Seven Hundred and Eight - The Age of Superheroes?

The short break passed by, and Wayne had to end his leisurely days with his daughter, pack his things and return to Los Angeles.

Accompanied by an unpleasant brake sound, the Rolls-Royce Phantom stopped outside the main building of Greenberg Manor. Wayne sat in the passenger seat, grinning in an exaggerated expression. For him, who was used to riding in Sergey's stable car, he now felt that Bella Grant's driving skills were truly terrible in his eyes.

"Pa" "Pa" "Pa"

There was sparse applause. Wayne clapped his hands with an exaggerated expression while staring at the beautiful editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. He joked with a thankful tone: "You know? Bella, I heard that the plane that broke down in the air was Passengers always give the captain sincere applause after the plane lands smoothly."

Facing the woman's angry gaze, he continued unceremoniously with an expression of someone surviving a disaster: "Damn it, don't you usually drive to and from get off work by yourself? Bella, to be honest, you are taking the driving test. At that time, did you bribe the examiner with a lot of money?"

Hearing his unceremonious ridicule, Bella Grant slapped the steering wheel hard, making a muffled sound. "Shut up, Wayne, who knew this kind of extended business car would be so difficult to drive. If I had time to adapt, I would definitely perform much better than I do now."

"You shouldn't be allowed to try this kind of car."

Shrugging, Wayne muttered something about adding a seatbelt, regretting now that he had agreed to let this woman drive an extended car. In other words, there were not many cars on the way back to Los Angeles from Ventura County. If he were placed in the imperial city where he lived in his previous life, this kind of driving skills would definitely lead to a series of tragic car accidents.

Several people got out of the car, and Sergey and Nina, who were sitting in the back, looked at the beautiful editor-in-chief with lingering fear and joy in their eyes.

If the safety of this car was not strong enough, the Russian-born Xiong would have definitely suggested changing the driver as early as halfway. The journey from Ventura County to Beverly, Los Angeles, reminded him of what it was like to race on the battlefield, and this feeling was really not a good one.

"What young man have you seen driving a car like this? Wayne."

Bella Grant was holding her handbag, and when she saw that the three people looked at her in a wrong way, she forced herself to complain: "This kind of car is designed to be sold to old men. In the whole of Hollywood, you are the only one under thirty years old." of young people like this.

Look at Tom Cruise, look at Julia Roberts, even Stephen Sommers and George Lucas, they drive either sports cars or muscle cars. Only an old man like you would like a car like this..."

Feeling that she had finally saved some face and found enough excuses for her thrilling driving trip, Bella Grant did not wait for the others to react. After speaking, she turned around and walked towards her red Chevrolet.

"I'll call you again when I'm on vacation. This time I've used up all my two-month vacation. I have to go back to work, bye."

Seeing that the beautiful editor-in-chief had already gotten into the car, Wayne smiled, shook his head, and said, "Would you like to stay for lunch?"

"No." The Chevrolet window rolled down and Bella Grant stretched out her hand and waved. "I'll rush back to the club directly, next time."

After saying that, as if he was deliberately refuting Wayne's teasing just now, the red Chevrolet turned its head smartly, and drove towards the outside of the manor at high speed under the puzzled gazes of the three people and the housekeeper Hela.

After leaving Los Angeles for a whole week, Wayne came back on the last day of August. "The Matrix" has just completed its second weekend in the North American theater market.

After "The Matrix" hit 7 hits in the North American theater market in just three days on its first weekend, the box office inevitably suffered a sharp drop due to its R-rated nature on weekdays.

On Monday, it grossed US$5.58 million. After four days on Tuesday, "The Matrix" has accumulated a box office of US$21.33 million.

The total box office in North America just exceeded the 100 million yuan mark after a full week of release, and the total box office accumulated 100 million US dollars.

Both Wayne and Warner Bros. had expectations for the box office trend of "The Matrix". After all, the box office trend of the first two movies was also the same. The objective situation is here. No matter how popular this film is, it cannot change the nature of this film being banned under the 1880s.

