China Entertainment King of Science Fiction

Chapter 297 "The Walking Dead" will be a gold mine

"It's sweet! It's sweet!"

Chen Jingxing walked around twice before distributing all the Hershey's chocolate candies in the bag, and received a bunch of "Happy Wedding Boss" blessings.

Judging from the employees' reactions and expressions, Chen Jingxing couldn't help but feel good about himself, thinking that he was really a good boss.

Of course, it’s not that the candy is expensive, although it’s not cheap either, it’s one of Hershey’s higher-end chocolate candies, but no matter how expensive it is, it’s just that, and with the salary of DreamWorks employees, they won’t treat it as a benefit.

The main reason is that supervisors and bosses who can invite employees to wedding banquets but do not can definitely be called good supervisors and bosses. Chen Jingxing has also attended many employee wedding banquets.

After the blessing, Chen Jingxing talked with the executives of DreamWorks and several directors and producers who had signed contracts with DreamWorks about what happened when he was away from the company during his travel wedding.

Of course, first of all, the film business department reported on the current box office performance of "Mirage" and its upcoming overseas distribution, mainly in Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. Europe and the United States are also promoting distribution work. Secondly, they communicated about the release of "Gravity"

North American distribution and the deal with Universal.

When he heard that the web drama "The Walking Dead" he was going to direct actually had the future prospects of cooperation with Universal and the development of IP that might be worth billions of dollars, because "Mirage" had been a bit high-spirited recently, Tian Xinye looked at Chen Jingxing in stunned silence and said with a wry smile:

"Boss, you really think highly of me!"

Even though I know that the drama "The Walking Dead" is indeed a project that Chen Jingxing values ​​​​more, and the investment is indeed quite large, if compared with industrial movies, this project can definitely be regarded as an "industrial TV series."

Other executives who don't have any artistic bacteria don't think young people will be crazy about this kind of subject.

This is the habitual thinking of many directors. Movies are different from TV series. Those who have directed movies, especially those who have achieved great commercial success, will naturally look down upon TV series.

No matter how confident you are in Chen Jingxing, you will at most think that this drama will be a commercial success.

People sometimes are not aware of their own needs, and needs are often created.

Finally, under Chen Jingxing's persuasion, Tian Xinye gave up the idea of ​​"letting go", but the price was that Chen Jingxing agreed to become the producer and supervisor of this zombie drama.

As for the zombie theme, they have an innate aversion to it, whether it is domestic or foreign. Even if Chen Jingxing gave a seemingly grand setting and background, they did not feel that this would be a qualitative improvement.

Tian Xinye's disapproval of the project itself made him quickly want to retreat after learning that Chen Jingxing had placed expectations on this project that were completely beyond his imagination.

Ugly, disgusting monsters with swollen bodies, slender nails, and shriveled skin that crawl out of graves at night, attack cattle, sheep, or humans in villages and drain their blood will become popular.

Culture and symbols? Thousands of men and women can’t help but fantasize about it, love it and even become crazy about it?

And vampires are afraid of garlic and mustard...

If we want to change and upgrade this genre and bring it into the mainstream, we need to reduce the level of seriousness as much as possible, get rid of the label of plasma film, and also lower the level of horror.

Moreover, it is the male lead and a very important female role. The male lead is played by Li Hanjun, who is currently a third-tier actor. The female role is played by Ye Shunan, who was born as a child star. Her acting skills are okay and her image is more suitable.

Just like in a world without "Interview with the Vampire", "The Twilight Saga", "The Vampire Diaries", "True Blood", "Underworld" and other works that contribute to vampire pop culture and supplement fashionable settings, people are

It’s hard to imagine that the vampire theme could still become a popular subculture.

All that's left is whether you can tell a story well.

After finding a "tall" head tank, Tian Xinye can calm down and advance the preparation and setup of "The Walking Dead".

But obviously he still greatly underestimated Chen Jingxing's importance and expectations for this niche and alternative work on the zombie theme.

Chen Jingxing looked at the group of people in the conference room, the youngest of whom was over thirty years old, and sighed secretly in his heart.

As long as the ugly vampires are changed into elegant and handsome men and beauties with superhuman strength, so that their skin can shine like diamonds in the sun, and then they have some twisted or normal love with humans, they can create a charming charm.

I like this setting.

Not only Tian Xinye, but also CEO Xu Wenshen was a little stunned by Chen Jingxing's "outlook", and of course it was unbelievable.

Those who are not young may not be able to grasp the charm of the zombie theme. Of course, this is not the main reason. Even a teenager may not be able to feel optimistic about Chen Jingxing's description.

