Meizong Wealth Life

Chapter 159 The era of movie universe opened in advance

According to David Messer's vision, once the Warriors cinematic universe is successfully established, there will not be one or two movies to be shot.

However, according to Hollywood practice, after a movie becomes successful, the lead actor's salary will also rise accordingly.

Looking for big-name actors who can easily earn tens of millions of dollars in salary, the salary of the other party will become more and more expensive as time goes by, until the producer cannot bear it at all.

At that time, whether it is a replacement or the retirement of this superhero, it will be a fatal blow to the movie universe that was finally built.

In the long run, it is definitely wiser to hire new people.

Although the first round of auditions at Warrior Pictures has ended, Ovitz has yet to find out more information about the new actor who will play the role of Blood Warrior.

Ovitz's only concern now is how to stumble Warrior Pictures.

Jamie was soaking in the bathtub, holding his mobile phone in his left hand and replied half-jokingly and half-seriously:

"Then it depends on when Weststar Pictures can film Wolverine in "X-Men"."

Ovitz on the other end of the phone was confused.

"Sorry, is there any connection between the two?"

Jamie's voice continued.

"Wolverine is a typical representative of Marvel's superheroes with immortality. His abilities are very close to those of Blood Warrior, and it is the most convenient for everyone to compare."

Ovitz understood instantly.

One of the highlights of Blood Warrior is its ability to die. If "X-Men" filmed Wolverine first, it would definitely take away part of Blood Warrior's target audience.

After a moment of silence, Ovitz suddenly spoke.

"Damn it, why did Messer announce earlier that they were going to make Bloodshot!"

This sentence successfully aroused Jamie's interest.

"and then?"

"Had I known that Warriors was going to make 'Dragon', I wouldn't have hired Kevin Feige from the 'X-Men' project so early."

Ovitz's voice sounded annoyed.

On the phone, Jamie started egging Ovitz on.

"Looking on the bright side, Kevin Feige must know where the preparations for 'X-Men' are going. Maybe you can call him and ask him."

In the previous life, the first "X-Men" was released as early as 2000, but in this life, Fox has become Vestar, and this series is still in preparation.

Ovitz's reaction once again exceeded Jamie's expectations.

"I've asked before, and Kevin told me that at the request of Weststar Films executives, he helped Lauren Donnell develop a trilogy shooting plan for "X-Men". Wolverine will appear in the third film. He appears in one film and is a key figure in promoting the development of the plot."

Jamie held up the phone and asked:

"Shouldn't this be good news? Although you poached Kevin Feige, 'X-Men' has been in preparation for such a long time, so it can be released before 'Drawings' anyway, right?"

Ovitz replied solemnly.

"Not always."

Jamie was very surprised.

Kevin Feige only serves as a producer assistant on "X-Men". Is it possible that his departure will also halt the "X-Men" project?

Just as he was wondering, Ovitz's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"This matter has nothing to do with Kevin leaving. According to the latest news I received, the "X-Men" project was urgently stopped by Weststar Pictures."

Jamie blurted out in shock.

"why?"

"Because it was not only Disney that was stimulated by the internal test screening of Sony's "Spider-Man", but all the film companies that hold superhero copyrights are re-planning their projects."

Originally, the most correct reaction for a company like Weststar Films, which was already preparing to shoot a superhero movie, would be to speed up the progress of the project.

But there happened to be a "scroll king" on this new track, and that was the newly established Warrior Comics Pictures.

CEO David Messer not only announced the filming of "Dragon" in a high-profile manner, but also exposed some of the concepts and settings of the Warriors movie universe in advance.

Forget about "self-exposure", Messer also did not forget to drag Universal into the water, and incidentally exposed the concept of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The main reason is that the popularity of Warrior Comics is too low, so Messer can only tie up Marvel to arouse the interest of the media and the public.

This incident caused a series of chain reactions.

Except for Paramount and MGM, which do not own any superhero copyrights and can only watch the excitement, Warner, Sony, and Vesda have all responded one after another.

The fastest mover this time was Warner.

