Chapter 516: Rebooting Batman

It's not easy to save the Batman film series. The awful experience brought by Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin still lingers in many viewers' minds, and these memories inevitably affect their confidence in the series. As a result, when a new Batman film is released, they may choose to wait and watch or even give up entirely.

Creating a successful film series requires the effort of many people, but destroying a successful one only requires one bad movie.

If we say Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever was a commercially successful film, then after Batman & Robin, his subsequent works, including Phone Booth, performed terribly at the box office.

Strictly speaking, Duke's task at the beginning of the new series, apart from explaining Batman's origin, is to clean up the mess left by Joel Schumacher.

Duke was riding an electric scooter along the Warner Brothers lot. When he passed by the back exit of the Warner building, he stepped on the brakes and waited for about five minutes. The sound of high heels clicking approached, and Tina Fey came out of the building and got into the scooter, leaning heavily against the seat.

Starting the scooter, Duke drove toward the film studio and asked, "How did it go?"

Tina Fey took a bottle of mineral water, twisted it open, and took a sip before replying, "Warner agreed to your $140 million budget, and Nancy also finalized your personal terms—$15 million base salary plus a 20% capped box office revenue share, along with a 7.5% share of peripheral income."

This was already the top director contract in Hollywood, and Duke had no objections. He asked about the other aspect. "What about the acquisition negotiations?"

"Warner Brothers and we are still differing on price. Doug Walter has essentially agreed to our terms, but..." Tina Fey shrugged. "Time Warner has concerns about our additional clauses regarding Pixar Studios."

"Let's continue negotiating," Duke said, not in a rush.

"Warner also asked about the release date for the new Batman," Tina Fey added. "They want to know when you'll finish."

Duke thought for a moment. "If everything goes smoothly, we should be able to make it for next summer's blockbuster season."

The scooter passed a flat open-air set and stopped in front of Studio 17. Duke got off and entered the studio with Tina Fey, heading toward the temporary office area on the left.

This was the headquarters for Underworld, a film that had officially started production last weekend. The studio was busy with many people coming and going, obviously recruiting staff and selecting actors.

"Hello, Director Rosenberg."

Suddenly, a tall woman walked up and greeted Duke. He nodded at her. "Hello, Miss Beckinsale."

Duke only exchanged a greeting and didn't say much. Since their collaboration at the turn of the century, the two had drifted apart.

In Wallace Lee's report, Kate Beckinsale was the first choice for the female lead.

The British actress had gone through some turbulent years, experiencing major highs and lows. She had played the female lead in Pearl Harbor and Van Helsing released at the end of last year, but both films had mediocre responses. They even dragged her down in Michael Ovitz's eyes.

She had once fired Nancy Josephson but had returned to ICM a few months ago.

For such an important role as the female lead, director Wallace Lee didn't have much say in the matter. He suggested Kate Beckinsale, and Duke, remembering the female vampire role, didn't oppose her.

Duke went straight to the director's office, which was empty. Wallace Lee had been involved in casting and didn't return until half an hour later.

"Hi, Duke. Hi, Tina."

After greeting them, Duke immediately asked, "How's the work progressing?"

"Going smoothly so far," Wallace Lee replied seriously. "With your and Warner's full support, the hired crew members are mostly experienced, especially in firearms and action direction. They come from the teams of Joss Whedon and Jimmy Carter and will help me tackle many challenges. Once we finalize the cast, they'll be in charge of training the actors."

He then asked with concern, "Duke, do you think Kate Beckinsale is suitable?"

Duke didn't answer immediately, just looking at him.

Wallace Lee scratched his head and said, "I like her, but I promise, nothing beyond professional has happened between us…"

Raising his hand, Duke interrupted him. "Lee, you know my principles. Kate Beckinsale can be the female lead, but if you mess up this film, I'll send you to San Fernando Valley to direct movies."

"I promise!" Wallace Lee said seriously. "Duke, I understand the importance of this opportunity. I'll never take this job lightly."

Duke nodded and asked a few more questions about the film's progress before leaving.

However, he didn't leave the Warner Brothers lot. He and Tina Fey headed deeper into the studio area, where another project he was involved in had been underway for longer and was already starting actor training.

They didn't enter the studio but went directly to the nearby gym, where Zack Snyder was, of course.

What attracted more attention than Zack Snyder was the nearly forty muscular men sweating it out under the guidance of professional trainers, including Gerard Butler, whose rock-hard muscles stood out among the group.

When he saw Duke walking in, he smiled, and Duke waved back as a response.

"I had Michael Fassbender on the list for Bruce Wayne," Duke said, looking at one of the actors with a Germanic face, "but you pulled him over here instead."

"This shows I have more pulling power than you," Zack Snyder laughed.

Michael Fassbender's mentality was easy to understand. Compared to the film's male supporting role, his chances of landing the role of Bruce Wayne were slim. Plus, in Duke's mind, he was only a backup, and a very distant one at that.

"The natural shape of human muscles is something CG animation cannot provide."

Looking at the actors training, Zack Snyder turned the conversation to the film. "Their muscles must meet the film's requirements, or they'll be eliminated."

Duke nodded. Muscles were one of the film's selling points.

For female audiences, the muscle-bound soldiers in red pants would play a crucial role in attracting them to the cinema.

This was North America, and flowers-and-beauty types weren't popular. Even Orlando Bloom, who was a "flower vase," had a strong build.

As for flower boys, they were synonymous with effeminacy and were mostly associated with gay culture.

If you look at Hollywood's leading and supporting male actors, it's clear they may be decadent, quirky, exaggerated, or arrogant, but they wouldn't turn themselves into effeminate pretty boys.

"Duke, I'm not planning to shoot on location," Zack Snyder continued. "I plan to shoot entirely with green screen..."

Unlike Wallace Lee, Duke had over ten years of collaboration with Zack Snyder. He was very familiar with his abilities and style, and directly said, "As long as you don't exceed the budget or violate the principles of commercial films, you can go all out."

No director wants their film to fail.

Zack Snyder had done well in the past, and the enhanced version of Zack Snyder had already been through ample discussions with Duke. The envisioned style for the film wasn't far from the style of the Spartans in 300.

These two films were both medium-sized productions, though. Compared to what Duke was preparing for with Batman, they were much smaller projects.

As funds allocated by Warner Brothers began to arrive, the new Batman series was nearing the stage of official announcement, and Duke's team members were returning to Los Angeles from vacation spots worldwide. Hannah Selena, John Schwartzman, Charles Roven, Anna Prince, and others were quickly back in action, and Josh Williams, who had been away for some time, also returned.

"Essentially, the new Batman trilogy still belongs to the science fiction genre."

After gathering his team members for a preparation meeting, Duke said, "But it will be significantly different from traditional Batman. I want to give it a more realistic style, and the script, character designs, props, and action scenes all need to match this style."

The dark style of the film didn't need much explanation. Apart from Joel Schumacher's oddball approach, most Batman films had been in a dark style.

"In my film, Bruce Wayne is no longer a god; he's just a man," Duke continued. "He has flaws, sorrow, emotions, and will lose himself, but he will need to find himself again."

"Batman movies need redemption, and Bruce Wayne himself needs redemption!"

Ignoring other successful factors, humanizing Bruce Wayne was undoubtedly a key reason for the film's popularity.

DC Comics' main characters often seem too perfect, making them hard for the public to relate to. The failure of the Superman reboot was a prime example.

In contrast, DC's better-known characters were the villains, like the Joker and Two-Face.

The reboot of Batman was a major event for Warner Brothers, and they, of course, prepared for a grand press conference.