It has been a year since frozen was handed over to DreamWorks, and MGM has invested a total of 100 million US dollars.
Its fame needs no introduction, it was the highest-grossing film of 2013, raking in 800 million US dollars globally.
Since it was released in late November, frozen was still showing at the end of December, and its box office at the time had not surpassed Iron Man 3's 100 million US dollars.
Many people thought the crown for the annual champion would go to Iron Man 3.
Who knew that frozen would continue to gain momentum, earning a lot of box office in 2014, achieving a cross-year overtake, and ultimately Princess Elsa defeated Tony Stark.
Eric's task for Spielberg was to ideally catch the summer slot. DreamWorks has been working overtime for the past year, but the average production cycle for animated films is always longer than live-action films, so whether this goal can be achieved remains uncertain.
If they really can't make the summer slot, they will have to adjust to the Christmas slot.
But he still has several blockbusters expected for the Christmas slot, such as the hunger games, Inception, and transformers 2.
Clustering them together certainly won't work; fighting each other will only lead to mutual destruction. If a slot cannot be adjusted, it can only be arranged for 2005.
The production plans for captain america and Iron Man have also been announced.
captain america is directed by the Russo Brothers. In later generations, captain america 2 and captain america 3, which were Marvel's highest-rated films, were both directed by these two brothers, and Avengers 3 and Avengers 4 also came from their hands.
Last year, Eric had them direct happy death day, so this time, he simply handed over the entire Captain America series to them.
As for the script, Eric completed the outline, which was then refined and revised by the Russo Brothers and Stan Lee.
The original Captain America 1, if not a complete disaster, was at least a mediocre work, a very bland and uninspired film.
If you only focus on Douban, you might be surprised by its score of over 7, thinking it's not bad, but this score is the result of various superimposed factors.
First, it was 2011, when the Chinese film market was just entering a boom period, and a new generation of moviegoers was just becoming the main force.
This group of young people had not experienced the baptism of excellent superhero films, and suddenly seeing a captain america, they were naturally attracted by elements such as serum, the Cosmic Cube, and super soldiers, and thus believed that superhero films should be like this.
Then there was the generally low level of appreciation among moviegoers, where all kinds of bad movies could flourish and make a lot of money, with the Tiny Times series being a representative example.
Feng Xiaogang's remark that there are many bad Chinese films because there are many bad audiences, one has to admit, has some truth to it.
Ultimately, it's because they haven't seen good ones; their horizons are too narrow, and they get excited at anything novel.
This situation lasted for about ten years before improving. The overall level of moviegoers rose, and bad movies were no longer so easy to trick money out of, which is why excellent works like Dying to Survive and The Wandering Earth could emerge.
However, looking at European and American audiences in 2011, the economic advantage meant that going to the cinema was already a daily pastime.
Superhero films like X-Men, Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four were regulars in cinemas; everyone had already seen too many of them.
Especially Nolan's batman, which brought superhero films to a ceiling level, with The Dark Knight directly ranking among the top 250.
They had long since feasted on delicacies, and it would be strange if they found Marvel's borscht palatable.
There were also many aspects that were criticized, such as the dragging plot, with many early civilian scenes being completely unnecessary and deletable.
Marvel isn't going down DC's profound path, so why bother with so many civilian scenes? Joy, laughter, and playful fighting are the paths you should take.
Never learn from batman; whoever learns from it will die!
Also, the war scenes were too childish, likely limited by insufficient funds. Most of the war scenes were skipped, with no grand spectacle. How could it be called World War II?
Compared to wonder woman's war scenes, it's far too inferior, and it can't even be compared to professional WWII films.
The action scenes were equally terrible. We don't ask for pretty fighting, but at least Captain America and Red Skull's confrontation shouldn't look like street thugs brawling.
Agent Smith, you at least participated in The Matrix. Think about the fight scenes in The Matrix, and then compare them to captain america's fight scenes. Even without a Martial Arts Instructor, it shouldn't be so bad.
Speaking of the main villain, Red Skull, as Captain America's most classic opponent, was portrayed too weakly in the movie and was equally disliked by audiences.
Due to multiple factors, Captain America 1's global box office did not exceed 400 million US dollars. Compared to its production and marketing costs of nearly 200 million US dollars, Marvel undoubtedly lost money.
This was one of the few films that caused Marvel to lose money. Another film that lost money was Thor 1, released in the same year, which also had a terrible plot, even worse than Captain America 1.
But perhaps because his popularity was higher than Captain America's, and gods were indeed more appealing to audiences than humans, the final box office reached 400 million US dollars.
If this mediocre work's plot isn't changed, and it goes up against batman next year, it will definitely bomb spectacularly.
