Once Upon a Time In Hollywood

  Chapter 392 Follow the trend? They are just a group of eradicated people!

When Hollywood's major film companies were fighting for their lives in the summer vacation, Roland Allen had actually left the United States with his wife, and was living a day-to-day life on a farm in Ontario, Canada. Live a life of daily income and rest.

  Feeding cattle and sheep in the morning, fishing by the lake in the afternoon, and studying food in the evening.

  The life of the rich is often so unpretentious and boring.

  Of course, this does not mean that they will stay away from the mortal world and practice immortality. There is still normal communication with the outside world.

For example, now, while Roland Allen is holding a food tutorial in front of the kitchen table to study the method of making French onion beef short rib soup, Kate Winslet is also standing in front of Apple's Titanium PowerBook G4, reading Evelyn, the president of Warcraft Film and Television. - An email from Watson, relaying the other party's report to her husband.

"Evelyn Watson said that because of the collision with "Mean Girls", the box office of "Operation Swordfish" did not meet expectations, and the 12 million in the first weekend did not match the 100 million investment. "

"Well, normally, John Travolta can't handle the box office at all. His highlight moments are "Pulp Fiction", "Broken Arrow", "Face Changing", other works, so that's it..." Roland nodded He didn't lift it back and said.

   He had seen the movie "Operation Swordfish" before, but he had forgotten all about it.

  However, the scene where Halle Berry dedicated her mouth to art is still fresh in his memory.

"Evelyn Watson also said that the box office of the film of the same name adapted from the hit game "Tomb Raider" did not meet expectations, and Angelina Jolie failed to carry the box office. It was only 47 million on the weekend, and judging from the current pace, even if the global box office is included, this movie may not be able to make back its money."

"Oh, that's normal." Roland still didn't look up, and while cleaning up the two-pound bone-in beef short ribs according to the recipe, he continued: "She's not Julia Roberts, she has always been He has not proven himself at the box office. At the same time, Laura Crawford is not a classic American character. With an average IP and not a top star, if this movie is a big hit, it will be a big hit. Surprising thing."

   "Tomb Raider" Roland has seen it before, and it is purely fighting monsters and upgrading without a single bright spot.

  The action scenes are mediocre, and the special effects pull the hips.

   But there is no way, who made George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic have two sets of external quotations?

  Owner, cost price.

   "Jurassic Park 2" was completed in the early 70s.

   Outsiders, slaughter price.

  The production cost of "Men in Black" which was the same year as "Jurassic Park 2" was almost 90 million.

   As for Angelina Jolie?

   The guy who thinks she can afford the box office is really talented!

  Before "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" was released, she made more than a dozen films, and none of them were hits.

   To put it bluntly, if there is no good father, whoever Bai Ding holds her report card will be hammered to death by capital.

   Too much loss!

  Her husband's mumbling also made Kate look up at the other party. After realizing that Roland was really just talking casually, she continued:

   "Perhaps it's because there are too many masterpieces this summer. Throughout June, it seems that only the movie "Fast and Furious" has achieved outstanding results, and even Steven's "Artificial Intelligence" has lost money."

  As soon as these words came out, Roland immediately gave the opposite opinion.

"No, no, that's because since the birth of movies, people have always pursued visual refreshment rather than individual individuals. When Steven makes cool movies, it will naturally be loved by the public, and when he starts When pursuing profundity, he, who is out of the foundation of the masses, will naturally be abandoned by the masses."

  Roland would not praise the old man just because of his friendly relationship with him. The reason why "Artificial Intelligence" has a commercial hip pull is because the filming of this movie is flawed.

  As a sci-fi film with an investment of 100 million yuan, the core of the whole film turned out to be the humanistic thinking generated by the development of artificial intelligence technology. When this proposition appears on the screen, it is strange that this film does not hit the street.

To put it bluntly, when the era of mobile Internet has not yet come, people's impression of machines is still in rigid mechanical calculations. Most people don't understand the learning ability of machines at all, and only think that artificial intelligence is the end No matter how much humanity the old man said, it would be useless when he was a tool for doing things in order.

  Discuss with the public the personality produced by the machine after deep learning?

   Explore the emotional entanglements after the birth of personality with the public?

