"You haven't checked IMDB these past couple of days?"
In a café on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Irene Lauder slowly stirred her coffee and said to Duke, who was sitting across from her, "It's been quite the spectacle."
"Did something happen?" Scarlett, sitting beside Duke, was more curious.
Duke took a sip of his coffee and then guessed, "Is it about the IMDB rating rankings?"
Though he hadn't paid close attention, Tina Fey had mentioned in this morning's report that fans of The Dark Knight were waging war against fans of The Godfather on IMDB.
"Your fans are downvoting The Godfather, and The Godfather's fans are giving your The Dark Knight low scores in return."
She added with a playful smile, "I even went and gave The Godfather a 1-star rating myself."
Scarlett rubbed her chin and recalled, "I think The Dark Knight is still ranked number one, right?"
Irene Lauder nodded, "It's ranked first, but the score has dropped to 9.7."
"What about The Godfather?" Duke asked.
This film had cultivated a huge fanbase since the 1970s.
"It dropped to 9," Irene Lauder said after recalling what she saw that morning. "Your fans are mostly young, very enthusiastic and passionate, and they're the majority. It's hard for The Godfather to stay above 9."
Scarlett suddenly looked at Duke and offered an absurd suggestion, "Why not have Panny lead that team and join the fray? I bet they'd completely destroy The Godfather."
"You know too much." Duke shot her a glance, then shook his head and said, "This is just a fan scuffle, no need to involve a professional team."
Duke wasn't the only one thinking that way—many people were watching The Dark Knight. David Ellison was, naturally, among them.
A conflict like this on the internet couldn't escape the notice of anyone paying attention. At first, David Ellison thought about adding fuel to the fire and leveraging the situation, but after careful consideration, he chose to back off.
Given The Dark Knight's current momentum, such a petty dispute couldn't slow it down. Rather than dispersing his resources, it made more sense to focus everything on promoting and distributing I Am Legend in its most critical pre-release stage.
I Am Legend was about to premiere in North America and faced a very challenging environment. Even on weekdays, The Dark Knight was still pulling in over $20 million daily—a number most blockbusters could only dream of hitting on weekends.
Naturally, the premiere was held in New York, the story's setting. David Ellison even contacted a theater near Washington Square to serve as the premiere venue. After watching The Dark Knight himself, he regretted not considering IMAX. If they'd used IMAX for production, I Am Legend might've had a much stronger response.
Having spent several years in Hollywood, David Ellison, though still arrogant, had become more realistic. He didn't expect too much from I Am Legend. As long as it could challenge The Dark Knight's second-weekend box office and take the top spot in North America, he'd be satisfied.
For that to happen, I Am Legend had to earn at least $80 million in its opening week.
Though no professional teams or paid posters got involved, the rating war on IMDB only intensified.
As the ratings for both The Godfather and The Dark Knight continued to drop, their fanbases—each passionately loyal—started deliberately giving each other's films low ratings. By Thursday, 1-star ratings for The Godfather had surged to nearly 5%, while The Dark Knight wasn't much better, reaching 3% in 1-star votes. However, The Dark Knight's massive count of perfect 10s—over 100,000—secured its position at the top of the TOP 250 with a stable 9.6 rating.
Fan behavior is often spontaneous and fervent. Not only did fans of both films downvote each other, but they also began attacking each other in the comment sections sometimes even escalating to insults.
For example, The Godfather fans mockingly called The Dark Knight fans "Duke Fanatics."
But the internet ultimately belongs to the young. In terms of directors alone, Duke held an unrivaled place in the hearts of young moviegoers. The Godfather's fanbase skewed much older. Though there were plenty of diehards, they simply couldn't compete with the younger generation online.
Anyone could see that with this kind of mutual hostility, The Godfather was bound to lose.
So The Godfather's fans chose to expand the battlefield. Some pretended to be Duke or The Dark Knight fans and began attacking other films in the TOP 10, such as Pulp Fiction, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
In just half a day on Thursday, these films saw a surge in 1-star votes.
Soon, more fans jumped in. While The Dark Knight fans attacked The Godfather, they also impersonated others to downvote different movies. Other fanbases didn't distinguish who was who and retaliated by down voting both The Godfather and The Dark Knight.
