Chapter 671： tortuous

At this time, in addition to the continuous accumulation of shooting experience and network qualifications, Lehmann also relied on many references for the future development trend.

These setbacks that Warner Bros. encountered in 2006 seem normal to many people. Who hasn't lost yet?

Maybe after a while, the strategy will be adjusted, and it will be easy to slow down.

But suddenly there is such a person, knowing that Warner will fall in the pit, and the fall is ugly, and he intends to use this to claim benefits, which is absolutely impossible to prevent.

And Lehman wanted to be the guy who watched Warner make a fool of himself and threatened to take pictures, no matter who provided the opportunity for him to fall.

In other words, to be able to fall into a pit, first of all, there are two points. One is that there is a pit ahead, which is the road Warner has to take, and the other is that he is distracted and does not notice such a pit.

Is it the way to go, of course, Superman is DC's own son and must be adapted, and the distraction may be the fascinating prospect revealed by the project itself.

And why it is said that the director of the film, Brian Singer, is unlucky and has little responsibility. This has to be said about the process of project preparation.

At the beginning, in 2003, it was Tim Burton who was invited to take over as the project director, and also completed the first version of the official script with Kevin Smith. Withdrawal, Michael Bay became the project director, and then his adaptation ideas were not recognized, Warners had concerns about Michael Bay's creative state and whether he could make Superman well - use your imagination, it may be an explosion scene Too much, and Warners didn't like the explosions in Superman that stole the audience's attention.

As a result, Michael Bay was also out, and the second version of the script was cancelled;

Then it came to Joseph McGinty-Nitcher, the director of the "Charlie's Angels" series, and then he still didn't reach a consensus with Warner and quit halfway.

Then it was taken over by Brian Rayner, and for the first time there were signs of filming.

But Brian Reiner was too procrastinated in casting. He denied the popular Hollywood niche students and big male stars one by one. He couldn't find a suitable Clark Kent actor. Because of his harshness or a waste of time , Warners spent a lot of money and publicity expenses in the middle, but the project did not know when the shooting would start, and the consumption could not continue, and this one was also eliminated.

There was a series of substitutions in the middle, and even Nicolas Cage was specially trained for the role of Superman. He failed to win, and turned to other works. There was no schedule-Cage almost became Superman, because at that time he was a very good player in the industry. Popular male stars, especially in this time and space.

And the project has not yet started shooting, just because Warner is preparing to throw in more than 50 million, which is already one-third of the resource investment of a blockbuster, but Warner still refuses to give up the implementation of Superman's plan to continue to find suitable directors and actors. .

In the end, Bryan Singer, the director of Fox's director's platform, was dug out with a heart. At that time, because he dominated the two "X-Men" films, they were both big hits. Attractive offers.

After Bryan Singer took over the project, because he admired Jude Law, he tailored a role for him, but it was rejected by Warner. Weizer's plan to play Superman was also rejected by Brian for being too famous for his "Passion of the Christ" image...

A series of shelving and arguments made the investment of this film all the way up to 350 million, but in fact, the part that was actually used for filming was far from spending so much money, and it was wasted repeatedly in the middle.

You must know that the box office opening of "Superman Returns" is better than that of Nolan's "Mystery of the Shadow", and it has also won the recognition of most comic fans, but why does one fail and the other succeed?

Because "Mystery of the Shadow" only cost 150 million, and "Superman Returns" cost 350 million, if "Superman Returns" cost less, it would be a success.

Whether it can make a profit or not is obviously an important criterion to judge.

This is not just some data, but the most intuitive evaluation of the "product" by the audience. Is a work that has won word of mouth but lost the market, is it really acceptable to the studio?

Maybe, but not very comfortable.

Looking at it this way, Bryan Singer is also quite unlucky. Warners liked to interfere during the filming, which caused him to be unhappy and took over a project that was almost difficult to give birth. As a result, due to excessive expenses and unsatisfactory box office, he failed. . Who is going to make sense of this...

Even the always harsh newspaper evaluations did not ridicule Brian Singer's directing ability, and perhaps you can know the industry's judgment on this matter - this is entirely made by Warner himself. Of course, there is no problem with the director's ability, but he is not very good in terms of life. Later generations were involved in the incident of sexually assaulting underage boys, and he was resisted by many parties.

What's even more **** is that Brian Rayner, who was kicked out by Warner in the middle, accepted Fox's "X-Men 3" project, and the result was a great success, and now he is still chasing "Superman Returns" in the box office market to grab audiences— - If Warners didn't dig Brian Singer, how could Brian Rayner have such a chance.

Sometimes, it's right to always like slaps in the face, because reality likes slaps more than it does.

I just don't know if Warner's face hurts, how much it hurts...

While paying attention to his own project advancement and being in charge of the editing of "Untouchable", Lehman is irresponsible and cranky, in the hope of better slaughtering Warner and perfecting the plan.

By the way, after the end of the second week, how much will "Superman Returns" be at the box office?

Oh, North America has just passed 130 million, and the world is 210 million—overseas are more popular than domestic ones, and there is basically no possibility of the final landing point, and it is estimated that it will not even reach 400 million.

According to the box office sharing rules, even if Warner is strong, it will lose at least 150 million. Unfortunately, the influence of Superman is still high. In the end, by selling DVDs and peripherals, this big hole was actually filled, and only 20 to 30 million was lost, or halfway losses. too many...

......

While Lehman was doing some small calculations with ease, Barry Mayer was so angry that he had a headache.

How could something so simple for him not only be unable to do, but also find a lot of reasons to explain his incompetence?

Jonsson Campbell's contact with Christopher Nolan fell through, and the party clearly expressed that he would represent his attitude with the attitude of fireflies, and did not agree to take over "Batman 2".

Of course, it's not that Nolan doesn't want to shoot Batman, he means don't bypass Firefly and shoot Batman.

Now, the two are a community of interests. Lyman has a kindness to him, not to mention that Nolan and Firefly are very happy to work together, and his brother has become the leader of Firefly's screenwriting department, not to mention that Lyman also understands him and is willing to delegate power to him. great freedom.

Where can you find a partner who contributes money and effort without interfering.

Therefore, Nolan rejected Warner. As for digging a corner, it really depends on Warner, but this time it failed, and it failed to reach a consensus with the project director in advance, and turned to put pressure on Firefly.

Although Barry Mayer only uses this as a late move, recruiting Annolan first, and contact with Firefly will have the upper hand in the negotiation.

Unfortunately, people still do not agree.

Moreover, Nolan was busy in the later stages of "Deadly Magic" and didn't have time to play any routines, and his mind was not on this at all.

Then there is the pressure of "Superman Returns". During this time, Barry Mayer worried about it every day.

Both overseas and domestically lost The best expectation given by the market department is 400 million globally.

But what is the use of 400 million in the world?

Satisfying the board and keeping shareholders quiet?

They only know that the project that cost a lot of money to shoot has lost money and will lose money. As for why the shooting will lose money, it naturally needs someone else to give a reasonable explanation.

But how to explain?

Bryan Singer was dug up by Warners, the script was approved by Warners, and even the casting was chosen one by one.

Moreover, the box office doesn't blame the actors for being stupid. Although studios always use similar reasons to write soft articles to reduce their responsibilities, everyone actually knows that actors are only the least influential part of the entire project.

Distribution, production, specific shooting direction... Which one is not more important than the actors?

Could it be that there is really a problem with the creative concept? Barry Mayer thought.