  Under the circumstances that public perception cannot keep up with the development of technology, all the depth created by the old man is playing the piano against the cow!

  Perhaps many years later, people will think that "Artificial Intelligence" is an excellent movie, because the old man stood in the past and predicted the future, but at present, the simple "Fast and Furious" is what people like most!

  Because it—

   Cool!

  In fact, a similar report has existed since Evelyn Watson took office. Every month, she summarizes various information in the industry, and points out existing problems and opportunities for the boss who controls the overall situation to consult.

   It's just that Roland used to spend ten minutes flipping through it by himself.

After getting married, in order not to let his wife who has nothing to do feel that every day is so empty and think that living is a waste of life, Roland turned the trivial matter of reading reports into a reading job, and asked her to say one by one. Listen to yourself.

  After all, let a wife know that her husband is always paying attention to asset trends and has not been deceived by those professional managers, so as to create a sense of security is what a qualified husband should do.

And after Roland finished his evaluation of "Artificial Intelligence" and "Fast and Furious", he felt that the time was about the same, and he also started to invite the other party to have dinner with him. However, as soon as the words came out, Kate refused, " wait."

   "Why?" Roland was a little strange.

   "I haven't finished reading the email." Kate said, pointing at the screen.

   "What?" Hearing this, Roland instinctively frowned.

   The confused words also blurted out, "Aren't these movies just for June? Did she add something else?"

"That's right, she added something." Kate nodded, and while giving an affirmative answer, she also said a note that was not in the ordinary email, "she said, following the "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" "'s great success, the major Hollywood studios have gradually set their sights on the emerging film field of manga. However, when Marvel is controlled by us and DC is owned by Warner, the way they can choose, become quite limited.

As a result, those second-tier comics on the market have become the targets of their competition. Judging from the information she has collected so far, in the next one to two years, there will be at least three comic-related comics on the market. Movie.

The first part is called "Hellboy"; the second part is called "Raiders of Heaven"; the third part, although there are no novels and comics as the basis for adaptation, but the production team is closely related to the comics team, and its name is called " Dark Tale". "

   That's right!

  While Roland Allen is making a lot of money, other Hollywood capitals are not sitting still!

  Let Roland Allen enjoy this cake to himself?

How can it be!

   Chasing profits, that is the nature of capital!

  Although the two big mountains of American comics are both famous and famous, they can also shoot popular characters in second-tier comics!

  As long as you control your investment and don’t waste as much as Marvel and DC, it’s not a big problem to follow suit and make money!

   In this way...

  The superhero Hellboy under Dark Horse Comics, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen under Best American Comics, and the stories of vampires and werewolves created by the original Men in Black production team have entered the attention of various film companies.

  Of course, the situation here is somewhat different from Roland's previous life.

In Roland's previous life, the movie "Hellboy" was produced by Revolutionary Film Studios, and then they sold the distribution rights to Sony; "Underworld" was jointly funded by a bunch of independent film studios, and then invited Mubao Films distributed its own films; only "Raiders of the Sky" was invested by Fox from the beginning.

  This kind of situation that is not favored by big companies is actually related to the market environment.

Because at that time, the two IPs of DC's "Superman" and "Batman" were dead. Although Marvel's "X-Men" and "Spiderman" rekindled hope in the comic market, but followed The "Daredevil" and "Hulk" also made cautious capital see the risks clearly. When the characters of the first-tier comic companies can't get a stable market share, they want to let the rest of the capital rush into the second-tier companies. Isn't that just letting them die?

  So, standing still and watching became the only choice for those capitals at that time.

   But now—

   "Spider-Man" is a big hit!

   "X-Men" is even more popular with the new generation of actors!

  In the situation where the momentum of manga reform is good, if capital still hesitates, then it is not called capital!

  So, while those film companies are fighting for the market share of the summer file, they are also planning for the future, throwing an olive branch to the emerging superhero project of manga.

   "Hellboy" was directly taken by Sony!

  It is expected that a production team will be formed by the end of the year to start casting, and filming will begin within a year at the earliest!

   "Raiders of Heaven" is embraced by Fox!

  Starting filming within a year with a budget of 100 million yuan is their current goal!

  "Underworld" is in the arms of Paramount's father!

  As long as the script can be completed within half a year, then everything is easy to talk about!

