Hollywood Domination Chapter 420: Test and premiere (below)

"How about it, how much has that movie changed compared to 4?"

Listening to the boss Michael Linton's impatient questioning on the phone, Larry Garner couldn't help but wryly smiled—this is undoubtedly the most concerned issue of Sony's executives, and Larry knew that he was just sent by Michael. It’s just a pair of eyes, no matter what he thinks in his heart, the only thing he can do is to report back truthfully: if it wasn’t for the fear of letting Dameng see something wrong and gain the upper hand in the negotiation, Michael Linton even wanted to come here in person, “Speed The quality of "Passion 5" is indeed too important to them.

"Compared with 4..." For today's internal screening, Larry specially re-watched "Fast and Furious 4" last night, "It has indeed changed a lot, and the candidates for the main creative team have not changed. Under the circumstances... 5 is almost completely reborn, it has the feeling of a first-line blockbuster..."

The producer of the "Fast and Furious" series has always been the producer partner sent by Vin Diesel and Universal. The candidates for screenwriter, starring and director are quite stable. Justin Lin started from "Fast and Furious 3" Just took over the directorship, this is already his third series of directors, so the change of adding a new director and bursting out new sparks does not apply to the "Fast and Furious" series. The only variable is probably the addition of Jennifer Jefferson. Larry didn't want to admit it, because he really couldn't figure it out, but the facts were right in front of him, and he had to explain the situation to Michael, otherwise, after the CEO watched the movie himself, he might be in trouble.

"From the design of the action scenes, the scheduling of the characters to the development of the entire plot, it has been greatly improved compared with 4. This work may mark that Lin has entered a mature stage..." Larry felt his mouth It was bitter, but he still faithfully described his after-viewing experience, "The improvement of the entire viewing experience, including the use of 3D technology-is completely reborn. If it is said that in 4, Lin tried for the first time. If it is combined with the racing technique to create a real sense of tension in the film, then in 5, he is completely familiar with this technique. Maybe it is because of Jennifer's guidance... every step of the film is explained. It is very clear, from the plot, to the action scenes, to the racing, crime, back to action, funny, racing... there is almost no point for you to play."

Since it is necessary to judge Jennifer's level, it is a basic homework to compare the previous series. Michael Linton's voice is almost unbelievable, "The plot is really combined with the racing car? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure that Lin's level has improved a lot. The final climax. The car chase scene is very well paced. The camera movement and narration of the sub-cameras are very clean and neat. This year... If "Code Shero" If you don’t count, it’s probably the best car chase scene in 2 years.” Larry closed his eyes, “I don’t know how Jennifer did it-it doesn’t make sense at all, but it’s the way it is , She has greatly expanded the audience of "Fast and Furious 5", so that audiences who are not car fans can understand and get involved - it is difficult for movies of the same period as it."

The biggest problem with the predecessors of the "Fast and Furious" series has always been the separation of the racing scene and the plot. For ordinary people, the atmosphere brewing before the racing is really cool, and those modified cars look very attractive, but It is difficult for them to appreciate the real drag racing scenes. For those scenes of cars running, many people will simply understand them as stunt productions. Only real car fans will be excited and excited because of the performance of the cars and the difficult tricks. , or even to test the cars in the film and study their performance limits. Therefore, in parts 1, 2, and 3, except for the racing scene at the beginning of each part, which is a bit normal, the rest are all part of the plot. The values ​​promoted in the film are even very non-mainstream. Brian directly let go of Dominic, who is obviously committing a crime without any legitimate reason, for the sake of brotherhood. This is a taboo for popcorn movies. As for the second part, the plot outside of the drag racing scene is quite lame. In the fourth part, the quality of the plot has improved significantly, but the arrangement of the climax. It is difficult for the audience to grasp the rhythm of the duel development at any time, and they feel quite confused. Therefore, although the story is a little rounded, it still cannot get rid of the temperament of a B-level production. Of course, under such a budget, Justin. Lin's arrangement was painstaking, because many car chases and explosion scenes still require special effects to intervene, and it is easier to add special effects in a closed and dark environment, which is more cost-effective. Therefore, he entered Sony's sight and got A rating of B—it is very good at saving money, and its ability is improving. It can give certain opportunities, but there are still risks.

