In the fourth week of its release, Batman Begins earned another $15.634 million at the box office, bringing its North American total to $184.482 million.
Overseas, during its second weekend of release, dozens more markets were added, though most were small and contributed little.
The overseas gross for the week reached $89.395 million, pushing the film's global total past the $400 million mark to $416.08 million.
By this point, Batman Begins had basically recouped its cost and even started turning a profit.
Of course, the real surprise came from the merchandise. The Batmobile replicas, with a minimum price of $100,000 each, sold more than 157 units—83 of which were in North America alone.
The rest were purchased by wealthy buyers from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Most astonishingly, because the Batmobile wasn't available for sale in mainland China, a local tycoon couldn't resist smuggling one in—only for it to be seized by customs.
The incident even made national television, becoming a bit of a humorous news story.
Just those 157 Batmobiles alone generated over $16 million in sales. Even after splitting revenue with Lamborghini, the profits were enormous.
Other merchandise, such as figurines, mechanical models, Batman suits, and co-branded watches, phones, computers, and sunglasses, together brought in an additional $135 million in revenue.
With the film's release, DC Comics' new Batman series sold more than four million copies across the United States.
This was the commercial effect of a blockbuster hit and superhero merchandise has always been extremely profitable, making the overall earnings substantial.
Warner Bros. executives were overjoyed. The film wasn't just a box office success—its merchandise sales were also excellent.
Future licensing deals and continuous merchandise income would keep the profits rolling in, fully reviving the Batman IP.
DC was equally thrilled. They had already begun planning the Justice League, intending to create a cinematic universe just like Marvel's.
At that time, however, no one was sure whether the cinematic universe model would succeed. Everyone was still testing the waters—except for Gilbert, who was full of confidence.
Even so, he wasn't entirely certain the DC Universe would succeed, since in his past life there hadn't been any particularly successful examples of it.
Besides, his version of Batman was so grounded in realism that it didn't fit well within a shared cinematic universe.
After all, Batman's abilities in the movie were greatly toned down. If Superman were to appear in The Dark Knight, it would be an instant one-sided defeat.
Therefore, DC's plan was to first reboot Superman, then gradually produce solo films for Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, and other heroes.
Once The Dark Knight trilogy concluded, they would then bring Batman into the fold to tell the Justice League story.
From a certain perspective, Gilbert had actually disrupted DC's cinematic universe plans. The success of his realistic Batman made it much harder for the character to fit naturally into the broader universe.
Still, there was no choice—the priority was to save the Batman IP.
Before Gilbert took over the Batman project, both Warner Bros. and DC had been pessimistic about the future of superhero films.
Sometimes you can't have it both ways—gaining one thing means sacrificing another.
Nevertheless, Warner Bros. remained confident. They decided to wait and see how Marvel Studios' cinematic universe would perform. After all, in the superhero genre, it was only DC and Marvel—no other competitors.
After briefly following up on Batman Begins' later performance, Gilbert shifted his focus to the preparation of The Last of Us and Iron Man.
This was Marvel Studios' first time producing a film, and understandably, they lacked experience. Therefore, Gilbert needed to keep a close eye on things.
The first major issue to address was casting.
As expected, Robert Downey Jr. made it to the final round of auditions, along with Kate Beckinsale, who had been recommended by Sheena Boone.
And for the final audition, Gilbert himself would make the call.
Before the final audition began, Marvel Studios held a press conference attended by Gilbert, director Jon Favreau, producer Kevin Feige, screenwriter Avi Arad, and Stan Lee.
The first question posed was—why choose Iron Man as the hero?
Gilbert's explanation was straightforward and practical: "Without Peter Parker and the X-Men, Tony Stark is undoubtedly one of the most popular heroes in the entire Marvel lineup.
This is a decision based on practical considerations, which led us to choose to tell the story of Iron Man."
When it came to the question of how the Iron Man movie would be created, Gilbert left the answer to the director, Jon Favreau.
Jon Favreau said, "Tony Stark is different from heroes who are mutants or possess divine powers. His abilities come from his genius mind and the advanced suit of armor he designed himself.
Frankly speaking, Tony Stark is a flawed superhero. Without going through a period of growth, he would still just be a playboy.
So the film will focus on telling the story of how Tony Stark becomes Iron Man."
A reporter then asked, "Will the movie be similar to Batman Begins? After all, both tell the origin story of a superhero."
Gilbert replied, "I guarantee it will be a completely different style of story. The thing I hate the most is endlessly repeating past experiences.
So Tony Stark won't be a heavy, brooding hero like Bruce Wayne. I promise audiences will see an optimistic and sharp-tongued superhero."
The press conference was meant to build momentum for Iron Man. Over the years, movies produced by Gilbert had consistently maintained high quality.
Whenever audiences saw Gilbert's name listed as producer, they would instinctively feel a sense of trust—many would choose to go to the theater just for that reason.
For this movie, Marvel Studios raised $140 million in funding, initially planning to invite Tom Cruise to star.
However, after Cruise expressed disinterest, the production saved a large amount of salary expenditure.
The $140 million budget had been calculated years earlier. To achieve truly outstanding special effects, that amount of investment was considered essential.
But now that special effects technology had advanced, the actual cost could be reduced somewhat.
Marvel Studios followed Gilbert's suggestion to invest the funds in stages. The first phase of $40 million was immediately deposited into a third-party insurance company's account to kick off the pre-production process.
Under Gilbert's guidance, the preparations went very smoothly. Orange Studio also took on responsibility for the film's visual effects, and the initial $40 million was more than enough to cover expenses.
A few days after the press conference ended, Iron Man held its final audition for the male lead.
Robert Downey Jr. stood nervously in front of the mirror, practicing expressions. He had performed exceptionally well in the preliminary audition, which earned him a spot in the final round.
After hearing that he had been personally selected by Gilbert, he was extremely excited.
His wife, Susan Downey, accompanied him to the audition, helping him adjust his suit.
Without an agent or even an assistant—because he couldn't afford one—Robert Downey Jr. handled everything himself. Knowing how important this day was, Susan personally came along to support him.
"All right," Susan said with a satisfied nod. "You look great. I'm sure Director Gilbert will be very pleased when he sees you."
"Really?" Robert Downey Jr. adjusted his tie a little nervously.
"Of course it's true. I looked at the audition list—aside from Nicolas Cage, none of the others are real competition for you. Relax," Susan said reassuringly.
"Yeah." Encouraged by his wife's words, Robert Downey Jr. gathered his confidence. He was determined to win the role of Tony Stark.
.....
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