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The film's confirmed release date is February 2, the week of Valentine's Day.
Management wasn't too optimistic about the noir-drama adaptation of a call girl and a financier's love story, but the film turned out brilliantly.If it weren't for Daenerys Entertainment's film release plan for the whole year of this year, it would even consider changing the file to a more popular schedule.
To put it bluntly, Daenerys Entertainment's 1990 film release list has reached 12. According to the release time, they are "I Want to Go Home", "Pretty Woman", "Crazy Fat Treasure Variety Show", "Children in the Cornfield 2", "Ghosts", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Hunting Ghost", "Family Journey", "Angels at My Table", "Dances with Wolves", " Life Intersection" and "Home Alone".
In addition to the batch of films released by the company itself, there are four works in the 10-film plan last year, namely "Sleeping with the Enemy" with Fox, "The Hand That Rocked the Cradle" with Disney, and "The Hand That Rocked the Cradle" with Universal Pictures. "Ten Days of Dangerous Love" and "The League of Pinks" in cooperation with Columbia Pictures.
A total of 16 films, which is comparable to the release scale of the past year.
When Simon returned to Los Angeles this time, his main job was to sort out the sixteen films in various stages of production and distribution, and at the same time confirm some projects in 1991 in advance.
According to the plan, Pixar will launch its first 1991D animated film "Toy Story" by the end of 3, and the last "Scream 3" in the "Scream" series will also be scheduled for next year. In addition, there will be Madonna The music documentary and foreign cooperation films such as "The Fugitive" and "Terminator 2".
Just these are obviously not enough.
Fortunately, with the continuous expansion of Daenerys Entertainment, the company, like other Hollywood studios, has a number of projects that can be approved at any time. A large number of independent producers in Hollywood are also looking forward to working with Daenerys. For entertainment cooperation, these people have more abundant projects in their hands.
Chapter 330 The Three Directors (Revised)
Back in Los Angeles, Simon has to take care of the entire film business of Daenerys Entertainment, but Hollywood's attention is still firmly locked by "Batman: Beginning of War" and the upcoming DC movie universe plan.
From January 1th to January 19th, "Batman: Beginning of War" was released for the fifth week. The film received another 1 million US dollars with a 25% box office drop, and the cumulative box office reached 23 million US dollars, officially surpassing "Spiritual No. 3163". "Six Senses" became the box office champion of the previous year.
In the words of some media, the profit brought to Daenerys Entertainment by just one movie of "Batman: Beginning of War" is equivalent to the annual film business income of most Hollywood studios.
This is basically true as well.
While other studios can only envy the crazy profits of "Batman: Begins", Warner Bros. Pictures can get a share of the follow-up plan.
Therefore, these days when Simon returns to Los Angeles, Warner Bros. Pictures CEO Terry Semel, who hopes to advance the follow-up plan as soon as possible, keeps in touch with Simon almost every day, either by phone or directly to Santa Monica.
Negotiations between Daenerys Entertainment and Time Warner for the follow-up cooperation plan of the DC movie universe have also begun to accelerate in this eagerness.
Santa Monica.
The time is October 1th, Friday.
Terry Semel came here early this morning after seeing a news item on The Hollywood Reporter this morning.
Some details of the DC movie universe plan are still being negotiated, but because of Simon's full preparations, the second Batman movie "Batman: Beginning of War" in addition to Adam Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins, Tommy In addition to regular actors such as Lee Jones, even the actor of the villain Double-Face in the second part has been finalized in advance. Now, the only problem is the director.
As long as this problem is resolved, the film will start shooting in the middle of this year and will be released next summer.
Since Simon confirmed that he would no longer be the director of the second film, many people in Hollywood have tried it out, and there are many first-line directors who hope to take over.Warner will participate in half of the investment in the second part. For his own benefit, he also recommended some candidates to Simon.
However, Simon's confirmed director surprised those in the know.
Jane de Bont.
If it is the time and space that Simon is in, many people will immediately think of "Speed of Life and Death" when they hear this name.
Now, though, Jean de Bont is just a photographer.
Although he made his debut in the 60s and has filmed more than 20 films so far, Jane de Bont has never been a director.
Following the successful experience of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in memory, selecting suitable candidates from newcomer directors to direct the DC Cinematic Universe project, this is Simon’s plan from the very beginning, and he has indeed found a lot of potential stocks, such as Jane de Bont one of them.