Although IMDB had always dealt with occasional vote manipulation, the chaos this time was unprecedented. Fans' actions severely disrupted the site's order. Especially online, people have poor self-control, and hostile comment exchanges became commonplace.
The conflict even spilled over into numerous film forums and social media platforms. Not even Duke's Instant Share account was spared—his comment section was flooded with hostile messages.
As the drama escalated, it naturally attracted media attention.
"In previous IMDB rankings, The Godfather was number one, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was second, and The Godfather Part II third."
"Then one day, The Dark Knight made a dazzling debut—like a meteor streaking across the night sky, shattering the quiet. Countless slumbering fans opened their eyes, turning their gaze to the heavens. And so, the wheels of fate began to turn."
"Duke Rosenberg was already a god, and The Dark Knight was like a newborn deity he created, drawing in believers and absorbing immense faith. These fervent followers swore to raise their god to the top of the world."
"To defeat the mighty Godfather, they tirelessly logged in day and night to give The Dark Knight 10s and The Godfather 1s. And The Godfather's fans did exactly the same..."
Yahoo Entertainment's report had undoubtedly elevated this online battle to the level of mainstream media.
Some tabloids, always eager to fan the flames, began exploiting this event to hype up the supposed sharp conflict between Duke and Francis Coppola...
"Those guys always love to exaggerate things."
On Friday morning, Sofia Coppola was having breakfast tea with Duke and said, "Yesterday, a paparazzo even went to my dad's front door trying to ask him about this."
"Media needs talking points." Duke looked out the window through the glass and gestured with his eyes. "A bunch of paparazzi followed us. Believe it, Sofia? Tomorrow, some tabloid will probably say there's something shady going on between us."
"They've been saying that for over ten years." Sofia shrugged. "Let them say whatever they want."
She then changed the subject, set down her teacup, and asked with interest, "Yesterday was the premiere of I Am Legend. David Ellison said in an interview that his film is definitely going to win the weekend box office. The data should be nearly out by now—have you gotten it yet?"
"Not yet." Duke pointed upward with his finger. "Tina's waiting for it. Shouldn't be much longer."
David Ellison's new film had a very positive response after release, and for the sake of promotion, Will Smith was going all out. Not only did the pre-release campaign stir up rumors of a divorce crisis, but at last night's premiere he even claimed in an interview that he was preparing to run for president and aimed to enter the White House within the next ten years.
These attention-grabbing tactics naturally stirred up a lot of media coverage.
"What about Scar?" Sofia switched the topic again. "Why didn't I see her?"
"She left New York yesterday." Duke put down his teacup, his gaze withdrawing from outside the window. "Post-production on Captain America has started, and quite a few of her scenes need dubbing."
Unlike The Incredible Hulk, which was in the final stages of post-production and set to be released this winter, Captain America wouldn't hit theaters until next summer.
Although this superhero was, strictly speaking, a bit outdated, the traditional American spirit he represented naturally appealed to audiences.
However, the film's reception overseas might be a bit problematic—after all, he was too "American."
"Tina's here." Sofia looked toward the entrance of the restaurant.
Duke turned his head as well. Tina Fey, wearing high heels, walked over slowly but steadily. She waved to both of them and sat down next to Duke.
After ordering her breakfast tea, Tina Fey went straight to the point. "I Am Legend had no advance screenings. The midnight box office numbers just came in 8.82 million dollars, basically in line with external expectations."
Sofia Coppola sighed. "Will Smith's star power is still incredibly strong."
"David Ellison made a smart choice."
Just like he'd always said, movie stars were a rare resource in Hollywood their status couldn't be measured by that of ordinary actors. "If the film doesn't crash in the following days, I Am Legend might just hit Disney's expectations."
Tina Fey added, "That would have some impact on us."
Duke thought for a moment and asked, "That thing I had you confirm did you confirm it?"
"Confirmed." Tina Fey pointed to the faint dark circles under her eyes. "I went to see the midnight screening of I Am Legend myself."
Without thinking, Duke immediately said, "Send the message to the animal protection organizations and those dog lover associations."