The highly anticipated "X-Men" has officially begun, and the screening hall of the Hollywood China Grand Theater fell into silence. Unlike other major projects in the summer season, the film has attracted the most attention in the circle this year, and even surpassed the summer season's opening blockbuster "The Flash".

Everyone knows that with the good reputation accumulated in recent years, Wayne still has no shortage of fans who love shit to pay for it even if "The Flash" films a bunch of shit.

Against this background, it may be difficult to make "The Flash" fail directly. Even if the film is really unsightly, at most it will affect DC's subsequent chapters and cause the audience to lose some reputation. After all, Wayne has been too successful in recent years, and he has the capital to try and make mistakes.

But "X-Men" is different. The premiere held by 20th Century Fox basically invited guests to the platform. While expressing their ambitions for "X-Men", they also expressed their unparalleled trust in Wayne.

What unexpectedly happened to everyone was that not only Sony Columbia's new CEO came to attend the premiere in a low-key manner, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Disney, and even Warner Bros., all executives personally sat in the screening room, and some executives of Hollywood medium-sized film companies were no exception.

It seems that people tacitly raised the magnifying glass for this superhero movie outside the DC system. In fact, Townsend Rossman, who was sitting in the first row of the screening room, knew very well that the purpose of those familiar faces in the circle was nothing more than that of the DC superhero mode that could not be copied, and wanted to see if "X-Men" could be copied.

"Mutations are the key to our evolution..."

After the traditional opening animation of Twentieth Century Fox ended, the big screen was dark, but the narration sounded in the quiet screening room.

"It allows us to evolve from a single-cell organism to the dominant species of this planet. This process is long and usually takes millions of years. But every few hundred thousand years, evolution will suddenly leap forward..."

The narration ends, and the perspective on the big screen begins to shuttle through the abstract cells, and finally stays on the title of a piece that looks like steel: X-Men.

The film officially entered the theme. The heavy rain accompanied by the night. The panoramic view that first appeared in front of the audience was this concentration camp. It was just on the scene where the story officially began. A row of familiar letters appeared in the upper right corner of the big screen:

Screenwriter, producer: Wayne Greenberg.

"X-Men:1", Wayne Greenberg's work!

As a commercial film with the purpose of commercial profit, the original intention of doing this is understandable. After all, in the hearts of most movie fans, as long as the opening name appears in the movie, it basically means that this is a movie that is destined to not disappoint movie fans.

To put it bluntly, everything is for film marketing. Under this premise, the actual producer of the crew, Avi Adra and director Blaine Singer, are all behind Wayne.

The reason is simple. Whether the name "Wayne Greenberg" can affect the box office of the movie's tens of millions. Since Twentieth Century Fox paid him a large salary, it is inevitable that such effective marketing methods would be impossible.

The first few minutes of the film are not too attractive. The various information that keeps revealing makes the audience who are watching the movie wait patiently until Wolverine appears. Uncle Wolf seems to have a unique charm, especially the scene of waving his hand to cut off the hunting rifle in the bar owner's hand, which aroused the slogan in the screening hall for the first time.

"Seriously, Wayne."

The screening on the big screen continued. Townsend Rossman, who was sitting in the first row, turned to look around, automatically ignored the black beauty stuck to the young man, and whispered: "I have some regrets now, Wayne."

"Ha? What do you regret?"

Turning around with a little difference, Wayne has watched movies more than once, so like the 20th Century Fox CEO, he is not too concerned about the stories on the big screen.

Shaking his head slightly, Townsend Rossman deliberately lowered his voice and muttered: "I have a strong premonition. One day, Twentieth Century Fox will regret it, regret not choosing your first plan, and regret choosing a more eager for quick success and instant benefits..."

The two of them returned to silence again. For Wayne, it actually doesn't matter how to choose Twentieth Century Fox. Even the first plan he gave was more conducive to the construction of the "X-Men" universe. No matter how the 20th Century Fox was produced, the rewards were given so much.

Also, he understands more than anyone else in his heart that in the project "X-Men", even if 20th Century Fox doesn't look for himself, it will be difficult for the film to fail. This is a film that does not lack attention even if it is not made innovating.

According to Wayne's idea, he really wanted to change the trend of "X-Men", which had nothing to do with it. It was just because during his graduation, Townsend Rossman gave "Happy Death Day" a chance and also gave himself a valuable opportunity to show himself to Hollywood.

From the perspective of God, he sorted out the appearance order of each mutant according to the timeline of "X-Men" in detail and explained the stories behind these mutants.

I want to gradually improve the entire X-Men universe by introducing more characters through the appearance of a character. Perhaps the disadvantages of doing this are too obvious. After all, the heroes in "X-Men" are completely incomparable to DC in terms of popularity, so the box office risks of the opening work are destined to be extremely high.

Even laymen can imagine that the story behind a single mutant is definitely not as eye-catching as a few of them appear together. But it’s better now. At least in the "X-Men" series, he has returned to the turning point he is most familiar with.

"Do you feel there is something special?"

