Three Hundred and Fifteen-Return to Blood

The preparations for "The Matrix" are proceeding in an orderly manner. Almost every other day, Luke Simmons will call Wayne to chat about the progress of the crew.

In mid-July, when the North American summer season was in full swing, Tom Hanks returned after a year with a heavyweight film "Apollo 13", which swept the entire theater market on the day of its release.

It seems that the North American audience's recognition of Big Tom's face has reached an unprecedented level. As soon as the movie was released, people went crazy. On Friday, it was hard to get a ticket.

However, something unexpected happened again. "Apollo 13", which grossed 60 million US dollars in its first weekend, did not occupy the front page headlines of the entertainment media on Monday. On this day, both film critics and the media were focusing on another film. The film sings its praises.

""Batman Begins" has won the box office championship for four consecutive weeks since its release. Since then, regardless of whether other major productions have been released, the film has maintained a stable and surprising box office trend.

Finally, after this weekend, it once again received US$11.03 million, becoming the only film to reach US$300 million at the box office this year. So far, the cumulative box office has reached 301 million U.S. dollars. The competition for the annual box office championship has been announced in advance, and there is no suspense at all.

Wayne Greenberg's DC masterpiece is far ahead of the second-placed "Pocahontas" with $130 million on the box office list. So far, it is also the only film to exceed $200 million this year..."

---"Premiere"

"Wayne Greenberg's new summer movie, "Batman Begins," officially exceeded $300 million yesterday. This dark and serious masterpiece has a solid box office trend. Since its release, the drop in the second weekend has never exceeded Thirty percent.

Many well-known film critics and film reviewers once asserted that the filming of "Joker" used too much of his talent, and it would be difficult for such a hit film to appear again in ten years. However, only two years have passed, and another box office bomb has been released in the hands of Wayne Greenberg in front of hundreds of millions of movie fans around the world..."

---"Los Angeles Times"

On this day, no matter what type of media, radio or television, almost all put the achievements of "Batman Begins" on the front page or morning show.

Just two years ago, the sudden emergence of "Jurassic Park" and "Joker" pushed the box office of a movie to a terrifying US$300 million for the first time.

Both the media and the public believe that this will become the norm, and that the Hollywood film and cinema markets are making great strides. However, this is just an illusion. After these two films, there is only "Forrest Gump" This work barely reached $300 million.

But "Forrest Gump" is completely a white moonlight in the hearts of North Americans. Its performance overseas can only be said to be neither popular nor popular. It did not create the same results as the first two films, nor did it trigger the so-called global movie viewing trend. .

Only then did everyone wake up. It turned out that the North American box office exceeding US$300 million was still an elusive peak. Even in the world's largest film market, it was not as easy as people imagined.

There are not many films that will surprise movie fans throughout the summer this year. Compared with last year's chaotic dance of demons, this year's film even has a sense of monotony.

Fortunately, at the beginning of the summer season, there was a box office bomb like "Batman Begins," which injected a shot in the arm into the theater market. When the film's screening scale continued to shrink and its popularity gradually faded, Tom Hanks remained as reliable as ever. "Apollo 13" successfully took over and continued to bring a good movie-watching feast to movie fans.

However, insiders and most of the media know that this film cannot be like "Forrest Gump" and its potential cannot reach US$200 million at most. This is why the media announced the annual box office champion in advance.

Just looking at the release schedule for the second half of this year, it is almost impossible to find a work that can compete with "Batman Begins". Film critics say that "Planet 3" and "Seven Deadly Sins" have the greatest chances. Both films are also produced by Warner Bros.

No matter how the outside media sang praises, Wayne did not accept any interviews. Normally, the "Los Angeles Times" could get some things through Bella Grant to publish, but during this special period, the beautiful editor-in-chief did not go to the manor to find it himself. uneasy.

During this period, except for taking Nao Milworth to the hospital for a check-up in a low-key manner every once in a while, Wayne has been vacationing peacefully in the manor. Apart from occasionally caring about Zack Snyder, he basically The workaholic state faded away.

In early August, "The Matrix" entered the formal formation stage. The main actors Li Guohao, Charlize Theron, Gary Oldman, Jean Reno and others also joined the crew. After a short training, the film Shooting will officially begin before the end of September.

Different from Wayne's habit, he is used to shooting any shot at Warner Bros. Studios as much as possible. He is not willing to travel too far away to shoot unless necessary.

