Chapter 338 The Fantastic Four was filmed in 21 days
"Oh, is this little Roger?"
Roger Coleman arrived at Ronald's house and finally met the little guy who was named after him. Traditionally, this is a great deal of respect, and Coleman was very helpful and stayed with the little guy.
Roger played for a while.
Diane came over and took away little Roger, leaving Ronald and Coleman to talk about business.
"Has it been cut yet? I have to take a look..." Ronald was caught off guard. Minahan Golan commissioned Corman to film the Marvel comic adaptation movie "Fantastic Four", which has already been filmed in Corman's style.
In the fast shooting mode, the finished film was produced.
The two walked to the projection room at home. The projectionist had prepared the machine. A beam of light shone on the screen. The logo of Roger Corman's new company "New Horizons" was printed on the screen.
"New Millennium" is too hard to pronounce, so I changed it back to a simple word that high school students can pronounce.
The logo is gold, with some blank lines drawn out like blinds in the middle. It's very similar to the "New World" logo he sold, the design, the pattern, the way the logo animation goes in and out...
But if you take a closer look, you can't find a completely consistent place. The old viewers of New World in those days will definitely think that this is produced by a company, but from a legal point of view, the evidence of plagiarism is insufficient.
Ronald gave a knowing smile. In order to spend a small amount of money and accomplish big things, Coleman would do anything on the sidelines.
"Dang, dang, dang... dang, dang..." When Ronald heard the opening melody, he almost laughed again. Because it was very similar to the background music when Darth Vader, the Black Duke, appeared in "Star Wars".
similar.
But upon closer inspection, not a single note in the melody is the same.
Sure enough, it was produced by Roger Corman!
The movie begins with Mr. Fantastic's college life, and soon fast-forwards to the story of four astronauts who were mutated by radiation on the space station and developed various superpowers.
The more Ronald watched, the more surprised he became. Contrary to his imagination, the special effects of this B-level movie shot with a budget of one million US dollars were not very bad.
For example, the one who turned into a stone man, in the long shot, it is obvious that the actor is wearing a leather sheath, but in the close shot and close-up, you can see the traces of special effects makeup, his eyebrows can still move, and it is also obvious on his body.
There are many places where fake muscles are made.
Another example is the invisible woman. Her protective barrier gives her a sense of isolation when it is released. She also has sound effects so that it doesn't look like a plastic special effect worth two and a half bucks.
The most amazing thing is the actor of the villain Doctor Doom. He also has a Shakespearean dramatic accent when speaking. Although his skills are average and much worse than the British actors Ronald is familiar with, he has a somewhat literary accent when it comes to Doctor Doom.
It is surprisingly suitable for the villain.
It can be seen that these actors did not shoot with the attitude of shooting B-level movies. On the contrary, they were very devoted to the filming. Just because of budget constraints, some scenes that require large investment still seem a bit cheap and not worthy of the actors.
's performance.
Ronald regretted a little. If he had known that these people's performances were so strong, if he had given them more money, maybe they could have made a hit movie?
However, forget it, Batman has made such a big investment and cannot bear the risk by himself.
Ronald looked at Colman, stretched out his hand and shook it vigorously, "Congratulations, this movie is among the best in quality even among the movies produced by Colman..."
"Yeah, it's a bit of a pity, but I was able to make 200% of the profit and it was completed in twenty-five days. Even in the movie sequences produced by Corman, the return on investment is very high...
"
Ronald waved the projectionist to turn on the lights. He thought for a while and said to Coleman, "Give me the list of these creators. I think their quality is good. I will give them priority when I have projects here."
Casting..."
"Very good..." Roger Corman relied on word of mouth to walk in Hollywood. Seeing that Ronald was so considerate, he felt relieved.
…
"Quack, quack, this quality is simply too good. How much did they spend?" Minahan Golan also saw the finished film the next day. He was so happy that he patted his chair. "Let me tell you, this movie
As long as someone invests 10 million US dollars, it will definitely become a blockbuster movie."
