Movie Master

Lance has a movie database for the next ten years in his mind, but this is not a panacea, and similarly, the blacklist in his hand is not panacea. After these years of tempering and understanding, Lance clearly knows that for commercial films, the timing of release is very important. Any work that achieves a big success at the box office must conform to the trend of the times and explode at the right time. energy.

The so-called timing is not just a matter of the release schedule. For example, the Harry Potter series is unacceptable during the summer, but it is booming during the holidays. Finding a correct schedule is crucial to tap the potential of the commercial box office. It is different; at the same time, it is also a matter of release time, in line with the aesthetics of the times, grasping the pulse of the trend, and catering to market demand, the box office performance will show wildly different results.

In February 2016, Deadpool landed in North America. Before the film was released, it received many doubts. Choosing a deserted schedule like February, the box office performance is worrying. But in the end, the film swept a box office of 360 million US dollars in North America, broke a series of amazing records, and almost jumped off the horse from the god-defying masterpiece The Passion of the Christ, which caused a lot of amazement.

Behind the astonishing achievements of Deadpool, it is the preparation and grasp of the timing. The series of movies based on comics has gradually matured, and the market has slowly entered a period of fatigue. People are still interested in comic superheroes, but they need more new ideas to awaken enthusiasm; The glimpse in the middle has won enough mass base; the publicity strategy adopts the method of Internet virus, which has aroused heated discussions among the young people, not only nerds, but more fashionable, youthful and energetic young people. They all became interested in the movie; the last is the deserted February schedule. During the awards season when Oscars dominate the award season, there are almost no decent works that can pose a danger to Deadpool, and the market potential is all maintained on this movie. .

Thus, a miracle was born.

There are countless similar situations in the long river of history. For example, Future Water World was released in 1995 and suffered a disastrous failure. At that time, the story of this work was weak, but the visual effects were wonderful, which was not inferior to many commercial blockbusters ten years later. Looking back from the height of the future, you will find that the main reason why this work failed miserably was because it did not conform to people's viewing aesthetics at that time. If you delay it by two years, even if you can't create a Titanic-style achievement, the amazing special effects can still be a box office bomb in 1997.

For another example, Avatar wrote history in 2009, not only because 3D technology has matured and provided technical support for James Cameron's brilliant concept, but also because the movie chose to be released during the Christmas holiday, avoiding the summer holiday. Bombing together, and because Batman: The Dark Knight swept the box office of 500 million US dollars in North America the previous year, becoming the second work in film history to achieve such an achievement, the market has completed its warm-up.

Therefore, at the right time, this will be a question that Lance must consider.

Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens, which created a new box office record in North American film history, has swept 900 million box office in North America alone. If it is released in 2006 ahead of schedule, regardless of the premise that Star Wars Prequel is still in theaters, This work can't reach such heights, because the nostalgia complex simply doesn't have enough time to brew.

The same is true of Jurassic World, which relies on feelings to win.

In North America, 760 million copies of Avatar have been harvested. Regardless of the premise that James Cameron is already intensively shooting, this work may not be able to win the audience's favor under the 2006 market. For reference, the North American annual box office champion in 2006 was Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest, and the North American annual box office champion in 2007 was Spider-Man 3. Neither work wins in 3D. Even in 2015, it is still unknown whether 3D will be a guarantee of box office success.

What's more, the copyrights of the above works are not what Chaos Pictures can expect. It is impossible to independently produce these works without major film companies. Even if it is the copyright of Jurassic Park, which has been put on hold for a long time, it is wishful thinking to snatch food from Universal Pictures.

Therefore, Lance not only needs to consider the issue of timing and choose a work that can explode with great energy in 2006 and 2007; he also needs to consider the issue of copyright to survive among the large film companies. This is also the reason why no film company has been able to break through the siege and join the ranks of the six major film companies-most of the important resources are firmly in their hands.

After repeated thinking and careful consideration, in the next ten years, the only ones that meet Lance's needs at the top of the box office rankings in North American film history are the Hunger Games series, or, in addition, the Twilight Saga series.

