1217 Too hasty
DC Comics and Marvel Comics, the two major mountains in the North American comics market, each have huge fan groups..
After the 1990s, in terms of sales and popularity, including the advanced awareness of adapting movies to expand their influence, and even the concentration of superhero copyrights, the former was far ahead and had the absolute upper hand. The heroic images of Superman and Batman were even more popular. worldwide.
But after entering the 21st century, the latter has achieved a comprehensive overtake in the film field, and established a huge Marvel universe, becoming an important part of the Disney giant, while the former has been losing ground in the competition. Lost all territory.
Why？
Objectively speaking, after the turn of the millennium, Sony Pictures' "Spider-Man" and 20th Century Fox's "X-Men" took the lead in debuting, rekindling the craze of comic superhero movies, but Christopher Nolan's " The "Batman" series can be called a classic in film history. It has achieved an incredible win-win situation in terms of word-of-mouth and box office, and is even enough to be recorded in history..
At this time, it can be said that DC Comics and Marvel Comics have their own merits and are equally divided..
However, the official debut of "Iron Man" in 2008 not only revitalized Robert Downey Jr.'s career and gave it a new lease of life; it also ushered in the ten-year dynasty of Marvel's craze, witnessed the era of Marvel's great victory, and also Witnessed the peak of Disney's return to the throne. After that, the gap between the two comics became wider and wider..
To be more precise, the decline of DC superhero movies adapted by Warner Bros. began in 2012.
This is a very, very special year.
For Marvel, the victory of the "Avengers" made it onto the historical stage with the arrogance of making history, officially announcing the overall victory of the first phase of the Marvel Universe, thus establishing the absolute market for superheroes. The status is hard to shake. After that, a series of Marvel movies such as "Captain America 2", "Thor 2", "Ant-Man", "Doctor Strange", "Guardians of the Galaxy", etc. made their debut and fully blossomed..
For DC, the official release of "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" successfully brought a beautiful end to the Batman story constructed by Christopher Nolan, but it also officially marked Warner Bros.'s attempt to compete with comics. Wei's weapon is temporarily offline, and they must restart the project, rearrange the layout, and start over..
The reason why we emphasize the specialness of 2012 has a historical background..
After the millennium, Warner Bros. has established an absolute dominance in Hollywood, with a far leading market share. The "Matrix" series is the beginning, the "Harry Potter" series is the rise, and the "Batman" series is the peak. , three series of works linked together for ten years of glory.
At the same time, Warner Bros. has never given up on the development of DC comic adaptations, such as "Catwoman", "Watchmen", "Green Lantern", "Superman Returns", "Hell Detective", etc. They have been trying to explore superheroes Regarding the market potential of movies, I hope to continue to explore more possibilities beyond the Troika..
Unfortunately, all the above-mentioned works failed, at least in terms of box office; at the same time, the "Matrix" series ended in 2003, the "Harry Potter" series ended in 2011, and the "Batman" series ended in 2012.
So, when 2012 came to an end, Warner Bros. was in a predicament, with successful franchises coming to an end, unable to develop new superhero movies, and at the same time facing competitors. All of this , make 2012 special.
It is against this background that in order to compete with Marvel movies, Warner Bros. has formulated a new plan to create a DC universe. This plan includes "Superman: Man of Steel", "Batman v Superman" : Dawn of Justice", "Suicide Squad", "Wonder Woman", "Justice League" and many other works.
Warner Bros.’s idea is undoubtedly correct. The three giants of DC comics are Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Their powerful influence in American popular culture is unmatched by anyone, not even Marvel’s Iron Man. , Spider-Man are difficult to compete with. Therefore, they are preparing to lay out the entire DC universe with the three giants as the core——
The first work was "Man of Steel", which then led to the confrontation in "Dawn of Justice", where we witnessed Wonder Woman's historic debut; then, the Joker was used to bring out "Suicide Squad", "Wonder Woman" "Man" appeared alone; then, the three giants of DC appeared together, leading to "Justice League", which in turn spawned individual movies for each character..
