my movie years

Chapter 182 The War of Words with Marvel Studios

Because Beyoncé's halftime show used a lot of flashing lights, the second half of the game was once in a dilemma in the middle of the electricity, which became a joke in this Super Bowl.

The power outage interrupted the game for 36 minutes. After experiencing the power outage, the San Francisco 49ers fought back frantically in the second half and once narrowed the gap to only 2 points.

But they still fell short, and the Ravens narrowly won the Super Bowl 34-31.Ravens quarterback Flacco was elected MVP, Raytheon Ray Lewis won the second Super Bowl in his career.

But for movie fans who don't care about the Super Bowl game, the most important link is undoubtedly the release of the trailer for the summer commercial blockbuster at the Super Bowl.

These 30-second trailers flowed along the warm current of the Pacific Ocean all the way to China on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

Zhang Hao has been working hard in the United States for more than half a year, and it is finally time to see the results.

Video platforms such as Penguin Video, iQiyi, Youku, Bilibili, and video sharing sites can watch the latest Hollywood movie trailers.

Among them, "Batman: Beginning of War" is undoubtedly the one that has received the most attention and the highest number of hits. Netizens on the Internet are discussing it, and movie fans Heizi continue to fight.

The media has not been idle either, publishing all kinds of attention-grabbing reports one after another, making it difficult to distinguish between true and false reports.

"The premiere preview of "Batman: Beginning of War" is affected by public opinion, and the prospects of the film are worrying."

"Hollywood insiders frankly said that "Batman: Beginning of War" may face the dilemma of not being able to be released in North America."

"Batman: Beginning of War and Iron Man 3, the latest film list introduced by the big scissors, have been confirmed to be introduced and are expected to be released in May."

"Come back just after developing abroad? There is still a certain gap between Chinese-language film directors and world-class directors."

It is different from the idea that Zhang Hao went out to develop and was generally supported by the Chinese public opinion circle.After the trailer was released at the Super Bowl, the doubts about Zhang Hao and the film increased instead of diminishing.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon. In addition to the promotion of some people behind the scenes, it is also influenced by the North American public opinion circle.

The most important reason is that Chinese netizens in this period generally lack self-confidence, and they always think that there is a big gap between themselves and foreign countries.

There are a lot of people on the Internet advocating this kind of speech, such as certain technology, our technology gap with others is 50 years, such and such ideological system, we are not as good as others, etc. You can often see such remarks.

In the cultural and entertainment industry, this situation is even more serious. You must know that Hollywood movies are now eagerly sought after, and their popularity is unimaginable by later generations.

Especially as "囧太囧" became the first domestically produced film to exceed one billion yuan, it is foreseeable that the golden age of the film market is coming, and it is not uncommon for films to exceed one billion yuan in the future.

Before the magic of Hollywood faded away, it had always been the mainstream of the mainland film market, and the major Hollywood giants earned a lot of money from the mainland film market.

But after more than ten years, this situation took a sharp turn for the worse, such as "Guardians of the Galaxy 3".

If this Marvel blockbuster was released in 2014 or 2015, the box office would be worth a billion dollars.But in 2023, the film's box office will basically not get one billion, and it will end up with a box office of seven or eight billion.

The reason for such an obvious contrast is related to the continuous rise of self-confidence, apart from the fact that Hollywood is a little out of touch with the so-called correct play.

In 2023, there is only one Hollywood movie in the top ten box office rankings of mainland movie history, "Avengers 4: Endgame."

The rest are all domestic films, which also shows that the mainland market is constantly rising, and the awareness of the audience is constantly awakening.

However, no matter how powerful the single market is, it still cannot be compared with the size of globalized Hollywood.

So Zhang Hao has been thinking about a problem since he was reborn, taking advantage of the fact that the estrangement is not so serious now, go to the world first.

In the future, other Chinese-language movies will not be able to come out, but Zhang Hao can make it out, which is also considered an achievement.

If you want to earn, earn all the money in the world.

It doesn't feel good to always be nestled in the nest of the mainland market, mixed with the stinky fish and rotten shrimps of traffic stars and traffic movies.

Ignoring these skeptical and questioning eyes, after the release of the first 30-second trailer, Zhang Hao didn't even go back to celebrate the New Year, and continued to work in North America.

After the Chinese New Year and Western Valentine's Day, "Batman: Beginning of War" followed in the footsteps of "Iron Man 3" and released a two-minute and 30-second trailer.

The content of the trailer this time is a little more, and it shows the highlights of the film.Coupled with Zhang Hao's fierce camera style, many fans realized that this is not a superhero movie imitating Marvel.

Disney has been very troubled recently. "Iron Man 3" is about to be released. Originally, according to Robert Iger's intention, "Iron Man 3" was used to bury "Batman: Beginning of War".

Let Tony Stark give Bruce Wayne a funeral and officially let DC die.

But Warner Pictures' promotional strategy is very clever, that is, "Iron Man 3".

At the same time, the director Zhang Hao and the leading actors Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, and Amber Heard, who have not responded, began to accept interviews with Warner's media according to the arrangement of Warner Pictures.

"This is a movie different from Marvel-style superhero movies. I can guarantee that no one will see this style of movie." Facing an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Zhang Hao said this.

"Why do you say that?" The reporter continued to ask according to the previous arrangement.

Zhang Hao explained: "In fact, we have seen Marvel movies, which are childish and younger works for all ages.

In contrast, this Batman movie is more like a movie, and the production completely follows the basic concept of filmmaking, so that the audience can feel that this is not a Batman story, but a story that will actually happen.

