Chapter 147

"The biggest difficulty in the adaptation of Batman is how to show the power of Bruce Wayne. In the cartoon setting, the superhero's intelligence and force have reached the peak that can be reached by a human being. At the same time, he has abundant financial resources and various high-tech equipment as the backing. When necessary, he can even compete with superheroes such as Superman and green lantern. If it's comics, anime or TV series, of course, these can be shown little by little through the plot. But in a movie that usually lasts only about two hours, it's very difficult to highlight these. A little inattention may make Batman very mediocre. "

Inheriting the memory of more than a dozen people, Simon has detailed information about various versions of Batman movies in his mind.

From Tim Burton's first film Batman, Bruce Wayne is almost habitually robbed of the limelight by the villains. Even in the later "League of justice", Batman, who was supposed to be the leader of the team, is completely reduced to the role of a marginalized passer-by, and does not show any charm that this enduring superhero should have.

It has been half a century since Batman's role was born in 1939, and there are many live action versions, but none of them have left any impression on the audience. This is actually the main reason why Warner is worried about launching the film version. Superman can also show all kinds of super abilities. Batman is just a mortal after all. No one knows what techniques and styles to use to bring the superhero to the big screen.

In the dining room.

Terry Semel listened to Simon's analysis and asked, "Simon, do you think you can solve these problems?"

Simon took a sip of the mineral water next to him, put down his glass and said, "of course, otherwise I wouldn't be interested in the adaptation of Batman."

Terry Semel had a curious look: "tell me more about it."

Simon's plan is actually to start the DC superhero universe ahead of time, link Batman, Superman, wonder woman and other characters together, and make a series of superhero movies. Compared with the higher technical requirements of Marvel superheroes, it is not too difficult for the current technical conditions to meet the DC Universe.

However.

These are certainly not clear to Terry Semel, Simon also prepared another speech in advance.

"Batman has been given too many skills in half a century's cartoon creation, which definitely needs to be chosen. Therefore, I intend to highlight Batman's personal force value and his high-tech equipment, such as Batmobile, bat fighter, etc. compared with Bruce Wayne's wisdom and strategy, these elements are most likely to amaze the audience. If Warner is willing to hand over this project to Denise pictures, I will set up a special effects and technical team to solve these problems. "

Terry Semel shook his head and said, "Simon, your account is too general."

Simon said: "it's not one or two sentences that can be made clear. It involves too many things. For example, Terry, in my opinion, Hollywood basically does not have a commendable action movie. I plan to learn some experience from martial arts movies across the ocean. Do you know martial arts movies? "

Terry Semel nodded and said, "probably, know something."

Simon laughed and said, "if you're interested, I can recommend some films to you. Oriental martial arts has a history of thousands of years. Their martial arts novels are similar to superhero cartoons, telling stories about people who punish evil in order to maintain justice. Moreover, compared with boxing and other techniques with almost no aesthetic feeling, the impact of Oriental Kung Fu on the screen will be very shocking. "

Terry Semel suddenly said, "I remember, Bruce Lee."

"Yes, it's Bruce Lee's Kung Fu."

Terry Semel hesitated: "I still have some impressions of Bruce Lee's movies. Simon, you think his movement skills can be applied to Batman."

Simon said: "according to the cartoon, Batman has more than 100 fighting skills, a large part of which is Oriental Kung Fu. And, of course, I will not copy the oriental martial arts movies, I will tailor a set of action design for Bruce Wayne. "

Terry Semel looked at Simon: "you?"

Simon raised the tableware, took a knife in his hand, and said to Terry Semel with a smile: "Terry, I know some fighting skills. And, if necessary, I'll hire more professional movement instructors. "

There are too many classic action scenes in Simon's mind. His positioning for Batman's fighting style is simple and sharp. It's easy to create a set of action design for Bruce Wayne from the movies, TV and video games in his memory. He doesn't even need to invite action directors.

As a matter of fact, there is no professional action director in Hollywood at all now. This profession gradually flourished in the late 1990s when film makers from across the ocean entered Hollywood, and Hollywood action movies began to be popular after that.

Now, the action scenes in Hollywood movies are basically the level of drunken street fighting.Terry Semel looks at Simon's hand movement, but remembers that he broke five young men's leg bones with one to five at the end of the year before last. He no longer doubts that this young man can design special action scenes for Batman. But, inevitably, he felt again that there was something wrong with this young man who suddenly broke into Hollywood.

"Simon, if I understand correctly, what you just mean is that you want to undertake the production of Batman completely?"

"Yes, I will write the script and direct the film myself. Terry, you know, I've always been used to taking complete control of my projects. So far, several of my films have been very successful

Terry Semel asked, "what about the movie you owe Disney?"

"I'm going to redeem the director's contract with Disney recently. If Disney doesn't agree, it will be behind Batman. The contract doesn't stipulate that I have to fulfill my contract with Disney before I can make other films."

At the beginning, due to the success of "Lola Run", Disney signed a very loose contract with Simon.

In fact, this is also the treatment of many front-line directors in Hollywood. Just like Spielberg, the four films he signed with universal after "Jaws" have not yet been completed, but he has frequently cooperated with paramount and Warner in recent years.

"Now that you have so many ideas, Simon, what's the budget? How much are you going to spend on this film?"

Simon said, "50 million dollars."

Terry Semel was obviously startled: "one?"

"Of course."

Simon nodded, and he understood why Terry Semel asked.

Ten years ago, Superman's production budget was $55 million, which set a record for film production costs at that time.

But in fact, Superman's first $55 million investment was a one-time shot of the trilogy. Even up to 2006, superman returns still used the lens shot by Marlon Brando.

Hollywood film budget has shown a trend of explosion, but the budget can reach 50 million dollars is still very few.

