~： Seven hundred and thirteen - unnecessary war.

Hollywood draws 713 - unnecessary war.

If DreamWorks wants to develop, it is naturally inseparable from various projects, not only the projects invested and produced by itself, but also the investment in cooperation with other companies.

And projects under the label of Wayne Greenberg have been regarded as a guarantee of success by insiders. From "The Departed" to this year's "Charlie's Angels" and "The Matrix", so far, Greenberg has The success rate of projects invested and produced by the grid studio has remained 100%.

"A friend from within Warner Bros. told me that Zach Snyder had a chance to get a Superman guide, but he gave up for some reason."

Speaking of Warner Bros., Jeffrey Katzenberg shook his head slightly and said casually with a glass of wine. As we all know, there are no secrets in Hollywood, and after Wayne submitted the project proposal for "Superman" and "Wonder Woman", similar gossip began to spread in the circle.

As the former head of Disney's animation department, Jeffrey Katzenberg has been in the circle for decades and has no shortage of channels to learn about relevant news.

It is precisely the DC superhero project that has always been the focus of all companies. Basically, every little action of Warner Bros. will be observed and analyzed under the microscope by the film companies in the circle.

"Everyone says Zach Snyder is a genius, especially with the success of the "Matrix" trilogy, the media and insiders are almost boasting him." George Lucas heard the news , did not feel the slightest surprise, but curled his lips and said unceremoniously:

"What a chance to be in charge of a top-level project like "Superman"? He chose to focus on stability and gradually improve his status."

No way, human nature is like this. When you have nothing, you are absolutely not afraid to bet everything you have to seek a chance to succeed. But once you make a small achievement, most people will lose the courage to risk everything and try their best to fight.

"Do you know where the gap between Zack Snyder and Wayne is?" George Lucas shrugged and continued rudely: "He doesn't have the kind of madness that Wayne hides at all! A person should never Excessive introspection, rational, thoughtful approach, is only effective when making small decisions.

When it comes to life-changing things, you have to take risks, and great successes are always brought about by coincidences. Only the unimportant things that won't change your life will use a well-thought-out plan. "

There is no doubt that George Lucas admires Wayne entirely because he sees certain qualities in him. But a similar temperament also exists in the father of Star Wars.

At that time, the shooting of "Star Wars" could be said to be carried out in a situation where the whole of North America was not optimistic. George Lucas made a desperate bet on everything, and only then did the world's largest IP appear.

"George, you can't expect everyone to be geniuses like you and Wayne." With a smile, Steven Spielberg raised his head and took a sip of red wine.

But before taking a sip of wine, the Jewish old man seemed to think of something, and immediately turned his head, looked at his old friend seriously, and asked, "No, George, why do you care about the DC series of movies, here... ."

"Damn, Wayne's madman's film has become a regular program starting in the summer every May!" Without being exposed at all, George Lucas tilted his head at the two of them and said indignantly :

"New Star Wars is about to complete all the work. The initial distribution plan given by Twentieth Century Fox proposed to schedule "Star Wars" to mid-May!"

As soon as the words of the father of Star Wars fell, Jeffrey Katzenberg reacted instantly, his eyes widened in disbelief. "Shit, the idea of ​​20th Century Fox, wouldn't it be to take "Star Wars" and kill Warner Bros.?"

"I don't think so." Steven Spielberg was calm, and after a moment's reflection, he said, "Twentieth Century Fox has a good relationship with Warner Bros., and the cooperation between them and Wayne. , and it was quite enjoyable.”

Jeffrey Katzenberg didn't like the Big Six and immediately blurted out. "Don't be stupid, Steven. As long as there are interests between the six major Hollywood companies, they all want other companies to die together!"

"It's not that easy to use "Star Wars" as a knife."

George Lucas said while sipping red wine: "I will communicate with 20th Century Fox, and then pull in the executives of 20th Century Fox to communicate with Warner Bros. DC superheroes collide with "Star Wars" , as long as they are normal people, they know that this is a war with no winners, and there is no need to compete with each other."

"I'll go back and ask you about Bruce Rosenblum." Steven Spielberg nodded. "You're right, it's a pointless collision."

The mention of this made the Jewish good man feel a burst of discomfort in his heart. The beginning of the summer of 1997, he directed "Jurassic Park 2", encountered a similar situation.

