Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1198 The Fantastic Four was filmed in 21 days

"Oh, is this little Roger?"

Roger Corman arrived at Ronald's house and finally met the little guy who bore his name.Traditionally, this was a great deal of respect, and Coleman appreciated it, playing with little Roger 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's Marvel comic adaptation movie "Fantastic Four" commissioned by Corman 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 simple words that high school students can pronounce.

The logo is gold, with blank lines drawn out like blinds.It's very similar to the "New World" logo he sold, the design, the graphics, 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 at that time would definitely think that this was produced by a company, but from a legal perspective, the evidence of plagiarism was insufficient.

Ronald gave a knowing smile. In order to spend a small amount of money and do big things, Coleman would do anything on the sidelines.

"Dang-dang-dang, dang-dang... dang-dang..." When Ronald heard the opening melody, he almost laughed again.Because it is very similar to the background music when Darth Vader, the Black Lord, appears in "Star Wars".

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. Unlike what he imagined, the special effects of this B-level movie shot with a budget of 100 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 cents.

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 heavy investment still seem a bit cheap and not worthy of the actors' performances.

Ronald felt a little regretful. 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 blockbuster movie?

However, forget it, Batman has made such a big investment and cannot bear the risk by himself.

Ronald looked at Corman, stretched out his hand and shook it vigorously, "Congratulations, this film is among the best in quality even among the films produced by Corman..."

"Yeah, it's a bit of a pity, but I was able to make 200% profit and it was completed in 25 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 when he walked in Hollywood. Seeing that Ronald was so considerate, he felt relieved.

……

"Quack, quack, this quality is simply great. How much did they spend?" Minahan Golan also saw the finished film the next day. He was so happy that he just patted his chair. "Let me tell you, this movie As long as someone invests 1000 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 large-scale productions are not actually used as a quality evaluation standard.This movie was made in three weeks for $100 million, and the audience will tolerate all the shortcomings in it.For example, the laser is too fake, the spaceship looks too much like a model...

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 it is good enough in a certain aspect, 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 why exploitation films are so popular in Hollywood.It doesn’t need to be [-]% in every place. As long as one place is [-]% and the others are unqualified, they will also like to see 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 have the right looks and top-notch acting skills, but the supporting characters are not strong enough, your drama will be rejected.

The action scenes are very nice and the fighting is exciting, but the plot is a bit weak and unreasonable in its progression and transition. I'm sorry, but your action movie is full of criticism.

As a B-level movie, this Fantastic Four film can indeed score high, and the cost will definitely be recovered if it is screened.But if you want to make a qualified commercial film and achieve 1000% in all aspects, then it is not something that can be accomplished with [-] 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 calculate the score, and there was no such thing. Don’t even think about making it for 4000 million.

"But it's enough for you and Stan Lee to have a good chat..."

"Gah ga ga, no problem, keep it with me..." 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, his frequent nightmare finally became a reality.

How can a movie like this compare to "Batman"?Not to mention it's [-] now, even if it's ten years back, it can't be compared with DC's first comic book adaptation movie, "Superman"?
The special effects were lagging behind the entire era. They couldn't even do the flying movements of "Superman" in [-]. Throughout the movie, the flying scenes of the character "Human Torch" smelled of cheapness.

How can a pair of cheap sneakers purchased at Walmart for $150 compare to a pair of Air Jordans priced at $[-] 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 acting in this movie is indeed much better than the superficial acting of Superman, and the emotions of the four leading actors are all on point.

Moreover, although the special effects are terrible, they are not very bad compared to Superman IV (still shot by Minahan), which was a super bad movie that had worse special effects than the first Superman film ten years ago.

But who made Batman appear?

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 this gem in front, This Fantastic Four is like Ito...

You are not afraid of bad movies, but you are afraid that the quality of other people's movies with similar themes is too different from yours.

Audiences' standards for quality are based on comparison.In the previous ten years, audiences had already set a higher impression of the quality of DC’s Superman series (Superman IV, Supergirl), which should be expected from comic book adaptations.

Last year’s Batman significantly raised the bar for comic book movie 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 just 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.The storylines of Batman and Superman in the movie are their basic impressions 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 a large number of comic adaptation rights continue to leak out (Marvel already has many comics, and they are cheap, the Fantastic Four only costs 25 US dollars), then there is no guarantee that there will not be a group of people who follow suit. Exploitation film style, come and make quick money by making B-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, his agreement with Marvel gave him the power to review and change movies and TV shows.

If he is not satisfied, then 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 want 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'm very optimistic about the box office of this movie. The actors are very good, and the special effects are not as good as Batman, but they are better than Superman IV. I'm going to have 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 Stan Lee, the original author, 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. And 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 so good about making this kind of movie?After it was released, although my interests were harmed, the opening movie of your new company, 21st Century Pictures, was such a criticized one... It will definitely not be good for you to realize your dream...

I can help you convince Warner Bros. to buy the rights to adapt the script from you, and then give you a compensation..."

Stan Lee signed an unequal treaty with Marvel back then. In fact, he was 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 to Warner Bros., will you 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..."

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