Millennium director

Los Angeles, Light Time Film Productions.

In conjunction with the promotion work of Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Wu Yuan took time to come to the company after participating in a CBS TV morning talk show with the crew and creators.

Of course, it would not be a small role that allowed him to fly back to the company to meet in person despite his busy work schedule.

Feodore Oliver, current head of production at Warner Bros. Pictures.

Warner's supervisor wanted to meet with Wu Yuan, so he naturally had to give face to the other party.

However, Wu Yuan did not expect that Feodore Oliver handed him a script as soon as the two met.

Green Lantern is Warner's next stage of super-A-level superhero commercial blockbusters.

What a coincidence.

Just when Marvel was making a desperate move to launch their Marvel Cinematic Universe with the movie Iron Man.

Next door, DC has also joined forces with Warner Bros. to restart its own DC superhero movie series.

As we all know, DC is the originator of North American superhero comics.

As early as June 1938, DC created the world's first superhero, Superman, in the first issue of Action Comics.

For more than half a century, Superman has been the most famous superhero in the world.

The second most famous one is Batman.

Marvel's Spider-Man can only be ranked fourth.

As for Marvel heroes such as Iron Man, Black Widow, and Thor, their popularity is currently limited to North America, and they are almost not famous overseas.

From the perspective of influence, there is no doubt that the current IP of DC Comics is more influential in the world than Marvel, and is more suitable for adaptation into commercial movies.

DC was acquired by Warner Bros. in 1969 and became a subsidiary of Warner.

Their IPs will naturally be adapted into films by Warner Pictures.

It’s just that Warner’s superhero movie journey has never been smooth.

Let's not mention the several Superman movies that suffered losses in the last century. The year before last, Superman Returns had a global box office of only 390 million US dollars, with a global box office of 270 million US dollars. Taking into account the publicity and distribution expenses, Warner almost lost money.

If it weren't for Nolan's Batman Begins in 2005, it would have been selected into the top three best-selling films of the summer and received rave reviews from comic fans and critics.

Warner may not even have confidence in superhero movies anymore.

Unwilling to give up, Warner has been preparing a new superhero movie adaptation since last year.

Yes, this is the Green Lantern in front of Wu Yuan.

The film has been in development since 2007, when Greg Berlanti was set to serve as director and co-writer.

But at the beginning of this year, he chose to withdraw from directing the film because he wanted to direct other films.

This super blockbuster, which is expected to cost more than 200 million US dollars, suddenly has no suitable director.

Among the many character IPs in the DC universe, Green Lantern is definitely a big IP.

Not only because Green Lantern itself has a relatively large character plot line, but also because behind Green Lantern there is an entire Lantern Corps plot IP.

Therefore, based on this unique advantage, Hal Jordan has always had considerable popularity and fans in DC's original setting.

It can be said that DC has high hopes for this movie, aiming to become an instant hit and achieve excellent box office results.

So, the choice of director for this movie needs to be carefully considered.

Hollywood is both big and small. It is really not an easy task to find a commercial film director who can helm such a large-scale superhero movie.

Until the release of Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

When Wu Yuan was interviewed for the premiere, he basically confirmed that he would not take over the follow-up sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean.

And among the six major universities, no one has ever heard of anyone asking Wu Yuan to direct their unfilmed blockbuster projects.

In other words, he, a commercial film director with a single film box office of 1 billion, currently has no blockbuster film appointments in Hollywood, and his schedule is very empty!

What else is there to say?

Pirates of the Caribbean is a fantasy special effects blockbuster, and the trilogy relies on special effects as its biggest selling point.

Wu Yuan can direct such a movie, wouldn't it be easy to make a superhero movie?

Feodor Oliver came to the door in a hurry with the project plan, fearing that he would be a step too late and Wu Yuan would be snatched away by other majors.

With Pirates of the Caribbean 3 now in theaters, Wu Yuan is currently one of the hottest commercial directors in Hollywood, so it's hard to be slow!

As for Wu Yuan, after learning that Feodor Oliver was looking for him for this purpose, he felt dumbfounded in his heart.

To be honest, based on the investment and hardware and software resources Warner has prepared for this movie, as long as Green Lantern is shot according to the conventional path, logically speaking, the results will definitely not be too bad.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the US$200 million investment before 2010 was a ceiling-level investment for films of the same type.

