Five Hundred and Ninety-Two-For the Market

Wayne's attitude towards the fledgling Netflix is ​​actually doubtful. He is not sure whether now is a better time to take action. After all, the original Netflix president still took advantage of the situation after getting a bad start in Hollywood. The set of patterns is made.

"Boss, I think that investing in this video rental website that you have me staring at is not as good as investing in IMDB which has market prospects."

After leaving the lounge, the two did not stay at the party. They said hello to Jeff Robinoff and the busy Peter Jackson. They quietly avoided the media and left the hotel on their way back to the manor. , Nina still couldn't help but whispered a word of advice.

Judging from Reed Hastings's narrative, this is obviously another Internet company that sells concepts. This method of using a concept to attract investment and expand the pie is also a unique skill of the technology elites in Silicon Valley.

"Let's talk to him slowly first. It's certain to invest in his company, but I'm still a little unsure about the timing of the investment." Wayne responded with a frown while smoking a cigarette silently, looking at the night scene of the street that was receding outside the car window. One sentence.

What he is most worried about now is whether he took action from the very beginning and gave the other party the funds needed for development, as well as more importantly, the platform resources of Warner Bros., a film and television giant, whether this would let the future streaming media overlord , changing its original process, and unpredictable situations occur during the development process.

On the contrary, he has not given up his intention to join Netflix at all. Outside the film industry, he is sure that there are not many opportunities for him to ride on. He cannot easily give up on such a streaming media giant with a future market value of more than 300 billion US dollars.

And as long as there are no big surprises, after Netflix successfully develops, it can also become the most beneficial channel supplement for Warner Bros. Of course, these things will take many years to develop, but it cannot be denied that this is a company that will develop from another A company that can compete with the Big Six on the road.

"My suggestion is that it's best not to be the first investor now. We'll wait and see."

After confirming what her boss meant, Nina immediately changed her way of thinking and began to weigh the gains and losses from Wayne's perspective. "The Reed-Hastings model, no matter how it is packaged, still cannot be separated from the scope of an Internet company. In the early stages of an Internet company's startup, it is simply burning money in exchange for development. As long as you think about it, Greenberg's work The next projects in the room will require large sums of money.”

"Let's do this for now."

This time Wayne would be willing to stay at the cocktail party after the media meeting, just because he wanted to take the initiative to meet the legendary founder of Netflix. But what Reed Hastings didn't expect was that this would be between them. Last time we met in a short time.

"The Romance of Fairy Wood"

Not two days after the conference ended, the tech tycoon collected relevant information and wanted to meet and talk with Wayne again, but every time he answered the phone and talked about these things, it was basically Nina who was doing it. , the answer is always that Mr. Greenberg is busy at work.

Reed Hasting had an obvious feeling that the young Hollywood boss was indeed interested in his company, but he had always been hesitant. If you keep in touch and ask about the company's development from time to time, it proves that the other person's eyes are always on you and never leave.

In fact, his need for funds is not the first priority. If he wants to attract investment, there are a lot of opportunities on Wall Street. Today, the market is full of myths about how to create wealth through the Internet. Wall Street is never short of people who are willing to pay for a story or a concept. people.

What Reed Hastings values ​​more is actually Wayne's status as the major shareholder of Warner Bros. If the new Netflix can be promoted by a platform as big as Warner Bros., the situation it will get will be completely different. What's more, the moment he met Wayne, he was already thinking about Warner Brothers' huge film library.

Time is advancing slowly. With the arrival of September, the most popular annual summer season in North America has ended amidst the media disturbances. The North American cinema market has once again returned to a stable period, ending every weekend. Later, at least two large-investment films were released together.

The preparations for "The Flash" are proceeding in an orderly manner. Most of Wayne's energy has been put here for a while. As the preparations for "The Flash" come to an end, he has also slowed down the work in hand. , turning more attention to the upcoming trip to the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

"Wayne, I have carefully read the script you constructed for "The Flash", and I have also read the previous DC series you shot more than once."

