America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 444 Crushing All Records

Following its premiere, The Dark Knight opened in 4480 theaters across North America, setting a new record for the number of theaters showing at the start of a film season in North America.

Not only Warner Bros., but the market also has great confidence in The Dark Knight.

The film is of high quality, the publicity and marketing efforts are substantial, and audiences of this era are much more tolerant than those of the decade later who were bombarded with all sorts of information.

On Thursday night, theaters showing The Dark Knight were packed with moviegoers.

Some shrewd merchants sensed a business opportunity in it.

In the bustling commercial district of North Hollywood, street painter Lisa, with her carefully prepared tools, sets up her stall near the movie theater, using a car as a makeshift prop. She has meticulously chosen a spot where she can see the Joker poster above the theater entrance as soon as she turns her head.

Lisa set up a display stand with her services and prices listed on it.

Before the display stand was even set up, two young men approached. The one with the long hair glanced at the stand, pointed towards the cinema, and asked, "Can you paint me as the clown?"

Lisa said, "Of course."

The woman with long hair sat down in the folding chair: "Come on."

Just as Lisa picked up her makeup brush, another young man said, "Me too."

Two US dollars fell into a box on the side.

Before Lisa had even finished painting the first person, another couple arrived, also going to the movie theater. The man looked at the nearly finished pale clown makeup with long hair and said, "I want to be the clown too."

"It will take a while," Lisa said.

The man glanced at his phone: "There's still some time before the midnight screening, we can wait."

Lisa quickly got back to her work, and when she looked up again, she noticed a few more people, all of whom wanted to become clowns tonight.

This is a bustling city that never sleeps; in any other place, Lisa wouldn't dare stay out this late alone.

A dozen minutes later, six or seven people were lining up to have their clowns drawn at Lisa's place.

As time went on, not only the movie theater, but even Lisa's stall was surrounded by people.

Lisa's money box was piled high with various small denominations of US dollar bills.

As the screening of The Dark Knight approached, the people surrounding Lisa disappeared almost simultaneously, as if by prior arrangement.

Lisa quickly gathered the money and various tools and put them into the car parked on the side of the road.

She planned to go back and get some rest, and then come back tomorrow. Judging from the bustling business tonight, this business could last for at least a few weeks.

The clown's oil paint was easy to apply, and the money was easy to earn.

Lisa made a fortune riding the wave of popularity. Thinking of a few friends, she took out her phone and made a call: "I've discovered a great business opportunity..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the other end interrupted, "Lisa, you know what? Tonight I made almost $300 in Burbank by painting clown makeup—the one Martin Davis plays!"

Lisa, realizing her friend wasn't stupid, laughed and said, "Me too, let's continue tomorrow!"

That night, hundreds of thousands of clowns may appear across the United States, and some street clowns are making a fortune.

In an AMG movie theater in the San Francisco Bay Area, night manager Cook, seeing that everyone had left the theater, asked the ticket seller, "Are all the tickets for all three theaters sold out?"

"The largest theaters, theaters one and two, showing The Dark Knight, are completely sold out," the ticket seller said quickly. "We've sold half the tickets for the regular theater, theater three, showing Mamma Mia!"

This weekend, in addition to the release of "The Dark Knight," there's also "Mamma Mia!" starring Meryl Streep.

Theaters 1 and 2 were packed, and Cook, feeling uneasy, gave a few instructions to the ticket counter and went to check on things himself.

He specifically checked the safety doors and emergency exits of both theaters, and found them to be unobstructed.

I went around to the front door again, and glanced into the theater corridor. Against the backdrop of the movie's blue-black tones, the theater was packed with people.

Too many people are watching the midnight showing of The Dark Knight.

Suddenly, someone sitting nearby turned off the chair, probably to go to the restroom. They were rushing and almost bumped into Cook.

Cook saw a pale face and blood-red lips, and instinctively gasped.

The sound attracted the attention of many people nearby.

There were more than a dozen pale and blood-red faces, all of them damn clowns.

Cook quickly left the theater, unable to say anything more to these crazy fans.

…………

In the Avalon bar on Sunset Boulevard, Nolan loosened his tie, raised his glass, and clinked it against Martin's: "Cheers."

Martin clinked glasses with Charles Rowan next to him: "Together."

The three grown men finished their whiskey in their glasses.

Nolan picked up the bottle and poured wine for each of the three men. He had been under immense pressure for the past two years and needed to vent: "Martin, Charles, to success!"

Charles laughed heartily: "Congratulations on our great success!"

Martin shouted, "We're going to break the North American weekend box office record!"

All the feedback from all sides was good news, so the three of them came out to celebrate and wait for more good news.

