Chapter 463： lost their minds

The original "Dead Silence" was a film released by Universal.

It was also the first home that Wen Ziren found after peacefully breaking up with Lions Gate.

But I don't think so, this work with an investment of more than 20 million, the North American box office is less than 17 million, and the global total has just recovered the production cost.

According to the ratio of publicity and theater production, if the producer wants to make a profit at the box office, it basically needs to reach 3 to 1, that is to say, the box office of 60 million is more than the production cost of 20 million, in order to basically achieve a profit at the box office. make up.

But unfortunately, the setting of "Dead Silence" is still novel, but the story is too old-fashioned, and the loss-making Universal almost cursed her mother.

It is estimated that they are also thinking, how can the genius director who can create box office miracles go to the street.

In fact, this is also a rare box office failure in Wen Ziren's directorial career.

From the perspective of future comers, it is quite normal for "Dead Silence" to lose money.

On the use of horror elements, the development of doll toys with country nursery rhymes is simply the best setting effect. Similar to the American classic film "Ghost Baby" series, each of them has a high horror index and box office results. It's quite impressive, and "Dead Silence" is naturally not bad in terms of scaring people.

The doll Billy, who is often shown in slow motion in the film, is the most brilliant prop in the whole film - the original fear that humans will be engraved in their genes is the fear of things that are too similar to themselves and unknown.

Billy's realistic doll is naturally full of mystery.

That kind of plastic face always has a stiff smile, and the pupils that stare straight at people are synonymous with weirdness.

In this work, it can't be said that Wen Ziren's directorial skills declined because of the box office failure.

This guy's bold attempt to horror elements is already at a very high level in this film, which is more in-depth than the horror expression in the popular "Hidden" series, "The Conjuring" series and "Dead Silence". The atmosphere rendering and the sudden audition experience brought the audience into the realm of hell-like heartbeat.

However, there are too many flaws in the story of this work, which greatly weakens the terrifying atmosphere that was finally set up.

So much so that Mary-Shaw's grand debut and the climax of the ghost's life-threatening death became too cliché, and at the end, the stereotyped commercial foreshadowing of this type of film was also extremely abrupt.

For example, the identity setting of the big villain Mary-Shaw is too bad. As a ventriloquist performer, because of a child watching the play, I saw your lips move, it will lead to a very deliberate killing. Fail.

Also, what kind of perfect doll did this guy make out of a child? After being discovered, the townspeople killed her, and she began to resent all the townspeople and would take revenge on the townspeople and their descendants? What are you doing, how will this story unfold? This old man, Mary-Shaw, killing children is not a joy to kill, but if someone kills you, you can turn into a ghost to take revenge. Why can't those children who died tragically? When it comes to hatred, there are obviously more children.

So there is so much foreshadowing in front of it. Once Mary-Shaw arrives, the level of brain damage and hypocrisy of the plot has risen to a situation that insults the IQ and the audience's three views, and it is not a setting that can save it.

Seriously, the Blind Doll Billy is such a good setting. In order to match it, the lighting effects of bright and dark plus the ingenious atmosphere of the scene; the psychological effect strongly implied by the details of the lens, pinch The tension in the heart was completely torn apart.

This is also the reason why the horror index of the movie is quite high, and several scenes have become classics of latecomers, but the market performance has been beaten.

So, no matter what the subject matter, a qualified story that can justify itself without making the audience feel insulted to its IQ is the foundation of film art.

And the original version of "Dead Silence" just lost its mind on the story.

Lehman put down the script and asked Wen Ziren, "Have you figured out the main line of the story?"

Wen Ziren nodded and said what he thought: "Ray Warner and I set up a town where the residents were haunted by ghosts and died one by one, and the folk songs said not to scream, too. Inspiration for ghost killing."

"So, ghost killing has limitations. The limitation you arranged is not to scream?"

"Yes, a bad guy dies and becomes a ghost, but the ghost can't kill people at will, which increases the conflict of the plot and the fun to watch."

Laiman suddenly realized, no wonder in Wen Ziren's setting, the ghost Mary-Xiao is so brainless, it turns out that she is a bad person herself.

Since she is a bad person, do you have to say how bad she is?

It's a pity that Wen Ziren's anti-social concept has made the audience's opinion so much, which is also far from the psychological expectation of the public. The theory that "justice will not be absent, and good people have good rewards" has been directly torn up. Accepting incompetence seems like it should be.

At the moment, Lehman looked at Wen Ziren with a sad face, "If I had to say it, this work is very likely not to be accepted by the market."

"Uh" Wen Ziren was a little stunned. He never imagined that Lehmann would reject his new proposal.

Lehman continued: "In other words, if you were in the audience's shoes, how many people do you think the movie would like when it was made? Where is the market audience?"

Wen Ziren hesitated: "The horror theme is naturally supported by fans who like to watch horror movies. Judging from the past data market, there are many audiences in this segment. I estimate that the production budget is about 25 million. In North America It should be able to sell 70 million to 80 million yuan, and it will be a little less overseas, and there should be 50 million yuan. This is more than 100 million yuan, and it is not difficult to make a return on investment without counting CDs and TV broadcasts.”

"You still have a plan." Lehmann still recognizes his data basis After all, horror movies, calculated on the average, as long as the quality is excellent, there will be at least 50 million US dollars in the market. Above the box office.

However, the new work still has to think deeply about the structure of the plot.

Having learned the lessons of failure and the cultivation of market vision over the years, Lehman still suggested: "It's OK to shoot, and the idea of ​​​​conception is absolutely right. But does the role need to be better polished?"

Hearing that there is still a chance to shoot, Wen Ziren doesn't mind changing the script outline.

He is not a director who insists on himself very much. From the fact that he was able to take charge of a typical commercialized film work such as "The Fast and the Furious" later, we know that he does not care much about the script.

What he cares more about is how to use his own lens language and rhythm control ability to create a movie with his own style.

After all, many well-known directors are not very good at writing scripts. Lyman himself has this problem.

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