During this special period, family audiences who choose to go to movie theaters for entertainment on weekends naturally exclude "The Matrix" from their choices. This fact cannot be changed even if Wayne directs it himself.

Fortunately, during the same period, there were no decent competitors. Especially as "The Matrix" entered its second weekend, the main competitor turned out to be "X-Men", which had basically exhausted its popularity in North America.

Under this circumstance, after "The Matrix" entered its rest day, the ticket price rebounded to a certain extent again, and it received US$7.43 million on Friday. The box office trend in North America climbed further on Saturday, and the box office dropped 11 times that day, with the North American box office closing at US$9.73 million.

The film grossed US$28.8 million at the North American box office over the three days of the following weekend, strongly taking the box office title for the second weekend. By this time, "The Matrix" had been released in North America for ten days, and its cumulative box office had reached 100 million US dollars.

The day after Wayne returned to Los Angeles, that is, after September officially entered, the North American summer season began to gradually come to an end. Whether it's "The Matrix" or "X-Men," the box office performance is making steady progress. Two companies, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros., are also sparing no effort to invest more promotional resources to seize the last bit of summer heat.

Since its release, the North American box office of "X-Men" has successfully exceeded 200 million US dollars. There is no doubt that as the beginning of a series of films, the North American box office of 100 million US dollars is fully qualified.

Although the film's overseas box office performance was not as popular as in North America due to factors such as popularity, it still achieved good results. After two weeks of overseas screening, "X-Men" has also earned a box office of US$140 million in nearly 70 countries and regions around the world. The film's global box office has reached US$100 million and is steadily moving towards US$400 million.

Compared with the box office, 20th Century Fox and even the entire industry are eyeing the bulk of the movie's revenue. In terms of movie derivatives, "X-Men"'s performance has attracted everyone's attention.

Even from the beginning of "X-Men", the peripheral products related to the film cannot be compared with the DC series, but that is also because the gap in popularity exists objectively. Most of the fans who go into the theater to watch superhero movies do so because they have read comics. The bonus of emotional attributes still affects the sales of movie peripherals.

Twentieth Century Fox has never released relevant sales data in this area, but most film companies in the industry can analyze a rough figure through their own experience, and ensure that the sales figures they analyze are consistent with the actual situation. There won't be much deviation.

Since its release in early August, "X-Men" has been conservatively estimated to have generated sales of various types of movie peripherals in North America alone at no less than $50 million. This has almost become the consensus of many film companies.

Superhero movies have once again proven their profitability, completely surpassing ordinary live-action movies. Aside from Warner Bros.'s control of DC movies, in addition to making huge profits in recent years, Wayne has once again proved that it is possible to make animated feature films without large investments, long cycles, and high risks. The film has similar horrific offline revenue.

Faced with this situation, basically all Hollywood film companies have begun to pay more or less attention to superheroes. They have proven many things through the performance of "X-Men". The two most important points are that superhero movies other than the DC series can also be successful. Super hero movies other than DC can also explode like animated feature films. Offline revenue is the same as the movie.

And precisely because of such a special situation in the industry, among the six Hollywood giants, the person who is most criticized and feels the most pressure is Michael Eisner, the chairman of Walt Disney.

Everyone knows that although there is a very obvious gap between Walt Disney and media giants such as Time Warner, Comcast, Viacom and News Corporation, only within the Hollywood circle, they are the leading company in the film industry. In terms of derivatives, it is the most capable film company.

In recent years, Michael Eisner's main energy has been devoted almost entirely to internal wars. The reason why Walt Disney can still maintain good revenue every year is its huge animation copyright library and its outstanding producers. Ray Bruckheimer's super high success rate.

Especially this year, the pressure faced by Michael Eisner has increased sharply, and the number of shareholders who distrust him on the board of directors has increased sharply. There are two main reasons. The first is Disney's strongest area, the decline of animated feature films. Since The Lion King, Disney has not achieved good results in any hand-drawn animation.

