"The movie we’re working on will complete post-production by the latest in March."
Walking out of the rented editing room at the Disney studio, Michael Ovitz said to David Ellison as they walked, "I’ve already seen a few of the edited segnts. The film’s quality is absolutely guaranteed."
"I believe that," David Ellison replied confidently, "Otherwise, I wouldn’t have starred in this movie myself."
This was a romantically-styled aerial combat film. Even before the filming and production began, David Ellison had a specialized company conduct market research. In recent years, war films had beco popular in Hollywood. From the performance of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it was evident that war scenes filled with romantic fantasy elents had strong comrcial appeal.
Indeed, the first film he invested in was not sothing in the realistic style like Saving Private Ryan. In the judgnt of countless people, realism in comrcial films had beco synonymous with outdatedness. For example, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so critics questioned whether in real war six thousand Rohan cavalry could defeat an army of one hundred thousand Orcs ard with spears, and if that wasn’t just suicide.
Realism doesn’t matter. It’s the imaginative romanticism built on top of a realistic base that makes war-thed films popular with audiences.
Following Michael Ovitz into a nearby office, David Ellison’s thoughts still hadn’t stopped. He couldn’t help but think of the film Duke Rosenberg was currently making. Filming a superhero movie in a realistic style—what a joke. He was completely blinded by his past glory.
But that was fine too. He could use this chance to give that guy who had flat-out rejected him a harsh lesson.
Thinking of this, he suddenly said to Ovitz, "Michael, why did you and Disney reject my proposed release date?"
"David, calm down." Michael Ovitz patiently explained, "You suggested releasing on the first weekend of May, but that weekend is not only the release slot for Duke Rosenberg’s Batman: The War Begins, it also includes the launch of Kingdom of Heaven from 20th Century Fox. If we add our film into that mix, the weekend will be too crowded. Even with heavy investnt, we won’t be able to secure an ideal number of screens or favorable scheduling."
"Not even Disney can do it?" David Ellison frowned deeply.
Michael Ovitz could only sigh, "Duke Rosenberg is still Duke Rosenberg."
David Ellison frowned even more deeply, but didn’t say anything further. Arrogant as he was, he understood what the na Duke Rosenberg represented in the world of comrcial films.
Indeed, theaters wouldn’t treat Batman: The War Begins the way they did The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, pouring in unlimited resources. After all, the failures of the previous Batman films were still fresh. No one could guarantee that Duke Rosenberg’s so-called realistic approach would be well-received. But over the past few years, Duke Rosenberg had beco a golden brand in Hollywood. His na alone as director carried more influence than any other filmmaker in the business.
Under such circumstances, theater resources would inevitably lean in his favor.
After thinking for a while, David Ellison finally gave up on his original plan and asked, "Then what’s the release date for our film? Michael, you know why I poured a hundred million dollars into making this film."
This grand aerial combat film wasn’t just his entry into the movie industry it was also ant to recover the pride he lost when Duke Rosenberg rejected him. It was to teach him a lesson as well.
"The second weekend of May," Michael Ovitz clearly already had a plan, "We can sit back and watch Kingdom of Heaven and Batman: The War Begins go head-to-head on the first weekend, then adjust our strategy accordingly. Our goal is to strike at Batman: The War Begins during its second weekend."
His confidence was just as strong as David Ellison’s. "Trust , David. Realism in superhero movies is extrely difficult for audiences and the market to accept. Sure, people might flock to the theaters during opening weekend because of Duke Rosenberg’s na, but once they realize it’s stylistically different from the hits like Spider-Man and X-n, Batman: The War Begins is bound to take a hit in its second week."
"What if the realism angle is just a smokescreen..."
Hearing David Ellison’s concern, Michael Ovitz raised his hand to interrupt, "I know Duke Rosenberg. I also asked people about what’s been going on during filming. There’s no need to worry about that."
David Ellison nodded. He had seen plenty of superhero movies and simply couldn’t imagine what a ’realistic’ Batman would even look like without seeming completely off.
Sure, there were realistic comic versions of Batman, like Frank Miller’s, but comics and movies are two completely different diums.
"Michael, are we just going to watch Batman: The War Begins get all the promotion and hype?" David Ellison asked again.
