~： Six hundred and eighty-eight-

For five consecutive days, Wayne carefully observed the preparation progress of "The Lord of the Rings", from the design and production of props, special effects models, armor and costumes, to the suburbs of Wellington, New Zealand, where half of the location has been built. once again.

In particular, Ciel, who has already formed its prototype, is as moving as a painting whether viewed from a distance or approached, as if walking into the fantasy world of Middle-earth. From this point of view, Peter Jackson has done a very good job, and is completely worthy of being a die-hard "Lord of the Rings" fan.

"When is John Gray coming back from Los Angeles?"

The night before leaving New Zealand, Wayne and Peter Jackson sat on the hotel balcony, chatting over wine glasses.

It was no coincidence that he came here this time. As a producer representing Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studios, John Gray flew back to Los Angeles temporarily.

"It should be soon. I don't know his work arrangement."

Peter Jackson shook his head slightly and responded vaguely without giving the exact time.

In fact, Wayne has noticed something since he came to New Zealand. As a producer, John Gray, there is a high probability that something unpleasant will happen to the future film director at work.

However, this is the normal situation of the Hollywood crew. Once you enter the crew, you must distinguish the priority and the rights. It is precisely the project of "The Lord of the Rings" that the film crew must be centered on the producer.

As Wayne's old partner and an executive in the Warner Bros. system, John Gray's existence is the first element that makes Wayne and Warner Bros. feel completely at ease with the crew.

"I'll talk to him on the phone."

Holding up the wine glass, Wayne and New Zealand slapped each other, raised his head and took a sip, and said, "When you return to Los Angeles with John in early July, we will start the audition for actors."

"I hope I can get actor advice."

Speaking of this, Peter Jackson immediately straightened his upper body and stared at Wayne nervously. "You know, I don't want to be excluded from audition work, it's not good for filmmaking."

So far, this is the thing that New Zealand's big fat people care about the most. He is very clear that with his qualifications, if he wants to express his opinion in the audition work, he must first obtain the support of the other party. If the other party is unwilling to say hello to the producer John Gray, then the producer will absolutely dare to exclude him as a director from all the work except filming.

Of course, Peter Jackson is not reconciled to become a filming machine on his favorite project, and no director wants to.

"I'll say hello to John."

Putting down the wine glass in his hand, Wayne smiled and patted the big fat New Zealander on the shoulder, nodded and agreed.

Since he chooses to trust this fat man, he will not make him a mascot. He will communicate with John Gray before the official filming of the film. Everything else is easy to say, but in the filming work, we must try not to restrict this fat man's hands and feet.

Speaking of which, Peter Jackson, in his memory, is the saddest Hollywood director. In the eyes of movie fans, he is a parallel importer who can't make movies well without the "Lord of the Rings" series. In the eyes of Hollywood studios, he is someone who is easy to be bullied and squeezed. Even the stars who work with him rarely respect him. of.

This situation is basically the only one among Hollywood directors of the same level.

Everyone knows that he earned a lot of box office share and director salary for filming the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, but many people don't know that this product finally fought with "The Lord of the Rings" producer New Line Pictures. After many years of lawsuits, he still did not get the full amount of remuneration he deserved.

So, what kind of virtues are Hollywood studios, you can see from this incident one or two.

Taking advantage of the limelight of "The Lord of the Rings" and the Oscar statuette, I finally broke into the 20 plus 20 club, but only used a King Kong, I was beaten back to the prototype, and in the end I had to continue to pick up "The Lord of the Rings" of leftovers.

In fact, when he finished filming "King Kong", he couldn't wait to break the news to the media. He almost got embarrassed by Naomi Watts several times, so he couldn't help but leave the crew. You know, Peter Jackson at that time was already an Oscar winner for best director.

"King Kong", which was finally finished, is not bad in the eyes of moviegoers, and the global box office has reached nearly 600 million US dollars. No matter how you look at it, it is not a failure. Naomi Watts, a late bloomer, also gained the attention of otaku around the world with this film.

Unfortunately, in the eyes of the producer Universal Pictures, this project is more than worth the loss. Not only will Peter Jackson be paid a base salary of $20 million, but he will also be given 20% of the total global box office.

By the end of the calculation, the only person who actually made money from co-authoring is the fat man from New Zealand. Universal Pictures has invested a lot of money, and it can be said that all of them worked for him alone.

Only this time, the mainstream Hollywood film companies will immediately see the ability of this New Zealand Oscar best director. Also this time, let him go further and further away from the mainstream big production projects, there is no way, film companies generally have a lot of concerns about hiring him, and no one wants to become the second Universal Pictures.

