Chapter 2024 2026 [Stepping on Thunder vs Winning a Prize]
The preparations for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" began in 2006. It took nearly a year to write the script, and the filming officially started in 2007.
Peter Jackson originally planned to make the story of "The Hobbit" into two parts. The first part tells the war between dwarves and Smaug; the second part tells the war between dwarves, elves and orcs.
But out of profit considerations, Xiang Nan still suggested that he make a trilogy. In this case, one more movie can be earned, which is hundreds of millions of dollars.
Peter Jackson had previously accepted Xiang Nan’s love. When filming the trilogy of “The Lord of the Rings”, Xiang Nan asked for money and things, and he was very forthright, which allowed him to complete the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. , the most classic fantasy movie in film history, also fulfilled his lifelong wish.
So in the end Peter Jackson accepted Xiang Nan's suggestion and decided to make "The Hobbit" into a trilogy. In order to save money, the trilogy started filming at the same time.
Actually, at present, the filming of "The Hobbit" trilogy has been completed, the first part is being released, and the second and third parts are still undergoing post-processing special effects, which will be released sequentially in the next two years.
Because of the success of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, it has conquered countless fans around the world, so when the predecessor of "Lord of the Rings" "The Hobbit" was released, it was innately welcomed by fans.
As soon as it was released, the movie box office performed well. It grossed 230 million U.S. dollars in the first week of its release, and eventually reached 1.15 billion U.S. dollars at the box office.
Such box office results made Disney next door cry.
After the great success of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Hollywood has set off a wave of fantasy films.
Thus, the last two of the three classic western fantasy novels, "The Lord of the Rings", "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Legend of Earthsea", have also been adapted into films.
Among them, Disney produced "The Chronicles of Narnia". The first "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" achieved very good results. The cost of 180 million US dollars was exchanged for 750 million US dollars at the box office.
So, Disney launched "The Chronicles of Narnia 2: Prince Caspian" this year. The film invested 200 million U.S. dollars, but the final box office was only 410 million U.S. dollars, which caused a loss of about 70 million U.S. dollars for Disney.
Now Disney is extremely regretful, but it has not yet decided whether it will continue to shoot "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".
It depends on DVD sales of Prince Caspian. If the DVD sells well, a third installment is possible. If the DVD sales are not high, then it may be discontinued.
…
In December, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" was officially launched.
This is the fifth book in the "Harry Potter" series of novels and the sixth book in the "Harry Potter" series of movies.
"Harry Potter" is now one of the most well-known IPs in the world, and even the Marvel Universe is not as popular as it. After all, the seven "Harry Potter" volumes have sold as much as 500 million copies, with an average sales volume of more than 60 million copies each.
As for Marvel’s comics, the highest sales volume of a single volume is only a few hundred thousand copies, but it has been established for nearly 70 years, so the cumulative sales volume is high.
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" has such a good mass base, the box office after its release is naturally good. In the end, the North American box office was nearly 400 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office was as high as 930 million U.S. dollars.
They are all eager to have such a profitable IP, but it is really too difficult.
New Line Pictures tried to adapt the "Dark Matter Trilogy: The Golden Compass" last year, hoping to replicate the success of "Harry Potter".
"Dark Matter" is a fantasy novel written by the well-known British novelist Philip Pullman. It was written from 1996 to 2000. There are three books in total, namely "Golden Compass", "Magic Sword" and "Amber Telescope".
After the novel was released, it was well received, sold tens of millions of copies worldwide, and won multiple book awards. And in the BBC's reader survey, it ranked the third most popular novel among British readers, second only to "Pride and Prejudice" and "Lord of the Rings".
Therefore, New Line Pictures invested 180 million U.S. dollars last year, inviting Nicole Kidman, Eva Green, Ian McKellen ("Lord of the Rings" Gandalf, "X-Men" Professor X) ), Daniel Craig and others co-starred in this movie.
Such an excellent novel, such a strong lineup, can be said to be foolproof.
But it's a pity that there is one in a thousand miles.
This star-studded, highly anticipated film only won a box office of 360 million US dollars in the end. Among them, the North American box office is 70 million US dollars, and the overseas box office is 290 million US dollars.
It may seem like a lot, but since New Line Films sold the overseas distribution rights early, it has nothing to do with the overseas box office.
New Line Pictures ended up with a huge loss of 110 million US dollars. This also made the parent company Warner very angry, so they ordered the withdrawal of New Line Pictures' independent production rights.
As a result, New Line Cinema exists in name only.
The failure of New Line Films has also made other film companies discouraged from adapting fantasy novels, lest they accidentally step on a thunderbolt.
But seeing that Universal Pictures has made a lot of money with "Harry Potter", it is naturally quite greedy.
…
Entering January, Xiang Nan started a new project.
The Twilight Saga, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Tekken 3, Spider-Man 3, Iron Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Weakness, The Hangover, "The Devil Proposer" and "Mission: Impossible 5".
"Iron Man" was originally released in 2008, but Xiang Nan pushed it to 2009.
Iron Man was not originally a popular character in Marvel comics. The reason why the original Marvel Universe started with him is mainly because other highly popular superheroes, such as Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, Fantastic Four, etc., have been sold by Marvel, so they can only be ignorant. Pull out the big guy inside and take him out.
But in this world, Xiang Nan bought Marvel early, so its copyright is the most complete. That being the case, naturally there is no rush to shoot "Iron Man".
Now that The Defenders, Midnight Sons, and X-Men are all filming, Xiang Nan is going to film the Avengers, Fantastic Four, etc., trying to create a complete version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As the protagonist of "Iron Man", Xiang Nan also chose Robert Downey Jr. Apart from him, Xiang Nan couldn't find anyone more suitable. The heroine has already been decided to be Cobie Smulders.
After she got Xiang Nan's mailbox two months ago, she often sent him emails to discuss the plot, discuss the characters, chat to relieve boredom, and within a few days, the two were together.
(end of this chapter)