"Of course not." Michael Ovitz let out a cold smile. "Competition has never been limited to the screen and box office."
He looked at David Ellison. "Do you really want to restrict competition to just theaters?"
Michael Ovitz didn’t believe that for a second. He had long heard from people around David Ellison that the latter was investigating Duke Rosenberg and several main actors from Batman:The War Begins.
David Ellison didn’t hide it either. With a trace of helplessness in his tone, he said, "I had people look into Duke Rosenberg, Christian Bale, and Liam Neeson. He only has so tabloid rumors, and the possible breakup news with Ivanka Trump won’t affect the movie. As for the two male actors, they’re among the rare low-profile types in Hollywood..."
At this point, he couldn’t help but shake his head.
"Then broaden the scope!" Michael Ovitz said without hesitation. "Start with the lead actress and other major actors."
"Mm, I’ll get people on it when I’m back." David Ellison nodded and added, "The PR departnt I set up has already established connections with many dia outlets. As long as there’s appropriate material, they’ll definitely follow up. Problems solvable by money are never problems to !"
In fact, David Ellison was doing more than that. His people were also trying to contact Duke’s studio. As soone with so competence, he wasn’t blind to Duke’s value. If the other party was willing to cooperate, it would certainly be a powerful alliance.
"Still not giving up?"
Inside Duke’s studio, Duke had just finished a round of editing. Upon hearing what Tina Fey ca to say, he responded directly, "Send a reply to David Ellison. I will never cooperate with him."
The Ellison surna certainly carried weight, but let’s not forget, this is Hollywood, not the IT industry. Unless he lost his mind, he wouldn’t give up a company like Warner Bros. to foolishly partner with David Ellison.
"I got so news," Tina Fey added. "Michael Ovitz and Walt Disney are reportedly planning to release David Ellison’s new film in early May, though it hasn’t been finalized."
"Waiting for my answer?" Duke couldn’t help but chuckle and said, "Then let’s make the rejection even more direct."
Tina Fey rolled her eyes helplessly, then left the editing room.
Duke had Tina Fey look into the film David Ellison invested in. It was an aerial combat film starring Jas Franco. Though it surfaced a little earlier, Duke believed there shouldn’t be any significant improvent.
Since the 1980s, aside from Tom Cruise’s Top Gun, few air combat films had achieved massive box office success.
Facing off against Kingdom of Heaven and Flyboys as competitors, he actually felt more at ease.
Perhaps they believed that even if the new Batman ended up in his hands, it still couldn’t completely shake off the shadow of its disastrous past. So far, 20th Century Fox hadn’t changed the release schedule for Kingdom of Heaven.
To be blunt, many in Hollywood weren’t optimistic about his choice. If not for his past achievents being right there, the dia would probably already be full of skeptical comntary.
The dia and Hollywood insiders aren’t stupid either. Given Duke’s string of successes, they naturally wouldn’t jump out carelessly. Even if they wanted to criticize, they would wait until Batman:Begins perford poorly after release before launching their mockery. That wouldn’t be too late.
When the short break ended, Duke returned to the editing room and resud post-production. Editing was once again entrusted to his personal editor Mike Dawson. The two had worked together for many years and, barring accidents, planned to continue the partnership.
For Batman: Begins, except for action and chase scenes, Duke didn’t plan to use his signature sharp, rapid-cut style. Instead, he would extensively use long takes to suit the film’s realistic tone and add weight.
Especially the long takes of Batman alone in the dark they would better highlight Bruce Wayne’s situation and ntal state.
Duke was quite satisfied with Christian Bale’s performance. He truly t the script’s demands for the role who Bruce Wayne appears to be on the outside doesn’t matter. What matters is what he does.
Additionally, many scenes in the film required Liam Neeson and Christian Bale to re-record their lines, especially those where Bruce Wayne becos Batman. Nearly all required Bale to change his usual tone in the dubbing process.
Of course, Batman absolutely couldn’t be speaking with Christian Bale’s British accent. Regardless of the film’s tone, Batman is a quintessential Arican superhero.
This directly affected whether the film would succeed or not. After living in North Arica for so many years, Duke never underestimated the public’s resistance to foreign cultural symbols.
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