Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3035 From Buying Tickets to Chasing Dramas

In recent years, the domestic film and television industry has grown explosively, and many powerful film and television companies have emerged, and each of them is ambitious and wants to cooperate with Hollywood to make a big splash. In this process, Legendary Pictures is the most enthusiastic.

Now Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures have a strategic partnership.

This means that when Legendary Pictures cooperates with domestic film and television companies to co-produce Sino-US blockbusters, Universal Pictures has to follow suit.

For example, "Warcraft" and this time's "The Great Wall".

Warcraft was actually OK, it was an American blockbuster that spread American culture, even if the movie failed, at most it would just lose some money. The Great Wall was different, it was a collision of Eastern and Western cultures, if it failed it would not be as simple as just losing some money, it would affect its reputation.

Zhou Buqi is a senior movie fan and really doesn't want to get involved.

In fact, the concept of "The Great Wall" derived from "Game of Thrones" is quite good.

It’s not just movies and TV shows. Many popular literatures also imitate similar discussions when designing the plot structure. There is a “Great Wall” separating the two factions, and then a series of offensive and defensive battles take place around the “Great Wall”. On one side are the demons, on the other side are the humans; on one side is the wild world, on the other side is the human world…

It’s just that Hollywood movies always like to focus on values, and once they focus on values, there will be a conflict between Chinese and Western cultures, and it’s easy to offend both sides.

Thomas Tull certainly didn't care.

He only cares about making money.

Zhou Buqi is not good enough, he must pay attention to things beyond the market. Especially in China, cultural confidence is being advocated, but in fact, The Great Wall is not confident at all. It is a different era, and they are still playing the game of white people saving the world.

But when Wanda’s boss Wang heard that it was a Sino-US co-production, and that the investment would reach a staggering 1.5 million US dollars, and that it was related to the "Great Wall", one of the eight wonders of the world, he immediately became interested and said that Wanda could also get involved and that everyone should work together to make this project a success!

Thomas Tull also echoed, "It is indeed very difficult for China and the United States to co-produce, but there are successful cases. The Last Emperor once won an Oscar!"

"We'll talk about it later! We'll talk about it later!"

Zhou Buqi was very embarrassed about this.

This is a project that Legendary Pictures controls. In theory, Boss Zhou has no right to interfere. At most, he can express his opposition and the other party should give him face. But now it is too difficult to give up this project. Legendary Pictures does not need to invest anything. With the investment of LeTV Pictures and Wanda, it can control a super large project.

It's so cheap, why don't you want it?

It is never a good idea for Zhou Buqi to interfere forcefully.

  Hey!

trouble!

Let's avoid this first and meet others.

This is Hollywood, and most business and social discussions are related to movies and TV series.

In addition to business socializing, there are also some personal relationships. Basically, every time a female star comes over, it is like an invitation. For example, she has her birthday on such and such day and wants to ask Boss Zhou if he is free; for example, she has a bachelorette party before her wedding and wants to invite Boss Zhou to attend; for example, she has just bought a new house and wants to ask Boss Zhou for advice.

Each one is more lustful than the other, and they all want Boss Zhou's body.

Zhou Buqi naturally refused them all.

He still prefers discussions at the business level.

This was a celebration party for "Avengers 2". Many directors and producers who had worked with Marvel came, including a guy named Kenneth Branagh.

He has participated in the production of three Marvel films.

He served as assistant director on "Iron Man 2" and was the director on "Thor".

However, the market effect of "Thor" was mediocre, and in "Thor 2", he was no longer the director, but became the producer.

But he still hopes to be a director.

  Especially since he is a professional actor, he wants to direct and act in his own film!

In the past two or three years, he has been working between Paramount, Warner and Disney, filming and starring in several movies, but he still feels that he has not had enough. His dream is to write, direct and act in his own movies, and it would be best if it could be a series like Marvel movies!

But no one supported him.

Now that he saw the opportunity, he saw Boss Zhou.

Kenneth Branagh rushed over and introduced himself first.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "I know, you were the director of Thor."