Just in the middle of the fourth row behind Wayne and other core creators, Nick Crowley, the distribution director from Paramount Pictures, frowned and looked at Paul beside him.

A tacit understanding between Sony Columbia and Paramount Pictures made the two of them familiar, especially Paul's behavior of digging holes and ceo in the book is a normal behavior in the eyes of many executives in the circle. Not only is it not disgusted, but it also gains a lot of praise in private.

"I didn't see it..."

Hearing the doubts of Paramount’s publishing supervisor, Paul leaned on the chair and shook his head, whispering: “It’s strange that it’s strange here.”

As he said that, he raised one hand in seclusion, pointed to the front, back, left and right, and even half of the audience in the screening hall behind him.

The result is self-evident. Yes, it’s strange. This movie “X-Men” is all about color, mirror movement, story rhythm, and editing habits. It can be said that it has nothing to do with Wayne’s own style, but the audience in the theater watched it very well.

Nick Crowley shook his head, swept the entire screening room, and dripped. "A commercial film that is so normal that it can't be more normal."

Paul complained helplessly: "Maybe, treating superheroes as a normal commercial film to produce, don't think about imitating Wayne's style, and letting darkness and depression go to hell, is the way to success?"

No one can answer this question. After all, "X-Men" has only been released less than halfway through the screening. Not to mention the subsequent plot arrangement, even if it can gain high reputation from fans at the premiere, it still cannot be considered valuable reference data.

Everyone is a veteran in the Hollywood distribution industry. I really know what's going on with the premiere.

Although more than 80% of the screening halls with thousands of people are occupied by ordinary movie fans, no one can say what proportion of these ordinary movie fans are employed by 20th Century Fox.

This is just a common practice for Hollywood movie premiere. In order to make the premiere scene look good, film companies that are more confident in the film may only arrange some "child care" among ordinary audiences. The more common practice is to hire professional "movie fans" on a large scale to set off the premiere viewing atmosphere.

Don’t underestimate these professional "movie fans". In Hollywood, a place full of commercial attributes, they have already formed a complete industrial chain.

"Agency companies" in Los Angeles not only provide "party atmosphere groups" for big names in the circle, but also deeply customize "party guests", but also organize "professional movie fans" to watch movies, organize "professional audiences" to participate in TV programs and other businesses.

Therefore, some "special agency companies" in the circle not only hold a large number of beautiful models and handsome models, but their profit range can be said to be spread throughout all aspects of the film and television industry.

“Huh…”

After breathing a long sigh, the current senior executive of Universal Pictures, Ron Mayer, looked very ugly. He wore a baseball cap covering most of his face and stared at the big screen with his eyes.

Now within Universal Pictures, Ron Mayer's personal reputation has declined sharply, and the main reason is that he made several wrong choices on company major projects.

Fortunately, he has been operating for many years and has allowed himself to overcome difficulties again and again. In contrast, the directors or producers of failed projects have become the perfect targets for the blame, such as Bill Bakerby, the director of "The Hulk".

"At least it's quite average now. The special effects may be reasonable, but they can't be said to be realistic and gorgeous. The story is not strong, the background soundtrack is mediocre, and the emotional scenes like shit are inexplicable. Half of the film is screened, there is no shot that can catch people's eyes..."

Hearing the movements made by Ron Mayer, his secretary Brand Sean turned his head and whispered to his boss about the shortcomings of the video.

“shut the f**k up!”

He glared at his secretary fiercely, and Ron Mayer felt that either his IQ was insulted, or his secretary Brand's IQ was worrying.

If you look at it with a picky look, the secretary's evaluation is correct, but movie fans have never been a critic who deliberately picks it. Their perspective on the film is never so extreme.

"Screen script, script?"

Ron Mayer put his attention on the big screen again and mumbled softly.

As a professional who has worked in the circle for many years, he certainly understands the difference between "X-Men" and other superheroes. The most obvious point is that there is no protagonist in this "X-Men", so from the beginning, the film chose to describe the characters in multiple lines and then display them in a concentrated manner.

For most of the videos that have been watched, Ron Mayer summarized a lot of things. The storyline is arranged very cleverly. Although it is because there are too many characters who appear and are forced to arrange it like this, it is also clear and not messy.

You know, this is not a "art film" that conveys the director's emotions. It is completely enough to make such arrangements in the commercial field.

In terms of special effects, it must be incomparable to the immersive ones in "The Flash", nor does it have the special effects that "The Flash" wish to overflow the big screen. However, it is precisely appropriate to display the special effects of mutant abilities, especially the outstanding transformed women.

Another thing that has to be admitted is that whether it is Wolverine, Transformation, or Storm Girl, the actor's temperament is very consistent with the role he plays, and each character impresses the audience very deeply.

Suddenly, Ron Meyer completely lost his desire to watch movies, turned his eyes to the first row of the cinema in the dark, and murmured to himself:

"Choose an actor who is in line with the temperament of the character, choose an obedient and capable director, and then let these people shoot strictly according to the designed script, and control the post-production work of the film, Wayne, you are indeed a genius in the production industry..."