These two sets of works are both adapted from youth novels. The former is copyrighted by Lionsgate Films, while the latter is produced by Summit Entertainment. Both started as independent distribution companies and transformed into production companies. A template for a place. Later, Lionsgate Pictures acquired Summit Entertainment and merged the two into one, hoping to increase their competitiveness in North America. It is undeniable that the great success of The Hunger Games has indeed given Lionsgate the dawn of a breakthrough.

Objectively speaking, these two series of works are very in line with Lance's current requirements. First, the copyright is easy to obtain; second, it is not difficult to shoot; third, the box office results are strong. Hovering around 300 million, the lowest score of The Hunger Games is 280 million from the fourth part of the series, and Twilight is 280 million from the third part of the series, but the Hunger Games The highest performance was even better, and the second part of the series reached as much as 420 million.

Last but not least, the timing was right, The Twilight Saga hit the scene in 2008, and The Hunger Games came out a bit later, in 2012. The upsurge of adaptations of youth works has not risen yet, but since comic-adapted movies have gradually entered the market, the box office potential of teenagers is being tapped. Lance has adapted two series of works in advance. The chance of success is definitely not small, and may even make history. .

What's more, both sets of works are series of novels, adapting the first one and the next two. This is like a cash cow, as long as a good start is made, the follow-up problems will be solved easily.

In terms of quality, the second part of The Hunger Games has been widely praised and won the approval of film critics, but Twilight is pure idol movie, and it is more and more courageous in the midst of criticism , the word of mouth is terrible, the enthusiasm of fans is undiminished, and the box office is staggering. However, what Lance needs now is not word-of-mouth, but box office. Both series of works can become the current life-saving straw of Chaos Films.

After careful consideration, Lance began to act, but soon he couldn't laugh or cry. He was very thoughtful, but he forgot the most important point: if the original novel has not been published, how can there be an adaptation?

The Hunger Games was published in 2008 and has no shadow at all now; the first part of the Twilight Saga series was published in 2005, but it has only been on the market for more than a month now. Fan enthusiasm is crucial for a film adaptation of a young adult novel. No matter how bad the quality of the finished product of Twilight is, those fanatical fans will still not hesitate to support it. They are the fundamental source of box office. But now the first part of Twilight has just been released, it has not spread at all, and the sales performance has just improved, which also means that the fan base has not had time to build up. so……

So even if Chaos Films adapted the first part of Twilight, the box office cannot reach the height of the previous life.

Apart from laughing and crying, I was also a little frustrated. There are countless suitable works, but most of them are adaptations of comics, and the copyright of the adaptations cannot be obtained at all; or they are not in line with the current timing at all, and cannot get a response from the market.

After calming down again, Lance considered several other candidate works, such as American Sniper, Inception, Gravity, The Hangover, etc., but they were all rejected one by one.

The prototype of American Sniper is still in Iraq, and the biography has not yet come out. Even if you want to adapt it, there is no object; the copyright of Inception is in the hands of Christopher Nolan, who has been preparing for this project since 2000 , and he signed an agreement with Warner Bros. for three works. Warner Bros.'s attitude is obvious, so hope is also cut off; The problem of weightlessness and creating space is the core issue of the film, and it is also an important magic weapon for the success of the film. Such technology did not mature until 2012.

In this way, The Hangover is the best choice for Chaos Films. There is no problem with the copyright. The investment of 35 million yuan actually won the North American box office of 277 million. series trilogy, but also touted Bradley-Cooper (Bradley-Cooper); when it comes to timing, comedy movies always have a place, often able to achieve small and big feats in the summer file, It's also Universal's forte. But here's the thing...it's a comedy, and Lance's worst kind of comedy!

Lance couldn't help but feel a little headache. As we all know, the most important thing in comedy is the lines. Although The Hangover is based on the plot, the charm of the lines is very important. Therefore, it is estimated that it will be difficult to create a Hangover script. Will be bigger than City of God.

Many difficulties seem to be unable to clear the fog at all, and the possibility of completing the Jedi counterattack is becoming smaller and smaller. Could it be hangover? Chaos Films is about to achieve an incredible victory with a small investment of 35 million?