Seven Hundred and Thirteen - Unnecessary War.

If DreamWorks wants to develop, it is naturally inseparable from various projects, not only projects invested and produced by itself, but also co-invested with other companies.

Projects with the Wayne Greenberg label have been regarded by insiders as a guarantee of success. From "The Departed" back then to "Charlie's Angels" and "The Matrix" this year, Greenberg has so far Projects invested and produced by Ge Studio have a 100% success rate.

"A friend inside Warner Bros. told me that Zack Snyder had an opportunity to get the director of Superman, but for some reason he passed up."

Speaking of Warner Bros., Jeffrey Katzenberg shook his head slightly and said casually while holding a glass of wine. As we all know, there are no secrets in Hollywood. After Wayne submitted the project plan for "Superman" and "Wonder Woman", similar gossip began to spread wildly in the industry.

As the former head of Disney's animation department, Jeffrey Katzenberg has been in the industry for decades and has no shortage of channels to learn about relevant news.

The DC superhero project has always been the focus of all companies. Basically, every move made by Warner Bros. will be observed and analyzed under the microscope by the film companies in the industry.

"Everyone says Zack Snyder is a genius, especially with the success of the 'Matrix' trilogy, the media and insiders are almost praising him to the sky." George Lucas heard the news , did not feel the slightest surprise, but curled his lips and said unceremoniously:

"What a great opportunity it is to be in charge of a top-level project like "Superman"? But he chose to focus on stability and gradually improve his status."

There is no way, human nature is like this. When you have nothing, you are absolutely not afraid to risk everything for a chance to succeed. But once you achieve a small amount of success, most people will lose the courage to risk everything and try their best to give it a try.

"Do you know what the difference is between Zack Snyder and Wayne?" George Lucas shrugged and continued unceremoniously: "He doesn't have the kind of madness hidden in Wayne at all! A person should never Excessive introspection, rationality, and thoroughness are only effective when making small decisions.

As for life-changing things, you have to take risks and fight for them. Success with extraordinary significance is always accompanied by various coincidences. Only things that are unimportant and won't change your life require careful planning. "

There is no doubt that George Lucas admired Wayne entirely because he saw something in him. It just so happens that a similar temperament also exists in the father of Star Wars.

The filming of "Star Wars" back then can be said to have been carried out when all of North America was not optimistic about it. George Lucas put everything on the line to create the world's largest IP.

"I Have a Picture Book of Ghosts and Gods"

"George, you can't expect everyone to be a genius like you and Wayne." He smiled and clinked his wine glass with his old friend, and Steven Spielberg raised his head and took a sip of red wine.

But before he could swallow a sip of wine, the good Jewish man seemed to have thought of something, and immediately turned his head, looked at his old friend seriously, and asked: "No, George, why do you care about the DC series of movies? This... .”

"Damn it, that crazy Wayne movie has become a regular program at the beginning of the summer season every May!" Without any embarrassment at being exposed, George Lucas tilted his head towards the two of them and said angrily. :

"All work on the new Star Wars is about to be completed. The preliminary distribution plan given by 20th Century Fox proposes to schedule "Star Wars" until mid-May!"

As soon as the father of Star Wars finished speaking, Jeffrey Katzenberg reacted instantly and his eyes widened in disbelief. "Shit, 20th Century Fox's idea is not to use "Star Wars" to trick Warner Brothers, right?"

"I don't think so." Steven Spielberg was still calm. He thought about it for a moment and said, "The relationship between 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. is pretty good, and the cooperation between them and Wayne , and it went quite happily.”

Jeffrey Katzenberg didn't have a good impression of the Big Six and blurted it out immediately. "Don't be stupid, Steven. As long as there are interests involved among the six major Hollywood companies, they all want other companies to die together!"

"It's not that easy to use "Star Wars" as a knife."

George Lucas said while sipping red wine: "I will communicate with 20th Century Fox, and then bring in the executives of 20th Century Fox to communicate with Warner Bros. DC Super Heroes Collide "Star Wars" , as long as you are a normal person, you will know that this is a war with no winner, and there is no need to compete with each other."

"I'll go back and help you make an appointment with Bruce Rosenblum." Steven Spielberg nodded. "You're right, this was a meaningless collision."

Mentioning this, the good Jewish man felt uncomfortable in his heart. , "Jurassic Park 2" directed by him encountered a similar situation.

