Duke was very clear that times were constantly changing, but the main demographic in the film market would not change teenagers would always be the backbone of the market, and they were willing to spend money on films they liked as well as related merchandise.
Relatively speaking, this group's psychological endurance could be a problem. Moreover, as those born in North America in the 1990s gradually grew up, their market share was increasing.
These people generally did not like films with heavy themes. Movies that were too dark and heavy would be rejected by most of them, and could even overwhelm the market's capacity to bear such content.
Duke was certain of one thing: if The Dark Knight had been released three to four years later, after the main audience in the film market had changed, whether it could achieve the same huge success in the North American market was really hard to say.
Films, after all, are cultural products heavily influenced by the social environment.
Even The Dark Knight, released at the current time, had a much better response in the relatively mature North American market than overseas markets.
In other words, the success of The Dark Knight definitely depended more on the North American market.
Of course, The Dark Knight's style also brought another path for the film industry itself.
For example, David Ellison, who was about to release I Am Legend next weekend, after watching The Dark Knight and seeing its market reaction, was considering making some changes in the editing to make the film darker and more desperate.
"Francis…"
In the office of Sky Movie Studios, David Ellison paced back and forth a few times and said to Francis Lawrence, who was sitting in a sofa chair, "I think the ending could be changed use the second version of the ending. Just like The Dark Knight, not only viewing the problem from the protagonist's perspective, but also looking at it from the monster's point of view."
After several years of honing his perspective, David Ellison indeed had a more mature view of films.
Francis Lawrence hesitated. He was a relatively traditional commercial director and preferred endings that fit commercial film styles.
But David Ellison was the investor and producer of this film, so after some thought he said, "Actually, those creatures were once humans. Although they have nearly become beasts, and beasts are undoubtedly brutal, when they encounter outsiders they naturally show aggression, but that doesn't mean they lack conscience."
"The male lead also understands at that moment that although in our eyes mutants are beasts, from their perspective this is just their way of life. Should humans forcefully change them based on only our own consciousness? They just want to live quietly. They have emotions. They have their own social circles. In fact, they might be more united than humans."
David Ellison was very clear. The original ending was more realistic and more in line with current commercial film thinking: a great human dies to save survivors, and the whole city ultimately falls into a true barbaric era. The cliché of one person saving the world can better cater to audiences' tastes. It lets countless viewers feel comforted by being the superior and omnipotent humans. So hope is always right in front of them.
If it were in the past, David Ellison would definitely choose this ending, but The Dark Knight brought something different — looking at things from another angle might also succeed.
In Hollywood, even a veteran director like Francis Lawrence had to make compromises.
I Am Legend would change to the other ending based on David Ellison's decision.
"David…" Francis Lawrence was still somewhat worried, "Isn't such an ending…"
"Don't worry. Viewing the world from the monster's perspective, I think this kind of darker style might be popular for a while."
David Ellison raised his hand to stop Francis Lawrence before he could say more. "Hollywood is a place that seriously follows trends not only producers but also audiences. The Dark Knight just set a new North American single-day box office record. That alone proves this."
Francis Lawrence could only nod and then left the office.
David Ellison sat back at his desk and saw the data in front of him. He felt a mountain of pressure and even involuntarily thought about postponing the release of I Am Legend.
It was all because the numbers were too shocking.
The Dark Knight had taken in $68.36 million in North America on Friday just yesterday smashing all previous single-day box office records in North America.
Such a single-day box office figure could only be described as terrifying.
Walt Disney's estimate for I Am Legend's opening week was only about $70 million.
Although confident in his own film, and the test screening had received consistent praise from audiences and theaters, David Ellison clearly understood that I Am Legend's opening weekend would inevitably face a huge challenge and threat from The Dark Knight's second weekend.
Although the idea of delaying the release flashed in his mind, it was unrealistic. David Ellison understood this, and he also firmly believed that even if I Am Legend couldn't match Duke Rosenberg's The Dark Knight, it would still have enough space to survive and could potentially profit from the box office.
