"Eric, what do you mean, make this movie? Change it to animation?" Michael Eisner asked directly without opening the book.
"Beauty and the Beast" is one of the famous works of Charles Bellot, the father of French children's literature. In Hollywood, it had been adapted and filmed as early as the 1940s. However, they were all live-action movies and achieved good results at the time. However, From the current point of view, the content was too fake. Even with the current makeup technology, there is no way to truly bring out the "monster". Therefore, Hollywood no longer has this intention. The cost of using special effects would be too high.
The plot of the story is simple:
The male protagonist is a young prince who lives alone in a magnificent castle because his subordinates once refused an ugly old woman to stay overnight. As a result, they were innocently cast a curse and turned into a beast. Even the prince's servants All turned into various pieces of furniture. The only way to lift the curse is for the prince who turned into a beast to learn to treat others sincerely and find true love.
The father of the heroine Belle accidentally broke into the territory of the Beast Prince and was imprisoned in the castle.
In order to save her father, Belle had no choice but to go into danger alone and go to the castle. In order to transform back into a human, the Beast asked Belle to live with him so that he could break the curse. In order to save her father, Belle agreed to live with the Beast in the castle. .
Although the prince who turned into a beast was ugly, he began to treat Belle sincerely. However, Belle's life was not happy because she missed her father.
By chance, Belle found a chance to escape, but encountered a ferocious pack of wolves. At the critical moment, the Beast Prince appeared in time to rescue Belle, but he was injured. Belle was moved and took good care of the Beast.
The second male protagonist Gaston likes Belle. After learning everything, in order to get Belle, he plans to let the villagers kill the beast together.
Belle sadly kissed the dead beast. Because of this kiss, the Beast Prince lifted his curse, resurrected and returned to his original form, a handsome prince. So the two of them lived together without shame.
It's a very cliched plot, but cliché is never a problem, it just needs to be well written or well shot.
"Yes, in fact, there is a big problem in Hollywood now, that is, when demonstrating many monsters, the performance is too fake. A few decades ago, people may not have cared much and just had some entertainment, but with the various entertainment levels nowadays With the improvement of movies, everyone's requirements for movies are too high. It is said that the successful Jaws and Alien were successful because they were very realistic. However, it is difficult for humanoid monsters such as Beauty and the Beast to be realistic. , especially when it involves the process of turning a human into a monster, it is difficult to express it. However, if it is an anime, there is no problem. We can draw all the details on the drawing paper. If it doesn’t work, it’s okay. Use a supercomputer to modify it." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
For the Photoshop project, Midea has set up a project team of more than a hundred engineers. At present, it is still far from a finished product, but this does not prevent existing computers from being able to assist animation, but it may not be as convenient and fast. .
Before the rapid advancement of computer special effects, animation could do many things that real movies could not do, and even if there were special effects in the future, they would still be far less expensive than special effects. Of course, the two types of movies target different user groups. Animation is of course a small category, and it may focus on children and teenagers, such as "The Lion King" which will have better results in the future, but "Beauty and the Beast" is special. The main market also includes all adults, especially women.
"Romance movies have always been everyone's favorite story, no one else. Even in various science fiction, mythology, and gunfight movies, there are many love links. These stories can occupy a certain amount of movie time, and can also make the content of the story more interesting. It has become more complete. The story of "Beauty and the Beast" can be said to be a household name in the United States and Europe. As long as it is filmed and we promote it more, many people will be willing to watch it. However, the subsequent results still depend on the story and Our animation is on par,” said Michael Eisner.
"In terms of animation quality, Disney dare not say that it is the best in the world, but it is still in the top three. Even if the company is declining now, the former painting team still has a strong foundation. As for what the story is, it depends on you. This is the new CEO." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
Although he knows "Beauty and the Beast", he has never seen the movie in the 1990s. He only knows that the box office of this movie became one of the biggest hits of the year. The global box office exceeded 400 million US dollars in the early 1990s, and it is still there today. In a few years, if it can reach US$300 million, plus the income from channels, then Disney can at least breathe a sigh of relief in a short period of time.
This is also an opportunity for him to examine the comprehensive abilities of the entire Disney team and Michael Eisner. As for the result, it is not very important. It is good to succeed. If it fails, there will be follow-ups such as "The Lion King", "Toy Story", " He has watched classic animations such as "Finding Nemo" and some of these movies. Although he doesn't remember them clearly, he probably knows the plot.
However, relatively speaking, these movies require stronger computer special effects capabilities, so it is not yet time.
"Okay, then Disney's next blockbuster movie will be this "Beauty and the Beast."" Michael Eisner nodded and said. After he joined Disney, he also wanted to make movies because he also knew that this would be a short-term turnaround. The best method is also the fastest way to stabilize his authority.
