~： Seven hundred and twelve - multiple projects began to prepare

Hollywood Draw 712 - Multiple projects begin preparations

"Boss, it seems that even if I leave your team, there is still a tacit understanding between us."

Zach Snyder ignored the surprise of the two executives, as if he was suddenly relieved, with a smile on his face at the same time.

"Shit, don't look at me with your ambiguous eyes." As if he had known Zach Snyder would agree, Wayne shrugged, joking in a mocking tone. "Damn tacit understanding, I don't know if you are normal or not, but my orientation is very normal and I have no interest in you."

Certain things, in fact, in Zach Snyder's eyes, were more or less clear early in the morning. Although after watching several "The Matrix", Bruce Rosenblum of Warner Bros. believes that he can directly take over the opening series of Superman, and he is also sparing no effort to help him win.

But there are some things that he can't change by himself and with the support of a Warner Bros. executive. He thinks very clearly that with his current status, there is absolutely no way to convince more senior management of Warner Bros., he still needs more success to establish his position.

Directing Superman is alluring, but the stakes are enormous. Zach Snyder believes that if Wayne says he will fully support him, he will definitely help him get the director's position, but what about the follow-up?

Once there is any uncontrollable accident in the project, the success he accumulated in the previous filming of "The Matrix" will all be thrown into the stinky ditch. It is an obvious objective fact that with his current identity and status, he can lose everything if he fails, and now he has no capital to take risks.

"Wayne, listen to me, you're not a robot."

Silently exhaling a large cloud of green smoke, Jeff Robinoff and Bruce Rosenblum looked at each other, and after calming down a little, they still persuaded: "Hollywood has never lacked high-yield directors, and there has never been a shortage of those Directors who directed two or even three films at the same time, but you have to know what films those directors are directing!

This kind of big investment project requires a long preparation for the project, let alone two, even if it is one, it will still make you overdraft all your energy within a few months. Wayne, I'd rather you shoot slowly one after the other than see some unfortunate outcome. "

"Jeff is right."

Before Wayne could say anything, Bruce Rosenblum immediately said: "You must remember Jurassic Park and Schindler's List in 1993? Pierberg, I was almost tortured crazy by these two films!

I have to remind you that even then, Steven Spielberg was filming one after the other, seamless at best, and not a lot of crossover work. Moreover, there is a very important point. If George Lucas hadn't joined him on the set and in the post-production studio, there is a high probability that both films would have died! "

Speaking of which, people only saw the great success of Steven Spielberg in 1993, but all ignored the role of George Lucas.

As Jeff Robinoff said, people are not robots. The modern film system has a complete and precise set of operating rules. There are some things that you can't just speed up.

Especially for such commercial films with large investment and production, whether it is the tedious preparatory work in the early stage or the production of various special effects models, there is simply no room for speeding up.

For a director who has been directing and producing large-scale commercial films for a long time, if he can keep producing one film a year, he is already regarded as a Hollywood fast shooter. And as long as you observe carefully, you can find that even a director who produces one commercial film a year is rare in the circle, not many.

Steven Spielberg's mature team contributed a lot to the two huge projects "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's List" in one year. One more important point is the full support of George Lucas regardless of cost.

Don't look at the movie director's column, where Steven Spielberg's name is written, but in fact the father of Star Wars has paid a lot, especially "Jurassic Park", that's true I plunged headlong into the post-production studio, just to free up some of my friend's time to focus on preparing for "Schindler's List".

"It will come, Jeff."

Hearing the persuasion of the two executives, Wayne smiled and shook his head, put out the cigarette into the ashtray, glanced at the faces of the two executives, and whispered: "Justice League" After that, the DC series will inevitably speed up the production speed to pave the way for the second stage of the high nest, by that time, do you think it is possible for me to play every movie in person?"

His words silenced the three men present. At least at this point in time, neither the two executives nor Zach Snyder had thought that far.

