The Best Director

"Weekend Report: "League of Assassins" takes the top spot, and "Firefly" creates a market miracle" - bsp; On the weekend of August 5th to 7th, which has just passed, a total of 135 movies were released in North American movie theaters, and 2 major movies were released. New films released on a large scale.

Among them, another bad action-comedy film with a moderate investment was born. The 10,000-cost TV series adaptation "Justice" received Rotten Tomatoes index values ​​of 13%/22%/58%, with an average of 3,785 theaters per theater. It grossed 19.31 million USD 5.4, failing both in terms of reputation and box office. This ugly opening result caused Warner Bros. to suffer another loss this summer. Jessica Simpson became a poison when she debuted on the big screen in a dramatic role, disappointing her fans.

However, another new film, "League of Assassins", which is full of five evils and has been so bad, has performed well. The media and the public feel that they should not be surprised. This is expected, as long as the film's actors and actresses A watch with "ung-ang" is never useless!

"Assassin's Assassin is a fast-paced, crackling, elegantly tense ride tailor-made for summer audiences." The official one-sentence review from Rotten Tomatoes sums up the film well. It has no overly profound thematic meaning and does not pursue any artistic connotation. However, it can bring a luxurious popcorn enjoyment of nearly 2 hours. Richard Rope of "ebert\u0026eper" commented: "It will have its own merits." fans, some great visuals, some amazing action sequences and some terrific performances."

This movie is not all popcorn and Coke. Elements such as sister love complex, father's hatred, false master-disciple relationship, etc. are interpreted through John Woo's lens and are as full of flavor as a classical martial arts show. "Chicago Sun"'s Roger -Albert gave a thumbs up: "Punch, violence and emotion, not a minute wasted."

"John Wu got out of the quagmire in a violent, intense, bloody and thrilling way. He not only found himself, but also gained unprecedented energy." Joe Morgenstern of the "Wall Street Journal" commented, " Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News gave it a 3.5/5 score: "Your brain can be shut down for two hours, but your adrenal glands will be busy." Sam Adams of the Los Angeles Times gave it a 4/5 score : "It may drag teenagers to have too much world-weariness, but it will also hit most male audiences. This is the most refreshing work since directed by John Wu, with the classic double-gun shot!"

Of course, there is a script carefully written by Chris Morgan and others. It is very passionate and exciting, without any sloppiness.

In terms of actor performance, James McAvoy seized this opportunity to become famous very well, and his impressive performance won praise from most film critics and fans; "Poison Queen" Halle Berry even re-appeared in the movie A sexiness that is truly hers, and a character modeled after her that suits her better than Catwoman. Newsday's Rafe Guzman said: "Once Halle Berry gets into the gritty fight , your eyes never leave."

"John Wu has lived up to Qi Qiyang's trust.

", "When it comes to identifying talents and employing people, no one in the film industry today can compare to Wang Yang. ", "Basically, if a trash can is in Wang Yang's hands, he can also find gold. "...

Many film reviews finally introduce the relevant background of "The League of Assassins". In addition to the comic book author Mark Miller, Wang Yang can be seen everywhere. The planning of commercial films can be large or small, and some of the style, tone and suggestions set by them often lead to judgments. If there are two pieces, who can ignore the role he plays? Outside of "League of Assassins" itself, it is well known that it is actually Wang Yang's attempt to challenge John Woo, betting US$100 million on whether the "King of Guns" can become a teenager!

The media and the public are very aware of this, and they are also admiring this now. It is precisely because of these heart-stopping heroics that Miyagi Yang is so handsome and irreplaceable.

Rotten Tomatoes currently contains 75 film reviews of "League of Assassins", with a freshness rating of 79%/83% from the public and well-known film critics respectively, and an audience liking rate of 81% (94,827 rating users). Although it is not amazing, and it is far less fresh than the 94% freshness of "Face" at its peak, but compared with the previous "three hits" "Wind Talker" 33% and "Bulletproof Monk" 22% (producer) , "Memory Crack" 27%, and even the "Quadruple Smash" "Mission: Impossible 2" was not well received at 57%. John Woo finally tasted the taste of fresh red tomatoes again after 8 years. It is definitely beautiful. Turn around.

But speaking of not having a "magical aura", there is a big doubt whether film producers, big or small, would dare to use him again; however, at this moment of success, John Woo and Halle Berry have undoubtedly turned around!

The two seemed to have expected it. In the previous publicity stage, whenever John Woo was interviewed, he would tell the media: "I am very grateful to Wang Yang for his trust and encouragement in me. I am almost 10 years old, and it seems very strange to be inspired by a young man of a few years old." Weird, in fact, I have lost my enthusiasm for shooting action movies for a long time, and I feel that I no longer need to prove anything, but Wang Yang gave me that excitement again. He used a line from "A Better Tomorrow", I still remember the feeling at that time." Halle Berry joked many times: "A few years ago, Magic Young handed me the Best Actress trophy, and then the 'Oscar Curse' came to me. It has begun, and this time I agree to his invitation to star in "Assassin's League", it should be the end, right?"

