Hollywood legendary director

Is the difference between 1 billion works and 1.5 billion works only at the box office, and still influential?

When the news came out, the "New York Times" immediately titled "Reunion" in the latest issue of the newspaper: the most influential movie of 2011, which also received a full-page special report like "Avatar".

Among them, their enthusiastic comment on the market is that director Lyman Last has shown amazing maturity and inclusiveness in this drama, and has a full grasp of the fan mentality of the super-English audience.

You know, in a movie with a limited duration, it is clear at the same time that the role modeling, the preparation of the events, the main line elaboration, the special effects fight, and the humorous literary and drama embellishment are clearly stated, and it takes a lot of effort and strength to put it in place.

The fact is true. This is the biggest success of the first fan-oriented movie in this box office era.It may not be the most profitable IP, but it has achieved too much success in the movie market.

"Iron Man", "Invincible Hulk", "Thor", "Captain America", "Iron Man 2"...... These movies are mainly focused on superheroes that are not familiar to the public, and bring time out of them. The line's self-consistent narrative mode sets up Black Widow, Hawkeye, and SHIELD.

What I mean is that movies like "The Avengers" are born for fans. Without fans' love for comics for many years, there will be no adaptations of movies today, but it is by no means limited to comic fans.

Of course, its plot is very simple, even clichéd. It is not an exaggeration to call it a superhero chowder popcorn movie, but it does satisfy the audience's heroic dream and meet the needs of the public:

For hot-blooded teenagers, there are heroic fighting and heroism in the movie; for some discerning fans, the well-organized narrative, smooth mirror movement, and not bad viewing; for the audience who come to appreciate the visual effects and large scenes, the pictures are created with high budget The texture is quite good; even for audiences who want to watch some comedy and have some fun, the interaction between the intensive jokes and the super-British can ensure that the opening is pleasant to the light; otherwise, it can never be beaten. The bad guy Rocky has fun...It's not the best movie, but it must be the most suitable movie for people in this era.

......

Lehman had been mentally prepared for the break of 1.5 billion in "Reunion", and Hollywood studios also accepted this fact calmly. Instead, Fox and Firefly's co-production project "Rise of the Apes" broke Léa- After Saidu + James McAvoy and other actor casts were ready to start the game today, Xiao Xiao made a few comments.

On the afternoon of February 11th, Lehman came to the Fox Studios building again to chat with Iver and others.

"Sorry, Lyman, it has been a long time." Fox CEO Jim, who came over immediately after a meeting, apologized.

"I just arrived." Lyman smiled kindly.

"Lyman is very popular with reporters now, and I heard that all interviews by Time Magazine have been rejected."

The group sat down, Iver jokingly eased the atmosphere.

"I've been posted a few times, so leave the opportunity to others."

Recently, as long as he shows up in public, reporters will keep asking questions, annoying.

"Haha." Jim smiled: "I think "Reunion" over 1.5 billion has brought us a good public shutdown conference, and even the audience's attention to "Rise of the Apes" is greatly increased and warmed up. The effect far exceeded our expectations."

"It's just planting a seed, and in the end it has to be seen as a film." Lyman replied.

"Always a good thing."

"Well, in short, we still have to lead the media to report more about the new drama." Jim ordered.

"Of course."

Lehman knew that the other party backed by News Corp.'s strong control over the paper media, and he seriously seconded it.

Anyway, even if it is not a time for the key promotion, it is certainly good to make some relevant hype during the filming stage.

From this perspective, Fox holds very rich resources.

Have a greeting.

The two parties talked about some matters in the implementation phase.

Today, the actors, directors, and behind the scenes are almost in place, and the busy process on the set has accelerated.

Among them, Firefly, as the first producer, naturally has the right to speak in filming, although some administrative posts are assigned to Fox.

Such as executive producer, screenwriter and the position of an associate director.

There are also people arranged by Fox for important post editing.

For Lehman, this is what should be allocated. After all, friends and merchants have to be given the power to supervise. Besides, it is the confirmation of classification.

"There is nothing wrong with the PG13 grading. There are some violent scenes and some swear words. We can handle it." Iver studied the script carefully and knew roughly what it would look like when filmed. "MPAA won't get stuck in the review."

The Fox people are very confident, "Your company's script is well grasped from the beginning. For this type of film, there are some visual conflicts necessary to show, no one will say anything."

Well, MPAA’s ratings are very tricky. It’s really in accordance with the standard. Many movies are TM R-rated. After all, as long as the bloody scene flashes by, it is not a violent scene, and it is too real. This is to bully the audience. come out.

But the conflict between orangutans and humans must see blood, otherwise the plot rendering power is insufficient.This is considered to set the tone.

"And the theater..."

Iver communicated step by step, and quickly talked about the screenings. “The number of theaters in North America will definitely have to be decided after seeing the movie. But according to our needs, the visual effect of the movie is good. We must definitely strive for more theaters in the city center and supporting theaters such as 3D and iamx, and we will also be responsible for the relevant preliminary communication work..."

There are more than 80,000 screens in Hollywood, but those with better conditions that have been modified with audition equipment are less than half of the screens. Like "Rise of the Apes", a masterpiece that is bound to play in the environment can definitely not be completed. In addition, the ticket price of a good theater is more expensive and it is easier to collect money.

"Then there is implantation..."

Fox Pictures enjoys 30% of the film production revenue, and they did have a shooting budget of roughly 30 million, but they quickly recovered 15 million for this 30 million. The reason is that many sponsors are for advertising, linkage and other reasons. The cost of 50 million implanted seats was allocated, and the two sides divided them proportionally.

What’s more, even with the remaining 15 million investment, they packaged the future proceeds of the project’s copyright into a financial product and pre-sold it to external investment banks and foundations, regardless of the box office of "Rise of the Apes". If it fails to meet expectations, it can easily raise 15 million. That is to say, Fox has no money at all, all risks are not touched, and he is already lying on his merits and waiting to make money.

Everyone should know that it’s good to invest 10,000 in the platter, but those external investors can’t really divide the production income in equal proportions. In the case that the producer is still Fox, even if it does not hide the possible future book profits, Simply using financial means against financial means only earns a higher interest rate than the investment.

After all, the revenue part can continue after the movie is released. Any DVD, original soundtrack, and peripheral income can be first used to flatten the time cost by similar means.

It seems that platter investment can make money, but it only uses funds to lend to studios, and uses most of the year's profit to slowly pay off the mortgage.

This is why the whole process, with a little bit of ambition, turned into independent labels. For example, Legendary Pictures, Dune Entertainment, and Relativity Entertainment are all examples of film funds becoming manufacturers.Everyone is not stupid.

Of course, since the rise of mergers and acquisitions in the new century, such operations are not uncommon. Europe and even India have had large sums of money entering Hollywood, but since the subprime mortgage crisis, many Wall Street investment banks have targeted Shengshi Entertainment. , The trend of capital flowing into Hollywood is increasing.Anyway, Lyman was not tempted to see all this, he is not short of money now.

Even if it is exchange, it is mainly based on resource complementation, or perfecting the layout, or sinking business channels, but there is really no need to borrow chickens and eggs to free up the operating space of the capital chain.

After a few more days, the crew on the other side of the studio entered the final start-up stage. Many specific filming scenes were arranged in a preparatory meeting, waiting for the detailed steps of the photographer and the important positions of the service team. Unify the photography and art styles, etc., and then it’s the turn to negotiate the filming location, the sequence of transitions, and the completion of the actor’s pre-training...