After celebrating his thirty-eighth birthday, Gilbert accepted congratulations from fans on social media.
Every year on his birthday, Melon Studio would receive gifts sent by enthusiastic fans from all over the world.
In addition, numerous film companies, as well as many well-known Hollywood stars, pop music singers, and influential figures from politics and business, all sent their birthday wishes to Gilbert.
Once a certain status is reached, a birthday is no longer a simple personal matter; it also involves a great deal of social courtesy and networking.
This year, following the suggestion of his agent Sheena Boone, Gilbert also filmed a fan gift unboxing video as a way of giving back to his fans.
Of course, only carefully selected gifts could be used for the unboxing video. Otherwise, if something inappropriate like an explicit video or nude photos were opened, it would be extremely awkward.
Don't doubt it—there were quite a few such things.
That said, the gift unboxing video achieved remarkably high view counts. It also helped unite the fanbase, making fans feel that Gilbert genuinely cared about them.
These tactics were essentially the same as what would later become common in the livestreaming industry, where streamers would often broadcast unboxing sessions.
In later years, people had seen this kind of thing countless times, but in the current era, it was completely different. Audiences had not yet experienced so much of it, so the novelty naturally felt different.
Once Hollywood's major stars saw how effective this approach was, they all planned to learn from it in the future.
After the birthday passed, time entered July, and the summer box office battle remained fierce. New films continued to be released, and new players kept joining the battlefield.
On July 2, Hancock, starring Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron, was released. Out of consideration for Charlize Theron, Gilbert attended the premiere.
This unconventional and alternative superhero film seemed to share some similarities with The Dark Knight.
The film earned 62.6 million dollars at the box office in its opening weekend, a very solid result. Audience reception was also good, and it was able to maintain a relatively healthy box office curve afterward.
The pairing of Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron was attractive enough, with strong box office appeal, so strong earnings were not a problem.
This film was produced by Sony Columbia Pictures, and its box office success made everyone at Sony Columbia extremely excited.
On July 9, another Melon Studio film, District 9, was officially released. This film had a budget as high as 85 million dollars and was an A-level investment original science fiction movie.
Compared to earlier works, the scale of this film was much grander. The original version of the film had used a mockumentary shooting style, which was actually a necessity for the director due to limited funding.
But Nolan did not lack investment. The mockumentary approach was only used as an auxiliary filming method, while most of the film was shot in a conventional style—though not entirely conventional.
After consecutively using IMAX technology in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Nolan also brought IMAX technology into this film.
As a result, a science fiction film that retained its core themes and message, yet featured more expansive content and richer visuals, was presented to audiences.
Gilbert naturally attended the premiere of this film. During interviews, he said, "This story came from what Sally and I saw and experienced during our trip to South Africa, and the story that emerged from that.
At the time, when I discussed it with Chris, he immediately took a liking to the story and requested to direct the film.
I believe everyone will enjoy this original science fiction movie."
Christopher Nolan said, "After reading the script, I requested that Gilbert hand this project over to me.
This is a very inspiring story, full of allegory, and I like it very, very much."
Of course, after the premiere, District 9's reputation exploded. Countless media outlets that had seen the film gave it high scores and strong praise.
"When this summer is coming to an end, this film makes the entire Hollywood feel ashamed." — Chicago Tribune
"A forward-thinking film, an allegory about life." — The New York Times
"A truly authentic science fiction film that captivates you from the very beginning and keeps the audience hooked until the final moment." — The Hollywood Reporter
"Written and produced by Gilbert, and directed by Christopher Nolan, the two have joined forces to deliver a film that can truly be called a classic for movie fans." — Los Angeles Times
"The relationship constructed between film and reality is an allegorical one, rather than a mirror or photographic relationship. It should be one-to-many, using the limitations of form to convey the infinity of meaning.
In District 9, we see far too many issues that people in reality dare not confront directly: racial discrimination, the gap between rich and poor, and the alienation of human relationships.
Under the guidance of consumerist ideology, these problems are becoming increasingly prominent in our lives. Some issues are buried deeper by fast-paced urban living, but once they surface, they erupt in extreme forms.
As a film, District 9 primarily fulfills the responsibility borne by art, but returning to reality, these issues still require every viewer to confront them and work toward solutions.
This is the limitation of form and the infinity of meaning. From the complete imagery, one can perceive the imprints of multiple social consciousnesses." — IMDB user Flying Dove of Peace.
"District 9 is connected through camera footage, giving the visuals a bumpy and chaotic feeling, but this also enhances the film's sense of realism to a certain extent.
From a visual perspective, the film is not lacking in those R-rated bloody and violent scenes.
The ugly and massive bodies of the aliens, the disgusting scenes of them chewing garbage on trash heaps, and the dilapidated houses where the Prawns live.
The nauseating process of larval hatching, the dismemberment of aliens, and bodies turned into blood mist under the impact of alien weapons.
These images likewise achieve the effect of strongly impacting the audience's audiovisual senses and also align with the core principles of aesthetic appreciation of ugliness.
More importantly, under the condition that the film constructs its special-effects visuals, this approach produces an extremely shocking effect." — Director Steven Spielberg.
There was no doubt that the film received widespread acclaim.
However, this type of film was neither a sequel to a major blockbuster nor an adaptation of a well-known novel or IP, so achieving an explosive box office hit was impossible.
The film earned 53.25 million dollars at the box office in its opening weekend, a fairly decent result.
Christopher Nolan frankly said to Gilbert, "Once the opening weekend box office numbers came out, I felt much more at ease. If the film's box office performance had been poor, I would have been afraid of letting down your trust."
Gilbert smiled and said, "There's an old Chinese saying: victory and defeat are common occurrences for soldiers, and a temporary setback is nothing.
Besides, the film's box office performance right now is quite good."
Christopher Nolan also finally breathed a sigh of relief. He planned to take a break for a while and see if he could come up with another good story next year.
District 9 continued its run, earning 41.22 million dollars in its week, pushing the film's North American box office to 94.47 million dollars.
The film was also released globally, achieving widespread success and consistently high evaluations.
Its overseas opening weekend brought in 83.79 million dollars, bringing the global box office to 178.26 million dollars, which was a very solid performance.
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