Six Hundred and Fifty - Guaranteed

On the balcony of the master bedroom on the third floor of a hillside villa in Palisade, a traditionally affluent area in west Los Angeles, the man tilted his head and listened intently to the phone. He held a cigarette in his other hand and took a sip from time to time.

The two women sitting opposite him subconsciously remained silent. As the man smoked more frequently, the atmosphere gradually became more and more solid. Especially Halle Berry, one of the protagonists, completely lost the joy of buying a new house, and his expression was extremely complicated.

"I know, let's do this first."

Wayne threw the mobile phone on the table, turned his head and continued to look at the scenery down the mountain. The cigarette in the corner of his mouth and the slowly narrowing of his eyes all showed that he was deep in thought at this time. The two women looked at each other and chose not to ask immediately.

Things were far simpler than he thought. Through Jimmy's report on the phone, he already had a rough guess about the whole thing. The biggest possibility now is that the smoke bombs released by himself and Bruce Rosenblum not only confused the entire Hollywood, but also confused some people at Warner Brothers.

When "The Flash" had its first internal test screening at Warner Bros., there was indeed some dissonance, but both Wayne and CEO Jeff Robinoff knew that this situation was normal. .

The story of this "The Flash" is relatively simple, and the overall trend is towards commercial science fiction popcorn. It is indeed very different from his previous style. These are objective facts, but they are far less popular than those "tattletales" circulated in the industry. Outrageous.

The reason why those news are circulating is completely a smoke bomb released by Bruce Rosenblum. In addition, in order to make more people believe that this film does have problems, after discussing with Wayne, Warner Bros. released The department simply canceled the scheduled media preview, and naturally there was no fan preview.

In fact, both the core executives of Warner Bros. and Wayne himself are very clear that the attributes of this film are relatively simple and far less in-depth than "The Dark Knight". The so-called test screenings are difficult to distinguish between the pros and cons. It is better to simply move than to remain silent, so as to maintain the mystery of the film and maximize the curiosity of movie fans.

The benefits of this are very obvious. They saw a lot clearly from the fact that they were suddenly bumped by Universal Pictures the previous year and joined "Jurassic Park 2" halfway. Who knew that this year, in addition to "Godzilla", there would be Are there no other opponents hiding in the shadows waiting for the opportunity to stab them?

The facts are also obvious. Faced with the seemingly controversial "The Flash", Paramount couldn't wait to jump out.

One thing Bruce Rosenbloom and Wayne both agree on is that enemies hiding in the dark are far less scary than competitors on the surface. At the very least, one must know whether the knife that comes with fierce competition will be used. In whose hands.

"Jingle Bell."

While Wayne was still dazed, the mobile phone that Nina had just put away rang again. The phone rang on the balcony of the spacious and quiet villa bedroom, instantly attracting the attention of three people.

"give it to me."

Shaking his head slightly, Wayne waved to the assistant lady and suddenly grinned.

Seeing that Paramount Pictures' "Collision" will be released on a large scale this weekend, "The Flash" will also start intensive promotion across North America, and will also compete fiercely with "Godzilla". People say that whenever something big happens, a storm is coming, and at this moment, he felt that it was probably going to be a storm.

The only thing that he didn't expect was that the first person to hand over the knife was not Paramount or Sony Columbia. Instead, someone within Warner Brothers took the initiative, or couldn't wait.

"At the regular high-level meeting this morning, Alan Horn, the director of the film and television production department, submitted a project plan to the company."

The moment the call was connected, and after it was confirmed that the person receiving the call was Wayne himself, the previous warm greetings and good-natured teasing were gone, and Bruce Rosenblum's voice immediately came from the call.

"This project plan is detailed and can withstand any market survey. It not only marks the production cost, but also includes more than one alternative plan for the filming location and possible troubles that may be encountered during filming. The crew consists of, Including the producer, director, first-choice actors, alternative actors, etc., all have an amazing degree of completion.

I carefully read the project plan, and I knew at first glance that this thing was created by that old fox, Alan Horn. He was a typical producer in the industry, and his production style was pragmatic, detailed, and... He is well-known for his thorough preparation and has a very high success rate for the film, but he later gradually transitioned into management..."

Listening to the low voice that kept coming from Li on the phone, Wayne almost instantly heard a hint of hidden panic in the other person's tone. He turned his head slightly and glanced at Black Pearl sitting opposite, but interrupted him with a smile.

"Catwoman!"

"That's right."

