Chapter 373 The Hotly Hyped "Cinematic Universe" Concept
Chapter 373 The Hotly Hyped "Cinematic Universe" Concept
In fact, the day before the release of "Avengers", Forbes magazine announced the 2012 Forbes Chinese Celebrity List.
In the ranking, Wang Hao, an internationally renowned director, ranks first this year.
However, this news was undoubtedly overwhelmed by the news of the release of "The Avengers".
Although it was widely expected that this superhero masterpiece released by Disney Pictures and created by Marvel Studios would bring in good box office, the number of theaters it opened in and the first-day box office of 4349 million US dollars still surprised all industry insiders who were paying attention to the film.
This result is second only to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" in film history, ranking second in the box office ranking on the opening day.
In the three days of the weekend that followed, "Avengers" easily took in $2.03 million, easily surpassing the $2011 million record set by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 7" on July 15, 1.69, and won the title of the first weekend champion in North American film history.
Not only in North America, but also in China, "Avengers" is also making inroads, giving Chinese audiences a lot of wonderful and exciting visual enjoyment.
Even though they had just watched Inception a few months ago, that didn't stop them from appreciating and liking another Hollywood blockbuster.
Perhaps in terms of story, "Inception" is better, but as the final work of the first phase of Marvel after several superhero movies, "Avengers" is also extremely excellent.
This movie is a conclusion to several previous Marvel movies. The invasion of villain aliens poses a deadly threat to the earth, and no superhero can resist it alone.
SHIELD, which has long been committed to protecting global security, was caught off guard. Its commander, "One-Eyed Man" Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), realized that he must create a "strongest alliance organization in history" and gather superheroes from all sides to work together to save the world from dire straits and resist the invasion of dark forces.
Thus, the "Avengers" consisting of six super heroes - "Iron Man", "Thor", "Captain America", "Hulk", "Black Widow" and "Hawkeye" came into being.
They each showed their magical powers, united as one, and finally defeated the evil forces and ensured the safety of the earth.
At the same time, the Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet in the movie's post-credits scene give the Marvel Cinematic Universe even more exciting possibilities for the future.
Countless Marvel fans couldn't help but scream and were ecstatic after watching this movie in the cinema.
This enthusiasm and excitement is reflected in the performance of the film, which naturally means the box office continues to rise.
After 19 days of release, "Avengers" easily broke the 10 billion mark at the global box office. The distributor Disney proudly announced that this was its fifth film to gross over 10 billion US dollars, and Marvel Studios entered the 10 billion US dollar club for the first time.
This result also caused many movie fans in China to worry.
Because according to the popularity of "Avengers", its future global total box office is likely to exceed the performance of "Inception" not long ago, pushing it down from the third place in film history.
Chinese films are really difficult. It was not easy to find a Wang Hao who made a masterpiece like "Inception", whose box office performance successfully broke into the top three in global film history.
As a result, before it had even secured its place for a few months, it was easily surpassed by Hollywood movies.
Maybe we have one or two extremely outstanding directors, but there is still a huge gap between the Chinese film and television industry and Hollywood!
This thought comes to the minds of all fans who care about Chinese films, and they also feel pessimistic about this gap.
Because in their opinion, this gap did not seem to narrow because of the appearance of Wang Hao, but instead became larger and larger.
After all, Hollywood has more than just "Avengers" and more than just the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Not to mention Spielberg and other great directors, the Star Wars series, the Terminator series, the Jurassic Park series, the DC movie universe, the Transformers series, the 007 series, the Harry Potter series, the Pirates of the Caribbean series...
Compared with these movies, what else does China have? It seems that only Wang Hao's "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" is the only film and television work that can be shown off.
But even if Wang Hao is made of iron, how many nails can he hammer? In recent years, apart from him, how many other domestic directors have been able to prove themselves and have the ability to go abroad?
Is it Colonel Lu? Or Ning Hao?
You have to know that even among directors of Zhang Guoshi's generation, there are only three other directors of the same level.
If we expand the options to Chinese directors, there are quite a few great directors, both Chinese and Western, who are famous all over the world.
But nowadays in the domestic film and television circles, it seems that only Wang Hao can take the leading role. In the eyes of some people, this is the sadness of China's cultural undertakings and our backwardness in talent training and industrial environment.
However, compared with the worries and despair of Chinese movie fans and film and television enthusiasts, Wang Hao was extremely happy when he saw the box office performance of "Avengers" soaring.
Because unlike the previous life, in this life the term "cinematic universe" is no longer a unique label for Marvel movies.
In Wang Hao's previous life, it was because of Marvel's "The Avengers" that the term "cinematic universe" became popular and even profoundly influenced the development direction of global film and television.
Before the release of "Avengers", the big sellers were series like "Harry Potter", "Transformers" and "Pirates of the Caribbean".
Even comic book-adapted movies mostly follow the model of "Spider-Man", "Batman" and "Superman".
No one has ever thought of connecting the stories of several movies together like Marvel did, gathering the protagonists from each movie, and letting them form a team to fight against the villains.
But after The Avengers was released, everything changed.
The first is DC Comics, which has always been suppressing Marvel. According to the news Wang Hao heard from Sony, Warner Bros., which has been hesitant, has decided to officially create the [DC Movie Universe]. This news may be announced at next year's SDCC Comic Exhibition.
By then, "Batman v Superman", "Justice League", "Wonder Woman", "Aquaman", the new "Batman", "The Flash" and so on will all be put on the big screen one by one.
