A black Rolls-Royce drove into the small town of Valencia. Duke glanced into the rearview mirror and saw that quite a few paparazzi were tailing them. In this day and age, a director like him wanting to hide behind the scene well, that was pure wishful thinking.
The car stopped in front of a leukemia recovery center. Duke and Scarlett got out of the car, each carrying a gift box and flowers. Under the guidance of the staff, they headed toward the inpatient ward.
As they entered a small white building, Panny Kallis, who had arrived earlier, came over to greet them.
While walking toward the ward, Duke asked in a low voice, "How is it?"
"Don't worry," Panny Kallis also lowered her voice. "He and his family were very excited when they found out you were coming."
Duke nodded and said nothing more. Following behind Panny Kallis, he walked into a hospital room.
The room wasn't very large. There was only one hospital bed, on which sat a little boy of about eight years old. He was accompanied by a middle-aged couple who were presumably his parents. When they saw Duke walk in, they looked a bit overwhelmed, almost as if they couldn't believe what was happening.
"Duke, this is Alex Bosch. This is his father, Johnny Bosch, and his mother, Dana Bosch."
Perhaps Panny Kallis had done plenty of groundwork beforehand there was no overly dramatic scene. After her introduction, Duke and Scarlett shook hands with the family of three.
"Director Rosenberg, thank you so much…"
Johnny Bosch was still a bit emotional. After all, meeting the director of the Batman series was one of his son's biggest wishes.
"You're very welcome." Duke smiled as he sat down in the chair next to the bed. "After I heard about Alex, I felt I had to do something for him."
As he spoke, he turned to the boy on the bed. "Hi there, Alex."
"Hi, Director Rosenberg." He looked shyly at Scarlett. "Miss Agent, um… can I give you a hug?"
Scarlett couldn't help but laugh. Dealing with situations like this was second nature to her. She placed the flowers on the bedside table and gave the little guy a gentle hug.
Once Scarlett sat beside him, Duke picked up the gift box and handed it to the boy.
Taking the box, the little boy named Alex scratched his cheek bashfully and asked, "Can I open it?"
"Of course." Duke gave him a small nod. "It belongs to you now."
With help from his mother, Alex unwrapped the gift box. When he saw the black figure inside, he shouted with joy, "Wow, is this the latest Batman figure?"
He pulled the gift from the box—it was a figure of Batman riding a really cool motorcycle.
"Do you like it?"
Hearing Duke's question, Alex nodded vigorously. "This is the best gift I've received this year. Thank you, Rosenberg…"
"Call me Duke," Duke reminded him.
"Okay!" The little boy nodded again. "Thank you, Duke."
"I heard you really like Batman?" Duke asked again.
"Yeah, ever since I got sick, I haven't been able to do much. I just lie in the hospital every day." Alex's mood seemed to dip a little. "Batman comics, cartoons, and movies are my favorite things. It's like Batman's been with me the whole time."
Duke couldn't stay too long, so he asked again, "I heard you've always wanted to be Batman?"
Alex blinked. "Actually, I already have been. In the hospital, I am Batman. Mom is Selina Kyle, and Dad is the bad guy…"
Everyone in the room burst out laughing.
After the laughter subsided, Scarlett revealed the warmth of a woman and spoke on Duke's behalf. "We're planning to hold a Batman parade and want to invite you to join us. Would you like to go?"
Without hesitation, Alex said, "Of course…"
But after speaking, he looked at his parents. Seeing the Bosches nod, he smiled happily.
After that, Duke asked about Alex's condition and recent progress, then spoke a few words with the staff at the recovery center before leaving.
This was the candidate selected by Duke's studio. Eight-year-old Alex lived in the small town of Valencia near Los Angeles. He had been diagnosed with leukemia at the age of two and was currently in recovery after treatment.
He had a wish—to be a Batman-style hero.
This wish fit perfectly with the promotional campaign Duke and Warner Bros. were planning.
Duke's Duke Foundation and Warner Bros.' publicity department would be responsible for making his dream come true.
After Duke visited Alex Bosch at the recovery center, the so-called charity campaign to help seriously ill children fulfill their dreams quickly went into motion.
First, Warner Bros. launched an online call to recruit volunteers to participate in the dream-fulfilling event. Originally, they planned for around a thousand people, but due to the recent Heath Ledger incident, anything related to Batman was attracting enormous attention. In just three days, nearly 40,000 people signed up, many of them from the East Coast.
