Amidst the heated public debate, The Dark Knight Rises entered its second weekend after release. Due to the impact of a series of incidents, its second-weekend box office dropped by more than fifty percent compared to the opening weekend, earning 86.57 million dollars.
Although such a decline exceeded Warner Bros.' pre-release expectations, with the 135.42 million dollars accumulated over the previous five weekdays, The Dark Knight Rises successfully broke the 400-million-dollar mark in North America, reaching an impressive 427.37 million.
At the same time, the film earned nearly another 250 million dollars overseas, bringing its global box office to nearly one billion dollars—only a day or two away from breaking the milestone.
The various negative events indeed affected The Dark Knight Rises, but the film's momentum remained astonishing.
"If there hadn't been the negative news, how much would The Dark Knight Rises have made? Could it have become another Avengers?"
Some media outlets raised such questions. Without the Santa Monica Plaza shooting incident, the North American box office would indeed have been stronger. However, Duke did not believe the global total would have risen significantly.
The reasoning was simple—the negative impact mainly affected the North American market, while overseas, The Dark Knight Rises gained even greater publicity, drawing more casual audiences into theaters.
According to CinemaScore's projections, The Dark Knight Rises would not surpass 600 million dollars domestically, and its global box office would likely settle between 1.3 and 1.4 billion dollars—short of Warner Bros.' target of 1.5 billion. Yet no one could deny that, even so, the film was an enormous success.
This fact made many people quite furious.
Among them was David Ellison, who had been secretly stirring things up from behind the scenes. In his office at Sky Flim Studios, he read the latest box office report, ran his fingers through his hair, and his expression clearly showed irritation.
Although his actions had obviously produced some effect, these numbers were far from dealing any real blow to Duke Rosenberg—in fact, they only made his own efforts seem laughable.
If he hadn't received some good news at the same time, David Ellison would have torn up the box office report on the spot.
Delivered along with the report were several cooperation agreements between Sky Flim Studios, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures.
After prolonged negotiations and given Hollywood's persistent financial strain following the 2008 economic crisis, particularly the tight cash flow of Universal and Paramount—Sky Film Studios finally reached agreements with both companies on numerous terms, becoming a production partner.
According to the contract, Sky Flim obtained investment rights for the next three films in Paramount's Star Trek franchise. Unlike a standard investment, Sky Flim would contribute half of the funding and enjoy profits proportional to its share.
Meanwhile, as David Ellison had hoped, Sky Flim secured investment rights for the next four films in the Fast & Furious series. Unlike Fast Five, the cash-strapped Universal Pictures agreed that Sky Flim would enjoy equal profit rights corresponding to its investment.
In addition, David Ellison would also invest in Universal's reboot of Jurassic Park, holding a fifty-percent stake.
His investment in the new Jurassic Park also solved Universal's urgent financial crisis.
All of this lifted David Ellison's mood considerably. After years of experience, he had come to fully understand one thing: investing in so-called "new ideas" and "original concepts" carried immense risk—failure was far more likely than success. Investing in sequels to established franchises, like Fast Five, clearly promised much higher returns.
David Ellison thus made up his mind: in the short term, Sky Flim Studios would absolutely not invest in those so-called "creative" films.
Putting aside those thoughts for the moment, David Ellison turned to the documents for John Carter. The film was about to be released, and its success or failure would directly affect Sky Flim's future development. Though he had some doubts and suspected he might have been tricked, after watching the film, he still believed it had the potential to be a hit.
The production quality was excellent, the story was adapted from a well-known novel, it had a solid fan base, and with sufficient marketing investment, it should achieve commercial success...
Just as David Ellison was thinking this, an urgent knock suddenly sounded on the door. After he called out for the visitor to enter, his assistant hurriedly came in.
"Boss!" The assistant immediately turned on the TV in the room and switched it to CNN. "There's a press conference about James Holmes—you'd better see this."
Hearing that, David Ellison closed the folder and turned his gaze to the television. It was the Los Angeles Police Department's latest press briefing on the "Santa Monica Plaza shooting and James Holmes case."