Kenneth said, "Yes, but the box office is not as high as expected. I have been working hard in the past two years to strive for new development space. The movie "Trigger Point" released at the beginning of this year was directed by me for Paramount. The market feedback was very successful and it can earn at least 3000 million US dollars for Paramount. I also directed a live-action movie "Cinderella" for Disney."

"Oh! Congratulations!" Zhou Buqi knew the power of Disney's animation-to-live-action movie adaptation, "I believe it will be a great success."

"Actually..." Kenneth Branagh sighed, "Actually, this is not what I want. I have always had an idea, a big idea, but I have never had a good opportunity to realize it."

Zhou Buqi seemed very easygoing, "Tell me about it."

Kenneth said, "I want to direct and act in it myself...I want to direct and act in it myself as the male lead, remaking Agatha's detective novel."

"Oh!"

Zhou Buqi glanced at him and understood immediately.

Kenneth said, "In recent years, the concept of Sherlock Holmes has become popular again in Hollywood, and several excellent movies have been produced. However, no one has touched on Agatha, who is as famous as Sherlock Holmes. I think this is an opportunity."

Zhou Buqi nodded and said, "This is a very good direction. You have seen that superhero movies now dominate the market. Traditional action movies and gun battle movies are no longer recognized by the market. On the contrary, detective and suspense movies with rich plots can rely on differentiation to have a good survival space in the market."

"Yes, that's right!" Kenneth was very excited. He thought that the other person was a big boss, which was really right. "I think so too. The fact that Sherlock Holmes has been recognized by the market again proves this point. If Sherlock Holmes can do it, Agatha can do it too! The Poirot detective created by Agatha can also have rich and exciting stories!"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "So you want to play the role of Detective Poirot?"

Kenneth said, "Indeed, I have been thinking about this project for more than five years. I have also written three scripts." Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "Written, directed and acted in it yourself?"

"Not really, not really." Kenneth waved his hands. "It's an adaptation of Agatha's detective novels. The first one I want to shoot is the most classic "Murder on the Orient Express". If the project is successful, I will use it as a starting point to look at more of Agatha's works, such as "Death on the Nile", "Murder on Halloween", "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" and so on. They all revolve around the great detective Poirot as the protagonist. We can make a complete series."

Zhou Buqi said, "Well, you can do it, but you have to control the cost. This kind of movie will not have a very high commercial value in the box office market, so it is best to make it with a budget of 1 million to 1.5 million US dollars."

A global box office of $1 million doesn't seem like much.

In fact, out of the hundreds of new Hollywood movies released each year, only about 1 can gross over $30 million at the global box office.

If we can achieve such data, it would be considered a success.

With the subsequent derivative channels such as DVD, TV, on-demand, and streaming media, a movie with a box office of $1 million can at least earn a total revenue of $2 million for the film company. Unless the production cost is extremely high, a general movie box office of $1 million can basically make a lot of money for the film company.

Kenneth was very happy, but also a little worried. He cleared his throat and said, "Cost control will be easy. Agatha's novels do not need copyrights, and they are all crime stories in closed spaces, with simple scenes and a small number of actors. The cost can be kept very low. However, I talked to Moore, and he was not optimistic. I talked to him several times, and he refused."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "It's okay, I'll tell him. Your movie...well, your series of projects can be produced by MGM, and strive to make it a big series that can rival '007'."

"it is good!"

Kenneth's spirits lifted.

If this thing is done well, it can become his meal ticket for life, not only a meal ticket, but also a great achievement. Agatha has so many novels, and there are as many as 38 novels with Poirot as the protagonist.

If he could direct, write, and star in a remake of the film himself, it would be enough to make his name in film history.

Michael Moore is the senior vice president and president of the film department of Ziweixing Universal. Zhou Buqi found him and talked about this matter, "Peacock will be online in a few months. The most important thing in the video streaming business is content. Remaking Agatha's novels is the most important source of content. Moreover, Agatha's novels do not have copyright yet, which is of great value."

