The Goddess Shines on America

The new film shooting plan was immediately established. Since Alice's proposal was made before going to Hong Kong, she had already brought the ready-made script with her before arriving at the company in Lawrence's car. . Also brought along is a list of "suggested" recruited actors, director screening, main shooting locations, budgets required for various projects, and countless other things that require post-production work to gradually take shape.

"Tim Burton, this is indeed a very good director." Lawrence sighed: "I know him, he is a native of Burbank, he is just 30 years old this year, it can be said that he grew up influenced by Hollywood Yes. But even though he has directed three or two movies, can he handle such an important subject as Batman?"

It was "Batman" to be filmed, which really surprised Lawrence. Everyone knows how wonderful DC comics are, and the image of Batman has absolutely penetrated into the hearts of contemporary American people in the fifty years since its birth. There is no doubt that just relying on this subject matter, the movie is guaranteed not to lose money, and it can make a lot of money if it is a little better.

But because of that, shouldn't it be a better director?

Alice immediately gave the answer: "The theme comes from DC comics, and I wrote the script myself. The fictional Gotham City can also be moved to the UK to shoot directly. By the way, let me play a guest role as the special effects team leader or something. He This director...hehe, Uncle Roger, do you think there is any need to worry too much?"

It makes sense, Lawrence really knows Tim Burton, and at least he has been a venture capitalist in the literary and art circles for more than ten years. He can even be said to be deeply impressed by this kid who "back then" was just showing his talents.

Tim Burton had no friends since he was a child, and his academic performance was not good. He didn't do a good job, but he liked painting and watching movies. After studying at the California Institute of the Arts and receiving a scholarship sponsored by Disney for young animators, he began to formally study and engage in animation work.

As early as 1981, he directed the first cartoon short film "Vincent", and later participated in the shooting of the feature short film "Little Frankenstein" as the second director, which is based on Frankenstein. A 29-minute live-action short film adapted from the legend. So three years later, in 1985, he finally had the opportunity to direct his first feature-length feature film, "The Adventures of Ridiculous Little Bastards", which was produced by Warner Bros. Lawrence could even open his mouth to bring it up.

Thinking about it this way, Lawrence immediately realized that it was really an appropriate choice for Alice to ask this young man to shoot "Batman". Cartoons, Frankenstein films, and then feature films are also exaggerated movies like "The Adventures of Ridiculous Little Bastards". If it is sorted out like this, and then continued with "Batman", wouldn't it be logical?

"He has a movie coming out right now," Lawrence said, thinking about the situation in the industry for a moment: "Beetlejuice, released by AVH, will be released on March 29. It tells the story of a couple who just died in an accident and became A young couple who became ghosts hired an exorcist from the underworld to try to scare away the new occupants of the house..."

"That's not important," Alice said, waving her hand, "Since "The Adventures of Ridiculous Little Bastards", Burton has been a box office guaranteed director. And I assure you, Uncle Roger, I have done some research , no one is writing a Batman-themed script at the moment, and Burton is also racking his brains for his next film. It is definitely the most appropriate time for us to hire him at this time."

Once the director confirms, half of the matter can be settled, because more matters can obviously not be discussed until the director arrives. And the most critical part of this is the selection of actors.

"Since it's "Batman", the villain..." Looking at the script that Alice took out from the bag, Lawrence laughed clearly: "It is indeed very suitable for Jack Nicholson to play the role of the Joker. Not to mention the early years of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", the mentally disturbed father he played in "The Shining" is already equivalent to playing a similar role. Guys like clowns..."

Of course, Lawrence has read DC comics, and the famous subject of Batman is even more indispensable. There is no reason why he doesn't know the clown. A typical psychopath, lunatic, "acquired" albino and undeniably super-genius, only to turn his talents to crime.

However, he is also a charming villain. In Wizard Magazine, the Joker was ranked number one in the 100 villains recognized by the most iconic and popular media, and he was also listed in number two on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Villains. In Empire Magazine's "Greatest Comic Book Characters in History" ranking, the Joker is ranked eighth, and he is also the highest-ranked secondary/villain character. Bundle.

