Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 675 Cinematic Universe (44)

The Left Ear has grossed over 200 million yuan...

It was a commercially successful film!
After all, the cost was less than 4000 million...

It's important to remember that this achievement was made despite the combined pressure from "Big Events in Life" and "Furious 7"!
Including subsequent new media and television rights, "The Left Ear" has earned at least 3000 million yuan in profit...

For Enlight Media, the production and distribution company, this achievement has already met expectations!

"The Left Ear" is a typical work of "young heartthrob + big IP", but what's different is that its director is also a star...

Including last year's "My Old Classmate," "Fleet of Time," and the film version of "The Best of Us"...

Youth films are still in their prime!

Oh, youth films are perfect for young, handsome actors…

A bunch of projects have been approved, and even more are in the queue for release—Tiny Times 4, Forever Young, Since Youth Fades Away, and Whose Youth Isn't Confused…

More than 400 domestic films are released every year, of which at least 40 are youth films!
Moreover, due to the combination of young, attractive celebrities and a major intellectual property, the media exposure will be very high…

However, Shen Yan doesn't think highly of this type of movie.

"The most important thing about movies is the movie itself; otherwise, no matter how many stars you hire, it won't make a difference!"

"Then why is hot money pouring into youth films?"

"After the emergence of concepts like 'traffic' and 'IP,' the capital market flocked to invest in these seemingly novel business opportunities... Coupled with policy advantages, the cultural and entertainment industry experienced rapid development. But to be honest, there are no more than ten truly outstanding works produced each day... While hot money can provide a boost, industrial upgrading takes time..."

Between 2013 and 2017, the entertainment industry experienced an unprecedented boom. Stimulated by both policies and capital, the formula of "big IP + young idol" emerged, coupled with video platforms spending heavily to attract a large amount of hot money!

And then... has the film and television industry made any progress?
There has been no substantial progress... to put it mildly!
The most significant increase has likely been in celebrity salaries…

It has made a lot of people rich in just a few years!
The reporter seemed somewhat dissatisfied, shaking his head: "I think it's progress!"

Shen Yan smiled and didn't refute, "Then we'll see when the time comes!"

……

As of May 12, "Life's Big Events" had been in theaters for 19 days, accumulating a box office of 15.4 billion yuan…

Then, Avengers: Age of Ultron was released…

To be honest, *Age of Ultron* wasn't good. At least the viewing experience wasn't as enjoyable as I had imagined; it was even a bit boring…

It's nowhere near as good as the first Avengers movie!

It only has a 7.5 rating on Douban…

There are too many characters, appearing and disappearing like a revolving lantern. While dazzling, it fails to leave a lasting impression. Furthermore, with so many characters, each with a dark past and serving as a setup for later developments, each character feels rather one-dimensional…

Once you've seen it, you've seen it; it doesn't leave much of a lasting impression. Almost none of the scenes are particularly exciting or thrilling.

Plot summary: The Avengers have nothing better to do than create their own villains when there aren't any to fight, and then they're still heroes after the battle...

If it weren't for the build-up from the previous installments, "Age of Ultron" wouldn't have sparked such a cinematic frenzy...

Of course, Joss Whedon was also very unhappy. "Age of Ultron" was essentially a game between the Marvel Creative Committee and Marvel Studios. As the director, Joss Whedon was caught in the middle and pleased neither side. The story went through many twists and turns and finally presented itself as a product of compromise and tug-of-war among the parties.

In the end, Whedon resigned, feeling "exhausted," and the Marvel Creative Committee was disbanded.

However, Joss Whedon is quite unfortunate. After leaving Marvel, he took over Zack Snyder's mess. Justice League was a complete disaster, and to make matters worse, he was accused by Gal Gadot of being rude and threatened with ruining her!

Gal Gadot rose to fame with Wonder Woman at the time…

Joss Whedon was just a terrible director who 'ruined' Justice League, and with the #MeToo movement, his reputation was ruined, which was pretty bad... He didn't have a job for four or five years!
However, after watching Age of Ultron, Shen Yan roughly understood Joss Whedon's thinking—superheroes must save civilians!

This idea originated from the 70s Superman series.

I've developed a stereotype about these older screenwriters and directors—"If you don't save civilians, what kind of superhero are you?"
Therefore, in the first Avengers movie, when rescuing civilians in New York, Hawkeye and Black Widow both had close-ups of rescuing civilians, while Captain America had a solo scene that lasted for 1 minute to rescue civilians.
There are more scenes of saving civilians in Avengers 2. Before the final battle, everyone is saving civilians. Captain America and Thor team up to save a civilian in a car.

The same thing happened with Justice League; they cut out the highlight moments of The Flash and Cyborg and reshot a Russian family!

This "ordinary citizen perspective" allows viewers to feel the despair of ordinary people during a crisis and the greatness of heroes saving the day, thus creating resonance...

The problem is, who the hell would resonate with that?
The Russo brothers hated this trend, so they killed several civilians at the very beginning of Captain America 3!
Oh, *Age of Ultron* was released on the 12th, and its opening day box office was 1.79 million yuan, while *Life's Big Events* only grossed 860 million yuan on its opening day…

The impact is indeed significant. Yesterday, "Life's Big Events" still had nearly 2800 million yuan in box office revenue!

Based on this trend, "Life's Big Events" will only gross a maximum of 8000 million before its run ends...

The total box office won't reach 18 billion!

That wouldn't surpass the 18.6 billion yuan box office of "Duckweed"...

Currently ranked third in the domestic film box office charts…

……

"From the first Iron Man to Age of Ultron, and over seven years and more than a dozen movies in the making... it was predictable that it would be a huge hit!"

"Then can we make a cinematic universe?"

"It's a bit difficult!"

Shen Yan is still promoting "Major Events in Life" – Interview with Global Screen…

"Global Screen"... used to be very popular, with sales exceeding one million copies, but unfortunately the era of print media is over!
Shen Yan was simply giving face to the editor-in-chief—Cao Kai, who was Zhang Yi's classmate.

We met at a small teahouse near the company, where we drank tea and chatted.

The conversation was very casual.

"Why can't we create a cinematic universe?"

"Even when 'Journey to the West' was adapted into a 'Journey to the West: A Chinese Odyssey,' it was criticized relentlessly by Liu Xiao Ling Tong. Who would dare to delve into ancient mythology? Jia Ling was forced to apologize for playing Mulan in a skit... Who would dare to exploit classic works?"

"You're not willing either?"

"I previously had the idea of ​​creating a Fengshen cinematic universe, including 'Nezha,' 'Yang Jian,' 'Lei Zhenzi,' and 'Jiang Ziya,' with 'Fengshen Yanyi 1: The Rise of Chaoge' as the first phase..."

"Why wasn't it done?"

"Because anyone can film the story of 'Investiture of the Gods,' there's no exclusive copyright... Also, the costs are too high; each film needs to gross over 15 billion yuan to break even... The risk is too great..."

"We have no way to achieve global distribution!"

"right…"

"So how would you rate the Marvel Cinematic Universe?"

Shen Yan thought for a moment and said, "The most successful commercial film series since the birth of the film industry..."

"So, do you think this model is promising?"

"...Don't get me into trouble!"

(End of this chapter)