Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 518 Summer Season Finale (6k)

Halfway through the filming, we met people from Legendary Pictures and Blizzard.

Chen Linfeng checked the shooting plan for later, and the shots were not difficult.

"Xiao Guo."

"Hey, Director, you're looking for me?"

"I have something to do now, you can take over the rest."

"Okay." Guo Fan rubbed his hands and responded excitedly.

Chen Linfeng arranged the work and then led several people to a nearby meeting room.

This is where they discuss and check shooting plans on a daily basis, and the equipment is very complete.

It was midsummer, and once the air conditioner was turned on, the room instantly became comfortable.

Chen Linfeng sat down leisurely and asked, "Qiong En, you came so suddenly today. I'm sorry for not entertaining you well."

"These are all small matters," Jon waved his hand, not caring. "The big thing is that we can reach a cooperation agreement."

Chen Linfeng exchanged a few more words with the visitor from Blizzard.

There are two main persons in charge sent by Blizzard, one is John Hayter and the other is Chris Metzen.

After Jon's introduction, Chen Linfeng also got to know them a little better.

John is the vice president of Blizzard, mainly responsible for the game "World of Warcraft" and also in charge of movies.

Chris Metzen is a writer and game designer. The first world view of "World of Warcraft" was designed by him, so naturally the plot of the movie must also be connected with his.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the two, Chen Linfeng got down to business.

Let’s continue with the topic from last time.

Jon said first, "Chen, the two conditions you requested last time, the final editing rights should not be a problem at present. After all, you are a great director, and matters concerning the film should be left to a professional like you."

"Well, what about the other one?" Chen Linfeng did not seem too happy. He could get this thing anywhere. It was not worth thinking about it too much.

The script is the key. As a writer and screenwriter, he cares more about this.

"Regarding the script..." Jon looked at the people from Blizzard hesitantly, then turned back and replied, "We would rather discuss this."

"It's okay to discuss. The plot is meant to be discussed."

Chen Linfeng smiled and said, "But what if there are huge differences? The work must continue to move forward."

“So I need the final say on the script.”

"Chen, can I ask what you are thinking about the Warcraft movie? Where do you plan to start?"

Chris couldn't help but ask. As a first-generation game designer and a major participant in the movie's plot, he also cared a lot about the plot.

"Let's start with the most well-known plot." Chen Linfeng blurted out.

"There are so many classic plots in World of Warcraft. Which one are you referring to?" Chris said in a boastful tone.

In front of the great writer Chen, he was a little weak, but when the story of Warcraft was mentioned, he became confident again.

"Besides, as the beginning of an epic story, shouldn't we start from the beginning?"

Chris couldn't help but speak out his thoughts.

"Oh?" Chen Linfeng did not answer his previous question, but asked curiously, "Which part do you mean by starting from the beginning?"

"The opening of the Dark Portal, of course."

Chris began to express his thoughts, and as he spoke, he took out a stack of information from the bag at his side.

He prepared all these in advance.

Ever since he heard that he would come to discuss the movie plot with the great writer and screenwriter Chen, he became inexplicably excited and prepared a lot of things.

Chen Linfeng listened carefully for a while, then reached out to take the information and read it.

The plot is slightly different from the movies in the previous life. It is not surprising that there are relatively large differences due to the constant changes in directors and screenwriters.

But basically they are the same events, and I think the story choices of the previous movie are indeed related to Blizzard.

Chris spoke excitedly for a while, but gradually became less confident.

Because he saw that the other party seemed to be hesitant.

"Chen, what do you think of this idea?" Chris asked carefully.

Chen Linfeng shook his head. "It's too confusing. It's OK as a chronicle or fan fiction, but as a movie, the storyline is too complicated."

"If it were me, I would choose the rise of the lich king as the opening story."

Chris was anxious. He didn't dare to point out the other party's negative points. More than one person said that the story he wrote was messy. It didn't matter if the big guy in front of him said it again.

He just objects from another angle.

"The Frozen Throne? That's a story that takes place many years after the opening of Warcraft. How can the audience understand the plot if it's so incoherent?"

"A story about the fall of a tragic prince. What's so hard to understand?"

Chen Linfeng was a little confused. How much do you underestimate the audience's ability to understand?
"Starting from here, there are too many famous heroes in the same period, everyone is familiar with them, the story is easy to tell, and the audience likes it. Isn't it a happy ending?"

Chris was speechless for a moment.