At that time, Universal Pictures was extremely ambitious. Even in the face of opposition from major creative staff such as Steven Spielberg, it still insisted on attacking Warner Brothers. But what was the final result? Encountered a more perverted competitor in "The Dark Knight".

To put it bluntly, if Universal Pictures hadn't insisted on having its own way back then, the box office of "Jurassic Park 2" would have definitely been higher than it is now if the schedule of "The Dark Knight" had been staggered. At least 100 million US dollars more!

Even this unexpected collision was hyped by the media as a battle to hand over the reins of Hollywood Jewish directors, old and new.

"George, if I were you, look forward to 20th Century Fox now and don't be burned out by the success of "X-Men."" Jeffrey Katzenberg looked at the father of Star Wars and teased with a smile One sentence.

"If they don't wake up, then I'll help them wake up!"

George Lucas waved his hand and muttered something pointedly.

That's right, for projects invested and produced by Lucasfilm, the long-term distributor is 20th Century Fox. There is a special historical reason for this. In the early years, when George Lucas was holding the film of "Star Wars" and the major Hollywood film companies were running into obstacles, it was 20th Century Fox that gave "Star Wars" the opportunity to debut in North America. Chance.

This also involves some copyright issues. For example, part of the copyright of the first "Star Wars" is held by 20th Century Fox.

But today's George Lucas is no longer the nobody in the 1970s. He is the richest man in Hollywood. Even if he cannot break the contract to change the publisher of "Star Wars", he still has a decisive say in the release time of the new "Star Wars".

In fact, in the heart of the father of Star Wars, he quite agrees with the preliminary release plan given by 20th Century Fox. "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" was released in mid-May, the beginning of the summer season, and it really can't be faulted.

But in recent years, Wayne has directly occupied this schedule. Nowadays, major Hollywood film companies have gradually become accustomed to keeping their top summer projects as far away from this prime time period as possible, even if they are placed in There will be more crowded releases in July and August, and I instinctively want to stay away from that dark madman.

The reason for the trouble is not that George Lucas, like other studios, is afraid of competing with Wayne, who has never failed.

The father of Star Wars can bluntly say that he is not afraid of anyone in the North American theater market, and "Star Wars" is not afraid of challenges from any opponents.

But as he said himself, there was absolutely no need to do this when two huge IPs collided. We are no longer children, and there is no need to compete for merit. Such a meaningless collision will only lead to a lose-lose situation.

You know, "Star Wars" is completely different from Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park 2". This movie naturally has common attributes with the DC series of superhero movies, which means There will be a large number of overlapping groups of movie fans. Once they collide, there is no hope that movie fans will be diverted by the type of movie.

George Lucas sighed. "At least on "Saving Private Ryan," Warner Bros. did a good job. If it wasn't tied up by the damn copyright, I would really..."

"George!" Steven Spielberg shook his head, indicating that he had better not think too much.

When it comes to "Saving Private Ryan", the Hollywood good guys not only don't show a smile, but also frown deeply.

Of course, he is not dissatisfied with Warner Bros.'s distribution performance. On the contrary, at least on the project of "Saving Private Ryan", Warner Bros. did a really good job. Since the film was released, the North American box office has reached 207 million US dollars, and the global box office has reached 469 million US dollars!

To put it another way, if this film were distributed by other film companies, the results would definitely not be as good as they are now. This is related to Warner Bros.'s increasingly improved distribution channels in the past two years, and also to its growing promotion scale. Objectively speaking, Warner Bros.'s distribution department may be second only to Walt Disney in today's Hollywood.

The reason that made him frown was DreamWorks.

"DreamWorks needs to build its own distribution system as soon as possible, otherwise in the long run, DreamWorks will definitely become Warner Bros.'s content producer, and even be regarded as Warner Bros.'s second film and television production department!" Jeffrey Katzenberg Shrugging, he explained to George Lucas.

"That's right." Steven Spielberg nodded. "At least we must first improve the distribution channels in North America."

For next year, DreamWorks will invest in and produce about four to five projects. Now the three giants have begun internal meetings, hoping to leave one or two films behind and hand them over to DreamWorks' own distribution department for operation.

This day will come sooner or later, and this is why the Big Three chose to rely on Warner Bros., at least Warner Bros. happily promised that it can terminate the long-term distribution contract at any time after DreamWorks has its own distribution channel.

