Once Upon a Time In Hollywood

Chapter 324 Warner, are you playing with snakes?

Warner headquarters, conference room.

A middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes was standing in front of the curtain, introducing everything projected to his colleagues present.

"In 1934, DC was established. In June 1938, DC launched the world's first superhero Superman through "Action Comics". The Age of Heroes."

"Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, they together supported the golden decade of Super British comics."

"But with the advent of the 1950s, the harmful theory of comics became popular, Wonder Woman was labeled as a homosexual, and Batman was labeled as a domestic violence man, which led to a sharp drop in the sales of their individual publications, and Marvel even more because of Created Captain America, who was suspected of influencing public opinion in America and almost went bankrupt, so from then on, in order to survive, they had to make the superhero's own attributes brighter, like The Flash, he is the identification team of the police station Our forensic science expert, Green Lantern, is a spaceship test pilot, they are all good young people who meet the social standards, and the alliance formed is called the 'Justice League'."

"Is it because they can't think of cooler names? No. Because of anti-social names, the CCA (Comics Code Authority) won't slap the 'Code Compliant' label on the cover, and without the compliant label, that's Not available for sale."

"These good guys helped DC and Marvel survive the darkest age of 'comic harmful theory', and when the racial issue broke out in the 1960s and the public's self-awareness gradually awakened, the 'comic harmful theory' was actively thrown away by them While entering the garbage dump, it also liberated DC and Marvel. Through Green Lantern, DC unabashedly criticized racial discrimination against black people. Marvel also sacrificed X-Men, directly bringing racial issues to the table. , and in the case of 'you ban me is racial discrimination', CCA was forced to amend the review regulations, you ban vampires? Then I will create a black hero to defeat vampires! You ban werewolves? Then I will create a black hero to defeat werewolves !You ban anti-heroes? Then I will create a black superhero to defeat the villain and lead him on the right path! Under this kind of impact, CCA was quickly emptied because..."

Speaking of which, the middle-aged man protracted his end sound.

Such an attitude also made the middle-aged women at the conference table laugh and say: "Because if it is still banned, it is racial discrimination."

"Bingo!" The middle-aged man snapped his fingers and continued: "So, in this case, Marvel created the anti-hero Hulk and Wolverine, and DC also rewrote the backgrounds of various characters. The silver age of the world has come."

"In the late 1970s and early 1980s, as the first batch of readers matured, the entire comics industry gradually moved from fantasy to realism, and those rebellious teenagers were also accustomed to naive comics, so they integrated into social issues. The dark plots of the world were born at this time. DC's "Swamp Thing", "The Dark Knight Returns", "Watchmen", and "V for Vendetta" were all born at this time, while Marvel's "Spider-Man", "Supernatural" Daredevil has also been sought after by a large number of readers..."

"Until now, realism and darkness have been the foundation of DC and Marvel."

At this point in the speech, all the pictures on the projector were finished. The man returned to the conference table and asked the secretary to distribute the prepared paper forms. After everyone started to read them, he continued: "But, don't look at the In the past sixty-one years, there have been three major changes in our comics industry, and the people who can participate in the change to promote change are basically men."

"Men between the ages of 10 and 40 drive 90% of the sales of the entire comics industry. In other words, among our population of 280 million, only less than 100 million people may become the mainstay of comics. Customers, there are 80 million people whose ages do not match, it is difficult for us to attract, and another 100 million female group is almost impossible to become our customers, or..."

This time, he didn't mean to be a joke, but when he was about to throw out the conclusion, the content president who was sitting on the side had already said, "That group of more than one billion women are all Disney customers."

“Disney uses animation and princess series to firmly grasp the female group itself, the children of those female groups, and the grandchildren of those female groups, monopolizing the entire market, which makes us have to use ChickFlick to attract female audiences, but the focus Yes, ChickFlick didn't work as well and couldn't capture the market like Disney did."

“Yeah, so unless we’re doing ChickFlick, we rarely write with a female audience in mind.”

