America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

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After the premiere, "The Dark Knight" opened in 4,480 theaters across North America, setting a new record for the most theaters for an opening in the North American film market.

It wasn't just Warner Bros. that was confident in "The Dark Knight", the market was full of faith as well.

The quality of the film was solid, the marketing efforts were substantial, and the audience of that era was much more resilient compared to those bombarded by complex information a decade later.

On Thursday night, cinemas showing "The Dark Knight" were flooded with throngs of movie fans.

Some astute vendors smelled a business opportunity in the making.

In the bustling commercial district of North Hollywood, street artist Lisa, equipped with her meticulously prepared tools, set up shop near the cinema right by a parked car, choosing a spot where she could easily glance at the Joker poster above the cinema's entrance.

Lisa erected a display stand that listed her services and prices.

The stand had barely been set up when two young people approached. The one with long hair glanced at the stand and asked, pointing towards the cinema, "Can you make me look like the Joker?"
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Lisa responded, "Of course."

The long-haired individual took a seat on the folding chair, "Go ahead."

As Lisa picked up a makeup pencil, the other young person added, "Me too."

Two US dollars fell into the box beside them.

Lisa hadn't finished with the first person when a couple also heading to the cinema arrived. The man took a look at the nearly completed ghastly Joker makeup on the long-haired person and said, "I want to be the Joker too."

"You'll need to wait a while," Lisa said.

The man glanced at his phone, "There's still some time before the midnight screening, we can wait."

Lisa hurried with the work at hand, and when she looked up again, she found several more people had joined the queue, all wanting to turn into the Joker that night.

It was only because this place was a bustling city that never sleeps that Lisa dared to stay out so late by herself.

After about fifteen minutes, six or seven people were lined up at Lisa's stand to get the Joker makeup.

As time passed, not just the cinema, but even the area in front of Lisa's stand was packed with people.

The box Lisa used for collecting money was filled with various small denomination US dollar bills.

As the screening time for "The Dark Knight" approached, the crowd surrounding Lisa disappeared almost simultaneously, as if they had agreed to do so beforehand.

Lisa quickly packed away her money and tools and placed them into her car parked by the roadside.

She planned to go home early to rest, preparing to come back here tomorrow. Judging by the fervor of tonight, this business could last for weeks.

The Joker face paint was easy to do, and the money was easily earned.

Lisa, having made a tidy sum by riding the wave of popularity, thought of a few friends and took out her phone to make a call, "I've found a great business opportunity…"

Before she could finish, the person on the other end interjected, "Lisa, do you know? Tonight, in Burbank, just by painting Joker faces like the one played by Martin Davis, I earned nearly 300 dollars!"

Lisa realized her friend was pretty clever and laughed, "Me too, let's continue tomorrow!"

That night, there might have been tens of thousands of Jokers roaming all over America, with some street artists-making money hand over fist.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, at an AMG Cinema, the night shift manager Cook, seeing that everyone in the auditoriums had left, asked the ticket seller, "Were all the tickets for the three auditoriums sold out?"

"The tickets for the two biggest auditoriums, number one and two, showing 'The Dark Knight', are all sold out," the ticket seller replied promptly. "Half of the tickets for the third regular auditorium showing 'Mamma Mia!' have been sold."

This weekend, it wasn't just "The Dark Knight" that premiered, but also "Mamma Mia!" starring Meryl Streep.

With the number one and two auditoriums packed to capacity, Cook, somewhat uneasy, gave a few instructions to the ticket booth and personally went to check.

He specifically inspected the emergency doors and corridors of the two auditoriums, making sure they were unobstructed.

Then he wended his way to the front entrance and peered into the auditorium through the corridor, seeing a sea of heads under the bluish-black hues of the film.

Too many people had come for "The Dark Knight" midnight show.

Suddenly, someone from a nearby seat scurried down, probably heading to the restroom in a rush, nearly colliding with Cook head-on.

Cook saw a ghastly white face with a blood-red mouth and let out an involuntary gasp.

This sound made many people around him look over.

Eerily, there were more than a dozen ghastly, blood-red faces, all damn Jokers.

Cook quickly left the auditorium, unable to engage with these crazy fans.

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In the Avalon Bar on Sunset Boulevard, Nolan loosened his tie, raised his glass, and toasted with Martin, "Cheers."

Martin then clinked glasses with Charles Roven beside him, "Together."

The three men emptied their glasses of whiskey in one go.

Nolan, taking the initiative, picked up the bottle and poured for the trio. Having endured immense pressure over the past two years, he needed to vent, "To Martin, to Charles, to success!"

Charles laughed heartily, "To our tremendous success!"

Martin declared loudly, "We're going to break the North American weekend box office record!"

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All the feedback coming in was positive, so the three specially went out to celebrate, while waiting for even more good news.

