The King of Huayu Science Fiction

Chapter 318 Uneasy
Chen Jingxing waved his hand: "Spike II and OPERATION RED SEA should be filmed on the spot. Since we want to shoot high-level military action movies, there is no need to save money on this."

Xu Wenshen routinely emphasized that filming part of the plot in China would theoretically not affect the quality of the film: "Some plots can be filmed in Africa, but there are still many scenes that can be put in China, and the architectural background can be built. , There are also deserts and neighbors in China, and with the current level of special effects, it will not affect the final film effect.

The most important thing is that shooting in China is controllable, whether it is the construction period or the coordination of personnel, there are too many uncontrollable factors in Africa thousands of miles away, and there are different concepts between that place and Southeast Asia. "

"A theory is a theory, but what is fake is not true after all. The director and actors can understand it, and the audience must also understand it." Chen Jingxing shook his head, and decided to shoot both movies on location in Africa.

Chen Jingxing has made so many films, and he has gradually understood why some directors pursue truth, which sometimes seems too critical.

True or false definitely has an impact on the director's creation and the actor's performance state, and these will be reflected on the big screen.

Chen Jingxing who can shoot on the spot supports it.

The main reason is that "Gravity" is in space, and you can't shoot in space. The background of "Matrix" is the magic city, but such a big city can't make you "havoc in heaven" there, let alone "The Martian". Said, also can not go to Mars to shoot.

He has been in the studio for a long time, or set up scenes to shoot movies, all of which are limited by the subject matter, which does not mean that Chen Jingxing really loves CG and other special effects techniques. This is only after making so many movies. s things.

Although it was a meeting of the "DreamWorks Project Approval and Review Committee", Chen Jingxing's decision was naturally the committee's decision, and Xu Wenshen's "rebellion" was just a routine matter. What about the support of Wu Jing and other directors?

When the person of the big boss is a film director, an artist, a big spender, and the ideal side of DreamWorks, then as the company's big butler, it is natural to be responsible for singing the white face and showing the realistic side of a film company.

However, this does not mean that Xu Wenshen is just acting, so he doesn’t feel heartache. If both "Spike II" and "Operation Red Sea" were filmed on-site in Africa, the combined budget of these two films may not be seven or eight. There is no way to get down to [-] million, and it may even be more.

This cost is equivalent to a "Gravity".

It’s just that unlike Chen Jingxing’s determined decision on the “Gravity” project that faced many opposition voices within the company, the decision on the two military action blockbusters this time did not arouse any reaction, which also reflects the growth of DreamWorks in the past two years. speed.

If the 4 million invested in "Gravity" two years ago failed in the end, it would definitely hurt DreamWorks, but this time the two projects will also invest 4 million or more - "Operation Red Sea" is the same Co-produced by National Film and Television, "Spike II" Wu Jing also has an investment share of 1 million yuan-but it is no longer a financial burden for the current DreamWorks.

However, these two projects are considered large-scale industrial films. Maybe there are not so many special effects involved, but the manpower and resources required are not inferior to "Edge of Tomorrow".

Therefore, shooting may need to be done in sequence. Since the background is Africa, many things can be shared, so there is no need to waste resources.

Besides, although this kind of military action-themed films are relatively rare domestic film types, they are definitely box office bombs. Wolf Fang II and Operation Red Sea should not be too close together. There must be at least a year between the release of the two films.

Therefore, Chen Jingxing decided to shoot "Spike II" first, and then "Operation Red Sea", together with "Mekong River" to form DreamWorks' trilogy of military operations.

Guo Fan has no objection to this. The filming and production of "Edge of Tomorrow" has improved his grasp of heavy industry films, but it has also exhausted him. Under a lot of pressure.

After all, the domestic film industry has not yet formed a mature film industry. Chen Jingxing and him, or DreamWorks, are actually pioneers and pioneers.

Without a complete film industry system, to make an industrial film, the director must be a "jack-of-all-trades" and be responsible for every field, just like there is no production line, thinking about reference and manufacturing various parts to assemble a car Cars are average.

Guo Fan is very happy to be able to rest for a while.

However, as a mature capitalist, Chen Jingxing would not really let Guo Fan take a complete rest. "Operation Red Sea" has a ready-made script, so without Guo Fan's worries, "The Wandering Earth" can be put on the agenda.

After the meeting, Chen Jingxing left alone Guo Fan who was a little puzzled, and told the general plot of "The Wandering Earth".

In the previous life, "The Wandering Earth" itself is a short story, how short is it?Only about 2 words.

The plot is also very simple and can be finished in ten minutes.

But the 500-year journey of the wandering earth can open up a very large space for imagination. The 2-odd words tell not just a story, but a world view.

The company Guo Fan founded has actually been collecting some sci-fi works in the market, and has also bought the copyrights of several sci-fi novels that he thinks have the space to adapt film and television dramas. He plans to see if he can get the support of DreamWorks in the future, or When I have money, I will make it into a film and television drama.