Everyone knows that Wayne has been busy with the work related to "The Flash" and has to take time to care about the third part of "The Matrix" and the first successful pure-female commercial film "Charlie's Angels", which is truly the first successful business film in Hollywood. It is certainly impossible for him to have the energy left to stare at "X-Men".

But even so, the finished film of "X-Men" is still not disappointing. Just as Ron Mayer sneered, choose an obedient and capable director, personally control the auditions of the main actors, and arrange a producer in the crew who will not make any mistakes. This is the final result.

The reason is very simple. It is basically a template for the Hollywood producer-centered project. But so far, there are only two producers who can take on such a big bag and let go of it and ensure success rate. Universal Pictures has only seen two. One is Disney in civil strife, Jerry Brookheimer, who can also guarantee revenue, and the other is Wayne Greenberg!

"This is not a Greenber-style superhero."

The highly anticipated premiere of "X-Men", Twentieth Century Fox naturally did not forget to invite critics. However, compared with the large number of invitations in previous years, the budget for "directing funds" this year is not much. As a local film critic in Los Angeles, Todd McKinsey is naturally on this invitation list.

"Yes, there are almost no traces of Wayne except the script."

Another local Los Angeles film critic Kenneth Tulan nodded when he heard his companion’s feelings and responded softly.

Looking at the video coming to the end, Todd McKinsey said with a smile: "The X-Men is actually different from all superheroes. It's really special. Doing this may be a choice for smart people."

The reason why this superhero is special is because of the background of the appearance of each character and the social background of the entire comic.

In the early 1960s, in order to support the increasingly fierce minority equality movement in North America, Marvel Comics Company produced "X-Men" under the call of the father of Marvel superhero Stan Lee. The story, characters, etc. are constantly metaphorizing the dilemma of ethnic minorities.

In this very special social context, the first superhero team with obvious minority characteristics, "X-Men" was born.

Since then, this "special comic" independent of other Marvel Comics systems has developed in North America for decades. During this period, "X-Men" has undergone many adaptations of films, TV series, animations, etc., but before the 20th Century Fox produced the "X-Men" movie, those adaptations were just small-scale games, far from being as good as the big production now.

"It could have developed into the most special universe, tsk tsk tsk, what a pity..."

No matter what others thought, Wayne glanced at Townsend Rossman beside him and shook his head helplessly in his heart.

In fact, in a strict sense, Hollywood's first real movie universe is Universal Pictures' monster universe. Some people also put names such as the Dark Universe to Universal Pictures' monsters many years ago.

From the 1920s to the 1950s, the Universal Monster Cinema Universe has been conceptual and has been known. Modo took the lead by raising interest rates in the silent film "The Monster of the Bell Tower" and has since been continuously creating its own Monster series due to its box office results.

For example, the classic images of "Monster Universe" such as "Phantom of the Opera", "Smiling Man", "Dracula", "Frankenstein", "Monoyon", "Invisible Man", "London Werewolf" were born very early. You know, it was the 1930s.

Universal Pictures’ Monster Series has an extremely brilliant start and its subsequent development is also very wise. The previous work was born with "The Bride of Frankenstein" and "Dracula's Daughter" and other interlinked sequels. A series of operations have made Universal Pictures’ Monster Series movies a banner that Hollywood cannot bypass after the 1930s.

In the years since then, Universal Pictures has never given up on the development of monsters, and has developed with connections with each other. "Mono Yin's Hand", "Mono Yin's Tomb", "The Return of the Invisible Man", "Son of Dracula", "Frankenstein's Soul", etc.

The extremely brilliant monster movie series is rare, with the connection between the front and back, and new characters and new stories are constantly derived from the world view.

If this is the case, it is not a novel "universe concept", because although these movies are related, there are still no multiple series intertwined to carry out a unified worldview planning.

There is always no shortage of smart people in this world. As early as the mid-1940s, the group of visionary executives of Universal Pictures made another decision. The first movie "Frankenstein vs. Werewolf" with the intersection of characters and the worldview was initially unified!

From today's perspective, does it feel like "Batman vs. Superman"? Yes, this world never lacks the ability to look ahead.

The success of "Frankenstein vs. Werewolf" has allowed Universal Pictures executives to continue to work hard, continue to find ways to plan a unified worldview, and continue to stuff various monsters into it. Later, they also released "Frankenstein House", "Zombie House", "Two Silly Fighting Frankenstein", a series of movies intertwined with multiple monsters, and achieved rare good results.

However, with the development of time, the social trend in North America is slowly changing. The arrival of events such as the Cold War, Space War and other events have made Universal Pictures give up the Monster Series with a huge foundation, turn around and start changing the track, focusing all its attention on the science fiction series.

Movies have never been a product of their own existence. Behind each big-selling movie, they are actually closely related to the social trend. It can be said that Universal Pictures’ Monster Series was simply forced to be cut in half by the development of social forms.
To be continued...