Chapter 743: A single company dominates the market, Naza's progress

"Zhou, many people don't understand art. This most romantic love film is viewed with tinted glasses just because it has a hint of eroticism."

Bob deeply agrees with Zhou Yutang's statement and regards him as a confidant.

There is a bit of regret in his expression: "Including Sam."

-For the producer, this series of projects is like a goose that lays golden eggs, and it must be firmly grasped in hand no matter what.

But for the director Sam Taylor-Johnson who cherishes her feathers, for the sake of her reputation in the industry and out of consideration for career development planning, she still declined the invitation for the sequel of the movie.

Even the method of adding money doesn't work.

She doesn't agree, but it doesn't matter. Hollywood is so big that there will always be candidates to take over.

Before Zhou Yutang's trip abroad this time, Natalie and Zou Zhongyan had already found the right candidate in advance.

Director James Frey, who was nominated for the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in the 1980s.

Later, he also made several movies and entered the American TV circle. In recent years, he directed 12 episodes of Netflix series "House of Cards" and participated in the directing of some episodes of "Hannibal" and "Weird Pines".

His ability is not a problem, mainly because he is open-minded.

Black and red are also red.

Including several leading actors in the previous work, they all have a similar attitude. As long as the money is in place, everyone can devote themselves to art.

"The production cost of the sequel will increase by about 20% compared with the previous one."

"This is reasonable."

Zhou Yutang thought about it and made a decision quickly.

Until the release, probably no one thought that "Fifty Shades of Grey" would be a big hit at the box office.

So the pay of the leading actors in the previous part was not expensive. Now he is eating oil, and the actors who have devoted themselves to art should also have a sip of meat soup.

This time, the sequels "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" will be shot in one go in a back-to-back manner.

Bob is experienced, and Zhou Yutang is very relieved to have him as the chief producer.

Before this meeting, many things had actually been decided, but now the boss had to sign and stamp to confirm.

The project was implemented, and everyone was in a good mood.

Zhou Yutang was behind the scenes, and Old Bob used his connections to pave the way, accounting for the second largest share.

Everyone carried sacks of dollars together to make a favorable situation.

Interests made the cooperation between the two more stable and reliable.

After the business was over, they started chatting.

After taking the Cuban cigar handed over by Bob, Zhou Yutang sank into the sofa chair, casually placed his legs under the coffee table and rested them on the leather footstool.

Speaking of "Captain America 3" director Joe Russo, he brought Captain America and Winter Soldier and others to China to start preheating publicity for the movie.

Zhou Yutang sneered.

Now Hollywood has raised the importance of China's vote bank to a very high position.

Then the topic turned to "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice".

Old Bob smiled and revealed many inside stories of Warner.

BVS cost about 260 million, plus 150 million for publicity, a total of 410 million US dollars.

The final box office in mainland China was only 618 million, North America only 330 million, and the global box office was 870 million US dollars.

Hollywood film projects, and other subsequent miscellaneous income.

There must be some profit, but not big profit.

——Turning back to look at Marvel next door, which made a lot of money, for Warner, which had high hopes for this project, it was almost a loss.

Since the project failed, someone must be responsible for it.

"Zhou, you don't know, there have been several quarrels in the internal meeting, and they almost got into a fight."

"Later, internal adjustments were made, and now a consensus has been reached temporarily. Jeff Jones and Jon Berg will jointly run the new department dedicated to DC movies."

Old Bob seriously suggested: "Zhou, from the standpoint of a friend, I think you should consider taking over Warner's DC universe superhero blockbuster. Now is the best opportunity."

With his connections and information channels, it is not difficult to know Warner's plan.

Director Zack Snyder, who succeeded Nolan, failed to carry the entire DC universe, so he couldn't put all his eggs in this basket.

Finding another way out is the right way.

There are many capable directors in Hollywood, but there are not many directors with Zhou Yutang's ability.

Not to mention that he is all-powerful in the Chinese entertainment industry, even in Hollywood, he is still able to call the shots.

All the projects he has handled have never failed.

There is no more suitable candidate than Zhou Yutang.

Warner not only visited Jiangdong three times, but even sent senior executives of the film and television department to fly directly to China to negotiate terms, draw a big picture, and promise huge profits.

Zhou Yutang dusted off his cigarette ashes and said calmly: "Warner people, come tomorrow."

"Wow."

After being stunned for a moment, Bob stood up, his old eyes shining brightly, and he grinned: "Man, congratulations, you are the next Nolan. No, no, you will be a better director than Nolan."

