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"Even if it's a live-action movie..." Michael Moore is a veteran in the industry, so he understands the situation better. He slowly thought about it and said, "There are also many live-action movies. Such classic fairy tales have too high market expectations and are difficult to remake. It's too big. Last year, Germany made a version of "Snow White," which failed at both the box office and word of mouth. In the early years, there were many live-action versions of "Snow White," but they failed to gain recognition."

Zhou Buqi insisted on his point of view, "Times have changed, and past movies have no reference significance. Movies in the past were about stories, and movies in the future are about the feeling of dreaming. I said that the four elements of future Hollywood blockbusters are inertia. , special effects, popcorn and family fun. Remaking classic fairy tales can best express these four elements."

Ann Sarnoff analyzed secretly.

Classic fairy tales are famous and consistent with the characteristics of inertia. Because it is a fairy tale for children, the plot is relatively simple and the popcorn properties are relatively strong. This is especially true for family fun. Children often need to be accompanied by their parents when watching movies.

But what about special effects?

Ann Sarnoff couldn't help but ask: "Does adapting a fairy tale require a lot of special effects?"

Zhou Buqi said: "So fairy tales cannot be copied as they are. The original story is too classic. No matter how you film it, it will never satisfy the audience. The best way is to adapt it, like an adaptation in a fantasy direction, with magic, legends, and Innocent imagination, pure and supreme true feelings.”

Michael Moore was silent.

Ann Sarnoff is not a professional in the film industry, but she believes more in Boss Zhou's "four elements" theory, and gradually agrees, "Yes, Snow White originally had sunglasses and poisonous apples, and she was inherently magical. , fantasy characteristics. If these four elements are met, this is indeed a direction that can be taken forward."

Zhou Buqi saw that Michael Moore, the president of the film production division, seemed to be undecided, so he waved his hand to stop him from thinking more, "Okay, this matter is settled!"

The story of Snow White is too classic. The advantage is that it is easier to market the movie after it is made. The disadvantage is that the audience's requirements are too high and it is too difficult to remake.

Zhou Buqi set a new production concept for future Hollywood blockbusters. This is of course not his personal originality. He just grasped the direction of future Hollywood blockbusters one or two years earlier than Hollywood.

Even without him having to mention it, with the success of a series of blockbusters such as "Avatar", "Alice in Wonderland" and "Iron Man", Hollywood itself can summarize this set of rules.

After the rules are summarized, it is necessary to move closer in the direction of the rules.

What kind of movie best meets the "four elements"?

Either it’s a “comic-adapted” blockbuster, or it’s a “child-adapted” blockbuster.

In the second half of 2011, Relativity Media took the lead and launched a project called "Snow White: Mirror Mirror". The filming was a mess and there was a lot of criticism.

But even though it was scolded by the market, this movie with an investment of US$85 million still earned US$183 million at the box office in the global market. The global account is 90 million US dollars, plus TV copyright and DVD sales, the total revenue from each channel exceeds 230 million US dollars. It can be considered a small profit.

Relativity Media is just a film company transformed from a platter investment company, and its quality is too low. In fact, at the same time, there was another company in Hollywood that followed up on the Snow White project, and it was Universal Pictures led by Michael Moore!

Universal Pictures spent a huge amount of US$170 million to produce a movie called "Snow White and the Huntsman."

The reputation is also very bad. The most annoying thing is that the beautiful Charlize Theron plays the Evil Queen and Kristen Stewart plays Snow White. When the queen asked the sunglasses "who is the most beautiful woman in the world," the ring replied: "Snow White." There was a boo in the cinema, and it felt like the magic mirror was like a cataract, unable to distinguish between beauty and ugliness.

Moreover, the film's script is also weak, with poor imagination, insufficient fantasy, and too many shortcomings. But even so, the film's global box office still reached US$400 million, and its global distribution reached US$200 million. Including all channels, total revenue reached US$550 million.

This movie, which had a very bad reputation, earned Universal Pictures at least $200 million.

This shows the power of these “four elements”.

In the past, only good films could sell well and make money. From now on, even if it is a bad movie with a bad reputation, as long as it finds the right market positioning, it can still make a lot of money.

Because "Snow White and the Huntsman" has achieved great success, and fairy tales are Disney's exclusive territory, they are naturally unwilling to give up their territory to others. This is why Disney's follow-up "Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella" and "Xiao Fei" "Elephant", "Aladdin" and other popular live-action movies around the world.

Michael Moore's style is somewhat conservative. Although "Snow White and the Huntsman" made a lot of money, the problem of the script was difficult to solve. Plus, when Disney entered the scene, he got scared and gave up on this route. He is very confident about competing with Relativity Media, and he is very confident about competing with Disney... let's forget it, it is best to retreat proactively.

However, Zhou Buqi is not afraid!

