his life was about to unfold.
The big screen lit up. Duke ended his whispering with Irene Lauder, and his gaze focused forward, watching this film about the air battlefield of World War I.
More precisely, he had never seen this film before. All he knew was it was notoriously a bad movie. The only reason he remembered it was because it was invested in by David Ellison.
Anyone familiar with Hollywood knew the arrival of the Ellison siblings brought a new change that the traditional powerhouses did not want to see.
The established interests of Hollywood certainly did not want this change. Duke was undoubtedly one of them.
To some extent, he disliked the personality of the Ellison father and son, just as he would never like Donald Trump. But at the core, Duke's refusal of David Ellison was mostly due to competing interests.
As one of the vested interests, Duke naturally did not want new forces to jump in and share their cake.
However, whether Flyboys succeeded or failed wasn't up to him to decide. Even David Ellison's confidence was meaningless. The real deciding factor would be the ordinary audience sitting behind them.
Thanks to the powerful Warner Disney promotional platform, Flyboys attracted plenty of attention. At least all the premiere seats were fully occupied, and many were looking forward to it being an exciting aerial combat film.
It was worth noting that since Top Gun, there hadn't been a truly aerial combat film that the audience widely accepted.
Billy Emerson was someone who really liked air combat films. From the moment he noticed Flyboys, he had been full of anticipation. He even brought two friends to attend the premiere with him.
"Why don't we watch Batman Begins again?" one of them complained. "Why come to watch these antique airplanes instead?"
"Didn't you see the screening reviews online?"
Due to his age and experience, Billy Emerson, under twenty, obviously didn't know about "paid posters." "Many people praised this film, saying it would be a groundbreaking aerial combat movie."
"Is that so?"
Another companion was still somewhat doubtful, but since they had come, there was no reason to leave. So he settled quietly in his seat. "If the movie is good enough, I'll rally everyone around me like I did last week for Batman Begins."
Is this movie really good?
Perhaps the hype on the internet and media was exaggerated. Perhaps Michael Ovitz, who was getting older, believed it would succeed. But less than thirty minutes into the screening, Billy Emerson was already bored and looked around. The expressions on the faces nearby were almost the same as his impatience, as if they were trying hard to endure something.
Seeing the old-fashioned biplanes, the cowboy mannerisms of the male lead, and the utterly incomprehensible and stupid sci-fi plot, Billy Emerson really wanted to curse, "What kind of crap is this?"