China Entertainment: The happiness of being a director is as simple as that

Chapter 126 On Cultural Export and Adaptation of the Wonderful Night Script
Nolan walked away with the first script.

The script has been registered, so it's not a big problem for him.

After Nolan left, Lu Pingan put his affairs behind him.

Nolan, who wants to succeed, will not let this opportunity pass.

So he can definitely get the job done.

Lu Pingan himself continued to devote himself to the preparation of "Wonderful Night".

The biggest preparatory work at present is to make related props.

This requires the use of physical special effects technology.

Coupled with the master craftsman from the Forbidden City, the work progress is very fast.

During the period, Han Sanpin came to see it.

The script has been reviewed, and Han Sanpin said that his superiors praised Lu Pingan's efforts in cultural export.

It's just about cultural output.

Lu Pingan actually had a different idea.

Cultural output is related to national strength and the global environment, and cannot be forced at this stage.

For cultural export, Lu Ping'an's attitude is serious.

He believes that this is a lofty goal, but in order to achieve it, it must be viewed in combination with reality.

The most basic point is.

In order for the work to be effective in cultural output, he believes that the most important prerequisite is to make the audience in his country like it.

If my family likes it, this is a good work.

Good works have similarities in international aesthetics.

Just like kung fu movies, there are so many classic movies in Xiangjiang, which one is said to be aimed at the West from the beginning?
You shoot well, the film is really good-looking, and foreign fans will naturally come here after smelling it.

So don't think about whether to output or not. If you shoot well and serve local audiences well, it is actually the greatest success.

If this is done, it will stand the test of time.

Of course, foreign box office should also be expected, but don't hold out too much hope.

With a strong culture, the gap will naturally be deep, and our side is really weak, so we can't force it.

Blindly pursuing to make others like it, but my own family doesn't like it, it's hard to tell who is exporting to whom.

So when adapting, you have to keep your eyes open.

Such as "Tuner" and "Source Code".

The adaptation of these two works does not actually involve "cultural" related issues.

In other words, the "cultural" aspect is not particularly controversial.

Suspenseful crimes, science fiction to solve crimes and fight terrorists are common all over the world.

Therefore, after the film was shot, it was very well received by audiences at home and abroad.

Night at the Museum is different.

Although this film is suitable for all ages, in the film, the audience can see countless fantastic landscapes, can touch "history" at close range, and can span across continents and thousands of years (even billions of years) of human civilization.

But it's very "American".

Almost all the core characters in the film are Americans.

If it is filmed in the mainland, it must be adapted, and it must be prepared for poor overseas box office.

So Lu Pingan didn't expect the film to earn much box office overseas, as long as the domestic box office was good.

Will this film do well at the domestic box office?

Lu Pingan thought it was possible.

First of all, its core is universal.

Lu Pingan retains the core of "the father regains the respect of the son".

This theme can be enjoyed anywhere.

In addition, the core selling point of the film is "the resurrection of museum exhibits at night".

This is brain hole, great special effects, and suitable for all ages, with a joyful plot, very suitable for summer vacation.

With two cores left, the skeleton of the movie is complete.

It is also relatively easy to adapt the plot.

For example, various American historical figures involved in the original film, exhibits from all over the world, and so on.

These can be replaced one by one.

"Theodore Roosevelt" can be replaced by Sima Qian, who is wise and, like Roosevelt, later became a "disability". The entire Natural History Museum fits perfectly.

In fact, Lu Pingan originally wanted to find some great people in modern times, such as Mr. Sun and teachers, but it was really difficult to put them there, and Lu Pingan also spared his life.

In ancient times, other people were really not as suitable as Sima Qian.

"Attila the Hun" can be replaced with Genghis Khan or the brutal emperor of the northern nomadic peoples in history, retaining the attributes of "five horses divided corpses" and "savage".

"Augustus Octavian", the character in the film is a bit silly, so it can be replaced by Zhao Kuo, the paper stalk can be used, and then the "cowboy" is always ridiculed by the "cowboy".

The Roman military formation can be replaced with the military formation of the Warring States Period, and you can also spoof the "wind and wind".

The scene needs to be bigger, the momentum needs to be full, and at the end there is a montage. It turns out that it is a small soldier, so as to create a big contrast and increase the laughter.

It can also echo the plot of the two CPs deflated the tires at the end of the film.

"Western cowboy Jedediah", this is a modern American character, and "Octavian" forms a cp to become the highlight of the film. Lu Pingan can replace him with a domestic character, but because the plot involves "American Chinese Labor", Lu Pingan finally decided to keep it, as a member of the modern history exhibition area of ​​the museum, it can be regarded as the display of the "Qing Dynasty Exhibition Area".

In this way, the plot of the "cowboy" beheading "Octavian" in the film has to be replaced, and it becomes Zhao Kuo tying up the cowboy and beheading him to avenge his descendants.

"The black and white masked man representing the Civil War", the original film does not have many scenes, mainly to add chaos, so it can be replaced with the Three Kingdoms, Wei, Shu and Wu, adding chaos to chaos.

"Sacagawea", the Indian guide girl, can be replaced by Hua Mulan. This is a character familiar to both Chinese and Western. In the film, she is in charge of beauty, sa, and at the end of the film. just fine.