The middle-aged man in charge of the report nodded and continued: "In the case of live-action movies that are actively ignored, we will not take the initiative to add female elements when composing comics and movies."

"This may be the reason why our female superhero project failed."

"After the failure of those movies, the meaning of the heroine in the "Superman" series is to be saved by Superman, and the female characters in the "Batman" series are designed to attract the attention of male audiences. It's especially evident in Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Nicole Kidman as the therapist."

"Before, we felt that there was no problem with this approach."

“Because there are not many women who read manga, we can’t please those women.”

"But now, the movie viewing report with women accounting for 43% is right in front of us."

"So it is necessary for us to re-examine this aspect!"

The middle-aged man put his hands on the table, scanned the venue, and said excitedly: "Perhaps a few decades ago, women did not have a strong willingness and opportunity to watch movies, but now, with the gradual liberation of their minds, I think our dream of Warner has never been fulfilled." , it can be realized!"

That's right!

After seeing the report on the number of viewers of "Spider-Man 2", Warner, bombed!

Organize the meeting from top to bottom, and the content...

Of course it is the original intention!

In Roland's previous life, many people believed that Warner was responsible for the development of DC.

If it weren’t for the existence of bad movies, how could DC’s construction of the movie universe lose to Marvel?

Of course, this kind of Schrödinger’s problem is actually fruitless, because no one knows if DC is transferred to other companies, whether it can reach the same height as Marvel in terms of the movie universe.

However, it is an indisputable fact that the brain circuits of Warner and DC have not been on the same channel.

Because Warner has been targeting female audiences since it acquired DC in 1969!

I believe many people know that after Warner acquired DC, it brought classic characters such as "Superman" and "Batman" to the screen, and brought IPs such as "Swamp Thing" and "The Flash" to life on TV. But few people understand that Warner didn't like these characters at all from the beginning. Warner's favorite has always been female superheroes!

Warner's first project after acquiring DC was "Wonder Woman".

In 1974, they fiddled with a two-hour TV movie, and the result was poor reputation.

But even so, they didn't mean to cut off the project, instead they changed actors and continued to make TV series.

Then Linda Carter's version of "Wonder Woman" became a classic.

Of course, classics are classics, and this project was finally cut off because of ratings problems.

After the 59-episode TV series in three seasons ended, the "Superman" movie was put on the screen.

And when "Superman" raked in 300 million in the global box office, "Superman" was also launched together with "Superman 2".

It's a pity that the "Supergirl" and "Superman" series all hit the street.

Continuous failures have made Warner feel the pressure of revenue. The fact that no female audience is willing to go to theaters to watch superhero movies makes them put away the idea of ​​​​continuing to shoot female superhero movies.

So in the film and television works released later, all the female characters became vases.

This kind of behavior lasted for twenty years.

After the millennium, when Halle Berry won the Oscar for Best Actress, Warner, who felt that the heroine with superb acting skills could afford the box office, rekindled the flame of continuing to shoot female superhero movies, and then launched "Cats". female".

But the blow from reality dispelled their enthusiasm.

The failure of "Catwoman" made Warner dare not have any illusions about female superhero movies.

Until Gal Gadot appeared.

When it was discovered that "Super Bat vs. Dawn of Justice" had died of word-of-mouth, but Gal Gadot, who played Wonder Woman, was well received, Warner mustered up the courage again, spent 150 million yuan, and wanted to realize it in 1969. A dream never realized.

Then…

After forty-eight years, they finally made the right bet.

The success of "Wonder Woman" rekindled their confidence. After seeing the critically acclaimed Harley Quinn in "Suicide Squad", they took a gamble on "Birds of Prey". Xia 1984", also follow the tube.

Besides, the TV series "Supergirl" and "Batman" have been filming regardless of their reputation.

"Star Girl" has also changed from a plan to a reality.

To be honest, if you go by the standards of "Swamp Thing", these TV shows are dead.

But the problem is that Warner is willing to keep throwing money at them to keep them alive.