At that time, Universal Pictures was very ambitious. Even in the face of opposition from a main creator such as Steven Spielberg, it had to snipe Warner Bros., but what was the final result? Meet the more perverted competitor of Batman: The Dark Knight.

It's rude to say that if it wasn't for Universal Pictures back then, if the chicken thief had to play some kind of sneak attack, as long as the schedule of "Batman: The Dark Knight" was staggered, the box office of "Jurassic Park 2" would definitely be higher than it is now. At least $100 million more!

Even this unexpected collision was hyped up by the media as a battle between Hollywood Jewish directors and the handover of old and new scepters.

"George, if I were you, look forward to 20th Century Fox now, don't let the success of "X-Men" burn out your brain." Jeffrey Katzenberg looked at the father of Star Wars and laughed. a sentence.

"If they don't wake up, then I'll help them wake up!"

George Lucas waved his hand and muttered something pointed.

That's right, the long-term distributor for the projects invested and produced by Lucasfilm is 20th Century Fox. There are special historical reasons for this. In the early years, George Lucas was holding the "Star Wars" film, when the major Hollywood film companies hit a wall, it was 20th Century Fox, who gave "Star Wars" to North America. Chance.

And there are also some copyright issues involved. For example, the first part of "Star Wars" has some copyrights in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox.

But today's George Lucas is no longer the little guy that nobody cared about in the 1970s. He is the richest man in Hollywood. Even if he can't breach the contract to change the publisher of "Star Wars", he still has a decisive say in the release time of the new "Star Wars".

In fact, in the heart of the father of Star Wars, he also agrees with the initial distribution plan given by 20th Century Fox. "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" was released in mid-May, the beginning of the summer season, and it is true that there is no fault.

But in the past few years, Wayne has directly occupied this schedule. Today's major Hollywood film companies have gradually become accustomed to keeping their top projects in the summer as far as possible from this golden schedule, even if they are placed in it. The more crowded July and August will be released later, and I instinctively want to stay away from that dark lunatic.

It's not that George Lucas, like other studios, is terrified of competing with the never-missing Wayne.

The father of Star Wars can say unceremoniously that he is not afraid of anyone in the North American theater market, and "Star Wars" is not afraid of any opponent's challenge.

But as he said, there is absolutely no need for two huge IPs to collide. Everyone is no longer a child, and there is absolutely no competition for a long or short. Such a meaningless collision will only result in a lose-lose situation.

You must know that "Star Wars" is completely different from Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park 2". This film and the DC series of superhero movies naturally have common attributes, which means that There will be a large number of overlapping groups of movie fans. Once they meet, there is no hope for movie fans to be divided by the type of movie.

George Lucas sighed. "At least on "Saving Private Ryan", Warner Bros. did a good job. If it wasn't **** by the **** copyright, I really..."

"George!" Steven Spielberg shook his head, indicating that he had better not think too much.

When it comes to "Saving Private Ryan", the Hollywood good man not only did not show a smile, but also deeply frowned.

He certainly isn't dissatisfied with Warner Bros.'s release performance. On the contrary, at least on the project "Saving Private Ryan", Warner Bros. has done a really good job. Since the film was released, the North American box office has reached 207 million US dollars, and the global box office has also reached 469 million US dollars!

To put it another way, if this film were handed over to other film companies for distribution, the results would not be as good as it is now. This is related to the more perfect distribution channels of Warner Bros. in the past two years, and it is also related to the thriving scale of publicity. Objectively speaking, the distribution department of Warner Bros. may be second only to Walt Disney in today's Hollywood.

What made him frown was DreamWorks.

"DreamWorks needs to build its own distribution system as soon as possible, otherwise in the long run, DreamWorks will definitely become a content producer of Warner Bros., and even be regarded as the second film and television production department of Warner Bros.!" Jeffrey Katzenberg Shrugged and explained to George Lucas.

"That's right." Steven Spielberg nodded. "At least we have to improve the distribution channels in North America first."

For next year, DreamWorks will invest and produce about four to five projects. Now the Big Three have already started internal meetings, hoping to leave one or two films to be handed over to DreamWorks' own distribution department for operation.

This day will come sooner or later, and this is why the Big Three chose to rely on Warner Bros. At least Warner Bros. happily agreed that after DreamWorks has its own distribution channel, it can cancel the long-term distribution contract at any time.

