Chapter 675
[101] The candidate for Iron Man in this life!
Chapter 675 [101] The candidate for Iron Man in this life!
"Did you really agree to cooperate with that guy?"
On the way back, Liu Yifei drove the Bugatti and asked Chen Yu who was sitting in the passenger seat.
She had no good feelings towards Ryan, a greasy-looking guy who looked like a rich playboy; if Chen Yu hadn't been there, her eyes would probably have lingered on her for a while longer.
"I agreed, but I didn't say I could cooperate!"
Chen Yu sat there comfortably: "It's just that he proposed this idea, and I said I would write the script. He may need to think about the feasibility of this plan!"
"Ultimately he doesn't trust my ability as a screenwriter, which is normal!"
Chen Yu explained it to Liu Yifei and they basically understood the cause and effect.
"In other words, if he agrees to this plan, we can try to cooperate?"
"If you don't agree, then forget it?"
Liu Yifei glanced at Chen Yu beside her, and Chen Yu said calmly: "Of course, this guy needs us now. He is counting on us to make money, so we must put some pressure on him!"
In the previous life, it was Huayi who tried to please the other party, which led to the collaboration on "The Forbidden Kingdom".
Chen Yu obviously doesn't need this.
"So did you write this script?"
"Besides, you have no shortage of exposure opportunities now, and neither do Brother Long and Jet Li, so I need it even less!"
"He thought I wanted to promote you..."
Chen Yu was telling the truth, but Liu Yifei smiled seductively: "Is that true?"
"Yes and no!"
"Of course I want you to be more famous, but if you rush into a project, it might backfire."
"Take it step by step, make steady progress, and strive to make every work a success. This is the right way to go!"
Movies like "The Forbidden Kingdom" do not bring any benefits to the actors, but may even backfire.
There is no rush for the four of them to get together. Currently, Jet Li is very popular in North America, Jackie Chan's new film has just been released, and Liu Yifei has just got a ticket to Hollywood. Chen Yu can go to a higher level. It will definitely be better if he makes a film in two years when the time is right.
When it comes to selling emotions and creating movies that generate their own popularity, Chen Yu is much better than Ryan.
At the very least, we have to wait until the domestic box office and theaters have come up before we can say anything.
Buzz!
Before he reached his home in North America, Chen Yu's cell phone suddenly rang.
It was a rather unexpected call, although the two of us were in frequent contact.
Kevin Feige!
Currently the CEO of Marvel Studios.
"Iron Man" has been in preparation for almost a year, and it is indeed time for filming; two months ago, Marvel just gathered the funds for filming and asked several Wall Street investment banks to mortgage 1 million US dollars.
Together with some savings in the account, a total of 2 million US dollars was used to shoot the new film.
This includes some subsequent marketing expenses, as well as cooperation with Paramount and distribution.
Chen Yu actually made a lot of efforts in this process. The success of "Mission Impossible 3" made Chen Yu's voice in Paramount much higher. Not to mention Paramount, almost all the six major film studios in Hollywood saw the value of Chen Yu in the Asian market.
He has his own box office traffic of at least 2 million US dollars in Asia, which is a height that no Asian movie star in his previous life has ever achieved.
Perhaps this only existed when Bruce Lee was alive, but unfortunately he is dead.
The only benefit of Marvel's cooperation with the six giants is that it has already obtained a release date. June 6th of next year is already one of the four golden time slots in the North American market - the summer schedule.
But despite so many follow-up confirmations, the film has not started shooting yet, so Chen Yu certainly has to ask about the situation.
"Boss, Jon and I discussed it and decided to write the script while filming!"
Kevin Feige was talking to Chen Yu on the phone, Jon is the director Jon Favreau, this guy is lucky, he was chosen by Chen Yu, he is at most second-rate in Hollywood, and he has only made a few movies with average box office.
Of course, Chen Yu chose him not because he was cheap, only $50, but because he was the director of the first "Iron Man" in his previous life.
He was very capable, but no one had discovered him. In this life, Chen Yu gave him the opportunity a year in advance.
He is also well known to Chinese movie fans for playing Happy, Tony Stark's bodyguard in "Iron Man". In the end, this guy did not do his main job and made a cameo appearance in the film and became an important supporting role.
This is also a good story. Originally, Kevin Feige wanted a famous actor Nick Cassavetes to direct this pioneering work of Marvel.
This guy didn’t have time in his previous life, and was killed by Chen Yu in this life.
"Did Jon give you that advice?"