In Simon's plan, he plans to use the next half year to improve all aspects of Batman's technical problems, and Denise pictures will set up its own special effects studio just like Lucas did when he made Star Wars. All these require huge investment.

On the other hand, Simon's budget of $50 million is actually to force Warner out of the project as much as possible.

In the original time and space, Tim Burton's Batman production budget was only 35 million US dollars, and it was the result of Warner's joint investment with British record giant Polaroid, which also led to the success of the first Batman, and Warner had to continue to take Polaroid's share in many sequels.

Even, in order to save money, Warner signed the biggest Omni channel profit sharing contract in Hollywood history with Jack Nicholson, who played the clown.

After the success of Batman, Jack Nicholson earned more than $50 million from the box office, video sales, peripheral products and other channels, which was not broken until 2000.

On the other hand, Warner also ignored the issue of sequels, so he didn't sign a long-term film contract with the creator, which also made the leading roles of several big Batman films in the 1990s constantly change, greatly affecting the box office results of the films.

After the success of the film, "Batman" has become a big gold mine. It's hard for outsiders to understand why Warner made such a series of stupid decisions. But the reason is very simple. In the final analysis, Warner now has no confidence in Batman's live action film project.

To be fair, Simon actually thinks that Tim Burton's version of Batman doesn't have many bright spots, or even very bad ones.

Bruce Wayne, played by Michael Keaton, is a passer-by more than Big Ben many years later. She doesn't show Batman's personality at all. The heroine Kim Basinger's acting skills are off-line. Even the well-known clown is just Jack Nicholson's average standard. More mean, Jack Nicholson's clown is excellent because the main character is too bad.

So why is Burton's Batman so successful?

The reason is simple.

As a superhero character that has lasted for half a century, Batman's popularity in American hearts is very similar to journey to the West on the other side of the ocean. We all know that Bruce Wayne took the road of punishing evil because he saw his parents killed by gangsters as a child, just like people on the other side of the ocean know that a monkey jumped out of a stone.

So.

For the first time, this superhero who exists in the hearts of generations in the United States has been formally put on the big screen in the form of high budget live action movies. Many people are not interested in comics at all, just because they have heard Batman's name too many times from childhood to adulthood, they are likely to go into the cinema. Not to mention the fans who grew up with comics.Therefore, for the first time, Batman will be on the big screen. As long as the film is not too bad, it is destined to be a big sell.

Tim Burton's film style always has a very strange innocence, which is not suitable for making superhero movies at all. The success of "Batman" just happened to happen.

Later facts also proved this point. The budget cost of the sequel Batman returns, which Bolton continued to direct, more than doubled, but the box office dropped sharply compared with the first one. Later, several sequels of Batman, which continued Bolton's style, were worse than one another, and finally rotted completely after Batman and robin in 1997.

Batman IP was resurrected by Nolan many years later, and then DC was brought to another pit by Nolan without any suspense.

At this point.

In a restaurant near Warner studios in Burbank, it was confirmed that Simon was going to invest 50 million US dollars to shoot Batman. Terry Semel really hesitated. Simon noticed Terry Semel's expression and didn't show too much urgency. They began to eat quietly.

After two or three minutes, Terry Semel added, "Simon, Warner is looking forward to you directing Batman, but we're not going to let it go completely. At least, we must participate in part of the investment. In this way, the production budget of 50 million US dollars will be too high. "

Simon shook his head and said, "Terry, we have to invest more in superhero movies like Batman to win the audience's approval. Just like Superman, the budget for the first movie is 55 million US dollars, and the global box office is more than 300 million US dollars. In last year's Superman 4, Canon cut its budget cost to $17 million, and the box office in North America immediately fell to more than $15 million, and there was no splash overseas. If we blindly care about the cost, the result will only be failure. "

Terry Semel was obviously more aware of the situation than Simon. After a moment of silence, he said, "Simon, why don't you write the script first and let's evaluate it together. Maybe it doesn't cost 50 million dollars."

"According to my plan, 50 million dollars will only be higher, never lower," Simon shook his head and said, "Terry, I know warner can't afford 50 million dollars of investment risk, so I plan to do it myself. Give me Batman, and maybe I can make another box office winner of the year like Lola Run. Of course, the distribution right must belong to Warner, which is a win-win thing. "

Terry Semel thought for a second and said, "Simon, if you're going to make Batman on your own, you can, but Warner will only grant danielis pictures the right to shoot, and the copyright is still ours."

Simon asked, "is it like Canon pictures and Sargent's Superman 4?"

Last summer's "Superman 4", Canon pictures just got the shooting license of Superman, the copyright is still in the hands of British producer Alexander Salkind.

Terry Semel nodded, "that's right."

Simon shook his head: "Terry, I can't make a movie and get kicked out by Warner."

Terry Semel denied: "we certainly won't do that."

Simon said: "why don't we sign a five-year license contract, and within five years, danelis pictures failed to launch the sequel, and the copyright returned to DC."

Terry Semel thought about it and said, "three years at most, and Warner needs to keep the investment in the sequel."

Simon insisted: "three years is too short for big budget series. It has to be five years. Moreover, if Warner wants the investment right of the sequel, danielis pictures must also retain certain distribution rights. "

After bargaining for more than ten minutes, they finally finalized a cooperation plan.

Denise pictures won a five-year copyright term for Batman. After the project started, Denise pictures could not produce a sequel within five years, and the copyright automatically returned to DC.

However, Simon and Terry Semel have not yet reached a specific agreement on many details, such as the investment right and distribution right of the sequel, and the profit distribution of peripheral products in the future. They need more detailed negotiation in the future, but the result of this lunch has surprised Simon.