Speaking of the issue of distribution, George Lucas didn't bother to put down his wine glass, slapped the bar in front of him with one hand, turned his head and looked at his old friend seriously and said, "Listen, Steven, let me give you a suggestion, Should be of great use to DreamWorks."

"Suggest?"

"what?"

Facing the suspicious eyes of the two giants, the father of Star Wars said directly: "If I were you, I would definitely set up an online marketing department, just like the one under the Warner Bros. distribution department."

Don't look at the fact that Lucasfilm didn't do that, but George Lucas has a very keen business sense. If it weren't for Lucasfilm's lack of distribution, he would have established his own network marketing department long ago.

"The current global box office of "X-Men" is about to reach the threshold of 400 million US dollars. The media is singing praises wildly, and 20th Century Fox is desperately increasing its promotion and marketing. But everyone ignores that the DC superhero So every time the grades are so good, there is a group of surprise soldiers who control the ideology and public opinion of young people in North America!"

Talking about this, George Lucas didn't have the slightest smile on his face, and looked at the two old friends seriously. "If 20th Century Fox, like Warner Bros., has the right to speak in online marketing, the box office performance of "X-Men" will not be limited to what it is now!"

Recalling each of Wayne's films in the past few years, Steven Spielberg stared at the wine glass in his hand, and sighed involuntarily as various online marketing methods kept popping up in his mind. "Yes, the "Navy" department under the Warner Bros. distribution department has indeed played a huge role."

Jeffrey Katzenberg also nodded. "The Internet represents the future..."

The Internet represents the future. This sentence has been shouted in North America as early as a few years ago. However, the only company that really uses the Internet to promote and market movies on a large scale is Warner Bros.

The reason why such a scene appears is related to the old-fashioned tradition of major Hollywood film companies, and it is also related to the fact that everyone is still in the groping stage.

"Almost every new film by Wayne, there will be a wide range of discussions on the Internet." Steven Spielberg raised his head and took a sip of red wine, fully agreeing with the old friend's point of view.

"It's like he was the first to put a trailer for a new movie on the Super Bowl halftime commercial. Wayne has never been a director who only knows how to bury his head in shooting. In fact, his marketing methods are richer than everyone else!"

"The Exotic Land Reclamation of Vegetable Skeletons"

"Steven, we must also have our own network department." Jeffrey Katzenberg took a deep breath and said seriously: "That kid Wayne, not only changed the black film into the mainstream, but also Continuing to push the Hollywood movie marketing model..."

Compared to the relatively leisurely George Lucas and others, the protagonist discussed by several bigwigs in Glendale DreamWorks, Wayne is so busy during this time that he can't wait to fly.

After the scripts and project proposals of "Superman" and "Wonder Woman" were submitted to Warner Bros., he immediately began to work on the new project of Greenberg Studio under the arrangement of Nina, and in front of him, the first One is "Quick Pursuit" tailored for Li Guohao.

Compared with before the "Matrix" trilogy, Li Guohao at this time has properly become a big star resounding in North America. Although he still can't reach the first-line coffee position, he has passed "The Clown's Soul", "The Matrix". "After the trilogy, his status in the circle has also risen rapidly.

In particular, as the absolute protagonist of the "Matrix" trilogy, he was completely accepted by the mainstream audience. Hollywood has always been like this, even if his Chinese descent, which was discriminated against before, was completely ignored by everyone at this time. .

And in the project of "Fast Pursuit", naturally, it is no longer possible to sign a cheap starring contract with him like "The Matrix".

However, there was no point of contention in the negotiations between the two parties. Li Guohao happily signed his name on the three-film contract. The first film of this contract, that is, "Fast Pursuit", which has already started the preparation of the team, his salary does not involve the later sharing, and he will only get 9 million US dollars in line with his worth.

For his current coffee position, this figure is basically in line with the market price. As for other follow-up projects, everything depends on the market performance of this "Fast Pursuit".

And the director of the film, at the recommendation of Warner Bros., Wayne set Wolfgang Peterson without hesitation. Although this German director is not very famous, he is well received in the circle. The "Wire of Fire" and "Air Force One" he directed before are all very good.

The total investment of "Chase" is 25 million US dollars. Like the previous "Matrix", Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studios jointly invested in the production. Contrary to outside speculation, this film is actually not a big production. You must know that even the original film in Wayne's memory cost only $20 million.

