Chapter 62: Coming Soon
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Batman Begins was screened smoothly in American theaters.
Qiu Ren had no idea how many games Ocean Dream Media was playing with the theater operators in the United States as the overseas publisher during this period.
“Have the first-day results at the United States box office come out?”
“Our company is still checking the data. I think they’ll send it to us very soon.”
In Qiu Ren’s core dream, the production team of the cinema version of Batman Begins was discussing various matters with him after the movie was released.
While filming Batman, Qiu Ren’s core dream was used as the meeting room for the production team from Ocean Dream Media to discuss the production of the cinema version.
For this, Qiu Ren even used the Level B Dream Seed he had to expand the area of his core dream.
It went from a ruin to a shed and a villa dedicated to movie productions.
The production team always stayed inside the studio while they were filming the movie. Qiu Ren also advised them not to go to the villa area next to them out of curiosity.
The production team from Ocean Dream Media didn’t ask why. They helped Qiu Ren control every detail in the Batman Trilogy in a fully professional manner.
Qiu Ren was a total amateur in movie production. In fact, he was just a mascot most of the time when he sat in the shed. For the rest of the time, he answered some questions of the crew.
When the filming officially started, Qiu Ren brought the filming crew to Gotham City again.
Today was the day they looked at the performance of the first movie in the Batman Trilogy, Batman Begins, at the opening day box office.
Even though the production team members here were all uncles and aunts from other relatives’ families, they had put in a lot of effort in the cinema version of Batman.
And now, the result for the child they raised with hard work was finally out. The entire studio was shrouded in a tense and nervous atmosphere.
“We’ve got the result of the opening day box office! The cinema version grossed… $650,000 in the United States the first day.”
Once the opening day box office result was announced, the atmosphere around the entire production team dropped to the freezing point. A slightly disappointed and solemn expression appeared on everyone’s faces.
Qiu Ren could understand their feelings. In the original world, Batman Begins had grossed tens of millions of dollars at the opening day box office in American movie theaters. That was even in 2005.
The Flash had grossed over 120 million at the opening day box office easily.
The personal films of superheroes under Supernova Pictures had all grossed over tens of millions the first day at the box office, or they wouldn’t even tell anyone.
Even the personal movie of Dark Side back then had grossed six million on the opening day.
So, the performance of Batman at the box office could be said to be a brutal death.
“Don’t pull a long face. With so few screenings in the American cinemas, it’s already pretty good for Batman to gross $650,000 on the first day! Didn’t we get millions in the movie theaters in our country?”
Director Feng Nian clapped and tried to lighten the atmosphere in the studio.
“Batman is definitely no worse than any other superhero.”
“It’s exactly because the movie’s quality isn’t worse than any superhero that makes us feel bad when we see the result,” said the cameraman responsible for filming.
“This is something we can’t control. North American theaters are suppressed by Supernova Pictures. However, some movie theaters have expressed their interest in increasing the number of screenings. Our performance at the box office will get better in the future.” Director Feng Nian kept encouraging the filming crew.
This encouragement didn’t help much, but Director Feng Nian wasn’t worried. He led this production team confidently. Just a loss at the early stage couldn’t affect their filming status.
In the meantime, he had to talk to Qiu Ren about various things he had to pay attention to in Europe. But suddenly, a black shadow appeared behind Qiu Ren.
The production team in the studio wasn’t frightened. They knew it was Dark Side’s incarnation.
“I… am ready.”
Dark Side’s deep voice was full of the awakening of death.
He was ready to separate the manic evil thought yearning for chaos in his mind, the part that represented nightmares, and turn it into the character, Joker.
The separation couldn’t be reversed. After the extraction, he could still maintain his memories and personality as Dark Side, but his own character would be turned into that Dark Knight of Gotham City, Batman.
“Then… let’s get started, everyone.”
Qiu Ren glanced over the entire production team in the studio. They all looked like they had encountered a strong enemy.
In Gotham City, reporters and police had always been high-risk occupations, especially in the Joker’s territory.
However, the script of The Dark Knight was so fantastic that it was enough for them to record all the highlights… in the constant battle between these two long-time enemies on the stage of Gotham City with their cameras.
The production of the cinema version of “The Dark Knight” began under such a tense atmosphere.
…
1
Until mid-August, Batman Begins was screened in the United States for a bit longer than Qiu Ren expected.
Overall, the movie grossed less than one-tenth at the box office than in Qiu Ren’s previous life. The biggest reason was that the film row piece rate was low.
Another reason was that the American audience in this world had been baptized by superheroes that had all kinds of cool settings. Hence, Batman, who didn’t have superpowers, was slightly less attractive for those that were interested in him but were still not his fans.
However, Batman was like Dark Souls. Once people became his fans, they would be his diehard fans.
Batman Begins was quite a hit at the box office in the country, grossing a total of 140 million. Although this result was just ten a penny for Director Feng Nian, who had a masterpiece that grossed four billion, It was a different story for a college freshman like Qiu Ren.
And yet, the Central Research Institute did everything to keep Qiu Ren, their “intern,” a secret.