With assistant directors Gilmour and Sofia Coppola, Wayne walked around the studio that was about to be built. During the preparations for the crew, Joe Kubert, the father of DC, who has always maintained a low-key and transparent image , came to him quietly and said: "I don't have any good suggestions for the DC movie series, but I found that except for the absolute protagonist, the abilities of other DC comic characters are not displayed much in the movie... "

Without stopping, Wayne nodded silently as he looked at the studio that was about to be completed. He turned to look at Joe Kubert. He knew exactly what he meant. Many characters in DC comics were created by this old man. Created, I definitely hope that each one can shine on the big screen.

"Qiao, comics and movies are two different media after all. A movie is only so long. We can't give too many shots to small characters. All development can only be carried out around the protagonist."

Several people slowly walked out of the studio, and Wayne slowly explained the difference between the two to the father of DC superheroes. "Moreover, Joe, for DC superhero movies, we are still in the basic stage of laying the foundation. The first thing we have to ensure is to leave a deep enough impression on the protagonist as the protagonist. As for the minor characters who also have abilities, we will wait until If the DC Universe is successfully constructed, it will naturally be gradually shown on the big screen."

"Your plan is too huge and the timeline is too long."

Joe Kubert smiled, reached out and patted Wayne's arm, and sighed: "I don't know if I can still see the DC Justice League appear on the big screen and assemble, or if I can see the Justice League becoming popular. Globally, my health has gotten worse and worse in the past two years.”

As the creator of most well-known heroes in DC comics, Joe Kubert certainly hopes that more and more heroes will be brought to the big screen, and he also hopes to see the Justice League described by Wayne.

"Yes, you will see it soon."

After taking a deep look at the father of DC superheroes beside him, Wayne took the lead and walked into the preparatory studio. He knew that the reason why this old guy said this and was willing to come to the crew to participate in the preparations was purely because he liked it, and there was no other interest involved.

You know, Joe Kubert is completely different from the Stan Lee, the father of Marvel, who he remembers. According to the contract, Stan Lee can get every movie, TV series, animation, etc. produced by Marvel. Receive a large sum of character copyright shares.

This part of the income is very objective. He still remembers that there were media reports that Stan Lee was able to collect more than 8% of the profits from every Marvel movie. Putting aside other things, just talking about "Avengers" "How much of that terrifying box office can he get?

But everyone knows what kind of ethics the Hollywood Film Company has. When Marvel movies began to become a big method that swept the world, Stan Lee also fell out with the company. The reason was nothing more than the issue of profit distribution. In the end, the matter went to court, but the matter was not resolved satisfactorily.

But there is no similar copyright contract between Joe Kubert and DC Comics or Warner Bros. The usually unknown father of DC superheroes does all this out of pure love.

"Boss, look at this."

As soon as they entered the studio, props supervisor Wicks Hart and Industrial Light & Magic head Brooks Carter were holding a set of Flash suits and waving to Wayne and others.

Industrial Light and Magic has been Wayne's partner since his movies required a lot of special effects. The team led by Brooks Carter will directly join in whenever he starts preparations for a new project, and the same situation happened this time.

Although more computer special effects technology will be used in this film, in his vision, computer special effects technology combined with realistic prop modeling is the most reliable method in this era, and Industrial Light and Magic is also good at it. at this point.

"According to the sketch you designed, this is the last version of the Flash suit." Wicks-Hart clapped the suit in his hand. "I've had James Franco try it out and there's no problem at all."

Not just the one in his hand, there were three similar ones hanging on the prop rack behind them. Compared with the earliest ones that were more in line with the settings in comics, the ones they now produce have a more technological feel. At first glance, they look much bloated compared to the original version.

The overall color tone is still mainly dark red, and two lightning intertwined logos are specially added on the chest. More importantly, the helmet of the suit has a more futuristic sense of technology than other parts. The overall look looks more like a metallic suit than a suit.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Will there be any resistance from comic fans?"