However, David Ellison's anxiety was inevitable. The marketing campaign for The Dark Knight was extremely well done, and post-release audience word of mouth was also very high. These nearly guaranteed a strong box office trend in the future.
In contrast, the publicity for I Am Legend was much weaker. Even the so-called Will Smith marriage crisis news failed to become a hot topic.
Opening his computer, David Ellison casually searched Google for the latest news about The Dark Knight, then opened IMDb, where The Dark Knight's excellent rating was glaringly obvious.
For an industry insider like him, online review manipulation was no secret, but he knew no studio's fake reviewers would foolishly give their own film a perfect ten.
However, David Ellison also noticed some low scores, but their numbers were too few to affect the huge base of tens.
He roughly glanced at those negative reviews and found that while they criticized The Dark Knight, they subtly praised The Godfather.
Suddenly, David Ellison thought of something, though it wasn't very clear yet. IMDb scores, unlike CinemaScore statistics that truly reflect a film's market response, still influence some people's viewing choices…
Maybe something could be done about this? David Ellison thought.
By Saturday, The Dark Knight had become the most talked-about topic across North America. The film attracted not only fans of the "Batman" comics and the 2005 movie Batman Begins but also gained a tragic and mysterious aura because of the unexpected death of the film's top villain, the Joker, played by Heath Ledger.
A day after the release, restless media, eager for eyeballs and attention, even began hyping that Heath Ledger fully deserved an Oscar nomination and could take home an Oscar statuette.
Of course, Warner Bros. was behind much of this hype.
At the same time, Duke led the crew on a promotional tour, splitting the team in two. Charles Roven took Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, and Laurence Fishburne overseas, while Duke ran North American appearances with Nicolas Cage and Anne Hathaway.
"May I sit here?"
On the Warner Bros. chartered private plane, the film's female lead Anne Hathaway approached, nodded lightly to Duke, and sat opposite him, casually saying, "I still want to work with you, didn't expect Rachel Dawes to die so quickly."
"Maybe in the future," Duke replied with a somewhat distant politeness.
A few years earlier, he definitely would have accepted Anne Hathaway's goodwill, but now the situation had changed, and so had his style.
As before, Duke knew he wasn't a good person but was now someone with a girlfriend.
Flight attendants served two cups of coffee, and Duke sipped while chatting casually with Anne Hathaway, who clearly was much smarter after one experience of being fooled.
Frankly, he was basically satisfied with her performance in the film. It wasn't that her acting was outstanding compared to former lead Maggie Gyllenhaal, it wasn't necessarily better, maybe even a bit worse.
But for the flower vase role of Rachel Dawes, Maggie Gyllenhaal's good acting still couldn't satisfy overall. Perhaps a deeper role would suit her better, but the relatively simple flower vase role was totally unsuitable for Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Thinking of Maggie Gyllenhaal, Duke recalled a joke about decoding The Dark Knight, but without her, this funny joke wouldn't have come about.
He once read some related comments after watching Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight, then found this joke:
"The Dark Knight is actually a sequel to Brokeback Mountain — why did Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist break up? Because Jack's sister blocked them from behind!"
"After Jack's death, heartbroken Ennis was too hurt and moved far away to a place called Gotham to heal. Unexpectedly, fate brought Ennis face-to-face with Jack's sister Rachel there. Driven mad by revenge, Ennis transformed into the Joker, hiding the face once kissed by his beloved Jack under thick makeup."
"He barged into the banquet hall and cruelly twisted Rachel's face because he saw Jack's handsome face reflected in hers. His rampage in Gotham was ultimately for revenge, to kill Jack's sister!"
"Having achieved his goal and successfully made Rachel's lover Harvey into a freak, Ennis was free of all attachments. One morning, he took enough drugs to reunite peacefully with his lost love—closing his eyes in calm sleep."
....
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