On the screen, hundreds of reporters focused their cameras on L.A. County Police Chief Lee Pace. David Ellison fixed his eyes on him as well, hoping the man would reveal something explosive that could keep the media's attention on The Dark Knight Rises.
Chief Lee Pace did not disappoint him. The revelation was absolutely shocking—so much so that David Ellison's face instantly changed color.
"According to police interrogation and verification, last year's car accident involving Vin Diesel was not an accident but a premeditated murder. Based on James Holmes's confession, he was the direct perpetrator of that incident. As for the mastermind behind it…"
Not only David Ellison but even his assistant was dumbfounded. Neither of them had expected such information to surface at the press conference, and their mouths hung slightly open in disbelief.
"What's going on?" David Ellison glared at his assistant, fury burning in his eyes. "What the hell is going on here?"
"I… I… I'm not sure," the assistant stammered, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. "Boss, you said we couldn't handle this matter personally, so I passed it on to someone else. I heard he found some drunk loser to do it…"
To avoid implicating themselves, the matter had been handed off through countless intermediaries. The assistant had thought that, across the U.S., there were countless unemployed drifters—some desperate enough to do anything for money.
He had never imagined that it would end up involving James Holmes.
And that James Holmes had such a loose tongue—wasn't he supposed to be imitating the Joker? How could someone like this even call himself the Joker?
David Ellison could no longer sit still. He stood up, paced the room twice, and kept reminding himself to stay calm. After all, the chain of intermediaries was long enough that even if the police discovered Vin Diesel's car crash was no accident, it was impossible to trace it back to him.
Besides, there was still room to maneuver. As long as he stayed steady, there was nothing to worry about.
Taking a few deep breaths, David Ellison sat back down at his desk and instructed his assistant, "Put everything else aside for now. Focus all your attention on following up this matter."
The assistant nodded vigorously.
"Find out the latest information," David Ellison added. "I want to know how far the investigation has progressed."
After the assistant left, David Ellison no longer had the mind to look at any documents. He sat there thinking for a while, then dismissed the idea of immediately informing his father. After all, things had not yet reached the point of being out of control.
The progress released by the Los Angeles police was like a bowl of cold water thrown into boiling oil, setting off waves of chaos everywhere. The focus of public opinion instantly shifted to the Van Diesel incident. The deceased Hollywood star once again exerted a posthumous influence, not only becoming the media's hottest topic but also allowing The Dark Knight Rises to gradually escape from the previous whirlpool of public controversy.
All news, even gossip, has its own period of relevance, and the media are always chasing the freshest headlines. Compared to "James Holmes murdering Van Diesel," the now stale discussions surrounding The Dark Knight Rises and movie violence could hardly attract the public's attention anymore.
"Don't relax."
In the Warner Bros. production office, Duke reminded Tina Fey, "Make the police department keep investigating."
"They've already traced it to a private detective," Tina Fey reported the latest developments. "Although they've been under some pressure, the Los Angeles Police Department has no intention of stopping for now. They're searching for that private detective and believe the matter isn't as simple as it appears."
Duke thought for a moment and then asked, "What about Van Diesel's family?"
"No response so far." Tina Fey glanced at the file in her hand. "Van Diesel didn't have a good relationship with his parents. They don't really care about his life or death."
"What about Paloma Gimenez?" Duke mentioned the girlfriend Van Diesel had once abused. "Have someone find her and pressure the police through her."
Tina Fey nodded lightly. "She's a very greedy woman. It won't be difficult to persuade her."
"From now on…" Duke's lips curved slightly. "We stand on Van Diesel's side."
For profit, they had once stood against Van Diesel, working hard to tarnish his posthumous reputation. For profit again, they could just as easily stand on his side, pushing the police to pursue the case to the end.
"If it really turns out to be related to him," Tina Fey asked with a hint of doubt, "do we really intend to send him to prison?"
"Send him to prison?" Duke froze for a moment, then shook his head. "Why would we send him to prison? Don't forget—with his and his father's wealth, they can hire an army of lawyers. And tell me, what benefit do we gain from putting him behind bars?"
Without sufficient benefit, Duke would never waste such effort on anything.
After discussing a few more details, Tina Fey left the office. She needed to follow Duke's instructions and closely monitor all reactions from every side.
.....
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