Of course, the reason why Sony, Fox, and Paramount were able to negotiate the project so quickly is actually related to Warner, Universal, and Disney. Warner already has DC, and Universal is holding a mutant. And Disney—

  ‘Roland Allen is my father! '

   Now that they have signed a film outsourcing agreement with Roland Allen, they don’t want to talk about Marvel, but they have to embrace second-tier companies. Isn’t that just picking sesame seeds and losing watermelons?

But after Roland finished listening to his wife's narration, he wiped his hands with his apron in surprise, stretched his neck as long as a wax goose, and leaned in front of the screen to scan the text on it. The affirmative description made the corners of his mouth twitch.

   “These guys are really…”

   Halfway through the speech, it stopped abruptly.

  Because Roland couldn't think of an appropriate adjective to describe these capitalist heads.

However, while Roland hesitated to speak, Kate smiled and said her husband's heart, "Why, do you think Sony, Fox and Paramount are stupid? Don't like their decision? "

  As soon as the words came out, Roland stopped pretending, nodded in agreement, and said, "That's about it..."

   "Why do you say that?" Kate asked curiously.

   "Because...they are unlikely to succeed..." Roland put his hands on the edge of the table and shrugged.

  Be reasonable!

  Comic adaptation movies are not so easy to do!

  The success of a comic film must have at least three elements.

  First, that is the spread.

   With physical works as the basis, they have their own popularity at the beginning of creation.

   These things are actually the help of propaganda.

  When the news of a super popular manga being adapted into a movie is released, it will be more topical than other works.

   And the announcement on this basis will allow the entire movie to be better promoted to the public.

   Take the simplest example—

When the film studio mentions "Wonder Woman" to the public, the name "Diana" will pop up in the minds of most guys, but when the film business mentions "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" to the public, except for the core comic fans Besides, what other people know, this is from "Solomon's Treasure", "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "Dr. Jekyll", "Dracula", "The Invisible Man", " What about the fanfic that is a mixture of the seven works of "Portrait of Dorian Gray"?

  Communication is one of the foundations for the success of manga!

   Without it, the film producer would have to spend time explaining the meaning of our role!

  If the film studio needs to spend time on this kind of thing, then...

   It's better to open an original innovation pit!

  Second, it is actually the degree of fit.

Because comics are different from texts, they give readers a clear image from the very beginning. In this case, if the film company selects actors who fit the characters, then the tools of communication will be more handy , but if the chosen actors are not accepted by the public, they will be reviled like George Clooney's version of "Batman".

   And after these two points are settled, the most important third point also appeared.

   That is the opponent.

  The personal charm of a superhero is actually shaped by defeating one opponent after another. In this case, how to choose a villain has become a matter that filmmakers must carefully consider.

Choosing a less well-known villain to fight is equivalent to making an original film for the public, but if the well-known villain is killed at the beginning, then the subsequent sequels will be even more difficult to shoot. How to choose has become the biggest problem.

   It is precisely because of the existence of the three elements, so in Roland's previous life, only DC and Marvel can pull the banner of manga reform.

  Because their solid foundation allows them to come up with a bunch of routines, what about the others?

  What can Hellboy shoot?

   Know that even Dark Horse Comics never described its special abilities!

  As a protagonist, the ability is unknown?

   Who are you going to see this Nima’s photos for?

  The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen actually couldn’t be filmed either.

  A 120-minute movie needs to accommodate seven characters?

   Let’s share it, it’s not even 20 minutes for a character!

  Under such circumstances, the fans themselves are not happy to see it, let alone passers-by who are stunned!

   Let alone the Underworld.

  The story of vampires and werewolves has been told badly for a long time. If it doesn't jump out of this box, it is the best to make it R-rated.

  The R rating actually means breaking away from the public.

  But superheroes must not be divorced from the public.

   In this way—

   "I think the potential of "Underworld" is not as much as that of "Resident Evil."

  Hearing what her husband said, Kate also showed a playful smile on her face.

   While closing the Titanium PowerBook G4, she also took a few sips from the water glass on the side.

   "Roland."

"Um?"

   "I think you've been weird recently."

"What's wrong?"

