Technological Development
Suppose you ask a person living in the 21st century what a superhero movie is. In that case, I'm afraid everyone will immediately think of those big-budget and high-gross movies with very good special effects. At the same time, people's impressions of the two hero manufacturing factories of Marvel and DC are also two big companies that have made a lot of money. However, at this time in 1997, Marvel's operating conditions were very poor.
Since 1996, Marvel has been on the verge of bankruptcy. Because of poor management, even in 1996, it had to cooperate with DC for money so that the heroes of Marvel and DC appeared on the same stage together— In other words, let the heroes of Marvel send their achievements to the heroes of DC—at this point of embarrassment, Marvel naturally has no choice but to consider selling comic characters.
During this period of time, Marvel sold a lot of copyrights-Spider-Man, Blade, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, and Punisher all sold copyrights during this period. These sold copyrights have become one of the things that Marvel and other companies have been wrangling for a long time in the future. At this time, Levi wanted to maintain the expenses and research of the special effects company, so buying a copyright should not be difficult.
If the copyright is bought, even if Levi doesn't want to direct but finds someone else to direct, this can be counted as the company's income. Originally, Levi thought that Alexander would be very supportive of this idea, but when Levi and Alexander discussed this idea, Alexander did not agree.
"I'm opposed to buying the copyright of comics." Alexander frowned when he heard Levi's statement, "A comic adaptation of a film, an investment of 30 million is basically the minimum investment, and it's hard to say whether the film will make money in the end. You have also seen how badly the Batman movie just released, "Batman & Robin," lost, and this movie also ruined Joel Schumacher's name. Don't you worry that this will cause you trouble?"
In 1997, The fourth film in the Batman series, which had just been released, has hit the street very hard, which is also the most important reason for Alexander's opposition.
In fact, Batman was not garbage from the beginning. Burton's Batman in 1989 has always been considered the most gothic Batman movie. And then, the second and third parts were shot. Although commercial films have always been unpopular, some of the shooting techniques in the movie, as well as the performances of the actors, have been well received. Jack Nicholson's Joker, Danny Devito's Penguin, Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, Jim Carrey's The Riddler, and Tommy Lee Jones's Two-Face are all hits. Jack Nielsen and Michelle Pfeiffer have always been considered to be the most suitable for the original work and the most classic character creation. It is not easy to perform a lively performance with a comic temperament-Jack Nicholson until later Heath Ledger played the clown, still conceited that he played the best clown because Heath Ledger's clown was not as crazy as his.
But Batman & Robin in 1997 was surprisingly a bad movie with poor characters, plot, modeling, and special effects. Although on the bright side, it has led to a downturn in the adaptation of movies in the entire comic book industry, which has also caused the copyright of superheroes to decline sharply. On the other hand, the damage caused by this film is huge: all three leading actors in the film have been greatly affected by it, George Clooney has since turned to make literary films, and Uma Thurman had to wait until she turned old and her friend Quentin's filming of Killing Bill turned her career around, and Schwarzenegger, who had the highest salary, originally wanted to rely on this film to make a comeback, but who knew that her career was even more frustrated.
The actors all have such a big impact, let alone the director. Alexander is not only worried about losing money but also has another concern: blockbuster movies must hire stars. After the film fails, it will be difficult for the director and stars to cooperate again, and it will be even more troublesome at that time.
Blockbuster films require a lot of investment, and the possibility of failure is high, which naturally discourages people from investing.
"However, it was Batman who failed, and what I was asking was to buy a Marvel character." Levi felt that Alexander was a little too cautious. In Levi's memory, the comic films in the future will be very profitable. The failure of Batman once was more due to the problem of the movie itself, "I think it is still possible for us to make the movie well."
"Nick, there's a reason why people haven't made any Marvel movies." Alexander frowned, "DC's comics originated during the Great Depression in the 1940s, so the heroes are perfect incarnations, not standard. The old southern farmer Superman, the capitalist conscience, is Master Wayne. The filming is simple for these characters. Marvel was successful in the 1960s and is a product of rebellious thinking. Alternatively, Hulk, who fights the army, and the sleazy young Spider-Man have too distinct personalities, and it is not so easy to combine the story with the characters. Comics movies are no longer popular, and this kind of movie cannot be shot.
