Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1604
"Even if it's a live-action movie..." Michael Moore is a veteran in the industry, so he understands the situation better, and said slowly, "There are quite a few live-action movies. This kind of overly classic fairy tale has too high market expectations and is difficult to remake. It’s too big. Last year, Germany filmed a version of “Snow White”, which failed both at the box office and word of mouth. There were also many live-action versions of “Snow White” in the early years, but none of them were recognized.”

Zhou Buqi insisted on his point of view, "The times have changed, and the past movies have no reference significance. The past movies are stories, and the future movies are the feeling of dreaming. As I said, the four elements of future Hollywood blockbusters are inertia. , special effects, popcorn and family reunion. The remake of classic fairy tales can best express these four elements."

Ann Sarnoff secretly analyzed.

The reputation of classic fairy tales is great, which is in line with the characteristics of inertia.Because it is a fairy tale for children, the plot is relatively simple and the popcorn attribute is relatively strong.This is especially true for family carnivals. Children often need to be accompanied by their parents when watching movies.

But what about special effects?
Ann Sarnoff couldn't help asking: "Does a fairy tale need a lot of special effects?"

Zhou Buqi said: "So fairy tales cannot be copied as they are. The original story is too classic. No matter how you shoot it, it is impossible to satisfy the audience. The best way is to adapt it, like an adaptation in the direction of fantasy, with magic, legends, and Innocent imagination, with the purest truth.”

Michael Moore was silent.

Ann Sarnoff is not a professional in the film industry, but she believes in the "four elements" theory of Boss Zhou, and gradually agrees, "Yes, Snow White has sunglasses and poisoned apples, and she has magic. , fantasy characteristics. If these four elements are satisfied, this is indeed a direction that can be made progress.”

Zhou Buqi saw that Michael Moore, the president of the film production department, seemed to be still undecided, so he waved his hand to stop him from thinking about it, "Okay, this matter is settled!"

The story of Snow White is too classic. The advantage is that it is easier to market after the movie is made.The disadvantage is that the audience's requirements are too high, and it is too difficult to remake.

Zhou Buqi has set a new production concept for future Hollywood blockbusters. Of course, this is not his personal originality. He just grasped the direction of future Hollywood blockbusters one or two years earlier than Hollywood.

Even without his suggestion, with the success of a series of blockbuster films such as "Avatar", "Alice in Wonderland", and "Iron Man", Hollywood itself can sum up this set of rules.

After the laws are summed up, it is necessary to move closer along the direction of the laws.

What kind of movie can best meet the "four elements"?
Either it is a blockbuster "Manga" or a "Children's" blockbuster.

In the second half of 2011, Relativity Media took the lead in launching a project called "Snow White: Mirror Mirror", the filming was a mess, and there was a lot of scolding.

But even though there was a lot of scolding in the market, this film with an investment of 8500 million US dollars still earned 1.83 million US dollars at the box office in the global market.The global distribution is 9000 million US dollars, plus TV copyright and DVD sales, the total revenue of each channel exceeds 2.3 million US dollars.It can be considered a small profit.

Relativity Media is just a film company transformed from a platter investment company, and its level is too poor.In fact, at the same time, another company in Hollywood followed up the Snow White project, and it was Universal Pictures led by Michael Moore!

Universal Pictures spent a whopping $1.7 million on a movie called "Snow White and the Huntsman."

The word of mouth is also very bad, and the most complaining point is that the big beauty Charlize Theron plays the evil queen and Kristen Stewart plays Snow White.When the queen asked the sunglasses "Who is the most beautiful woman in the world", the Lord of the Rings replied: "Snow White." There was booing in the cinema, feeling that the magic mirror was like a cataract, unable to distinguish between beauty and ugliness.

Moreover, the script of the film is also weak, the imagination is too poor, the sense of fantasy is not enough, and there are too many shortcomings.But even so, the global box office of the film still reached 4 million U.S. dollars, and the global share reached 2 million U.S. dollars.Counting all channels, the total revenue reached 5.5 million US dollars.

This poorly-reviewed movie earned Universal Pictures at least $2 million.

It can be seen that the "four elements" are powerful.

In the past, only good films could sell well and make money.In the future, even if it is a bad movie with a bad reputation, as long as it finds out the market positioning, it can still make a lot of money.

Because "Snow White and the Huntsman" has achieved greater success, and fairy tales are Disney's private land, they are naturally unwilling to give up their land to others. This is why Disney's follow-up "Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella", "Little Fly" Live-action movies such as "Elephant" and "Aladdin" are popular all over the world.

Michael Moore's style is somewhat conservative, although a "Snow White and the Huntsman" made a lot of money, but the problem of the play is difficult to solve.In addition, when Disney came into play, he was afraid and gave up this route.Competing with Relativity Media, he is very confident, competing with Disney... Let's forget it, it's better to take the initiative to retreat.