Second, of course it’s because of Michael Eisner’s childhood friend Michael Ovitz. It was Michael Eisner who personally invited his friend to serve as Disney CEO. However, less than a year later, he personally drove away his friend, and because of the dismissal of the CEO, Disney paid a very large amount of liquidated damages.

Now, in addition to DC superheroes, other series have once again appeared that can rival the revenue generation capabilities of animated feature films, and the pressure is suddenly all on Michael Eisner. It's simple, because this kind of movie revenue project used to be exclusive to Disney!

The most important issue facing the Disney Emperor today is that there are widespread voices questioning his abilities among the board of directors and company executives. More and more people are beginning to doubt whether he, the meritorious chairman who led Disney into a media group, can continue to lead this fairy tale giant forward.

"The days of hand-drawn animation are over, Michael."

In the chairman's office at the Disney headquarters in Burbank, the media capital, Jerry Bruckheimer, the most famous producer in Hollywood today, looked away from the box office report in the newspaper, raised his head and said directly to Michael Eisner:

"I have a hunch that Wayne Greenberg will lead Hollywood into the superhero era in a few years! He has already worked on DC and Marvel, both of which have proven the revenue-generating capabilities of this kind of movie. I have to say, This guy is a genius."

Michael Eisner, sitting behind his desk, also looked at this morning's newspaper without looking up. Of course he understood what the other party said. The unique revenue-generating ability of Disney animated feature films has appeared more and more, and has become unique to other companies.

Compared with animated feature films whose production cycle can often take several years, the shooting speed of live-action films is undoubtedly faster. Even with the expensive special effects, the advantages of live-action movies are obvious enough. The characteristics of short production cycle and low risk are completely unmatched by animated feature films.

"Jerry." Putting down the newspaper in his hand, Michael Eisner raised his hands, rubbed both sides of his forehead, and said casually: "You are right, the era of hand-drawn animation has indeed passed, but Disney still has There’s Pixar.”

Speaking of this, there was unquestionable pride in his voice. The huge success of the first part of "Toy Story" allowed him to see the profit prospects of computer animation, and also allowed the entire Hollywood to see that electric animation was the future trend.

You know, with the popularity of the first part of "Toy Story" and the blessing of Disney's perfect peripheral revenue channels, the ultra-high profits created by this computer-animated feature film completely replaced traditional hand-drawn animation.

Precisely under the strong request of Michael Eisner, Pixar Animation Studio has almost produced the second part of "Toy Story". This is Disney's key project for next year, but it is not enough.

The most direct way to end Disney's internal chaos as soon as possible and to dispel more and more doubts about his ability is undoubtedly to produce more successful projects so that more people can benefit from the success of the projects. The demands of shareholders It's always been that simple, they side with whoever can make money for them.

And this is why he made an appointment with Jerry Bruckheimer. This gold medal producer has a frighteningly high success rate in producing projects and is extremely energetic, which is very important.

"Okay, let's get down to business."

Turning to the Disney gold medal producer, Michael Eisner crossed his hands on the table and said without hesitation: "I will push forward the review of "The Sixth Sense" you submitted as soon as possible, Jerry, except for this project , do you have any other ideas?"

The one leg that has allowed Disney to maintain good revenue despite the chaos in recent years is undoubtedly Jerry Bruckheimer's projects. He is as important to Disney today as Wayne is to Warner Bros.

Not to mention, this year's "The Last Day" grossed US$100 million in North American box office and US$550 million in global box office. The media gave all the flashlight to the film director Michael Bay, but if Wayne were to evaluate from a God's perspective, he would tell everyone that all the success of Explosive Bay is inseparable from this gold medal producer.

Michael Bay leaving Jerry Bruckheimer is like Peter Jackson leaving the Lord of the Rings series. This shows the benefits of having a reliable producer to control the direction of the film. If he hadn't left him, Bangbei wouldn't have had a Waterloo like "Escape from Clone Island".

