Although "The Hulk" was given to Fox, Adriaan did not leave it alone, so he recommended Jos Weldon as the screenwriter and director of the film. Weldon may only have the producer label of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in the eyes of others, but Adriaan is very clear about his future achievements.
News Corporation and AC Media don't get along well with each other. That's a matter between the two media groups. Universal and Fox can cooperate in movies, so even though Adriaan gave "The Hulk" to Fox with a mischievous intention in the beginning, he still recommended Jos Weldon to them. It is precisely because of this that Fox agreed to his recommendation without hesitation. Director Miracle's vision is now almost a golden signboard.
As for the future "The Avengers", don't worry, Adriaan has a back-up plan in these aspects. Besides, even with Weldon joining, it is still a question whether "The Hulk" can sell well. The current Weldon may not be comparable to the Weldon a few years later. Of course, this is just the right time for Weldon to practice. Once he fails, it will be easier for him to take him under his command.
Speaking of which, regarding the idea of "The Avengers", Marvel has not come up with a specific outline until now. I really don't know what they are thinking. There is no copyright problem now. But then again, it is understandable that they are so cautious. After all, they have to consider all aspects of things. They can't just let any Superhero appear if they want. Moreover, the copyright of various characters is somewhat entangled. Marvel was too messy in order to make money in the 1970s and 1980s, so there will definitely not be such an easter egg at the end of Fox's "The Hulk".
However, fortunately, "Captain America" was not given to Disneyland. Adriaan later learned that the main storyline of the entire "The Avengers" came from Captain America. Not only did he know Howard Stark, but the Super Soldier Project in Hulk was also established because he wanted to re-develop the original serum. At the same time, Divine Realm was also drawn out by the Tesseract.
Moreover, Captain America is also an important character in the entire Avengers. His ability may not be as good as the others, but his leadership ability is excellent. In the comics, the soldiers of the Avengers are all created by him, and he is very good at maintaining the morale of the team members. In short, he is the role of a political commissar. Therefore, if they want to make a movie version of "The Avengers", the role of Captain America must not be given to anyone else. Of course, there is also Iron Man.
Iron Man didn't need to be taken out for the time being. His comic book image was destined to be different from other superheroes. He wouldn't be able to make much money if he was taken out too early. In a few years, when the audience was a little tired of the current superheroes, they would definitely receive a miraculous effect when they appeared on stage. Currently, the superheroes on the screen either hid their identities or were passively known. Tony Stark was the first to take the initiative to announce who he was.
This is one of the important reasons why "Iron Man" received great acclaim when it came out. You know, in Marvel Comics, Iron Man is much less popular than Spiderman and X-Men.
Well, let's not talk about this anymore. "The Hulk" is expected to be released during next year's summer vacation. At that time, we will know if Wei Deng can handle this character. So after saying a few more words to him, Adriaan then turned away. There were still a lot of big shots attending the premiere, such as Spielberg. Although he was preparing for his new movie and was building a huge airport interior in the studio, he still had time to spare, and Adriaan would also participate.
"I originally wanted to shoot at JFK Airport, but as you know, after 9/11, all the major airports were heavily guarded, so I had to give up. I had no choice but to build an airport in a studio. Arikos told me that it would take at least 20 weeks." Spielberg sighed helplessly, "In addition, I have to find a way to rent a plane, preferably a Boeing 747 … By the way, if your private plane is not available for the time being, can you lend it to me for two days? It won't take too long. "
"No problem, but you have to inform me in advance." Adriaan smiled, "Speaking of which, if you want to build a real airport, what about the shops inside?"
"Don't worry about that, I have already discussed it with them." Spielberg said in a relaxed tone, "They are all willing to come to this' airport 'to open a shop. Some of them plan to arrange for official staff to come over, and those that don't plan to arrange for extras to receive training. I can save a lot of investment."
As expected of a Jew. Adriaan was planning to sell him a favor, but he did not expect him to have already noticed it.
Spielberg's new movie was, of course, an adaptation of the personal experience of Mr. Mayan Karimi Naseri, who was stranded at Charles de Gaulle Airport. The male and female leads were still Tom Hanks and Kathryn Zeta-Jones. Because of this, Adriaan and Zeta-Jones had to temporarily suspend their plans. It would take several months for the airport in the studio to be built, and Zeta-Jones could not appear in front of the camera with a pregnant belly, could she?
This made Zeta-Jones a little uneasy. Her personality determined that when she made a decision, and there was not much interference, she should make it happen as soon as possible. But at the same time, she really wanted to work with Spielberg. After all, he was one of the top directors in Hollywood. Anyway, it seemed that Adriaan did not intend to direct a movie for her.
