Chapter 877: The Death Was Faked

Due to the negative fallout from the Santa Monica Commercial Square shooting, promotional efforts for The Dark Knight Rises in North America had been virtually nonexistent since its release. Now that media and public attention was shifting to the truth behind Vin Diesel's fatal car crash, Duke and Warner Brothers finally began to ramp up their marketing.

Even with astronomical box office numbers, sustaining steady momentum required a strong promotional push.

In the third week of The Dark Knight Rises' release, the North American film market—previously dominated by Duke's blockbuster—welcomed another massive title. Despicable Me 2, produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures, officially hit theaters.

Using its adorable, goofy charm as a selling point, the animated film ended the two-week box office reign of The Dark Knight Rises, snatching the North American weekend crown with $83.51 million. The Dark Knight Rises easily took second place. Combined with its weekday earnings, its cumulative North American gross hit a staggering $489.21 million, putting the $500 million milestone right within reach.

At the same time, the film's overseas performance remained steady, bringing its combined global gross to $1.17866 billion.

With a long run still ahead before leaving theaters, these figures practically guaranteed that The Dark Knight Rises would take the 2013 North American and global box office crowns.

This wasn't enough to satisfy Duke or Warner Brothers. Duke was somewhat more accepting. Although he had made quite a few adjustments—and both his own evaluation and the audience's reception far exceeded that of the original The Dark Knight Rises—movies were ultimately affected by the social climate. After the tragedy caused by James Holmes, how could it not impact the film's overall box office?

Warner Brothers, however, was unwilling to resign themselves to this. In their eyes, The Dark Knight Rises was a film on the exact same scale as The Avengers. With its current box office numbers falling far short of The Avengers, the media outlets that fanned the flames and the forces behind them naturally became thorns in Warner Brothers' side.

Business competition had always been fierce and, at times, entirely lawless. Anyone with a passing understanding of the corporate sphere knew that as long as the potential profits were large enough, directly competing companies or conglomerates were capable of the unthinkable.

Although there was no hard evidence, Warner Brothers naturally set their sights on David Ellison.

Given the complicated relationships and cross-shareholding concerns among the Big Six Companies, the outsider David Ellison undeniably became the primary target for Warner Brothers' fury.

It was just as Duke had said: some things didn't require evidence. Seeing who stood to gain the most was enough.

Consequently, the Los Angeles Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation fixed their sights on the circumstances surrounding Vin Diesel's death, launching a global manhunt for the private investigator who had hired James Holmes.

Duke left Tina Fey to keep a close eye on that front, focusing the bulk of his own efforts on the marketing campaign for The Dark Knight Rises.

"The ending of The Dark Knight Rises is actually an open one, an ending that could allow the young police officer played by James Franco to inherit the mantle and become the new Batman. But Duke Rosenberg doesn't see it that way. He feels this ending elevates the film's characters. In this conclusion, Batman is no longer a specific person, but a symbol."

This was The Ellen Show, and in response to Ellen DeGeneres's question, Duke answered.

"The open ending was a very important concept for us when we were shooting the film. In that conclusion, Batman turns into a symbol. He could be anyone. This concept of a symbol might not be accepted by every Batman fan, but it's extremely important to us."

"For me, this idea took root back when we were filming Batman Begins. At the time, I felt that Bruce Wayne turned himself into Batman."

Adhering to the principle that everything was for the sake of marketing, Duke continued without a second thought. "He saw himself as a catalyst for changing Gotham City, a temporary process. If, after a few years, Gotham City truly did change, then he could disappear. That is the ending of the entire story, the true meaning behind this open conclusion. Batman is a symbol, not a person. A person can die, but symbols and meanings live on forever."

Ellen DeGeneres asked, "Is there any special significance to the Florence scene at the end?"

"I always said I would give Bruce Wayne the beautiful conclusion he deserves."

Thinking for a moment, Duke answered at an unhurried pace. "At the end of the film, Batman is finally able to retire because the legacy of him sacrificing everything for the city has been successfully passed on. The scene where over three thousand Gotham City police officers and citizens fight the Bane Crime Group proves that, even in the face of mortal danger, they hold onto the conviction that Gotham City is more important than themselves. At the conclusion of this trilogy, that conviction is what drives these crime-fighting warriors fearlessly into battle."

