On the third weekend of Iron Man's North American release, a film Duke remembered finally premiered Charlotte's Web, produced by Paramount Pictures and voiced by Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts, who had just given birth to twins.
The film, adapted from the great American writer E. B. White's classic Charlotte's Web, is a story about friendship and hardship.
This was clearly a film targeted at audiences under seventeen, with a significant overlap with Iron Man's target demographic.
There's no doubt that Iron Man leans toward a lighthearted tone, and its PG-13 rating ensures that teenagers can enter theaters without obstacles.
Charlotte's Web received excellent word-of-mouth from viewers. Julia Roberts lent her voice, and the film starred the much-beloved child actress Dakota Fanning, yet none of this was enough to guarantee it would outperform Iron Man.
This film, with a production budget of up to $85 million, launched in 3,566 theaters across North America. In its first three days, it failed to meet the distributor's expectations of a minimum $25 million opening, grossing only $11.12 million, far below Paramount's projections.
In contrast, Iron Man, already in its third weekend, had far more impressive numbers.
Its weekend box office only dropped 40% from the previous weekend, earning $35.1 million over three days, easily achieving the top spot in the North American box office for the third consecutive week.
Adding the $17.26 million from the previous four weekdays, Iron Man's cumulative North American box office reached $295.35 million. Breaking the $300 million mark was just around the corner.
Meanwhile, the film was opening in more overseas markets. Although Iron Man's performance overseas wasn't as strong as it was in North America mainly due to Tony Stark's lesser global recognition after two weekends abroad, its overseas box office had already totaled $175.6 million.
By the time Iron Man had been in North American theaters for three weeks, its global box office had reached an impressive $470.95 million!
Even without factoring in that the film's theatrical run was far from over, just this figure alone was enough to push Marvel Studios to launch its subsequent projects.
It's well known that box office revenue is only a part of Hollywood films' total earnings. For superhero movies in particular, the box office represents an even smaller portion. Iron Man had so many profit points that box office was just one piece. For example, the Iron Man comics, fueled by the movie's popularity and attention, sold millions of copies in May alone, generating nearly $20 million in revenue.
As for action figures, dolls, stationery, and other traditional merchandise, the sales were equally astounding. According to available statistics, in North America alone, the sales revenue from all kinds of merchandise easily exceeded $100 million. Across the U.S., you could spot fans and comic readers wearing Iron Man masks everywhere.
With the start of a new week, Iron Man's weekday box office began to decline significantly. On Monday, it reported just $3.85 million, and by Tuesday, the film's North American box office finally surpassed the $300 million mark.
This also made it the first film of 2006 to exceed $300 million in North American box office revenue.
After Taken and Batman Begins, which had both plateaued at $200 million+, Duke once again returned to the $300 million club.
However, this was the summer movie season. Though most films had steered clear of Duke and Iron Man, that didn't mean the movie could stay hot indefinitely.
The film's popcorn appeal was one factor; another was the strong new releases arriving over the weekend.
Produced and distributed by Sony Columbia Pictures, directed by Ron Howard, and starring Tom Hanks, the film adaptation of the once-controversial and sensational novel The Da Vinci Code was about to hit theaters. Its North American release was official.
Duke also accepted an invitation from Tom Hanks to attend the film's North American premiere in Los Angeles.
"Hi, Tom."
Walking up to the premiere theater, Duke hugged Tom Hanks, who had come to greet him, and deliberately joked, "You look fatter than in the film."
"Can't help it," Tom Hanks said with a bit of helplessness. "I'm at the age where it's easy to gain weight."
In recent years, Tom Hanks had been transitioning behind the scenes. He invested in and produced Band of Brothers, and his film company had successes like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a low-budget blockbuster. Both his career and life were going extremely well. A relaxed mind naturally leads to a heavier body.
After greeting Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, a tall young woman walked over. "Hi, Duke. Long time no see."
"Hello, Dallas," Duke said, lightly shaking the hand she extended.
This woman had natural red hair, emerald green eyes, and a delicate face that bore a hint of Monaco's Princess Grace Kelly's elegance.
Though they weren't particularly familiar, they had met at many events, so Duke chatted with her a bit.
"I just finished filming Spider-Man 3," she said.
