Chapter 948 The Era of Superstars

Two days later, Stallone got on a plane flying back to the United States.

Going back with him, there was also a script called "Rambo" in the bag.

Stallone is a resolute person and very opinionated, but this time he couldn't help but call his mother, who depended on each other, to sign the contract.

I don’t know what his mother said on the phone. Stallone finally agreed to Yin Jun’s conditions and signed a 20-year 10-movie contract at Schwarzenegger’s price.

Then he got this script written by Yin Jun.

Rambo, the Chinese translation is a person's name, called Rambo.

The movie with this name is not famous at all in China, but if you tell its Chinese translation, everyone will soon realize it.

its another name

It's called

"first drop of blood".

This trilogy, which was considered a classic series in China in the 1980s, was also extremely popular in the United States, completely surpassing "Rocky" and establishing Stallone's status as a top Hollywood star in one fell swoop.

It can be said that "Rocky" only helped Stallone become famous, but it was "First Blood" that really made him famous.

Moreover, "First Blood" is one of the few series of movies in the 1980s and 1990s in which one is better than the last.

Even in 2020, Yin Jun saw some TV stations playing episodes one, two, and three of "Rambo" at night.

The first episode is indeed a bit old when viewed from the perspective of after 2000, but if viewed in the context of 1981, it is very trendy and reflects the reality of American society in recent years. Couldn't be more apt.

The general content of the first episode is very simple. The protagonist Rambo is a veteran who came back from the Vietnam War. However, when he returned to his hometown, he was treated unfairly in various ways, so he just broke out and joined a group of police officers. The police and even the soldiers fought against each other and were very tough, and finally won.

This movie script is not Yin Jun’s original work.

This is a novel that was published in the 1970s. Yin Jun knew that it had the same title as the movie, so last year he asked Tang Shuxuan to buy the movie adaptation rights of this book.

The script written by Yin Jun himself was written long before he bought the adaptation rights.

The content of the novel is actually much darker and more depressing than "First Blood". Stallone's version has been modified a lot. In Yin Jun's version, some unnecessary conflicts and some abrupt aspects have been modified.

For example, the small town police chief was actually thought to be a good and loyal policeman in the book, but in the movie he became vicious and vicious. In Yin Jun's view, this was completely unnecessary.

If you want to create a conflict, the correct approach should be to start analyzing and pondering the different values ​​​​of the two people, so that the audience will gain more insights.

In terms of some details, Yin Jun also made modifications based on the evaluation of it by later generations. When Yin Jun changed it into an English script, he felt that it would be about 20% more watchable than the original version. .

Although Stallone looks tall and thick, he is actually a very sensitive and delicate person.

After watching the shocking match between Muhammad Ali and an amateur boxer, he was able to detect the topic of "from grassroots to blockbuster", and immediately wrote it into a script. This is the "Rocky" for which he became famous. 》.

Stallone knew immediately what kind of social issues the script of "First Blood" reflected.

The overwhelming pain, even 40 years later, is still painful in the hearts of Americans, let alone just a few years after it ended.

Since Americans have deep feelings, then this movie can be made, and it is very promising!

Stallone immediately decided to put aside his "Rocky 3" for the time being and finish "First Blood" first.

The production copyright of "Rocky" belongs to him, and he can do it at any time. In addition, the second episode was only produced the year before last, so the audience was more or less tired, so they could just wait and see.

"First Blood" is being made now, just to strike while the iron is hot, and its production is relatively uncomplicated, with no special effects requirements, and the location where it takes place is just a small town and the mountainous area behind it.

Places like this can be found everywhere in the United States.

Yin Jun gave him a budget of 15 million US dollars, and Stallone was very happy. This was the first time he had received such a high budget.

When "Rocky" was produced, we didn't even have the money to hire more than 20 extras, and the entire budget was less than 1 million US dollars.

"Rocky 2" has gone up a lot, but it's still less than 10 million.

Now "First Blood" directly earns 15 million US dollars, of course he is happy.

He still doesn’t know that Yin Jun only gave 20 million US dollars to "Terminator", which required special effects production.

The total production cost of the first "Terminator" in the previous life did not exceed 10 million US dollars. Yin Jun paid twice as much, but he didn't know the bottom line.