"Behave Peter well. If you do well in the filming, I will propose to Warner Bros. to let you participate in the post-production of the film."

Before Peter Jackson left, Wayne once again gave him a reassurance, or a pie, and successfully exchanged the bright smile of this fat face.

"Thank you, thank you." After thanking the New Zealander with a smile on his face, he turned and left the hotel suite, and at the same time ended the conversation between the two.

"Nina."

When only he was left in the living room, Wayne turned his head and instructed the assistant: "Let Jimmy and Colin come to New Zealand as soon as possible. Weta Special Effects Studio owns 35% of the shares, and the investment agreement must be signed as soon as possible. When you go back, you will have $17 million ready, as long as you sign here, you will be called immediately."

The assistant lady sitting on the sofa nodded. "Don't worry, boss, it will definitely be done within a week."

That's how it happened. Facing the 35% share offered by Peter Jackson on behalf of his two friends, Wayne nodded without any hesitation. And this is also the biggest purpose of his personal flight to New Zealand.

In fact, in the current era, investing 17 million US dollars in Weta Special Effects Studio is definitely not cheap. But in Wayne's eyes, as long as it continues to develop normally, this is definitely one of the rare benefits.

According to the statistics of Forbes, an authoritative magazine in North America, Peter Jackson unexpectedly ranks first among the ten highest-paid public figures in 2022.

When many people mention this big Hollywood director, the first thing that flashes in their minds must be doubts, because this guy has really been relying on "The Lord of the Rings" for half his life.

However, in fact, he did not eat half a lifetime of food with "The Lord of the Rings", but more than enough for several lifetimes. Yes, he was in arrears on the project of "The Lord of the Rings", but after the completion of "The Lord of the Rings", he also left him a huge asset that is most easily overlooked.

Just by selling his shares in the special effects company, he can rank first in income among all workers in the film industry and sports industry in the world. And behind him, it can be said that all of them are world-renowned artists.

Bob Dylan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Ryan Ted, the creator of digital music in the world, Tyler Perry, the master of black comedy, rock star Paul Simon, the founder of South Park Trey Parker, Kanye, who sells coconuts around the world, Dwayne Johnson, the only Hollywood superstar who can resist the box office in the past ten years, and Jay-z, the king of hip-hop, etc.

If you look at the people behind him, you can understand the gold content of this income list, but it is Peter Jackson, the big fat New Zealander, who sold all of these people firmly in the special effects studio. down.

From this most intuitive point of view, the value of Weta Effects Studio is much clearer. Moreover, even if he ignores the value after many years, Wayne will not hesitate to invest, simply because it can grow into one of the three major special effects studios in Hollywood, which is crucial to his future plans.

The trip to New Zealand was over. Early the next morning, Wayne and his party boarded the plane back to Los Angeles, ready to start a short vacation. At this time, in the North American theater market, the scene where you sing and I appear is being staged.

Since the beginning of June, the box office of "The Flash" in the theater market began to fall off a cliff because of its unique film attributes. But whether it is the media or Hollywood insiders, even if the theater company has rapidly scaled down its screening scale, and even if the daily box office in North America drops to one million dollars, no one will say that the film's box office fails.

"Godzilla" produced and distributed by Sony Columbia, the North American box office trend was extremely low, even if it squeezed "The Flash" together with Paramount Pictures, it did not end the decline of this book monster.

Three weeks after the film was released, the North American box office will exceed 100 million. Similar to the experience of "The Flash", the theater company quickly reduced the scale of its screening in early June. This film is destined to become Roland Emmerich. waterloo.

The executives of Sony Columbia seem to be looking forward to the film to get more box office, and they are still adding marketing funds under the circumstance that the reputation of fans is extremely unfavorable.

That is, Sony Columbia's abnormal move has caused most of the Hollywood studios to fall into doubt. Even the leader of a small company understands that it is impossible to stop losses in time, but Columbia Pictures, one of the six giants, is still struggling with money.

However, before these abnormal actions could be found out, a movie released on June 5, with a dark horse attitude, strongly suppressed "The Flash" and "Godzilla".

On June 5, 1998, North American time, "The Truman World", which was blown up by film critics but has always been regarded as a genre film by Paramount Pictures, caused a strong social discussion once it was released.

Originally, the focus of Paramount Pictures this year was the sci-fi masterpiece "Clash of Heaven and Earth" that it painstakingly produced. They did not expect that "The World of Truman" caused huge discussions after its release, and it took 31.54 million yuan in the first weekend. dollars.

