Chapter 368: The trend of superhero movies brought about by "Spider-Man"
After this week, the popularity of "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" has dropped sharply, and its box office on weekdays is almost no better than it has been. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" is in theaters for five weeks.
This week, the North American film market ushered in a major rival, the superhero movie "Spider-Man" directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.
After "X-Men", superhero movies ushered in a new era, and this year ushered in the blockbuster work "Spider-Man".
In terms of popularity in comics, Spider-Man is no less popular than DC's Batman and Superman. He is also a very popular superhero.
James Cameron once thought about filming "Spider-Man" before filming "True Lies", but in the end it was not possible due to technical reasons.
In the end, the rights to "Spider-Man" were acquired by Sony Columbia Pictures, which was before Gilbert Jr. came to Marvel.
Now, the movie version of "Spider-Man" is finally about to meet the audience.
This superhero movie with an investment of up to 130 million US dollars showed its unparalleled power when it was released the weekend after "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones".
"Spider-Man" grossed US$114 million in the first three days of its release, becoming the second North American movie to top 100 million in its first week.
However, although the response this time was great, the discussion was far less intense than "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
The reason is simple. The second movie that exceeded 100 million in its first week cannot compare to the first movie that failed.
The strength of "Spider-Man" has successfully continued the hot momentum of the summer season, and will inevitably affect other summer blockbusters currently being released, especially "Attack of the Clones".
This week, "Attack of the Clones" only received US$42.105 million at the box office. The box office dropped by more than 50% compared with the previous week. It can be described as a box office Waterloo.
But this is a "Star Wars" movie after all, and it is still guaranteed to be profitable, just not as good as other "Star Wars" movies.
In comparison, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", which entered its fifth week of release, was relatively less affected.
After all, entering the fifth week, both the number of theaters and the film scheduling rate have dropped a lot.
It was a super big production in the same year. Although "Spider-Man" was not as good as "Return of the King" in quality, it was well received after all, and its promotion was guaranteed.
"Return of the King", which has been released for more than a month, cannot compete with "Spider-Man".
However, the huge sales of "Spider-Man" benefited not only Sony Columbia Pictures, but also Marvel Comics and the recently established Marvel Studios.
After the success of Spider-Man and "X-Men", Marvel Comics in New York instantly became the focus of Hollywood's attention.
DC is already a subsidiary of Warner Pictures, but Marvel Comics does not seem to be.
Unfortunately, after Gilbert Jr. took over Marvel, Marvel's financial situation was greatly eased.
Although it still failed to turn a profit, it no longer needed to sell its superhero copyrights to make money.
With the support of Gilbert Jr., Marvel Studios began its own plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Taking advantage of the popularity of "Spider-Man", Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige held a press conference in Los Angeles.
"Marvel Studios was established with only one purpose, and that is to launch its own superhero movies within four to five years."
Kevin Feige seems confident, and in fact he is. Their boss is one of the best directors and film creators in Hollywood, and they have no reason to lack confidence.
The reporter asked: "Mr. Feige, can I ask what are Marvel's specific plans? Which superhero movie will you launch first?"
In fact, it is more appropriate for little Gilbert to answer this question. After all, he is the one who made the whole plan, but little Gilbert has already gone on a yacht trip around the world with a beautiful woman.
So this question had to be answered by Kevin Feige: “Our entire plan came from Director Gilbert Jr.’s proposal that the first superhero movie would be Iron Man, Tony Stark.
We have a bunch of plans, not just for Iron Man, but for a lot of other things. "
Another reporter then asked: "You just said you have a series of plans, can you elaborate on them?"
"I'm sorry, because we are still in the preparation stage and cannot disclose more information for the time being."
Kevin Feige doing Tai Chi: “Maybe you can ask Director Gilbert Jr.
He has not yet made a final decision on what specific plans he has. "
This sentence has two meanings. The first meaning is that there is indeed a plan, but Marvel Studios needs Gilbert Jr. to make the final decision.
The second meaning is that the whole plan came from Little Gilbert. Everyone who works in the entertainment media knows who Little Gilbert is. It is the guarantee of the movie's success, so please don't worry.
Of course the reporters wanted to ask little Gilbert, but at this time little Gilbert didn't know where he was enjoying the sun and beach, and he couldn't be found at all.
This press conference from Marvel Studios still attracted a lot of attention, especially when "Spider-Man" was a box office hit.
Faced with Marvel Studios' ambitious plans, major Hollywood companies have had different reactions, but Warner's reaction has been the most intense.
The atmosphere in the high-level conference room of Warner Pictures was quite solemn.
Doug Walter has a headache. DC’s superhero movies still need redemption, but their ace director has supported Marvel’s superheroes.