"In the fifth film, he completely proved that he is an A-level director. The previous and subsequent plots were all combined with the car chase very naturally. I can only describe it with rich imagination, that kind of unrestrained and spiritual feeling, which I have never seen from him before." Larry said more and more in a low voice, and finally couldn't help but complained . "I really don't get it, how does that girl do it - is she really a magician? Why do all the movies just go through her to make it better? - It really doesn't make sense! She's like It's a Hollywood bug!"

Yes, for Sony, the existence of Jennifer is like a bug that God accidentally fell into the world. Her ability to develop movies and predict the market—all kinds of performances are incomprehensible. If she said that she was an alien, maybe Larry and others would believe it, but Michael Linton didn't care about this.

"It's not the first time that she has a bug performance - have you asked her about "Spider-Man"? Since you are so optimistic about this movie, have you tested her attitude?"

"I asked, but Jennifer's performance was very cold." Larry closed his eyes, and he was a little tired of this back and forth negotiation with almost no progress. "We guessed right. She doesn't care too much about whether Spider-Man will appear in the Avengers. What she wants is the capital injection rights of the big dream and the dominance of the series. It's like "Fast and Furious 5" , can cooperate, but the general direction must follow her arrangement."

"She wants to dominate, of course it's not a problem, but 50% of the capital injection rights are still..." Michael said, but quickly interrupted himself, "Forget it, if they don't inject capital, we You can't hand over the leadership either... This is completely different from supervision."

Larry has no objection to this, "The current situation is that Marvel wants Spider-Man, we want Jennifer, and Jennifer wants capital injection rights..."

He sighed, "I'm afraid there is no room for negotiation. Michael, Warner and the others are very enthusiastic about Jennifer, especially after watching the preview. If we don't propose better conditions, at least we can't fall behind too much." Many, otherwise why would Jennifer cooperate with us? Today she has shown her attitude. Her time is very precious. Compared with other companies, Sony does not have more advantageous resources. Big Dream does not have to be Sony... If It’s not that she’s the producer of The Avengers, she’s not even going to continue contacting us, this preview is her last chance for us, and she hopes to hear Sony’s final offer within three days.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, and Larry could almost feel Michael's pain—hand over "The Amazing Spider-Man" to Dameng, and jointly develop the advantageous IP, which would even alarm the parent company in Tokyo. Larry would not be surprised that Michael was dismissed because of this. In the Japanese company culture, the most important thing for Michael, who has already been promoted, is "not to make mistakes", and the reason why he asked Jennifer for help was not what he wanted What makes The Amazing Spider-Man even better is his fear of making mistakes and failing.

Restarting within 3 years after the end of "Spider-Man 3" in 2007 is actually a bit too early for a series. After all, the story of Spider-Man is there, and no one can adapt it too far. The audience When the memory is still fresh, it's like this...Michael is far from being so confident in the future of this series, otherwise how could he be tempted?

"By the way, Michael." After hesitating, Larry said, "Jennifer and I also talked a little bit about the idea of ​​adapting "Extraordinary". A kind of movie... She said that the premise of Dameng's capital injection is to replace the director, and I think you should also know this."

Mark Webb is the series director that Sony has sought out for "The Amazing Spider-Man". After a series of romance films, Mark came into Sony's field of vision. Compared with Justin Lin, Mark is Caucasian, so he got more opportunities earlier, for example, the director of a 200 million-level hero blockbuster. It's a pity that Larry is very clear that Mark's bright future is faltering immediately after Jennifer's words, and he is walking on the edge of brokenness-an investor of her level has always said that he is not optimistic about Mark. It was a devastating blow. Even if Sonny didn't agree with Jennifer in the end, her opinion would be considered carefully by Michael. Even Larry himself was no exception. Originally, he had great confidence in Mark. Jennifer's words meant nothing to him. It's like a bucket of ice water—and after calming down a little, Larry now thinks maybe it's time to change the director, even if Jennifer didn't explain anything, just saying that, but... anyway... it's better Don't use someone she doesn't like, even if it's just for peace of mind.

"Did she say that?" Sure enough, Michael's tone fluctuated significantly, "So sure? Just say that Mark is not suitable?"