In the original time and space, "Speed and Death", which made Jane de Bont one of the first-line directors in one fell swoop, was actually the first film he directed after he switched careers. De Bont's subsequent second work "Tornado" also directed A global hit, this is enough to prove that Jean de Bont has the potential to directly switch to a director.
Compared with other new directors who only directed two or three works, Jane de Bont has accumulated more experience in more than 60 consecutive works since his debut in the 20s.Also, as a 'new director', Daenerys Entertainment could more easily negotiate a long-term package deal with Jane De Bont.
However, after Simon returned to Los Angeles last week to officially inform Warner of his decision, he was immediately opposed.
In Warner's view, Simon's use of a photographer who has not even directed a work as the director of "Batman: The Dark Knight" is completely messed up.
The two parties were still negotiating in private, but Terry Semel did not expect that the "Hollywood Reporter" would suddenly publish the news.
Perhaps, many people are now wondering who is Jane de Bont?
After Daenerys Entertainment reported, Warner investigated the detailed information of Jane de Bont. Although this photographer participated in the shooting of famous movies such as "Die Hard", he didn't even have an Oscar nomination for best photography. Never got it.How can such a person be the director of a heavyweight movie that two Hollywood studios have high hopes for?
Arriving at the Daenerys entertainment headquarters in Santa Monica, Terry Semel was told that Simon was not here. After inquiring, Semel hurried to the Daenerys special effects headquarters in a nearby block.
Sure enough, Simon was here, and Jane de Bont, who had become the focus of many people's attention, was also there. Several people were watching something in front of a computer.
Speaking of which, Jane de Bont has made her debut for so many years, and of course she has also cooperated with Warner, such as the latest one, "Who Is That Girl", which won Madonna the worst actress in Golden Raspberry two years ago.
Terry Semel had just greeted Simon when Jan de Bont's cell phone rang.
The 'new director' is clearly very busy today.
After apologizing to everyone, Jane de Bont left to answer the phone.
After De Bont left, Simon said without waiting for Semel to speak: "Daenerys Entertainment has signed three film contracts with Bont, Terry, this matter is not negotiable."
Terry Semel had a choked expression, paused for a moment, and said helplessly: "So, Simon, will you follow up the whole process of filming in the second half of the year?"
"Of course, Terry, I value the DC movie universe plan more than you, so I hope you can trust my judgment." Simon said, and explained to Semel sideways: "Also, Terry, Mark Silvers, you should have seen it. Also, this is Roland Emmerich and Martin Campbell, they will serve as assistant directors on "Batman: The Dark Knight" together, and then they will direct "Superman" separately and Wonder Woman."
Roland Emmerich, the name hardly needs much introduction. From "Independence Day" to "2012", Emmerich can be called the godfather of Hollywood disaster films.
Speaking of which, Roland Emmerich is actually a German. In 1984, Emmerich produced his first sci-fi film "Noah's Ark Code", and soon became famous in the German film circle. He just tried Entering Hollywood, it fell into the hands of Simon.
Although Roland Emmerich in the original space-time began to decline after 2000, and there were failures such as the 1998 version of "Godzilla", but the 34-year-old Emmerich is in the prime of his creative career age.
Moreover, although Emmerich's most famous films are a series of disaster films, he actually started as a director of science fiction films. The last few films starting from "Noah's Ark Guidelines" are all science fiction films.
Simon has roughly read Emmerich's works in recent years. The director's increasingly scattered multi-line narrative style has not yet been determined. After a little polishing, it is still very suitable for him to direct "Superman".
As for Martin Campbell, the director made his debut in the 70s and has rich experience in film and television production, but he has never created a blockbuster work.
In the original time and space, Martin Campbell's famous work is "007's Golden Eye". He later directed another classic "007's Casino Royale". Both films were very successful.This is why Simon chose the other party as the director of "Wonder Woman".
Both "GoldenEye" and "Casino Royale" proved that Martin Campbell's ability to control the big scene is something that "Wonder Woman" desperately needs.
In addition, Martin Campbell is actually the director of the 2011 box office failure "Green Lantern".
In Simon's memory, Ryan Reynolds' version of "Green Lantern" burned a budget of 2 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office was only a little over 2 million U.S. dollars. As a result, Warner fell into a huge loss and once delayed the development plan of the DC movie universe.
However, the failure of "Green Lantern", like many subsequent DC projects, is not the responsibility of the director, but the result of Warner's hastily launching the project without even finalizing the script in order to compete with Marvel.In addition to the fact that the plot is a mess due to insufficient preparation in the early stage, the technical details such as special effects and soundtrack of the film are actually very good.