"Chen, the choice of story is not only about telling the story from the beginning, but also takes other factors into consideration."

Seeing that his colleagues were not doing their job well, John Hite interrupted and said,

"2014 will be the 10th anniversary of World of Warcraft. By then, the game will return to Warcraft 1 and the theme event of Return to the Place Where the Dream Began. It will also be the right time for the movie to be released, so..."

"That has nothing to do with me!" Chen Linfeng interrupted directly.

He said somewhat dissatisfiedly, "We don't even know if the movie will be successful, but we're already thinking about this and that. A movie is just a movie."

“Do you think making a movie is so easy?”

"If the World of Warcraft movie project is just a promotional video or advertisement for the game, why would you bother looking for me?"

How can I be a vassal of your game when I am asked to take over the movie? You have to cooperate with me.

Games are already on the decline, and movie series should be the big deal.

After so many years, Chen Linfeng has become proud.

Besides, it has been proven in the previous life that this is a bad idea.

After hearing these few sentences, John's face turned red instantly.

As the person in charge of the "World of Warcraft" project, I have never faced such treatment.

You're here to film our movie, how dare you do this to me?
Aren’t you afraid that we won’t let you take pictures?

Oh, I'm not afraid at all. He immediately remembered that this trip seemed to be to invite people to make a movie, and they might not agree yet.

There are some differences between him and previous directors.

So John stopped being angry.

As a president, you must be tolerant.

Chen Linfeng glanced at the Vice President in surprise. The man's face turned from white to red and then from red to white. There was something fishy about it.

He had no interest in picking on the weak, so he turned around and started talking to Chris.

“Starting from the beginning is certainly an option, but I need to tell you that the storyline of World of Warcraft is really too long, and only a few players can fully understand most of the story.

More World of Warcraft players and viewers who have not played the game but have heard of it slightly are the largest group and the one we should strive for.

Most of what these people know are vivid characters, such as Arthas, Thrall, Kael'thas, Jaina, Illidan, and the three Windrunner sisters. "

What Chen Linfeng was talking about were the characters that were most likely to appear in certain online fan fictions in his previous life.

I believe these are also the most well-known heroes in the game "World of Warcraft".

“The stories that unfold around these heroes are themselves the most exciting and the most appealing to external audiences.”

Chen Linfeng said seriously, "I think that the purpose of making this movie should not just be a carnival for a small number of fans, but should be to promote the story of Warcraft to a wider audience and make it a part of world popular culture, right?"

"As for the origin story you mentioned, if the first few movies become popular, they can be filmed in the form of prequels, which will not affect it, right?"

Chen Linfeng cited the example of "The Hobbit" here.

In fact, there are many prequels made in later generations.

The most famous ones are the prequels of "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter", both of which made a lot of money.

But now only the prequel of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, is a more convincing example.

Although it will be released at the end of this year, the trailer has already been released, and John and Chris are aware of this information.

Chen Linfeng's words made the people from Blizzard silent.

It’s not like others have said these things before, including within their company, but in the end they were all suppressed.

However, the same words, spoken from Chen Linfeng's mouth, were surprisingly convincing.

John and Chris looked at each other, both feeling a little shaken.

From the very beginning, they were firm believers in filming in a sequential manner, wanting to shoot the story starting from the Dark Portal.

Asking them to change now feels awkward.

But now after listening to Chen's idea, I think it might be possible?
After all, the person in front of you may be one of the best storytellers on the planet.

They were a little embarrassed at this moment. They had raised their tone a little too high at the beginning, and now they suddenly changed their minds. Wouldn't it seem a little unsteady?
Jon, who had been watching from the sidelines, noticed something was going on and hurried out to smooth things over.

"I think this is why Chen demands the right to decide the script. His ideas are always different, but the audience likes his ideas."

He looked at the Blizzard duo and said, "Since we decided to give Chen the rights to the script, why not follow his ideas?"

You gave me a good step.

John and Chris were overjoyed; they didn't know how to respond.

"Well, now that the decision-making power over the script has been handed over, we still have to act according to the agreement." John said seriously.

When did you hand it in?
"I still stick to my idea, but since the decision is not up to me, there's really nothing I can do about it." Chris shook his head regretfully.

How come you have no solution?
Chen Linfeng was speechless. It seemed that these people had made up their minds.

The biggest point of conflict was resolved, and everything became easier to discuss afterwards.

Chen Linfeng just confirmed the cooperation intention with the other party. The specific conditions, such as how to calculate the copyright, how to calculate the investment amount, and whether the final script needs to be written and undergo revision and approval, etc., all need to be discussed later.

