Chapter 878: A Long and Foul-Smelling Fart

"Before Batman Begins, I doubt anyone would have dared attempt this with a comic-book movie like Duke Rosenberg did. After all, comic heroes were simply too far removed from reality. However, Duke Rosenberg cleverly discovered the easiest point of connection between comics and reality—a character's psychological journey and the resulting emotional resonance that audiences could relate to. Thus, the great Batman trilogy was born..."

Just like the articles shared by fans on Instant Sharing, the box office for The Dark Knight Rises pushed steadily forward despite its bumpy journey.

By June, the North American box office for The Dark Knight Rises finally broke past $550 million, and its global haul exceeded $1.3 billion.

These figures left many people speechless, especially after all the turmoil The Dark Knight Rises had endured.

Everyone in Hollywood—whether they liked Duke or hated him—now fully realized just how massive his influence on commercial cinema truly was.

On the first weekend of June, Alien Battlefield—jointly funded by Sky Film Studio and Walt Disney, boasting a production budget of $260 million, and distributed by Disney Pictures—officially premiered in North America.

David Ellison and his Sky Film Studio had invested over $300 million in total on the film's production and marketing. He specifically requested Walt Disney to prepare a grand premiere for Alien Battlefield. As the final installment of the four-film slate he had originally purchased, Alien Battlefield could be considered David Ellison's last hope.

While a failure wouldn't bankrupt Sky Film Studio, it would inevitably make everyone doubt his judgment. David Ellison knew this very well.

Of course, he also knew that many people were already questioning his capabilities, including his father, Larry Ellison.

If he lost the support of his father, David Ellison didn't even dare imagine the consequences. Despite having been in Hollywood for so many years, he still couldn't survive without his family's backing.

After rushing down the red carpet, before he could even enter the theater, David Ellison was called into a lounge by his father's assistant.

Inside the lounge, Larry Ellison looked solemn.

Seeing David Ellison walk in, he gestured for him to close the door and asked directly, "What exactly happened with Vin Diesel's car crash?"

Hearing this, David Ellison's heart sank.

Larry Ellison immediately added, "Although the situation isn't completely unsalvageable, your stupidity has exceeded my wildest imagination!"

His words carried obvious fury.

David Ellison wanted to explain, but Larry Ellison raised a hand and cut him off.

"The matter hasn't implicated you yet, and I don't want to hear any useless excuses! Also, if Alien Battlefield fails again..."

He paused, giving David Ellison a cold glare.

Would Alien Battlefield succeed? In David Ellison's eyes, the film possessed every condition necessary to become a massive hit.

But the development of events was sometimes unpredictable. This was especially true for a film's market reception. Hollywood claimed to be the world's dream factory, possessing the most standardized production models, yet even it couldn't perfectly grasp the pulse of the market.

The premiere went smoothly. There were no accidents, let alone a repeat of last month's shooting.

However, right after the premiere and the thousands of advance screenings wrapped up, a wave of curses directed at Alien Battlefield had already appeared on the ever-responsive internet. Especially on Instant Sharing, North America's largest social networking site, negative reviews of Alien Battlefield quickly claimed prominent positions.

"Under the massive hype, I braved a cloudy Friday night specifically to attend this long-awaited date with Alien Battlefield. It felt like I was heading to a premeditated secret rendezvous, but the actual experience felt like..."

"This film had plenty of selling points: a famous director, a high budget, alien landscapes... Yet all of this was held in by Alien Battlefield only to be released as a long and foul-smelling fart, rumbling one after another across countless theaters!"

"First, it is incredibly cliché. The protagonist looks like the Prince of Persia, the Saturn palace looks like Thor, the plot is like Avatar, and the monster designs are like The Golden Compass... So what exactly does Alien Battlefield look like? It looks like everything except itself."

"Second, the color palette is monotonous and dim. Looking at major blockbusters—whether it's Avatar or The Dark Knight, whether it's Transformers or The Avengers—every single one is visually stunning, refusing to stop until the audience is completely dazzled!"

"Third, the score is too traditional. It overly relies on the power of a symphony orchestra, using it to highlight and depict everything. Yet the story itself is full of cult and fairy-tale vibes, making for a terrible mismatch."

"Fourth, the 3D effects are mediocre, far inferior to the recently released blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises. It's purely a pair of fishnet stockings forced onto the film just to squeeze out a few extra dollars."

"Fifth, director Andrew Stanton clearly thinks he understands the formula for commercial blockbusters. The story opens with an action scene to warm things up, but it just fakes a few punches and brushes past it. Obviously, the director has little interest in action scenes, and as a result, the audience has little interest in the movie."