As someone who likes science fiction, Guo Fan is very keen on whether a science fiction story has the potential and space to adapt a film and television drama. Therefore, after Chen Jingxing told this story, he had a strong intuition that this science fiction background setting There is much to be done.

"The script of "Operation Red Sea" has been completed a long time ago, and you can also take advantage of the time of rest to think about the story of "The Wandering Earth". You can’t polish a script, as long as the script is good, no matter how big the scene is, DreamWorks will fully support it.” Chen Jingxing cast a bait to seduce Guo Fan.

Of course, Guo Fan accepted this "task" without any suspense. After filming "The Mekong River", he actually didn't have much excitement for military action movies like "Operation Red Sea". It was nothing more than a large "Operation Mekong River" "That's all, sci-fi movies are his favorite subject matter.

After arranging Mo and DreamWorks' film projects for the next one or two years, Chen Jingxing also immediately devoted himself to the shooting of "The Martian". Although the domestic and foreign hits of "Gravity" have not yet come to an end, the final box office results It can be predicted that it is almost the same, the major markets have already been released one after another, and there will basically be no surprises or surprises.

……

Wu Zhaoxian, the boss of Tianrun Pictures, listened to the report of his subordinates impatiently, and interrupted after a while: "Is this the final forecast?"

The meeting room was quiet for a while, and then the person in charge of Tianrun Films’ publicity and distribution management department said: “Mr. Wu, this should be the situation in the filming schedule. On August 8th, “Gravity” should still occupy the largest number of filming schedules. , followed by our new film "I'm Waiting for You in Memories", which premiered that day.

"Tomb Raiders Notes" was released on July 7th. It has tried its best to avoid the sharpness of "Gravity" but was swept by the tail of the typhoon. On the premiere day, the film ranked second over "Tomb Raider"..."

"What about "Your Name"? It's really only 8.4% of the filming?" Wu Zhaoxian asked with a frown.

"Uh, this is already an overestimation of our best efforts. In fact, judging from the pre-sale situation, "Your Name" can only be ranked third among the four new films released on August 8." The person in charge of publicity tried his best I want to enhance the persuasiveness of my words, and want to dispel the boss's suspicion.

August 8th is the first Friday in August, and the 5th is the Qixi Festival. All movies that want to hit the box office of couples, or want to make a difference in the second half of the summer, want to be scheduled on this day, so the competition is more fierce.

Another senior executive seemed to be explaining and comforting the big boss: "Mr. Wu, although "Your Name" is a movie produced by DreamWorks, it is an animation movie, and it is also a 2D animation movie. For any original script supported by IP, it is said that the investment is 5000 million, which is almost the same as our "I'm Waiting for You in Memories".

To be honest, I really admire Chen Jingxing's courage of "too much money to spend". If it is the theatrical version of "Universe Super Battleship" or "Star God", it may be able to make a difference, but according to our According to the observed public opinion, anime fans seem to have little interest in "Your Name", they prefer adventure and passion, and they are usually not interested in works with realistic themes, let alone original or even love-themed animations. "

For these words, Wu Zhaoxian felt a little bit of comfort in his heart, but he still had a little uneasiness that could not be resolved.

His feelings for Chen Jingxing and DreamWorks were quite complicated. Although Tianrun was a shareholder of DreamWorks, that share did not have any power at all, especially in the face of Chen Jingxing's over 70% equity.

However, the rise of DreamWorks was faster than people imagined, which led to the growth of a towering tree after only two rounds of financing, making shareholders' plans to expand their equity in subsequent rounds of financing quickly bankrupt.

The relationship between Tianrun and DreamWorks began to be alienated because of their strong opposition to the establishment of the "Gravity" project. Later, after experiencing the unprecedented success of "Source Code", and Xu Wenshen, who was dismissed by him as a back-up man, became the CEO of DreamWorks. It was also difficult to make up for it, and even some companies including Tianrun were more or less behind the negative public opinion turmoil experienced by Chen Jingxing and DreamWorks.

The only consolation is that investing in DreamWorks is definitely a very successful case in terms of financial investment. When DreamWorks goes public, the tens of millions invested by Tianrun in the first two rounds of financing will be worth tens of millions.

But this can't comfort Wu Zhaoxian's colic pain. If Tianrun Pictures can participate in the investment of "Gravity" project like Guoying, Huanshi.com and Penguin.com...

But money is hard to buy to regret. After "Gravity" was released, Wu Zhaoxian began to suffer from headaches and heart palpitations. He dared not even go online, and dared not see the box office results of "Gravity" at home and abroad. This may make him Regret and jealousy overwhelm reason.

And the sudden finalization of Dreamworks' "Your Name" made Wu Zhaoxian feel uneasy.

It’s true that the pre-sales are average, it’s true that the film schedule is much lower than Tianrun’s new film "I’m Waiting for You in Memories" released at the same time, and it is true that 2D animations with realistic themes are not pleasing to anime fans. These analyzes are very reasonable...

But still can't dispel his anxiety, because it is DreamWorks after all.

(End of this chapter)