The Best Entertainment Era

On Monday morning, in the post-production room of the Warner Studios office building, the post-production of Daylight has come to an end. Christopher Nolan finished the work at hand, rubbed his slightly throbbing forehead, and walked out slowly. After leaving the editing room, he came to the lounge area on the same floor and got a cup of coffee from the coffee machine.

Just after taking a sip of coffee, Christopher Nolan saw Charles Rowan, the famous producer of Warner Bros.

Hi, Charles. He offered to greet.

Charles Rowan responded with a smile: Hello, Director Nolan. He then asked: Is your film almost finished?

Christopher Nolan nodded: There is only a little finishing work left, and it will not delay the release next month.

The two of them were fine for the meeting, and chatted in the rest area.

The office building located in the studio is a bit empty. Like the entire Hollywood area, the number of crews staying here decreases year by year.

A fluorescent lamp above the head suddenly made a buzzing sound, and the light flickered. Charles Rowan couldn't help sighing and said, This studio has been in disrepair for a long time.

Christopher Nolan took a sip of his coffee and said, Warner hasn't repaired the studio for a long time.

Charles Rowan said: More than half of the studio has been developed into a tourist area, and the utilization rate of the remaining part is also limited. At present, in addition to your crew, Ronan Anderson's crew is stationed here to shoot. .”

Christopher Nolan said casually: It's Ronan Anderson from Relativity Entertainment, I know him.

It's him, a young man with great ideas. His company has developed well in the past few years, and the performance of second-tier companies can be regarded as good. Charles Rowan is an executive of Warner Bros. Natural sense of superiority: However, we are approaching the bottleneck of development.

He seems to have a unique insight: Many medium-sized companies in Hollywood are often developed by relying on one or two or more series of movies. It's over, and once the series is over, the company will be in trouble very quickly.

Christopher Nolan thought for a while and asked, DreamWorks or Relativity Entertainment, which one has more prospects for development in the future?

The two are not comparable. What Charles Ronan said was an almost unanimous opinion in the circle: Don't look at the difficult development of DreamWorks,

But the resources that DreamWorks can mobilize are far from what Relativity Entertainment can match. Not to mention anything else, let’s talk about the extremely critical content production. DreamWorks has a variety of project sources, and all the projects of Relativity Entertainment are basically initiated by Ronan Anderson alone.

Christopher Nolan sees what it means: Once Ronan Anderson dies, will Relativity be in trouble?

Chris, you are the director. Charles Rowan said with a smile: You know better than me that everyone has a creative peak and then a trough. Ronan Anderson has contributed to so many projects in just a few years, you How long do you think he can last at his peak? That's the real question.

He glanced at his watch: I still have something to do, let's talk about it another day.

Okay. Christopher Nolan shook hands with him.

Charles Rowan quickly left the rest area. Christopher Nolan finished his coffee and thought of the names of Ronan Anderson and Relativity Entertainment, so he hurried to look for them on the newspaper shelf.

It's Monday, and the film's opening weekend should be out.

Christopher Nolan appreciates the dark style of the film very much, but he must also consider market acceptance in order to coordinate the idea and plan in his heart.

The box office is the most intuitive market response.

Taking a copy of The Hollywood Reporter that was just published this Monday, Christopher Nolan returned to his seat, quickly flipped through it, and found reports related to Underworld and the North American box office rankings.

Resident Evil, which was released in February, is a good start for Relativity Entertainment's new film released this year. Entertainment's second film released this year continues the company's good momentum of development.

Underworld was released on a large scale in North America last Friday. The opening scale of 2,950 theaters also ensures that the film can reach most North American audiences. The film's first day grossed 10.22 million US dollars at the box office. In April, it gave a shot in the arm to the dull film market.

Seeing this, Christopher Nolan gradually felt relieved that Underworld should have been a success.

He then continued to read the report.

The performance of the film improved slightly on Saturday, earning a box office of 10.61 million US dollars. In just two days, the North American box office has already matched the production cost.

On Sunday, Underworld received another 8.29 million US dollars, and its North American box office reached 29.09 million US dollars in the first three days, airborne to the top of the North American box office chart!