However, this is the truth. All senior executives at Warner Bros. know that the first stage of the DC Cinematic Universe is all about building roads in the desert. At this stage, the difficulty is far less than it is now.

For example, the work to be done later is more like the road built by Wayne, and quickly filmed movies such as "The Flash 2", "Superman 2", "Batman 3", "Wonder Woman 2", etc. Based on the previous work and "Justice League", the probability of failure will be far less than success.

Even in the second stage, it is enough to repeat the current Wayne's practice and gradually introduce more DC characters. A little troublesome is just the opening work of the newly added important characters, but such a work can be directly handed over to Wayne to direct.

Therefore, once the DC universe enters the second stage, the speed will inevitably accelerate significantly. At that time, Wayne's identity became more of a chief producer and chief planner, and even for unimportant sequel films, letting him do the actual work was a complete waste of his work energy.

"Yeah, that day will come." Jeff Robinoff nodded and repeated in a low voice.

"There's no problem with Zach's abilities."

At least it's not a problem when he's staring in the general direction, Wayne didn't say it directly. He narrowed his eyes and whispered the best way he could think of. "The opening of "Superman" and the opening of "Wonder Woman" were prepared together, but the focus of the early stage was on "Wonder Woman".

Jeff, Bruce, this will guarantee that in May next year, "Wonder Woman" will be officially released in the theater market. After the post-production work of "Wonder Woman" is over, we will shift the focus of our work back to "Superman", which is not as complicated as you think. In fact, the two films still exist in a sequential order. "

The current situation is actually a little embarrassing. That's Warner Bros. and Wayne, there's no time for Zach Snyder to practice.

If Zha Dao was asked to provoke the "Superman" project alone, Wayne would not be at ease in his heart, after all, the importance of this project is too high. All he is worried about is the details. Not only is he afraid that Zha Dao can't help but abuse the high-speed slow motion, but also that the final film will become a carnival for DC fans.

Therefore, this is the best solution he can think of, but it will only make himself tired for a few months.

In fact, in Wayne's original idea, there is another solution, that is to find a way to invite Tim Burton back, let the dark gothic director and Zach Snyder partner, the two people's styles influence each other and complement each other, More importantly, the films produced by these two people will never be separated from the overall DC environment.

But there are also a lot of troubles in doing so. Not to mention the difficulty of bringing back Tim Burton, that is, the collision and running-in of two powerful directors in the crew will also bring about a lot of disputes. In the end, he gave up this idea. .

"That's good, Wayne."

Jeff Robinoff shrugged helplessly, looked into Wayne's eyes, and said seriously: "The project proposals for "Wonder Woman" and "Superman" should be submitted to the film and television production department for review as soon as possible, and Warner Brothers will do their best Support your work."

Wayne nodded. The time is now in early September. In his plan, "Wonder Woman" must start large-scale preparations in early October at the latest. On the other hand, in the project of "Superman", we can invest less energy and let Zach Snyder lead the work in the early stage.

"Jeff, the project proposal has already been made, I will revise some details when I go back, and Jimmy will submit it to Warner Bros. before this Friday at the latest. You try your best to speed up the review, we don't have much time to waste. "

"no problem."

"Okay, that's it." Without any nonsense, Wayne stood up directly, and while sorting out his suit jacket, he nodded to several people present, ready to leave. "You know, I'm definitely going to be so busy this year, and there's a whole bunch of stuff waiting for me."

Seeing that he was about to leave immediately after talking about business, Jeff Robinoff hurriedly put down the cigar in his hand and said quickly: "Wayne, Greenberg Studio and Warner Bros., this year's joint investment project... "

"Jimmy will come over and talk to the film and television production department."

Leaving this sentence, waving at a few people, Wayne turned around and left the office with you.

After several people watched him leave, it took several minutes before Jeff Robinoff turned his attention to Zach Snyder, who had been quiet.