Nolan, having drunk quite a bit and released some pressure, said, "If I ever see those people who looked down on me back then, I'll ask them one question: Do you know how much The Dark Knight grossed in its opening weekend? Whether they know or not, I'll tell them an astonishing number myself."

Martin put his arm around Nolan's shoulder and said, "How about it, Chris? I told you so, didn't I? We..." He was about to say two words when he saw Charles Rowan and changed his mind: "The three of us working together seamlessly are invincible and can shock the whole world!"

Charles slammed his hand on the table: "Well said! The Dark Knight is the first time the three of us have worked together, but it certainly won't be the last!"

The three people's phones rang almost simultaneously.

Martin took it out and glanced at it. The most eye-catching number on it was: $1993 million!

Nolan laughed unrestrainedly, slamming his hands on the table almost frantically, ignoring the overturned bottles and letting the whiskey spill onto the floor.

Only those who have truly weathered the pressure of an investment of over $3 million can understand the relief he feels right now.

This is the box office for the midnight screening of The Dark Knight.

Martin's face was full of smiles; he couldn't help being happy because he had signed a contract with a guaranteed minimum plus a percentage of the film's revenue.

Nolan looked up and asked, "What was the previous record for midnight screenings?"

Martin specifically checked: "Star Wars: Episode III earned $16.9 million, we earned $3 million more than them!"

Nolan actually knew, but just wanted to confirm it one last time. He slammed his fist on the table and said, "We've taken down Star Wars!"

Charles said, "We're going to set records!"

Martin clenched his fist and roared, "We'll take down Spider-Man 3 tomorrow!"

The North American single-day box office record belongs to Peter Parker.

Charles chimed in, "Not just tomorrow, we'll surpass Spider-Man over the entire weekend!"

Martin stood up, then pulled Nolan and Charles up as well, and said, "Let's move to another spot and start the second half of the celebration."

Nolan asked in surprise, "How are we going to celebrate?"

Martin led the way, saying, "After the excitement comes fatigue. Let me take you to wash your faces to refresh yourselves."

Charles had vaguely heard of it: "The Nightclub?"

The three of them came out through the back door, got into Charles's car, and headed straight for the Nightclub.

Now, Wes Cress is getting older and rarely goes out anymore. French directors Aja and Jaume Coleman have temporarily left Hollywood, leaving only the three bastards as the truly active members of the Face Gang.

When the opportunity arises, we should recruit new talent. We don't necessarily want to be like Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio, but at least we can help each other in our careers.

Halfway there, Martin called Nicholson and said, "Jack, come out and wash your face."

But Meryl Streep's voice came through the receiver: "Who's calling so late? Don't you have any sense of public decency?"

Martin, still excited from the alcohol and the good news, immediately raised his voice: "Jack, didn't you say that going to the Metropolitan Auditorium with Meryl was the last time?"

"I mean the last time that month," Nicholson said calmly, without batting an eye. "Wait for me, I'm coming to you right away. Things are done, it's time to wash your face and clear your head."

Not long after, the four of them met at the Nightclub and began enjoying the facial cleansing service.

Nolan and Charles quickly became engrossed in it.

He even made an appointment with Martin and Nicholson to come again when he had time.

After setting a new record for midnight screenings, "The Dark Knight" opened in 4480 theaters across North America on Friday morning, with long queues forming at many theaters in commercial districts.

This is already the hottest summer movie season in North America, with strong pre-release promotion and great results, followed by rave reviews after release.

Of the nearly 100 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, almost all of them are positive, with a 98% freshness rating on its opening day, a Metacritic score of 92, and a current IMDb score of 9.6.

All of these factors combined naturally created a box office phenomenon!

After its North American opening day, The Dark Knight grossed $7287 million, breaking Spider-Man 3's record of $5984 for a single day's box office in North America.

The film's popularity and success are unstoppable.

More and more clowns appeared on the streets of various cities in North America, and most people's attention was focused on the clowns. Batman, as expected, became the clown's tool.

There are countless accolades for Martin Scorsese on major film websites and media outlets.

"Martin Martin created the first villain in film history!"

"Let's pay tribute to Martin; he brought us a classic character!"

Of course, a chorus of praise must be matched with outstanding box office results; otherwise, the praise is meaningless.

After three days over the weekend, The Dark Knight unsurprisingly surpassed Mamma Mia!, which was released in the same period, to take the top spot at the North American box office.

And the box office figures are astonishing!

The Dark Knight opened with $1.72 million, surpassing Spider-Man 3's $1.51 million and setting a new North American weekend box office record!

In the fiercely competitive North American film market, The Dark Knight became the most dazzling star!

Star Wars, Spider-Man, and pirates all became his defeated foe.

(End of this chapter)