Chapter 450: Now You See Me

Chapter 450: Now You See Me

Chapter 450: Now You See Me

When it comes to planning for the overseas film and television market, Wang Hao is not suffering from paranoia. Rather, his experiences in Hollywood and his contacts with those people have allowed him to see many deeper things.

Moreover, several of his films have actually been released in Europe and North America, but the responses were mostly mediocre and the box office was not ideal. It can only be said that there was no big loss.

That is to say, in Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and other places, his works still have good box office results, and the movie disc copyrights are also selling well.

Under such circumstances, Wang Hao seems to have only one choice, which is to focus on the domestic market, or to change his style and actively move closer to Hollywood, but this is definitely something Wang Hao is unwilling and unable to do.

Therefore, since they neither want to change their style nor completely give up the European and American markets, the Galaxy Group and Wang Hao actually have few options, and wearing a vest is undoubtedly the best choice.

Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures, two old friends who have cooperated with them for a long time, naturally became the best white gloves. In addition, the "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" also deliberately divided out a European and American side story, which not only fits the aesthetic needs and concepts of local audiences, but also supplements the main story of the movie universe.

This is just like the Marvel Cinematic Universe adding the Wakanda plot later in life, just to cater to a certain group of people.

Moreover, Wang Hao had actually planned this part very early. After all, with the vision of future generations, he had anticipated the situation he would encounter today.

For example, the film "Taken" which he initially directed, as well as the subsequent "Limitless", "The Mechanic", and the current "Now You See Me", are all similar products.

"Now You See Me" was jointly produced by Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Grey Moon Pictures, an overseas subsidiary of Galaxy Group. The director of the film was not the French director in the original version, but a more obedient American director.

In addition, there are many Chinese people in the behind-the-scenes team of this project. With the vigorous training of the Galaxy Group in recent years, they have a lot more behind-the-scenes workers who can master foreign languages.

After all, China doesn't have much in terms of other things, but it has a lot of talent. As long as the price is right, we can always find the right talent.

In addition to the behind-the-scenes team, most of the interior scenes of the entire "Now You See Me" were actually shot and produced in the [Oriental Galaxy Movie Metropolis] in China.

Because of these factors, the version of "Now You See Me" released today is naturally different from the original version.

Of course, the more important reason is that the story background of this movie must at least be integrated into the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] and needs to be linked with other works in the universe.

The story of this version of "Now You See Me" is not complicated. It mainly tells the story of four magicians who formed a new magician team called "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and performed chivalrous deeds like modern "Robin Hood" during their tour.

In the movie, the four magicians have superb skills.

Daniel, played by Jesse Eisenberg, is the leader of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". He is a quick-handed expert with extraordinary reaction speed and superb skills in sleight of hand. Not only can he put the audience under his control, but he can also cleverly hide his true self under the identity of a magician.

McKinney, the charlatan played by Woody Harrelson, is a master of hypnosis. He can hypnotize anyone at any time and anywhere, but because of this, he is always subconsciously rejected and guarded against by others.

Jack, played by Dave Franco, is the youngest and most handsome member of the team, but also the most daring one, with outstanding execution ability and the courage to take risks.

As for Henley, played by Isla Fisher, she is the only female in the team and her specialty is underwater escape. However, as an assistant to a star magician, she never had the opportunity to perform.

All four of them are intelligent and brave, and the team they formed also commits crimes in a high-profile manner.

Here, the [Galaxy Universe] version of "Now You See Me" made an adaptation to the motives of these four people.

In the original movie plot, the final boss is an FBI agent played by Mark Ruffalo. The Four Horsemen gather and commit crimes because of his manipulation and guidance. Their main purpose is also for personal revenge, because his father was killed by a credit union, an insurance company and an equipment manufacturer.

This greatly weakens the chivalrous thief background of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", reduces the audience's acceptance, and reduces the sense of satisfaction brought by robbing the rich and helping the poor. At the same time, the logical chain of the whole story is not so reasonable.

So in the [Galaxy Universe] version of "Now You See Me", the four of them formed the "Knights of the Apocalypse" because three of them are old friends and had contact in the past, but they parted ways due to certain factors and are now gathered together again.

As for the youngest Jack, he chose to join and follow them because he admired the former fame of the three of them.

And with the help of the reunion, the movie introduces a new concept or hidden character, that is, "Apocalypse".

This is connected to the other film "Detective Chinatown 2" of the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] which will be released during the Spring Festival. It turns out that in this world there are not only detective rankings, but also killer rankings and magic thief rankings in the dark world.

Three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been on the list before, but the legend of the Magic Thieves Ranking still belongs to "Apocalypse".

This is a legend. No one has ever known his identity, and he has never shown up. He only made a brief appearance more than ten years ago, and then stirred up the world, reaped a huge amount of wealth, and finally retired quietly.

Many years later, news of "Apocalypse" has spread again in the underworld. The reason why the Four Horsemen entered the underworld and this industry was because they were inspired by this legend. Now that they heard the news, they naturally made a comeback and hoped to attract the attention of "Apocalypse" through their own performance.

To do this, they committed a high-profile crime, becoming famous by remotely robbing a Parisian credit union from Las Vegas, and successfully announced their comeback.

At the same time, the incident also alarmed the FBI, and the FBI sent its best agent Dylan (Mark Ruffalo) and the beautiful police officer Alma (Melanie Laurent) sent by Interpol to investigate the matter.

Although the "Four Horsemen" were arrested by the police and taken to the police station, they acted very relaxed.

The FBI really couldn't do anything to them because the incident was too bizarre and the methods used by these people were sophisticated enough. The police did not have any substantial evidence to prove that they robbed the bank, and the thousands of spectators at the scene also provided them with an alibi.

