Made in Hollywood

A transaction involving billions of dollars like Lucasfilm can never be negotiated in a short time. The team composed of Duke and Time Warner is very patient and is also waiting for opportunities, and Lucas There are also some voices from the film industry, such as the director problem after the launch of the new "Star Wars" series.

These Duke have given certain promises. His commercial achievements in science fiction films over the years are also the best guarantee of this kind of promise.

For example, in mid-September, the global box office of "Inception" passed the $1 billion mark, and the cumulative box office in North America also reached $342.54 million, which is second only to "Toy Story 3" in North America so far this year. Blockbuster movies.

The latter's North American box office has exceeded 350 million US dollars. This series has accumulated a huge audience base and excellent reputation in 15 years.

However, in overseas markets, the box office and response of "Toy Story 3" are not as good as "Inception", and even not as good as "Alice in Wonderland" at the beginning of last year. The films produced by Pixar Studios are somewhat overseas relative to North America. Weakness is an indisputable fact.

In emerging and fast-growing markets such as China, Pixar Animation Studios’ movies are not very popular. The animation market in emerging markets is basically the market for children under ten years old or more, and Pixar’s animations have always It is not for this group of people, and it is impossible for children of this age to understand it.

The production style of Pixar Studios determines the audience, and it also needs to slowly cultivate its own audience in emerging markets.

Fortunately, even if there is no high box office in emerging markets, the income from Pixar Studios' films is high enough.

"Inception" is definitely one of the most successful movies this year, and "Robin Hood", which has also invested heavily in production, has become one of the most failed movies this year.

This film was compulsorily matched by the North American Theater Alliance very early, and it only got a box office of just over 40 million US dollars in North America. Up to now, counting all overseas markets, it has only obtained a box office figure of a little more than 100 million US dollars from the world.

The production cost of "Robin Hood" is as high as 200 million U.S. dollars, plus more than 100 million U.S. dollars in publicity and marketing expenses, and expensive distribution costs. The total investment of the film is definitely more than 350 million U.S. dollars, an investment of this scale. It also means that it takes an extremely long time to recover the cost.

"You won't get back this investment when I die!"

In a mansion in San Francisco, a loud voice was blowing at David Ellison like a hair dryer. David Ellison, who was rebellious in the past, bowed his head slightly at this moment and could only stop, "You have done it. How many times has it been smashed?"

Hearing his father's words, David Ellison raised his head and said with a bit of stubbornness, "I have also succeeded. I have also made a big-selling movie like "I Am Legend"!"

Larry Ellison sneered twice, took a step back and sat on the sofa, and said sharply, "How many lucrative movies does your company make? How many movies like Robin Hood?"

Originally, he had high hopes for this son, thinking that the level of excellence is no less than that of any person, even in Hollywood can make a world, but he did not expect to lose in a mess.

David Ellison was silent. Slowly lowered his head, after a while. He raised his head again and looked at his father firmly, "My Sky Film Studio also has four movies, "Genesis", "Super Warship", "Alien Battlefield" and "Fast and Furious 5", as long as there are two of them. It can sell like "I Am Legend", and all previous losses can be recovered..."

"I hope so!" Larry Ellison interrupted him and said directly. "If these films fail, I will withdraw my investment in your Sky Film Studio!"

David Ellison's expression changed. Without his father's financial support, how could he continue to maintain the Sky Film Studio?

However, think of those four movies. David Ellison has regained a certain degree of confidence. It is impossible for all four of these to fail?

Especially for "Fast and Furious 5", which is about to start shooting, the entire series has accumulated a huge popularity. As long as there are no big surprises, the film's big sales are almost inevitable.

In David Ellison's view, it is normal for "Fast and Furious 5" to win $500 million to $600 million in the global box office, but it is very difficult to reach more than $1 billion.

How can this film break out completely and get a score of 1 billion US dollars +?

This is a question that David Ellison was still considering when he left San Francisco. Nowadays, there are very few films and directors in Hollywood that can achieve a single film box office of 1 billion. It can be said that James Cameron and Duke Luo are excluded Apart from Senberg, almost no one else can do this.

Especially Duke Rosenberg, how many films have already exceeded $1 billion at the global box office? "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Dark Knight"...

