Throughout June, Duke was busy preparing for Iron Man. While working, he also kept an eye on the box office performance of Batman: Begins, since the stronger the foundation this film laid, the more explosive the release of the second installnt would be.
Following George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the North Arican movie market in June welcod Mr. & Mrs. Smith starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, DreamWorks Animation Studio’s major production Madagascar, and War of the Worlds directed by Steven Spielberg. Coupled with the residual popularity of two May blockbusters, the competition in the market beca even fiercer.
The box office of Batman: Begins inevitably showed a downward trend, but overall, the decline remained stable. During the entire month of June, it grossed $36.28 million, and by the ti July arrived, the North Arican box office had reached $239.07 million. Breaking the $250 million mark was basically a certainty.
In overseas markets, Batman: Begins was released in more than 90 countries and regions, grossing $235.66 million internationally. The global box office totaled a staggering $474.73 million, and surpassing $500 million wouldn’t take much longer.
However, compared to Duke’s other films, the overseas box office performance of Batman: Begins appeared slightly lackluster. Generally, for today’s blockbuster action, sci-fi, fantasy, and war films that perform well in North Arica, the international box office tends to be 1.2 to 1.5 tis the North Arican box office or even higher.
Batman: Begins leans toward a dark and realistic style, and after leaving the North Arican market, it sowhat affected the audience’s reception.
In other words, the film was relatively a bit more complex and not joyful enough.
But such results were already enough to satisfy Warner Bros. and Duke. After all, this was a reboot that had suffered a painful failure before. These box office numbers already proved that Batman had been reborn.
In fact, Warner Bros.’ top executives had already decided that when Duke produced the second Batman film, there would be no budget cap.
Of course, this was relative. After all, Duke wasn’t Jas Caron. Although his films had always been major productions, he wasn’t the type of director who was a bottomless money pit.
That was a matter for the future. The second Batman movie wouldn’t arrive until after Iron Man was released.
One film a year was Duke’s limit. If the pace was accelerated, first, he couldn’t guarantee quality, and second, the other mbers of the team couldn’t handle it either.
Besides its impressive box office, Batman: Begins also perford well in rchandise sales. After nearly two months of screening, various related products generated over $130 million in sales in North Arica. Overseas, nearly $80 million worth of rchandise was sold. Especially the comics—after Batman’s resurrection on the big screen, all versions of Batman comics beca bestsellers overnight. DC Comics’ performance in June increased by nearly 30% compared to the previous month.
And then there was the Batmobile. This wildly cool-looking car sold nearly 400 units in various configurations from the beginning of May to now, bringing huge revenue to both Lamborghini and Warner Bros.
According to the contract signed between both parties, in addition to a 20% box office share, Duke would also receive an 8% cut from all Batman-related rchandise revenue.
A blockbuster film brought in astonishing inco.
In Hollywood, when a studio invests in three to five large-scale productions at the sa ti, often just one successful hit can recover the costs and even turn a profit. Even those films that incur short-term losses if they’re not too awful—can potentially break even through long-term offline operations.
Of course, Duke’s films didn’t fall into that category. Even the worst-performing ones in terms of box office could recoup costs and basically achieve profitability.
In July, sothing major happened in Hollywood.
Released during the Independence Day holiday, The Island suffered both critical and comrcial failure, just like Kingdom of Heaven and Flyboys released in May. This high-budget sci-fi film, which cost $126 million to make, only grossed around $12 million in its opening week. By the second weekend, it plumted to just $5 million. Its North Arican box office was unlikely to surpass $50 million, making a massive loss inevitable.
As if it were the last straw that broke the cal’s back, The Island exposed all the crises plaguing the struggling DreamWorks. Even the personal relationships among David Geffen, Steven Spielberg, and Jeffrey Katzenberg were on the verge of breaking apart.
With external wolves circling and internal crises mounting, DreamWorks which once aid to beco a new Hollywood giant—had co to a turning point in its fate.
By mid-July, earlier than Duke rembered, DreamWorks officially announced bankruptcy and restructuring. It shut down heavily loss-making departnts such as its record and television divisions, and it would no longer distribute its self-produced films independently.