Coupled with inviting a top commercial film director and finding a popular actor in Hollywood, there is no chance that this movie will be a flop no matter how it is made.

But the reality is that the film ultimately cost Warner all its money at the box office.

With a cost of US$200 million, the final global box office was only US$220 million, with a net loss of 75 million.

More importantly, this movie is bad in all aspects. From the choice of director to the choice of actors to the creation of the script, there is not a single point worthy of praise.

Although Ryan Reynolds is really a good actor, and Wu Yuan also loves to use him in the movies of the light era, he is really not suitable for the role of Green Lantern, from temperament to personality.

He still has to be that cheap Deadpool to feel good.

Now Warner wants him to direct this movie, isn't that a big deal?

After casually flipping through the project plan, Wu Yuan politely refused: Fyodor, thank you for inviting me to direct this movie, but unfortunately, this movie is not suitable for my directing style.

Let's cooperate again if we have the opportunity in the future.

Oh No! Feodor shook his head and refused to listen to Wu Yuan's polite refusal. Daniel, the script of this movie is still in the creation stage. There is no style at all.

As long as you are willing to take over, the creation of this movie can be completely based on your ideas. As long as the main story line is based on the comics, you can make the decision on how to shoot it.

If it's not your style, then become your style!

Daniel, Warner's expectations for this project are really high.

'Green Lantern' will be the forerunner of the 'Justice League' movie, and then the original production team will develop 'The Flash' and 'Green Lantern 2' to expand the early framework of the entire DC movie universe.

In Justice League, there will also be Nolan's version of Batman, and a future reboot of Superman will join in!

In the next ten years, Warner will use 6-8 movies to open a DC movie universe!

And you and Nolan are the helmsmen of this movie universe, as long as you are willing!

Wow, that sounds pretty tempting.

As long as he thinks about it, a DC movie universe consisting of 6-8 movies will be born from his hands.

Together with Nolan, he will become the father of the DC movie universe.

He is responsible for the personal movies of Green Lantern and The Flash, and Nolan is responsible for creating Batman. There will also be personal movies of Superman and Wonder Woman later, which will also be directed by them first.

Eventually, the Justice League series of major event movies will be formed, bringing together these superheroes for a super blockbuster feast.

Yes, Warner has long been prepared for Marvel's subsequent movie universe plans and took action earlier than Marvel. It can be said that Marvel is a latecomer.

Just like their comics started by copying DC comics.

In the field of movies, Marvel is also following DC's lead.

It's a pity that DC's plan was well done and perfect on paper, but it turned out to be a mess in the actual implementation stage.

From Superman Returns to Green Lantern, they all suffered huge losses. Superman: Man of Steel can only barely make a small profit with a mediocre reputation. Justice League is even worse.

Only the Batman trilogy helmed by Nolan, as well as the subsequent Wonder Woman 1 and Aquaman were relatively successful and restored some face for DC.

Marvel is different.

Although the action was a step behind DC, starting from Iron Man, one Marvel superhero movie after another has swept the world, and none of them has a bad box office. Avengers has become a global hit superhero team.

Wu Yuan, who knew all this, would certainly not eat the pie painted by Feodor so easily.

Not to mention Green Lantern, even if he was asked to take over Superman, the world's number one superhero IP, he would have to consider it.

Fyodor, Warner's ambitious superhero movie universe plan does sound cool.

But such a huge movie universe strategy seriously conflicts with my film shooting plans in the next few years.

It's a pity that I really can't participate in this grand plan.

Wu Yuan shrugged and said with a sincere face: I can only wish you success in realizing this plan. DC's superheroes have influenced many generations of people around the world. I also hope that this IP can be reborn again in the new century.

Unfortunately, I won't be the one taking the lead.

Feodor Oliver frowned and looked at Wu Yuan in confusion.

He didn't understand that Warner's superhero movie universe should be very attractive to any aspiring commercial film director.

This project is definitely the largest film series project in the 21st century, with an estimated total investment of more than 2.5 billion US dollars, and may ultimately create a box office of more than 5 to 6 billion US dollars.

Whoever can helm this series may become the most successful commercial film director in the next ten years!

With such an attractive olive branch, and it was Warner's initiative to invite it, Wu Yuan actually rejected it so decisively, without even considering it?

When did Warner's projects become so unattractive? (End of chapter)