When Zhou Yutang said this, old Bob also understood, and he finally relaxed.

In fact, this operation is just like a goddess fishing for a dog.

Pulling to the extreme range can almost make the dog pay the maximum cost.

However, the superhero movie project is obviously ranked behind "Joker" in Zhou Yutang's mind.

Zhou Yutang exhaled a white mist from his mouth: "I still have projects to do. Joaquin has reserved time and started preparing for "Joker". Even if we talk about it tomorrow, we have to wait until next year."

Bob shrugged his shoulders and did not comment on it.

Bob is sometimes helpless about his amazing partner.

He has a very special taste.

Whether it is women or film and television projects.

There are many blond and blue-eyed bombshells who throw themselves into the arms of men, but Zhou Yutang is too lazy to even look at them. Instead, he likes ordinary girls like Guli Nazha.

Although Nazha is very convincing in terms of appearance, old Bob thinks this thin figure is a bit lacking.

He also has his own unique way of choosing film and television projects.

For example, the current version of the answer is a superhero movie, which is not as popular as the art film "Joker" in his heart.

From copyright to casting, it lasted for several years, and Zhou Yutang invested a lot of effort.

Bob doesn't quite understand it, but geniuses can always enjoy many privileges.

Especially the genius who led New Line Studio to greatness again, the old and shrewd Bob, gave his full support.

"The box office of "Beijing Meets Seattle: The Unbreakable Love Letter" on the first day was 120 million, and the box office dark horse continued to write the legend of Northern Ireland!"

"The movie "Xuanzang" starring Huang Xiaoming, Xu Zheng and others only reported a box office of 4.856 million on the first day, and there is no hope of making a profit!"

"The movie "Dream Partners" starring Yao Chen, Wen Yongshan, Hao Lei, Guo Fucheng and others reported a box office of 17.29 million on the first day!"

"The thriller "The Phantom of the Demon Palace" starring Lin Xinru and Ren Dahua reported a box office of 14.7 million on the first day."

The box office of several domestic films in the May Day period has just been released, and the first wave of viewing feedback has also come with it.

Since the premiere in Beijing, Mr. Fan followed Xue Xiaolu and Pan Yueming and other creative teams to the Magic City, and then Hangzhou, Jinling and other first-tier cities were set in advance for roadshow promotion.

Zhou Yutang was abroad and received the first-day box office data forwarded by Teacher Fan happily.

He was very satisfied with the result.

Again, it all depends on the opponent's contrast.

Previously, many people in the industry were looking forward to "Master Xuanzang", which had an investment of over 100 million yuan, but the result was shocking. It raised the white flag at the beginning.

Huang Xiaoming and Xu Guangtou had no box office appeal at all and became cannon fodder.

This year's May Day period was dominated by "Beijing Meets Seattle: The Unbreakable Love Letter".

"Beijing Meets Seattle 2" is definitely not a classic, and there are more or less some problems, but at least the quality and reputation of the film are better than those of its competitors in the same period.

That's enough.

The entire "Beijing Meets Seattle" series will undoubtedly be a representative work of Teacher Fan's acting career.

It is also Pan Yueming's comeback work after a period of silence, which is conducive to the publicity of his next project "White Night Chase".

It is also a solid achievement for Xue Xiaolu to top the throne of the first female director in China.

"Have you noticed that all directors who have worked with Zhou Yutang seem to have taken off."

Such a hot post suddenly appeared on the Internet, and the industry noticed how terrible the record of Xue Xiaolu, who usually teaches in a low-key manner at school, was in cooperation with Zhou Yutang.

The "33 Days of Broken Love", "Introduction to Architecture", and "Beijing Meets Seattle" series that he has worked with Zhou Yutang successively are all blockbuster works

The most terrifying thing is that Teacher Xue specializes in romantic film themes. The investment cost of each movie is not large, but the box office revenue can be at least more than 20 times!

A good fighter has no glorious achievements. This sentence is very suitable for Teacher Xue.

Many directors in the circle are envious to the point of separation, including Xu Cainv, the princess of the Beijing circle among the four major actresses.

Xu Cainv is also ambitious.

As one of the four major actresses, she has a clear career plan.

From the beginning, she transformed from an actor to a director, and she has always coveted the position of the first female director in the circle.

However, in terms of commercial performance, she is several streets behind Xue Xiaolu.

In the current film and television industry, everything is about money.

How did Xue Xiaolu make it?