Ovitz has received news that Warner's Superman reboot project, which has been in preparation for nearly five years, has been officially halted.

This incident even caused quite a stir among Warner's senior management, but this did not stop Warner's determination to change.

According to Ovitz's prediction, Warner will definitely send someone to find Jamie before Christmas at the latest.

The purpose is of course to talk about building the DC movie universe.

And Sony's top executives are going crazy right now.

Due to the 911/ incident, they had to postpone the release date of "Spider-Man" and conduct a wave of reshoots.

As a result, the internal test screenings were well received. Before Sony had time to celebrate, Messer dropped some exciting news about the Warriors movie universe.

At the board meeting, some directors proposed that Sony should also rely on "Spider-Man" to build a Spider-Man movie universe.

This means that "Spider-Man" will undergo another round of reshoots.

Sony executives have not yet made up their minds.

In comparison, Weststar Pictures seems to be calm on the surface. Apart from canceling and suspending the "X-Men" project, there is no more action.

But in fact, Weststar Films executives must also be debating whether to follow the example of Marvel and Warriors to create their own movie universe.

After all, they hold the copyright to Marvel's most numerous superheroes, "X-Men," and naturally have the conditions to create a mutant universe.

Ovitz even asserted that Vestar Pictures will definitely contact Jamie no later than tomorrow.

As soon as she finished speaking, Serena's cell phone placed on the bathtub cabinet rang.

Serena picked up the phone and took a look at it, then turned the screen to Jamie.

The caller name was Shiv Roy.

Ovitz really hit the mark.

Jamie told Ovitz to contact him later, and when he hung up the phone, Serena on the opposite side also answered the call simultaneously.

Without much politeness, Sif came up and asked Serena if she had time tomorrow, as she wanted to visit her home.

Serena asked Jamie for his opinion with her eyes.

Seeing Jamie nodding, she replied to Sif:

"We still have class tomorrow, but if you want to come, we can ask for leave."

At ten o'clock the next morning, Sif visited on time.

As soon as she entered the door, Sif took out a DV camera from her latest Donkey brand satchel, saying she wanted to film the entire meeting.   Serena turned to look at Jamie beside her, feeling a bit at a loss.

Sif's voice followed closely.

"Don't worry, I don't want to keep any evidence. All this is my father's request. He really wants to visit in person, but today the Weststar Group is holding a very important meeting, and he can't get away."

Having no time is false, not being able to let go is true.

It is indeed a bit exaggerated for the dignified leader of Weststar Media Group and a world-class media tycoon to visit a high school student.

Jamie is not qualified now.

But Old Logan really wanted to know the details of this meeting, and oral instructions from his daughter were not enough, so Sif had no choice but to make this decision.

In fact, if the whole process was recorded, the most nervous person would not be Jamie, but Sif.

It was as if old Logan was sitting there, watching her and Jamie talking.

Seeing that Jamie had no objection, Sif turned on the camera.

Originally, she wanted to shoot it handheld, but Serena volunteered to be the photographer.

Anyway, Serena wouldn't be interested in what Sif was talking about with Jamie.

The DV camera came to Serena's hand, and she made an OK gesture towards Jamie and Sif sitting on the sofa in the living room.

Sif nervously adjusted her expression and spoke first.

"Jamie, the reason I came to see you this time is to talk to you about the resignation of "X-Men" producer assistant Kevin Feige."

Facing the DV camera, Jamie looked relaxed.

"It was Universal and Marvel that poached Kevin Feige, and I have nothing to do with it."

No wonder!

Sif knew this very well, but she didn't want to dwell too much on this issue at the moment.

"Yes, I know this is definitely not your idea, but you wrote the scripts for "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk". You must know more about Marvel's movie universe plans than anyone else."

Jamie did not deny this, but he also clearly told Sif that he had signed a confidentiality agreement and would not leak any relevant information to other film companies.

Sif nodded on the surface, but she was complaining madly in her heart.

I hope you can have such professional ethics when facing people sent by Warner.

"You misunderstood. I'm not here to ask you about other companies' trade secrets. I just want to hear your views on the movie universe."