In addition, Warner Bros. is said to be working with Legendary Pictures to adapt the copyright of the monster special effects film purchased from Japan, bringing "Godzilla" to the big screen and creating a "Monster Movie Universe". In addition, there are reports that the completed "Harry Potter" series of films will most likely be republished by Warner Bros. to create a "Wizarding Universe". The story is said to go back in time and focus on middle-aged Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
It can be seen from these news alone that Warner is also full of a sense of crisis when facing Disney, which is continuing to expand rapidly relying on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It's not just Warner Bros. Pictures. Apart from Sony Pictures, which has made some achievements and got off to a smooth start in the "Spider-Man Cinematic Universe" because of Wang Hao, several other Hollywood film and television companies are also under increased pressure.
This is how capitalist society works, the winner takes all.
In the past, Disney Studios has cultivated countless fan groups with its low-age animated films. Its own business development has also shown a diversified trend due to Disney theme parks, and it has long entered the top echelon of several major Hollywood film and television companies.
Now, the [Marvel Cinematic Universe] has made up for Disney Studios' shortcomings in live-action films and provided it with an enduring cultural gold mine. It can be predicted that in the next decade or so, Disney Studios will inevitably become the top film and television company in Hollywood because of the [Marvel Cinematic Universe], and will completely distance itself from the other "Big Five".
So following closely behind Disney, Warner and Sony Pictures, Fox is going to launch their [X-Men Cinematic Universe], Paramount wants to use the "Transformers" series to expand a [Transformers Cinematic Universe], and Universal Pictures also wants to bring out the previous European and American monster movies and create a gimmick similar to the Avengers to build a [Dark Cinematic Universe].
It can be said that the "movie universe" has become a new trend in the future international film and television industry. Any film and television company with a little bit of strength wants to build its own film and television works into a "movie universe" like Marvel.
Especially since this route now has a successful example like "The Avengers".
Although Wang Hao's [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] has also been successful in the past, on the one hand, it is a Chinese film series, and the arrogance of Hollywood white people makes them subconsciously ignore it. On the other hand, it is also a work of [Galaxy Cinematic Universe], and it still relies more on Wang Hao.
Many senior executives of Hollywood film and television companies believe that the success of these "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" films is due to the fact that Wang Hao's scripts are good enough, and the concept of "cinematic universe" does not have much effect.
However, with "Inception" in front and "The Avengers" in the back, and the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] and [Marvel Cinematic Universe] all working together, they no longer have to worry and must create their own movie universe.
However, the development of this movie universe is not that simple. Marvel's success is based on its large number of comic fans and a large amount of story content. Coupled with Disney's film and television creativity and strong distribution channels, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has swept the world.
So, instead of taking the risk of uncertainty and laboriously opening up a new movie universe, why not just go with a mature project?
"Brother Hao, what are you looking at?"
After a busy day of filming, Jing Tian finally relaxed and took a bath in the hotel room. She made herself smell nice and was about to lie down on the bed when she found that Wang Hao didn't even look at her, but was staring at the computer screen in a daze.
She curiously leaned over and took a look at the computer screen, and found that it was an email, but the content was written in English.
"Dear Mr. Wang Hao... We... Warner... Galaxy Pictures..."
Jing Tian had been the annual spokesperson for Northwest Cherry designated by the Northwest Cherry Association of the United States and had been met by the Governor of Washington. Naturally, she understood English and immediately understood the meaning of the email.
"Warner wants to acquire Galaxy Pictures?!" Jing Tian asked in surprise.
Her words interrupted Wang Hao's thoughts. Wang Hao shook his head and smiled:
"How is that possible? Warner Bros. can't afford Galaxy Pictures now."
Wang Hao's words are not exaggerated. After several weeks of release, the global box office of "Avengers" has successfully surpassed Wang Hao's "Inception" and successfully reached 15 billion US dollars.
Disney acquired Marvel for $42.4 billion that year. Now, several years later, Marvel Studios has delivered such an answer, and its company valuation has at least doubled.
Wang Hao's Galaxy Pictures holds the "Galaxy Cinematic Universe", a major IP that is no less powerful than the "Marvel Cinematic Universe". Coupled with the current hot sales of "Avengers", the company's valuation is naturally rising.
Given Warner Bros.' current multi-faceted investments, it may not be possible for it to acquire Galaxy Pictures like Disney acquired Marvel.
“Of course, an acquisition is impossible, but Galaxy Pictures is about to conduct a Series B financing.
In the previous A round, the selection of investors was still somewhat considered, but it was only a small-scale screening, and many people did not have a chance.
Many people are actually watching this round of B financing.”
Wang Hao spoke slowly and clicked on another email. This time the sender was Disney Pictures. In addition, Fox, Universal, Hollywood and some Wall Street investment companies also sent emails to him or Galaxy Pictures.
The contents of the emails are all similar, and they are all about Galaxy Pictures' Series B financing.
"In a couple of days, the department heads of these companies should all come to Beijing. I may have to have dinner with them to discuss the B round of financing. The crew will give you a day off. You can come with me."
Wang Hao turned off the computer, hugged Jing Tian's fragrant and soft body, and fell directly on the big bed.
"Oh, I'll go with you?"
Jing Tian was a little surprised, but not much, because she was the one who went to serve as Wang Hao's female companion during the last round of A financing of Galaxy Pictures.
And her attention was quickly drawn to another thing in Wang Hao's words, and she asked curiously:
"So how much do you plan to raise in this round of B financing? What's your valuation?"
"What's the valuation?"
Wang Hao smiled slightly and stretched out a hand to gesture.
"To know the exact amount, you have to experience it yourself."
As he spoke, the hand moved downwards, causing Jing Tian to scream and shout "No".
(End of this chapter)