"Ten million is not enough..." Ronald had already regained his composure.
B-level movies and big-budget productions are not actually a quality evaluation criterion. This movie was shot for one million dollars in three weeks, and the audience will tolerate all the shortcomings in it. For example, the laser is too fake, and the spaceship looks too much like a model.
La……
Because when the audience goes to see it, they know that it is a B-level movie. Their expectation for B-level movies is that if a certain aspect is good enough, the movie will pass the test in their minds.
The props are not good, the costumes are not good, and the special effects are average, but the actors' performances are very close to the comics, especially Doctor Doom, whose appearance is like an image straight out of a comic book.
This is how the audience treats B-level movies. As long as one element meets their requirements, they will give the movie a thumbs up.
In fact, this is the reason why exploitation films are so popular in Hollywood. It doesn't need to be 80% in every place. As long as one place is 90% and the others are unqualified, they will also like to watch it.
But for mainstream commercial films, the audience does not have this quality evaluation system.
They will evaluate mainstream movies released by the seven major studios with a sense of immersion. If the actors look suitable and have first-class acting skills, but the supporting roles are not strong enough, your feature film will be rejected.
The action scenes are great and the fights are exciting, but the plot is a bit weak and unreasonable in its progression and transition. I'm sorry, but your action movie has received a lot of criticism.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! As a B-level movie, this Fantastic Four can indeed score high, and it can definitely recover the cost if it is screened. But if it wants to be a qualified commercial film, each
If you achieve 80% in all aspects, then it is not something that can be accomplished with 10 million.
The most important factors were that the male and female protagonists should be beautiful enough, the special effects scenes should not be dramatic, and the final climax should have a big scene (explosion, flying, and fighting are exciting enough). Ronald hired the special effects director to figure it out, and there was no such thing.
Don’t even think about doing it for 40 million yuan.
"But it's enough for you and Stan Lee to have a good chat..."
"Gah ga ga, no problem, I'll take care of it..." Minahan Golan took the order and left.
…
"This..." Stan Lee is the main writer of many Marvel comics. He is tall and thin, and wears a pair of high-profile glasses. After watching the movie, he felt bad.
"This movie can't be released, oh my God, it's terrible..."
After Stan Lee learned that the "Fantastic Four" he created had been purchased by Minahan Golan, the nightmare he often had finally became a reality.
How can a movie like this be compared with "Batman"? Not to mention it's 1990, even if it were set back ten years, it couldn't be compared with DC's first comic book adaptation movie, "Superman"?
The special effects were behind the times. They couldn't even do the flying action of "Superman" in 1978. Throughout the movie, the flying scenes of the character "Human Torch" just smelled of cheapness.
How can cheap sneakers purchased at Walmart for $150 compare to Air Jordans priced at $150 a pair at a Nike store?
"Why can't this be released? Are you saying that the flight special effects in the movie are too bad? No, I filmed the fourth Superman movie. Why do I feel that the flying scenes in this movie are more realistic than Superman IV? You see
This Human Torch can still burst into flames when it flies. Isn't it much better than Superman's flying?
Let me tell you, the quality of this movie is very good, maybe it can be compared with the Superman series. The Fantastic Four's future reputation will be about the same as that of Superman and Batman... quack quack."
"You...hehe..." Stan Lee became angry.
In fact, if I had said this at the beginning of last year, it would not have been a big boast. The performance in this movie is indeed much better than the superficial performance of Superman, and the emotions of the four leading actors were all on point.
Moreover, although the special effects are terrible, they are not terribly bad compared to Superman IV (made by Minahan), which was a super bad movie that had worse special effects than the first Superman film ten years ago.
But who gave birth to Batman?
The rich gothic style in Batman, coupled with the super sexy and beautiful heroine Kim Basinger, and the super stylish villain the Joker, who is almost more popular than the protagonist Batman, have such gems in front,
This Fantastic Four is like Ito...