"The Expedition of Lewis and Clark" can be put together in the "Tang Dynasty Exhibition Area", so that they can be replaced by Tang Xuanzang. Anyway, there are only a few shots of these two in the film, so just show them.

"Columbus" was replaced by Zheng He, a perfect replacement.

If "the Mayans built the pyramids" was replaced by the building of the Great Wall, the country's name card must be brought out to shine.

"Neanderthal", replaced by BJ the ape man.

"The Stone Statue of Easter Island", this guy in the film always asks for sugar. The male protagonist didn't bring sugar to him at first, and he didn't lose his temper. Before the speech, he said "Quiet!" so that everyone who was fighting turned off their lights, and obediently listened to the male lead's speech.

This can be completely replaced by a big Buddha head stone statue.

The character is set to be long-winded and good-natured, and the dubbing uses Luo Jiaying's version of Tang Monk, talking about the stalk of Journey to the West. The protagonist gave him bubble gum in order to make him shut up, which is very reasonable. The last "Amitabha", the Buddha's voice suppressed the audience ,Perfect!
In this way, "Capuchin Monkey Dexter" can be replaced by a domestic monkey named "Wukong". A monkey who always makes troubles and causes chaos in the museum is not just a monkey making troubles in the Heavenly Palace.

If Zhou Xingxing is willing to authorize, it can also be replaced with "Supreme Treasure".

Moreover, this kind of monkey is easy to find actors. There are still many folk artist teams playing monkeys, and it is not difficult to find them.

At the end of the film, the "postal carriage" was replaced with "Qin Dynasty carriage", which is another perfect replacement.

"Dinosaurs", "African Mammals Exhibition Hall" and "Aquarium" can all be the same as the original ones without any changes. The museum has a vast land and resources, so there is no big problem.

Finally, there was the most important "Pharaoh Engraving Tablet". Lu Pingan directly replaced it with a pure gold oracle bone inscription tortoise board.

In this way, the "Pharaoh" had to be replaced by King Zhou of Shang or earlier Chi You. There was a big contrast. At first I thought it was a peerless murderer, but it was suppressed by four huge "Four Heavenly Kings", but it was revealed After opening the seal, what came out was a cute young man.

All in all, the film is a comedy.

Talk about logic, but don't need to be too logical, as long as the respective characters roughly match the history.

In fact, the original film also mentioned this point. For example, "Roosevelt" said: "I am not the president, I am just a wax figure."

Wax figures are different from real historical figures.

This is the setting of comedy elements, and it is also one of the important reasons for pushing the protagonist to grow.

If all the characters and cultures of historical figures are preserved, it would not be fun.

The rest of the world's elements should also be present.

Chinese elements such as "terracotta warriors" and "stone lions" also appeared in the original film, but there were no scenes.

The Ping An version can also be played in the same way, adding some foreign elements, such as Europeans wearing wigs, dirty pirates, Roman plaster statues, Egyptian pharaohs walking dogs, etc., but it is also just a flash of the scene, there is no scene.

For the plot, just change the setting of the museum.

The New York Museum of Natural History was replaced by a building that had no business and was about to close down. The owner of the museum was a messy rich man who put everything in it.

The protagonist is also a frustrated father and inventor. Through a job that no one dares to do, he regains dignity in front of his son, walks out of the shadow of divorce and regains love. In the end, the museum business is booming, and the protagonist also succeeds in his career.

In this way, a film with a strong Chinese flavor was born.

Although this will be less global than the original film.

But Lu Pingan didn't think it was a big problem.

Because it's still the same.

The export of culture depends on national strength, environment and export channels.

It's unrealistic at this stage, especially for a film with such strong cultural elements.

Therefore, Lu Ping An's goal is to make domestic audiences feel good-looking first, and it's okay if they really don't earn much box office abroad.

Besides, anyway, I shot it first, and this is an IP belonging to China. I have inserted eyes in advance, and the copyright is mine.

Hollywood blatantly wants to squeeze out an IP that has already been screened around the world without spending money?

People also have to look good!
Therefore, for overseas income, Lu Pingan only looks at the adaptation rights.

Even the right to adapt is not his goal.

If the Chinese version can't do much overseas damage, he will make an American version himself.

With a cost of 1200 million U.S. dollars, and a global box office of more than 5 million U.S. dollars, if you can make money, you must make a lot of money, and you can also add some Chinese elements to increase the role of the show.

This is better than the original Chinese elements just soy sauce.

If you are really afraid of being labeled, you don’t need to direct yourself. Anyway, remaking the same movie will not be rewarded like making a series.

So let others guide it, and sell the right to publicize and adapt it.

If the American version of the film may not be as good-looking as yours, but can be more successful than yours, this will only make the general public in China reflect on practical issues.

In short, as long as the domestic version is shot well, Lu Pingan will always win.

The next question is how to make the movie more interesting.

The script and preliminary preparation are one aspect, and the actors are also one aspect.

The protagonist is very important.

You must have acting skills, you must also be good at comedy, you must have good character and audience popularity.

Who to choose?
(End of this chapter)