Chapter 613

"Shadow", directed by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp. In the last life, when people mention this film, they think of "the beginning of the collapse of Johnny Depp's career".

In 2010, with "Alice in Wonderland", Johnny's career regained its vitality. Before that, the failure of "public enemy", "fatal companion" and other works made him lose the title of "the first person in Hollywood", and Robert Downey Jr. replaced him with the great success of "Iron Man". But "Alice in Wonderland" has successfully turned the tide with its global box office of one billion.

After that, the failure of the low-cost film "lime diary" and the disappointment of the commercial film "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" did not ring the alarm bell. People still think that Johnny has a strong appeal, and major film companies signed contracts with him for at least four commercial works. The first is Tim's shadow.

However, this has become the beginning of a nightmare“ Black shadow, lone ranger, transcendental hacker, noble robber, Alice in Wonderland 2, five consecutive works suffered a disastrous defeat, a complete collapse. The "lone ranger" with the highest investment cost 220 million, and the "noble robber" with the lowest investment cost 60 million. Johnny's career fell into a low ebb, And there is no hope of recovery, "box office poison" title. All this started with "shadow".

With an investment of 150 million yuan, the final box office in North America was only 79 million yuan, while the global box office was 245 million yuan. Due to the extremely high cost of publicity, Warner brothers lost nearly 100 million dollars in the end. Moreover, the film could not be developed. The performance of the video rental market was also a disaster, which really made Warner Brothers suffer from internal injury.

As for the work "shadow", people seem to have forgotten too many details, but only remember that this is the beginning of Johnny's nightmare.

If this is the case, it should be a terrible work, Andy obviously lost his eye; But the fact is just the opposite. In the preparatory stage of "shadow", this work has attracted much attention, and everyone is optimistic that it can create brilliance.

Warner Brothers showed great courage and not only invested a lot of money with a stroke of pen - you know, it's a movie that doesn't involve any visual effects. They allowed Tim to shoot all the scenes on the spot just to show the best effect; In addition, it is also very generous in terms of publicity expenses. From preparation to shooting to later stage, the promotion goes step by step. Warner Bros. is looking forward to the global box office success of at least 700 million or even more than 800 million.

In order to meet the super high expectations of the cast, Warner Bros. has made a big contribution to the film payment and set up a luxurious star lineup.

In addition to Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Helena birham Carter, Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Lee Miller, Chloe Moretz and Christopher Lee have joined in.

From the preparation stage to the release stage, "black shadow" has always been considered as a box office blockbuster, with director, actor, screenwriter, producer, publicity, distribution and other links blooming in an all-round way. From the schedule arranged by Warner Brothers, we can see their strong self-confidence

It was released in the second week of May 2012. The first week was the summer blockbuster "Avengers alliance", and the next week was the "super battleship" built by universal pictures with huge investment“ "Dark shadow" will collide with these two super commercial blockbusters!

It's not blind confidence. In the last century, all the media called the opening of the summer archives in 2012 the "century duel". They believed that the confrontation of the three works would be the duel between Mars and earth. Moreover, it was generally accepted that "dark shadow" was the only work that could compete with "Avengers alliance". Many media even called it "Johnny Depp vs. Robert Downey Jr.", Attracted countless eyes and focus.

In other words, not only Andy, not only Warner Brothers, but also industry insiders and professional media are optimistic about the box office prospects of this work, and even think that it can compete with the "Avengers alliance".

So what happened in reality?

The content of the original TV series of "dark shadow" is very huge, and there are many adaptation directions, but the crew finally chose the route of funny soap opera, which leads to weak script, chaotic narrative, uninteresting role and stereotyped setting; At the same time, the visual effects are lack of highlights, the color is dazzling, and there is no focus; What's worse is that orgasms are too boring and drowsy to watch.

It can be said that all the big customs and taboos of commercial films have been violated once and again, and even the relaxed joy of popcorn style has not been achieved, which is a great disappointment.

In the end, the media only got 55 points, which is the same level as "Alice in Wonderland"; But the fatal blow is that rotten tomatoes, popcorn index, IMDB score and cinema score are all occupied, and there is an obvious gap between them and "Alice in Wonderland", which leads to the total collapse of the box office.