"Zach, we all know that there is no problem with your ability, but..." Speaking of this, the Warner Bros. ceo spread his hands. "Wait until this year is over and Warner Bros. will definitely give you the treatment you deserve."

"Hey, don't worry, Jeff."

Zach Snyder shook his head with a smile and said generously: "Trust me, the results are not bad for me now, and I have no other thoughts in my mind."

It's clear that, no matter how nice it sounds, he's been working as a full-time director most of the time on the Superman project. But in name, the project director is not him, which is hard for an ambitious director not to have some ideas.

Probably the only upside is that he does all the work with the full support of Wayne and the Warner Bros. producers and doesn't have to carry the pressure that a director should carry.

After politely sending Zack Snyder away, there were only three people left in the entire office. Only then did the two executives of Warner Bros. look at John Gray, who was sitting in the corner.

"The preparatory work for "The Lord of the Rings" is almost halfway through, especially the shooting scenes set up in advance." John Gray saw the two looking at him, and he didn't hesitate, and began to quickly talk about his work. "Including the production of special effects models, the ordering of more than 2,000 items of props and costumes, and various weapons and armors..."

"John."

Hearing him talk about the preparation progress of "The Lord of the Rings", Bruce Rosenblum frowned slightly, raised his arm and waved it twice, interrupting his words. "I heard that the company called Weta Special Effects Studio accepted Wayne's capital injection?"

This is what they are interested in. As for the preparation progress of "The Lord of the Rings", the production progress of props and special effects, the two executives don't care at all.

Hearing Bruce Rosenblum's question, John Gray was stunned for a moment, then looked at the two executives and nodded. "As far as I know, it's like this."

"Is it possible for the Weta special effects company to accept investment from Warner Bros.?"

Getting the answer he wanted, Jeff Robinoff scratched his head twice with his cigar fingers, and asked directly.

"I don't know, but Peter Jackson will be in Los Angeles tomorrow at the latest, and I can test his attitude."

The two executives looked at each other and nodded. "Don't worry, the production time of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy will not be too short anyway."

That's right, what interested them even more was the Weta Special Effects Studio. They don't believe the so-called investigative report, nor are they interested in going to New Zealand to learn about this small company, but an important basis is that Wayne invested in it!

The two executives present were definitely the people who knew Wayne best. They still remember that Wayne had been using the IMDB Internet Movie Database a few years earlier. But it is such an Internet company with unlimited potential that he has no idea of ​​investing.

It was such a small special effects company that he would not hesitate to inject capital, which was enough to arouse the curiosity of Warner Bros. If nothing else, Warner Bros. really has no shortage of money to join.

The conversation on Warner Bros. had just ended, and the first thing Wayne did when he returned to the manor was to revise the details of the project plans for “Wonder Woman” and “Superman” so that they could be submitted to Warner Bros. for review as soon as possible.

The next day was in the morning. Peter Jackson, a big fat man from New Zealand, just like John Gray, the producer of The Lord of the Rings, got in a car and rushed to Greenberg Manor as soon as the plane landed.

It was only after a brief exchange with Wayne that he contacted his producer, and at the same time, news of The Lord of the Rings' upcoming large-scale audition at Warner Studios began to spread in the circle.

After securing Wayne's consent, Warner Bros. used its connections to simultaneously offer to CAA (Creative Elite Agency), WME (William Morris Endeavour Agency), UTA (United Elite Agency) and Iers (International Creative Management Partnership). Company) and other major Hollywood brokerage companies, issued a large number of cast and crew audition invitations.

The "Lord of the Rings" project naturally has no shortage of attention. In less than a week, the agents of major Hollywood brokerage companies brought their clients to a studio in Warner Studios. Long queue.

Of course, choosing the right actors is by no means an easy task. What we are doing now is only a wide-ranging selection. After the final list of actors is out, there will be multiple rounds of auditions. It wasn't until the final round of auditions that Wayne showed up.

