America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 668 The Justice League is finished

The film opened in North America with $4275 million, which seems good at first glance, but compared to the $2 million production budget and over $1 million spent on marketing and promotion, it is not ideal.

Even worse, Green Lantern's reputation collapsed.

The CinemaScore, which best represents audience opinion, only gave it a B- rating from the live audience, a 22% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 5.4 rating on IMDb.

With such negative audience reviews, the film's box office dropped by as much as 70% in its second weekend, accumulating $6178 million in North American box office after ten days of release.

Even the most optimistic statistical agencies believe that it will be very difficult for "Green Lantern" to break $100 million at the North American box office.

It would take at least ten or twenty years, or even longer, for the production company to recoup its huge investment.

The failure of a single film is not terrible. For a film project of this scale, the investment would not come from just one company. Given Warner Bros.' size, the failure of a $2 million project is far from the end of the world.

But Warner Bros.' ambitious new management team was dealt a heavy blow: the DC superhero cinematic universe faced bankruptcy before it even began.

In the Warner Building, in the main conference room of the company headquarters.

Executives, including Hamada and Jon Berg, sat on either side of the long conference table. They all had unusually serious expressions and kept their mouths tightly shut.

"Where did the problem lie? In the past month or so, our film business has suffered two major setbacks." Kevin Tsujihara stood at the head of the conference table: "The film we least expected to fail, *Green Lantern*, failed."

He looked at Hamada: "The entire DC Extended Universe project will be halted because of this!"

Hamada stood up and bowed a perfect 90-degree angle: "I'm sorry! I apologize for this failure!"

Everyone else turned their attention to him, waiting for Hamada to resign voluntarily.

Hamada straightened up and bowed again at a 90-degree angle: "I'm sorry!"

The apology was very sincere, but the speaker made no mention of taking responsibility or resigning.

Kevin Tsujihara glanced at Hamada but didn't force him to resign, after all, Hamada was his confidant.

However, he is equally unlikely to abandon the DC superhero cinematic universe project, which is one of the main business projects he has been pushing since taking over Warner Bros.

Kevin Tsujihara told Hamada, "Abandon the plan to start with Green Lantern and quickly develop a new cinematic universe plan. This time we must ensure success. We don't have much time left to catch up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe."

Hamada confidently stated, "I will definitely develop a brand new plan as quickly as possible to ensure that we can catch up with Marvel."

The failure of "Green Lantern" seems to be a thing of the past, as both Kevin Tsujihara and Hamada have emphasized speed as a key element.

Kevin Tsujihara thought for a moment and then said, "Everyone is welcome to share their thoughts on the DC Extended Universe."

Many people remain silent. What would happen if their suggestions were adopted, but the film ultimately failed like "Green Lantern"?

Judging from the two commercial failures of "Owls and Gods" and "Green Lantern," it's clear that Kevin Tsujihara is very protective of his close associates. If they offer unsolicited advice, they might end up like Christian Bale, bearing the blame for the failure and being expelled by Warner Bros.

Compared to others, Daniel, who was left over from the old Warner management, is more reliable.

After thinking for a while, he said, "The successive successes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films are directly related to Disney's hiring of Kevin Feige to coordinate the production. I think the DC Universe should also hire a director or producer with a successful track record of producing superhero movies to coordinate our superhero cinematic universe."

Hamada's expression wasn't good. Didn't that mean he wasn't capable? He was indeed responsible for the failure of "Green Lantern," but he had already bowed and apologized.

Kevin Tsujihara hadn't considered that much; instead, he thought it made a lot of sense and asked, "Who do you think is suitable?"

"Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas!" Daniel recommended a heavyweight choice: "Among our current collaborators, no one is more suitable than them. They understand DC superheroes, have directed two extremely successful Batman films, and the third is currently in production..."

Once this candidate was proposed, even Hamada was unable to refute it.

Daniel added, "If we handed over the DC Extended Universe to the Nolans for unified production, would it be as successful as The Dark Knight?"

In some ways, Jon Berg and Daniels were on the same page, with Berg adding, "That's a great suggestion. Nolan has taken superhero movies to unprecedented heights."

Kevin Tsujihara nodded slowly: "Nolan is indeed very suitable. Hamada, you should talk to Nolan yourself and ask him what he thinks."

Hamada's displeasure vanished. His boss assigned him the task of contacting Nolan, making it very clear that even if Nolan joined the DC Extended Universe project, he would still have to work under his leadership.

The meeting then concluded, and Kevin Tsujihara subsequently gathered his close associates for a smaller meeting in a smaller conference room.

Nolan has worked with Warner Bros. for many years, so naturally someone leaked what happened at the meeting to him.

…………

Beverly Hills, Century City.