So Eric made many modifications, addressing the audience's complaints from that year. He reduced the number of civilian scenes, expanded the war scenes, made the war scenes more realistic, and filmed them in the style of wonder woman's cinematography.
The ending of the main villain, Red Skull, was also modified, changing it to him being directly killed and removed from the story, getting rid of that spatial teleportation nonsense.
Marvel back then might have wanted to lay a groundwork, keeping Red Skull alive just in case he could be used someday.
But they later forgot, and after seven or eight years, when filming Avengers 3, they suddenly remembered such a character. So, they quickly brought him out for a cameo, at least to attract a wave of nostalgia and earn a few more cents at the box office.
This approach was purely a waste of resources, lacking any logic or groundwork, and there was no need to forcibly arrange this plot; it was cringeworthy.
Eric changed all similar boring plots. Just tell an exciting, action-packed origin story of a hero, and the box office will be guaranteed not to lose money.
Chris Evans plays the male lead, Steve Rogers, while the main villain, Red Skull, is still played by the Elf King, Hugo Weaving.
Eliza Dushku successfully auditioned for Agent Carter. This character's popularity and commercial potential are too low; Marvel only made one season of a TV series before giving up, so it doesn't matter who plays her.
Eliza Dushku is beautiful, has rich acting experience, and has participated in popular TV shows and movies like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bring It On, and Wrong Turn. She is perfectly capable of playing this role.
As for whether she went through any unspoken rules to get the role, Eric couldn't be bothered to care.
Another important supporting role, Bucky the Winter Soldier, was taken by Luke Evans. The original Winter Soldier actor hasn't even debuted yet, so there's nowhere to find him.
Eric didn't pay attention to other minor roles; it doesn't matter who they are, as they are all cannon fodder with very few scenes.
After this cast list was announced, it received a lot of praise, with the main point of contention being Chris Evans' physique.
He lost weight and muscle to play Sam, and now he's playing Captain America, so some people felt his physique was too weak, not like a super soldier.
In response, Chris Evans and his fans threw out old photos of him playing a big guy in school, stating that he was confident in playing Captain America, which effectively silenced these people.
The script for Iron Man, however, didn't need to be changed. It presented Tony Stark's growth arc and was already excellent.
But it's hard to imagine that this script was actually improvised by the director and screenwriters on the fly.
As Marvel's last stand, Iron Man should have been fully prepared before filming began, but for some reason, the initial stages of this 400 million dollar investment were a mess.
Every day, when everyone arrived on set, the first thing they did was wait for the director and screenwriters to communicate, flip through comic books for inspiration, and then write two pages of the script.
Once the temporary script was out, the director would give the order, and everyone would start filming.
This blockbuster, which kicked off the superhero era, would have been a 100% flop if it weren't for director Jon Favreau's excellent ability to control the overall situation and Robert Downey Jr.'s strong improvisation skills.
If Captain America 1 and Thor 1 had failed later, Marvel would have entered its grave prematurely, and the later DCEU would not have appeared.
So, Robert Downey Jr. earning over 100 million US dollars in salary is not unfair from Marvel.
However, Iron Man 2, still directed by Jon Favreau, was a letdown, with both fan and general audience reviews plummeting. The directing rights for Iron Man 3 were also given to someone else.
Unfortunately, Iron Man 3 was also quite mediocre, with fan reviews worse than the second film, though general audience reviews did improve somewhat.
The Iron Man series peaked at its beginning, relying entirely on the first film and a few Avengers appearances. Fortunately, the Avengers films, except for the second one, were all good; otherwise, this superhero would have collapsed.
Tony Stark is played by Robert Downey Jr.. Since his comeback with Shoulder Dance, he has been constantly apologizing and repenting. Although many still have doubts, Downey's public image has improved considerably.
Pepper Potts was cast as Jennifer Lopez, a beautiful actress with both popularity and acting skills.
Nick Fury, the 'Furry Egg', continues to be played by Samuel L. Jackson, and the main villain, Iron Monger, is still the veteran actor Jeff Bridges.
Aside from Robert Downey Jr. drawing some criticism, the overall casting was well-received by fans.
the hunger games, on the other hand, stars Gadot, with the role of the original District 5 fox given to Liu Yifei.
This character is very intelligent, and Eric added a trait that she is also very skilled in combat. Chinese stars who want to make it in Hollywood must be good at fighting, and Liu Yifei's year of kung fu training should now come in handy.
The male lead was Andrew Garfield. He was originally Eric's ideal choice for Sam, but unfortunately, he didn't participate in the transformers open audition at the time. This year, he finally debuted.
The British Trio also each had a blockbuster arranged. Tom Hardy starring in Inception goes without saying; this film garnered high external attention the moment its cast list was announced.