When the time comes, it will be Sister Mei's turn to take action.

Next, we talked about the schedule issue.

"I have another movie scheduled this year, which may take until the end of the year."

"In the first half of next year, we will be filming Sherlock Holmes 3, and then Infinite World 2."

Chen Linfeng counted on his fingers, and everyone's faces looked unhappy.

You are so busy. Indeed, Chen Linfeng has opened too many holes, and now there are many sequels to fill.

This doesn't even include the novels, there's also a killer series called "Hurricane" and "Speed".

He thought that the pit should be dug to this extent.

In about ten years from now, there will be no shortage of movies to shoot just by accumulating sequels.

If I accumulate some good original scripts, I will be able to hold on until I am 50 years old.

As for what happens later, you don’t have to worry too much about it.

At that time, it will be easy to decide whether you can rely on the skills you have learned or retire directly.

I believe that by then, my life goals should have been achieved.

As a reborn person, Chen Linfeng has a hamster mentality and always wants to hold everything in his arms.

He just hugged her a little too much.

Of course, having achieved this, he has brought the group of time travelers to a new level.

Chen Linfeng had just finished a brief calculation and felt very happy. Every time he calculated it this way, he felt a sense of fulfillment.

Now that the "World of Warcraft" series has been added, he feels even more overwhelmed.

However, when I looked up, I saw John with a bitter face.

After hesitating, John said, "Chen, isn't it too late at this time?"

Originally it was thought that it would be released in 14, but it ended up taking almost 14 to start filming, so it might not be released until 15, which is too late.

"It's not too late. The plot of Warcraft is complicated. It takes a lot of time just to sort out the main story and determine the story flow of the entire series."

"Besides, there are still various specific conditions that need to be confirmed. It would be great if we can get these things done next year. We can start preparations by the middle of next year and start filming at the end of the year. The timing should be about right."

Chen Linfeng told us about his plan.

Blizzard has a lot of people, and this is a joint collaboration between Blizzard, Legendary Pictures, and Summit Entertainment. If a Hollywood giant is involved in the distribution, it will be even more complicated.

Although Chen Linfeng's prestige and status have increased now, he does not have the confidence that he can quickly coordinate and handle the relationship between them.

This kind of big project can only be completed slowly over time.

"Okay, Chen, you're right," John had to agree.

The project had been shelved for so many years, and he was just a little anxious. But when he really calmed down and thought about it, he immediately understood the difficulties involved.

That was pretty much the end of the discussion. After a few more pleasantries and a meal together, the discussion ended.

On the way back, Jon breathed a sigh of relief and felt his whole body and mind relaxed.

Anne, the secretary, asked curiously, "Boss, you've given away another big piece of the cake, why do you look so relieved?"

"Of course I feel relieved. I was about to give up on this project, but luckily Chen joined us."

At the beginning, Legendary Pictures did attach great importance to the "Warcraft" project and was unwilling to let others interfere with the copyright in any way.

This is also the reason why they initially found directors who were not very famous in the industry.

Big directors, including big stars, often demand copyright rights.

Like Tom Cruise in "Mission Impossible", Vin Diesel in "Fast and Furious", Spielberg in "Jurassic Park" and so on.

These examples are all too common in Hollywood.

The big guys can always use the power in their hands to find ways to seize the copyright of movies, or at least part of the copyright, and it is difficult to find a good way to stop them.

But compared to the project dying suddenly or even being stillborn, it is better to develop it together with others.

Jon thought this through clearly.

He gave his secretary a brief account of the inside story.

"But, doesn't Chen have too many copyrights?" Annie counted on her fingers, "Infinite World, Taken, and now World of Warcraft. These are all very famous IPs."

Yeah, why so many?
Jon calculated it and was a little shocked.

He knew more, such as the copyrights of best-selling book adaptations such as "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" were also in Chen's hands.

"By the way, is The Hunger Games going to be released soon?" Jon suddenly remembered.

"Yes, on the 17th of this month."

Anne recalled and said.

She has a good memory, which is why she was able to become a secretary.

"Oh? That's just a few days away." Jon paid more attention to the movie.

In fact, there are quite a few people in the industry who are paying attention to this movie.

After "Twilight", Summit Entertainment was lucky enough to "pick up" the copyright of a best-selling book again.

Other companies in the industry are going crazy with jealousy.

How come he always gets the upper hand?