Chen Yu couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, he said that actors are encouraged to improvise their lines on the spot. That's how Robert Altman shot his movies!"
It sounds ridiculous, so Kevin Feige was very unsure when he said it.
He was really angry at Chen Yu for choosing such an unreliable person.
The production team was in place several months ago, the cast had long been decided, and the shooting plan had been prepared, but the script had not yet been written. The reason was simple: the "big" director was not satisfied.
Several screenwriters have been fired.
So now, there is only an outline to tell the actors what story they will perform next, but there are no dialogues or interactive plots.
When Kevin Feige learned about this a few days ago, he almost fainted.
The key point is that this guy also told him that this is his style of directing movies, making changes while shooting, and there will be many bursts of inspiration. His idol... the famous Hollywood director Robert Altman also shoots in this way.
But who is Robert Altman? He has won the Best Picture Grand Slam at the three major film festivals, dozens of major awards, five Oscar nominations for Best Director, and is the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award and one of the top ten directors of the top 100.
You have so many titles, it’s scary. You’re not even worthy of carrying their shoes. You’re just a piece of dog shit.
Therefore, Kevin Feige must have complained about this matter to Chen Yu, so that when the movie is released and the box office fails, he will not be blamed for his incompetence as a CEO.
He had to put all the blame on the director chosen by Chen Yu himself.
"Send me the outline!"
"Let me see if I need to add anything. Let's shoot. Listen to Jon. After all, he is the director!"
Chen Yu gave Jon enough authority.
Kevin Feige: “…”
"Oh, by the way, boss!"
Kevin Feige said helplessly on the phone: "The lead actor you picked, Robert Downey Jr., has a schedule conflict now. We originally thought we could start filming after the New Year, but he took on another movie before. So do you have a better choice?"
It's director Jon Favreau's fault again. If he hadn't delayed the start of filming, there wouldn't have been so many problems.
But now from what the boss said, it seems that he is letting him play freely and giving him enough trust.
If the filming really starts, Kevin Feige will be relieved.
After all, everything is for the filming of the movie. In fact, Kevin is not satisfied with Robert Downey Jr., the leading actor chosen by Chen Yu.
If only this guy wasn't cheap!
"Schedule conflict, Robert Downey Jr."
Chen Yu looked at his own building, walked out of the garage and stood outside the door and said, "Who did you originally think of as the candidate? Can I be one?"
Chen Yu made a joke and recommended himself.
Kevin Feige quickly said, "Boss, this is not funny at all. This movie is a gamble for the life and death of our Marvel. I think we should respect the opinions of the fans..."
This is obviously a very euphemistic statement. If Chen Yu were to play Iron Man, all of his fans across America would probably jump up and down.
Many Americans cannot accept a yellow person playing a North American hero.
The Joker at least has makeup on, but Warner is still very worried that the press release will cause an uproar in the outside world.
Iron Man's attack is face-to-face, so the situation is definitely more serious.
"Haha, just kidding!"
"Who do you think is a suitable actor?" Chen Yu couldn't help but ask. He wanted to hear the advice of this Marvel fan.
You were indeed more arbitrary before. Although the director and the leading actor were your real selves in the previous life, your active selection and the choice out of helplessness are two different situations.
Downey and director Jon were Marvel's helpless choices in the previous life.
"Tom Cruise!"
Kevin Feige blurted out without hesitation, and Chen Yu nodded: "That's fine, what else?"
Of course, he just said this casually.
Tom Cruise is indeed suitable, but the salary...Marvel can't afford it, unless they give him a share of the profits or invest in him, but this is obviously not allowed by Chen Yu.
Chen Yu didn't want him to get the role either.
"In fact, we have discussed it internally and the most suitable person should be Nicolas Cage!"
"But the other party's salary is a bit beyond our budget. Tom Cruise is the best candidate, but the salary is totally beyond our reach. We will definitely pass him up!"
Kevin Feige spoke from the heart.
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These are also the two suitable candidates for the Iron Man that he recognized.
Nicolas Cage?
An emoticon of a man with his finger on his mouth, hesitant to say something, instantly appeared in Chen Yu’s mind; many people also like to use an avatar of him smoking.
"Ha ha!"
Kevin Feige didn't know why Chen Yu laughed.
"Sure, Cage!"
"But Cage's salary is much higher than our budget...even though his popularity is not as high as before!"
Cage's recent box office hits have all flopped and received poor reviews.
Although he has not yet become the king of bad movies in the future, he is actually the one who is bad.
Nicolas Cage is in a lot of debt, starting last year.