It could be said that Duke's biggest change to the story was showcasing the effect this conviction had on ordinary people.

He continued, "Because of this, these people, as the guardians of the city, no longer need a selfless hero, and Bruce Wayne is able to retire. This trilogy is about a boy who had his parents taken from him, and with the help of loyal allies, attempts to reclaim justice for a city that wronged him. In the end, Bruce Wayne gave Gotham City everything it needed."

Sighing softly, Duke smiled. "The day has finally arrived when neither Gotham City nor Bruce Wayne himself needs Batman anymore, and he can finally start the life he has put aside for so long."

Afterward, Ellen DeGeneres chatted with Duke for a while before her questions circled back to the film's ending.

"Why design it so that Bruce Wayne and Alfred meet in the exact same cafe in Florence?" she asked.

Every film had its own targeted marketing strategy. Compared to his tight-lipped silence during Inception, Duke was undoubtedly far more proactive this time.

"At the end of the movie, when Alfred finally spots Bruce Wayne at a cafe in Florence, he realizes that Bruce Wayne didn't actually die. He realizes that he essentially faked his own death while saving Gotham City," Duke explained.

"I know a lot of viewers might see this as an overly exaggerated coincidence—that the two of them managed to meet in a cafe in a city so incredibly far from Gotham City."

At this point, Duke couldn't help but shrug. "Despite that, there's one thing everyone has to remember. Alfred was Bruce Wayne's closest friend and his greatest ally. This wasn't just during the time Bruce Wayne became Batman, but from the very moment he was born. When confronted with Bruce Wayne's tragic fate, Alfred was left heartbroken and devastated."

"Given everything Alfred sacrificed for his master, it would have been a bit too cruel to keep him in the dark about the truth. If Bruce Wayne was going to tell one person that his death was faked, Alfred was the best possible candidate. It's completely imaginable and entirely understandable."

Across from him, Ellen DeGeneres nodded as Duke continued, "Therefore, rather than calling their reunion in the cafe a coincidence, it would be more accurate to say that Bruce Wayne was deliberately waiting there for Alfred to arrive."

He added, almost as a reminder, "At the beginning of the movie, Alfred told Bruce Wayne that he had vacationed in Florence and had a favorite cafe there. At the same time, Bruce Wayne is one of the world's greatest detectives. Even after faking his own death, he could easily track down the exact cafe Alfred had visited."

Duke's personal interpretation of the film piqued the curiosity of many fans, which to a certain extent further slowed the box office decline for The Dark Knight Rises.

However, The Dark Knight Rises couldn't seem to catch a moment of peace. Another situation had cropped up on Christian Bale's end.

As the actor who played Bruce Wayne, Christian Bale had clearly been experiencing a mix of joy and sorrow lately. On the joyful side, the film he starred in, The Dark Knight Rises, was achieving outstanding box office results. On the sorrowful side, he wanted to pay the owed commissions to his agent and agency, but he had no idea who to pay.

He was currently caught in a lawsuit between two talent agencies—CAA and William Morris—over the rightful ownership of his commissions. Fed up, Bale simply took both CAA and William Morris to court as well.

This lawsuit wasn't a brand-new issue. The groundwork for the legal dispute had been laid ever since Christian Bale's agent, Dan Aloni, was kicked out of CAA and jumped ship to William Morris.

The time frame of this commission dispute stretched all the way from October 2005 to its official eruption now. The amount in question reached a staggering minimum of $250 million. The films involved included Duke's "Batman Prequel Trilogy", Terminator 4, and even a few unannounced projects.

Aside from this case, several other lawsuits concerning Dan Aloni taking major clients with him when he left CAA were submitted to the judicial system at the exact same time. The heavyweight clients Dan Aloni brought with him included Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, David Dobkin, and nearly twenty others.

In truth, lawsuits between talent agencies and individual agents were incredibly common, but cases directly involving the agencies' clients were exceptionally rare.

Fortunately, such cases typically only circulated within industry circles and wouldn't have much of an impact on The Dark Knight Rises.