"Take a look at this…"
"What's this?" Tom Cruise took the script, invited Gilbert and Ivanka to sit down in the living room, and after the servants served coffee, he skimmed through the script briefly.
"I have to say, I really like this character Joel. Now that I'm a father myself, I can relate to those feelings. But as for the character Ellie, that's going to take quite a bit of work."
"Yes," Gilbert said, setting down his coffee. "When the time comes, I'll probably need your help — we'll need you to cooperate during the auditions.
I want to see which young actress won't get nervous acting in front of the superstar Tom Cruise."
Tom Cruise laughed. "I'm curious about that too…"
"Anyway, I'll leave the script with you. Remember to keep it confidential don't let Mary sneak it away," Gilbert joked.
Tom Cruise burst out laughing. "Don't worry, she won't."
With that, the project was officially decided. Gilbert still had plenty of things to handle, so it looked like there would be no summer vacation for him this year.
In fact, it wasn't just Ellie — even the minor role of Sarah would take some careful thought.
The other roles were easier to decide. After all, there were plenty of actors to choose from; someone suitable would surely be found.
The Last of Us was Gilbert's next major creative attempt following The False. The False had been a Hong Kong film adapted into a Hollywood production, and it turned out quite well.
The Last of Us would be a game-to-film adaptation. There had already been successful examples before — Tomb Raider was one.
And the Adventures of Jackie Chan series starring Jackie Chan had incorporated some Uncharted-style elements.
Even though The Last of Us game hadn't even been released yet, that didn't stop Gilbert from adapting it.
Of course, for now, it had to be called an "original screenplay."
It was precisely because it was an original screenplay that Gilbert chose Tom Cruise as the lead — in Hollywood, there were very few actors capable of carrying a $100 million-plus original film on their own.
As time moved into the second weekend of Batman:Begins, the film took in another $33.529 million, easily claiming its second consecutive weekend box office crown.
The North American box office had now reached $139.904 million for a Batman IP that had once "died," this performance could be considered outstanding.
After two weeks of strong results, Warner Bros. no longer hesitated and immediately invested more resources into overseas promotion. The film would begin large-scale global release the following weekend.
To boost the film's overseas debut, Warner Bros. took Gilbert's suggestion and held the international premiere at the Grand Theatre in London.
Director Gilbert, along with stars Christian Bale, Jennifer Connelly, Liam Neeson, and Gary Oldman, all attended the London premiere.
Of course, the most eye-catching part of the evening was the appearance of several main players from that year's UEFA Champions League winners, Arsenal.
When fans on the red carpet saw stars like Vieira, Henry, Fàbregas, and van Persie, the excitement was palpable.
This was exactly the kind of effect Gilbert wanted to show that football and film could be connected.
Perhaps thanks to the added star power of the footballers, Batman:Begins grossed an impressive $142.203 million in its first week of large-scale overseas release.
Combined with its North American revenue of $28.944 million that week, the film brought in a staggering $171.147 million globally for the week.
Adding that to the previous North American total, the film's worldwide gross had already reached $311.051 million — surpassing Batman & Robin's $252.068 million.
Of course, that wasn't the end. The film had only just begun its wide overseas rollout, and there was still plenty of box office left to grab.
As for Kingdom of Heaven, it had been completely forgotten — its overseas performance barely made a ripple.
With such poor box office returns, hoping to recoup costs through distribution rights was unrealistic. Twentieth Century Fox didn't seem to care, but several Wall Street film funds were fuming — once again, Hollywood had played them for fools.
It was strange, really — every year, Wall Street's film funds got burned by Hollywood, yet they kept coming back, investing again and again, addicted to buying rights.
Back to Kingdom of Heaven, its poor box office directly impacted its ability to recover costs. Simply put — it wasn't going to break even.
In this day and age, box office revenue accounted for only a small portion of a film's total income.
So why did studios still value box office numbers so highly? The reason was simple box office represented a film's commercial value. A low box office meant low commercial appeal.
If that's the case, how could merchandising and rights deals possibly sell for a high price?
George Lucas once told Twentieth Century Fox executives that the Star Wars movies were basically advertisements advertisements for the merchandise.
But in truth, most films were advertisements, and their box office represented both their popularity and their commercial potential.
So, for Kingdom of Heaven, hoping to make up losses through licensing was simply impossible. Its global box office hadn't even crossed $100 million!
When reporters interviewed Ridley Scott and asked for his thoughts on the film's failure, he furiously blasted the executives at Twentieth Century Fox:
"A bunch of people who don't understand movies completely ruined my film. Kingdom of Heaven should have been so much better!"
It was said that when the executives at Fox heard that, they were furious. From their perspective, it was absurd for the director who botched the film to shift the blame onto them.
As a result, both sides got caught up in a war of words. However, after the Kingdom of Heaven fiasco, the studio's trust in Ridley Scott took another heavy hit.
His next film would likely grant him even less creative freedom than Kingdom of Heaven.
Meanwhile, after dominating the box office for two weeks, Batman Begins finally stepped down from its number one spot. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Mr. & Mrs. Smith hit theaters.
With two major superstars headlining it, the film earned $50.34 million in its opening weekend—a pretty solid result.
The film's viewing experience was actually quite good: the action scenes were exciting, and the concept of a spy couple was fresh and entertaining. Add in Brad Pitt's handsome looks and Angelina Jolie's seductive beauty, and it naturally drew in plenty of fans.
But what truly caught public attention was the gossip surrounding the film.
Tabloid sites reported that the movie originally contained a large number of "two-person workout" scenes, but many were cut to keep the PG-13 rating.
That immediately gave San Fernando Valley new material to work with—they could shoot their own "exercise edition" of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. And honestly, the adult film stars in the Valley were no less attractive than Angelina Jolie, maybe even more daring.
But that wasn't even the juiciest part. According to an anonymous crew member, the love scenes in the movie were "the real deal."
Sometimes, when the two leads were in the mood, the entire crew had to wait until they were finished before continuing with other shots.
Such sensational gossip fueled endless public imagination, drawing curious audiences into the theaters. It had to be said—it was an effective marketing tactic.
And that wasn't all. Before the film's release, Angelina Jolie had already gotten into a heated argument with Brad Pitt's ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston.
Needless to say, the conflict was over a man.
But the real purpose behind the fight was mutual benefit: Jennifer Aniston needed publicity, while Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt needed to generate buzz for their film.
In the end, both sides got what they wanted—a win-win situation.
This kind of unconventional promotional strategy actually worked quite well. But if it's used too often, it easily breeds public resentment.
.....
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