Chapter 554: Overseas and Farewells

Movies that dominate the North American market almost always capture global attention. Thanks to its excellent reception there, Batman Begins garnered early interest from countless overseas fans. Distribution and theater companies in major foreign markets eagerly poured massive resources into the film.

Conversely, after failing in both box office and word-of-mouth in North America, Flyboys had already landed on the blacklist for overseas audiences and theater chains. Many companies only pushed forward with the film's local release because of their contracts with Disney Pictures.

"There are 95 overseas countries confirmed to import Batman Begins, while Flyboys only has 42..."

Looking at the report's data, David Ellison shifted into a more comfortable posture. His slightly confused gaze landed on Dick Cook of Disney Pictures.

"Why is the gap so large? I remember over 60 countries wanting to bring in Flyboys just a week ago."

"There's nothing we can do," Dick Cook said, looking helpless. "Over ten overseas distributors who were in negotiations saw the first week's North American box office and immediately withdrew. Some companies that had already signed distribution contracts would rather pay the penalty fee than release Flyboys."

Dick Cook left some things unsaid to save David Ellison's face. Those defaulting distributors believed that paying a minor penalty was far more cost-effective than pouring resources into releasing Flyboys.

David Ellison's expression was incredibly ugly. The fewer overseas markets the film entered, the lower the box office revenue would be. Although he did not particularly care about the money, it represented his pride. If the final global box office of Flyboys could not even cover its production costs, how could he ever face Duke Rosenberg again?

Furthermore, would his father revoke his management rights over some of the funds? These were all things he had to consider.

Only now did David Ellison realize that the film industry was far more complicated than he had imagined. He originally thought that with massive funding as backing, his own deep research into Hollywood, and the highly experienced Michael Ovitz and Walt Disney as partners, how could he possibly fail?

Reality proved he had been far too naive. Aside from causing some minor trouble for Duke Rosenberg with the Anne Hathaway incident, he had been utterly crushed, completely unable to parry the blows.

Despite his reluctance, David Ellison understood. The downward spiral of Flyboys was impossible to reverse. If he wanted to succeed, he had to start over from scratch.

But for someone as arrogant as him, accepting defeat was certainly a difficult pill to swallow.

Before leaving Disney Pictures, David Ellison couldn't help but ask, "Dick, I remember Batman Begins signed official contracts with over eighty overseas distributors before May. Why do we have so few..."

He was not questioning Walt Disney's capabilities. Rather, if Flyboys had a broader distribution network, the final box office numbers might at least make him look a little better.

Dick Cook sighed and said bluntly, "Because the director of Batman Begins is Duke Rosenberg."

Hearing this, David Ellison suddenly understood something. As he got into his car, a helpless smile crept onto his lips.

Exactly. Because the director was Duke Rosenberg. Because the man was a super-director with a combined global box office approaching 9 billion dollars. Because he had built such a towering reputation in the past. Because the name Duke Rosenberg had long since become a gold standard in Hollywood and the global commercial film industry.

Looking at it from another angle, if he were not Duke Rosenberg, would David have ever sought him out in the first place to invest in his movies?

The man was undeniably powerful, but as long as David learned from this experience, he would eventually defeat him!

Just like Larry Ellison, David Ellison would not wallow in despair after a single setback, nor would he abandon the Hollywood he had chosen.

However, the dismal box office numbers of Flyboys truly left David Ellison speechless.

Setting aside the overseas markets that would only open over the weekend, Flyboys faced the test of its first workday starting this Monday. Unsurprisingly, the film's single-day box office plummeted below seven figures to a pitiful 620,000 dollars. This result was barely a fraction of what Batman Begins earned on the same day. While the latter was also declining, it maintained a relatively stable box office trend, taking in 5.21 million dollars.

Over the next three workdays, Flyboys went into a complete free-fall: 530,000 dollars on Tuesday, 450,000 dollars on Wednesday, 410,000 dollars on Thursday...

The film's box office during this period mirrored Monday's performance—merely a fraction of what Batman Begins pulled in.

Duke's masterpiece remained steady, maintaining a healthy enough drop. Over the four workdays, it gathered a total of 17.21 million dollars, pushing its North American box office past the 150 million mark to reach 160.52 million dollars!

