Start a company to make games

Chapter 408 The Elder Scrolls Movie

Although on the real earth, the B agency that produced "The Elder Scrolls" is very conservative in adapting games to movies.

Agency B has made it clear that it has no plans to adapt its IPs like "Radiation" and "The Elder Scrolls" into movies, and even said that unless the director of "Lord of the Rings" comes out, there is no way to do this matter.

Agency B prefers to focus on managing the IP of its own games, avoiding the bad reputation of bad movies, and is not as keen on making money from game-adapted movies as some companies are.

But Feimeng's side is different from Earth's B agency.

Liu Xiong has enough IP on hand, so he doesn't have to worry about making bad movies that will harm the game IP.

Therefore, Liu Xiong is very interested in the proposal from Hollywood.

After several days of bargaining, Liu Xiong finally reached a preliminary cooperation intention with MGM.

But there are so many plots in "The Elder Scrolls", it is impossible for a movie to explain them all.

So which plot to choose to make a movie is a problem.

The "Warcraft" movie on Earth used the time of one movie to film an overly grandiose story.

In the end, the quality of the "Warcraft" movie is relatively average, and many places are too brief. If you are not a player who is familiar with the history of Warcraft, you may see it in a cloud.

And even though "The Elder Scrolls" is one of the most popular games nowadays, Liu Xiong still hopes that even if he is not a player of the game, he can easily understand the movie.

Not just to appreciate the special effects and fight, but to understand the plot and performance of the movie, as well as the depth of the game after the movie.

Therefore, what Liu Xiong wants is not a certain grand plot, but a small and complete plot that is relatively independent, simple, and exciting.

So, looking at the documents of the MGM representative, Liu Xiong said: "MGM wants to film the story of Civil War in Skyrim."

"I want to shoot our protagonist—Dragonborn from a down and out fugitive to a man of the sky, and finally lead the free sky warriors Stormcloaks until they capture Snowman City."

"If the movie's box office is good, maybe there will be a second film to continue the part of the civil war in Skyrim until the imperial forces are driven out of Skyrim."

"Skyrim, became Skyrim for the Nords."

"This story is very good. If it is made into an epic movie trilogy, it will definitely bring a very good movie-watching experience to the audience."

The manager of MGM nodded with a smile, but at this time Liu Xiong said: "However, I don't think this plot is good for making a movie."

The manager of MGM was a little surprised, but Liu Xiong's status was there, so he naturally listened carefully with a smile on his face.

Liu Xiong said: "I roughly looked at the plot you want to shoot. The first scene hits the climax. It should be the scene where the dragon Alduin suddenly appeared when he was beheaded at the beginning."

"Alduin the Eater of Worlds has devastated the entire city, with flames and crumbling buildings everywhere."

"Using a lot of special effects here can highlight the power of Alduin."

"Then in the middle is the relatively dull development period of the dragonborn, doing some tasks and fighting in some small scenes."

"Then at the end of the movie, we will conduct a spectacular siege battle, lead the crowd to attack Snowrun City, and win a key city for the Stormcloaks."

"But there is a problem with this, that is, there are only two parts at the beginning and the end, and there are a lot of visually impactful battle scenes."

"The middle part is relatively flat."

"Unless the small-scale battles in the middle are also produced with high-standard and high-investment special effects, but in that case, it is a cost-effective challenge for MGM."

Although MGM has a long history, after experiencing the bankruptcy storm, it no longer has the financial resources to make blockbuster movies regardless of cost.

If the plot of the civil war in Skyrim is used as the script of the movie, it must be as Liu Xiong said, only the beginning and the end will spend a lot of money on special effects.

Most of the time, the films in the middle are produced at a relatively low cost.

Seeing the manager of MGM nod, Liu Xiong continued: "In other words, special effects will not be the main selling point of the movie "The Elder Scrolls"."

This was Liu Xiong's guess, but it was right.

In this kind of fantasy blockbuster, special effects are king.

A 120-point fantasy blockbuster, other first-line masterpieces, with 40-60 minutes of special effects shots.

MGM's "The Elder Scrolls" only has 20-30 minutes of strong special effects scenes.

It must be visually inferior to the first-line blockbuster.

And since visual effects are not a selling point, it can only be said that we try our best not to hold back.

What about the storyline?
In itself, the Nords' stormcloaks rebelled against the empire, seeking freedom of belief and national freedom. This plot itself is no problem.

It's old-fashioned, but practical.

But anyone who has played the game knows that the civil war in Skyrim Province is not a simple independent movement.

This involves many forces including other countries, many stories, and many grievances, which cannot be told in a 120-minute movie.

In order to tell a complete story in the movie without leaving too many pitfalls, many people, many plots, and many settings have to be weakened and deleted.

If the main line of the Civil War is told in the movie, there is no doubt that audiences who have not played the game will either feel confused or feel that the plot is flat.

In their eyes, the "The Elder Scrolls" movie is an ordinary movie with regular special effects and a regular plot.

Although whether the movie sells well is not very critical to Feimeng's development, but it is also its own IP after all, so Liu Xiong still has his own ideas.

"The plot line of Civil War in Skyrim is too large, and it is difficult to explain it clearly in a 120-minute movie, so I think it is necessary to choose another plot of the game. The length of the impressive side mission may be more suitable."

The manager of MGM asked: "Is it the plot line of Dawnguard? That seems to be a very popular task line."

Liu Xiong then opened the "The Elder Scrolls" game and said, "The Dawnguard is very good, but the investment will be huge, and what I recommend is not the Dawnguard quest line."

"There happens to be a side mission in "The Elder Scrolls", which I think is very suitable for adaptation into a movie."

"The main enemies of the story are the monsters that players are talking about - Snow Elf and Charus. Although the players of "The Elder Scrolls" hate these two monsters, their popularity is definitely very high."

"As a villain, hatred is stable, which is very helpful for the movie."

"And the main theme of this plot is a bit dark, mixed with the responsibility of a man and the despair of no turning back, which is also in line with the style of a lone hero in Hollywood."

(End of this chapter)