However, Zhou is not afraid!
There is a great master in Ziwei Star Universal, who is the sworn enemy of Disney. He has the ability, drive, experience and imagination. This is the biggest reliance of Boss Zhou.

Because of the appearance of Zhou Buqi, the timeline has been advanced, but Michael Moore still has a mature and prudent temperament, and said in a deep voice: "Everything else is easy to say, and the theory of the four elements is also very good. But there is one thing that is difficult for us to solve. problem. The adaptation of fairy tales is too difficult, even if the compiled version is excellent, it may not be suitable for the innocent world of children."

"On the contrary, I think the script should not be a problem." Zhou Buqi smiled confidently, "We have a chief creative officer, Katzenberg!"

Disney's recovery in the 90s was based on a series of cartoons led by Jeffrey Katzenberg, including a series of classics such as "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast", "The Lion King", and "Aladdin".

Later, he broke up with Disney and went out to start DreamWorks.

The current DreamWorks Animation is one of the three major animation studios in Hollywood, and has also produced a series of excellent cartoons that are loved by children.

In other words, Katzenberg does not lack the imagination of the children's world, he can create one after another that fits the children's beautiful dreams!
There is indeed a big difference in the script between making movies for adults and making movies for children.Just like Mo Yan can't write fairy tales, Zheng Yuanjie can't write rural novels.

Universal Pictures led by Michael Moore really lacks childlike thinking. It is not surprising that the plot of "Snow White and the Huntsman" they made is too adult.

But it is different with Jeffrey Katzenberg, he is the true founder of Hollywood animation in the new era.Not only Disney, but even the founder animators of Pixar were also employees of Disney back then, and they were also brought out by Katzenberg.

Let him lead this series, there must be no problem!

Moreover, having the opportunity to work for Disney is also a very exciting job for him.

Zhou Buqi went on to say: "Times have changed. In the past fairy tale princess movies, the princess was in trouble, and suddenly a kind prince appeared, rescued the princess, and found true love. This set is outdated. Why must the princess be saved by the prince? The values ​​of bravery, independence, and self-improvement should be passed on to the girls from an early age. They don’t need to rely on men, and they can even spare time to save the prince.”

This is a typical feminist argument, which was immediately recognized by Ann Sarnoff, a female executive, "Yes, this is the biggest difference between us and Disney. Yes, last year's German remake of "Snow White" "Princess", the rhythm is too slow, which is criticized. Our version can speed up the rhythm. Snow White ate the apple and was rescued by the prince. There was trouble in the scramble, it was Snow White who bravely went through many difficulties and rescued the prince, and then the prince and princess were finally together."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "I think this idea is very good!"

Michael Moore couldn't help laughing, "It's quite interesting."

So it's settled.

Then, they called DreamWorks Animation president Jeffrey Katzenberg, MGM president Bob Friedman, and Illumination Entertainment president Christopher Meledandri.

Christopher Macedandri is also an animation master.

Before that, he worked for [-]th Century Fox, and he made the famous "Ice Age" series of animations.Later, he broke up with Fox and joined Universal Pictures to be in charge of the animation of the subsidiary Lighting Entertainment.

However, before that, Illumination Entertainment did not receive the attention of Universal Pictures. It was not until Zhou Buqi acquired Universal Pictures that he paid attention to him.And to increase investment, he will convert his first cartoon "Despicable Me" in Illumination Entertainment into a 3D version.

If Jeffrey Katzenberg is the chief creative officer, then Christopher Macedandri is the second creative officer of Ziwei Star Global.

If you want to make a live-action movie of this kind of fairy tale, you must have such an animation master to participate in the script and make suggestions.

After some discussions at the meeting, Boss Zhou made the final decision, and the matter was considered settled.

This series of "children's movies" is not in charge of Universal Pictures, but is planned for Summit Entertainment, a subsidiary of MGM.

This is a brand based arrangement.

The brand of Universal Pictures often means horror, reality, action and other genres.MGM is even more exaggerated. The logo is a big lion with a bloody mouth, which can scare children.

In comparison, the sub-brand Summit Entertainment is more suitable.

The Twilight Saga series is popular with teenagers.Most recently, Summit Entertainment has launched the "Hunger Games" series again, which is also a genre aimed at teens.

Summit Entertainment is a subsidiary of MGM, and MGM assigns some people to make "children's transformation" movies, making Summit Entertainment a new movie brand for children and teenagers.

MGM is just too old.

Zhou Buqi himself didn't like it very much.

Because of the capitalist operation in the early years, the MGM brand has been spun off a long time ago.In addition to the MGM film company, there is also the MGM Grand Hotel, the MGM Casino...

Depend on!
The MGM brand has been ruined by them.

Since this is the case, it is better to downplay the attributes of MGM and focus on launching "Summit Entertainment".

(End of this chapter)