There is a great master in Ziweixing Universal, who is Disney’s mortal enemy. He has the ability, motivation, experience and imagination. This is Boss Zhou’s biggest reliance.

Because of the emergence of Zhou Buqi, the timeline has been advanced, but Michael Moore is still mature and prudent, and said in a deep voice: "Everything else is easy to talk about, and the theory of the four elements is also very good. But there is one thing that is difficult for us to solve, the drama The problem is that it is too difficult to adapt fairy tales. Even if the version is excellent, it may not be suitable for the innocent world of children."

"On the contrary, I think the drama should not be a problem." Zhou Buqi smiled, very confident, "We have Chief Creative Officer Katzenberg!"

Disney's revival in the 1980s and 1990s was based on a series of animated films led by Jeffrey Katzenberg, including a series of classics such as "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King" and "Aladdin."

Later, he broke up with Disney and went out to found DreamWorks.

DreamWorks Animation is now one of the three major animation studios in Hollywood and has produced a series of excellent animated films that are loved by children.

In other words, Katzenberg does not lack the imagination of children's world, and he can create beautiful dreams that suit children one after another!

There is indeed a big difference in the script between making a movie for adults and a movie for children. Just like Mo Yan cannot write fairy tales, Zheng Yuanjie cannot write rural novels.

Universal Pictures, led by Michael Moore, really lacks childlike thinking. It is not surprising that the plot of "Snow White and the Huntsman" they produced is too adult.

But it's different with Jeffrey Katzenberg. He is the true founder of the new era of Hollywood animation. Not only Disney, but also the founding animators of Pixar were all employees of Disney back then, and were brought out by Katzenberg.

Let him lead this series, there will be no problem!

Also, having the opportunity to work for Disney was a very exciting job for him.

Zhou Buqi continued: "Times have changed. In the past fairy tale princess movies, the princess was in trouble, and suddenly a kind prince appeared, saved the princess, and found true love. This set is outdated. Why must the princess be saved by the prince? The values ​​of bravery, independence, and self-reliance must be imparted to girls from an early age. They do not need to rely on men, and they can even take time to save the prince."

This is a typical feminist argument, and it was immediately recognized by Ann Sarnoff, a female executive, "Yes, this is the biggest difference between us and Disney. Yes, last year's German remake of "Snow White" "Princess", the pace is too slow, which is criticized. Our version can speed up the pace. Snow White eats the apple and is saved by the prince. This is only a small part of the plot. The more important plot should be placed in the continuity later, the prince is on the throne. They encountered trouble in the fight, but it was Snow White who bravely overcame many difficulties and rescued the prince, and then the prince and the princess were finally together."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "I think this idea is quite good!"

Michael Moore couldn't help but laugh, "It's quite interesting."

The matter is settled.

Then, DreamWorks Animation President Jeffrey Katzenberg, MGM President Bob Friedman and Illumination Entertainment President Christopher Meledandri were called.

Christopher Meledandri is also a master of animation.

Previously, he worked at 20th Century Fox, where he created the famous "Ice Age" animation series. Later, he broke up with Fox and joined Universal Pictures, responsible for the subsidiary Illumination Entertainment Animation.

However, Illumination Entertainment did not receive the attention of Universal Pictures before this. It was not until Zhou Buqi acquired Universal Pictures that they paid attention to him. And increased investment to convert his first animated film "Despicable Me" at Illumination Entertainment into a 3D version.

If Jeffrey Katzenberg is the chief creative officer, then Christopher Meledandri is the second creative officer of Ziweixing Global.

If you want to make a live-action movie of this kind of fairy tale, such an animation master must be involved in the script and make suggestions.

After some discussion at the meeting, Boss Zhou made the decision, and the matter was settled.

This series of "child reform movies" is not in charge of Universal Pictures, but is planned for Summit Entertainment, a subsidiary of MGM.

This is a brand-based arrangement.

Universal Pictures' brand often means horror, reality, action and other genres. MGM is even more exaggerated. The logo is a big lion with a bloody mouth, which can scare children.

In comparison, the sub-brand Summit Entertainment is more suitable.

The "Twilight" series is very popular among teenagers. Recently, Summit Entertainment has launched the "Hunger Games" series again, which is also a theme for teenagers.

Summit Entertainment is a subsidiary of MGM. MGM allocated some people to make "child reform" movies, building Summit Entertainment into a new movie brand for children and teenagers.

MGM is just too old.

Zhou Buqi himself didn't like it very much.

Because of capitalist operations in the early years, the MGM brand had long been split up. In addition to the MGM movie company, there are also MGM Grand Hotel, MGM Casino...

Depend on!

MGM's brand was ruined by them.

In this case, it is better to downplay the attributes of MGM and focus on promoting "Summit Entertainment".