Despite the dream media in the country trying to find the constructor behind Batman Begins, Qiu Ren’s identity had never been exposed. Once it did, it would cause Qiu Ren a plethora of troubles. The resentment from Supernova Pictures was one. The dream invasion organizations around the whole world targeting him would be the other.
Qiu Ren might have the protection of the Nightmare Dungeon of Dark Souls, but his core Dream Dungeon was still too immature. He needed protection from all parties…
So, Qiu Ren made treats for the two Lords of Nightmare… in his core Dream Dungeon today.
“Do you really taste something when you eat these?”
Qiu Ren put a plate of cake in front of Tapir. This Lord of Nightmare had been staying here since she came to Qiu Ren’s core dream as a projection last time.
She was worried that her fellow Lord of Nightmare, Lian, had evil intentions towards Qiu Ren.
It just so happened that Lian also had the same idea as Tapir. She found a place to stay in the living room as well.
Right now, one of these two Lords of Nightmare occupied the dining table in the living room and the other the sofa. Both of them were on guard against each other.
Qiu Ren had been busy with the construction of the Batman Trilogy lately, so he didn’t have time to take care of these two. Their projections couldn’t cause any real damage to Qiu Ren’s core dream anyway.
“No, but you can give them tastes, just like I can taste your anxiousness right now. Mr. Qiu Ren… you taste sour and sweet.” Tapir used a fork to eat the cake Qiu Ren made for her with his Creation Points.
Although this woman was a projection, she could absorb Qiu Ren’s emotional energy.
“…Don’t feed her too many Creation Points. Be careful. When her projection grows too much… she may, in turn, devour your core dream.” Lian reminded Qiu Ren as she leaned against the sofa.
“Don’t you come to sponge off free meals every day as well? Is the pain from the players who play Battle Royale and Dark Souls still not enough for you guys?”
Qiu Ren put a plate of treats next to Lian a bit speechlessly. In Dream Dungeons, the food was tasteless.
Dream Makers could indeed give food tastes, but this required a large number of Creation Points. Most Dream Makers wouldn’t waste their points on it.
“Treats… have something special about them… which normal meals can’t compare,” Tapir pointed at Qiu Ren with the fork in her hand and said.
Qiu Ren moved his body away from the direction in which the fork was pointing because Tapir was eating his emotions as treats.
“So, why are you two here today?” While Qiu Ren was building the Dream Dungeon of Batman, he didn’t forget to update the operation status of Battle Royale and Dark Souls.
The popularity of Battle Royale was increasing gradually, and Tapir was also recovering. She could start torturing that Lord of Nightmare who wanted to devour her.
Besides, some professional dream exploration organizations had started to settle in Battle Royale. It was just that these professional organizations couldn’t find Qiu Ren, the official builder behind the game. They had no way to contact Fengdu Prison either, so the official league couldn’t begin, only some small games.
The increase in the popularity of Dark Souls was a little slower. What surprised Qiu Ren the most was… Herring recruited those abandoned Dream Eaters one after another. They proclaimed their loyalty to Qiu Ren and injected the Blood of the Old God, becoming one of the hunters.
Herring seemed to be hatching some kind of conspiracy. Qiu Ren didn’t question her. It wouldn’t be a problem as long as she didn’t cause trouble in his territory.
“Some… dangerous guys… are coming. Maybe you shouldn’t leave… Mr. Qiu Ren,” Tapir said.
“You feel it too?” Lian was also here to notify Qiu Ren about this.
“Do you both feel those dangerous guys? Do you mean those Dream Seeds that are about to arrive in Europe?”
Qiu Ren was indeed about to travel to Europe for a couple of days at state expense. Right now, the whole world knew that there would be a few newborn Dream Seeds at the border of Europe.
The dream media and film companies around the world had been exerting themselves lately, taking out all the trump cards they had and stuffing them all together in the cinemas in Europe.
They did this to ensnare those wild Level S Dream Seeds.
There were many small countries in the world that had only Level A Dream Seeds. They hadn’t even seen a Level S Dream Seed.
So, Europe organized an Advent International Film Festival.
Only regions that didn’t have superpowers, including Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, were forced to organize this kind of international film festival with a smile.
“There are a couple of energies… They’re very unstable…” Tapir said.
“So, if I go to Europe… am I still within the scope of your protection?”
“Of course. You entered into a contract with me. No matter where you are in the material world, my children and I can protect you.”
Lian was very confident about this. There was even a hint of superiority in her tone. This was the superiority she had always had when she confronted Tapir.
I protected him when the Dream Eaters invaded his dream. What did you do?
“I… can too, but I just don’t want… this living room to have one more… psycho.”
Tapir finished the treats in her hands. She put down the fork she was holding and spoke while gently wiping her mouth with a handkerchief.
It turned out she just didn’t want to have one more roommate here?
“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful with the ensnaring. I don’t want to take care of one more Lord of Nightmare either.”
1
After Qiu Ren fed them, he watched them leave his core dream.
He had been preparing for so long… he could finally put The Dark Knight on screen.