hollywood melon man

Chapter 483: Follow the trend
There are still several good films in the Chinese market this year, such as "House of Flying Daggers" by Zhang Yimou.

Influenced by the success of "Hero", national master Zhang turned to the production of costume blockbusters, which also brought about a wave of costume blockbusters in the mainland.

It is estimated that there will be many follow-up works in the future. Even Feng Xiaogang has expressed his plans for a costume blockbuster.

Speaking of which, the directors who were really unlucky because of the fake student incident last year were not Zhang Guoshi and Chen Pigeon. The two had a solid foundation and were not killed by a single blow.

The unlucky one was Xiaogang Feng, who wanted to get close to the Beijing circle, but the circle disappeared. Xiaogang Feng later recalled that he almost sang "Tears Behind Bars".

Fortunately, the success of A World Without Thieves brought Xiaogang Feng back to life. He immediately became active, looking like a successful villain.

Seeing that all the big directors have started to make costume blockbusters, Xiaogang Feng is of course no exception and has to follow suit.

Following the trend is a very common thing, both in Hollywood and the Chinese film industry.

Just recently, in the third week of the North American summer season, "Troy", a follow-up to the epic film trend started by the "Lord of the Rings" series, was released.

The film is produced by Warner Pictures, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and stars Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger and others.

Now it seems that every epic movie cannot be separated from Orlando Bloom.

"Alexander the Great," which is scheduled to be released in December and distributed by Universal Pictures, also invited Orlando Bloom to play Alexander.

However, Orlando Bloom's schedule was too full, and it was heard that the film was vetoed by Gilbert Jr., so he refused.

There have been many epic films following the trend in recent years. The production cost of "Troy" invested and released by Warner was as high as 1.75 million US dollars, which is definitely a big project.

Gilbert Jr. actually had doubts about whether the film could recoup its costs through box office, but he did not oppose investing in and distributing the film at the Warner board meeting.

He is a member of the board of directors and a shareholder, not the CEO.

Of course, Gilbert Jr. would be strongly opposed to a movie that was obviously going to fail, but the project of "Troy" could at least break even.

Since profits can be achieved through long-term investment, young Gilbert did not object.

The market performance of "Troy" did meet Gilbert's expectations, with a box office of 4686.5 million US dollars in its first week.

The film beat "Wushuang", which earned $3031.2 million this week, to become the second weekly box office champion of the summer season.

According to normal box office trends, "Troy" would experience a sharp decline in the next weekend, and the audience reputation of this film is also average.

Even though Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom are both handsome, and Diane Kruger is very sexy, the film's weak story foundation still fails to bring in box office revenue.

What's more, when it comes to cold weapon war scenes, no movie can compare with the "Lord of the Rings" series.

Gilbert Jr. also attended the premiere of "Troy". After all, he is a director of Warner, so he has to be given some face.

After the premiere, Brad Pitt very kindly expressed his desire to work with Gilbert Jr.

"In Hollywood, no one can refuse your project." Brad Pitt said, "As long as you invite me to play a small role, I am willing to do it."

Little Gilbert smiled and said, "Brad, you should know your identity. You are a Hollywood A-list star. Isn't it a waste of talent for someone like you to play a minor role in my movie?"

"How could that be?" Brad Pitt's smile seemed very sincere, and he displayed his lifelong acting skills.

Since the other person was trying so hard to curry favor with him, Little Gilbert couldn't help but give him face: "If I need anything, Brad, I'll find you."

Brad Pitt nodded quickly, fearing that little Gilbert would go back on his word.

As long as Gilbert Jr. said this, Brad Pitt could legitimately fight for the role in Gilbert Jr.'s movie and participate in the audition.

After all, he had been a little hesitant to participate in Gilbert Jr.'s project before for some reasons, so he felt relieved now.

In the third week, the film mainly relied on overseas markets. The main creators were scattered around the world to promote the film, while Gilbert Jr. entered his normal working period.

When you have nothing to do, go to work at the Melon Studio, or go to the Orange Studio.

He recently visited Silicon Valley, talked for a long time with Jeff Bezos, and had a meal with Bill Gates. It was quite relaxing.

The old man is living a very leisurely life, enjoying his grandchildren and living out his days in peace.

That day little Gilbert went fishing with him and chatted with him.

Ilian, who was over one year old, was very noisy and scattered all the bait, making it difficult for Masako to clean up the mess.

Little Gilbert was chatting with his old man while teasing his son.

"You look pretty strong, don't you? Do you want to exercise more?"

"Why? You want to introduce me to a woman?"

Little Gilbert rolled his eyes and said, "Forget it. I won't let you ruin the girls."