But Disney is good at animation, which is completely different from the movie shooting he was good at before. He didn't dare to start without a suitable idea. Now that the boss has decided on the goal and it seems to be pretty good, he just Just need to use your abilities again.
"How much do you think it will cost?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
"If you just want to shoot it, then three to four million dollars will be enough. If you want to get a high-quality movie with all the details and animations very realistic and with very good visual effects, then maybe It requires four to five times the capital, estimated to be about 20 million U.S. dollars. The exact amount requires a professional team to calculate it. This figure is just an estimate based on my previous experience and Disney's various animation shooting costs." Michael Eisner said.
"Money is not an issue. Make the best of it. This is our first movie after Disney changed hands. The quality cannot be bad at all." Chen Zhiwen said without any hesitation. Compared with a few million and tens of millions, The income from a blockbuster movie is nothing at all. Just the box office income, if it can reach 70% of the original historical results, the income will be no less than 100 million US dollars, not to mention some follow-up channels.
"Okay, then I will prepare this matter immediately after I go back. I will design the revised plot of this children's story as quickly as possible. When the time comes, I will send it to Hong Kong to show you, the boss." Ai Sina said that "Beauty and the Beast" is currently just a children's story book written a hundred years ago. If it is to be made into a movie, it needs to be redesigned and set up various supporting characters based on the original simple story framework. , plot line, background, etc. Only after this is finalized can the movie be made.
"OK, I'm waiting for your good news." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. Although he proposed to make this movie this time, he did not actually use the Golden Finger. The whole story still had to be conceived by the Disney team. , even if the future plot is sent to him, as long as it is not too outrageous, he will not interfere. Everything depends on the ability of Michael Eisner, the legendary CEO.
Michael Eisner, who got his first assignment, spent a day in Hong Kong and then left. He now urgently needs to make a great movie to save the current Disney, and at the same time he needs to prove his worth.
As for Chen Zhiwen, it's actually similar. Disney's debt problem has also put a little pressure on his capital in the United States. If this movie test is successful, he will definitely launch more classic animated movies in the future to ensure that Disney can Operate independently, and when there is sufficient profitability, you can prepare to go public again. Although you need to share profits with others, this is inevitable for development and growth, and obtaining more funds will also allow him to have more There are more opportunities to participate in other more profitable investments.
Time soon came to July. A typhoon destroyed many houses in remote areas, leaving many people homeless. The Hong Kong government urgently provided shelter. After Chen Zhiwen learned about it, he directly ordered PARKnSHOP Supermarket to Sufficient food, clean water, simple daily necessities, etc. were provided to help these people tide over the difficulties.
"Sheng Chen, we have provided a large amount of bread to the refugees resettled at Hung Hom Stadium in accordance with your request. The resources we sent alone are enough for them to use for a week. We will keep an eye on this matter in the future. If If they are still short, we will make up for it," said Wu Weibing, general manager of Watsons.
"Okay, this is not just a matter of improving our company's image, but more importantly, we must really help these people. At least ensure that they have food. You can also spend some money to invite some doctors to see if there are any people. My health is not good, and the Hong Kong government doesn’t worry much about these things now." Chen Zhiwen added. The Hong Kong government is now in quite a big trouble. The economy is shrinking. It is basically the limit to provide a Hung Hom Stadium for people to take refuge. All kinds of materials can only be obtained by the Hong Kong government encouraging Hong Kong wealthy people to donate money and materials.
"Okay, I will arrange for someone to handle it later. Don't worry, Mr. Chen. They are all Chinese, and I will try my best to help." Wu Weibing said sincerely. Seeing so many people affected by the disaster, and they are compatriots, he felt bad. Fortunately, my company has a charity fund every year, so it couldn't be better used in this regard.
"Well, that's good." Chen Zhiwen nodded and asked: "I heard that Parknshop and RT-Mart are developing well in Malaysia recently. Are they ready to enter Thailand?"
"Yes, Chen Sheng, we have cooperated with Thai Chinese tycoon Xie Guoming to open RT-Mart and Baixin supermarkets in Thailand. It is estimated that the first batch of supermarkets will be opened by the end of this year." Wu Weibing said.
"Okay, well done. Southeast Asia is one of the most important markets for our retail group in the future." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. The mainland completely liberalized foreign retail in the mid-1990s, which is still ten years away. Although he said You can invest in several cities through some methods, but under too many restrictions, the achievements are still limited. Therefore, in the past ten years, the most important market has been Southeast Asia. This is also the only market where we can make efforts. Europe and America are impossible. There are opportunities for supermarkets owned by Watsons.
"But there is one more thing. We discussed it internally and decided to imitate Europe and the United States and open a 24-hour small retail store. What does Chen Sheng think?" Wu Weibing paused and asked again.
(End of chapter)