These equally passionate Batman fans were even willing to pay their own way to Los Angeles to take part in the dream-fulfilling event.
At the same time, Duke and Warner Bros. both received phone calls from Chicago City Hall. The other party wanted the event to be held in Chicago instead. But considering Alex's health and the enthusiastic cooperation from Los Angeles City Hall for an event under the banner of charity, the final venue remained Los Angeles.
With the venue and necessary personnel support secured, the next step was preparing the corresponding equipment and roles.
Christian Bale would personally drive a Batmobile and act alongside Alex Bosch. As Catwoman, another one of Alex's favorites, Selina Kyle would also not be absent Scarlett Johansson would make a special guest appearance.
In addition, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which had always maintained a good relationship with Duke, planned to participate as well. Not only would all the police officers and equipment used in the event come from the department, but the Sheriff himself would also make a cameo appearance as the Mayor of Gotham City.
In this land where common sense often does not apply, this activity which utilized a large number of public resources not only faced no questioning, but received unanimous public support. Even the Bush couple, far away in Washington, mentioned this charity event for a seriously ill child during an interview and sent their encouragement to Alex Bosch.
In a short video clip shared instantly, George Walker Bush said, "You can do it, Alex! Go save Gotham City."
This so-called charity event unsurprisingly became the focus of national attention, and Batman became the most talked-about topic of this time.
"Lead actor 'Batboy' is played by eight-year-old Alex Bosch. The second male lead 'Batman' is played by real-life Batman actor Christian Bale. The lead female 'Catwoman' is played by Scarlett Johansson. Batman's 'sidekick' Robin is played by Alex Bosch's father. The Mayor of Gotham City is played by the Sheriff of Los Angeles County. Police officers, prosecutors, and FBI agents are all portrayed by real people…"
In the conference room, looking at the just-arrived cast list, David Ellison wore a grave expression. He looked at the executives of Sky Film Studio and questioned, "Look at how Duke Rosenberg is handling the marketing. What have you all been doing?"
Everyone remained silent. No one spoke.
They all understood very clearly that, as two competing films, The Dark Knight had already taken an absolute lead in the pre-release phase through its diverse and creative marketing strategies.
A while ago, they had conducted a survey. Among 100 randomly selected people, nearly everyone knew that The Dark Knight was about to be released, and over half said they would go to the theater to see it.
Less than half even knew that I Am Legend would be released the following week, and only one-quarter expressed interest in seeing it in theaters.
Finally, one executive spoke up, "Duke Rosenberg has too many tricks up his sleeve when it comes to promotion. It's said this charity event was his idea too."
Heath Ledger's publicity was something out of their control. After all, for the sake of promotion, they couldn't just go and kill Will Smith, right?
David Ellison sat back down in his chair. "Don't we have any newsworthy stunts we can use?"
An executive thought for a moment, then said seriously, "Will Smith's popularity is something we can leverage. I suggest we talk to his agent and arrange for him to go on a few public dates with the film's leading lady, Salli Richardson. Leak rumors that his marriage is on the rocks. That should attract a lot of attention."
After a brief consideration, David Ellison said, "You take care of it."
Then he asked, "What about the theater side? How are Disney and the North American Theater Alliance negotiations going? Can we guarantee 4,000 opening theaters?"
"4,000 is very difficult," another executive replied. "Theater chains have said that 3,600 is the minimum baseline. The number of theaters and the screening rate will depend on the market response to The Dark Knight in its opening week."
"Step up the PR efforts," David Ellison stood up. "I want higher theater counts and more screenings."
Even with David Ellison's arrogance and pride, this time he felt immense pressure. The Dark Knight's pre-release promotional momentum was simply too strong like a tidal wave threatening to drown out all other summer releases.
He finally saw it clearly. Duke Rosenberg might not be a professional marketing expert, but he always managed to come up with appropriate and actionable ideas that made his films effortlessly become the center of attention across the country.
Last year's Iron Man was like that. This year's The Dark Knight had taken things even further.
A film's success isn't just about production publicity and marketing are even more critical.
David Ellison had no trouble drawing this conclusion.
He saw clearly that the so-called Dream-Come-True charity event was scheduled for April 25, and on April 26, The Dark Knight would begin its ticket pre-sales!
....
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