As time went on, the North American summer season gradually calmed down. After Wayne submitted the project plans for "Wonder Woman" and "Superman" to Warner Bros. for review, he began to arrange some work in Greenberg Studio as soon as possible. .

In mid-September, even "The Matrix 3: The Matrix Revolution", which had been performing well before, slowly fell into decline after four weeks of release. Because of its R-rated nature, the North American box office only took in $18.5 million in the latest week, bringing the film's total North American box office to $183 million.

In this era, basically as long as North American films perform well, the overseas box office is always the same. "The Matrix 3: The Matrix Revolution" landed in the overseas theater market for two weeks and reported a box office of 123 million US dollars. The film's global box office successfully exceeded 300 million US dollars, and the follow-up can only rely on the show time to grow slowly.

However, for this year's Warner Bros., although the summer season is coming to an end, the films they produce and distribute continue to dominate the North American theater market.

Just when the box office of "The Matrix: The Matrix Revolution" showed a decline, on September 18, Warner Bros. released an action comedy with a special cast in more than 2,600 mainstream commercial theaters in North America.

Once this "Rush Hour" was released, the results shocked the attention of most film companies in the circle. Ja, a Hong Kong action superstar, entered the eyes of mainstream audiences in North America for the first time, and also stood in the mainstream of Hollywood for the first time. Action movie stage.

Before the release of "Rush Hour", even Warner Bros., the distributor, did not expect that such a movie starring a Hong Kong Kung Fu star and a black man responsible for funny would be able to attract fans again after the summer season cools down. Widespread popularity.

It can be said that Ja's unique action style instantly attracted all the attention on the big screen, allowing North American fans to experience the freshness of kung fu comedy for the first time.

"The total investment was $33 million, and the North American box office grossed $55 million in its first week."

In a lounge at the Glendale DreamWorks headquarters, George Lucas held a glass of red wine, looked away from a newspaper at the bar, turned to look at his old friend and said, "I can guarantee that Warner Bros. The publicity investment on Moment is definitely less than ten million dollars! Gee, it’s hard for Warner Bros. to make money without getting back all the investment in one weekend.”

Steven Spielberg shrugged, laughed and joked: "This year's most profitable is Wayne."

"Speaking of this, I have special news here that you will definitely be interested in." Picking up the red wine and taking a sip, George Lucas glanced at Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was beside him, and looked at his old friend said mysteriously.

"what news?"

"I also just learned about it." Without continuing to sell off, George Lucas said while drinking while watching the two DreamWorks giants: "You should have heard about the audition in Warner Studios. UU Read the book As far as I know, Wayne's total investment in the "Lord of the Rings" project will never be less than $150 million.

This is not the point. The point is that two days ago, Greenberg Studio signed a contract with the Chinese star of "The Matrix" for a new project. I heard that it was a project about dogs and an action movie. Now this project has also started to organize and prepare, but it has not attracted much media attention. "

Steven Spielberg pouted and raised his glass to signal. "What the **** are you trying to say, George?"

The Father of Star Wars stretched out his finger and tapped lightly on the bar in front of him. "The action movie and starring are the starring roles of the fire movie "The Matrix", believe me, the investment in this project will at least be a medium-sized movie project.

Don't worry, listen to me as I continue to say, after this action movie project began to be organized, a paparazzi filmed Wayne asking David Lynch for coffee..."

"David Lynch? It seems to be another project that will not be too small." Steven Spielberg nodded. "I heard for a long time that Wayne's studio will launch multiple projects in a row. I didn't expect him to move so quickly!"

Seeing that his old friend still didn't understand, George Lucas hinted unintentionally: "Hey, buddy, you said, if this goes on, even if Wayne has more cash flow, there will be huge financial pressure. ?"

"You mean..."

Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg looked at each other and immediately understood the meaning of the old friend. "I'll find a chance to have a chat with Wayne and see if he's willing to accept financing from DreamWorks."+Bookmark+