"Duke, are you interested in football?"
In the large banquet hall, Duke sat in a corner lounge with a Russian Jew, who seemed to be a passionate football fan. "I mean English football. With your status, acquiring a Premier League team shouldn't be hard. That way, we could meet every year in the stadium."
"Is that so, Roman?" Duke placed his glass on the table and curiously asked, "So, the rumors are true?"
Since Duke arrived in London, he had continuously seen reports in the newspapers about Roman Abramovich trying to acquire a Premier League team.
"Actually, the deal has already been completed."
Abramovich seemed eager to befriend Duke, speaking in an open and sincere manner. "This isn't a secret in the football world, we're just waiting for the season to end to make the official announcement."
He smiled at Duke. "English football is the world's number one sport. It has countless enthusiastic fans around the world. Football is a great opportunity to expand influence."
"Expand influence?"
Duke crossed his arms and pinched his chin. Without exaggeration, he knew that his fanbase was global, but compared to football, or rather, the fans of certain top clubs, his influence was still lacking.
Seeing that Duke was intrigued, Abramovich continued discussing English football, clearly eager for Duke to join this circle.
Although Duke preferred American football and had once played quarterback in school, he also understood English football. He had heard of Abramovich, who was undeniably a fan of English football. Perhaps his initial purpose in acquiring a team had been different, but he had shown sufficient passion over time.
The Premier League was undoubtedly going to become the richest football league in the world in the future. At least commercially speaking, sports clubs weren't just about investment. Many commercial families in North America had profited from the sports industry.
Duke was very interested in Abramovich's proposal. Imagine, if he got involved with a football club that had significant influence worldwide, and then the media kept reporting on it. What kind of boost would it give to The Return of the King, which was currently in theaters?
Indeed, he had never considered acquiring a Premier League club, but he was eager to use such an opportunity for publicity.
After finishing his casual chat with Roman Abramovich, Duke left the banquet hall and called over Tina Fey.
"Notify David and Panny to come to London as quickly as possible!"
Eighteen hours later, Duke met his investment manager and PR manager at the hotel. Along with the head of Warner Brothers' UK branch, they discussed for two hours before parting ways.
After the crew finished the European promotional tour in London, Duke withdrew from the schedule. In the following two days, The Times published an exciting piece of news, stating that someone had contacted Manchester United, intending to acquire the club in full.
Fleet Street quickly reacted. Within one day, they dug up the so-called insider information. From the BBC to newspapers, from the internet to traditional media, the news reports were everywhere.
"Famous director Duke Rosenberg, who just completed The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has now approached the three biggest shareholders and management of Manchester United with an official offer of £300 million!"
"Hollywood invades the English Premier League. Duke Rosenberg, tired of directing, wants to enter the football world, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy could very well be his last work."
"It's unacceptable for an American to acquire an English football club, even if he successfully adapted the British literary masterpiece The Lord of the Rings. That doesn't mean he understands the culture and traditions of this country…"
A reporter even interviewed Manchester United's management, and the club's CEO confirmed that they had received Duke's offer, but the club's shareholders currently had no plans to sell.
At that time, Manchester United was in a position far beyond Chelsea's. Within just a few days, Duke had completely overshadowed Abramovich. Not only did he dominate the entertainment section's headlines, but he also easily took over the sports section.
In fact, many large media outlets across Europe, both sports and non-sports, were covering the story. For example, Germany's Bild, Spain's AS, and Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport all placed the news on their front pages and introduced Duke's background in detail. Even many sports fans who didn't usually follow the film industry were becoming familiar with Duke Rosenberg and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The hotel where Duke was staying in London was surrounded by a pack of reporters and paparazzi.
Since he had thrown out such explosive news, Duke didn't mind stepping forward to make a few statements. On one of his outings back to the hotel, he specially accepted an interview with a reporter.
"I'm a Manchester United fan. I really admire Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, and Paul Scholes. Manchester United is one of the greatest football clubs in the world, and I believe I have the ability to make it even better."
A reporter stood up and asked, "But some Manchester United fans are worried that you might borrow money from the bank to finance this acquisition, thereby saddling the club with heavy debt."
"I will not borrow money from anyone!" Duke said very seriously. "I have enough funds prepared. If the shareholders of Manchester United agree to my offer, this transaction will not bring any debt!"
Then, he delivered the most important line of the interview, "If the deal goes through, I promise to use all the earnings from The Return of the King as funds for Manchester United's transfers next season!"
As soon as he said this, the scene erupted. Many of the reporters present, familiar with Duke's previous two films, knew that he had earned over $200 million from each of them. The Return of the King was sure to make at least that much. If this acquisition were to happen, how much transfer money would Manchester United have for the next season?
Having achieved his goal, Duke, with the protection of two bodyguards, directly entered the hotel.
This media storm was almost pushed to its climax. His name and The Return of the King were frequently mentioned by various media, and in this era of fast information flow, it didn't take long for the news to spread to fans worldwide, alongside Manchester United.
"Duke Rosenberg? The Return of the King? The Lord of the Rings trilogy?"
In a football-themed bar in India, a man wearing a Manchester United jersey asked in confusion, "What is this?"
Someone next to him, who understood a bit, explained, "Duke Rosenberg is a Hollywood director. Those are his movies."
"A director?" The Manchester United fan was even more curious. "When did directors get rich enough to buy our Manchester United?"
"He's a very wealthy director!" another person chimed in. "It's written in the papers that his net worth is estimated to be over $3 billion. Any of the The Lord of the Rings films alone could bring him over $200 million."
"What?" The man was incredulous. "What kind of movie earns that much?"
"Apparently, the final film in the trilogy, The Return of the King, made over a billion dollars worldwide in less than 20 days."
"There's such a crazy movie? How come I didn't know about it? Is it showing here in India?"
"It is showing! Nothing going on today, why don't we go watch it…"
"I'll go too! I want to see what kind of film the director who can buy Manchester United makes…"
A large group of people left the bar and headed for the nearest theater.
Perhaps this sudden publicity stunt worked, or maybe the new screening areas had enough passionate fans. By the fourth weekend overseas, The Return of the King had not only stopped declining in box office but had even slightly rebounded. In just seven days, it earned $110.25 million from 95 countries and regions!
However, English football's response in North America was more lukewarm. The Return of the King continued to decline in North America at a healthy rate, and this week, the film finally had its first true competitor: Universal's sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious.
However, due to the limited number of theaters and the change in the lead actor (Vin Diesel left the franchise), 2 Fast 2 Furious had a disappointing opening, grossing just $18.98 million in its first weekend across 2,480 theaters. It still couldn't challenge The Return of the King's dominance.
The Return of the King continued its strong performance across 4,013 theaters in North America, earning $24.86 million in its fourth weekend. Even though it no longer had the top per-theater average, theaters were still happy to keep it running on a large scale, as it brought in substantial revenue from not just box office sales but also sold-out theater merchandise!
The sales of The Lord of the Rings trilogy's merchandise had reached new heights, surpassing even the peak times of Star Wars, and the final chapter, The Return of the King, had sold over $400 million worth of merchandise in North America in just under four weeks!
Compared to the film's box office, the profit from merchandise for the producers, distributors, and sellers was even higher!
Like all commercial companies, North American theater chains made decisions based on commercial benefits.
However, The Return of the King's 4,013 theaters and high screen counts would soon be over. Next weekend, Pixar's Finding Nemo, distributed by Warner-Disney, would have a massive release.
But the achievements of The Return of the King were enough to make anyone involved in the film's production and distribution smile. After four weeks, the film's North American box office had reached $421.18 million, with a global total of $1.175 billion!
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