So just now, after chatting with the lead actors, Adriaan pulled her aside and comforted her, "Don't worry, I won't change what I promised, as long as you are willing. Besides, although this movie takes a lot of time to shoot, it will be very fast. I've read the script, and it's basically concentrated indoors, so you don't have to do this. "
Such a promise made Zeta-Jones relax somewhat. She even asked half-jokingly, "It's not like I haven't worn a flight attendant uniform for you before."
"That's different." Adriaan blinked, then, ignoring the gazes of others, whispered in her ear, "When the movie is out, maybe I can see the other side of the beautiful stewardess Amelia in front of the camera. It must be very exciting."
Zeta-Jones' face immediately turned red. She understood what Adriaan meant. Although she had not seen the adult version of "Shakespeare in Love" starring Gwyneth and him, she still knew that there was such a thing.
"Of course …" After teasing her, Adriaan smiled and said, "Before that, I hope that Dr. Jean Grey can take off her clothes in bed first."
Zeta Jones' Jean Grey, or Phoenix Girl, although she lacked a capable temperament and was more charming and moving, she was still very good overall. This was also a good role-playing theme.
"Just wait." Although Zeta-Jones' tone was noncommittal, both of them knew that the matter had been decided.
Alright, let's go back to Adriaan and Spielberg. He did not come to talk to him about his new movie.
"I've seen 'Sinbad' before. It's very good. My daughters also like it very much. But I have to say, Steven, the era of 2D animation, or at least 2D animated movies, is over." After talking about "Terminal Happiness", Adriaan quickly threw out the topic.
"I can see that too." Spielberg sighed. "But you know, Jeffrey has always wanted to …"
He made a few gestures and did not continue, but Adriaan knew what he meant. When Jeffrey Katzenberg was at Disneyland, he was very likely to take over as COO after Frank Wales's accidental death. However, Michael Eisner promoted someone else at the last minute. This made Katzenberg very angry, and he felt betrayed. So, he immediately ran away and founded DreamWorks with Spielberg and others.
As a result, surpassing Disneyland became Katzenberg's biggest wish. Of course, he also knew that as a new film company, it was impossible for DreamWorks to surpass Disneyland in all aspects. So, he chose to make a move in their proudest area. Yes, that was animation production.
Animation played a big role in the initial rise of Disneyland, and for a long time, it dominated most of the North American animation market and had a great impact on the animation industry. Several founders of Pixar Studios had worked at Disneyland, and Katzenberg was also in charge of animation. However, after Eisner took over Disneyland and transformed it into a qualified media group, the animation industry began to gradually lose importance. Even so, the animation studio still released the pinnacle of 2D animation in 1994, "The Lion King." Of course, Katzenberg always thought that he played an important role in it, so he could not stand Eisner looking down on him.
So, he single-handedly built DreamWorks Animation Studio and released a 2D animation like "The Prince of Egypt" and a 3D animation like "Shrek," which earned a lot of box office and reputation. In Zhang Heng's previous life, because Disneyland cooperated with Pixar, they were able to beat DreamWorks Animation Studio in 3D animation. However, in this life, Adriaan had bought Pixar in advance, so Disneyland's animation industry was deteriorating. Although they still produced 2D animation like "Mulan," they were unable to resist the erosion of DreamWorks Animation Studio in this area.
This was exactly what Katzenberg wanted to see, so he increased his investment in DreamWorks Animation Studio and put aside 3D animation like "Shrek," in favor of 2D animation production. This was undoubtedly putting the cart before the horse. After the rise of Pixar, everyone realized that 3D animation had become the trend, but Katzenberg still insisted on his approach. Even if several 2D animation — such as "Brave in the Golden City" or "Pony King" — did not do well at the box office and reputation, in his heart, completely defeating Disneyland in the traditional industry was undoubtedly a huge victory.
So, there was this year's complete failure of "Sinbad: The Legend of the Seven Seas". The failure of an animated film was much worse than the failure of a live-action film. The production cycle of an animated film was much longer, and the investment was relatively higher. The majority of the money came from the surrounding. If it was not popular, then the loss was no less than a commercial blockbuster. DreamWorks Animation Studio was in trouble because of this.
But this was exactly what Adriaan, who had been watching from the sidelines, wanted to see.
"I have a suggestion, Steven," Zhang Heng said. "You see, although DreamWorks Animation had a failure like" Pearl Harbor, "overall, it's doing very well. So, in order to prevent the profits of animated films from affecting the company, it's better to separate the studio and set up a separate company. On one hand, it can reduce losses, and on the other hand, after further exploring the studio's potential, it's definitely not difficult to turn losses into profits. After all, DreamWorks Animation Studio has a lot of experience in this area. All we need is time."