Thinking of "The Dark Knight", David Ellison's heart moved. If there were no Joker's death, the box office might not have exploded like this?

A vague idea gradually appeared in his mind, but he couldn't catch it for a while, so he had to give up these temporarily and turn to the reality before him.

Duke Rosenberg’s new film is said to be almost finished filming again. This is obviously aimed at an Oscar film. David Ellison wanted to do something, but he was powerless, and the other party’s production style was not good. See you at the college, and he himself is not welcomed by the traditional forces of Hollywood.

As David Ellison understood, the filming of "Gravity" has reached the end. As many technical difficulties were solved during the preliminary preparations, the filming process was relatively simple. After 45 days I was shooting intensely. Only the last shots of this planned 90-minute film were left.

In the studio of Warner Studios, Duke directed the crew to arrange the final long shot. This is the ending scene of the whole film, and it is also an important part of Scarlett’s heroine returning to the earth to get a new life, "Gravity "Unlike any of Duke's previous films, it uses a lot of long shots, and the ending scene is no exception.

On the left side of the studio, a huge water tank has been erected a long time ago. The water tank is surrounded by green screens. The water inside simulates real lake water, and there are enough fake and real water plants growing in it, as for other zooplankton. Things like that are added during post-production.

Previously, the heroine was taken on the Shenzhou boat and fell into the water. The remaining long shot will be Scarlett taking off the sky suit and swimming back to land.

The two camera assistants had already put on diving suits and would capture Scarlett's performance underwater. Duke checked the preparations of the crew and then called Scarlett to the water tank.

This is right in front of the water tank. In addition to the camera positions, there are green screens all around. Duke is standing on the open space by the water, pointing to the moist dirt and saying, "Remember, you must grab a handful of dirt when you get ashore!"

"I know!" Scarlett nodded seriously.

The two have had enough exchanges before, and these scenes don't need Duke to say anything, but he still exhorted, "Be careful. If you can't hold your breath, just swim up."

Scarlett gave Duke a relieved expression, "I have practiced many times."

After telling Scarlett, Duke looked to the other side. The three lifeguards were already in place. If the underwater actors and photographers had any accidents, they would be able to go into the water as soon as possible.

In terms of security measures, Duke has never been sloppy, not to mention Scarlett Johansson.

"All departments prepare!"

Stepping onto the high platform, Duke stood behind the director's monitor, "The last scene, now begins!"

Although Duke called to start, the filming did not proceed immediately, and to wait for Scarlett Johansson to be in place, she jumped into the pool, swam to a position close to the middle, took a breath and sank to the bottom of the water. Deep, many effects are added later, Scarlett was already in place after ten seconds, she made an ok gesture, and the shooting started immediately.

As a non-professional person, Scarlett cannot hold her breath for a long time. Originally, Duke wanted divers to carry diving equipment to assist Scarlett in shooting, but after seeing that she could stay underwater for nearly a minute, Just gave up these tedious preparations.

The underwater scene is relatively simple. Scarlett makes a few moves to take off the spacesuit, then gets rid of all the shackles and swims upwards. She passes through a clump of water plants and quickly approaches the surface of the water.

The whole process only lasted more than ten seconds. The underwater shooting used a high-speed slow lens. When Scarlett Johansson was about to get out of the water, the main camera controlled by John Schwarzman immediately turned over, clearly. Capture every movement of Scarlett.

Duke kept staring at the director's monitor. Scarlett struggled to climb to the shore of the lake and was already unable to stand up. She just pressed her face against the mud on the shore, feeling the earth, feeling the rest of her life, and feeling her own rebirth. ...

She slowly grabbed a handful of soil and stared at it closely. This very familiar land seemed so precious at this moment. It seemed that only people who had survived from space could understand that this seemingly ordinary soil was right for her. What does humanity mean.

Scarlett struggled to stand up. At this moment, no one or force could stop her from standing up. Although she kept falling while standing up, she finally stood firm on the dirt under her feet.

The shot of the hanging arm stretched out first gave her a close-up of her feet and the soil, then slowly moved upwards, and finally stopped next to Scarlett’s face, until she slowly moved...

"Cut!" Duke shouted, "This one is over!"

A relaxed sigh sounded in the studio. Although there were only more than forty days of shooting, the tension and intensity were never before. (To be continued.)

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