   "You don't seem to be interested in any of these movie projects now?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Isn't the truth right in front of you?" Kate raised her eyebrows and looked at her husband with a smile: "After "Spider-Man 3" is released, you don't care about the projects in the company. If you say "X-Men", "Caribbean" Projects like The Pirates are managed by capable people, and you just need to control the overall situation. What about "Mean Girls"? You don't even go to the premiere of Ashley and Mary's movie.

this…

   Isn't that what a big brother should look like? "

  When Kate, who was leaning on the table, leaned forward, staring at Roland with her eyes fixed on her words, Roland couldn't help laughing as she sniffed the familiar fragrance coming to her face.

  Holding his arms around, twisting his waist slightly, Roland also leaned out and looked at him parallel to him.

   "Do you think I lost interest in movies after I retired?"

   "Isn't it?" Kate reminded, "You just made your own review of Operation Swordfish, Tomb Raider, The Fast and the Furious, and Artificial Intelligence! And it seems..."

   "Diss them in a critical tone?" Roland added with a smile before his wife finished speaking.

   Such a situation also made Kate stick out her tongue, "You said it yourself! I didn't force it on you!"

  The cute movement made Roland turn around and hug him from behind.

   After rubbing his cheek against the other party's neck twice, Roland continued: "Yes, these are indeed what I said.

  Because that's what I really think right now.

In fact, it doesn't really matter to me whether Swordfish, Tomb Raider, The Fast and the Furious, or A.I. succeed, and Sony, Fox, and Paramount follow suit. It's none of my business whether "Hellboy," "Raider Boy," and "Underworld" sell well, because...

   They will soon be eliminated by the times. "

  When Roland spoke the most arrogant words at the slowest speed, Kate, who was hugged by him from behind, suddenly made a puffing sound.

She didn't try to break free from her husband's arms, but twisted her body to face him. When Kate held her husband's face and confirmed that the creature was not joking, she suppressed her smile and asked, "Oh, Is that what you thought?"

   "Yes." Roland nodded.

  Kate’s serious appearance made the corners of Kate’s mouth twitch, and she really couldn’t hold back, “Who gave you the courage?”

  When Roland found out that his mother-in-law really didn't seem to believe him, he changed the subject and used strong evidence to prove everything, "Where are we staying now?"

   "Canada!" Kate didn't understand why her husband would ask such a question.

   "I mean where are we staying now?"

  Roland rolled his eyes, he was very dissatisfied with his daughter-in-law's answer with zero tacit understanding.

   "Oh, James' farm!" Kate said immediately after she understood.

   "What are we here for?" Roland continued to ask.

"It's a vacation!" Kate replied instinctively, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she found that her husband's face darkened again, so she smiled foolishly and changed her words: "Oh, I understand what you mean, we are this time Came on vacation at James' invitation."

   "Right!" Roland glared at her, and continued to guide: "But why did James suddenly invite us to come on vacation?"

  This question Kate will!

So, she flaunted in a flattering tone: "Isn't that because he has a new project and wants to raise some money from you, a big capitalist! And that project seems to be a continuation of "Titanic" ?The name is called...

  "Ghost of the Abyss"? "

When Kate worked hard and finally told the truck driver's new project, Roland also showed a satisfied smile on his face, nodded vigorously, and then said slowly: "Yes, he His new project is called "Ghost of the Abyss".

This…

   is the future. "

   Notes: ① Angelina Jolie turned around after filming "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". Before that, more than a dozen movies rushed wildly, and she couldn't even keep a B coffee. ② "Artificial Intelligence" was scolded miserably when it was released. It is an exaggeration to say that Spielberg received no less criticism than Chen Kaige who filmed "The Promise". However, with the deep learning of artificial intelligence, the topic has become more and more normal. , Now, the tone of this movie is back. It was only a little over six points on IMDb before, but now it has risen back to more than seven points. ③In reality, "Hellboy", "Raiders of the Sky", and "Underworld" appeared because of the explosion of "X-Men" and "Spider-Man". Fox took it away, and the reason is very simple. The author of "Raiders from the Sky" is the author of "Watchmen", the rebooted version of "Batman" in 1989, and "V for Vendetta". From the very beginning, the film enjoyed first-line treatment, but it's a pity that it was made out of street food.

  

  

  (end of this chapter)