Even the only lucky spectator who entered the bank vault was hypnotized, and his confession was of no use in court.

Faced with this situation, the FBI had no choice but to let the tiger go back to the mountains.

However, the Skynet is vast and nothing can escape it. Although the FBI only have a vague understanding of magic, they have their own secret weapon, that is Eddie, a genius with a super brain.

Although this person does not know any magic tricks, he has taken a special drug called NZT-48, which causes his brain to enter an overclocked state.

In that state, their learning ability, insight, memory and logical thinking ability can be improved to a certain extent.

With Eddie's help, the FBI quickly uncovered the first magic truth of the "Four Horsemen".

Although the FBI learned the truth about the magic, they still could not prove that the Four Horsemen were the criminals because they had no evidence.

So they planned to wait for the next crime and then catch all four of them. Soon, the "Four Horsemen" had a new member, and this time they played more boldly, robbing the deposit of an insurance company boss in front of many spectators.

The insurance company boss's deposits continued to decrease, and the audience members he harmed received bank text messages, and their deposits continued to increase. The "Four Horsemen" once again staged a trick of robbing the rich to give to the poor, and 1 million was looted in an instant.

After completing their great feat, the "Four Horsemen" withdrew. The FBI in the audience wanted to step forward and arrest them, but was interrupted by the audience. In the end, they could only watch the four men leave unwillingly.

But the rampant actions of the "Four Horsemen" undoubtedly offended more people.

On the one hand, the insurance company boss and credit union who lost a huge fortune because of them put up a bounty on several people in the underground world. On the other hand, with the help of Eddie's special ability, the FBI, who was fooled, locked the base of the four people with enough information and organized police forces to launch a raid.

The two sides staged a thrilling chase, and the four magicians showed off their skills and performed a wonderful escape magic in the complex and densely populated residential building.

However, Jack, the weakest and youngest of the "Four Horsemen", unfortunately got into a car accident while driving away. Although the FBI detective wanted to save him, he was ultimately powerless. He could only snatch away some manuscript paper with the magic plan, and then could only watch Jack die in the car explosion.

However, the part of the magic plan that was stolen was at least useful. It recorded some of the next plans of the "Four Horsemen". Combined with this, Eddie helped the FBI determine that they would perform their final farewell performance in an iconic building in New York.

As for their target this time, it will be the bill vouchers and records stored in the headquarters of a large private medical group, because this hospital's excessive medical treatment and excessive charges have caused countless families and individuals in the United States to fall back into poverty and become homeless on the streets.

Upon learning the news, the FBI immediately rushed to the headquarters of the medical group. However, due to the relationship with the consortium behind the company, the company did not buy the FBI's account and did not believe that the "Four Horsemen" could pose any threat.

After all, they had just recently completed the digitization of the bills, and those bills that originally filled a huge safe now only needed to be kept on a hard drive.

However, under the strong request of the FBI, they finally checked their digital bills, only to find that the important hard drive had been damaged because the technician was hypnotized.

Now the bills that filled a huge safe became the most important evidence. However, when the FBI and the medical group arrived at the warehouse, the safe had disappeared.

Fortunately, with Eddie's help, the FBI quickly locked onto the truck that towed the safe through road surveillance, and followed behind it, ready to wait.

However, when the truck arrived at the performance site of the remaining three of the "Four Horsemen", no one came to connect with the truck. After completing many gorgeous scene magic tricks, the remaining three magicians jumped down from a height and turned into countless flying bills.

It was only then that the FBI realized something was wrong, and when they went to check the big safe, they discovered that the contents had long been replaced with balloons.

As for the medical bills and receipts, they were naturally sent to each owner via express delivery.

At the same time, the story was also decrypted at the end.

It turned out that the "Four Horsemen" had used the rabbit hole principle to install a giant mirror to separate the safe from the rest. When the police arrived at the scene, they thought the safe had been moved, but in fact, the safe had remained in the same place.

After the FBI left, Jack, who had faked his death beforehand, broke the mirror and easily moved the real safe.

At the end of the story, the magic tricks and robbing the rich to help the poor performed by the "Four Horsemen" finally seemed to have attracted the attention of "Apocalypse".

They also received a special invitation and met the "legend" at an amusement park.

It turns out that this person is Eddie, who has super intelligence.

"You are 'Apocalypse'?!"

The four were extremely surprised and a little bit unbelieving, but Eddie just smiled and said something meaningful.

"We are all just His children. You can call me the 'Eye of Revelation'."

Then Eddie also gave his explanation for doing so.

It turns out that after Eddie took a special drug called NZT-48, which caused his brain to enter an overclocked state, he used this special ability to do some extraordinary things.

As a result, he was later recruited by the FBI and worked for them.

While working for the FBI, Eddie also came into contact with a large amount of data and information that he had never had the opportunity to access before, and he did demonstrate his abilities and value.

Then the FBI began to involve Eddie in a more core project, a program called "Person of Interest", a monitoring program invented by software genius Finch, aimed at detecting crimes that have not yet occurred.

The more he participated in the project and the more he learned, the more frightened Eddie became.

Because this program has revealed to him a corner of the dark society hidden beneath the real world.

"So what do you want to do?" The four horsemen were a little confused. "Help you get rid of the FBI?"

Eddie shook his head.

"It's not about what I want to do, but what that adult needs us to do."

He looked at the four people, his words filled with a surge of infectious power.

“The world is about to enter a new phase, where war, famine, plague and death may come to the world at any time, bringing new changes and more possibilities.

This has already been foreshadowed in you and me, hasn't it? Each of you is so special, with your own unique secrets.

Even at this time, there are still many of our brothers and sisters, and they are all so unique.

But only we, under the guidance of Lord Apocalypse, will become the navigators of this new world!"

(End of this chapter)