Hollywood Road

As night fell, the front of the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills was brightly lit. A long red carpet was laid directly on the driveway. A large number of media reporters gathered on both sides of the carpet. They held their cameras high and kept pressing the buttons. Shutter, capture everyone walking on the red carpet.

This is the celebration party hosted by 20th Century Fox for "Dark City". Murphy's film has achieved great success by any standard, especially in terms of commercial achievements, not to mention North America and overseas. The box office figures are still increasing, and the peripheral products and the transfer of copyrights alone have earned hundreds of millions of huge revenues.

"Mr. Murdoch, can you say a few words?"

In the temporary interview area at the entrance of the Hilton Hotel, several reporters stopped James Murdoch, the CEO of Twentieth Century Fox, ""Dark City" has achieved great success, and Twentieth Century Fox will continue to work with him. Do you want to cooperate?"

James Murdoch stood in front of the reporter and talked eloquently, "Murphy is a great director. I think his talent as a director in today's Hollywood is absolutely top-notch. Twentieth Century Fox is Murphy's best director." A solid partner, we are a strategic partnership, 20th Century Fox and Murphy will create more brilliance together!"

After saying this, he nodded to the reporter, and then walked into the hotel.

Not long after James Murdoch entered the hotel, Murphy walked onto the red carpet with Gal Gadot in his arms, and soon came to the interview area in front of the hotel, because "Dark City" was still showing , he did not refuse the reporter's interview, but said a few more words.

"Director Stanton, what do you think is the main reason why "City of Darkness" is such a hit?"

Facing the reporter's question, Murphy thought for a moment and replied, "Audiences are always looking for new excitement. I think they are, to a certain extent, already tired of those Hollywood commercial films that are highly homogenized."

The trend in this regard is actually already obvious. Today's Hollywood commercial films are no longer just brainless special effects, and they can be sold easily. That era is gone forever.

A reporter immediately asked, "Will the serious films represented by "Dark City" become mainstream in the future?"

"Serious?" Murphy froze for a moment, then shook his head, ""Dark City" is not serious at all!"

The reporters never expected that Murphy would say that.

Murphy obviously did it on purpose, just to create a hype topic for these guys. Before the reporter asked questions, he said again, "I did use a dark style and realistic techniques in "Dark City".

But these have to adhere to one principle, what they bring must be exciting, lively, and fun big-screen entertainment! "

He shrugged, "Even if it is dark and realistic, "Dark City" is a highly entertaining commercial masterpiece!"

Before the reporter could say more, Murphy walked into the hotel with Gal Gadot on his arm. Guided by the staff, he entered the banquet hall where the celebration party was held.

The crew of "City of Darkness" has basically arrived, and most of the executives of 20th Century Fox have also come. There are media reporters under 20th Century Fox at the party to take pictures. The reason why this party is held now, and Not after the film is released in North America, one of the important purposes is for publicity.

This kind of movie celebration party, especially when there are media reporters taking pictures on the spot, is basically a fixed process. Murphy and James Murdoch cut the cake together, everyone toasted together, and then the media reporters were invited out.

Murphy can't remember how many people came to congratulate him. He is the absolute protagonist of the party tonight. With the help of Gal Gadot, he finally escaped from the crowd. He just met James Franco and Margot - Robbie chatted for a while, and Jon Landau found him again.

Unlike those people before, as a gold medal producer in Hollywood, Jon Landau specially approached him and discussed with Murphy a few words about possible changes in the future of big-budget commercial films.

Coincidentally, Jon Landau also believes that "Dark City" will open up the market for serious themes.

"I think, the future of Hollywood commercial films..."

The chubby gold medal producer said seriously to Murphy, "The style of commercial films in the future can be more serious and realistic."

"Well, I think it's possible too."

This is not facing the media, Murphy will not talk nonsense, "The audience is always pursuing the freshest excitement, and this style is not available in most ordinary commercial popcorn movies."

Jon Landau nodded his fat chin, "Simple stacking of special effects, unless it reaches the level of James Cameron, will definitely lead to a dead end."

"However, Jon," Murphy warned solemnly, "There is one thing that must be paid attention to."

"Which point?" Jon Landau was obviously asking for advice.

