Chapter 769: Filming Completed

A multi-billion-dollar acquisition like Lucasfilm was never going to be settled overnight. Duke and the Time Warner team were patient, biding their time. Besides, murmurs were already trickling out of Lucasfilm regarding the director for the new Star Wars series once it launched.

Duke had made certain promises on that front, and his commercial success in the sci-fi genre over the years served as the best guarantee for those promises.

By mid-September, for instance, the global box office for Inception had crossed the $1 billion mark. Its North American box office had reached $342.54 million, making it the highest-grossing film domestically for the year behind only Toy Story 3.

The latter had already pulled in over $350 million in North America, capitalizing on the massive audience base and stellar reputation the franchise had built over fifteen years.

In overseas markets, however, both the box office and reception for Toy Story 3 were inferior to Inception, and couldn't even match Alice in Wonderland from earlier in the year. It was an undeniable fact that films from Pixar Studio performed somewhat weakly abroad compared to North America.

In emerging and rapidly growing markets like China, Pixar Animation Studio's films simply weren't very popular. The animation sector in these emerging markets was largely a toddler market aimed at children under ten—a demographic Pixar never catered to, and children of that age couldn't possibly understand their films anyway.

Pixar Studio's production style inherently dictated its audience, and they needed to slowly cultivate their own viewers in those emerging markets.

Fortunately, even without high box office returns from emerging markets, the revenue brought in by Pixar Studio's films was sufficiently high.

Inception was absolutely one of the most successful films of the year, while the equally high-budget, massive-production Robin Hood had become one of its most disastrous failures.

The North American Theater Alliance had forcefully pulled the film from screens early on, leaving it with just over $40 million at the North American box office. Even now, counting all overseas markets, its global box office sat at just over $100 million.

With Robin Hood's production costs reaching $200 million, coupled with over $100 million in marketing expenses and hefty distribution fees, the film's total investment easily surpassed $350 million. An investment of that scale meant that recouping the costs would require an agonizingly long time.

"You still won't recoup this investment by the time I'm dead!"

Inside a sprawling San Francisco mansion, a booming voice was blasting David Ellison like a hair dryer. The normally arrogant David Ellison kept his head bowed, forced to simply stand there.

"How many times have you screwed up?"

At his father's words, David Ellison looked up.

"I've had successes too," he said with a hint of stubbornness. "I produced massive hits like I Am Legend!"

Larry Ellison sneered. He took a step back and dropped onto the sofa, snapping fiercely,

"How many profitable movies has your company made? And how many films like Robin Hood?"

He had originally placed high hopes on this son, believing his talent was second to none and that he could carve out a real empire even in Hollywood. He hadn't expected him to lose so miserably.

David Ellison fell silent, slowly lowering his head. After a long moment, he looked up again, fixing his gaze firmly on his father.

"My Sky Film Studio still has four films in the pipeline: TRON: Legacy, Battleship, Alien Battlefield, and Fast and Furious 5," he insisted. "As long as two of them hit as big as I Am Legend, we can recover all our previous losses..."

"Let's hope so!" Larry Ellison cut him off bluntly. "Because if those films fail, I'm pulling my investment from Sky Film Studio entirely!"

David Ellison's expression shifted. Without his father's financial backing, how could he possibly keep Sky Film Studio afloat?

Still, thinking about those four films restored a measure of his confidence. There was no way all four of them could bomb, right?

Especially Fast and Furious 5, which was about to begin shooting. The franchise had already accumulated massive popularity. Barring any colossal accidents, the film was practically guaranteed to be a massive hit.

In David Ellison's view, Fast and Furious 5 pulling in $500 million to $600 million globally was a perfectly normal expectation. Breaking the $1 billion mark, however, would be incredibly difficult.

How could he ensure this film truly exploded and crossed that $1 billion threshold?

This was the question still occupying his thoughts as he left San Francisco. Currently, the number of directors in Hollywood capable of delivering a billion-dollar box office hit could be counted on one hand. Aside from James Cameron and Duke Rosenberg, essentially no one else could pull it off.

Duke Rosenberg, in particular—how many of his films had already shattered the $1 billion mark globally? The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dark Knight...

Thinking of The Dark Knight, David Ellison's heart stirred. If it hadn't been for the Joker's death, would the film's box office have exploded like that?

A vague idea gradually formed in his mind, but he couldn't quite grasp it for the moment, so he had to temporarily push it aside and return to the reality at hand.