"League of Assassins" was released in 5 theaters this weekend, with an average of 12,156 per theater, and a total of 37.74 million US dollars, ranking first on the weekly list. It won the championship with not too popular results.

This also created the worst opening weekend box office performance for Fire Movies in the history of summer movies. It seems that it does not have the commercial potential of "The Hangover 2" and "Rush". Paul Dergarabei of NS Agency said: "The audience People still have a lot of fear about John Wu and Halle Berry, especially Halle Berry, who is on many people’s blacklists. The strategy of Fire Movie is very correct. By establishing a good reputation in North America, it carefully By traveling overseas, the film will have a bright future."

Leaving aside the final box office results of "Assassins", no one knows. Even if everything is screwed up, Fire Movies has enough capital to arrogantly say: "I can afford to lose this little money."

"Firefly", which entered its eighth week, relied on Wang Yang's coma to unbelievably achieve a sustained and amazing performance. The box office trend was -5%, and the average theater (-255) was 2,814 per theater. It can be said that it took away a total of 745.75 crazily. Ranked fifth with $10,000! The total box office in North America rose to 623.27 million! In overseas markets, "Firefly" continues to earn over 10 million U.S. dollars in Japan, and is making great strides in further directions.

The fourth week of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" averaged only 2,962 per venue; the second week of "Must Love Dogs" only had 2,937; the eighth week of "Batman Begins" 528; the sixth week of "War of the Worlds" 1,829 …

The rescue film "War of the Worlds", which was originally claimed to hit a global box office of 100 million or 1.8 billion, now has a North American box office of over 200 million, which is only the level of 200 million. Even if it exceeds 400 million with overseas box office, it is still far from the loud slogan. The goal is still too far off. However, it is estimated that all members of Paramount themselves do not believe that "War of the Worlds" can exceed 1.8 billion. I believe that they are very satisfied with the current results.

"I'm not going to authorize it, Scott, and frankly, I don't want to and won't have any part in it."

In the spacious and elegant chairman's office at the headquarters of Fire Film Company in Santa Monica, Wang Yang gently turned his office chair left and right, holding the landline microphone in his left hand, and talked about the topic of "The Amazing Director" with the caller Scott Rudin. .

Regarding "The Amazing Director", Wang Yang felt helpless, emotional, curious, and amused, but he was not angry, because he knew that this was something that was almost inevitable, and he had already heard that someone was interested in putting him on the big screen. He has neither the ability nor the desire to control. Even "The Passion of the Christ" and "Fahrenheit 9/11" can find producers and distributors, so who is Miyazaki? As long as there are film producers who think it is profitable, "Silicon Valley Legend" (Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates) and "The Amazing Director" will appear.

The difference is that this time Paramount is serious. Scott Rudin is better than those third-rate producers who want to make a quick buck, but Ben Mozrich agreed without telling him. Paramount's movie adaptation made Wang Yang very angry. He really didn't treat me as a friend! When he thought about it, he was in a coma at that time, and he lost some energy. However, no matter what, he would not officially authorize "The Fantastic Director".

Because Wang Yang, as an industry insider, knows better than people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates what a movie is, "The Amazing Director" is not a biopic or documentary, but a feature film adapted from a short story. If Paramount feels that the audience will buy it, it can even treat him the same way Jeff Horse was bleached in "Blackjack." This kind of drama film with the tone of "youth, restlessness, and sex" will make some simple things complicated and complex things even more complicated through team discussion and artistic processing. In order to make the story more dramatic, conflicting and discussion-driven, It is normal to delete and modify.

All in all, the beginning, development and ending of the film's story will be consistent with reality, but all the details, including the participating characters and characters, are dramatized. That means Jessica can be deleted and the characters of "The Ghost Story" can be deleted. The heroine replaced Rachel, everything was for the sake of "it should be like that" at the time of creation, for the sake of box office and awards. Wang Yang knows that no matter what he says, Wang Yang in "The Magic Director" will still be the product of the director, screenwriter, etc. If he needs to be a playboy, he will be a playboy; if he needs to be a geek, he will be He will be a geek, and of course his public image will most likely be his main focus.

"That's a pity, Magic Yang, your story is really fascinating... I understand your feeling of not wanting to participate."

A very regretful voice came from the microphone. This 47-year-old gold medal producer started his career in the 1990s. In recent years, he has participated in the production of "The Truman Show", "Miracle Boys", "The Hours" ", "School of Rock", "Stealing Hearts" and other mainstream commercial or artistic adult films, many of them are first-time producers. In his opinion, "The Amazing Director" will be the kind of movie that will be a hit and hit the Oscars. Rudin asked again: "So do you have any suggestions?"

"I suggest and hope that a Chinese actor will play me." Wang Yang's tone is extremely serious. This country uses Asians to divide ethnic groups, but of course he hopes that Chinese people will play Chinese people. Korean and Japanese people feel weird. Scott Rudin over there couldn't guarantee it: "We will try our best." Wang Yang curled his lips in displeasure and continued seriously: "Also, it's very important! I know you have collected information about me in high school, Moz Richie's novel also mentions my high school girlfriend. I went crazy because of losing her. It's not hard to find out, isn't it? Ha!" Rudin laughed.