Christian Bale, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Heath Ledger, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Morgan Freeman.
Except for Tom Hardy and Heath Ledger, who are a bit young, the others are either Oscar winners or nominees, or at the very least, Best Supporting Actor.
Coupled with Eric, a director who excels in both commercial and artistic films and is also a Best Screenwriter, the Oscar-level cast is overwhelmingly impressive and dazzling, already labeled as a must-see by many.
James McAvoy also landed a lead role this time, as MGM plans to start filming wanted.
Or, to use another more famous name, the movie where bullets curve, which gave us the iconic scene of Star-Lord getting his teeth knocked out: wanted.
In the original timeline, he truly rose to prominence through this film, and it's given to him again this time, hoping he can soar to great heights.
In addition to wanted, he was also cast as the lead in a low-budget thriller called Split.
The racing film that stole the fast and the furious concept is also about to begin filming, choosing the masterpiece that truly elevated the series to a top-tier IP, Fast & Furious 5.
If you have Vin Diesel, I'll invite Dwayne Johnson to challenge him.
If you have Paul Walker, I'll choose Michael Fassbender, who also has a beard.
Anyway, whatever the fast and the furious has, my rampage has it too: fast cars and beautiful women speeding along.
A story of a group of car thieves speeding through Rio de Janeiro will definitely be much better than last year's the fast and the furious: Tokyo Drift.
After a year, the new 007 series should also be launched. The previous No Time to Die was led by Universal because of MGM's own mismanagement, allowing them to make a lot of money.
This time, Eric naturally wouldn't let it go again. Since Bruce Pierce had stepped down as 007, a global audition had already begun, and British actor Daniel Craig was finally selected.
Having been accustomed to his 007, indeed no one is more suitable than Craig.
So, this film was naturally decided: 007 Casino Royale has already started filming.
MGM also acquired the film and television adaptation rights from the Queen copyright management association and is about to launch the music biopic bohemian rhapsody.
This film is an absolute paradigm of high integration of commercial and artistic elements, raking in over 900 million US dollars globally and garnering multiple Oscar nominations, winning the Best Actor award.
Eric personally extended an invitation to Joaquin Phoenix, who, after reading the script, readily agreed, though he requested at least three months of preparation time to thoroughly study Queen's singing style.
For such a dedicated actor, Eric naturally agreed wholeheartedly.
If not for Eric's Crossing, Joaquin Phoenix would have been filming Walk the Line next year, a similar music biopic that also won numerous awards, so the male lead for bohemian rhapsody is none other than him.
Additionally, the casting for twilight has begun. The male lead, Robert Pattinson, hasn't been found, but Henry Cavill, who played Superman, has been cast.
He only debuted a year ago, and his physique isn't yet as robust and masculine as it was during his Superman period. With some makeup, he can play a vampire, and his 20-year-old age also fits the character.
As for the female lead, it's even less likely to be Kristen Stewart; she's only 14 and hasn't fully matured yet.
Blake Lively was fortunate to land the role. Her 17-year-old proud face and temperament are very suitable for the character.
These are just a part of MGM's 2004 plan; besides blockbusters, there are many small and medium-budget films.
Million Dollar Baby, mean girls, a quiet place, the conjuring, Paranormal Activity, napoleon dynamite, juno, Wedding Crashers, brokeback mountain, barbershop 2, saw 3, happy death day 2, don't breathe 2.
AK Films, in addition to sharknado and the purge, is preparing to start filming the machete series.
The newly established BK Films, currently led by Bema Hardy, will focus on low-budget horror films in the future.
This year, they plan to film Hostel, The Human Centipede, The Invisible Man, Pearl, and others.
This is just for movies, not including TV series and variety shows.
Compared to last year, the production density this year has clearly increased.
The reason for filming so many is partly to drive traffic to Lionheart Network, and partly to target other companies.
The launch date of Lionheart Network is getting closer and closer, and the moment MGM becomes the target of all is also getting closer.
In the competition between film and television companies, the most common tactic is film sniping, aiming at your release schedule and using blockbusters to suppress your box office.
As long as several companies unite to do this, you release this month, I release next month, and he releases the month after.
They might lose money, but the targeted company will definitely suffer terribly.
There is only one exception: if all my movies are strong, even if you try to suppress me with a blockbuster, at most we'll both suffer, and neither will gain anything.
Only by making these guys hurt, making them scared, making them lose money to the point of heartache and their stock prices plummet, will they finally admit defeat and acknowledge the status of streaming media.
This is Eric's plan, so he booked a contract for 30 films with Peter Jackson, and 30 is still a conservative estimate.
It's important to know that not only blockbusters use special effects; low-budget films also use them, the only difference being the quantity of special effects.