Following that, as a new weekend began, Duke left North America. He and the main cast split into two groups, heading to London and Berlin respectively to participate in the European promotional tour for Batman Begins.

Compared to the East Asian region, which was profoundly influenced by Japanese manga, Europe was much more heavily influenced by DC and Marvel. Batman, just like Superman and Spider-Man, was a household superhero. Moreover, Batman Begins had already sold exceptionally well in North America. While its word-of-mouth was not quite on the level of Duke's previous The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the reception was still phenomenal. All these factors boosted the film's overseas attendance rates.

Duke spent a day in Berlin first, participating in two promotional events, before hurrying to Munich. He made a point of watching the Bundesliga giant Bayern Munich play their first league match at the newly inaugurated Allianz Arena. During the game, the broadcast cameras frequently found him in the stands, and at halftime, the stadium's giant screens even played a promotional clip for Batman Begins.

Of course, this was a paid advertisement. Even Duke's appearance in the stadium to watch the match, accompanied by Rummenigge, was orchestrated by the Warner German Branch.

Duke did not know much about soccer. The few matches he occasionally watched were mostly from the English Premier League, so he was quite unfamiliar with this current Bayern Munich team. The only star he recognized was Ballack, and that was only because the man later went on to play in the Premier League.

"Duke, would you be interested in collaborating with the Bayern Club on a soccer movie?"

Since Duke did not understand German, Rummenigge spoke to him in English.

"We have been planning to shoot a highly influential soccer film."

"I'm sorry, Karl," Duke politely declined. "I don't know much about soccer, so I'm not really suited to direct a film on this subject."

This was only part of the reason. Soccer was undeniably the number one sport in the world, completely crushing American football and basketball on a global scale. However, soccer movies were unadulterated niche films.

Besides, he truly did not know much about association football.

Even if he wanted to direct a sports film in the future, the American football he used to play would undoubtedly be a much better fit.

Over the three-day weekend, Duke spent two days in Germany. On the final day, he traveled to Vienna to attend the Austrian premiere of Batman Begins.

After the brief weekend passed, this overseas promotional tour temporarily concluded. Duke left Europe and returned to Los Angeles. As an overseas market with closer cultural ties, Europe delivered box office results for Batman Begins that were more than satisfactory.

12.65 million dollars on the opening weekend in Britain, 14.32 million in Germany, 10.35 million in France, 9.21 million in Spain, 8.55 million in Italy...

Although Batman Begins met with a somewhat cold reception in the East Asian markets led by Japan and South Korea, it also opened to an impressive 11.78 million dollars in Australia.

Playing in 77 overseas countries and regions, Batman Begins raked in a total of 122.17 million dollars this weekend!

Meanwhile, Flyboys, which launched overseas during the same period, only managed a fraction of Batman Begins' overseas box office. And that fraction was not in the tens of millions—it was a mere 2.17 million dollars!

Premiering in 41 countries and regions, the box office numbers Flyboys achieved could only be described as better than nothing.

This was the last time Duke bothered checking on his competitor. Seeing that its performance could only be described as an utter failure, he tossed it aside. He could not even be bothered to look at its second-week box office in North America; there was simply no need anymore.

Even if God descended in person, he could not save this movie.

Back in the North American Region, Batman Begins coasted through its third weekend. With no major blockbusters opening this week, Batman Begins held onto its box office crown with 20.12 million dollars, effortlessly achieving a three-week streak.

To date, the North American box office for Batman Begins had accumulated 180.64 million dollars, bringing its combined global gross to a staggering 302.81 million dollars!

At this point, if someone were to say that Batman had been reborn on the silver screen, it was highly unlikely that anyone would argue.

However, the film's unchallenged reign was coming to an end. Memorial Day was approaching, and a movie that had become a cultural icon in North America and around the world was about to premiere.

George Lucas was storming the box office with Star Wars Prequel 3: Revenge of the Sith.

Furthermore, during the film's promotional campaign, George Lucas explicitly stated that this would be the final installment of his Star Wars Series. To Star Wars fans, this naturally meant it would be the very last Star Wars film.

The allure of the final Star Wars film was self-evident to its fans. Even those who were not die-hard followers were getting eager, intending to head to the theater and personally bid farewell to this monumental franchise.