Bruce pulled up in front of a coffee shop in his Cadillac Escalade.

Martin got out of the car, and before his feet had even fully touched the ground, a flash of light went off beside him.

Several paparazzi were taking pictures of him.

Martin was used to this, so he pretended not to see anything, went straight into the coffee shop, observed for a moment, saw where Nolan was, and walked over.

Nolan waited until he sat down and then asked, "How was it filming the space movie?"

Martin frankly stated, "It's like being a farmer, doing nothing but shoveling soil, fertilizing, watering, and planting potatoes."

"It's good to gain more planting experience." Nolan was clearly not joking: "Don't forget, the male lead in my next movie is also a farmer."

Martin nodded: "Don't worry about growing corn, I've done it before."

In his previous life, when he planted corn, it wasn't mechanized. He had to dig holes in the middle of the wheat ridges with a hoe and manually plant the corn seeds.

Harvesting is also done manually, with the corn stalks broken off by hand, packed into cement or fertilizer woven bags, and carried to the field.

Unlike later on, when combine harvesters simply swept through and that was it.

Nolan, knowing Martin was a highly professional actor, asked, "Did you go specifically to experience life?"

Martin said, half-jokingly, "This movie needs potatoes to grow, and yours needs corn to grow, so let's do it together."

Nolan's creativity exploded, and a promotional clip automatically popped into his mind: To prepare for the role of a corn farmer, Martin Davis returned to Atlanta and spent two months working on a farm, participating in the planting of potatoes and corn...

Martin noticed Nolan suddenly lost in thought and asked, "Chris?"

Nolan snapped out of his reverie, smiled sheepishly, and changed the subject: "I just received some news and would like to hear your opinion."

This was his real purpose in inviting Martin over today: "Both you and I have worked with Warner Bros. and experienced two different Warner Bros. management teams."

Martin asked, "What news?"

Nolan stated, "After the failure of 'Green Lantern,' Warner Bros. canceled their DC superhero cinematic universe plans and wanted to invite me to be a producer and develop new plans for them."

Martin understood: "Like Kevin Feige for Marvel Studios?"

"He probably doesn't have as much power as Kevin Feige." Nolan shook his head with a smile. "The person I talked to about this wasn't Kevin Tsujihara, but Hamada from DC Films. In other words, I'll be under Hamada's management."

Martin and Nolan have always had a good relationship. Nolan is a top director whom Martin worked hard to get in touch with, so of course Martin doesn't want Nolan to get involved in DC, as that would be detrimental to Martin as well.

Nolan is a commercial director and is not opposed to superhero movies; he was somewhat tempted by Warner Bros.' invitation.

Martin considered for a moment and then asked, "Chris, I don't know if you've seen 'Green Lantern,' what did you think of the movie?"

Nolan didn't mince words with Martin, saying directly, "To call this movie a piece of shit is, in my opinion, an insult to shit."

Martin said, "Hamada was the producer of 'Green Lantern,' and he also led the post-production. This film demonstrates his skill and ability. If his priorities are higher than yours and he wants to interfere in your project..."

This is also the main reason why Nolan was tempted but hesitated.

"I also got some news that Warner Bros., the second-largest shareholder in the investment and production of 'Green Lantern,' is having six producers each edit a movie..." Martin recounted in detail what Louise had said about Jon Berg, the micromanagement master.

Even Nolan, with his vast experience, was stunned at this moment.

That Warner Bros. head truly pioneered the industry and will undoubtedly be remembered in Hollywood history.

Nolan said, "What director or producer could endure this kind of torture?"

Martin added, "The film's director, Bryan Singer, suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized."

Nolan could easily imagine that if he accepted Warner Bros.' invitation, even if they made promises or signed a contract, there would be all sorts of chaos afterward, and the internal strife alone would drive him crazy.

This is terrifying!

Nolan didn't want to be hospitalized and wanted to live a few more years, saying, "No wonder you distanced yourself from Warner Bros."

Martin shrugged. "I don't want to either, but these people... I really don't know what to say."

Nolan has made his decision: "I will turn down Warner Bros.' offer, and DC superhero movies... for me, it's all over with *The Dark Knight Rises*!"

Just as the two were talking, Blake Lively came out of her agent's small office in the nearby WMA office building, met up with her assistant who was waiting there, and prepared to go upstairs.

The assistant opened his phone and handed it to Blake: "You asked me to keep an eye on Martin's whereabouts. He's in a nearby coffee shop right now. This is a live news report from the paparazzi, posted twenty minutes ago."

Blake glanced at the photo, confirming it was indeed Martin, then took out his phone and sent a text message: "Want to chat for a bit?"

The reply came quickly: "Sure."

(End of this chapter)