The whole film is made in a realistic style, and I try to eliminate the comic elements of the film, making the film look more like a gangster film. "

Zhang Hao's subtext doesn't even call Marvel's works a movie, secretly accusing Marvel of violating the basic concept of filmmaking.

Although the old beauty is straight-hearted and doesn't understand these twists and turns, the smart Disney executive can still hear Zhang Hao's insinuation.

This rude Chinese... Of course Disney and Marvel can't bear it, Kevin Feige immediately accepted the media interview, and said bluntly in the interview: "I am very worried about the performance of "Batman: Beginning of War" in theaters.

According to the Chinese, he made films according to realistic themes.

Obviously, he already had the successful experience of Marvel, but he didn't learn to respect these successful experiences, and wanted to try a new path independently.

It can only be said that the film is destined to fail, and we will not see this Chinese director in Hollywood in the future. "

The reactions of Disney and Marvel are quite interesting. Before Zhang Hao did not clarify the style of "Batman: Begins", their media all promoted Zhang Hao to follow suit and plagiarize.

In fact, "Batman: Beginning of War" is the DC version of "Iron Man", and the style is the same.

But after Zhang Hao stood up and said that the film was not made according to the style of "Iron Man", Disney and Marvel changed their caliber again, thinking that Zhang Hao would definitely fail if he did not shoot according to their successful experience.

Anyway, let Disney and Marvel talk about the right and the wrong. In view of the stupidity of the public and netizens, Zhang Hao felt that it was necessary to have a war of words with Kevin Fitch.

Seeing Kevin Feige come out to respond, Zhang Hao's eyes lit up immediately, and he was worried that Disney and Marvel would ignore him and not give him this chance to touch porcelain.

That's all right now, Kevin Fitch looks like he's going to have a spat with him, and of course Zhang Hao has to respond.

Ever since, Zhang Hao studied "Sun Tzu's Art of War" on the Internet, and came up with a trick to successfully bind "Iron Man 3" and "Batman: Beginning of War".

This wave of Bruce Wayne is bloody, because he has been forgotten by audience fans for 15 years, but Tony Stark is the hottest superhero right now.

These two hypes, as long as the public opinion is not one-sided, are Bruce Wayne's blood.

Moreover, although Disney is the world's number one media group, Time Warner, which Warner Pictures belongs to, is not bad either.

Originally, the public opinion in North America was overwhelmingly unfavorable to "Batman: Begins", but the two trailers, the debate between Zhang Hao and Kevin Feige, and the content revealed by the leading actors made the public opinion begin to blur.

The incident happened in North America, and there is some lag in China. When domestic netizens saw the news of Zhang Hao and Kevin Fitch arguing, they called director Zhang Hao directly.

A few people began to blame Zhang Hao, thinking that he had lost face to the Chinese and that foreign guests should be politely withdrawn. Zhang Hao's doing so would easily cause people to misunderstand the Chinese.

As everyone knows, being polite and conceding makes people feel that you are weak and deceitful.

But it's useless to talk to these Muyang dogs. They think they have the truth, and they can't listen to other people's words at all, and they can't see the facts that are happening.

Regardless of whether the foreign master is at fault or not, anyway, if you, Zhang Hao, are arguing with others, it is your fault.

In the commercial film market, how can there be gentleness, humility, and polite concession?This is a battlefield where there is no smoke, and a market where the strong prey on the weak.

If you don't advance, you will retreat. Neither Zhang Hao nor Warner Pictures has a way out.

To be honest, if a fight can decide the outcome between "Batman: Begins" and "Iron Man 3", Zhang Hao is not just talking about it.

He will go straight to the fight and have an octagonal cage fight with Kevin Feige to decide the winner.

Since February and March, the public opinion of "Batman: Begins to War" has changed a lot. It was originally overwhelmingly unfavorable, but now some viewers are interested.

Next, what ultimately determines fate is the final quality of the film.

In mid-March, at Warner Pictures' studio, Zhang Hao finally completed the post-production of "Batman: Begins", and the film took shape.

As soon as the film was completed as expected, the executives of Warner Pictures held an internal test screening and watched the latest Batman movie.

Severin Meyer finished watching the whole film, and his frown relaxed.

"President, what do you think?" Jeff Robinov asked.

"Not bad, quite good, the quality of the film is beyond my imagination." As a professional, Severin Meyer has his own precise judgment.

Rick Solomon on the side also said: "I really can't imagine that this will be a superhero movie made by a Chinese director."

"What about our distribution strategy? Should we still be conservative in distribution?" The opinion of the senior management of the distribution department.

Severin Meyer thought for a while before saying: "Although the quality of the film is beyond imagination, the audience will not understand it before seeing it. We will continue to release it conservatively and hold three trial screenings first to see the reaction. "

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away." The director of the distribution department went down to handle the matter.

The internal test screenings have achieved good responses. Although many Warner Bros. executives have specific prejudices against Zhang Hao, they have made objective and fair evaluations of their own company's films.

Most of the executives agree that the quality of the film is excellent and the degree of completion is very high. If it is not directed by Zhang Hao, it may achieve good box office results in North America.

After all, it is Zhang Hao's identity as a Chinese director, and it is because of this that most North American audiences have a feeling of distrust of the film.

Regarding this point, Warner Pictures has tried its best to avoid it, but with little success.

After the internal screening, Jeff Robinoff found Zhang Hao: "You and Charles Rowan have done a great job. I have a hunch that Batman's new life will be today."

"The response from the internal test screening was good?" Zhang Hao asked.

"Not only is it good, many executives said that this is the best Batman movie they have ever seen." Jeff Robinov couldn't help laughing when he remembered what the executives said.

Zhang Hao snickered, thinking that these executives were talking too much, the best Batman movie will be the next one.

(End of this chapter)