Chapter 289: An Olive Branch From the DC Movie Universe

Los Angeles, Light Era Film Production Company.

Wu Yuan took time out to come to the company after participating in a CBS morning talk show with the main creators of the crew to promote "Pirates of the Caribbean 3".

Of course, it is not a small role that can make him fly back to the company to meet in person during his busy work.

Fyodor Oliver, the current head of the production department of Warner Bros. Pictures under Warner.

Warner's supervisor wants to meet with Wu Yuan, so he naturally has to give him face.

However, Wu Yuan did not expect that Fyodor Oliver handed him a script as soon as the two met.

"Green Lantern", Warner's next-stage super A-level superhero commercial blockbuster.

It's a coincidence.

Just when Marvel was desperate and wanted to use the movie "Iron Man" to open their Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Next door DC also joined hands with Warner to restart its DC superhero series of movies.

As we all know, DC is the originator of North American superhero comics.

As early as June 1938, DC created the world's first superhero, Superman, in the first issue of Action Comics.

In the past half century, Superman has also been the most famous superhero in the world.

The second most famous is Batman.

Marvel's Spider-Man can only rank fourth.

As for Marvel heroes such as Iron Man, Black Widow, and Thor, their popularity is basically limited to North America, and they are almost unknown overseas.

From the perspective of influence, there is no doubt that the IP of DC Comics is more influential than Marvel in the world, and is more suitable for adaptation into commercial movies.

And DC was acquired by Warner Bros. as early as 1969 and became a subsidiary of Warner.

Their IP will naturally be adapted into movies by Warner Pictures.

It's just that Warner's road to superhero movies has never been smooth.

Not to mention the several Superman movies that lost money in the last century, just say that the year before last, "Superman Returns" had a global box office of 270 million US dollars but only 390 million, and the publicity and promotion costs almost made Warner bleed.

If it weren't for Nolan's "Batman Begins" in 2005, which was selected as one of the top three summer hits of the year and received rave reviews from comic fans and critics.

Warner might not have confidence in superhero movies.

Warner, who did not give up, started preparing a new superhero adaptation last year.

Yes, it is the "Green Lantern" in front of Wu Yuan.

This movie has been in preparation since 2007, when Greg Berlanti was ready to serve as director and co-writer.

But at the beginning of this year, he chose to withdraw from directing the film because he had to direct other movies.

This super blockbuster, which is expected to invest more than 200 million US dollars, suddenly has no suitable director.

Among the many character IPs in the DC universe, "Green Lantern" is definitely a big IP.

Not only because Green Lantern itself has a relatively large character plot line, but also because there is a whole "Lantern Group" plot IP behind Green Lantern.

Therefore, based on this unique advantage, "Hal Jordan" has always had a good popularity and fans in the original setting of DC.

DC can be said to have high hopes for this movie, aiming to become a hit and win an excellent box office result.

So, the choice of director for this movie needs to be carefully considered.

Hollywood is big and small, and it is not easy to find a commercial film director who can helm such a large-scale superhero movie.

Until the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3".

Wu Yuan had basically determined that he would not take over the sequel of "Pirates of the Caribbean" during the premiere interview.

And no one among the six majors has invited Wu Yuan to direct the blockbuster projects they have not yet filmed.

In other words, he, a commercial film director who has won a single film of 1 billion box office, has no contract for blockbusters in Hollywood for the time being, and his schedule is very empty!

What else is there to say?

"Pirates of the Caribbean" is a fantasy special effects blockbuster, and the trilogy relies on special effects as the biggest selling point.

Wu Yuan can direct such a movie, so it is not easy for him to shoot a superhero movie.

Fyodor Oliver came to the door with a project plan, fearing that he would be a step slower and let Wu Yuan be snatched away by other big names.

With the current popularity of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3", Wu Yuan is one of the most popular commercial directors in Hollywood. Slow or no!

When Wu Yuan learned that Fyodor Oliver approached him for this matter, he was so amused.

To be honest, according to the investment and hardware and software resources prepared by Warner for this movie, as long as "Green Lantern" is filmed in the conventional way, the results will definitely not be too bad.

The $200 million investment before 2010 is not an exaggeration to say that it is a ceiling-level investment in movies of the same type.

