Chapter 521: The Release Date of Batman Begins

After the extreme trial of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, preparing the Batman Series wasn't particularly difficult for Duke and his team. The process was far less tedious than building Middle-earth from scratch. As time crept toward the end of October, the crew's various prep work gradually neared completion. According to plan, the exterior scenes in Iceland would be shot first, meaning intricate props like the Batmobile could easily be built alongside the shoot.

Over the past few months, incorporating Duke's feedback, Lamborghini had completed six different copyrighted Batmobile designs.

Duke found exactly the type he wanted among them.

In previous Batman films, the Batmobile had always kept pace with the times, pushing flamboyance to the extreme. Lamborghini, however, successfully combined the agility of a sports car with the bulk of a tank, designing a swift, muscle-bound monster.

In Batman Begins, the Batmobile was actually a military prototype called "The Tumbler." Developed by the Wayne Company, it was designed to transport personnel and equipment across trenches and traverse open terrain. Due to its exorbitant cost, the Wayne Company never put it into mass production; instead, Bruce Wayne discovered it and developed it into Batman's tool for upholding justice.

In early November, Lamborghini shipped a concept car to Los Angeles. If Duke was satisfied, the subsequent prop cars could be manufactured quickly.

This Batmobile was equipped with a 5.7-liter, 340-horsepower engine capable of outputting 400 pounds of torque. The body was 9 feet 4 inches wide, 15 feet long, and weighed two and a half tons. It could accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in under five seconds and perform long-distance jumps.

The most unique feature of the Batmobile was its lack of a front axle; instead, the front wheels were supported through the sides of the chassis.

Lamborghini's technicians had increased the size of the rear wheels and positioned the engine and transmission nearby. The Batmobile even had an insect-like waist, allowing the body to flex when the horsepower was cranked up.

Additionally, the Batmobile was fitted with six truck tires. To achieve the designed drifting effects, tires with varying degrees of wear could be used depending on the scene. Tire pressure could also be adjusted accordingly.

According to plan, Duke would use a total of six to eight Batmobiles in the film. Five would be fully equipped, one electronic version would feature a movable roof for easy access, and two would be engineless and lightened so they could be catapulted in special action sequences.

"I never expected them to build a Batmobile that combined every single concept, but they did it. It's a monster, a beast," Duke said, giving his assessment of the vehicle. He was quite satisfied with what Lamborghini had accomplished.

Of course, the copyright for the Batmobile was co-owned by both companies. Once the film premiered, it would officially hit the market, serving as a profitable avenue for merchandise.

Furthermore, Bruce Wayne's sports cars in the film would exclusively feature Lamborghini's latest models.

To promote their products and advertise, Lamborghini had even gifted Duke and Christian Bale with their latest concept sports cars.

However, Duke had no real interest in cars and rarely drove sports cars, so he immediately passed his along to Tina Fey.

Tina Fey's negotiations with Warner Brothers were not going smoothly. Time Warner had concerns about the stock swap; Duke was already the largest individual shareholder in Warner Bros., and him holding too many shares would be detrimental to the Time Warner Group's control over the studio.

The negotiations also involved Steve Jobs's Pixar Studio. If they failed to acquire Pixar, and Duke's shares increased after the stock swap, Time Warner would undoubtedly be put in a rather passive position.

But Steve Jobs held absolute initiative and was in no rush whatsoever. This was destined to be a marathon negotiation.

Duke's primary energy remained focused on his new film. It was where his interests lay and the foundation of his career.

Regarding the theatrical release date for Batman Begins, Duke and Warner had a slight disagreement. The reason was simple: the disastrous failure of Batman and Robin had left too deep a shadow over Warner Brothers.

"Warner's opinion is to place the film's release window in late July or early August, when the competition is relatively mild," Jamie Jensen, who had been promoted to distribution manager at Warner Brothers, told Duke inside Duke Studio. "Batman cannot afford to fail again, or else the series will be shelved indefinitely."

Duke considered it for a moment before replying, "My opinion is still to aim for early May."

With the inaugural film of the Marvel Series waiting next year, he couldn't delay the release of Batman Begins too much, lest it divide his focus.

Moreover, he vaguely remembered that the original Batman Begins had been a Summer Season film, and its market response had been relatively successful.

Besides, the Christopher Nolan of his previous life couldn't possibly compare to his own current influence in the Summer Season.

"The May schedule is already very crowded." Jamie Jensen thought for a moment, deciding not to push his own view. "Memorial Day is definitely out of the question. George Lucas's Star Wars Prequel 3 is releasing in that window."

