At Sky Dance Studios, David Ellison's office was engulfed in complete silence.
If at the very beginning David Ellison had harbored even a slight hope, seeing the freshly released box office for Tron: Legacy should have made it clear.
This time, he had lost and it was an undisputed, crushing defeat.
"I tried communicating with the theaters as much as I could, but the situation isn't optimistic. Starting this week, the screenings for the film are being reduced," reported Martin Bob, his expression grim. He had anticipated failure, but not such an overwhelming one. It wasn't just that Tron: Legacy couldn't beat Inception—it didn't even hit the expected $70 million opening-weekend target.
David Ellison remained silent, and Michael Ovitz tried to console him: "David, pull yourself together. No one in the film market can succeed forever. Though we failed this time, our losses aren't huge—nothing that breaks the bones."
Mel Gibson, standing nearby, also sighed. He hadn't expected such a painful failure and wondered if, after this loss, David Ellison would still support him making films.
"What about Gilbert?" David Ellison asked.
"What?"
"Why does Gilbert stay successful? Why has he never had a failure?"
Michael Ovitz could only shrug helplessly. How should he know? Perhaps, as the public says, Gilbert is a once-in-a-century film genius.
He is the GOAT of cinema, the ruler of Hollywood, God's favored son. His success is simply natural.
If you ask Michael Ovitz why Gilbert always succeeds, he has only one answer: because his name is Gilbert.
Such a devastating failure rendered Sky Dance Studios' subsequent plans obsolete. There was really no need to try salvaging this box office.
Yet one good thing about David Ellison is his resilience.
He quickly recovered from the heavy blow and confidently announced the next phase of Sky Dance Studios' work: the release of Battleship and John Carter.
If they couldn't outsmart Gilbert, then they might as well return to the essence of commercial filmmaking—attracting audiences with large-scale action sequences.
After all, summer blockbusters always thrive on that formula. David Ellison believed these two films could succeed.
Additionally, the studio's flagship Transformers 3 and Mel Gibson's new war film were also in the pipeline.
Gilbert hadn't anticipated that after the crushing failure of Tron: Legacy, David Ellison would quickly regain his spirit and continue making big moves.
This made Gilbert respect Ellison—he really could make a name for himself.
Although Gilbert respected him, he would not go easy. The vacated screenings for Tron: Legacy were mostly claimed by Inception.
Gilbert, along with the creative team, embarked on a nationwide and global promotional tour.
The film's star, Leonardo DiCaprio, also cooperated as much as possible with the promotion. During the film's release, he was photographed dating one Victoria's Secret model one day and another the next.
These gossip headlines grabbed attention, directing focus back to the film.
Moreover, starting the following week, Inception partnered with 72 universities across the U.S. to launch a campus screening program, themed around dream philosophy, fueling public discussions about the movie.
Due to the ongoing discussions about Inception's plot, its first-weekend box office exceeded $100 million quietly, without drawing as much direct attention.
Audiences were deeply engaged in debates: Did Cobb wake up? How many layers of dreams were there? Did the mission succeed or fail? Or was it all just a dream…
Such discussions, fueled by enthusiastic viewers, created a massive online wave of conversation.
Gilbert frankly told the creative team that Inception's success was inseparable from the rapid development of the internet. The overwhelming online discussions kept the film at peak attention.
When the workweek arrived, the film continued its strong performance, earning $46.33 million over four weekdays, pushing the North American total to $167.18 million.
Starting this weekend, Inception also began releasing in 70 countries and regions worldwide.
Initially, Disney's distribution plan was for a simultaneous global release, but Gilbert vetoed it. With the internet so developed, the major markets were already connected.
Content discussed online in North America could spread via the web to Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and South America.
When Inception generated massive buzz online in North America, internet users around the world naturally took notice.
Through platforms like Watermelon Video, Banana Social, forums, and discussion boards, the film's reputation had already spread overseas.
In Tokyo, Japan, the film's release immediately triggered a screening wave.
DiCaprio remained extremely popular there thanks to Titanic, and many Japanese fans still remembered his charm.
As a result, every film he released in Japan performed well.
Combined with Gilbert's strong influence in the Japanese market and the promotional efforts of several Japanese women during each film release, Inception performed remarkably.
In its first weekend in Japan, the film earned $20.63 million, making it the single highest weekly box office outside of North America.
Another crucial market was not South Korea, but mainland China.
Following last year's Transformers 2 and Avatar, which each surpassed 1 billion RMB in box office revenue in China, the mainland Chinese market had increasingly attracted Hollywood's attention.
Even more importantly, China's film market had experienced a rapid boom, with the market size surpassing 10 billion RMB for the first time last year. With the signing of new memorandums, Hollywood's revenue-sharing ratio also reached 25 percent.
This means that for every $10 million in box office revenue, Hollywood producers could earn $2.5 million.
If the box office reached $100 million, that would amount to $25 million in revenue—a figure impressive enough to capture the attention of major Hollywood studios.
Fortunately, long before Hollywood studios fully recognized the potential of the Chinese market, Gilbert and Disney had already completed their layout for China.
When Inception entered the Chinese market, an overwhelming wave of advertising was launched to capture the attention of Chinese film fans.
For Chinese audiences, Gilbert's name alone carried immense appeal. Films personally directed by him usually achieved strong results there.
Moreover, Inception featured Chinese actors. Tony Leung played a significant role with substantial screen time.
This wasn't the type of cameo where the participation is announced but the actor merely appears briefly, or only appears in the China-exclusive version—it was a fully realized leading role.
Additionally, at the very beginning of the film on the train, there was a brief appearance by Xiao Shenyang. This comedy star had risen to fame last year during the Spring Festival Gala and then unexpectedly received an invitation to appear in Inception.
Although his screen time was very limited, less than a minute, it was still far more genuine than those celebrities who faked their involvement.
However, the heaviest acting responsibility fell to Tony Leung. Securing such a role would have been a huge career boost for any actor, yet Tony Leung remained professional and low-key.
Even after starring in a Hollywood film, he maintained a modest and understated presence.
...
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