He knew that Murphy was an expert in this area, and compared to Murphy, he was much worse in this area.

"For this type of film, the theme can be very heavy, but the interesting things must not be eliminated!"

Speaking of this, Murphy organized the language, saying, "The darkening style can be used appropriately, but the 'interesting' content must not be completely eliminated. There are many interesting scenes and lines in "Dark City" .”

Jon Landau thought about it, and indeed, as Murphy said, the theme of "Dark City" is very heavy, but the form shown is not serious, but very interesting. Anyone who thinks this movie is very serious, Either never saw it, or absolutely hated James Franco and Margot Robbie.

After chatting for a few more words, Jon Landau said goodbye and left. Looking at his back, Murphy knew very well that with the box office explosion of "Dark City", there will inevitably be a large number of followers in Hollywood, but these followers If you think that the film wins with darkness and heaviness, you will surely vomit blood in the future.

Murphy is very clear that the phenomenon of following suits in Hollywood is very common, even more serious than Hong Kong movies in the past.

For example, in the past, Hollywood saw the success of "Avatar", but only focused on its 3D effect, so they decided to release as many 3D works as possible in theaters. Several major companies saw the success of "Inception", It didn't think like this -- oh, it turns out that audiences like to watch high-quality original science fiction movies -- it thought, let's remake films such as "Cosmic Dragon" and "Total Recall"...

In fact, this kind of follow-up has already begun. Murphy just heard Kara Firth mention that Sony Columbia Pictures, which obtained the copyright of "Zorro's Mask" from DreamWorks, was unable to produce the sequel due to various problems for several years. Just announced the official launch of the sequel, and claimed that the new version of "Zorro" will not be a grand rogue film in the traditional sense, but closer to the style of "Dark City", with a new background story, realistic style and emotion as the basis. The core to show the character of the character.

But simple darkness and realism may not necessarily bring success to a film.

Not to mention "Dark City", the former "Dark Knight" can become a blockbuster at the box office not because they are serious, dark, and gloomy, but because most of its content is of high quality, thoughtful, and cleverly conceived , with gripping thrillers, solid humor, and compelling characters.

The film does touch on dark themes and has characters burdened by their own insanity, but overall it's full of energy and humor.

It would be an oversimplification to suggest that The Dark Knight was so successful because it was "somber, serious and realistic."

Just like "The Sixth Sense" once earned nearly 300 million US dollars at the box office in North America, it was not because of the shocking reversal ending; "Avatar" earned 2.7 billion US dollars worldwide not because it was just a 3D movie.

There are many reasons why a movie succeeds or fails, and it's dangerous to always attribute it to one factor. Also, and importantly, hit movies, especially super hit movies, do so because they are all-around entertainment with a certain quality.

In fact, from the comments on the Internet, we can also see that "Dark City" is first and foremost an interesting and exciting movie in the eyes of movie fans.

"The Dark Knight is a rare masterpiece..."

"Biggest surprise of the summer and year so far..."

"Undoubtedly the best film of 2013..."

"When was the last time you saw a blockbuster that was impeccably thought provoking, daring and tense, and consistently entertaining?"

Word of mouth from the audience is often the most direct response from the market.

Margot Robbie and Gal Gadot came over together at this time. The former saw Murphy Ruodos and waved his hand in front of his eyes. "Hey, what are you thinking?"

Murphy returned to his senses, "A question about the movie."

"Workaholic!" Margot Robbie just said deliberately, and James Franco and Carla Firth also walked over, "Hi, Murphy."

Murphy was very familiar with these two people, and he knew at a glance that they had something to talk about, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"A good news and a bad news." James Franco put on a ruffian smile, "Which one do you want to hear first?"

"Okay." Murphy looked at him and Kara Firth, "I like good news."

James Franco didn't speak, but looked at Kara Firth, who said, "Twentieth Century Fox's public relations on the other side of the Pacific have made progress, and "Dark City" may be released there. .”

Murphy frowned slightly, "The bad news is that they have other conditions?"

"Well." Kara Firth replied, "Although they didn't say it explicitly, they gave a veiled hint that China Film wants James to star in a heavyweight co-production film over there."