"Sixth, deep down, the director is still built for animated films. He tilted the film's focus toward the romance between the protagonists. That love—as pure as snow and as sincere as water—didn't gain any adult flavor just because the female lead bared her midriff and thighs. To put it bluntly, the story portrays a teenage romance. If you swapped them out for two little animated robots, this love would surely move heaven and earth. But set against a realistic, bustling, chaotic, and cruel backdrop, how is this simple love supposed to move you?"

"Seventh, the director failed to grasp one basic truth: the magic weapon of a massive commercial blockbuster is its large-scale action scenes. As long as the scenes are big enough, flashy enough, fierce enough, cool enough, and long enough, people will generally buy it even if the movie is trash. However, this film's big set pieces always stop short and never go all out. How can anyone be satisfied with that?"

"Eighth, the director secretly wants to go the artsy route. Looking at the entire film, there's a fair amount of action, but it merely scratches the surface, hastily wrapping up after just a few minutes of fighting. The two giant beasts featured prominently on the posters didn't show up until the audience was almost asleep, only to be beaten down in just a few rounds. Could the audience possibly be satisfied?"

"Ninth, the director completely misunderstands the importance of action scenes. The final battle ended after barely a few intense clashes. What the hell was that! Look at the big hits—whether it's Transformers or Avatar, the final battle absolutely has to hype you up, because the audience needs to walk out of the theater with a massive sense of shock and satisfaction. But Alien Battlefield? Not only did they win with a few flashy but useless kicks, they even tacked on several minutes of interconnected suspense at the very end. Wasn't that just completely unnecessary?"

"Finally, during the viewing, right when your interest is about to ignite, the plot immediately cools off. Just as you start to soften up, it pokes at your drowsy nerves again! Just when you feel true excitement approaching, it transitions to the next segment without giving you any chance to climax. Watching Alien Battlefield is like having a wet dream—it seems pretty nice, but there's absolutely no climax!"

Like a rapidly spreading plague, the negative word-of-mouth for Alien Battlefield proliferated across the internet at a terrifying speed. Even though Walt Disney and Sky Film Studio made every possible effort, it was completely unsalvageable.

One could only say that this film truly didn't suit the audience's appetite. In the subsequent interviews broadcast on television, countless moviegoers were also full of complaints and curses.

"The marketing went way overboard. It's purely a crude movie that puts you to sleep."

"Not to mention the lack of big set pieces, the drama and logic were so simplistic and heavy-handed it was unbearable. The age of the original work and its younger target audience can't be used as an excuse."

"The plot was disjointed, and the personalities of the male and female leads didn't stand out at all. Only a few occasional funny highlights reminded me that I was sitting in front of a screen—don't fall asleep! Nowadays, sci-fi fans really have nothing left to watch besides Duke Rosenberg's films!"

"Entertainment films are first and foremost meant to entertain. You barely had any big scenes, just a few scattered monsters, and the action was mediocre. Who is this for? To put it plainly, the story is just Superman in reverse. Superman was an alien who came to Earth, experienced lower gravity, and became invincible. You just flipped it—an Earthling runs to an alien planet, experiences lower gravity, and becomes an invincible superhero."

It wasn't just this. In the latest survey data released by CinemaScore, the audience grade for Alien Battlefield was a C, with a popcorn index of 62 percent. Furthermore, CinemaScore's North American box office projection for the film was around $50 million.

Alien Battlefield's production budget alone was a staggering $260 million. If that was truly the final box office figure, the investors would undoubtedly bleed heavily from the losses.

In reality, the box office trajectory for Alien Battlefield wasn't far off from CinemaScore's projection.

On its opening day on Friday, thanks to the effects of its marketing and promotion, the film still managed to pull in nearly $5 million at the North American box office. But starting Saturday, dragged down by abysmal audience word-of-mouth, the box office continually dropped. The overall North American attendance rate even fell below 5 percent. After the three-day opening weekend, it concluded its North American opening run with a mere $11.38 million.

In the fiercely competitive summer season, such opening weekend box office results had absolutely no competitive edge. Let alone grabbing a massive slice of the pie, Alien Battlefield couldn't even compare to The Dark Knight Rises, which was in its sixth week of release and brought in $12.13 million that very weekend.

For David Ellison, the box office failure of Alien Battlefield wasn't even the most painful blow. On Monday, the Los Angeles Police held another press conference, announcing that they had caught the private investigator who hired James Holmes.

Meanwhile, Duke, who had finished his North American promotional tour and returned to Los Angeles, also received a visitation request from Larry Ellison.