And, at the end of the day, Simon is the mastermind behind the plans for the DC Cinematic Universe.
The choice of Jane De Bont, Roland Emmerich and Martin Campbell as directors is mainly because this can ensure Simon's absolute control over the series of projects, in addition to the strength of the three themselves.Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe project, Simon will not give these directors too much freedom to play.
Therefore, although with the current momentum of the DC movie universe, Simon can afford to hire first-line directors, but in order to fully implement his will, he does not intend to do so.
After Simon's introduction, Jane de Bont, who finished the call, also came back.
Everyone gathered in front of the computer again.
It was only then that Terry Semel discovered that what Simon and others were watching was a new function recently developed by the Maya special effects software that Daenerys Special Effects Studio had integrated, which could simulate special effects such as explosions and collapses of physical buildings.
Seeing a building shatter on a small computer screen, Terry Semel temporarily put aside his curiosity about Roland Emmerich and Martin Campbell, and asked the special effects studio president Mark Silves Dao: "Can these be realized on the big screen?"
Mark Silvers nodded and said: "Some technical details of the synthesis of CG images and real people are still being perfected, and there will be no problem by this time next year."
Terry Semel understood why Mark Silvers said that.
The planned DC movie universe project will have a window period this year.
Starting next year, big-screen works will be released at a rate of two films per year.
The projects already confirmed in 1991 were "Batman: The Dark Knight" and "The Flash".
The 1992 project was "Wonder Woman" and the rebooted "Superman". The immediate = technology developed by Daenerys special effects will probably be used in "Superman" or "Wonder Woman".
At this time, Simon said to the staff in front of the computer: "By the way, show Terry the special effects of The Flash."
The staff nodded, and quickly called up a set of experimental shots.
Terry Semel perked up immediately.
On the computer screen, a staff member who participated in the test was running in a room, his body was surrounded by faint electric lights, and there was a faint thunderclap sound from the turned on speaker.
It has been confirmed that there are five heroes who will participate in the first phase of the DC movie universe plan, namely Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Cyborg.
The choice of these five is mainly due to the limitation of special effects technology in this era.
"Sea King" and "Green Lantern" cannot be done with the current special effects technology.
In comparison, "The Flash" and "Steel Bones" are easier.
In order to reflect the speed of the Flash, the production of the "Flash" movie mainly requires the use of high-speed photography technology, which has appeared in the 50s, although at this stage it is far from reaching the high-speed shooting of 3000 frames per second many years later , but the existing technology plus CG special effects is enough to reach the level of special effects far exceeding the five-cent special effects of the "Superman" series in the previous stage.
As for "Steel Bone", it will generally use a shooting technique that combines model special effects and CG special effects.
In this regard, the liquid metal robot of "Terminator 2" in the original space-time and Schwarzenegger's robot endoskeleton are good references. Such technology can be realized in 1991. Simon believes that after two to three years of technical research, Very good steel bone special effects can be achieved on the big screen.
In order to perfect the technical details of the special effects as much as possible, compared with the three superheroes "Wonder Woman", "Superman" and "The Flash" that will be launched successively in the past two years, the production of "Steel Bones" will be relatively late, roughly Filming began in 1994, and it was released next to Justice League in 1995.
Everyone stayed in the Daenerys special effects studio until noon, and after lunch, Jane de Bont and others left, but Terry Semel continued to stay.Of course he wouldn't be so idle, but the DC movie universe project is roughly his most important job at hand.
As the media said, if this series is done well, Warner will have "no worries about eating and drinking" in the next few years.
Now that Simon has a firm attitude towards the director of "Batman: The Dark Knight" and has selected the directors of "Superman" and "Wonder Woman" in advance, Terry Semel will stop talking.He also believed that Simon would not mess with this promising series.
Now, Terry Semel is more concerned about Warner's "The Flash" and "Steel Bone".
In order to maintain his control over the DC movie universe plan, Simon had previously proposed a proposal to exchange half of the investment rights of "Superman" in exchange for half of the investment rights of the two superheroes "The Flash" and "Steel Bone".
Compared with "Batman" and "Wonder Woman", which Warner has half of the investment rights in the other two of the Big Three, Daenerys Entertainment has no corresponding investment in the copyright of "Superman" obtained from the Salkind family. In terms of rights, Daenerys Entertainment can completely monopolize the investment.
Although "Superman" is more popular than "The Flash" and "Steel Bone", if Warner agrees, it will basically transfer the copyright of the two superheroes to Daenerys Entertainment.