Among the projects initiated by Jerry Bruckheimer this year are "Public Enemy", which has a North American box office of 1.1 billion and a global box office of 200 million US dollars. To say that he is the only big player in Disney's live-action movies is not at all exaggerate.

"I have an idea..."

After thinking for a while, Jerry Bruckheimer said carefully: "Michael, I don't know if you have noticed, but the global box office of "Saving Private Ryan" has reached 450 million US dollars! This is a complete R Class movie!"

"What do you want to say?" Michael Eisner asked.

"War movie! A realistic epic war movie!" Jerry Bruckheimer leaned back on his chair and said with a smile: "The emergence of "Saving Private Ryan" has undoubtedly opened up the market potential of epic war movies. It just so happens that , Michael Bay mentioned to me an idea he had about World War II a few days ago."

"Make a plan as soon as possible and submit it to the film and television production department."

The producer sitting in front of him has the best market insight in Hollywood. Michael Eisner said without any hesitation: "I will promote "The Sixth Sense" and this epic war project together as soon as possible." Pass relevant review.”

"Okay, I'll have a chat with Michael Bay when I get back. In a week at most, the project plan will be on your desk."

A project plan with high feasibility and detailed market research is the stepping stone for all Hollywood producers. Of course, when a producer reaches the status of Jerry Bruckheimer, many things can be omitted appropriately.

Film companies will not pursue the scripts he wants to perfect, nor will they strictly investigate the market prospects of blocked projects. His extremely brilliant successes in the past are the greatest guarantee for a commercial project.

Not to mention the script, a producer like Jerry Bruckheimer can still get a lot of investment from Disney even with a simple movie idea. For example, this year's hit film "The End of the World", what he originally gave to Disney was the idea of ​​an oil worker drilling meteorites, and the name of director Michael Bay...

Hollywood gold medal producers are far more important to a film company than a star or a director. They are the initiators of a steady stream of successful projects.

When the conversation between the two ended, Jerry Bruckheimer left the chairman's office. Michael Eisner picked up the newspaper on the table again, glanced sharply, stood up and walked to the window, looking towards the Warner Brothers Building not far away in Burbank.

"Superheroes, DC Comics, Wayne Greenberg..."

Along with the muttering, he shook his head gently, with his usual confidence and strength on his face. Everyone knows that Warner Bros. is producing more and more movies every year. Not only are traditional sequel films with a high success rate continuing, but the DC series of films are also slowly occupying more positions.

Moreover, as the cooperation between Greenberg Studio and Warner Bros. has matured, more and more Greenberg production projects have begun to appear.

There is no doubt that no matter which company wants to make a difference in the summer, it will inevitably encounter Warner Bros.'s intensive release of projects. The same is true for Disney. With Michael Eisner's character, he will never avoid Warner Bros. movies like other companies.

"The era of superheroes? Wayne Greenberg, as long as you fail once, there will be no such thing as a superhero era! e

on,e

on, e

on..."

At this time, the Disney Emperor was muttering and looking at the Warner Bros. Building. In the CEO's office on the seventh floor, Jeff Robinov and others happened to be talking about Wayne.

"At noon today, he has returned to the manor from the farm." Putting down the coffee cup in his hand, Bruce Rosenblum looked at his old boss and said: "The large-scale audition work for "The Lord of the Rings" is about to begin, and our final So talk to him as soon as possible.”

Although Warner Bros. also holds half of the investment in the "Lord of the Rings" project, in comparison, all Warner Bros. executives value DC projects more. This is everyone's default.

For a project like "The Lord of the Rings" that was prepared for a trilogy from the beginning, the audition work for actors is bound to be cumbersome and huge. In the early stage, it was easy to say that Wayne could not and did not have the energy to participate in the first few rounds of auditions. However, after extensive screening, He must plunge headlong into auditioning for the final candidate.

"Well, in the next day or two, I'll make an appointment with Zack Snyder and talk to him as soon as possible..."