June, summer season.
Universal Pictures is releasing "Natural Born Killers," directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis.
This movie tells the story of the male protagonist Mickey and the female protagonist Miley. Because Miley was harassed by her father, they killed him and then fled. In the process of escaping, he kept killing people and stealing goods, but he was regarded as a hero by the media.
They were later caught by the police and put in jail. The media who heard about it entered the prison to interview Mickey for ratings, but he took the opportunity to instigate it, causing a riot in the prison. Mickey took the opportunity to escape with Miley.
"Natural Born Killers" is a film that is very personal to the director.
Its story is not that brilliant, there is not that much suspense, and there are not that many twists and turns. But Oliver Stone used his unique audio-visual language to make this originally simple story extremely impactful.
The crazy and brutal aesthetic rendering of violence makes every viewer's blood boil. No wonder, after all, its screenwriter is Quentin Tarantino.
His works are deeply influenced by Hong Kong films, especially Wu Yusen's films, and he has a special interest in the aesthetics of violence.
However, this kind of violent aesthetics is not acceptable to every audience. In fact, the film caused so much controversy that when it was released in the United States, a lot of the violent scenes were deleted.
In addition, when it was released to many countries, it was directly banned. This movie even influenced a group of viewers and led to some murders. This also put Oliver Stone under a lot of pressure.
In the end, the North American box office of "Natural Born Killers" was 56 million US dollars, which was not very good. After all, it costs $50 million.
However, the video of the film later became a hit among movie fans, selling millions of copies and making more than $100 million in profit, which was considered to be a recovery of the cost.
…
In July, "Speed 3" starring Xiang Nan and Courtney Cox was officially launched.
This movie tells the story of a male and female protagonist trying to prevent a speeding train from derailing. It is almost the same plot as the previous two movies. But because this time it is a train, it is more destructive and lethal, so it is more exciting and tense.
As a top Hollywood star, Xiang Nan has been developing in Hollywood for more than ten years and has already accumulated huge popularity. In addition, the quality of the works has always been guaranteed, so fans' bonding is also the strongest.
Courtney Cox has also accumulated high popularity and national popularity because of "Friends" in the past two years. In addition, she has previously filmed one or two parts of "Speed", "Speed", etc., and her popularity is also quite impressive.
Good-looking movies coupled with popular stars are naturally very attractive to audiences. Therefore, in the end, "Speed 3" won a box office of 130 million US dollars in North America and was a great success.
The success of this movie also allowed Universal Pictures to recover from the decline in the second quarter.
You know, "The Dark Horse," "Fantastic Four" and "Natural Born Killers" all performed poorly at the box office, putting Universal Pictures under a lot of pressure.
On the one hand, it is responsible to those theater operators. If the movie is not a hit, the movie theaters it cooperates with will also be dissatisfied. On the one hand, it has to be responsible to those shareholders. If the movie is not a hit, Universal Pictures is not making money, and the shareholders are naturally dissatisfied.
Therefore, in the past three months, Universal Pictures' stock price has been a bit depressed. However, with the box office success of "Speed 3", Universal Pictures' stock price immediately rose.
…
In August, "True Lies" directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis was released.
This commercial blockbuster is even better than "Speed 3" in terms of story and scenes. Especially the fighter jet battle at the end of the film vividly demonstrates the heritage of Hollywood blockbusters.
Such a big scene is absolutely impossible to film in the Hong Kong film industry. Not to mention that it can't borrow such a high-end fighter jet. Even if it borrows it, it may not know how to shoot.
This is not only a gap in funding, but also a gap in technology and imagination. Thinking about it makes people feel desperate.
"True Lies" has a wonderful story and grand scenes, coupled with Arnold Schwarzenegger's box office appeal, it is a natural box office hit.
In North America, it’s US$140 million, and globally it’s nearly US$400 million, which is pretty good compared to an investment of US$120 million.
The success of this film further consolidated James Cameron's status as a leading commercial film director and laid the foundation for his subsequent filming of "Titanic". Otherwise, how could he have gotten Fox Pictures to be willing to invest $200 million in him.
With this movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger continues to be one of the top stars in Hollywood.
…
In September, "Forrest Gump" starring Tom Hanks and Michelle Pfeiffer was released.
It goes without saying that this movie is a classic. It can be said that it is also a star-studded classic in the history of Hollywood movies that cannot be ignored.
It tells the story of half a century of American history through the character of Forrest Gump.
Moreover, because A-Gump has an intellectual disability, many matters that were originally extremely serious were brushed aside by him in an understatement. For example, racial discrimination, the South Vietnam War, the Watergate incident...
This makes the tone of the story relaxed, interesting, and warm, which caters to the psychology of many young audiences.
After all, they were born in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When they grew up, wars were far away and the Cold War was over. They were replaced by the rapid advancement of science and technology and abundant material supplies.
In the 1990s, prices in the United States were quite low. One dollar buys a gallon of milk, which is about 3.7 liters. A pound of chicken legs is twenty-five cents, a pound of pork chops is one dollar, a gallon of gas is one dollar...
In "Friends", Joey's financial situation is not very good, but he can buy a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and eat only the chicken skin without the chicken. It can be seen how cheap things were at that time, and even unemployed vagrants like him could afford such a life.
Therefore, young audiences do not understand past history, and "Forrest Gump"'s understatement of past suffering is also in line with their mentality. Just like when children today listen to stories from the 1980s, they are just curious.
And people who have gone through that era are not willing to recall those pains. Therefore, "Forrest Gump" beautifies and weakens the sufferings of the past, which is also in line with their psychology.
All in all, Forrest Gump catered to American audiences. Especially after the end of the Cold War, the United States became the only superpower in the world, which gave the American people strong self-confidence.
As a result, the movie was a huge success, with a box office of US$320 million in North America and US$670 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing movie to date.
Universal Pictures' stock price has soared a lot because of this movie, and its market value has reached 12 billion U.S. dollars, making all previous shareholders regret it.
7017k