You are not afraid that the movie will be bad, but you are afraid that the quality of other people's movies with similar themes is too different from yours.
The audience's standards for quality are based on comparison. In the past ten years, the audience has set a higher quality impression of DC's Superman series (Superman IV, Supergirl) and the quality that comic book adaptations should have.
Last year's Batman greatly raised the bar for comic book adaptations. In this case, if Marvel's first comic book adaptation movie is this "Fantastic Four"...
In the minds of the audience, DC comic characters and Marvel comic characters will automatically be divided into two levels.
This is something that will be very disappointing not only for comic book fans... You know, most of the viewers who watch Batman are not comic fans. They just know that there is such a character, and then go to the cinema to watch it. Batman in the movie
, the storyline of Superman is their basic impression of DC characters.
This is the power of movies. Its spread and moving images' subconscious sublimation of the audience are beyond the reach of other art categories.
If "Fantastic Four" is really released, then Marvel characters will be positioned as second-rate or third-rate...
Moreover, Marvel is facing a financial crisis. If it continues to leak out a large number of comic adaptation rights (Marvel already has many comics, and they are cheap, the Fantastic Four only costs 250,000 US dollars), then there is no guarantee that there will not be a bunch of people following suit.
This kind of exploitation film style is used to make quick money by making B-level movies.
If, in the future, the comic characters I participated in the creation of are regarded as garbage when the audience mentions them...
Stan Lee quickly expelled this terrible scene from his mind. Fortunately, the agreement he made with Marvel back then gave him the power to review and change movies and TV series.
If he is not satisfied, he can boycott the release, as long as he can make up for the loss of the producer...
"Tell me, how much money do you need before you are willing to cancel the release? Seal the negatives? (In fact, it is best to burn them on fire!)" Stan Lee looked at Minahan Golan, who was talking proudly about his release plan, coldly.
Throw out a sentence coldly.
"I am very optimistic about the box office of this movie. The actors are very good. The special effects are not as good as Batman, but they are better than Superman IV. I am planning to hold premieres in Beverly Hills and Manhattan, New York, and then a few more
A talk show on a TV station.”
"I will not let this movie be released..." Stan Lee's forehead veins burst out.
"Hey, guess what, I can also use the original author Stan Lee to try to prevent the film from being released as a gimmick, so that the audience can see how bad this movie is to make the original author furious. Then they entered
In the cinema, once you see it... Quack, it's not that bad..."
"It's worse than imagined..." Stan Lee already understood at this time that Minahan Golan, an old gangster, was actually bargaining.
"I think you must know that I have talked with Warner Bros., hoping that they will take over the filming rights of this movie. Now that you have made the movie before it expires, you can automatically renew the contract. Why don't we sit down and have a good talk?
A deal…
In fact, what's the benefit of making this kind of movie? After it was released, although my interests were damaged, the opening movie of your new company, 21st Century Pictures, was such a criticized one... It's a realization for you.
Dreams certainly do no good…
I can help you convince Warner Brothers to buy the script adaptation rights from you, and then give you a compensation..."
Stan Lee signed an unequal treaty with Marvel back then, but he was actually a very business-savvy person. He changed his lobbying methods and persuaded Minahan from the perspective of interests.
"Do you know my dream?" Minahan Golan still had a smile on his face.
"I have read your interview. You want to make a movie that will shock Hollywood. In fact, this kind of special effects movie is not what you are best at. I really like the break dancing you have produced before..."
"What do you need to say?" Minahan muttered. He came with a mission...
"I need to make up for my losses. My movie can earn at least three to five times the box office of the shooting cost, as well as income from video tapes, overseas distribution, and sequel shooting..."
"I won't tell you the specific price, but I will ask you one thing. I will go find Warner Brothers. Are you willing to cooperate?" Stan Lee was moved by Minahan's shamelessness and quickly asked the most important question.
"I need to be compensated for my earnings. People at Warner Bros. have always been stingy, but they are insiders and know the potential of my B-level exploitation film. There is nothing I can't talk about..."