Hollywood Hunter

Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Los Angeles.

It was the afternoon of Friday, August 6th, and the movie market outside was bustling with the release of Fight Club. Simon was here to help with the final editing of Cyborg 2, which will be released at the end of the year.

Although Warner strictly guards against the copyrights of superheroes such as 'The Flash' and 'Steel Bone', and is no longer open to Daenerys, Simon is still named as the executive producer of the Flash and other series, and he still really gets a good salary Therefore, Simon will spend a certain amount of energy on these films, whether it is out of his fancy for the entire DC movie universe series or his own professional ethics.

This Cyborg 2 is the 13th film in the DC Movie Universe series and the last solo work before next year's heroic assembly of the Justice League.

Speaking of Justice League, the film officially started shooting in July, still in Australia, and the director chose Roland Emmerich again.

Furthermore, after several considerations, of course, to put it bluntly or to maximize profits, the Justice League will be divided into two parts.

In fact, in the original plan of the project, there were also two Justice Leagues, but it was one in Batman v Superman: After Dawn of Justice, similar to the rhythm of the original time and space, and the villain is also Steppenwolf. Then after several solo works, come Justice League 2, the big villain is Darkseid.

Plans can't keep up with changes.

The biggest change is that Simon has reached a tacit agreement with Jack Welch earlier. After the Justice League, he will package and sell the DC superhero copyright held by Daenerys back to Warner. Then, Daenerys will naturally It's the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

From a business point of view, this is very irrational.

It stands to reason that even if she does not plan to continue the DC movie universe after the Justice League, Daenerys firmly holds the copyright of superheroes such as Superman in her own hands, which is tantamount to curbing Marvel's biggest competitor.

Simon just didn't intend to use such rogue tactics.

First of all, the relationship with Time Warner and even Time Warner's big owner GE has always been very good. Simon still has the idea of ​​gradually controlling GE. Therefore, returning the copyright of the Big Three to DC may be his own in the future.

Secondly, maintain a certain strength of Time Warner and avoid the monopoly level that Daenerys is too big to be bigger.

Although Simon has no intention of retaining strength in Daenerys' expansion in recent years, he has no intention of knocking out all other companies. Time Warner is Simon's competitor for Daenerys.

Without competitors, people often lose their self-motivation, and the same is true for enterprises.

In the end, I completely let go, and with no way out, I can devote myself wholeheartedly to the development of my own Marvel Cinematic Universe.

All in all, since we are all planning to let go, before letting go, of course we must maximize the benefits.

In addition, although it is planned to be divided into two parts, considering the audience's movie-watching mentality, no one likes a movie being divided into two parts. The subtitles are basically their own complete stories.

The first one centered on the resurrection of Superman, and the villain was Steppenwolf.

The second is Darkseid's invasion of Earth after the failure of Steppenwolf as the vanguard.

In fact, Simon has given up the plan to maximize the benefits of inserting a few more single-player stories between the two films, and directly made two stories that can be stretched back to back.

Anyway, I plan to let go, who can control so much.

If after Daenerys withdraws, without Simon's checkpoint, Warner doesn't know how to advance the follow-up, and even a messy situation appears, then it can only be that he is too unsatisfactory.

Let's talk about steel bone 2.

As the last solo movie before Justice League, the plot of this movie can also be described as a link between the past and the future.

The story roughly tells that after the intersection of Wonder Woman, Cyborg and Flash in Wonder Woman 2, Cyborg, who has completed a transformation, proposed that the superheroes should form an alliance. During the Super Bat War, they watched the death of Superman and chose to retreat. The young Victor Stone set his ambition and took the initiative to start running for it.

Just this kind of development can be imagined, Steel Bone 2 will definitely not be a completely single-player story like The Flash 2.

Before the Flash 2 after Wonder Woman 2, because the Flash chose to leave quietly after the Battle of Wonder Woman 2 Central City, hiding his achievements and fame, therefore, The Flash 2 is still a complete single-player story, and the confrontation is also The villain's nemesis in the Flash series.