Christopher Nolan picked up the coffee cup, drank the coffee in it, and remembered that the last time he chatted with Ronan, he had inquired secretly. The total investment of Underworld including the production and announcement was only about 30 million US dollars.

Such box office results mean another commercial success.

In other words, movies of this type have a certain audience.

Even filmed with enough character, Dark Wind is very likely to bring great success.

Christopher Nolan's thoughts became more and more determined, and his thoughts returned to the subject. After thinking for a while, he had no clue at all, and looked at the newspaper in his hand again.

Seeing some statistics about Underworld later, Christopher Nolan shook his head. Although Underworld won the market, it lost word of mouth.

Underworld got a B+ in the theater survey; Rotten Tomatoes marked it as rotten, with a freshness of only 32 percent; IMDB audiences scored an average of 6.6 points...

Christopher Nolan put down this Hollywood Reporter, the commercial success of Underworld is gratifying, but for a director, what is needed is not only commercial success, but also acclaim and praise .

Otherwise, like his favorite Michael Bay, even if he has won all the commercial achievements, he will still be called a bad film director by countless people.

That's not what Christopher Nolan wanted.

Christopher Nolan thinks more about it. He wants commercial success, and he also wants to build a good reputation and reputation.

Hi Chris.

The familiar greeting sounded, and Christopher Nolan quickly came to his senses, looked in the direction of the sound, and found that it was Ronan.

Hi, Ronan. He greeted Ronan: Sit whatever you want. How come you have time.

Ronan pulled out a chair and sat opposite Christopher Nolan, and said: On the night of the premiere, when you left the theater, you told me that you got some inspiration for the new film. I am very curious. I just have time today. Come and ask .”

He said bluntly: I'm a producer and a film company owner, and I can't let go of every opportunity.

Christopher Nolan smiled and said, It's just a preliminary idea, not yet mature.

Ronan asked curiously, Can you tell me? Is it convenient?

Christopher Nolan pondered for a while, thinking that the subject matter was not settled at all, and what was entangled in his head was only the style of the film. There was no need to worry about leaking ideas, and the other party had already filmed and released a film with a dark style.

When I was filming White Night, I was thinking about how to make the next movie. Christopher Nolan said slowly: The extreme daylight brought me a lot of trouble when I was filming in Alaska, and I missed the darkness very much. , At that time, I wanted to shoot a film with a black theme or a dark style.”

Ronan nodded slightly, but did not interrupt, just listening to Christopher Nolan continue.

Christopher Nolan said again: At the premiere of Underworld, after I saw the film, this idea became stronger. The film's thick black background made me determine that the next film will be a film of pure darkness. style of film.

So that's how it is. Ronan didn't expect that Underworld actually strengthened Christopher Nolan's thoughts: A film with a dark style, in fact, has room for market survival...

As a producer, the first thing that comes to mind is naturally the commodity attributes of the movie.

Christopher Nolan has seen this situation a lot. Producers are completely different from directors like them. The first consideration is never the artistry or ideological quality of the film. After all, the producer is responsible to the investor, and the investor The reason why I invest in movies is to pursue commercial profits.

Underworld is a big hit at the box office, which also proves this. Christopher Nolan is very confident: As long as the theme is selected, a dark style movie...

He didn't go on to say it, and he was just boasting.

Ronan understood what Christopher Nolan meant, and asked directly: Chris, have you chosen a theme? The dark style itself is a niche type. If the theme is also biased towards a niche, the market prospect will not be very good. .”

I know. Christopher Nolan looked very cautious: So, I have never thought of suitable themes, and many popular themes are not suitable for shooting in a dark style. may fail.

Ronan crossed his chest with one hand, pinched his chin with the other, and said, It's really not easy to find a theme suitable for dark styles.

Christopher Nolan nodded in agreement: I thought about it a lot, and finally vetoed it.

Dark style! A story that takes place in the dark like Underworld. Ronan said to himself, his voice was not high, but Christopher Nolan could hear: Black like Selena? Even the heart and emotions are black?

His voice suddenly raised: Chris, I thought of one.

What? Christopher Nolan asked.

Batman!