Gilbert Jr. is the most important partner of Warner Pictures and the director of Warner Pictures. As the largest individual shareholder in the industry, they should favor Warner Pictures and DC no matter what. Looking at the solemn conference room, Solomon, the director of the distribution department, said: "I don't think everyone should be so pessimistic. Doug, didn't you say that little Gilbert is interested in Bruce Wayne?
Did he ever mention to you later, when and how he would develop the Batman story? "
This is where Doug Walter has a headache. Little Basic said this, but there was no news at all afterwards.
According to recent news, little Gilbert traveled around the world and was planning a pirate project when he came back.
Pirates have nothing to do with Bruce Wayne. Little Gilbert can't let Batman become a pirate, right?
This is normal film business behavior. Warner Pictures can't restrict Gilbert Jr. from cooperating with other film companies just because of his status as a shareholder and director, right?
Moreover, Little Gilbert is not working with other giant companies, but with Marvel Studios.
As early as when Warner Pictures took a stake in Melon Studios, Gilbert Jr. was already the boss of Marvel.
What's even more unexpected is that Gilbert Jr. holds Marvel shares in the name of his own Fruit Investment Company, not Melon Studios.
Otherwise, Warner Pictures would have become a shareholder of Marvel at this time.
Could it be that Gilbert Jr. had anticipated this when he acquired Marvel? But what is his purpose in doing this?
Unable to guess what little Gilbert was thinking, this high-level meeting ended hastily.
Doug Walter returned to his president's office, planning to find an opportunity to communicate with Gilbert Jr. and understand his thoughts.
But then the assistant reported: "President, Ms. Sheena Boone just sent a script, directed by Little Gilbert."
Doug Walter was shocked and immediately said: "Get it quickly."
The assistant brought the script over, and it read "The Dark Knight Trilogy", also known as "The Dark Knight Trilogy", written by Gilbert Jr., David S. Goyer, and Jonathan Nolan.
Looking at this thick script, Doug Walter smiled. It seemed that Little Gilbert had not forgotten Bruce Wayne, he was just playing.
Turning the first page of the script, Doug Walter saw the first line. Bruce Wayne asked Lucius Fox: "Is this car available in black?"
Warner Pictures should not doubt Little Gilbert. After all, Warner Pictures's interests are Little Gilbert's interests, and he will not leave DC superhero movies alone.
Both DC and Bruce Wayne were in need of redemption, and back in the summer of 1997, the latest Batman movie was directed by Joe Schumacher and starred George Clooney as Batman, the third Batman to be played in five years. or.
The villains include Poison Ivy played by Uma Thurman, Mr. Freeze played by Schwarzenegger, and there are a lot of big-name stars.
However, due to its childish costumes and action scenes, the film became the worst film in the Batman series, and both received critical acclaim and a box office failure.
Upon seeing this, Warner canceled plans for the fifth Batman movie in 1999 and hid the IP.
It can be said that Batman was once the signature of Warner Pictures and DC.
But now Marvel movies are making a lot of money. Although they have nothing to do with Marvel, they have even less to do with DC.
That's why Warner desperately hopes that little Gilbert can save DC movies, even if it means saving Bruce Wayne and Superman!
And when Marvel Studios makes a big move, Warner's reaction will be so intense.
In fact, as early as the beginning of the year, Joss Whedon approached Warner Pictures and proposed that he would film Bruce Wayne's story, but Doug Walter rejected it.
Doug Walter heard from Little Gilbert that Bruce Wayne had always been reserved for Little Gilbert.
Between Joss Whedon and Gilbert Jr., Doug Walter definitely trusts Gilbert Jr. more!
Little Gilbert had long known that Warner Pictures would be dissatisfied after the news of holding a press conference with Kevin Feige spread.
It's not that he was unprepared. As early as last year, Gilbert Jr. found David S. Goyer and asked Jonathan Nolan to participate in the screenplay.
From the beginning of writing the script, Gilbert Jr., along with David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan, watched everything from the 1966 Adam West version of Batman to the more recent Joe Schumacher version of the Batman. Hero movie.
After watching all the Batman movies, Gilbert Jr. felt that these versions of Batman movies all had a problem, that is, they were too cartoonish and divorced from the real context.
Afterwards, Gilbert Jr. discussed with the two screenwriters and decided to focus on the story of Bruce Wayne, the man wearing Batman's cloak.
"I want to make a superhero movie that I wanted to see when I was twelve years old." These are the original words of Gilbert Jr.
It is worth mentioning that after Gilbert Jr. came up with the idea for the story, David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan completed the script creation in the garage of Christopher Nolan's home.
Christopher Nolan is very concerned about the Batman movie. He often communicates with David and his brother Jonathan about the plot and provides a lot of opinions.
Christopher Nolan would even like to direct a Batman movie himself if he could.
But alas, this is little Gilbert's project.
(End of chapter)