Nolan had drunk quite a bit, and with the release of pressure, he said, "The next time I see someone who looked down on me back then, I'll ask them one question, 'Do you know how much The Dark Knight made in its opening weekend?' Regardless of whether they know or not, I will personally tell them an astonishing figure."

Martin put an arm around Nolan's shoulder and said, "How about that, Chris, was I wrong? We..." He was about to say 'two' but seeing Charles Roven, he changed to, "The three of us closely cooperating, bound for success, can shock the whole world!"

Charles slapped the table, "Well said, The Dark Knight is our first collaboration, but certainly not the last!"

At the same time, all three of their phones rang.

Martin pulled his out and looked, the most conspicuous number on it was: 19.93 million US dollars!

Nolan laughed unrestrainedly, clapping his hands on the table almost madly, not even caring as the bottle fell over, letting the whiskey spill onto the floor.

Only someone who had truly borne the pressure of over 300 million US dollars in investment understood the sense of relief he felt right now.

This was The Dark Knight's midnight box office.

Martin's face was also all smiles, he simply couldn't help feeling happy because he had signed a guaranteed minimum plus a share of the profit for his salary.

Nolan lifted his head and asked, "What was the previous record for a midnight showing?"

Martin had specifically looked it up, "The Star Wars Prequels 3 with 16.9 million US dollars, we beat them by 3 million US dollars!"

Nolan actually knew, he just wanted to confirm again, pounding the table hard he said, "We've brought down Star Wars!"

Charles said, "We are here to break records!"

Martin swung his fist energetically, roaring loudly, "And tomorrow we'll bring down 'Spider-Man 3'."

North America's single-day box office record belonged to Peter Parker.

Charles took up the conversation, "Not just tomorrow, but over the weekend as well, we will surpass Spider-Man!"

Martin stood up, and pulled Nolan and Charles to their feet, saying, "Change of place, let's continue the second half of the celebration."

Nolan was surprised, "How should we celebrate?"

Martin led the way forward, "You'll be tired after the excitement, I'm taking you to get your faces washed, to wake up and refresh your minds."

Charles had vaguely heard about it, "Night Color Club?"

The three of them exited through the back door, got into Charles' car, and headed straight for the Night Color Club.

Nowadays, Wes Craven was gradually aging and rarely went out, Aga and Zomi, the two French directors, were temporarily away from Hollywood, and the only truly active member of the Face Gang was the Trio of Scoundrels.

When the opportunity was right, they should also recruit and invite new talents, not necessarily like Nicholson and Leonardo, but at least to form mutual aid in their careers.

Midway, Martin made a call to Nicholson, saying, "Jack, time to wash your face."

Instead, Meryl Streep's voice came from the receiver, "Who is calling at this hour? Have you no public decency?"

Martin had been drinking, and the good news had him excited, he immediately raised his voice, "Jack, didn't you say METGALA was the last time with Meryl?"

"I meant the last time of that month," Nicholson replied without a hint of embarrassment: "Wait for me, I'll come to you right away. Done with what needs to be done, it's time to wash my face and sober up."

It wasn't long before the four met at the Night Color Club, enjoying the face wash service.

Nolan and Charles quickly lost themselves in it.

They even made a plan with Martin and Nicholson to come again when they had time.

After setting a new midnight show box office record, "The Dark Knight" fully landed in 4480 North American theaters on Friday morning, with many commercial district cinemas experiencing queues for ticket purchases.

Already the hottest summer slot in the North American film market, with strong promotional effects before screening and sky-rocketing word of mouth after, the box office results sizzled.

With nearly a hundred film reviews collected on Rotten Tomatoes, the film enjoyed almost unanimous praise, 98% freshness on its opening day, a Metacritic score of 92, and an IMDB rating of a temporary 9.6.

All these factors combined naturally created a box office legend!

After its premiere in North America, "The Dark Knight" posted 72.87 million US dollars, smashing the 59.84 million US dollar record for North America's single-day box office previously held by "Spider-Man 3."

The film's popularity and success were unstoppable.

More and more Jokers appeared on the streets of cities across North America, with most people's attention focused entirely on the Joker, and Batman became the tool as predicted.

On major film websites and media, the praise for Martin were too numerous to count.

"Martin created the greatest villain in cinema history!"

"Salute to Martin, he brought us a classic character!"

High praise surely called for extraordinary box office returns, otherwise the acclaim was meaningless.

Over the weekend, The Dark Knight unsurprisingly surpassed Mamma Mia!, sitting on the throne of North America's box office champion.

And the box office was an astonishing figure!

With 172 million US dollars in its opening weekend, The Dark Knight surpassed "Spider-Man 3"'s 151 million US dollars, setting a new record for North American weekend box office!

In the fiercely competitive North American film market, The Dark Knight became the brightest gem!

Star Wars, Spider-Man, and Pirates all became the vanquished.