This year's strongest film at the box office was, without a doubt, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, produced by Melon Film Studio and distributed by Warner Bros. and Disney.
The film's North American box office had easily reached $383 million, racing toward the $400 million mark. With no other competitive films in its way, Dead Man's Chest had essentially locked in the title of North America's annual box office champion.
Of course, not only that.
With a global box office of $1.0739 billion, it also secured the throne as the worldwide annual box office champion. More importantly, the film was still in theaters and continued to generate revenue.
The second-best performer was Transformers, produced by Sky Dance Studios and distributed by MGM–UA.
The film reached $338.55 million in North America and $965.42 million worldwide. Although it was still screening in a few areas, it had already finished its run in most major markets.
Failing to break the billion-dollar mark was a pity.
However, Gilbert felt the results were already extremely impressive. In his previous life, the film was produced by DreamWorks and only grossed $700 million worldwide.
Now it had climbed to $960 million, and Sky Dance Studios had made a massive profit.
Even more importantly, during the peak of the movie's release, Transformers generated $578 million in merchandise sales, a number still rapidly increasing.
Compared to box office revenue, merchandise was the true profit center.
The success of Transformers proved David Ellison's competence as a producer—after years of honing his skills, he had become truly outstanding.
The third-strongest film was Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Disney.
It earned $310.19 million in North America and $884.72 million worldwide. This was an even better performance than in Gilbert's previous life, giving Marvel Studios an excellent start.
Marvel's films Captain America, Hulk, and others were already in production. Thor and Iron Man 2 had also entered development.
Scarlett appeared in all of these films, essentially connecting the narrative threads of Marvel's first cinematic phase.
Before Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, and other female heroes appeared, she could be considered the only "flower" of the Avengers.
The strong performance of Iron Man pushed the superhero film wave forward once again. Spider-Man 3 was scheduled for release next year, and the X-Men series would continue as well.
Over at Warner Bros., the studio had previously followed Gilbert's advice and held off on expanding DC's other superheroes.
But perhaps influenced by recent rumors about suppressing Gilbert, Warner stopped listening to him and immediately began developing a new Superman film.
Originally, Warner approached Christopher Nolan, but he was busy with District 9, so the studio hired J.J. Abrams to direct instead, with a budget of $120 million.
Although Gilbert was a shareholder, the current climate was tense, so he did not object.
In fact, Gilbert hoped the movie would lose money. Only a loss could prove that ignoring his advice would lead to consequences.
Still, Warner was considerate enough to leave the next two Batman sequels to Gilbert. After all, his work on the previous film had been excellent, and replacing him would've been risky.
Studios without superhero rights could only watch from the sidelines. Some insiders were even hoping that once Gilbert fell, they could carve up Marvel Studios for themselves.
But just as Gilbert didn't expect to win everything in one stroke, those hoping for his downfall wouldn't get their wish within a few years. They certainly couldn't expect Gilbert to sit still and wait for death.
The fourth most successful film of the year was Cars. Its North American box office was lower than The Last of Us, earning $252 million, and its worldwide total was only $461 million.
However, its merchandise performance far outshined The Last of Us, making it more commercially successful overall.
Other major hits like X-Men: The Last Stand, The Da Vinci Code, and Mission: Impossible III all performed extremely well, collectively creating one of the most prosperous summer seasons in history.
With so many blockbusters, this year's summer season became the strongest ever, widely hailed by the media as "the greatest summer movie season."
The overall market grew by around 20% compared to last year—a tremendous leap.
Combined with the massive success of worldwide distribution, some optimistic media outlets were boldly proclaiming Hollywood had entered another "golden age."
That weekend, Martin Scorsese's new film The Departed premiered, and Gilbert took time to return to Los Angeles for the event.
Hollywood appeared calm on the surface, but under the water, powerful currents surged—countless deals being made in secret.
Gilbert received an enthusiastic welcome from Martin Scorsese, who told him, "If not for your father back then, I might never have entered Hollywood as a director.
How has your father been doing lately?"
"He's doing very well. He's been living long-term in China recently, working over there as a visiting professor," Gilbert replied.
"That's good," Martin Scorsese said with a smile. "That old guy has always had a sharp sense for danger. With him gone, you have fewer scruples."
Gilbert also smiled. "Yeah. I heard that the moment things started, he left immediately."
Martin Scorsese patted Gilbert on the shoulder. "No matter what happens, protecting yourself is what matters most."
"Thank you…"
After chatting with Martin Scorsese, Gilbert went to talk with Leo and Matt Damon. Both of them had also heard some rumors lately, but they didn't know exactly what was going on.
Gilbert said, "Don't dig around. Knowing too much isn't good for you."
"All right," Leo said, patting his chest. "Buddy, you know I've always supported you. If you ever need help, just tell me."
Matt Damon added, "Same here…"
Gilbert laughed. "Relax, guys. I won't put you in a difficult position. We'll keep making movies and working together like normal. Nothing will be affected."
Both of them sighed in relief. "We knew you'd handle it."
If he compared things to the list from his previous life, Leo seemed to have been on the list as well. Since he enjoyed attending various parties, it was hard to guarantee he wouldn't cross paths with certain people.
But a person's path can change. The Leo of his previous life wasn't born that way from the start. According to everything Gilbert knew, the current Leo had only been involved with Madonna for a while.
And that incident had actually been Leo shielding him, taking the hit for his good brother—real brotherhood level.
Of course, as Leo himself put it, Madonna's "skills" were impressive, so overall it had been quite enjoyable.
During a previous conversation with Tom Cruise, the Cruise couple had also explicitly expressed their support. Perhaps it was because the two families had always been closely connected.
As for the other actors, aside from those connected with the Italian group and those with squid ancestry, their attitudes were not very clear.
Naturally, these were things only top-tier actors would ever hear about. Actors lower on the ladder had no idea Gilbert was being targeted. They still regarded him as one of Hollywood's best directors and dreamed of working with him.
The Departed was a remake of the Hong Kong crime film Infernal Affairs. Unlike the Hong Kong original, Martin Scorsese made extensive localized adaptations.
For example, Leo and Matt Damon used a lot of profanity in the film, and Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the mob boss was practically demonic—truly frightening.
Overall, the adaptation was highly successful. It was clear old Martin felt confident and was once again aiming for the Oscars.
The film earned $26.37 million in its opening weekend—not outstanding, but Scorsese's films had always performed like this at the box office: steady and risk-free.
This was also the biggest reason why, despite repeatedly missing out on awards, Scorsese continued to receive investments and opportunities to make new films.
In Hollywood, commercial performance determines everything. As long as the numbers are strong, even if a director never wins awards, they will never lack work.
On the other hand, if someone wins awards but performs poorly commercially, they still won't get many opportunities.
...
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