"How do you know I'm wasting it? Maybe I'm enjoying it!" The old man said, looking very strong. Little Gilbert was speechless. He had gotten used to it over the years. He was already an old man in his eighties, but he still kept his dissolute look.

But the old man was in good spirits and in good health, so young Gilbert didn't bother himself too much.

He said to the old man, “Look, my next project involves a role as a butler, and I think you’re a good fit.

How about it? Are you interested in acting? "

"Don't move, don't move, the fish is on the hook!" The fishing rod in the old man's hand jumped, and after a while, the fish was caught. The old man replied: "I'm not interested. My greatest interest now is to educate my grandson."

Little Gilbert quickly hugged Ilian tightly and said, "I can't let you educate my child. What if you teach my child bad things?"

The old man was unhappy and glared at her: "Why? Didn't I teach you well? You have become a famous Hollywood director."

Little Gilbert didn't think so at all: "I was self-taught and grew up on my own."

So the father and son started arguing with each other. Ilian was very confused in his little head: why were grandpa and dad arguing?

The old man didn't want to act, and young Gilbert didn't force him. He originally planned to let the old man make a cameo appearance in "Batman".

After the "Warrior" project came to an end, Warner Pictures couldn't wait to announce the reboot of the "Batman" movie.

In recent years, Warner has listened to Gilbert Jr.'s advice, and both the Superman reboot and Catwoman projects have been canceled and they've started over.

Seeing that Marvel's superhero movies are selling well, even though they are not produced by Marvel itself, Warner is also anxious!

So after obtaining Gilbert Jr.'s approval, Warner couldn't wait to reveal the news of the reboot of "Batman" to the outside world.

This is the reboot after "Batman and Robin" in 1997, seven years later, and it is also the next DC movie after seven years.

Disney is of course dissatisfied with this, after all, Disney has no say in DC.

Fortunately, Gilbert Jr. has promised to give the distribution rights of Marvel movies to Disney, which makes Disney feel a lot more at ease.

After appeasing Disney, Gilbert Jr. will discuss with Warner Bros. how to revive the "Batman" movie.

This project is of great importance to the entire Warner Bros. Film Group and even Time Warner Group. If the reboot fails, the value of DC will be discounted.

Therefore, Warner Bros. could not take the risk of letting Gilbert Jr. direct the film, and Warner Bros. held several meetings for this purpose.

At the latest meeting, Gilbert Jr. gave an impassioned speech to Warner executives.

"The bad impression of the movie Batman & Robin still lingers in people's minds, and we want to change that impression.

Time magazine ranked it number one on its list of the 50 worst movies to watch, and I think that's true."

The executives were silent, most of whom had experienced the fiasco of Batman & Robin, when former CEO Jeff Robinov had to shelve the series and wait for the right time to reboot it.

Now, the time has come.

Gilbert Jr. added: "Therefore, if we want to change people's bad impression of Batman, we can't fly to the sky, but must make a grounded adaptation."

"Is this the way you came up with in the script, to realistically show Batman as a human being rather than a superhero?" Doug Walter asked.

"That's right," Gilbert Jr. elaborated on his theory: "We all know that there are many crimes in society, such as robbery, drug trafficking, and protection money.

The upper class are rich and unkind, and the government is corrupt; these are what really happen in reality.

We don’t focus on what Bruce Wayne did after he became Batman, but start from the beginning, analyze the texture of society, and tell why Bruce Wayne went from a rich second-generation to Batman. ”

A senior official questioned: "Little Gilbert, isn't this too literary? I don't think many people would like to watch an literary crime film."

Gilbert Jr. smiled and said confidently: "This is why Doug insisted that I direct it, he knows I can control this boundary well.

Please trust me, too, that I can create a big-screen entertainment that has depth and breadth, as well as richness and vividness.”

Nonsense, if they didn't trust each other, they wouldn't have rushed to invite little Gilbert.

In short, at the end of the meeting, there was no objection from any executive, and the project of "Batman Begins", the first film of "Batman", was approved unanimously.

After the meeting, Doug Walter asked Gilbert Jr., “When are you going to start this project?”

Little Gilbert thought for a moment and said, "Maybe July or August. I should have some time to rest and take a vacation."

Doug Walter nodded: "Okay, have a nice vacation then."

"Thanks……"

Gilbert Jr. is full of confidence, while the outside world is in an uproar because of the news announced by Warner.

Gilbert Jr. is going to direct a Batman movie?
Could it be that the day when Gilbert Jr., as some media have been saying, is on the decline and about to suffer his Waterloo is coming?
(End of this chapter)