Duke knew this. He certainly wouldn't go head-to-head with what Lucas was calling the final Star Wars film.

"In mid-May, there's Spielberg's War of the Worlds," Jamie Jensen continued, "which falls under the sci-fi genre."

"What about the beginning of the month?" Duke asked directly.

"Twentieth Century Fox's blockbuster Kingdom of Heaven opens on the first weekend of the Summer Season..."

Hearing that name, Duke's eyes lit up immediately. "Jamie, let's go with the first weekend."

Not waiting for the other man to speak, he offered an explanation. "I don't know if you've noticed, but epic films have already triggered aesthetic fatigue in the market. Warner's Troy didn't meet expectations, did it?"

"Right." Jamie Jensen nodded. "Although it ultimately turned a profit through merchandise and disc sales, it fell far short of our expectations."

"King Arthur, which released in July, performed terribly. Its dismal market reception essentially guarantees it'll take a loss," Duke pointed out. "Then there was last year's Alexander the Great, whose commercial results were an absolute disaster."

Jamie Jensen's eyes suddenly lit up. He had always admired Duke's grasp of the film market. Even with films Duke didn't produce himself, his investments in Titanic, Mission: Impossible, and the Harry Potter series fully proved this point. This was especially true for Alexander the Great; Warner Brothers had followed his advice and chosen not to distribute Oliver Stone's epic, thereby avoiding a major loss.

"Every genre of film in Hollywood eventually triggers market fatigue after reaching its peak." Duke's words were backed by the film market's history over countless years. "In recent years, Hollywood epics have been swarming the industry, flooding screens..."

He shook his head. It wouldn't just be epic war films; the superhero films of the future would tread the exact same path.

Duke possessed no magic, but his logic was easy to follow. Jamie Jensen thought it over for a moment and couldn't help but nod.

Of course, he still had to conduct internal research before finalizing the exact release date for Batman Begins.

After Jamie Jensen left, Duke flipped through the release schedule for next year's Summer Season he had left behind. It was filled with films that had already announced their dates. Kingdom of Heaven seemed to have astonishing momentum—Ridley Scott teaming up with Orlando Bloom on a production budget of 130 million dollars—but in reality, it was a total pushover.

Many people in his past life had blamed the film's box office failure on Ridley Scott's lack of final cut privilege. That was indeed part of the reason, and Ridley Scott's director's cut was more than a step above the theatrical version in quality. If the director's cut had been released a few years earlier, it might have achieved massive success.

But during this specific timeframe, even if it were old Ridley's director's cut hitting theaters, there was still an over eighty percent chance it would flop.

Films were deeply influenced by the social environment. Hollywood had been heavily chasing trends in the epic genre over the past few years, churning out a constant stream of massive investments and smaller productions alike. The market's demand for epics had clearly begun to wane, and this was an external factor that a director simply couldn't control.

Just like the superhero films that thrived in the final years of Duke's past life, everyone actually knew that audiences would inevitably tire of them one day.

A week later, news arrived from Warner Brothers. They had accepted Duke's suggestion. Batman Begins would officially premiere in North America on May 6th, the start of next year's Summer Season. The film releasing on the exact same day was Kingdom of Heaven.

Whether or not that film would change its release date was completely outside Duke's realm of concern. As mid-November arrived, he reviewed all the preparatory work, contacted Hannah Serena—who had headed to Iceland early—and prepared to start shooting.

The film's opening shots would take place at Iceland's Vatnajökull Glacier. While Warner held a press conference to publicly announce the release date for Batman Begins, he led the crew aboard a chartered flight, leaving North America and flying directly to Iceland.

Before his departure, Taken, which had released in June, completely ended its North American theatrical run. After a lengthy five-month screening period, the film had ultimately grossed 235.78 million dollars in North America. Relative to the film's investment scale, it had already achieved tremendous success.

The overseas run for Taken had not yet concluded. Currently, the cumulative global box office stood at 482.76 million dollars, and it would not be difficult for its final worldwide gross to surpass 500 million dollars.

Although this was one of Duke's more average-performing films at the box office in recent years, Taken would have absolutely no problem entering the annual top-ten lists for both North American and global box offices.

Moreover, right up until Taken left North American theaters, its audience reception remained stellar, boasting a high IMDB rating of 8.3. The subsequent disc sales were bound to be strong.

Upon the crew's arrival in Iceland, after a brief two-day rest, Duke raised the curtain on filming. For the very first scene, he chose the fight between Liam Neeson and Christian Bale atop the frozen lake.