Zhou Yutang gave her two projects, "Love Is Not Blind" and "Introduction to Architecture", and she rose to prominence.

Then, Xue Xiaolu wrote and directed the "Beijing Meets Seattle" series, which really made her rise to prominence.

Xu Jinglei's mind is not ordinary. She thinks that if she gets the Jiangdong film and television project, she may not do worse than Xue Xiaolu!

Suddenly, she received a good news from Xu Cainv. Although she didn't mention cooperation, Zhou Yutang was so shrewd that he could vaguely guess her thoughts, but he just dealt with it hastily.

With a beauty like Nazha in front of him, how could Governor Zhou have the heart to care about Xu Cainv?

"Brother, do you think I look good in this?"

A dark brown suit skirt wrapped around Nazha's slender body, with a white shirt inside.

In addition to being dignified and generous, she is even more bright and beautiful.

Plus, she put her hands behind her back, shook her body, and acted coquettishly, which could completely drain people's blood tank.

In this movie, Nazha's role is a Chinese female scientist, and this is one of her several looks in the movie.

Zhou Yutang, who was originally sent into the sage time by Teacher Fan's big move, suddenly felt that the cooling time was almost up, and whispered a few words in Nazha's ear.

Nazha stretched out her hand coquettishly, pretending to hit him.

The crew just pretended not to see the flirting and did their own things.

——Everyone knows what's going on with the woman that the big boss wants to support.

"Hey, Zhou, Nihao."

Guo Da Statham is also an old hand, speaking in a strange Chinese accent to say hello.

"Your Chinese is not bad."

Zhou Yutang smiled and shook hands with Guo Da Statham and hugged him.

In my impression, Guo Da Statham has always been a cool and tough guy, but in reality, he is quite easy to get along with.

At least when filming opposite Nazha, he didn't put on airs at all, but helped her a lot.

The big boss came to visit the set, and coffee, milk tea and the like were naturally indispensable. Ni Ni prepared them in advance, and now she took Xiao Chen to arrange the distribution with the crew's staff.

After comforting Nazha a little, Zhou Yutang began to inspect the crew.

The script of this movie was changed several times.

The first thing was to merge many characters in the original work, and then change a little bit of the story line.

For example, the country of the original story is Japan, but since it is a Sino-US co-production, the place where the story takes place is naturally changed to China.

After finishing the current filming in New Zealand, the crew will turn to Sanya, China.

Many scenic spots in Sanya, including Tianya Haijiao and Dadonghai, will appear in the movie.

"Mr. Zhou, we added more gills to make this shark more realistic. Look here."

Kong Sheng's daughter was also in the crew. She excitedly took Zhou Yutang to check the work results and explained with gestures: "Here, wounds and scratches are also added to the shark's skin. In terms of dynamic design, it is a behavioral model developed based on the biomechanical principles of various sharks."

It can be seen that she has learned a lot from working with the world's top special effects team.

Zhou Yutang encouraged a few words and turned to communicate various details with director Joe Detduba.

In addition to a huge shark head model with a bloody mouth that can fit four or five people and is almost lifelike.

In order to truly restore the underwater scene, the crew prepared two large water tanks about 56 meters long and 40 meters wide, with the deepest reaching 3 meters.

Barry Osborne, the producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Great Gatsby, proudly said: It takes a full six days to fill the water tank.

Chen Xi's report clearly states that the crew spent a lot of money on this facility.

In order to ensure the comfort and safety of the actors, the water in the water tank is basically heated, and it costs more than $5,000 a day just to heat the water temperature.

Money is a small matter.

An investment of 150 million is enough to burn.

The main thing is that the actors suffer.

Zhou Yutang watched the scene in person and had a deep understanding.

Because many scenes are shot underwater, it is very troublesome to realize lighting scheduling and camera transfer.

Moreover, communication between the director and the actors is also a problem.

After each shot, the actors always have to surface, listen to the director's specific requirements, and then continue to shoot in the water.

This is repeated until it is passed.

Today's arrangement is the underwater shooting scenes.

Even a tough guy like Jason Statham couldn't stand it, but Nazha gritted her teeth and persevered.

Zhou Yutang, who has a heart of stone, couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic when he saw Nazha swimming in the water like a mermaid in the camera.

Nazha doesn't just rely on her face to make a living, she can't just act coquettishly to win favor.

Her professional ability has also improved a lot.

ps: I caught a cold due to the temperature drop, and I feel dizzy and sore throat. Please take care of yourself.