Sif's reason for this cliche really sucks in Jamie's opinion.

I guess Old Logan had the same view after seeing this video.

When both parties know full well, saying this is a complete waste of time.

"Can you be more specific? Marvel Cinematic Universe, Warriors Cinematic Universe, even DC Cinematic Universe or Mutants Cinematic Universe?"

Jamie asked directly.

Sif was stunned on the spot.

Before she could react, Jamie's voice continued.

"You may not know yet, but David Messer's concept for the movie universe is actually inspired by the "X-Men" comic series. Putting different superheroes in the same frame has been the basis of "X-Men" for many years. Just play with the rest."

Until then, Sif's thinking could barely keep up with Jamie's explanation speed.

"So you also think that it is feasible to construct a mutant movie universe?"

After saying this, Sif regretted it, because it was completely nonsense.

If he doesn't like the mutant movie universe, why would Jamie tell her this.

"I brought in scripts from previous X-Men projects, and Lauren's plan was to create a trilogy to tell the entire story, and now Weststar executives have to revisit that plan."

Sif took out a folder from her satchel and handed it to Jamie.

Jamie did not open it in a hurry, but asked Sif if he needed to sign any confidentiality agreement before reading the copy.

If he wanted to sign it, he wouldn't read it.

Sif hurriedly shook her head and said, no need.

After the DV in Serena's hand recorded this scene, Jamie opened the folder.

It's said to be a script, but it's actually the outline of the trilogy's script.

The content is basically the same as the previous "X-Men" trilogy.

The first part begins with the amnesiac Wolverine and his encounter with the Little Naughty, and then leads to the struggle between the Academy of Mutants led by Professor X and the Brotherhood of Mutants led by Magneto.

In the second part, Colonel Stryker, who caused Wolverine's amnesia, appeared. Professor X and Magneto were forced to join forces to fight against the enemy. In the end, Jean Gray sacrificed herself to save everyone.

In the third part, Jean Gray awakens the power of the Phoenix and turns dark, joining Magneto's camp. Humanity develops a drug that suppresses mutant genes. In the end, a three-way war breaks out between the Brotherhood of Mutants, the X-Men, and humans. Wolverine launches the Phoenix War in Jean Gray. Before his power destroys the world, he kills his beloved with his own hands.

After reading it quickly, Jamie didn't even have time to close the folder in his hand. He raised his head and saw Sif looking over at him eagerly.

"There's nothing wrong with the plot itself, but if Vestar Films' goal is to build a mutant cinematic universe, then there's a problem."

"The timeline of the trilogy is too late. The two protagonists, Professor X and Magneto, have reached their twilight years, which will lower the audience's expectations."

"At present, whether it is the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the Warriors Cinematic Universe, from the information I have, the first movie tells the origin story of the superhero."

Sif reacted very quickly this time.

"You mean, we can add a few stories about the origins of mutants, such as Wolverine, before the trilogy?"

Jamie nodded and immediately added.

"And Professor X and Magneto."

Sif immediately grasped the point.

"The origin story of Wolverine leads to the origin stories of Professor X and Magneto, so these are two movies?"

Jamie nodded.

The two movies he was talking about were "The Wolverine" and "X-Men: First Class" in the previous life.

Seeing Marvel turning around with "Iron Man", Fox also began to try to create a mutant movie universe.

Since the previous "X-Men" trilogy was quite successful, Fox wanted to re-create a new "X-Men" story but was reluctant to give up the influence of the old trilogy.

Coupled with the lack of planning, there were many inconsistent bugs in the subsequent "X-Men" plot.

Although the screenwriters have come up with such imaginative ideas as reversing the future and restarting the timeline, many of the holes dug by the previous games have still not been filled.

Coupled with the fact that Fox was later acquired by the wealthy Disney, the mutant movie universe could only hastily launch one "Dark Phoenix" and it ended.

In this life, the filming of "X-Men" was delayed again and again by Weststar Films, which inadvertently created an opportunity for the mutant movie universe to "resurrect".

(End of this chapter)