To make matters worse, under the crush of the "Avengers alliance", even a wisp of smoke failed to emerge and disappeared in an instant.

However, it's easy for lanli to say now. In fact, it's just a matter of hindsight. The trend of commercial blockbusters can be traced, but it is not certain. If there are bad signs in the preparation process of "super warship" and "alien star battlefield", it is mainly because of the sense of uneasiness and confusion brought by the script creation process, then the comprehensive collapse of "black shadow" is without warning.

It can be said that Tim and Johnny worked together too many times, and there was no spark; It can also be said that after all, the polishing of the script still lacks the inside information and connotation; People can also say that the impact of visual effects has not been able to meet expectations; It can also be said that the Avengers alliance is too powerful to be born at the right time. But it's all behind the scenes.

As long as I knew, one of lanli's most important advantages is that he knows the success or failure of the next six or seven years' films, especially commercial films. But if he is only satisfied with this, lanli is not lanli - the future he can "foresee" is limited, 2017 is the limit, and he does not intend to stop in 2017 for the time being. Therefore, he can not always form a habit and always rely on the established facts that already exist.

Not to mention, 2017 will come sooner or later; He is trying to change history and create his own history. Only by overthrowing the known facts can he open up his own world. The tsunami came, and he was the first butterfly to flap its wings.

Naturally, lanli refuses to be blindly led by habit.

From the perspective of "early knowledge", is it possible for "shadow" to succeed? If so, how to try?

In Langley's personal view, the chance of success is very weak, because in this film, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's brand is too deep, continuing the two people's consistent dark Gothic style, even the comedy effect is not outstanding enough, neither of them can make a breakthrough, they are constantly repeating themselves, and their inspiration is lost.

Xiao He is successful and Xiao He is defeated“ If the "shadow" wants to succeed, it is necessary to burn the boat and replace Tim and Johnny from the root, so as to win a ray of life. Now, Warner Bros. intends to build a young Cass lineup, which is a positive signal.

However, Langley is just a small role. He doesn't think that Warner Brothers will replace the whole production team for his opinion. What's more, he is just a small role on the audition list.

Andy didn't make a sound, just quietly looked at lanli's expression, but as always nothing, two people have been working together for a year, he gradually began to get used to this situation, so he didn't speculate, but directly asked, "do you have any special ideas?"

Roy was a little surprised. Langley had just started to read the script. Even if he had ideas, it would not be so fast.

But Lan Li showed a smile and shook his head, "no, I'm not interested."

"Oh?" Andy raises the ending to express his doubts.

"I'm not Johnny Depp, and I can't be Johnny Depp." Langley simply said, "I'm sure Warner Bros. producers know this very well. The problem is, Tim Burton doesn't know that."

Johnny will act unconditionally because of Tim's call; Similarly, lenley can also unconditionally refuse Tim's call. He doesn't think that his cooperation with Tim can produce sparks, and he doesn't think that his performance can adapt to Tim's style. This is not a retreat, but lanli gradually has a relatively clear understanding of his performance style.

No one can really change. Not even Gary Oldman.

Andy didn't respond immediately. Instead, he put his hands on his belly and thought seriously for a while. His brow wrinkled slightly. "Lan Li, would you like to read the script and think about it again?"

In Andy's impression, lenley is omnipotent, even Gothic style has no problem, he has blind confidence in lenley's acting skills, believe that under Tim's lens, lenley can also burst out strong energy. What's more, the work of "shadow" is indeed highly anticipated. Warner Bros. now has tilted its resources, which can be said to be the top priority.

So, even if Andy understood what Langley meant, he made a sincere request.

"Of course, I'll finish reading the script." "Even if you don't ask, I'll finish reading it," he said dryly

Andy nodded his approval. "To be honest, Warner Bros. recently spent all the resources on hand for this project. This project is absolutely extraordinary. I'm quite optimistic about the future of this work, and it's good for us to strive for higher film pay. Warner Bros. is the best choice against universal. "

"Does that mean the ring messenger is out of business?" After all, lanli and Andy have different perspectives of observation. He immediately thinks of the scripts he read last time. The "ring messenger" and "Dragon Tiger youth team" finally stand out, but now the "Dragon Tiger youth team" has retreated, and the "ring messenger" is the work of an independent film company.