"Alex, are you ignoring a problem? Now it's different from the past. Haven't you seen the model of the Titanic? The era of blockbuster movies has come, and we can make movies like that. "Blockbusters don't use stars, but use effects to conquer the audience."
Levi's words made Alexander suddenly speechless. Before Titanic, he always thought about the problem that the filming would lead to too much investment and could not recover the cost, but he never thought that the film could also be filmed like Titanic.
It's just that that movie perfectly reproduced the disaster and the scene of the year with special effects and high investment, but what Levi wanted was an illusory story made out of thin air.
"Is this really okay?" Alexander hesitated.
"Alex, you haven't figured it out. It's not a question of whether it can be done, but a question of having to do it." Levi sighed, "Let me tell you this: the method of filming has always been limited by technology. Good enough shooting technology can support good enough film shooting. Without face scanning technology, there is no way to shoot the fearful expression of human beings dying, and without motion capture technology, there is no slow-motion shooting. In recent years, the innovation of film technology has been faster and faster, and the special effects are getting better and better. This also means that for a long time in the future, people will no longer pay attention to the film itself but to the technology. Whether good or bad, special effects are directly related to the movie's box office."
"So?" Alexander was still puzzled.
"So in the future, action movies will decline unstoppably: after people can see more fantasy scenes, simple explosions will hardly satisfy people's appetite. Without Michael Bay-level explosive scenes, we can't shoot explosions without losing money. People will be confused by more and more outlandish special effects scenes. This is a necessity of technology and a necessity of film development. It's not that superhero movies are not popular anymore, but some people don't know how to make them properly shine."
In Levi's view, the director's responsibility is mainly responsible for the poor shooting of the film. It is an irresponsible practice to push all the responsibility for the failure of filming to the unpopular genre of the subject matter. What's more, he knows very well that this kind of movie will be very popular in the future, so he certainly insists on his opinion on this.
Blockbuster movies sell scenes, and only when the scenes look good will they have a good box office. As technology becomes more and more developed, blockbuster films will naturally use more and more special effects. Superhero movies that use a lot of special effects can make money, and Levi knows this better than Alexander.
"So, in the future, only superhero movies can make money? Isn't this too one-sided?" Alexander was a little confused, "What about other movies?" "That's okay. Movies with mythological themes can also produce big scenes. However, let's not talk about whether modern people accept the strange and weird values of the myths of various countries or whether the illogical parts of those myths cannot be produced, but just talk about one problem: none of them are from the United States, and the number one ticket warehouse in the film market is the American market. Suppose someone made mythical blockbusters from Europe or the East. The question is, do Americans recognize it? There is no way to buy superhero themes because the United States has no mythology at all. If there are myths in the United States, why would I be like this?"
Levi was also helpless: the development of film special effects, if you want to say the best direction of development, is naturally to shoot all kinds of whimsical things. It's a pity that the United States has been a country for three hundred years, and there are no myths. Without these things, audiences don't buy them when shooting European and Asian mythologies.
"It's just, why do you have to shoot blockbuster movies? The movies you shoot don't seem to pursue this direction."
Indeed, the films Levi shot were basically low-cost films without any special effects, and his shooting style did not meet his requirements.
"It is not necessary to pursue technology when making a film, but when technology is needed, it cannot be made difficult because of lack of technology. I am not Cameron. Support technological innovation, and in the future, maybe I will also shoot sci-fi films, and at that time, technology will be necessary."
"Sci-fi films? Like Star Wars?"
"No, like 2001: A Space Odyssey." Levi thought for a while and said.
Alexander opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he didn't say anything after all.
This idea is more or less crazy. The golden age of sci-fi movies has passed. Can you still shoot sci-fi movies well? However, this time, Alexander did not express his doubts again: Levi just said that the type of subject matter was not a problem. Whether he is correct or not, let reality test it.
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons
Cherif Doghri
Adam LV
Danny York
haze2343
Scott DePaepe
Dario Cameruccio
MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999
The Main Man.
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