After careful inspection, Zack Snyder decided to shoot in Australia. The tax rebates here are relatively high, and the local government can provide free assistance when shooting big scenes such as helicopters. The only thing that needs to be considered is hiring some local staff.

Because this project bears the name of Greenberg's work, it is also the focus of media pursuit. During the preparation period of the film, under the guidance of Warner Bros., a leisurely promotion work was launched.

"Is this your new project?"

On the balcony on the third floor of Greenberg Manor, Naomi Watts held her golden retriever in her arms, lazily watching Wayne revise the script, and asked curiously. "Yes, a small production with a low cost." Looking back at the Australian girl, Wayne handed the script to her casually. "Want to take a look? Tell me about your feelings after watching it."

This familiar scene gave Naomi Watts a very strange feeling. She still clearly remembers that in that small apartment, the other party handed her the script of "Happy Death Day" in the same way.

It was even more because of that script that they, as "good friends" and "partners", started to achieve continuous success in Hollywood from a pair of little people.

She suddenly showed a warm smile, glanced at the man, took the script, and read the synopsis of the story softly.

"In South Boston, Frank Castro, the gang leader who was in his heyday, was dominating. As a wily man, he decided to train Colin, who was only 14 years old, to pave the way for his future. At the same time, Billy, a boy who was born in the neighborhood, , relying on his own efforts, hopes to escape from a life of poverty and crime.

Time flies, Colin and Billy have grown up, and both have been admitted to the police academy and become police officers of the state police. The shrewd, capable and ambitious Colin was quickly promoted to the superintendent of the "Special Investigation Team" after his success in annihilating gangs. He gained his own power in the police station, but he still obeyed Castro. Billy, who grew up on the street and has a somewhat violent personality, although he wanted to be a good policeman, was assigned the task of secretly infiltrating a gang organization and became Castro's right-hand man.

As Castro's criminal gang grew stronger, the police decided to begin secret preparations to root it out. The confrontation became increasingly tense, and the failure of a series of cat-and-mouse operations also made both the police and the sensitive Costello aware that there was a spy inside. A large-scale cleansing operation between the police and gangs is about to begin, and two undercover agents who have suffered physical and mental torture have also begun to embark on the road to infinity..."

It was okay at first, Naomi Watts still had curiosity on her face, but when she saw the specific storyline, especially the characters' lines, she immediately had the urge to throw away the script. This story was full of savagery. Violence and gore are her least favorite types!

"Damn it." About half an hour later, the Australian girl put the script on the table, stretched out her white fingers, and gently pressed her forehead.

"I thought you changed your gender because of "Batman Begins," but I didn't expect you would be filming a movie like this again."

"Uh-huh." Wayne shrugged and gently stroked Fundy's head. "Tell me how you feel after reading it."

After recalling the entire plot setting, Naomi Watts kept simulating the scenes of the film in her mind, and then frowned and said: "First of all, I have to say, I don't like this kind of film very much, and it is not suitable for women and teenagers. Not friendly enough.”

Seeing that the older boy didn't care about her comments, she continued to talk about her feelings. "You didn't set up a bit of drama in the film. The whole story gave me the feeling that it was full of straightforward blood and violence, showing darkness and filth without any scruples.

The large number of "excessive moves" made me feel scared. Now that I think about it carefully, I actually feel a perverted and hearty feeling. This is not like a Greenberg-style work. It lacks the literary drama that you are best at, or in other words, it lacks your acclaimed ability to tell stories in multiple threads.

And those lines, oh my god, this movie of yours will definitely be rated as the movie with the most swear words! Could it be that those men won’t be able to speak after they leave fxxk..."

Listening to the woman's constant complaints, Wayne didn't pay too much attention. To put it bluntly, this movie was not made for girls and teenagers, so it was naturally not very friendly to them.

He clearly remembered that the production cost of this film was about 90 million US dollars. After all, this film was very famous for various reasons.

Different from the old Martin's version of actor requirements, it is now very easy to save money on filming. Just don't hire two Hollywood A-listers to play the leading roles. The production cost will be reduced by more than half immediately.

According to the opinions of more ordinary movie fans in previous lives, this film is definitely one of the biggest differences between Eastern and Western aesthetics. Probably 90% of Eastern movie fans cannot understand this kind of shooting technique that removes poetry. It is simply ruining a classic. .

However, it is such a brutal, violent, bloody and rough film that not only achieved great success at the box office, but also achieved considerable results at the Oscars.