And because of the social topics it caused, the follow-up box office trend of the film is very promising. Paramount Pictures responded quickly and immediately increased its publicity investment in the film. Jim Carrey, who has always shown himself as a comedy star, is more because This extremely special performance has countless fans.

I have to say that the concept of this film is quite avant-garde. The term live broadcast was unknown in the late 1990s, but it did not prevent countless ordinary people from finding their own shadow in "The Truman World".

"Am I also living in Truman's world?"

This is the true thought of countless young people who have seen the movie, and it is also the reason why more moviegoers go to the theater.

"The Truman World" took $31.54 million from the North American theater market in the first three days of its release. Unexpectedly, it won the first weekend box-office championship.

Everything seems to be just the beginning. Entering the working day, the theater market is still dominated by "The Truman World". This film, which has caused countless fans to fall into reflection, after the excellent performance in the first weekend, won the weekly box office champion again the next weekend. The film was released ten days ago, and the North American box office has exceeded 90 million US dollars, which is the first batch of box office in this summer. dark horse.

With the continuous promotion of Paramount Pictures, when it wants to further increase the North American box office, another high-profile movie, two weeks after the release of "The Truman World", has attracted the attention of countless media and fans. The premiere was held.

At 7:00 p.m. North American time on June 19th, a long red carpet was rolled out in front of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Hundreds of media reporters gathered at the scene, and a large number of movie fans waved movie posters and crowded on both sides of the red carpet. .

It's just a seemingly grand premiere, but the starlight seems dim and abnormal. Today, there are not many big names in the circle coming to the platform. The only thing that excites fans and the media is Wayne, who is the first to walk on the red carpet alone. .

"Mr. Greenberg, why did you invest in making a female film? What do you think about the disapproval of "Charlie's Angels" from the outside world?"

"Wayne, what are your expectations for Charlie's Angels? Can you talk about your original intention for making this film..."

"Hey, Wayne, there has always been news from the outside world that the reason you invested in "Charlie's Angels" was because of certain actresses..."

When Wayne One stepped into the media interview area, the reporters seemed to be asking about the **** shark, and they immediately gathered around. All kinds of questions were thrown at him in an instant.

In fact, this "Charlie's Angels" started from the pre-screening publicity work, and the media's speculation about the film has not stopped. In today's Hollywood, a commercial film starring an actress is really too different, and I have to let it go. People are curious.

But no one in this circle is aware of the risks of films from a female perspective. Hollywood's decades of experience and lessons have been telling film companies and investors that commercial films shot purely from a female perspective have never been recognized by the market.

"Hey, hey, hey, gentlemen."

Facing the questions thrown by the reporters, Wayne frowned, raised his hands and pressed down, signaling everyone to listen to him. "One by one, ok?"

"Director Greenberg, I'm Chandler Wesker, a reporter from The New York Times." A reporter standing in front raised his hand and asked loudly, "Can you talk about why you would invest in such a A movie? There is news that you are for the three "hot girls" in the movie, is that so?"

Hearing the reporter's question, the scene immediately returned to silence, and all the reporters were waiting for his answer. Wayne smiled at everyone, pondered for a while, and said to the microphone and dozens of recording pens in front of him: "First of all, I have to state first, the reason why I wrote this script and invested in the filming of the film. , the only purpose is that the fans will like it, which is very important."

Although this answer made most of the people on the scene pouted inwardly, no one was stupid enough to interrupt him at this time.

"I personally think that since the birth of the art form of film, there has not been any film that can please all fans. There is a question that countless people have discussed, what exactly is a good film? In my understanding A good movie is one that most moviegoers like, like my Batman: The Dark Knight, like The Flash that's still in theaters.

Yes, what I want to say is that "Charlie's Angels" is also a wonderful and good movie, and I am confident that it will be loved by fans. This is the only reason to invest in this movie. "

Just as he had just finished speaking, another reporter immediately asked: "Wayne, Hollywood's commercial films purely from a female perspective, so far there has not been a hit at the box office, can you talk about your opinion? Box office expectations for this movie."

"Charlie's Angels will be the box office champion this weekend." The moment he heard the question, he answered confidently.

"Wayne, North American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, released a list of the top 100 movies in the century, and you have two of the top ten movies. People from all walks of life have different opinions on this list, questioning the academy.... .."

"Man, please ask a question related to "Charlie's Angels", ok?"

Before the reporter finished speaking, Wayne directly waved to the crowd, expressing his refusal to answer questions unrelated to the movie.

