Hunting in Hollywood

Due to plot considerations, "Batman: The Dark Knight" runs for 151 minutes, 13 minutes longer than its predecessor, "Batman: Beginnings" at 138 minutes.

Warner Bros.' control over film duration was already evident in the "Justice League" debacle.

However, this time, Warner had no say in the matter.

In Hollywood, any major film studio ultimately operates at the behest of its stars—if your status is high enough, the production studio will cater to your every whim.

Inside the grand hall of the Citizen's Hall of Justice.

The plot of "Batman: The Dark Knight" finally reaches its climax.

Good triumphs over evil once again.

The Batjet, carrying Two-Face, wrests a dirty bomb from Penguin's clutches, intended to destroy Gotham City, and flies it out to sea where it explodes.

The city is saved from disaster.

The people who narrowly escaped death turn their eyes to the horizon, praying for a silhouette to appear.

Then.

A black figure emerges into everyone's view.

Then.

The screen fades to black.

The credits begin to rise.

There's a murmur of whispers in the hall; everyone remains seated, anticipating the post-credits scene as per the first movie's format.

Five minutes into the credits, the screen lights up again.

It shows a chaotic crime scene at a large building. A swarm of police officers are rescuing victims and maintaining order, while firefighters spray water into the smoky building. Commissioner Gordon struggles through the busy crowd and suddenly stops, picking up a playing card from the debris.

A playing card with the Joker's emblem.

The screen fades to black again.

After the second part of the credits, the big screen shows Bruce Wayne at his usual spot in a high-end restaurant, a date setup.

Sitting opposite him is a beautiful woman with her hair elegantly updone, holding a newspaper.

Bruce Wayne appears and politely extends his hand: "Diana Prince?"

"Hello, Mr. Wayne."

As they sit down, Bruce glances at the newspaper in front of the woman, a flicker of confusion crossing his face: "The Central City Times from three months ago—I happen to know it. They say someone saw a person as fast as lightning."

Diana looks at Wayne, "So, do you believe that's true?"

Wayne doesn't answer but instead asks, "Are artists usually concerned with such superhuman incidents?"

"Of course," Diana smiles coyly, "I'm also quite interested in a certain young man who likes to dress up as a bat."

With that, the camera cuts away from Bruce's reaction, and the big screen goes completely dark.

A collective sigh of disappointment fills the hall.

The brief ten-second teaser, featuring Wonder Woman and a mention of The Flash, officially kicks off the DC movie universe.

More importantly.

It leaves everyone wanting more.

Everyone is curious about what might happen next in the brief yet spark-filled interaction between Batman and Wonder Woman, and whether this hints at the plot of the third "Batman" movie.

Despite the cliffhanger and curiosity, the hall erupts into sustained applause, marking a perfect start for the second installment of the DC movie universe.

As the screening ends and the media interaction segment begins, Simon and the others head backstage.

There's a reception party for the media and guests today, but Simon decides to skip it. He's becoming less interested in such social obligations and usually avoids them unless necessary. With executives like Amy and the main creators of the "Batman" series in charge, there's no worry about any mishaps at the after-party.

Just as he's about to head through the backstage corridor to the parking lot to leave, Lisa Collins and Jennifer catch up with him.

Lisa grabs his arm coquettishly as soon as she learns of Simon's intention to leave: "Come to the party with us, Simon. It's not easy to get a chance to see you; it'll be a long time till the next one."

Feeling Lisa's unabashed closeness, he gets the feeling that her low-cut dress might slip a bit further.

Simon glances at his female assistant, seeing a hopeful look in her eyes, and reluctantly nods.

Lisa giggles without letting go of Simon, "I'll ride with you and Jennifer."

She turns to explain to her friend: "Don't worry, I won't steal Simon from you. I have a boyfriend; I just didn't bring him tonight. Just borrowing Simon for a little while, just a little."

As they head to the more secluded VIP parking lot inside the hall, a timid voice calls out nearby.

"Simon…"

Looking in the direction of the voice, a petite girl makes her way through the crowd from another part of the parking lot.

The faint call draws attention from many others, probably embarrassing the young girl, who slightly lowers her head as the parking lot lighting isn't very bright. Simon doesn't react immediately, but Lisa blurts out,

 "Oh, you're that girl who cried at the Madonna concert."

As the girl approaches, Simon recognizes her.

Jennifer Brey.

That should be her name.

Last year, during Madonna's concert, the girl unexpectedly rushed the stage, nearly causing a riot.

Simon had calmed her down and even sang a song for her.

"Rocketman."

The single later dominated the sales charts for several weeks, even surpassing a new song Simon had written for Madonna.

But after that day, Simon hadn't seen her again.

The girl timidly calls out again as she approaches Simon, and glances at Lisa clinging to him, giving a shy smile.

Today, the girl wears a pale pink sheath dress with a ribbon tied at the waist, accentuating her slender figure and giving her an almost Barbie-like appearance.

Somehow, recalling the details from before and comparing them to now, Simon feels something odd.

The girl now gives Simon a sense of déjà vu.

Not the impression from that day on stage.

But...

Yes, refined.

That word pops into his mind, and Simon immediately thinks of Janet's smiling face.

And...

ABCD and the housekeeper leading the maid team's kind of refinement.

That kind of refinement that costs tens of thousands of dollars each year, more than their own salaries, meticulously maintained.

Western women have their advantages in appearance, but it's also true that due to genetic and physical reasons, it's usually hard to describe Western women as refined.

Maintaining such an appearance requires diligent care.

However, most Western women neither have the time nor the financial means to support this, often giving the impression that they age quickly.

Lisa Collins clearly doesn't notice Simon's thoughts.