"Since you want Jack Nicholson to play..." Lawrence stared at the script, thinking about Alice's thoughts: "Do you want to shoot the entire "Batman" as a series?"

"If the box office can be guaranteed, why not do it?" Talking about something that will inevitably come true, Alice said with a smile: "Our DreamWorks should also have a series of famous works. Since it is called DreamWorks, then Batman Isn’t this kind of theme just right?”

"But the copyright fee will be very expensive," Lawrence reminded: "DC Comics is an industry owned by Warner. It was okay before it was acquired in 1969. After that, its comics were all adapted by Time Warner. It will definitely cost us a lot of money for the company to let go of this top-notch theme."

This is indeed a troublesome problem, but since Alice was able to buy the entire film copyright from Fox for the filming of "Alien 2", naturally she will not be blocked by the copyright of "Batman". Without even thinking about it, she waved her hand extremely calmly and said, "Then buy it!"

"Not to buy Batman's copyright, but to buy the entire DC comics!"

Just kidding, is she a poor person now! ?

Just kidding, is the total value of DC comics so high that it's scary! ?

But this arrogant speech made Lawrence almost choke on his own saliva: "Acquire DC Comics? From Warner?"

"Don't worry, Uncle Roger, I will pay for this money." Of course, knowing what the most important issue is, Alice said quite calmly: "Even if the entire American comic world is monopolized by DC and Marvel , but it is just a comic company after all, and the price is astonishing 500 million, can I still afford it!?"

Just kidding, Alice is a person who "comes over". Don't you know how much influence these comic companies have on the film and television industry? Compared with the benefits and influence these themes will bring, the purchase price is nothing at all.

Because with the advent of the 21st century, relying on the rapid development of computer technology, it is finally possible to truly express superheroes in movies, and the time for comic adaptation is finally ripe. Marvel comics can be said to be the pioneers in this field. Those superheroes who have published comics for decades have rushed out like prostate patients who have been urinating for decades!

But for a long time, Marvel comics have only been selling copyrights. The series of movies with a global box office total of billions and billions can only bring more than 100 million in revenue to the company. This super unbalanced situation, It had to go on the road of self-made superhero blockbusters, and ambitiously launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe Project,

Therefore, long before this project started, that is, before it was acquired by Disney, Marvel's themes had already been filmed in a large number of superhero movies. Not to mention the old versions of "Captain America" ​​and "Hulk", the "Blade Warrior" in 1998 alone is a typical boutique, and then the X-Men and Batman trilogy, and even the Fantastic Four and the evil spirit Cavaliers are even more amazing things. Marvel's superheroes have contributed a lot to Hollywood's cultural invasion of the world after the 21st century.

But it is these excellent movies that continue to increase the value of Marvel, so that when Disney wants to acquire it, it has to pay as much as four billion...

Of course, this is also related to the comprehensive price in 2008. But in any case, it is only 1988 now, if Alice wants to buy the entire Marvel comics company, it will not cost much at all.

To be reasonable, the entire set of "Spider-Man" trilogy plus "X-Men" trilogy only brought the company a copyright fee of 100 million yuan, which is the cumulative result up to 2007. As far as the current annual profit of this comic company is concerned, the purchase price of 500 million yuan that Alice just said is a bit too much for her!

Oh sure, it's Marvel, but apparently that's what DC Comics is for.

And of course, of course, there is still a difference between a complete acquisition and a holding, and this can be done slowly~

"Oh my god, my god, my god..." Lawrence never imagined in his heart that he just wanted to chat with Alice about the new movie, how could it involve the acquisition of DC A super-generous manga like comics?

The purchase price of 500 million...

Lawrence asked himself, in the three or two years since DreamWorks was founded, has the total global box office of its films reached this figure?

Oh, if you count the big heads of "Ghost Story" and "Alien 2", it seems barely enough?

Of course, Lawrence remembered how popular this sci-fi movie involving Alice was, so since she was going to target Batman with a lot of fanfare, and even the entire DC comics...

"I'll contact them right away," he said decisively, "I haven't been back to New York for some days, Alice, will you come with me?"

Alice snorted, noncommittal, just reading the script of "Dragon Brothers and Mice Brothers", but Lawrence already knew what she was thinking.