That's right. DreamWorks Animation Studio, which was supposed to be in trouble in the film industry, was currently operating well. Although it no longer had a good reputation like "American Beauty," and although there was a failure like "Pearl Harbor," with Spielberg's reputation and Adriaan's AC Media's help from time to time, DreamWorks Animation Studio was still doing well in the medium-budget films. Some failures were not a big deal.
The same was true for Disneyland. Without Pixar and ABC, Disneyland, which had chosen to shrink its business, did not suffer a huge blow. On the contrary, it was more energetic. In Zhang Heng's previous life, after Disneyland acquired ABC, it carried a huge financial burden. Although ABC played a huge role in the expansion of Disneyland, it was not until almost ten years later, when Eisner stepped down, that the company's losses turned into profits.
Now, without the burden of ABC, Disneyland was relatively relaxed. Although many traditional forces were frequently squeezed by other media groups, such as AC Media, which was chasing after them in creating young idols, Disneyland was, after all, an established company, and its advantage in this area could not be offset in a day or two.
However, this did not mean that Eisner's position was very stable. This was because he had always looked down on animation production. The animation studio of Disneyland currently had almost no work to show, even if they had started to do 3D animation. This made some of the elders of Disneyland, represented by Walter Disneyland's nephew, Roy Disneyland, very dissatisfied. Coupled with a series of accumulated conflicts, Roy once threatened Eisner to change his strategy of operating Disneyland by resigning from the board of directors.
Basically, if Roy really resigned because of this, then it was only a matter of time before Eisner, who caused the situation where there was no longer a member of the Disneyland family on the board of directors of Disneyland, stepped down. It seemed that it was likely to happen sooner than in Zhang Heng's previous life.
Alright, back to DreamWorks. It was precisely because the movie was doing well that the negative effects of "Sinbad's Seven Seas" were so obvious. So, Adriaan seized the opportunity to put forward the proposal that he had been mulling over for a long time. If he wanted to complete his strategy, this was his best and only chance.
"It sounds good, but you have to talk to Jeffery," Spielberg said after thinking for a long time.
"I will." Adriaan smiled slightly. He knew that Spielberg had seen something, but so what? This move of his could be regarded as an overt plot.
However, before meeting with Katzenberg, he still had to prepare first. That guy was not an easy person to deal with, which could be seen from his desire for revenge against Disneyland. But as long as he could convince him, this matter could basically be decided. Looking at Spielberg's reaction, it was obvious that he was a little moved. As for David Geffen, he was only responsible for the record business, and he had never cared about these things.
"X-Men 2" was released smoothly, and there were not many changes in the plot. Except for some minor adjustments like the first movie to make the plot more reasonable, everything else remained the same. A military leader wanted to kill all the mutants in the world because of his son, so he planned to attack the president, attack the school, and capture most of the mutants. At the same time, he controlled Professor X. Magneto, who had escaped, cooperated with the remaining X-Men to save him. In the end, Jean Grey used her ability to ensure that the plane took off smoothly, but she also disappeared in the torrent. After the X-Men were safe, the president took back the order against the mutants.
As a commercial movie, "X-Men 2" qualified. The plot was compact, the abilities of each character were well displayed, and the fighting was very interesting. In particular, the final battle between Yuriko, played by Yuji Hui, and Wolverine was fully displayed in front of the camera. Whether it was Wolverine's brutal strength or Yuriko's dexterity and acceleration, they were all displayed in front of the camera. It was quite a wonderful scene.
As a result, Yuji Hui had to bear the title of an action star, and no one knew how the Japanese would flatter her. It was a pity that she had too few lines in the whole movie, and she could not display much of her acting skills. But Adriaan did not care. If he really wanted to see Yuji Hui's acting skills, "Memoirs of a Geisha" was enough. He brought Yuji Hui to the United States early on, and she had not been influenced by the dramatic acting style of Japanese movies. Her acting skills would definitely be quite good.
In contrast, Pixie Pixie, played by Scarlet, had much fewer scenes. She was originally one of the most important main characters in the first movie, but in the second movie, she had completely become a supporting character. According to the script outline of the final movie of the trilogy, she still did not have many scenes in this movie. This undoubtedly made her a little dissatisfied.
"I barely showed any of my abilities. This is so disappointing. I don't look like a superhero at all," said Scarlet, pouting her red lips making her look very sexy.
"Don't be too greedy, my dear. In the first movie, you were the well-deserved protagonist," comforted Adriaan with a smile.
"Speaking of which, I didn't have any outstanding scenes in the first movie. From the beginning to the end, I was only being fought over and rescued." Scarlet sighed. "I also want to be like Hugh or Sir McKellen. I want to be very powerful on the screen."
It seemed that she was starting to like superhero roles. Adriaan smiled and was about to say something when another soft voice rang out, "You have to learn to be content, Scarlet. My character didn't have much use either. It's just that my self-healing ability is stronger, but I've never complained."
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