She warmly greets Jennifer Brey and jokes, "I thought you were short last year, and it seems you haven't grown taller. But, managing to climb up on that high stage was quite impressive."

Chattering away, Lisa even invites the young girl to the after-party, but she declines.

After saying goodbye to Simon with a satisfied smile, the girl leaves quickly.

The three of them get into the car together, with Lisa still chattering away, but Simon notices his female assistant looking at him suspiciously.

Simon shrugs helplessly and whispers to his assistant, "I don't know what's going on, but it must be Janet messing around."

Jennifer, feeling a man's breath on her cheek, doesn't doubt his words and nods slightly in response.

Lisa, however, isn't pleased, "Hey, don't whisper secrets in front of me, it's rude."

Her friend glares at her, "You clinging to Simon is what's rude."

Lisa unyieldingly reaches to pinch her friend's flushed ear, threatening, "You dare to be fierce with me, Jennifer? Watch out, I might end our friendship and then steal your man."

In the parking lot, as Simon's car drives away, Jennifer Brey heads towards a sedan parked nearby.

The driver is none other than C-lady Claire Gains.

The two women had come to the premiere together tonight, of course without the treatment of walking the red carpet, just quietly entering and leaving like ordinary fans.

With 2000 people attending the premiere tonight, of course, no one paid much attention to them.

After getting into the car, the C-lady starts the vehicle and leaves the parking lot, "You'll stay in Beverly tonight; it's a house owned by the boss. The lady will meet you tomorrow morning."

"Um, Claire, will Simon be at home in the morning?"

"It's Thursday, not the weekend, the boss of course has to work."

The young girl seems a bit disappointed again.

The C-lady smiles and steers the car onto the city roads outside the hall, "Since you managed to get into Stanford on your own without the lady pulling strings, just work hard. In the future, working for the boss, you'll definitely see him every day. The lady has put a lot of effort into you, not just to cultivate a trophy wife. The boss doesn't like trophy wives; the more outstanding you are, the more likely you are to catch the boss's eye."

The girl earnestly nods, "I know."

Ultimately, it's just a small episode. After a few drinks at the after-party and immediately getting back to a busy day at work the next day, Simon unconsciously forgets to ask Janet about Jennifer Brey.

The next day is Thursday.

After the Wednesday premiere, "Batman: The Dark Knight" hits North American theaters at midnight with 3036 screens, setting another record for opening screen count.

During the media interaction following the premiere, a reporter had asked Simon about the necessity and the aggressive strategy of using over 10% of North American screen resources at once.

Keep in mind, in 1991, the total number of movie screens in North America had just barely exceeded 25,000.

Simon had not provided a detailed explanation at the time, but privately, he had thoroughly analyzed his

 strategy to Amy and other executives.

This summer season alone, Daenerys Entertainment's related films totaled eight, including four co-productions and four self-distributed movies.

Aside from that, in the same week "Batman: The Dark Knight" was released, two other films debuted under the shadow of "Batman: The Dark Knight," including a new Spike Lee film "Jungle Fever" that had just won a Best Supporting Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival, produced by Universal Studios.

With Daenerys Entertainment's release schedule becoming increasingly crowded, to avoid internal competition from films under the same company during the same season, it was necessary to quickly unlock the box office potential of blockbuster movies.

In Hollywood, let alone spending $80 million, a film spending $8 million on marketing compared to the total number of films entering theaters each year, was less than 20%. "Batman: The Dark Knight" smashing $80 million on marketing and over 3000 screens on its opening was aimed at achieving such a goal.

The $80 million marketing blitz had to show results in the shortest possible time.

Compared to previous blockbuster films, which often had a screening period of up to half a year, a comprehensive saturated release aiming to recoup most of the box office within four weeks not only frees up market potential for subsequent films but also quickly shifts the audience's attention away from this movie.

Therefore, not just for "Batman: The Dark Knight."

If Daenerys Entertainment wants to achieve Simon's planned release target of 40 films per year through Daenerys, New World, and High Gate distribution networks, and further extend its influence to major Hollywood studios like MGM, it must adopt the saturated release strategy that gradually became mainstream in the late 1990s.

With "Batman: The Dark Knight" officially hitting theaters amidst an omnipresent marketing bombardment and a wide spread of screens, a large number of North American audiences flocked to cinemas. Apart from the core fans, many ordinary viewers influenced by the phenomenal atmosphere post-release began purchasing tickets.

The keen North American media naturally did not miss such a hot news topic.

Once the film was massively released, almost every newspaper across North America was discussing various aspects of the movie, and any gossip remotely related to the film made it to important pages in the media.

Although the overall media rating of the film inevitably declined after its release, for a phenomenon-level blockbuster, the intense popularity overshadowed these concerns.

Thus, "Batman: The Dark Knight" showed a phenomenal viewing trend from the start.

Entering the 1990s, the calculation of North American box office figures became more digitized, thus more real-time and convenient.

After screenings through Thursday midnight and all day Friday, by around 1 AM on Saturday on the West Coast, the opening day box office figures for "Batman: The Dark Knight" were officially released.

And.

Unsurprisingly, it caused many who stayed up late waiting for this figure in North American media and Hollywood executives to toss and turn sleeplessly.

$23.76 million!

That was the opening day box office for "Batman: The Dark Knight."

Compared to super blockbusters many years later, $23.76 million on the first day might not seem too high.

However, $23.76 million in 1991 could be described as astonishing.

Consider this: in that era in Hollywood, films that grossed over $20 million annually in North America were only about 50 in total, merely equivalent to 10% of the total number of films entering theaters each year. "Batman: The Dark Knight" on its first day not only surpassed most blockbuster films' entire opening week box office but also exceeded the domestic total box office of over 90% of films in North American theaters annually.

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