After winning the Oscar for Best Actor, he became a world-class actor and his salary soared to 2800 million US dollars. From then on, he spent money recklessly. In addition, he had no financial management skills, so his debts kept growing.
In the end, he had to survive by taking on bad movies.
It took him a full 10 years to pay off his debts, and then he slowly got out of the quagmire.
Now should be the most troubled time for Nicolas Cage.
"It's okay, go contact the other party's agency!"
"He must be in urgent need of money now!"
"If the pay is over 500 million, that's fine. This is the maximum I'll accept!"
"Boss, do you know something?"
Kevin Feige suddenly became curious about Nicolas Cage.
"Well, I know something!"
"There must be a big problem with his financial situation now, so use this to negotiate with his agent!"
"With such a big IP, a guy who is in urgent need of money will not give up!"
"Okay, I'll have someone give it a try!"
Kevin Feige is still eager for Nicolas Cage.
If he can play Iron Man, at least if the word of mouth is good, it will be a plus for the movie, because he has had two films fail in a row and he just needs a good work to make a comeback.
And Downey has no box office appeal for "Iron Man".
Chen Yu actually thought of the same thing.
More importantly, Cage is easier to control than Downey; after Downey became famous through Iron Man, he became very inflated.
Cage's financial management problems are beyond help.
In other words, even if he had the halo of Iron Man in his life, his life would probably not be ideal.
After paying off his debts, he started to owe money again and even filed for personal bankruptcy.
All I can say is that this guy has the ability to make money, but he is also a spendthrift.
This actor is just bad, not a loser. His professional ability is definitely impeccable, both in terms of acting skills and character charm. Downey, on the other hand, has been to jail three times, takes drugs, and is racially discriminatory... Strictly speaking, he is more extreme than Cage.
"Cage's Iron Man will definitely do better at the box office than Downey!"
"This 500 million is definitely worth it!"
"I'm actually looking forward to it!"
Chen Yu smiled, then hung up the phone and walked into the house.
Liu Yifei is following the reviews of "Escape Plan". Today, on the first day of its premiere, the film grossed 2370 million US dollars, which is more than 2500 million less than Chen Yu's estimate of 100 million.
But this result on the first day, with a 15% screening rate, has clearly exceeded New Line's expectations.
Their original goal for the first weekend was 5000 million+, and now it should be around 6000-6500, which is the rhythm of a box office hit, and even 1.5 million may not be enough.
Including pre-sales, the box office has now exceeded 5000 million.
“Have the media’s Rotten Tomatoes reviews for Fast and Furious 3 come out?”
Chen Yu asked Liu Yifei while taking off his coat.
"Well, 65%, much lower than Mission Impossible 3..."
"Mission Impossible 3 hired a lot of media and had high PR costs, but Universal's was much worse!"
"Do you have 20?"
"I remember that Mission: Impossible 3 had nearly 50 media reviews on the first day!"
"There are only 17 reviews so far, 6 Rotten Tomatoes, and 11 Fresh!"
With this negative review rate, the North American media is making trouble again!
In a capitalist society, if you are not paid enough, you will be taught a lesson in every minute; there is a reason why Rotten Tomatoes has been ruined in later generations.
"I'll check it out tomorrow when I wake up. There are too many Rotten Tomatoes reviews. I have to call Ryan!"
In his previous life, Chen Yu didn’t know how the media reviewed “Fast and Furious 3” when it was released, but after watching the premiere today, he still had expectations for this movie. It was not as bad as he imagined, and it was much more compact and exciting than his previous life.
At least Han didn’t die, which definitely gave him a much higher score than in his previous life.
It's unacceptable that the movie still flopped at the box office.
"Indeed, it's even worse than the beginning of "Taken"!"
"'Taken' has a 70% Rotten Tomatoes score!"
“Do North American audiences care about this now?”
"Well, the first weekend box office is closely related to Rotten Tomatoes, which is the direction of media film reviews, and plays a crucial role in the box office!"
Although 65% will not cause the box office to collapse, it will make many viewers who want to watch the movie adopt a wait-and-see strategy.
If the box office performance is not good in the first weekend, it will affect the subsequent screenings.
When one prospers, all prosper; when one suffers, all suffer!
As long as one of the links goes wrong, the subsequent box office support will collapse.
There are still 6 days before "Fast and Furious 3" is released on a large scale in North America, so there is still a chance to rescue it during this period.
Apart from the voices of a few movie fans, media channels are actually the most critical factor.
This is much more realistic than the domestic box office.
(End of this chapter)