Although his narration was interrupted, which made Bruce Rosenblum pause for a moment, his affirmative answer came within two seconds on the phone.

"Alan Horne, I remember..." Wayne stood up in a pure white bathrobe, holding a mobile phone in one hand, and slowly walked towards the edge guardrail of the balcony, and said:

"He frequently asked me out some time ago, but Nina rejected them all. It seems that this executive wants to prove that even without my support, he can join the DC series and accumulate outstanding performance!"

"Yes." Bruce Rosenblum's voice on the phone was still full of deepness. "What surprised Jeff and me was that there were actually people at the high-level meeting who raised their hands in support of his proposed "Catwoman"! Jeff is still in control of the situation, and the atmosphere in the high-level meeting today is very bad. "

Listening to the other party's words, the corners of Wayne's mouth twitched twice. Both men knew that if enough executives and shareholders expressed support, Allen Horn's plan might actually come true.

Don't look at submitting this project plan, it's like using a shit stick to disgust yourself, but as long as Alan Horn completely follows the company's procedures and gets enough support at high-level meetings, then even Jeff can't Forcibly halting a project that makes money for all shareholders.

This is the operating rule of a large company. Everyone works with restricted rights. Even if you are the CEO, you cannot let go as you please. Every film project, even the smallest investment, is in the millions. This money is a lot of money no matter where it is. It will definitely not work without the shackles of rights.

"What did Jeff say?"

"Jeff asked me to tell you." Bruce Rosenblum's voice came over the phone with a little helplessness. "He said to take care of the immediate things first. The so-called "Catwoman" cannot be accomplished in a short time. In the end, we will still have to pass your test."

"yes......"

Obviously, Jeff Robinov has always been very sober, and his reminder is undoubtedly the most correct choice. Wayne's voice suddenly became ridiculing, saying: "It seems that the success or failure of "The Flash" still depends on it. It really concerns a lot of issues.

Bruce, what Jeff said is correct. The first thing we have to face now is Paramount Pictures' "Collision" and Sony Columbia's "Godzilla". In the end, everything still depends on the box office, or on success to silence many people, right? "

"But......"

Unlike Jeff Robinoff and Wayne, Bruce Rosenblum stood in his own position and certainly had other ideas. "However, during this period of time, I photographed the old cousin Alan Horn and took the opportunity to find more supporters!"

"Relax, no one knows DC better than me. Even the outline of the entire universe was produced by me! Without me, I dare say that even if he worked hard to produce the project, he would definitely There will be no success!”

By this time, Warner Brothers' interests were no longer the first priority. This was an inevitable product of internal struggles, and both of them knew it. After receiving Wayne's assurance, Bruce Rosenblum hung up the phone with confidence.

Reading with rice balls

This has been the case since ancient times. When internal struggles begin, one must first consider their own interests. As for whether Warner Brothers will suffer losses due to the struggle, no one cares.

This was also the subtext of Wayne's final assurance to the other end of the phone. We are all adults, so there is no need to explain certain things clearly. Even if "Catwoman" really spent a lot of money to pass the high-level review and enter actual production, the final outcome would be a failure! This is his greatest guarantee.

As for whether the failure of "Catwoman" will cause Warner Bros. to lose money and whether it will affect the subsequent DC movie universe, that is not what they have to consider. After all, the first rule of internal struggle is always to find a way to defeat the enemy. Opponent, everything else is innocuous and trivial.

Of course, Wayne holds a large stake in Warner Bros. and would definitely not want things to come to this point. As Jeff said, get busy with the more important things at hand first, and then when your hands are free, it’s time to solve other problems.

"That's strange, Harry."

Playing with the phone in his hand, Wayne turned around and walked back to his seat, bent down slightly, looked down at the Black Pearl with a sense of oppression, and said in an awkward and teasing tone: "Tell me, why do you have such an important role? Will you, an African-American actor, be invited to join the cast?"

"Honey, listen to me."

Coming, Halle Berry knew in his heart that this would happen, and anyone else would be suspicious. For a plan aimed at him, he chose a woman who was related to him, and this woman was an abnormal African American. This was very suspicious.

In today's industry, it can be said that there are very few African-American actors who can get the absolute leading role in the film. Although Halle Berry frequently appears in major commercial productions, he is basically the main supporting role. If you want to cast an extraordinary actor As an American actress, she plays the leading role alone, but her current box office appeal is obviously not up to par.

"I swear to God, I never got any news about this before I got Jimmy's call..."