Chapter 88: *The Dark Knight* Wraps! *Twilight* vs *John Wick*!

In 2007, Hollywood released quite a few outstanding films.

In January, there was *Night at the Museum*;

In February, *Ghost Rider*;

Both Ghost Rider and Spider-Man were in Sony's hands, and the two films were wrapped almost back-to-back.

Originally, Sony's plan was that if *Spider-Man* failed, *Ghost Rider* might be the last life-saving straw.

They brought in the former king of the box office, Nicolas Cage, and crafted a decent story.

The explosive success of *Spider-Man* also gave *Ghost Rider* a small boost, taking the North American weekend box office crown at the end of February.

In March, *300*;

In theory, this work was also a comic adaptation — besides DC and Marvel, American comics had plenty of other big and small companies.

This was Zack Snyder's second film after directing *Dawn of the Dead*.

At this moment, Director Zack could never have imagined that in the future, Xu Can would find him and launch what kind of film universe.

The April market would be relatively cold — the comedy *Blades of Glory* and the thriller *Disturbia* — Xu Can didn't have much of a deep impression.

According to the original timeline, the big May release should have been *Spider-Man 3*!

The one where Tobey Maguire's black-suit Spider-Man does his famous hot dance……

The parallel world had shifted; *Spider-Man 1* had only just been released, so in theory there was no film in the same period that could compete.

Therefore, Xu Can confidently scheduled *John Wick* for early May, able to warm up the summer slate and bring in decent box office.

He didn't expect *Twilight* to come out of nowhere halfway!

If it were any other film, it wouldn't matter, but this was, after all, Emma Stone's second film as a leading lady.

Her screen time in this film even surpassed Gwen's.

Xu Can didn't want to go head-to-head with Stone Sis directly.

"How about I talk to the distributor and have them scheduled for summer release?"

Emma Stone also realized at this moment — wasn't Xu Can's new film also early May?

"Forget it, leave it to fate. We won't necessarily clash directly; the target audiences of the two films are different."

*Twilight* appealed more to sixteen-year-old teenage girls; *John Wick* was the romance of grown men.

"Then let's compete — see who grosses more."

"Sure, let's compete. North America or worldwide?"

"Let's do North America." Stone Sis hesitated for a moment.

*John Wick* was rated R; it couldn't be released in many regions, so he would definitely be at a disadvantage.

"Fine, then what if you lose?"

"If I lose, I'll agree to one thing for you — anything as long as it's not illegal."

"Alright, same for me — if I lose, I'll agree to one thing for you."

Between laughs and chatter, the two of them thus set their wager, waiting for the films to be released — *John Wick* versus *Twilight*!

Before hanging up the phone, Stone Sis gave a reluctant soft sigh and whispered softly into Xu Can's ear:

"More than all this, I just want to make a movie with you. The time filming Spider-Man was probably the happiest of my life."

Hearing Stone Sis' coquettish tone, Xu Can couldn't help but recall when he and Stone Sis had first met.

Those days really were happy — the fun on set never stopped, and after wrapping they'd drink together and wander Los Santos together, as if there was never anything left unsaid.

Neither of them was famous yet, and together they dreamed of a beautiful future.

Now they had become famous overnight — the famous on-screen couple, Spider-Man and Gwen!

It's just that they met rarely and parted often, each busy with their own things, and it was hard to recapture that simple happiness from the beginning.

"There'll be plenty of chances this year and next year! We'll start shooting Spider-Man 2 in the second half of the year, and next year I also want to make a musical — you be my leading lady."

"Really? What musical?!"

*Spider-Man 2* was in the plan, but the musical was completely unexpected.

Emma Stone was quite pleasantly surprised!

"Tentatively titled *La La Land*, it's a story about a couple chasing their dreams in Los Santos."

"Wow, it sounds so romantic! It's kind of like us! It must be a beautiful love story — I have to be in it!"

"Alright, once this phase is wrapped up, we'll kick off the plan."

Xu Can held back his laughter.

A love story was correct, but whether it was beautiful…… wasn't necessarily so.

……

"Ha, ha, ha, ha…… I thought my jokes were cold enough, but today hearing yours really opened my eyes."

"How about I perform a magic trick for you? I can make this pencil disappear."

"A year ago, no one dared arrest you — what's going on now, have you all been gelded?"

"……Are you really Batman? No? Ahahahahaha, why, you and him wear the same uniform? Hahahaha! Woohoo!"

Thanks to Xucanjia Alliance, the shooting progress of *The Dark Knight* was exceptionally fast.

Previously, when people in the industry heard that the *Spider-Man* crew's progress was far ahead of schedule, they still didn't quite believe it.

Who shoots a film without delays?

A film crew faces so many situations on set — actors forgetting lines, bad weather, location problems…… there's always something that slows things down.