Mr. Moore seemed to understand what the big boss meant and was very surprised. "Were we going to shoot all of them?"

Zhou Buqi said: "Looking at the market feedback, Kenneth wants to direct and star in this series. This is his internal motivation, which is a good thing. I think the first few movies will be fresh in the market and will be very popular even in theaters. However, in the long run, this kind of single-scene suspense drama with a simple structure and mediocre production will probably be difficult to be accepted in theaters."

Agatha's novels are somewhat different from Nightingale's Sherlock Holmes series.

Agatha's novels are all stories set in closed spaces.

For example, on a ship, on a train, in a manor, on a golf course... they are all homicides that take place in a small space. The great detective then makes logical analysis between a small number of characters and infers the final murderer through careful judgment and analysis of details.

There is a huge advantage in adapting such a novel - cost saving.

Find a place, arrange some actors, and there will be no need for scene change.

It was filmed here from beginning to end.

The cost of filming will not exceed 500 million US dollars, including the fees of producer, director, and actors. As long as no big stars are invited to star, a budget of 1500 million US dollars will be enough.

However, the shortcomings are also obvious, that is, it is too monotonous and easy to cause aesthetic fatigue.

It's okay to watch one or two movies, but if they are all movies of this type, it will be difficult for the audience to be willing to spend money to buy tickets, after all, movie tickets are not cheap.

Judging from the operating model of traditional movies, Kenneth Branagh's idea is indeed not very mature.

But when streaming media is added, things are different.

Video streaming is different from the traditional division of film and television dramas. Streaming can break the limitations of movies and television, and can make a work look like both a movie and a TV. In particular, it can allow the audience to watch movies with the mentality of watching TV series.

When you buy a ticket to go to the cinema, your inner demands will be very high.

Many movies are excellent, but they fail because they do not meet the criteria for buying tickets to watch movies. The key to the success or failure of a movie in theaters is whether it can motivate the audience to buy tickets. If there is no motivation to buy tickets, even movies directed by film masters such as Spielberg and Scorsese will fail.

TV dramas are different.

No incentive to buy a ticket is needed.

The core of movies is "buying tickets", and the core of TV series is "chasing dramas".

The reason why superhero movies are invincible is that they perfectly combine the two internal motivations of the audience: "buying tickets" and "chasing dramas".

In the long run, the motivation to buy tickets for this kind of Agatha remake will surely decrease over time. However, as the number of related works increases and the membership stickiness mechanism of streaming platforms increases, the motivation to chase dramas will become stronger.

Boss Zhou's perspective on the issue is somewhat different from that of Michael Moore, president of the film department.

  He wants to develop streaming media!

Michael Moore knew what the core strategy of Ziweixing Global was at the moment, and he quickly understood what Boss Zhou meant. He took a deep breath and said, "Even if Agatha's remake is not popular in theaters in the future, we can still adopt the model of self-made movies on streaming platforms and survive in the long run."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Yes, that's what I mean! You can make a plan and classify it when you go back. You need to make a long-term plan. It would be best if there is an Agatha suspense movie released on Peacock every year."

"This may conflict with Kenneth's plan. It is better to focus on theaters first, and then streaming media if it is really necessary." Michael Moore is a traditional Hollywood filmmaker, and movies are of course mainly released in theaters.

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Okay."

Michael Moore smiled and said, "In fact, I am also a detective fan. I have read all of Agatha's novels. The protagonists in her novels include not only Detective Poirot, but also Miss Marple, a female detective from the English countryside."

"Female detective?"

Zhou Buqi's eyes lit up.

Michael Moore said: "Films with female actors as the core are often difficult to succeed in the cinema market. If you want to make a Marple detective TV series, you can focus on streaming. It can be made into a series model, or it can be produced with the specifications of a movie. I think it is better to use the movie model. As you said, make a suspense movie with Marple female detective as the protagonist every year and premiere it on our streaming platform Peacock!"

Zhou Buqi said, "Good! Very good! If there are male detectives, there must be female detectives. This is more in line with the current trend of thought! Let's do it!"