Assistant Director Gilmore reached out and touched the suit. It looked like these things were very metallic, but when you touched it, you found that the entire suit was still within the scope of a prop and was actually much lighter than metal. "The current version has completely deviated from the comic setting."

"Well done."

Wayne nodded to Wicks Hart and Brooks Carter. He carefully touched several finished products and looked at them with satisfaction. These uniforms, at least on the surface, seemed to be very well-made and completely It was like a technological product from the future, completely in line with his vision.

"To a certain extent, Gilmore, our film doesn't need to appeal to comic book fans."

After confirming the version of the suit needed for filming, Wayne was obviously in a very good mood, and he didn't pay attention to the assistant director's worries at all. Turning to look at Brooks Carter of Industrial Light and Magic, he asked, "How much does it cost to make just one suit like this?"

"If it is made by hand as a single piece, the cost of this set will exceed US$5,500. Please note that this fee does not include labor costs."

Due to the requirements for excellence in props during filming, these movie props must be made perfect during the production process. The actors' feelings after wearing them, the impact of their movements, etc. must also be taken into consideration. The cost is basically impossible to be low.

However, after Brooks Carter finished speaking, he thought for a while and then said: "But if some of the expensive materials are replaced, from hand-made to mechanical assembly line processing, and finally assembled, the cost can be reduced to 1,800." Below a dollar, maybe even less, you know, it depends on the scale of production.”

"ok, no problem."

Wayne nodded with satisfaction, turned around and led a few people towards the director's office. The few pieces required for filming under the movie lens fully meet his requirements. What he is more concerned about now is actually the cost of mass production of this suit.

You know, he is not just a simple movie director. As a shareholder of Warner Bros., this is naturally determined by his position.

With the popularity of "The Dark Knight", the best-selling peripheral props were unexpectedly the complete set of one-to-one Batman armor. Based on this, as early as the preparations for "The Flash" began, Charles Rowan Conveyed request from Warner Bros. executives.

It is foreseeable that as long as there are no big surprises, The Flash is destined to once again arouse the carnival of DC fans after it is released in the summer next year, and the Flash suit that appears in the movie will inevitably become a sought-after item among fans again. object.

Warner Bros.’s strategy this time is very clear. After the film is released, the Flash suit will be the focus of operations around the movie. With the previous example of the hot sales of Batman suit, Warner Bros. is confident that the price of this set is destined to not be high. The battle uniforms that are friendly to the people have once again become the focus of movie peripheral sales.

After the issue of the suit was determined, the preparations for "The Flash" were gradually coming to an end. After a meeting with the core team members, Wayne immediately announced that the crew would be disbanded and take a one-week vacation. A week later, the film officially started filming. Work.

The day after the crew disbanded, he took Nina and Sergey with him, boarded a Warner Bros. charter plane, and set off to the country on the other side of the Pacific in a low-key manner. Facing the prospect of returning to the land that appeared in his dreams for the first time in so many years, Wayne's mood was also very complicated.

For "The Dark Knight", which has been progressively canceled in most theater markets around the world, his main purpose this time was to attend the film's premiere there and to prepare for Warner Bros.' subsequent release. film to lay the foundation.

In North America, the box office of this film has slowed down significantly since August. Regardless of the scale of screenings or the number of screenings, it has withdrawn from mainstream attention in the theater market. From August to early September, the total box office in North America has accumulated to 5.58 US dollars.

The overseas box office trend of this film has always been higher than the North American box office. Today, it has fallen from the middle range in most theater markets around the world. However, the overseas box office has also reached 630 million U.S. dollars, and the global total box office has accumulated 1.1888 billion U.S. dollars. One hundred million U.S. dollars.

As for whether this film can exceed US$1.2 billion before it is completely shut down globally, no one can say clearly now, but Warner Bros. has high hopes for Wayne's trip. "The Dark Knight" has not yet been released in that market. Considering its terrifying population base, there is no reason why Warner Bros. should not be optimistic about it.