Wang Yang smiled. In fact, his love history had already been exposed by the gossip media. Especially since the launch of "Days with Summer", it has changed from "white man, her name is Helen, and their relationship is very good." Some love affairs were actually unearthed. Maybe a friend betrayed him. Helen's cool face vaguely appeared in front of his eyes, and Wang Yang sternly said with a warning: "I hope you won't disturb her! She is already married, so don't cause so many things! As for the movie, I guess it is just some flashback scenes at most, Just delete this person!"

"Young, you know these are not decisions I can make. It depends on what the screenwriter and director think in the future..." Scott Rudin still couldn't guarantee it. He chuckled and said, "And it's unlikely that she will be deleted. That's a key point."

"What key? Ludin! You know that as long as the video is filmed, some people will believe that it is all true. Don't embarrass my wife, my friend, and my ex-girlfriend, okay?" Wang Yang sat up straight with anger. What he fears most about this matter is that "The Amazing Director" is not a Disney youth movie, it aims at Oscars, so why does he never forget that Helen and Jessica are stand-ins, or that he and Rachel have a sexual relationship...

You must know that in Mozrich's story, he does not have Bill Gates like Steve Jobs, so the friendship, fighting, love competition, fraud and betrayal between two young and restless girls are likely to become One of the key points. Young + Jessica + Rachel, isn't this a gossip selling point to attract movie fans? At the same time, according to the treacherous drama skills of the successful party in reality, the actor who plays Jessica needs to practice his bad smile.

As soon as these thoughts flashed through his mind, Wang Yang couldn't help but take a deep breath. While Scott Rudin was hesitating, he said extremely seriously: "You'd better not anger me. If that happens, nothing will happen to me." If you don’t do it, at least I’ll snipe it.”

"Wonderful Yang, I'm sorry! If "Wonderful Director" offended you, I will apologize to you now." Scott Rudin quickly calmed down Wang Yang's anger. The murderous words of the young director frightened the gold medalist. For movies, let’s take a look at “Sin City”. It was beaten by the sudden appearance of “The Amityville Chronicles 3” and failed to win a championship. “Wrath of the Amazing Young” was not a good experience. Scott Rudin said sincerely: "This is really a very good story, Magic Young, you are a legend! Seriously, you should learn to get used to this, we are not the only ones who want to make your legend story."

Wang Yang scratched his head helplessly, resting his plastered right hand on the desk, and said: "Scott, I don't want to disturb your creation. I'm not such a stingy person. I'm also very curious about whether this movie will be made." Whatever it looks like, I will watch it with my family in the future." He paused and said, "Understood? It doesn't matter to me personally. You can do whatever you like, but don't involve women."

Scott Rudin kept claiming that it was reasonable, but Wang Yang suddenly let out a frustrated breath, knowing that he was probably talking nonsense, and the other party would not be restrained by his threats. Look at the evil Bill Gates in "Silicon Valley Legends" Come on! He still reassured himself: "Some things need to be done in moderation. You also have a family."

"Yes, yes, I understand your worries, Magic Young... Our ultimate goal is just a classic movie." Scott Rudin tactfully expressed his uncertainty.

Just know it! Wang Yang rolled his eyes. At this moment, his phone suddenly rang, and he ended the call unhappily: "Okay, then there is nothing more to say, so let's do it! I hope Wang Yang on the screen will be handsome enough in the future." However, In fact, Wang Yang doesn't think anyone can play him well, he is so handsome... Think about the hardships of the casting experience of "T-21-Team", even if the casting scope of "The Magic Director" covers the entire North America, Judging from the situation of Asian male actors around 20 years old, maybe they can be found, maybe not.

"It's a pity that I met you too late, otherwise Natalie Portman would also appear on the screen. It's so interesting." Listening to Natalie's laughter on the phone, Wang Yang smiled and shrugged: "Then It's a good idea to ask Ellen Page to play the role." Natalie asked curiously: "Have you given them any advice?" Wang Yang shook his head and said: "No, my advice is not useful, just let it take its course. Of course!" Natalie hummed, and then got down to business: ""Days with Summer" started filming this week, but I still have a lot of questions about Summer that I haven't figured out yet."

"What's the problem?" Regarding Natalie's question, Wang Yang talked with her for a while. He didn't end the call until the meeting time came. After hearing about the meeting, Natalie suddenly remembered something and asked excitedly: "What kind of dog movie is Flame Movie going to make? Will it be a Yorkie as the protagonist? How is my Charlie?" Wang Yang got up and walked out of the office. , while smiling into the mobile phone: "I'm afraid it's not Yorkies, the targets this time are all large dogs."

In the bright conference room, senior executives of Flame Films were sitting on both sides of the long conference table. Wang Yang was present as the chairman, while Mark Slante and others were sitting on both sides.

"The filming rights of "I Am Legend" are still with Warner Bros." Mark Slante looked troubled, and Wang Yang glanced at the crowd thoughtfully: "Do you want to buy it?"