Word on the street was that Duke Rosenberg's new film was nearing the end of production. It was clearly a project engineered for the Oscars. David Ellison desperately wanted to do something about it, but lacked the power. The other party's production style wasn't favored by the Academy, and he himself was utterly despised by Hollywood's traditional power brokers.

Just as David Ellison understood, filming for Gravity had reached its final stretch. Because they had ironed out so many technical hurdles during pre-production, the actual shoot had gone relatively smoothly. After forty-five days of intense filming, the planned ninety-minute feature was down to its very last shots.

Inside a soundstage at Warner Studios, Duke was directing the crew in setting up for the final long take. This was the film's closing sequence, as well as the pivotal scene where Scarlett's female lead returned to Earth and gained a new life. Gravity was different from any of Duke's previous films, composed of a massive number of long takes, and this final scene was no exception.

Over on the left side of the soundstage, a massive water tank had already been erected, its perimeter entirely surrounded by green screens. The water inside simulated real lake water perfectly, complete with incredibly lifelike aquatic plants. As for other elements like zooplankton, they would rely on post-production additions.

They had already filmed the sequence where the female lead crashed into the water aboard the Shenzhou. The remaining long take would cover Scarlett shedding her spacesuit and swimming back to land.

Two camera assistants had already suited up in diving gear to capture Scarlett's performance underwater. Duke checked the crew's preparations before calling Scarlett over to the edge of the tank.

This was the exact front of the tank, walled off entirely by green screens except for the camera placements. Duke stood on the open ground beside the water, pointing at the damp mud.

"Remember," he told her, "once you crawl ashore, you absolutely have to grab a handful of mud!"

"I know!" Scarlett nodded earnestly.

The two of them had communicated enough beforehand, and there was no need for Duke to elaborate further on these scenes, but he still added one last instruction.

"Safety first. If you can't hold your breath, swim straight up."

Scarlett gave Duke a reassuring look. "I've practiced this plenty of times."

Having instructed Scarlett, Duke glanced over to the other side. Three lifeguards were already in position. If the actor or the cameramen underwater had any accidents, they were ready to dive in and rescue them immediately.

Duke never cut corners on safety measures, especially not when Scarlett Johansson was involved.

"All departments, ready!"

Stepping onto the raised platform, Duke stood behind the director's monitor.

"Final scene! Action!"

Despite Duke calling action, the filming didn't begin immediately. They had to wait for Scarlett Johansson to get into position. She jumped into the pool, swam slowly out toward the center, took a deep breath, and sank below the surface. The tank wasn't particularly deep, as much of the environment would be built in post-production. A dozen seconds later, Scarlett was on her mark. She flashed an 'OK' hand signal, and filming immediately began.

As an amateur, Scarlett couldn't hold her breath for an extraordinarily long time. Duke had initially planned for safety divers to supply her with air via scuba gear during the shoot, but after seeing her manage to stay submerged for nearly a minute on her own, he scrapped those cumbersome preparations.

The underwater choreography was relatively straightforward. Scarlett went through a few motions of stripping off the spacesuit, freed herself from all its restraints, and swam upward. She kicked her way through a dense patch of aquatic plants, rapidly approaching the surface.

The entire sequence lasted barely more than ten seconds, shot underwater in high-speed slow motion. The instant Scarlett Johansson breached the surface, the primary camera operated by John Schwartzman immediately pivoted toward her, capturing her every movement in crisp detail.

Duke kept his eyes glued to the director's monitor. Scarlett dragged her struggling body onto the muddy shore, already lacking the strength to stand. She simply pressed her face tightly into the soil on the bank, feeling the Earth, feeling her survival after the disaster, feeling her own rebirth...

She slowly grabbed a handful of mud, her eyes staring at it intently. This incredibly familiar earth seemed so profoundly precious in that moment. It was as if only someone who had narrowly escaped the void of space could truly understand what this seemingly ordinary mud meant to her and to humanity.

Scarlett struggled to her feet. In that moment, no force on earth could have stopped her from standing up. Though she stumbled and collapsed repeatedly throughout the process, she ultimately stood resolute, planting her feet firmly in the muddy ground.

The camera extending from the crane arm first gave a close-up of her feet and the mud. Slowly, it panned upward, eventually coming to rest beside Scarlett's face, lingering there until she slowly took a step forward...

"Cut!" Duke's shout echoed across the stage. "That's a print!"

A collective sigh of relief washed over the soundstage. Though the shoot had only lasted a little over forty days, the tension and sheer density of the schedule had been completely unprecedented.