He didn't know when the truck driver's road to become a technical geek started. If he saw that his boss was very rich, he decided to spend thirty to fifty million dollars, and there would be nothing Yin Jun could do.

Therefore, Yin Jun initially gave him 20 million U.S. dollars, and then left him with 10 million U.S. dollars, and he would definitely not give him any more in the future.

It’s good to be serious about technology, but for the first movie, you have to let the truck driver know a little bit about saving. Otherwise, he is guaranteed to get a sky-high production fee for "Terminator 2" and "Titanic". Can you believe it? Do not believe?

What Stallone is most happy about right now is not the production funds, but the trust and power given to him by Yin Jun.

The producer, director and star of "First Blood" are all him, Sylvester Stallone!

This means that on the set, he is the one in control, and the entire film can reflect his will.

And when the final edit was being made, Stallone still had the power to make suggestions.

He was even more happy about this.

Ever since "Heaven's Gate" brought United Artists to the brink of collapse, the seven major Hollywood giants reacted quickly and took back almost all of the final editing rights.

The only exception is probably Spielberg.

George Lucas doesn't count because he has his own company.

Stallone knew that of course he could not compare with Spielberg. He was not yet qualified for the final editing rights. It was already a great privilege to allow him to attend and express his opinions.

Yin Jun did not treat him badly in terms of salary. The base salary for 10 movies was 2 million, plus 2% of the North American box office share.

This is not the era of 20 million clubs or 30 million clubs led by Schwarzenegger.

Hollywood stars, such as Stallone, can get a salary of 1 million or 2 million for a movie, which is already considered very high.

We still have to wait until the 1990s for the real era when film salaries continue to take off.

With so many promises and favorable conditions, Stallone feels that joining the Kirin Group is definitely a good thing!

Therefore, he couldn't wait to say goodbye to Yin Jun, and was ready to return to the United States to choose his own production team at United Artists Film Company.

At present, part of the team of United Artists Film Company has been selected by Bruckheimer and part by Cameron. There are not many talents left, and he has to carefully select them.

As both a producer and director, Stallone is not afraid of anyone being disobedient. He just needs to choose the most suitable people.

As for the actor, he also has many suitable friends who are suitable to star in this movie.

It feels so good to have nothing restricted!

…

Stallone was happy, and Yin Jun was even happier.

Recruiting Stallone is definitely a very cost-effective thing.

Except it was 1981, and it was impossible for Yin Jun to capture these two superstars, Stallone and Schwarzenegger.

Therefore, it is best to start everything early.

Basically none of the superstars in Yin Jun's memory have made their debut, and some are even children with plenty of time.

If anyone needs to be recruited in recent years, Yin Jun actually knows it.

In fact, Hollywood will basically be divided into two stages in the next forty years.

The dividing line between these two stages is the emergence of "Iron Man", the "first part of the Marvel Universe series" in 2008.

The next twenty years or so of Hollywood will be an era of watching superstars.

"As long as it's a movie starring Harrison Ford, I'll watch it."

“If you don’t support Schwarzenegger’s movies, what other movies can you watch?”

"Bruce Willis? The fiery iron-blooded man! You must watch it!"

"..."

Thoughts like this represent the fans' attitude towards the movie.

At this time, they didn't care about the movie itself, but about which superstar starred in it.

That’s why the 20 million dollar club and the 30 million dollar club are so popular.

However, after "Iron Man" and the emergence of movies based on special effects and selling points, Hollywood does not seem to need superstars so much.

Because except for those few people, I can rely on the plot and special effects to promote the movie. I can create some new stars myself, and the price doesn't have to be high. Why not?

For example, Andre Garfield, who was very successful in the first and second parts of "The Amazing Spider-Man", was directly replaced when his salary was soaring. The protagonist of "The Amazing Spider-Man" was replaced by someone with a very low salary. Dutch brother.

In this era, big stars are not a necessity at all. The super IPs of each film company are the most important conditions for attracting movie fans to enter the cinema.

But the special effects technology at that time was very expensive, costing anywhere from 50 to 60 million or even hundreds of millions, which was far more expensive than hiring a superstar ten years ago.

So both have their own pros and cons.

What Yin Jun is encountering now is an era that needs superstars.

And some of the superstars in his impression can be slowly recruited!

…

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