Legendary Hollywood Director

In the past, when the visual effects technology was not developed, it was very disadvantageous to shoot non-human animals, such as 12 Monkeys, Planet of the Apes, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, which are representative of the ape theme, even if the props and makeup teams worked hard If I want to restore it, the image presented to the screen is still weird, showing a poverty flavor.

But now, if you want to photograph animals vividly, you don't have to worry so much. Surveying and mapping data modeling, motion capture simulation plus CG rendering, you can even directly fabricate a race like in Avatar to give people reality.

Under such a technical background, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was invested and distributed by Dune Entertainment in the previous life, was a feast for the audience's imagination.

It may not be the most macro and imaginative group of science fiction films, but it is certainly one that the public can accept and not object to.

From a market perspective, because of the widespread dissemination of Darwin's Theory of Evolution, the public has a solid foundation for cognition of animals such as orangutans. Moreover, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is willing to spend money, and you get what you get for every penny. The quality of the special effects is very high, it will not make people play, and the sense of substitution is quite good. In the end, this theme is interesting and dramatic, and the production of contradictions is also very smooth.

One day on January 19, Lehmann went to the company with a script that had almost straightened out the outline, and handed it over to Firefly's screenwriting department to improve the lines and scene details between the characters.

This kind of script with a very direct main line and narrative has the flavor of an assembly line. It does not need to be polished by a special person, and the writing habits are unified. It is more convenient to produce it directly by the team.

Lehman selected three screenwriters who had many years of writing experience and were responsible for the white background, and went to Joseph and asked him to inform Fox Co-Creation.

No way, just like Dune Entertainment came up with this idea, but found that the idea of ​​the conflict between orangutans and humans had already been filmed and could only be used for reference. This idea was first proposed by French writer Pierre-Boul in 1963. Published a science fiction novel of the same name, and then the novel was adapted by director Franklin Swana in 1968 and put on the big screen. Up to now, a total of 5 versions have been remade. The most advanced is Fox in 2001. Burton's re-directed one (with a budget of 100 million yuan, 180 million in North America and 362 million in the world after the release, a small profit can be made just by the box office share).

In other words, the rights to Planet of the Apes have been sitting in Fox's library.

As for why Lehman knew so clearly, it was the source of the ownership that he found when the new drama outline was filed with the union.

Of course, it is very common in the screenwriting industry to conceive a crash, otherwise there would not be so many infringement lawsuits in Hollywood. The very rough explanation is: the theme direction is similar, but the existing world view cannot appear. People stopped you, but you used the settings of Middle-earth, and you didn't get the authorization of the copyright owner, you just wait for the lawsuit.

Or Sony, he has the right to adapt the little spider, of course he can act in the name of Marvel, but he can't say that his character work belongs to the Marvel universe. If you want to join in, and you want to grab the popularity of the concept, you have to nod from Mann Media.

......

in the office.

Joseph, who was called, read the script, listened to the boss's shooting ideas, and nodded calmly.

In his opinion, this matter is not difficult, it is nothing more than negotiating the conditions.

Because don't look at the adaptation rights have been in the hands of Fox, but the profit rate of this project is not high, at least Fox does not think this theme is very worthwhile to shoot.

As we said earlier, shooting gorillas in the past took a lot of effort and had no charm. It was all about gimmicks to make money, and the rewards for hard distribution have always been small. The expectation of paying here is itself a production knowledge.

A studio spent tens of millions of capital budgets, picked the best schedule, spent the most energy on distribution, made 10 million pure profit and spent several million dollars, and randomly picked a free schedule to show. , earn 10 million on a par?

Obviously not.

This unequal value problem exists in the project of the Planet of the Apes.

It has always been a big investment and a small return. Fortunately, it rarely loses money, otherwise this project would not have been remade so many times.

More realistically, if you don't take such a subject seriously and don't give good resources, it has a high probability of losing money.

In other words, either do not shoot, or treat with first-class treatment.

In Joseph's heart, if Fox has no plans to remake this theme in the near future, his boss will take a fancy to it again, and he thinks that no one will reject the proposal that he can make it and enjoy the benefits.

Joseph confidently went to Fox headquarters.

While supervising the direction of the script, Lehman called in several executive producers and asked them to help determine the shooting plan and make a form.

Then he himself called a casting director to help him build a casting file.

The orangutans in the play are easy to say, they must be professional motion capture personnel, and they directly ask Andy Serkis's studio.

Since The Lord of the Rings Gollum and The Monster in the Lake, Andy Serkis saved some money and started to be the boss with apprentices. He set up a motion capture studio in Hollywood, specializing in this kind of business. , while teaching and taking on the show, if Fox agrees to co-produce, you can make an appointment with them directly.

Alas, let alone Andy Serkis is really a smart person. Motion capture is undoubtedly an emerging industry, basically a crew type of work born with advanced special effects technology. There are very few people who have the opportunity to contact them. Talent and performance experience are even more rare. At present, the threshold for this type of work is limited by the poor universality, the market demand has not been large, and those who want to enter the industry, especially actors, will consider the scenery in front of the stage if they have the conditions. Motion capture doesn't have the chance to show up on stage.

But it is precisely because of the lack of universality that the team he leads has been able to eat this bowl of rice all the time, and there are not many film appointments.

In addition, the male protagonist who is over 25 years old and under 40 years old, the handsome guy next door template; the beautiful female protagonist who has a sense of screen with the male protagonist...

By the time the character portraits in the play were determined, the sun was already in the west.

After a while, Joseph came back and reported with some helplessness: Fox's president Jim Garnopoulos heard that we wanted the remake rights of Planet of the Apes and asked for all the distribution rights and half of the investment share of the project.

If this is the case, the project will be suppressed.

Joseph nodded rationally, This is the first time we've met, and it's reasonable for them to speak out loudly. After we've been left out for a while, we may have a chance to talk. Anyway, I see what they mean, and it doesn't seem like they have any plans for a remake. I mentioned that Jim didn't react immediately.

You just follow, or let CAA facilitate the proposal. Lehmann thought for a while and said: I only accept joint distribution and 30% of the investment share, and after the project is shown, the home entertainment market and the follow-up two films will win Project development, we still have to get a guarantee agreement such as the share of the largest producer.

If you really want to shoot, what is the production budget and publicity budget range of the project? Joseph asked when he didn't ask carefully before.

About 100 million production cost and no less than 40 million publicity investment.

After discussing this, the two chatted for a while before ending the conversation.

After a day of brain exhaustion, lying in bed at night, Lyman quickly fell asleep...

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