Made in Hollywood

After the previous four films have achieved good results, the entire Marvel comics and Marvel Pictures are full of confidence. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to describe it as'no series of films are as ambitious as Marvel'. They use Easter eggs remind the audience in every movie that these superheroes live in the same universe. How vast and wonderful is the picture of this universe?

Something called Marvel Dafa is indeed taking shape.

At the end of May, Duke took all the Avengers to the premiere of "Thor". Such a movie adapted from Marvel's second-line heroes also attracted the attention of countless fans, especially "The Avengers" The establishment of the project has made this film more eye-catching, and it also brought Marvel Dafa into full play.

On the first three days of the first three days, Thor, who was originally not very noticeable and popular in Marvel comics, took away as much as $78.09 million in the box office from North America. Even if the film’s reputation is not very good, it still attracted a lot of Fans.

Perhaps Thor himself seems a bit boring, but the villain Rocky’s personal charm is amazing. With the release of the film, Tom Hiddleston also instantly became popular, making people more concerned about Rocky’s performance in The Avengers More expectations.

With the help of the crazy publicity of "Avengers", the heat, "Thor" only took ten days to get 150 million US dollars from North America, and the global box office also exceeded 250 million US dollars. Said it was a success.

Such a film without any star actors joining, and achieving such brilliant results in a short period of time can be said to be a miracle in Hollywood.

But for Marvel movies, this has become the norm.

The previous series of movies were basically produced around the director, actors, screenwriters and other creative teams, such as the first three of "Superman". The director is Richard Donna and Richard Lester, and the screenwriters are mainly David Newman and Mario Puzo, especially the audience can't imagine other actors can replace Christopher River to play Superman—— So when River had an accident, no one went to make a "Superman" movie for many years.

Now in Marvel superhero movies, the irreplaceability of the leading role has been greatly reduced, as in previous years. Toby Maguire, who starred in "Spider-Man", consciously increased his worth and asked the filmmakers to increase his salary to 20 million U.S. dollars. However, Sony Columbia Pictures said that for a character who wears a mask two-thirds of the time It was said that changing actors was a matter of minutes, and Toby Maguire had to swallow the matter without mentioning it.

Although Captain America Chris Evans has signed six film contracts with Marvel, and the Winter Soldier Sebastian Stan has signed as many as nine films, they can all be replaced-like "x "Men: First Battle" all change actors, and it is a possible means to interpret the past life relationship between Professor x and Magneto.

Although replacing the main actor is the last option. But in the Marvel Universe series of movies, the uniqueness of the actors has been reduced to a level that is difficult to identify. It is often difficult for movie fans to remember which superhero movie is starring. What they remember is this movie and the previous ones. What is the connection between the movies and how the relationship between the heroes has changed.

Especially in Duke’s suggestion of focusing on the worldview, actors will no longer be the soul of superhero movies, they have become only external skins, and the irreplaceability of actors has been reduced. The development of superhero movies is no longer limited by the withdrawal of actors, but can develop more freely with the needs of the market. The story can also grow freely.

In the entire series, as long as any character is popular, it may be extended into a new universe, even if he was only a second- or third-line character.

Of course, the success of "Thor" is not only the credit of Marvel Dafa, but also due to the excellent digital special effects of the film.

Today's rapid development of digital special effects is undoubtedly one of the guarantees for Duke and Marvel Comics to realize Marvel's big plan.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the special effects of movie props became the wings of science fiction movies. After entering the 21st century, computer digital imaging technology has fully taken over special effects production, the Hollywood film industry has been upgraded, and technology has begun to match creativity.

The current technologies such as 3d, imax, Dolby Atmos, high frame rate, motion expression capture, etc., can better bring out the imagination of comics, which makes Marvel comics after years of hard work. Finally ushered in the digital technology that can turn two-dimensional paintings into live-action movies and let the imagination jump on the big screen.

Driven by producers such as Duke, and various technical and commercial interests, superhero movies have become the most perfect digital technology models. Different styles of screen spectacles are staged in turn, as if taking the audience on a roller coaster, from a climax Fly to another climax.

Will the audience get bored with superheroes? The answer is yes, just like they were tired of cowboys, singers, robots and aliens.