In fact, the popularity of the list of the top 100 movies in the past century has not passed until now. It is precisely the most controversial point in this list that Wayne is extremely strong and monopolized the two top ten positions. When the list was just released, it happened that he flew to the East, and this is the goal of many reporters' interviews today.

However, he did not give reporters a chance, and then briefly talked about his expectations for "Charlie's Angels", and followed the on-site staff and left the media interview area.

"Charlie's Angels has attracted a lot of attention. Now I just hope that this film will not be sorry for the work that Warner Bros. has done."

In the lounge on the second floor of the Chinese Grand Theater, Bruce Rosenblum, who entered the stage early, hugged Wayne and whispered in his ear.

"Don't worry, you should trust my vision."

After sitting down, Wayne tilted his head and lit a cigarette, and said, "It's also a film from a female perspective. Some people make literary films that strip naked, but what I want is a commercial film that conforms to the aesthetics of the mainstream market! Use films to make money, To make countless male movie fans willing to pay for it, this is the difference between me and other producers!"

"Bruce."

He took a deep breath of the cigarette and let the smoke come out of his nose. And with the cigarette between his fingers, he nodded to Naomi Watts, who was walking on the red carpet, and continued: "You should know me, my principle for movies is whether it should be done for the sake of profit, Starting from the risk, it should be good, starting from the ability, whether they are worth my investment, starting from the result, can it bring me greater benefits!

Instead of listening to those so-called Hollywood experiences and letting them tell me if I'm doing the right thing! Bruce, you should understand why I do this, if Charlie's Angels achieves the desired results, it will not only bring me those **** benefits, but also bring enough market to the following "Wonder Woman" Respond to survey data! "

Bruce Rosenblum shrugged, looked at the lively red carpet in front of the theater from the window, and did not continue to speak for a while.

Up to now, "The Flash" has reaped 270 million US dollars at the North American box office and over 230 million US dollars at the overseas box office. This film, which is too much for DC, in order to draw out the following two important characters, can be said to have completed the task perfectly. .

And this is far from the end of the box office of "The Flash". The summer season is still very long, and the film has been in the theater for a long time. Can this film with audio-visual special effects as its selling point exceed 300 million US dollars at the North American box office? No one would be foolish enough to question this.

Now the attention of Warner Bros. executives has actually been placed on the two follow-up movies of DC, one of which is the top priority of Wonder Woman.

However, there is always a problem that cannot be avoided, that is, Wonder Woman Diana Prince, no matter how popular she is, is still a female character after all. Movies and comics are completely two different carriers. A movie shot with an absolutely female character and a comic with a female character face a completely different acceptance of consumer groups.

So, everyone's eyes were on the "Charlie's Angels". No matter what kind of results this film achieves, the follow-up detailed market research can provide a lot of experience for the production of Wonder Woman, whether it is a successful experience or a failed experience.

"Let's go, let's go down."

It didn't take long for the three heroines to walk the red carpet at one time. Since the publisher, Warner Bros., did not invite any platform guests in the circle, the entire red carpet process was much faster. Wayne greeted and took the lead in walking towards the screening room.

After the two came to the screening room, UU Reading Bruce Rosenblum saw the three heroines of the movie at first glance, Cameron Diaz and Angelina Jolie. With Naomi Watts, they all chatted with each other with a smile.

"Seriously, man." Warner Bros. director of distribution, raised his arm and stabbed Wayne beside him, approached mysteriously, and deliberately lowered his voice to tease: "How the **** did you get the three of them? You know what? Well, the film can be finished smoothly without the three women breaking up the crew, this is the unsolved mystery of the world for me!"

"Want to know? Bruce."

With a mysterious look on his face, Wayne raised his hand and patted Bruce Rosenblum on the shoulder. Under curious eyes, he solemnly said in a low voice:

"I'm

Wayne, I'm

ich! "

"m**he

f**ker? ! "

Bruce Rosenblum stood on the spot and exclaimed, watching the man claiming to be Batman, after hugging three **** and hot women in turn, sat proudly in the middle of the first row.

However, unlike other people's imaginations, after Wayne sat down, he didn't even look at the three women around him, and he didn't even notice when the lights were turned off. He just stared blankly at the title animation that had appeared. Constantly surging, the next "big plan" on his desk!

"Wonder Woman", "Superman", and even later "Justice League"! After several years of brewing, several years of preparation, and if nothing else happens, he will tell the whole Hollywood, and even the whole world, how he created a big scene!

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