To be honest, everyone is eyeing the movie rights of best-selling books and those novels on the charts. As long as there is some potential, no one will let it go easily.

But "The Hunger Games" is completely different from other novels. This novel was bought directly by Summit Entertainment shortly after it was released and had not yet shown much potential.

Bought it at a price far exceeding the level at that time.

But with the benefit of hindsight, it wasn’t much more than the expense.

Not only that, because it far exceeded the author's psychological threshold at the time, this respect even won the trust and friendship of the original author.

"The Hunger Games" is a rare youth novel that is now very popular in the United States and has not caused any disputes between the original author and the copyright company.

He even deserves a lot of praise from the entire writer circle for this.

It is said that it is worthy of being the company of the great writer Chen because they respect the authors.

Although there are many misunderstandings here, the results are indeed good.

The Hunger Games is the quintessential fan film.

This is also a typical feature of young adult novels. The news that the movie is about to be released has spread widely among the fan community.

There are many anticipated posts in the online discussion area, and the discussion is very heated.

Among them, the important character Shi Xiaolong has also attracted much attention from fans because of "Inception".

He also started to have a fan following in Emily Ken.

Many of them paid attention to him because they knew he was Chen's brother.

What’s more interesting is that because of Xiaolong’s baby face, many people say that he looks like his younger brother.

Xiaolong was very angry.

This topic has come up in recent phone calls.

"They are just interviewing, why do they keep saying this? They really have nothing to do after eating."

"Haha, it seems that the American people have sharp eyes. Xiaolong, just accept it."

"Go away, go away. Once I'm your brother, I'll be your brother forever. Forget about it in this life."

Shi Xiaolong called, not just to complain.

He has already finished promoting "Inception" and is now on the set of "The Hunger Games", promoting the new movie.

Shi Xiaolong, who has become a little famous in North America due to his outstanding performance in "Inception", is now considered one of the rare big names in new movies.

The heroine in the movie, Jennifer Lawrence, is close in age, and the two even have a good relationship.

What is more troublesome for Shi Xiaolong is that the screenwriter who is also the director, Gary Ross, has some new ideas.

Since the Asian character Xiaolong was added temporarily, he is relatively free from the baggage of the original work.

The director did not kill him in the first film.

Later, in the plan for the second part, he wanted to add some drama and make some changes to the script.

The reason they use is to give more scenes to Xiaolong and to give more scenes to the boss brother. How dare you disagree?

This matter has not spread yet, but Shi Xiaolong has received the news.

"Do you think he was planning this? Maybe he had the idea when he was filming the first movie."

"It's normal for a director to have his own ideas about the story, especially when he is also the screenwriter."

After listening to this, Chen Linfeng said, "Don't worry about this. It still depends on how he revises the script. If it's well written, it's fine to include it. If it's not good, it will definitely not be passed. He doesn't have the final say."

This is how a normal director is. The producer is the boss. Even if you have filmed it, they will cut it for you and still make you lose your temper.

"Okay, I understand."

Time flies, and The Hunger Games is released.

Then, the movie took a big turn.

The North American box office on the first day was 6825 million, and 1.55 million US dollars in the first weekend, which shocked many filmmakers.

This is a bigger bomb than Twilight.

Since it was already the end of the summer vacation, we actually started working on it.

"Jason Bourne," which was released a week ago, was humiliated and suppressed, and for two consecutive weeks thereafter, "The Hunger Games" was the box office champion.

Summit Entertainment once again made a lot of money from fan movies.

Many U.S. media rushed to report and criticize.

Some newspapers also mentioned the boss behind the Summit, and this time, they did not give Chen Linfeng any face at all.

Just as he was praised before for his contribution to original films, now he is criticized for setting a bad example.

Although it has only been a month, Chen has transformed from a savior to a big devil.

Chen Linfeng didn't care too much about Emily Ken's public opinion game.

Anyway, the impact is not that big, a few small newspapers are talking about it.

Other media still give face to big writers (Warner) and big directors (Disney),

At this point, the global box office of "Inception" has basically been locked in, with a global total box office of 12.66 billion US dollars.

Ranked 5th in film history!

Disney promoted it heavily as the finale of the 2012 summer season.

Before, when the box office reached 10 billion, Chen Linfeng was invited, but he was busy filming and did not go. The leading actor was not there, so it ultimately did not happen.

Now I have to make some time for it no matter what.

It has to be a big event, it's time for a big celebration.

(End of this chapter)