Another interesting aspect of the production was that Gilbert specifically sent a filming team to China's Mountain City for location scouting.
At this time, Mountain City had not yet reached the fully surreal, cyberpunk-like aesthetic it would become famous for later, but the general outline was already there. As a filming location, it was quite suitable.
Night City also had a Chinatown, after all, so the production decided to blend Mountain City's style into the design of one of the districts, and there would even be Chinese gangs involved.
While busy with the overall preparation work, Gilbert would also gather the cast, letting them read through the script and share their thoughts.
After reading the script, Andrew Garfield expressed that he absolutely loved the character David Martinez.
"Director, you really wrote this line perfectly—David Martinez lived with greatness and died with honor." Andrew Garfield was visibly excited.
"I've already started imagining what it would feel like if I had cyberware installed."
Emma Roberts also expressed how much she liked Rebecca, especially the tragic ending where Rebecca is brutally killed by Adam Smasher. She liked it even more because of that.
This wasn't because Emma Roberts was morbid—she simply saw the enormous potential in the character. Even though Rebecca was the second female lead, there was a chance she could overshadow Lucy.
As soon as Scarlett finished reading the script, she threw herself into Gilbert's arms, crying.
"Why? Why can't David and Lucy have a good ending? Why can't Rebecca survive? Why does everyone have to die?"
Gilbert let out a sigh. "Scarlett, this is the cyberpunk world. There's only one way to become a legend—go out in a blaze of glory."
Scarlett wiped her nose on Gilbert's sleeve, then looked up at him tearfully. "Then I want to play V. I want to kill Adam Smasher."
"What?" Andrew Garfield quickly leaned in after hearing that. "So Adam Smasher can die? Director, what about me? Can I do it?"
Seeing all the actors staring at him with hopeful eyes, Gilbert didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Guys, if you want to see Adam Smasher die, then you need to give your best and complete this series flawlessly. Only if the series succeeds can we get to the part where Adam Smasher dies."
Everyone immediately assured Gilbert they would give everything they had—Adam Smasher must die.
No wonder that in the previous life, after finishing the Edgerunners anime, many players returned to the game just to beat the hell out of Adam Smasher. It was simply unbearable otherwise.
Although Gilbert had put almost all his energy into Edgerunners, he still kept a close eye on the summer box office battle.
Iron Man achieved a triple consecutive weekend box office championship in North America, becoming the only film that summer to claim three straight weekly wins.
By July 2nd, its fourth weekend, the North American box office had reached 289.35 million dollars, temporarily placing it second on the annual domestic box office chart.
First place belonged to Transformers, which had reached an astonishing 322.30 million dollars in North America. However, the film's heat had already passed, and it was now slowly accumulating revenue.
Iron Man's global box office had reached 810.53 million dollars, far exceeding its success in the previous life. And it continued harvesting box office revenue worldwide at a strong pace.
The reason for its explosive international success had been analyzed by many media outlets. Empire magazine concluded that the primary factor was the film's stunning special effects, which delivered overwhelming visual impact to audiences abroad.
Throughout the late 20th century, the superhero genre was immensely popular in North America but received lukewarm responses overseas. However, after entering the new century, special effects technology had grown rapidly, becoming increasingly realistic and improving the viewing experience dramatically.
Even without relying on comic-book nostalgia or fan loyalty, modern superhero movies had become some of the best large-scale blockbuster entertainment available.
This was also why both the Spider-Man series and the X-Men series had done well overseas—high entertainment value and spectacular visuals.
Watching movies, at its core, is a form of luxury entertainment. And superhero films that deliver a strong cinematic experience naturally become the top choice for popcorn-movie fans.
This year, Iron Man and Transformers both pushed special effects technology to new heights, producing even more astonishing results.
Even North American audiences—who had seen countless blockbusters—were blown away by the films' effects. As for overseas audiences who had rarely experienced such large-scale spectacles, the impact was even more tremendous.
Just imagine: a new moviegoer in China who had never stepped into a theater before. They had only ever watched Hollywood films on DVD, where the visual quality was limited and unimpressive.
One day, they decide to visit a cinema for the first time. The film playing is Iron Man, or Transformers, or even The Last of Us. What would their experience be like?
They would likely be overwhelmed by the unmatched immersion of the big screen and stunned by the extraordinary special effects.
At that moment, regardless of how educated or cultured they were, upon walking out of the cinema they would probably only say one thing:
"Holy sh*t, that was insane!"
This was the shockwave Hollywood blockbusters brought to the Chinese market as it continued creating waves of new viewers. That impact began with 1994's first imported film Real Steel, and it continued for more than a decade.
The same was true across the world. The North American market had long been saturated, and Hollywood's true globalization began in the early 1990s.
After more than ten years of development, markets in Latin America, Southeast Asia, China, even West Asia and Eastern Europe, all showed great potential.
As for Africa… in Hollywood's eyes, only regions like North Africa—Morocco, for example—had some market value. South of the Sahara, there was basically only South Africa. The rest was negligible.
Many places did have potential audiences, but people in those regions were struggling just to eat. Who had the energy to care about movies?
Hollywood was not a charity. It had no need to invest in markets that could not be cultivated.
With all that considered, it becomes very clear why Iron Man became a global phenomenon.
Hollywood's globalization had reached its peak and would continue for years—until the world eventually grew tired of Hollywood's formula, ushering in a wave of diversity that would dismantle the old system.
Transformers also performed exceptionally well—an outright triumph and brought immense pride to Sky Dance Studio.
At present, Transformers had reached a massive 926.67 million dollars in worldwide box office, temporarily ranking first on the global box office chart for the year, drawing enormous attention.
Only now did Hollywood finally understand why Gilbert had been so full of regret for missing this project. To borrow the words of some insiders: even if a pig had taken on this project, it still would have been a success.
But David Ellison would probably never admit such a thing. He claimed all the credit for himself, appearing frequently during Transformers' blockbuster run, looking completely triumphant.
The strength of both Transformers and Iron Man lay not only in the films themselves—but also in their merchandise.
Hasbro's toys sold phenomenally well, reaching 400 million USD in revenue while the movie was still in theaters. On Marvel's side, with the explosive popularity of Iron Man, sales of related comic books began to soar.
Meanwhile, the sales of peripheral products skyrocketed. The Mark II model alone sold 45 million USD in North America, and the Scarlett Johansson–based Black Widow figurine generated 21 million USD in sales.
All the other various merchandise combined created over 400 million USD in revenue—truly astonishing.
However, compared with these two films, the movie The Last of Us, personally directed this year by Gilbert, was clearly inferior both in box office performance and merchandise sales.
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