Along with Warner Bros. Investment, he entered the account of a third-party insurance company, and there was also a producer from Warner Bros. Wayne had nothing to do with it. After all, his Greenberg Studio was strictly a shell company. There is no such talent.

He also didn't have the energy to pay too much attention. The crew of "Fast Pursuit" started to prepare in a low-key manner, and then he met David Lynch through the relationship of Bruce Rosenblum.

But this time Wayne's plan fell through. David Lynch had already started making "Mr. Streeter's Story" and politely declined his invitation.

And just when he had a headache for the director candidate, Warner Bros. once again offered help. Roland Emmerich, who had just made a big somersault on "Godzilla", accepted Warner Bros.'s invitation without hesitation and will serve as the The director of the project "King Kong".

"What did Wayne say?"

In a large Warner Bros. conference room on a Monday in late September, before a routine high-level meeting, Jeff Robinoff asked Bruce Rosenblum in a low voice.

"He has no problem with Roland Emmerich."

In the large conference room, more and more executives and shareholder representatives entered, Bruce Rosenblum accelerated his speech and replied: "Just, should we be more careful, Roland Emmerich just now It screwed up a big project with hundreds of millions of investment!"

Jeff Robinoff shook his head slightly. "He is suitable for this type, is there a better candidate than him?"

"Right......"

No way, the project "King Kong" can't help them be careless. This project is completely different from "Chase", and the production cost is as high as 160 million US dollars. Not to mention Warner Bros., this figure is a proper first-tier production even if it is placed in the whole of Hollywood.

In fact, in the face of such a high investment, Warner Bros. executives also hesitated when reviewing the project, but in the face of the agent Jimmy's sentence "If Warner Bros. does not participate in the investment, Greenberg Studio will finance and shoot by itself", Immediately dispelled all high-level concerns.

The lesson of "Charlie's Angels" is in front of you. You must know that Wayne also proposed to co-produce this film at the beginning, but it is a pity that Warner Bros. gave up the opportunity to make money.

Whenever he is hesitant, Jeff Robinoff and a group of high-level executives can't help but think of the "Matrix" trilogy. This project jointly produced by Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studios has achieved good box office results for three consecutive years.

In particular, the movie peripherals that are released at the same time as the movie are simply not like the value that an R-rated movie can create. Let's just say "The Matrix 3: The Matrix Revolution". From its release to the present, according to rough statistics of various types of movie peripheral products, the global sales have reached about 260 million US dollars.

The "Matrix" series, for Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studios, is like a stable money printing machine, printing money every year!

"let us start."

At exactly nine o'clock, the large conference room was full of senior executives of Warner Bros. Jeff Robinoff didn't talk nonsense, he reached out and tapped on the conference table, officially starting today's routine meeting.

And the most important thing in front of everyone is undoubtedly the review of "Superman" and "Wonder Woman".

This is not the first time that these two projects have been discussed. In general, no one has raised any objections. However, many senior management and shareholder representatives have considerable doubts about the scripts of the two films.

"Jeff."

After the meeting officially started, UU Kanshu sat on a shareholder representative not far from the CEO, and took the lead to say: "Everyone thinks that there is no room for discussion about "Superman" and "Wonder Woman", but The script timeline issue, I think, should we talk to Wayne again."

Many executives in the room nodded involuntarily, no one doubted Wayne's ability, but the timeline of the scripts of "Superman" and "Wonder Woman" had many different opinions among the executives. One of the main contradictions is Wayne's consideration of the production order of the two films.

If there are no accidents, these two projects will be the last foreshadowing before "Justice League", and no one dares to be careless about these two projects.

As for the different voices from high-level executives, they only point to Zach Snyder sporadically. Some executives doubt his ability and think that it is better to find a more experienced director, even if it is just to preside over the daily shooting.

"I want to remind you a little."

In fact, this is also a headache for Jeff Robinoff. He simply stopped detouring, looked around the people in the conference room, and said directly: "Even if Wayne is invited, I am afraid that there will be no changes to the script. , however, after the meeting, I will speak with him on the phone to talk about the script."

Didn't Wayne change the order of the script timeline, and Warner Bros. executives wouldn't pass the review of "Superman" and "Wonder Woman"? Apparently Jeff Robinoff had seen through this long ago, and even if the time dragged on for a long time, the top executives would eventually pass by pinching their noses.

It is better to end the debate happily and let the two projects start related preparatory work as soon as possible. +Bookmark+