No one knows why Warner has such a deep love for female superheroes, but everyone knows that in order to coax those actresses to continue filming, Warner will never sign with them "loyalty without selfishness, career without family" They will not be allowed to write a letter of commitment, "promise to use real estate as collateral to serve DC for life".

Of course, how much Warner loves female superheroes, outsiders don't actually want to know, but they themselves...

"Although "Spider-Man 2" female viewers accounted for 43% of the total audience, I don't think these female audiences will continue to enter the theater." After the middle-aged man finished speaking, the person in charge The marketing executive scratched his head with his pen and said, "These female viewers are actually fans of Roland Allen, and they didn't go to see Peter Parker, but Roland Allen, so , this kind of data has no reference value.”

"I agree."

The content president nodded, and continued: "I believe that after so many years of box office bombing, now no company will use Roland Allen's achievements as a reason for project approval, because his achievements are simply No reproducibility!"

"There is a saying in Hollywood, 'If you don't have 100 million yuan to start, you must be a superstar, and if you have 100 million yuan to start, you must be a king', and what about him? 500 million yuan to start! The worst box office for a starring role is 400 million! When he touched the one billion threshold, he had already reached two billion! This kind of achievement cannot be replicated by the six of us! So it is meaningless to analyze his success, we can only accept it, and then... pray So he will work with us and continue the good fortune."

"Pfft..."

As soon as the truth came out, the entire conference room was filled with joy.

That's right, after rounds of box office bombings, the Big Six actually don't care about Roland Allen's box office results anymore.

Will "Spider-Man 2" fail?

This is not a question they would consider at all!

Audiences may not be crazy about a movie, but fans of Roland Allen will definitely.

After "Titanic" went crazy to two billion, the Big Six even believed that if Roland sat there doing nothing and stared at the camera for two hours, it would be sold for one billion!

This absurd fact cannot be explained by logic, but…

Many times, they don't need a logical explanation.

People who work in movies never dig into the corners.

Because making a movie is the riskiest gamble in the world!

Since it is gambling, there is an element of luck in it.

In this way, God is willing to favor a person, but they can't help it.

And when this person is capital, they have nothing to do.

"But we don't want to copy Roland Allen's success now." After listening to the speeches of his two colleagues, the middle-aged man who had previously told the history of comics also sat down, and the sign in front of him read Logo of the CEO.

"What we are discussing now is whether we can replicate the success of the movie."

"Since we have all discovered that those female audiences are willing to pay for their favorite stars, then, can we reap similar success by copying this creative model?"

"For example, find a female star who is the most popular among female audiences, and ask her to star in a female superhero movie?"

However, before the words fell, the answer appeared on the scene, "Isn't that Kate Winslet?"

The president of the Warner Business Group folded his hands, leaned back on the chair, and said with a smile: "Is there any female star in this world who is more popular with female audiences than Kate Winslet? I can't find a second one anyway." ..."

"Haha~"

The candid words made everyone at the scene laugh together.

Although Kate Winslet has never received a salary of more than 10 million yuan, no one will ignore her influence now, or in other words, in the eyes of capital, even those box office actresses can't beat her alone people.

because-

Her man is too awesome.

Although the executive president was criticized, he was not angry, because he came today to solve the problem, and these colleagues were indeed recommending the best, but it was a pity, "We can't invite Kate Winslet."

"Besides her, is there anyone else who can achieve a similar effect?"

"Julia Roberts?"

"Jennifer Aniston?"

"Cameron Diaz?"

"..."

One name after another kept popping up, but none could achieve the similar effect of "Spider-Man 2". After a while like a newspaper name, the woman who spoke earlier, Warner's Green Light Committee The chairman said, "With all due respect, none of the female stars you reported are available."

"According to common sense, male stars attract female fans, and female stars attract male fans. In this case, if you want to replicate the success of "Spider-Man 2" and let female audiences enter the theater, you can only do this through male stars. task, so..."

"The idea that we want to make a female superhero movie, in fact, does not match the situation shown in "Spider-Man 2."

"Of course, this problem can actually be solved, but the only guy in this world who can kill both male and female audiences is that pair. When we can't invite them at all, such things as successful replication... I can only think think."