In short, this time in Cyborg 2, The Flash showed his face again, and also showed his face, as well as two other famous heroes in the DC movie universe, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman.

After continuous exploration in recent years, the special effects of Daenerys have overcome the underwater special effects technology needed for Aquaman's appearance, and it is very amazing. As for Martian Manhunter, it mainly involves deformation, which is easier to operate.

As for the equally popular Green Lantern in DC comics, obviously, because of the special effects, he will not appear this time. Of course, it’s not that the special effects of Green Lantern can’t be done. The key is that, within the acceptable budget, the special effects of Green Lantern can’t be done yet, or they can’t be done perfectly.

Going back to the plot of Cyborg 2, after convincing The Flash and Martian Manhunter successively, Cyborg hit a wall with Aquaman.

Because of his childhood experience, Neptune has no good impression of Atlanteans, and is also alienated from humans, so he walks alone and lives in isolation.

While Cyborg was in contact with Neptune, he found out another thing. A group of mysterious pirates somehow knew the secret of the mother box and were trying to go to heaven

Island, capture the mother box.

The leader of this group of mysterious islands happens to be Om Curry, the half-brother of Sea King Arthur Curry. The source of Om Curry's news is a foreshadowing planted in the previous Suicide Squad 2, an anti-hero "outlaw lunatic" who successfully escaped, well, not Zhang San, or a member of the DC Suicide Squad series An anti-hero, he joined Orm's pirate group, and in order to gain the power of the mother box, he worked hand in hand with Orm.

Not only that, Aum also united with King Nereus who hoped to once again unify Atlantis to the highest throne.

Orm, the outlaw lunatic, and King Nereus, the three leaders, will share the three mother boxes equally after meeting.

Knowing the importance of the mother box, and in order to stop his brother from continuing to do evil, Arthur was finally persuaded by Cyborg and his clansmen to take up his own responsibilities, and fought against several villains.

The final battle took place near Paradise Island.

Cyborg, Neptune, Atlanteans, Amazons against Orm, Outlaws and King Nereus' tripartite army, involving the army, land and air, the scene is spectacular and grand.

Of course, due to copyright limitations, Wonder Woman did not appear.

The plot of Paradise Island is actually a concession made by Daenerys for the sake of the overall situation.

At the end of the story, of course, justice once again triumphed over evil.

At the same time, the Justice League took shape.

In the end, there is an indispensable easter egg.

At some point, a huge spaceship arrived near the earth, and the Steppenwolf holding a huge ax issued an order to his demon-like army: "Go, find them."

So, overwhelming.

The preliminary editing version of all special effects has been completed for about three and a half hours. Simon spent an afternoon working until more than seven o'clock in the evening before finalizing the final editing plan.

It is estimated that the final film will be about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

The longer one, but no matter how short it is, it will affect the integrity of the story.

Simon will not ignore more single-day filming scenes like Warner did, after all, this can be regarded as a build-up.

Even, because of the appearances of The Flash, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman, and the fact that the film is no less exciting than Super Bat Wars, Simon roughly judges that the box office of this film will be very bright, and it is not impossible for the local market to hit 400 million . It's a pity that Daenerys doesn't take a share of the interest at all this time, except that Simon can get a production fee.

At the end of the day's work, Terry Semel, who was already in charge of GE's media and entertainment business, approached him and said that he was inviting Simon to dinner.

I roughly understand what Semel means, but I still want to talk about DC's copyright sale in advance.

Simon didn't refuse, but he didn't go to dinner together. Instead, he brought Semel to the rich area of ​​Bel-Air.

I promised in advance that the head of wma, Jonathan Friedman, would go to him at night to attend the cocktail party held by the other party, a daily entertainment in Hollywood.

The two rushed to Jonathan's family's hilltop mansion in Bel Air. The sky was completely dark, and looking down from their feet, the whole of Los Angeles was dotted with stars.

It's also star-studded here.

There was no rush to talk about the matter, the two had greeted the host's house first, and then socialized separately for the time being.

Even in his current position, Terry Semel still pays great attention to the relationship with the stars. This is also the result of being long-term influenced by the former head of Warner Steve Ross.