"Yes," said Larry, who knew it was time to deliver some bad news--and it might push Michael to make up his mind. "Jennifer said that maybe Sony thinks "The Amazing Spider-Man" is a very strong and high-quality IP, but for her, the heavyweight of this series is equivalent to "Mission: Impossible" and "Fast and Furious"...Michael , she does seem sincere when she says it, she seems to think that without her, we're sure to screw up the series..."

Michael fell silent again, Larry didn't care about his mood, he continued to report his conversation with Jennifer, "We also talked about some of Jennifer's new films, the last one she worked with Salvi The movie is over, but Jennifer said that she will continue to film "The Great Gatsby". Both Salvi and Leonardo have signed the starring contract. This movie will be developed together with Warner, the same 50% each , so this is her bottom line, there is no possibility of any changes, if Sony must find some discounts...she can let us do the North American distribution of "Gatsby."

"She can?" Michael suddenly raised his voice—the news that she was going to star in "Gatsby" before, because it was a long-standing rumor in the industry, he didn't react much. "Are you sure? - I remember that the copyright of this novel belongs to Warner!"

"Yeah, it belongs to Warner..." Larry touched his face bitterly, "Believe me, I was as surprised as you, Mike, but she called Kerry Orient at that time, You know, he is Jeff Robinoff's confidant, and she said that there is one more condition for her to sign the performance contract, which is to sell us the North American distribution rights of "Gatsby"-because she wants to sign Download our The Amazing Spider-Man, this is a sweet treat for us.”

"...What did Kerry say?" Seemingly incredulous, Michael's breathing became sharper, and after a while, he asked with some difficulty, "He didn't get angry?"

"No..." Larry's tone was also a little weird, "Kerry agreed immediately, and he said, 'No problem, as long as this can help you'..."

Michael was also speechless, and after a while, he said softly, "It seems that our attitude towards Jennifer is not affectionate enough...Let me think about it and come to my office when I get back... "

Even Warner pampered this little princess so much, she offered a lot of benefits with a snap of her fingers, what else can Sony say? This is a classical blockbuster starring Leonardo and Jennifer at the same time - Larry nodded, "See you later, Mike."

After ending the call on Mike's side, he took down the phone and pressed a button to put the call on hold.

"Hey Nancy, yes I just got back from a preview and yes I met Jennifer - yes I asked her..." to Sony affiliate CBS - CBS Nancy Trent, the executive of the TV station, Larry said in a very affectionate tone, "She said that Cesare is completely in charge of the TV series... Yes, there may be new dramas in the future, but they should be related to the TV series. She doesn't have much to do with it..."

Because he is not directly under the boss, he joked more casually, "Actually, you can wait until the first broadcast ratings of "Hip-Hop Empire" come out before making this call. After all, the start of the new drama is not so fast. Jennifer said that they will have to wait until the premiere of the TV series before deciding on the pace of expansion of the TV series production department..."

Yes, compared to "Fast and Furious 5" that insiders care about, more ordinary Jennifer fans and Big Dream fans are looking forward to the premiere of "Hip-Hop Empire", a company that has been creating miracles all year round , already have their own supporters, and this time they are also eager to witness miracles in the field of TV dramas - the concept of a big dream produced must be a boutique has been deeply imprinted in the TV series through one movie after another. into their minds.

On January 23, 2011, a week after the preview of "Fast and Furious 5", "Empire of Hip-Hop" officially started broadcasting, followed by "24 Hours of Anti-Terrorism". The treatment given by Fox cannot be said Is that bad? After the end of "Anti-Terrorism 24 Hours", there was only a 30-second commercial, and it was strongly connected to "Hip-Hop Empire", which was different from the precedent of several minutes of commercials in the past. It was equivalent to spending millions of dollars for its appearance. It laid the groundwork, and this also satisfied many viewers waiting in front of the TV-many of them were not even that interested in "24 Hours of Counter-Terrorism", but were waiting for "Empire of Hip-Hop". .

The sound of melodious music, the humming voice of the moving actress... The screen is still dark, and many viewers are already in high spirits—as expected of Jay-z's producer, the music of this show is really unspeakable!