Duke asked with interest, "Which character did you play?"
"Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's first love in the comics." She shrugged. "But Sam Raimi told me he's planning to exit the series, so my character probably won't continue. Looks like I'm about to be unemployed."
"Will you ever lack roles, Dallas?" Duke shook his head with a smile.
If Ron Howard's daughter lacked roles, then Hollywood wouldn't be Hollywood.
This woman's name was Bryce Howard. She was born into a true showbiz family—her father was Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, her mother was an actress, and her uncle was the legendary Clint Eastwood!
Although she wasn't well-known yet, Duke knew very well that her look was appealing to American audiences, her acting wasn't bad, and with family and other resources backing her, it wouldn't take long for Bryce Howard to break into Hollywood's A-list.
In fact, she wouldn't even have to try too hard.
Of course, she was also a very clever woman. The fact that she always accompanied her father, Ron Howard, and stayed close to Duke made that quite clear.
Duke also remembered that after Jurassic World became a big hit, a conversation between her and producer Spielberg once circulated. In a teasing tone and as a junior, she revealed another side of Spielberg—"If Jurassic World becomes a hit, it's because you have a great eye. But if it flops, you're still the infallible master, while the director disappears from the face of the earth."
As the buzz around Iron Man gradually faded, the competitive relationship between the two films wasn't very obvious. Duke had read the original novel but had never watched the film by Tom Hanks, which was poorly received by both critics and audiences. After sitting in the theater and chatting briefly with Bryce Howard, he turned his attention to the big screen as the film began.
The Da Vinci Code is written by American author Dan Brown. With 7.5 million copies sold, it broke the U.S. novel sales record. Global cumulative sales have exceeded 65 million copies. It topped The New York Times Best Seller list for 76 weeks, was translated into 42 languages, and became the best-selling American novel in history, with sales even rivaling the hugely popular British Harry Potter series.
All of this was enough to guarantee the film would have plenty of attention and an audience base.
In fact, Ron Howard's film largely followed the original novel.
Just like the book, the movie provided "subversive" interpretations of Da Vinci's artworks such as Mona Lisa, Da Vinci's Self-Portrait, and The Last Supper.
First, through the characters' lines, the gender of the person in Mona Lisa was questioned, then it was pointed out that Mona Lisa was actually Da Vinci himself, and the portrait in Da Vinci's Self-Portrait was in fact "androgynous."
These two paintings were no longer standalone pieces, but interconnected entities with reciprocal symbolic meanings. The most interesting part was the commentary on The Last Supper. Not only did it claim that the traditionally believed thirteen men in the painting were actually twelve men and one woman, but it also redefined Jesus—long worshiped as a divine, unearthly figure—reducing him from "God" to a mere "man," and claimed that he got married and had descendants.
And Jesus's wife was Mary Magdalene, the woman he saved.
These seemingly well-grounded interpretations were undoubtedly a challenge, distortion, and subversion of history and traditional culture, and to some extent, they played a role in "confusing the audience."
Naturally, works like this triggered massive controversy.
They drew fierce criticism from Catholic and other Christian groups, historians, art historians, and many viewers. Some even claimed that Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code distorted—and at times even fabricated—history.
However, controversy is often not a bad thing for a movie. In fact, controversy can represent appeal.
Just like Duke said, being talked about is always better than being ignored.
The Da Vinci Code sparked controversy and provoked harsh backlash from many religious conservatives. But the original author and film producers were smart enough to ensure that the controversy never crossed mainstream boundaries. With clever publicity, it easily attracted a significant number of people to the theater.
Especially since the original novel sold in huge numbers, the box office was more or less guaranteed.
In fact, saying that Christ was not a god but a man wasn't invented by The Da Vinci Code. Ever since humanity entered the scientific age, people had begun to break away from divine myths and pursue a more human-centered truth. If one day Christ were truly stripped of his divine status, it wouldn't be a surprising outcome.
There's really no need to argue how much of The Da Vinci Code is factual. From the author to the filmmakers, the use of such content to stir up debate was clearly a means of gaining attention.
On the North American box office chart that followed, The Da Vinci Code ended Iron Man's streak at number one, further proving that controversy can indeed bring profits.
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