After going back and forth among the crowd for more than ten minutes, Semel came to the terrace on the second floor of the main villa of the mansion. A group of people here are chatting enthusiastically around a circular sofa overlooking the night view of Los Angeles.

Terry Semel looked over and saw Simon first.

Next to a certain young tycoon, sitting on the left is Demi Moore, who has recently become popular again with the heroine in The Matrix. Of course, this is not interesting, not to mention the right hand side, still to the left, next to Demi Moore's husband, Bruce Willis.

No matter where, under normal circumstances, it should actually be the husband of a man sitting next to another male guest. This couple is obviously different.

Not only that, Terry Semel happened to see Demi Moore's exposed calf in a high-fork dress touching Simon's body like that, and it seemed to be still rubbing lightly.

This is even more interesting.

Moreover, Bruce Willis on the other side not only looked normal, but even leaned forward slightly to look at Simon who was talking with some flattery.

Well, Terry Semel understands this.

It's not just Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, who has aged much more than his wife in recent years, has become popular again this summer.

Michael Bay's The Peerless Cataclysm.

Simon chose Bruce Willis as the leading actor again. Although, Simon has never felt that Bruce Willis has any tough guy temperament compared to Stallone, Schwarzenegger and other actors, but it is more than enough to play an oil worker. of.

Got this role, even if the core of the project is Michael Bay, the selling point is the dazzling special effects, even if the project is not as expected, but Bruce Willis has largely recovered his once-falling popularity.

If there is no work that can be sold, this male star may not even be able to keep the second line.

Hence the present moment.

In a vanity fair like Hollywood, in order to pursue fame and fortune, ordinary people can imagine that all the crap that goes beyond cognition can happen here. Therefore, let alone turning a blind eye to this level, even if Semel

I think nothing will happen to Bruce Willis, who is very knowledgeable about current affairs.

And it can also create a certain mindset.

Roughly speaking, if the wife has an affair with the old king, the husband must be furious, but if the wife has an affair with the king, the husband may regard it as a kind of glory.

This is not fiction.

In the history of many western countries, there are similar traditions.

The wife had an affair with the king and became pregnant, so she got a reward, became a nobleman, and owned a territory. Not only would the husband not make a scene, but he would also happily go to the territory to take office. To the king's son.

Consummation.

Terry Semeier greeted everyone, but did not go to the couch where Simon was, obviously unable to squeeze through, so he could only sit down in a vacant seat that a few people here offered to help him, and then paid attention to other people.

First of all, it is Simon’s side, which can sit on a couch for five people. On the left is Demi Moore and his wife. On the right, next to Simon is the great Hollywood beauty Catherine Zeta-Jones, and outside is Julianne Moore, the heroine of The Conjuring series.

Seeing Catherine Zeta-Jones, Semel thought of Chicago again.

Zeta-Jones is here, and the film is clearly wrapped.

Speaking of this popular musical project on Broadway, Warner also fought for it at the beginning, but unfortunately they couldn't compete for Daenerys, which can't be helped. Looking at the lineup this time, the glamorous actress Zeta-Jones partnered with the pop queen Madonna, and it seems that the new Australian actor also participated. Combined with the popularity of the project itself, it may not be easy to lose money.

Looking at the others, Jonathan Friedman, Brian DePalma, Jeff Bridges, Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith brought their daughter Darko, who was rumored to be a godfather Ta Johnson, 'Batman' Adam Baldwin, British director Paul Greengrass, who quickly established himself in Hollywood with his Blair Witch and Public Enemy back-to-back

If it was Hollywood in the past, everyone sat together, Terry Semeier understood that the status of everyone sitting here is basically equal, or the status of the big names may be higher than that of studio executives like him. Some.

Now, however, there is a clear star-studded moon.

Someone was sitting there, chatting and laughing happily, and everyone focused their utmost attention on each other, as if they were afraid of missing something. Even Semel himself quickly fell into this state unconsciously.

Terry Semel can only sigh with emotion about this, mainly because the gap is too big to envy.