When talking about the issue of distribution, George Lucas didn't bother to put down his wine glass, slapped the bar in front of him with one hand, turned to look at his old friend seriously and said: "Listen, Steven, I'll give you a suggestion. It should be of great use to DreamWorks.”

"suggestion?"

"What?"

Facing the confused looks of the two giants, the father of Star Wars said directly: "If I were you, I would definitely set up an Internet marketing department, just like the Internet department under Warner Bros. Distribution Department."

Even though Lucasfilm didn't do that, George Lucas had a very keen business sense. If Lucasfilm hadn't been involved in distribution, he would have set up his own online marketing department long ago.

"The current global box office of "X-Men" is about to reach the threshold of 400 million US dollars. The media is singing its praises crazily, and 20th Century Fox is desperately increasing its promotion and marketing. But everyone has ignored that one of the DC superheroes So every time the results are so good, there is a group of amazing soldiers controlling the thoughts and public opinions of young people in North America hidden behind them!"

Talking about this, George Lucas lost all the fun on his face and looked at his two old friends seriously. "If 20th Century Fox had the same say in online marketing as Warner Bros., the box office performance of "X-Men" would never be what it is now!"

Recalling every one of Wayne's films released in recent years, Steven Spielberg stared at the wine glass in his hand, thinking of various online marketing methods, and sighed involuntarily. "Yes, the "water army" department under Warner Bros.'s distribution department has indeed played a huge role."

Jeffrey Katzenberg also nodded. "The Internet represents the future..."

The Internet represents the future. This sentence has been shouted down in North America a few years ago. However, the only company that really uses the Internet to promote and market movies on a large scale is Warner Brothers.

The reason why such a scene occurs is related to the tradition and conservatism of major Hollywood film companies, and also because everyone is still in the exploratory stage.

"Almost every new Wayne film will lead to widespread discussion on the Internet." Steven Spielberg raised his head and took a sip of red wine, fully agreeing with his old friend's point of view.

"This is just like his first release of a new film trailer at the Super Bowl halftime commercial show. Wayne has never been a director who only knows how to immerse himself in filming. In fact, his marketing methods are richer than anyone else!"

"Steven, we must also have our own network department." Jeffrey Katzenberg took a deep breath and said seriously: "That kid Wayne not only changed black films into the mainstream, but also Constantly promoting the Hollywood movie marketing model..."

Compared with George Lucas and others who are still relatively idle, Wayne, the protagonist discussed by several big bosses in Glendale DreamWorks, is so busy during this time that he wants to fly.

After the scripts and project plans for "Superman" and "Wonder Woman" were submitted to Warner Bros., he immediately started working on the new project of Greenberg Studio under Nina's arrangement, and in front of him, the first The first is "Quick Chase" tailor-made for Li Guohao.

Compared with before the trilogy of "The Matrix", Li Guohao at this time has become a big star resounding in North America. Although he still cannot reach the first-line celebrity position, after "The Return of the Clown", "The Matrix" "After the trilogy, his status in the circle has also risen rapidly.

Especially as the absolute protagonist of the "The Matrix" trilogy, he was completely accepted by the mainstream audience. This has always been the case in Hollywood. Even his Chinese descent, which had been discriminated against before, was completely ignored by everyone at this time. .

As for the project "John Wick", naturally we can no longer sign a cheap starring contract with him like in "The Matrix".

However, there was no point of contention in the negotiations between the two parties. Li Guohao happily signed his name on the three-film contract. For the first movie under this contract, which is "John Wick", which has already begun production preparations, his salary does not involve post-production sharing, and he will only receive US$9 million in line with his net worth.

For his current celebrity status, this figure is basically in line with the market price. As for other subsequent projects, everything will depend on the market performance of "John Wick".

As for the film's director, upon the recommendation of Warner Bros., Wayne chose Wolfgang Peterson without hesitation. Even though this German director is not well-known, he is well received in the industry. His previous films "The Wire" and "Air Force One" are both excellent.

"John Wick" has a total investment of US$25 million. Like the previous "The Matrix", Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studios jointly invested in the production. Contrary to outside speculation, this film is not actually a big production. You must know that even the original film in Wayne's memory only cost $20 million.