Following her speech, the scene fell into silence.

Because what she said is a fact!

Want female stars to drive female fans?

How could such a thing happen!

Because same-sex repels each other!

The proportion of fans of female stars is always more male than female!

"Then there is no other way now?" Seeing that everyone was silent, the executive president asked, "Is there any other solution? For example, recruit the production team of the "Spider-Man" series and let them try Start with a story?"

"Isn't the production team of "Spider-Man" James Cameron?" The content president rolled his eyes.

"That's right, James and Roland discussed the script behind closed doors." The publicity president smiled and shook his head.

"It's not feasible to dig the production team, because as far as I know, Roland also bought back the copyright of "Terminator". At the beginning of the year, Roland helped advance the compensation for James' divorce." Green Light The chairman of the committee smiled and said: "What's more, I think that instead of poaching people, it's better to outsource the project to them directly. Wouldn't it be easier?"

"Warcraft Movies and Television is already cooperating with us on "Harry Potter", so let him participate in one more project, and..."

Before she could finish speaking, everyone at the scene had already cast their gazes over.

"Ask him to cooperate?"

"Let him go directly to solve problems that we can't solve?"

"Yes! Isn't this the best solution!"

Everyone woke up suddenly!

What is Warner's purpose?

That’s making a female superhero movie!

Under the circumstances that they themselves are not sure, outsource the project to the guy they think can do it, isn't it all right?

In this way—

Find Warcraft Movies and TV to do it!

However, shortly after this idea came up, doubts arose on the scene.

"The question is, he bought Marvel from Ronald Perelman now! Will he still take our project?"

"Yes, yes, Marvel and DC are rivals, we go directly to him, he probably won't agree?"

"This matter is really uncertain! If he wants to make a female superhero movie, Marvel, which has taken back all the copyrights, has countless characters for him to choose from. There is no need to make our superheroes at all!"

"Yeah, yeah, if I were the boss of Marvel and I had mastered the money-making secrets, I would never be able to share them with DC, let alone help with filming myself! This kind of behavior is simply stupid!"

"It's okay! It's okay!" The turbulent disputes made the executive president have one head and two big ones. He patted the table vigorously and said, "This won't work, and that won't work. Tell me, what else can you do?"

"Whether Warcraft Movies and Television will cooperate with us or not, we have to ask!"

"After all, it's a workaround!"

"Okay! You don't need to worry about this matter, I will communicate with Warcraft Film and Television myself!"

"The meeting is over!"

The act of speaking with one word put out the fire at the scene.

Warner's executive president really did what he said, and directly approached Warcraft Film and Television.

And when Roland, who was looking at the financial report, learned that Warner wanted to find him to make a DC female superhero movie, his first reaction was—"Hold the grass, Warner is playing with snakes?"

Note: ①Racism is really just a tool, a tool that breaks any boundaries. The reason why Marvel created Blade Warrior in the first place was to open up the vampire market, because the CCA at that time did not allow them to create anything about vampires. When a black vampire hunter appeared, the CCA dared not ban it at all. And the Black Panther is even more so. It is the first non-satirical black superhero in the history of American comics. Stan Lee brought him out just to hate CCA. Which comics did not give it to him, so he drew the Black Panther. Go in, ban it, you are racist. ②Warner really likes female superheroes very much. In the 1980s, when the sequel of "Superman" was at a loss, if it weren't for Marlboro's investment, Warner would have wanted to cut the project, but at the same time, they were willing to spend 3,500 Millions of shots of "Supergirl" are really unimaginable. ③After Warner took control of DC, it’s no longer a one-time or two-time operation. Tim Burton’s “Batman” has nothing to do with DC, and Tom Hanks’ “Road to Destruction” is DC comics. But when Spielberg wanted to buy it, Warner sold the copyright directly, and "Raiders of the Sky" also. ④DC didn't really control the right to shoot live-action movies until 2010. Before that, they didn't even have the chance to be on the table. After Warner established DC Entertainment in 2010, they finally didn't have to be sons.