The first problem at present is that there are gaps in the cast of "The Walking Dead" that were originally confirmed at the end of last year.

If Chen Jingxing's expectations for "The Walking Dead" were to spread, even the most die-hard fans would think it was a bit exaggerated, and most netizens and media would think it was a fantasy.

I have no objections to this project, but it is the guarantee of Chen Jingxing's prestige and successful history, and also that even if something goes wrong, it will not break his muscles or move his bones.

But no matter how crazy you are, you can’t imagine that Chen Jingxing’s “successful expectations” for this project are that it can create a popular theme in the science fiction category and that it can bear golden fruits. This is a bit exaggerated, too exaggerated.

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However, Tian Xinye, who already has a film under his belt, is actually not afraid of the TV series he took over temporarily, even though the production cost of "The Walking Dead" far exceeds that of "The Mirage".

Zombie-themed film and television works, whether domestic or Hollywood, are niche and at the lowest end of the contempt chain. Chen Jingxing actually wants to make this type of subject into a popular IP or even a subculture, and he even thinks that he can

Realize the comprehensive development of games, animations and films.

For example, set up a very cool biological company, a cool virus, divide the zombies into types according to their abilities and dangers, set levels from low to high, hierarchize them, and then place them in the wasteland apocalyptic background.

, apply the narrative logic of a road movie, and add some supernatural elements if possible.

When the project was first established, Chen Jingxing was impressed by the creativity of "Black Mirror" and "Person of Interest". Even if it may not be a success in the market, it is definitely a drama worth filming. Directors like Tian Xinye

I even felt that it was worth taking the photo even if I had to lose money.

If this fails to achieve the expected results, wouldn't he be the first person responsible?

The problem is that he himself doesn't believe that "The Walking Dead" will reach such heights. Even if Chen Jingxing is "deeply kind" to him, he is determined to let him go.

Although Chen Jingxing has a glorious history of being slapped in the face, at least until now, there have been no problems with the decisions Chen Jingxing made and the directions he pointed out. For DreamWorks insiders, they are even more convinced of Chen Jingxing’s ideas and decisions than the outside world.

high.

Hollywood zombies are often associated with witchcraft or disease, and are firmly restricted in a narrow "space" by plasma films. The labels are disgusting, monster, horror, heavy-mouthed and essential gore. Such restrictions

It is destined to be unable to transcend the niche within the niche, let alone become a popular subculture.

In this way, the foundation for popular settings is laid.

Tian Xinye admitted that this script was indeed very innovative and creative, but so what?

In his eyes, it is just a fusion of highway themes and Hollywood zombie themes. Zombies are just a group of ugly monsters. The highway theme and the background of the apocalypse, coupled with the ugly and disgusting so-called living dead monsters, can trigger young people's imagination.

Interested? Young people nowadays love to watch this stuff? It can even form a popular subculture?

Games, animation, and movies are in full bloom?

A director like Tian Xinye, who is very artistic, can't quite understand what's so worth liking about this.

But they still can't convince themselves to believe the boss's pie, even though they have basically read the script of "The Walking Dead".

If you add some grand and fashionable origin settings, add some knighthood levels linked to power, add some ancient family entanglements, the confrontation between light and darkness, and the depiction of various supernatural forces, change vampires into vampires,

He will become more popular and become a more fascinating pop culture worldview.

The same is true for the zombie theme. In this dimension, domestic zombies in the past were associated with the official uniforms of the Qing Dynasty, but now the zombies that have been popularized through the Internet appear to be more vulgar and low-end.

Of course, Chen Jingxing was not sure of victory, but he also did not have any psychological pressure to worry about gains and losses.

In fact, both Xu Wenshen and Tian Xinye were somewhat disapproving of the fact that Chen Jingxing attached so much importance to the "The Walking Dead" project.

The two characters originally selected were both relatively well-known actors. Because Chen Jingxing attached great importance to this project, he tended to achieve a balance between acting skills and a certain amount of traffic. In fact, this drama does not require many actors.

Great acting skills.

Unexpectedly, two actors with important roles actually proposed to terminate their contract when Tian Xinye was busy with the promotion of "Mirage" and was about to prepare for filming "The Walking Dead".

This made DreamWorks very passive, and soon afterwards, a marketing account released news on the Internet, saying that DreamWorks forced actors to sign overlord contracts, delayed and occupied actors' schedules, and made it impossible for actors to take on other projects as the project was repeatedly delayed.

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Apparently it was revealed by the two actors' teams, and even spread with the instructions, in order to create public pressure on the Internet and get DreamWorks to agree to negotiate a termination of the contract, so that liquidated damages would not be recovered.

(End of chapter)