Along with Warner Bros. investment, there was also a Warner Bros. producer who paid into the third-party insurance company's account. Wayne had no choice in this regard. After all, his Greenberg Studio was strictly speaking a shell company. There is no talent in this area.

He didn't have the energy to pay too much attention. The crew of "John Wick" started preparations in a low-key manner. Later, he made an appointment with David Lynch through Bruce Rosenblum's relationship.

However, Wayne's plan fell through this time. David Lynch had already started producing "The Story of Mr. Street" and politely declined his invitation.

And just when he was having a headache about choosing a director, Warner Bros. once again came to the rescue. Roland Emmerich, who had just stumbled in "Godzilla", accepted Warner Bros.'s invitation without hesitation and would serve as director. The director of the "King Kong" project.

"What did Wayne say?"

On a Monday in late September, before a regular executive meeting began in a large conference room at Warner Bros., Jeff Robinoff asked Bruce Rosenblum in a low voice.

"He has no problem with Roland Emmerich."

In the large conference room, more and more executives and shareholder representatives entered. Bruce Rosenblum sped up his speech and replied: "It's just that we should be more cautious. Roland Emmerich just said I messed up a big project worth hundreds of millions of dollars!"

Jeff Robinov shook his head slightly. "He fits this type. Is there a better candidate than him?"

"Right......"

There is no way, they cannot be cautious about the "King Kong" project. This project is completely different from "John Wick". The production cost is as high as 1. Not to mention Warner Bros., even if it is put in the entire Hollywood, it is a proper first-line major production.

In fact, faced with such a high investment, Warner Bros. executives also hesitated when reviewing the project. However, when faced with agent Jimmy's words, "If Warner Bros. does not participate in the investment, Greenberg Studio will finance the filming itself." All high-level concerns were immediately dispelled.

The lesson of "Charlie's Angels" is at hand. You must know that Wayne also proposed to co-produce this film, but unfortunately Warner Brothers gave up the opportunity to make money.

Whenever hesitating, Jeff Robinoff and other senior executives would involuntarily think of the "Matrix" trilogy. This project, co-produced by Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studios, has achieved good box office results for three consecutive years.

Especially the movie peripheral products released simultaneously with the film are simply not the value that an R-rated film can create. Let's just talk about "The Matrix 3: The Matrix Revolutions". From its release to now, rough statistics of various types of movie peripheral products have shown that global sales have reached about 260 million US dollars.

The "Matrix" series, for Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studios, is like a stable money printing machine that keeps printing money every year!

"let us start."

At nine o'clock sharp, the large conference room was filled with Warner Bros. executives. Jeff Robinov didn't waste any time. He stretched out his hand and tapped lightly on the conference table, officially starting today's regular meeting.

The most important thing before everyone is undoubtedly the review of "Superman" and "Wonder Woman".

This is not the first time that these two projects have been discussed. Generally speaking, no one raised objections. However, many senior executives and shareholder representatives have considerable doubts about the scripts of the two movies.

"Jeff."

After the meeting officially started, a shareholder representative sitting not far from the CEO took the lead and said: "Everyone thinks that there is no room for discussion on "Superman" and "Wonder Woman", but as for the script timeline, I think , should we talk to Wayne again?"

Many of the executives present nodded involuntarily. No one doubted Wayne's ability. However, there were many different opinions among the executives regarding the timeline of the "Superman" and "Wonder Woman" scripts. The main contradiction is Wayne's consideration of the production order of the two movies.

If nothing unexpected happens, these two projects will be the final preparation before "Justice League". No one dares to be careless about these two projects.

As for there are still some different voices from the top, they only point to Zack Snyder sporadically. Some executives doubt his ability and think it is better to find a more experienced director, even if it is just to preside over the daily shooting.

"I want to remind you of something."

In fact, this was also a headache for Jeff Robinov. He simply stopped beating around the bush, looked around the people in the conference room, and said directly: "Even if Wayne is invited here, I'm afraid there won't be any changes to the script. , however, after the meeting, I will have a phone call with him to talk about the script again."

Could it be that if Wayne doesn't change the order of the script's timeline, Warner Bros. executives won't pass the review of "Superman" and "Wonder Woman"? Obviously Jeff Robinov has seen through this a long time ago. No matter how long it takes, the senior management will eventually pass it by pinching their noses.

It would be better to end the dispute as soon as possible and let the two projects start relevant preparation work as soon as possible.