Giving up distribution rights ant that DreamWorks had completely bowed down to the six major studios. Everyone in Hollywood knew that only studios with expansive distribution channels could stand at the forefront of the industry. Although DreamWorks could still restructure, the restructured DreamWorks would no longer be the sa company that the original three giants envisioned.
Looking back, Duke still vaguely rembered the glorious scene when DreamWorks was founded in 1994.
David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Steven Spielberg these three Jewish geniuses might never have thought of failure when they finally decided, on the advice of Robert Zeckis, to create a film company independent of Hollywood.
These three had many things in common: all were of Jewish descent, none had a complete college education, all were full of creativity, and all had vast personal resources.
At the ti, many people who were dissatisfied with the domination of major corporations in Hollywood placed high comrcial hopes on DreamWorks, the newborn studio, hoping that these three geniuses with massive resources could create a new landscape for Hollywood.
When DreamWorks was founded, Spielberg once held a business dinner at his ho. Duke still rembers that due to the growing number of curious guests, Spielberg’s wife even had to run to a nearby store to buy more linen tablecloths as additions.
The brilliance of that ti stands in stark contrast to the current situation.
Why did DreamWorks fail? The six major Hollywood studios are an unavoidable factor. They, along with people closely connected to them such as Duke never relaxed their siege on DreamWorks.
Of course, aside from the external environnt and business managent factors, the failure of DreamWorks also had a lot to do with the vastly different temperants and areas of focus of the three founders.
To put it simply, what kind of scene would it be if these three vastly different personalities held a breakfast eting together?
Duke had heard Tom Hanks ntion more than once David Geffen’s words were usually short and gentle in tone. Jeffrey Katzenberg was a "substance-over-style" guy and would strictly control the eting ti to within 22 minutes. Spielberg, on the other hand, had a cartoonist’s mindset he could draw anything on paper and then make it a reality.
For example, when discussing sothing with soone, David Geffen would say, "We think you’re amazing. If you can join us, that would be perfect. If not, we still think you’re amazing." Katzenberg would say, "You’re amazing. Now, here are 17 reasons why you should work with us." Spielberg would say, "I loved your performance in that film five years ago, the scene where the platypus dances at the table. Because you could do that, it ans you can do anything." That’s how their etings went and they definitely ended within 22 minutes.
The three had enormous ideological differences. If DreamWorks had developed smoothly, these wouldn’t have been a problem. But in tis of crisis, the collision of different ideas leads to conflict. As DreamWorks sank deeper into the mire, those work- and ideology-based conflicts inevitably evolved into personal conflicts.
So, the three titans split up, and DreamWorks’ ability to deal with external crises was weakened.
From DreamWorks’ outco, Duke saw an alternative future for himself. If, after his initial success, he had chosen not to continue collaborating with Warner Bros. and instead ambitiously pursued independence where would that have led? Most likely to sothing even worse than DreamWorks.
What follows failure is either a counterattack from rock bottom or an even greater disaster. DreamWorks had no capacity to counterattack. After announcing bankruptcy and restructuring, the three founders eventually went their separate ways.
David Geffen completely withdrew from the DreamWorks system and the Hollywood film and entertainnt industry, devoting himself to philanthropy with his billions in wealth.
Jeffrey Katzenberg took control of DreamWorks Animation Studio the only profitable branch of the DreamWorks system and continued his battle with his longti nesis Michael Eisner and old rival Disney Animation.
Steven Spielberg beca the new owner of the live-action DreamWorks studio, which had been split off independently. However, this director who never once attended a DreamWorks finance eting was not a qualified operator and is currently looking for a suitable distribution partner.
In just a short period, the once seventh-largest film studio in Hollywood fell apart, and the dominance of Hollywood giants beca even more pronounced.
Although there’s so wistfulness about the fate of DreamWorks and the three founders, Duke doesn’t feel much sympathy. After all, DreamWorks collapsed even earlier than it might have, and his own ergence was one of the important reasons. Soone who personally dealt a blow to DreamWorks has neither the right nor the need to feel sympathetic.
Of course, Duke has no regrets. If given another chance, he still wouldn’t stand on DreamWorks’ side.
After shifting his attention from DreamWorks’ fate, Duke continued with his preparations. After several rounds of large-scale auditions, the crew had narrowed the choice for the female lead to a relatively small range.
....
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