In addition, by inviting a top commercial film director and finding a popular Hollywood actor, this movie could not fail no matter how it was made.

But the reality is that the final box office of this movie made Warner lose all its money.

The film cost $200 million, but the global box office was only $220 million, with a net loss of $75 million.

More importantly, the film was bad in every aspect, from the choice of director to the choice of actors to the creation of the script, there was not a single point worthy of praise.

Although Ryan Reynolds is really a good actor, and Wu Yuan also likes to use him in the movies of the Light Age, he is really not suitable for the role of Green Lantern, from temperament to personality.

He still has to be the mean Deadpool.

Now Warner wants him to direct this film, isn't that a joke?

Wu Yuan politely refused after just flipping through the project plan: "Fedor, thank you for inviting me to direct this film, but unfortunately, this film is not suitable for my directing style."

"Let's have a chance to work together again in the future."

"Oh No! "Fyodor shook his head and didn't listen to Wu Yuan's refusal at all. "Daniel, the script of this movie is still in the writing stage, so there is no style to speak of."

"As long as you are willing to take over, the creation of this movie can be completely based on your ideas. As long as the main storyline is based on comics, you can decide how to shoot it. "

"If it's not your style, then it will become your style!"

"Daniel, Warner's expectations for this project are really high."

"Green Lantern will be the foreshadowing pioneer of the Justice League movie. After that, the original production team will develop The Flash and Green Lantern 2 to unfold the early framework of the entire DC movie universe."

"In Justice League, there will also be Nolan's version of Batman, and the future rebooted Superman will join in!"

"In the next ten years, Warner will use 6-8 movies to open a DC movie universe!"

"And you and Nolan are the helmsmen of this movie universe, as long as you are willing!"

Wow, it still sounds tempting.

As long as he wants, a DC movie universe consisting of 6-8 movies will be born from his hands.

He will become the father of the DC movie universe together with Nolan.

He is responsible for the personal movies of Green Lantern and Flash, and Nolan is responsible for creating Batman. There will be personal movies of Superman and Wonder Woman in the future, which will also be directed by them first.

Finally, the big event movie of the "Justice League" series will be formed to gather these superheroes for a super blockbuster feast.

Yes, Warner has already prepared for Marvel's later movie universe plan, and the action was taken earlier than Marvel. It can be said that Marvel is a latecomer.

Just like their comics started by copying DC comics.

In the field of film, Marvel is also following DC and copying others.

It's a pity that DC's plan is well done and perfect on paper, but it is a mess in the practical stage.

From "Superman Returns" to "Green Lantern", all of them lost a lot of money. "Man of Steel" can only be regarded as a small profit with average reputation. "Justice League" is a good hand that was played badly.

Only the Batman trilogy led by Nolan, and the later "Wonder Woman 1" and "Aquaman" were successful, which saved some face for DC.

Marvel is different.

Although it was a step later than DC, starting with "Iron Man", one Marvel superhero movie after another has swept the world, and none of them has bad box office. "Avengers" has become a popular superhero team in the world.

Knowing all this, Wu Yuan certainly didn't eat the pie drawn by Fyodor so easily.

Let alone "Green Lantern", even if he was asked to take over "Superman", the world's number one superhero IP, he would have to think about it.

"Fedor, Warner's ambitious superhero movie universe plan does sound cool."

"But such a huge movie universe strategy is in serious conflict with my movie shooting plan in the next few years."

"It's a pity that I really can't participate in this grand plan."

Wu Yuan shrugged and said sincerely: "I can only wish you success in realizing this plan. DC's superheroes have influenced many generations around the world. I also hope that this IP can be reborn again in the new century."

"Unfortunately, the person in charge will not be me."

Fedor Oliver frowned and looked at Wu Yuan in confusion.

He didn't understand that Warner's superhero movie universe should be attractive to any aspiring commercial film director.

This project is definitely the largest film series project in the 21st century, with an estimated total investment of more than 2.5 billion US dollars, and may eventually create more than 500 million US dollars in box office.

Whoever can take charge of this series may become the most successful commercial film director in the next ten years!

Such an attractive olive branch, and Warner took the initiative to invite him, but Wu Yuan rejected it so decisively without even considering it?

When did Warner's project become so unattractive? (End of this chapter)