In the long-term plans of Duke and Marvel Pictures, even films ten years later have already had preliminary plans. Will the new generation of superheroes in the future pursue the superhero universe? Does the pursuit of worldview deviate from the narrative? Art, farther and farther?

Duke doesn't know this kind of thing, and only the future can answer.

As a contemporary myth, as long as there is interest, the story of superheroes will certainly continue to be told until the entire society and culture are changing. Duke understands that it is commercial interests that shape superheroes and that society needs to give them a godhood .

Whether Superman or Batman, Iron Man, or Spiderman, they are actually just projections of the real world in another parallel universe.

The appearance of this "Avengers" also means that the Marvel universe series of movies has entered the second stage. The superhero movies at this stage are no longer a single hero showing themselves on the screen. The entire series of Marvel movies are mutually exclusive. Intertwined to form a near-real social picture, allowing the superheroes under its banner to live, fight, fight or assist each other together.

Even Duke has a very clear layout of the entire Marvel movie. For example, on the style route, the "Thor" series focuses on gorgeous fantasy style; the "Iron Man" series takes the route of tall, handsome, rich, prodigal and high-tech; the "Captain America" ​​series is May continue to follow the realistic route; "Guardians of the Galaxy", which has been put on the agenda, has a comedy style that has hardly been played in superhero movies before...

In the future, the world of superheroes will become larger and more real, and it may also be darker and chaotic.

By the time the preparations for the "Avengers" were in full swing in July, the North American box office of "Thor" was close to 230 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office exceeded 450 million U.S. dollars.

The new San Diego Comic Con has also kicked off in San Diego. As an important publicity position for Hollywood, Marvel Pictures will certainly not miss this event.

On the opening day of the San Diego Comics, Duke led all the main actors of Marvel to appear in the Marvel Comics exhibition area.

The media reported on the spot directly described the promotion as "Avengers all-stars appeared at the animation festival and superheroes gathered together" to describe this promotion.

At the Marvel Comics exhibition that day, facing the nearly 10,000 comic fans and fans present, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Samuel Jackson came to the stage to introduce the super cast of "The Avengers" scheduled to meet with the audience in 2012 -"Agent Coleson" Clark Gregg, "Black Widow" Scarlett Johnson, "Thor" Chris Hemsworth, "Captain America" ​​Chris Evans, "Iron Man" Robert Downey Jr., "Eagle Eye" Jeremy Renner and "Hulk" Mark Ruffalo.

At the same time, Marvel also announced the first posters of the film at the Comic Con, and the new looks of the six Avengers were also exposed for the first time.

"When we took a makeup photo, Thor held his hammer in hand, Captain America had his shield, Hawkeye was also equipped with bows and arrows, and Iron Man was floating above us. , And the size of the'Hulk' is more than enough to kill directly."

During the interview, Scarlett seemed a little upset, “I am the only one holding two small pistols, but the stylist immediately comforted me, ‘this gun is a perfect match for you! It’s a killing machine that doesn’t blink!”

Compared with the focus of these actors, Duke was distracted by other work in addition to preparing for "The Avengers."

This month, he also attended the premiere of "Transformers 3". Since Michael Bay took over, the series has reached the third part. Although the reputation of the film is not as strong as the first one, the commercial results are still sufficient. Dazzlingly, the second film received more than 350 million U.S. dollars from North America and more than 1 billion U.S. dollars in box office from the world.

By virtue of this series, Michael Bay himself completely got rid of the past decline and once again returned to the ranks of Hollywood's first-line commercial directors.

This series has always cooperated closely with China, and the box office in the Chinese market has repeatedly hit record highs. In the third part, the advertising business sponsorship income from China alone exceeded 30 million US dollars.

The commercial momentum of "Transformers 3" has not diminished. North America won more than 130 million U.S. dollars in the first week, and more than 400 million U.S. dollars was won in nearly 100 markets around the world.

The former machine life has become global popular culture.

For "Transformers", Duke is safe enough. This is a completely commercialized series. Michael Bay can be said to be a very suitable director candidate. According to what those professionals say, Optimus Prime and Megatron will not move. Just engage in philosophical reflection and thinking about the meaning of survival, and this series will only rot.

While paying attention to "Transformers", Duke put more energy on "Under Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". This film has already been released from North America. He and Warner need to use many methods to prevent Some people take too much of their profits. (To be continued.)

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