With the increasing success of "Batman: Beginning of War", the loss of the DC Big Three has already made Warner regret it.
Now, two for one, Warner is reluctant to do so.
However, although he did not agree with Daenerys' entertainment plan, Simon still has a strong say in the DC movie universe plan.
Not to mention, "The Flash" and "Cyborg", although Daenerys Entertainment does not participate in the investment, but if you want these two superheroes to join the DC movie universe plan, such as screenplay and director starring, you still have to Approved by Simon.
Daenerys Entertainment also made it very clear before that if "The Flash" and "Steel Bone" mess up, these two superheroes are likely to be excluded from the DC movie universe plan. Daenerys Entertainment would rather The future "Justice League" will only have three heroes: Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.
Although he has not yet realized the benefits of the plot linkage, Warner also knows that without the support of Daenerys Entertainment, he may not be able to play with these superheroes.
Chapter 331 Confidence (Revision)
Naturally, Simon was not as free as Terry Semel in the afternoon. Since Semel did not leave after lunch, he simply took him to Culver City, east of Santa Monica.
One of Gaomen Films' key projects this year, "The Intersection of Life", has started filming in Culver City.
Simon has been busy without touching the ground these days when he came back to Los Angeles. Although he has been in contact every day, Terry Semel has never been able to find an opportunity to have a deep talk with Simon. Today he obviously wants to confirm something.
The two drove to Culver City together in Simon's car, and Simon didn't hide it privately. He once again confided many of his ideas about the DC movie universe, including Warner's "The Flash" and "Steel Bone".
"If you want to ensure the integrity of the DC movie universe, so that all the films in this series are linked together to achieve an effect where one plus one is greater than two, you must ensure that there will be no second voice during the execution of the entire plan. Terry, Since Warner is unwilling to open up the investment in "The Flash" and "Steel Bone" to Daenerys Entertainment, then in this way, I will serve as the producer of these two films, and I will control the control of the project. Daenerys Entertainment will not participate in the sharing of benefits, I personally only take a part of my reward, and you can ask people to discuss it with Amy and the others. What do you think?"
In the carriage, Terry Semel couldn't help showing joy when he heard what Simon said.
This is the plan that Warner hopes to obtain during the internal discussion process.
It's just that Terry Semel was worried that Simon would let "The Flash" and "Steel Bone" go, because he rejected Simon's proposal for joint investment.
Now, Terry Semel is absolutely sure that Simon really cares about the DC movie universe project.
Otherwise, even if Warner is willing to pay a generous salary, with Simon's current status, there is no need for him to spend time busy with other companies' irrelevant projects.
"I'll go back and discuss with Amy later," Terry Semel quickly agreed, and after thinking about it, he said, "However, Simon, do you still plan to use newcomers for these two projects?"
Simon didn't answer directly, but asked: "How much money did Marlon Brando get for that "Superman" movie back then?"
In Christopher Reeve's 1978 version of "Superman," Marlon Brando played Clark Kent's father in less than 10 minutes, but ended up taking a ridiculous amount of money because of a pre-signed share clause .
Speaking of which, if Simon hadn't appeared, now, many years later, in the first "Batman", Warner made the same mistake again with Jack Nicholson.
Terry Semel froze for a moment, thought for a while and said, "Probably, close to 2000 million."
Simon asked, "Do you think it's worth it?"
"It's not worth it," Terry Semel said, and immediately said: "However, as long as we don't sign the sharing clause easily this time."
"Terry, you still don't understand. In fact, superheroes such as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are themselves more popular stars than Hollywood stars. There is no need to use real stars to attract popularity. What we have to do is, It’s about making these movies as good as possible.”
Terry Semel nodded knowingly.
Simon continued: "On the other hand, starting next year, the first phase of 10 DC movie universe films, take The Flash as an example, this superhero will be in "The Flash", "The Flash 2" and "Justice" It appeared in the three movies of "League". If they sign first-line stars, they will definitely not accept long-term contracts. When it comes to "Justice League", it must be a sky-high salary. After that, there may be no more. Now, signing newcomers, just Like the Batman series, Daenerys Entertainment has a five-film contract, which is just right to complete the first phase of the plan."
According to recent discussions, Daenerys Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures will successively launch 10 DC movie universe films in the next few years, namely "Batman: The Dark Knight", "The Flash", "Wonder Woman", "Wonder Woman" and "Wonder Woman". Superman, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, Suicide Squad: Mystery Mission, Batman v Superman, The Flash 2, Cyborg and Justice League.