But what went wrong?？
Simply put, it’s too hasty.！
“Before the success of "Avengers", Marvel spent four years and four works to prepare for it, including two "Iron Man", one "Captain America", one "Thor", and even the failed one " "The Incredible Hulk" can also be counted. After all the story lines were sorted out, the actors collectively entered the story of "The Avengers" and completed the succession and transition smoothly. Everything fell into place..
When the audience saw the Avengers coming on stage, except for the new Hawkeye and the Hulk whose actors had been changed, all the other characters were clear at a glance, and the ins and outs had been connected. This means that the screenwriter did not need to Spending a lot of ink to introduce the characters can save more space to lay out the story, outline the characters, and even shake off the baggage..
So, in the end, the audience saw a wonderful popcorn blockbuster！
But Warner Bros. is not so patient. There are wolves in front of them and tigers in the back. They simply don’t have enough time to calm down and polish each superhero character carefully..
“After "Man of Steel", "Dawn of Justice" immediately hit the shelves.
Batman is a brand-new actor, Wonder Woman is also a brand-new appearance, and even Superman’s own story clues are incomplete—Iron Man in “Avengers” has already had two works before, which also makes Iron Man It has become the core of this work and drives the entire story, but there is only one Superman.
Without a clear character outline and story line, the characters in "Dawn of Justice" are full of a sense of fragmentation. Each character is incomplete, so that the philosophical theme discussion becomes inconsistent. It can be noticed that, Director Zack-Snyder, who directed the comic book adaptation "Watchmen", has been working hard, but with little success..
After that, everything became a disaster.
“The same goes for the failures of "Suicide Squad" and "Justice League". In the movie, the screenwriter and director had to spend ink and space to introduce each character, but the limited space could not outline the complete character at all, and it further compressed it in a self-defeating manner. The narrative time itself makes the already weak story of Popcorn even more fragmented..
Among the many works in the DC universe, "Wonder Woman" is the only one that is successful for the same reason. In turn, this movie spends enough pen and ink to tell the origin and debut of Wonder Woman, and the ins and outs are incomparable. The clear and simple story connects the entire characters together, and by integrating the laughs, grooves, cuteness and baggage, the movie successfully won the audience's favor..
If - just hypothetically, if Warner Bros. is willing to slow down, don't rush to compete with Marvel, but start with the three characters of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, shoot separate movies, and complete the preparation step by step After that, the three giants will join forces to shoot a work similar to "Avengers", which will then lead to a solo movie of the Joker or the Flash, and start the second phase of the layout..
So, will the market structure change?？
This is a question that everyone is curious about, but time cannot be turned back. When the deal is done, even if Barry regrets it and wants to overthrow it and start over, he is already powerless..
By the way, Universal Pictures made the same mistakes when they tried to build a monster universe with works such as "The Mummy" and "Godzilla".
What Renly is curious about now is that he is not sure if the leader he has never met is willing to listen to the unruly advice if he gives it to Long Meyer. But at least, he can try the Barry Meyer in front of him, maybe , which can change the fate of Superman and Batman.
As a childhood memory, Renly still has a unique affection for DC comics, just like Marvel's Spider-Man. Every child more or less dreams of becoming Peter Parker, that high school student who is a little frizzy and impulsive, but because of A magical accident changed his destiny.
Renly has no ambition or interest in changing the structure of the entire market, just out of childhood memories..
Renly simply informed Barry of his thoughts, believing that Warner Bros. should slow down and stop trying to become a fat man in one bite and immediately form a confrontation with Marvel Studios. Create individual works first to ensure that each series can gain a place, and then consider the entire DC universe, rather than creating individual movies for each superhero from the height of the DC universe..
Barry listened quietly, with a look of curiosity on his brows..
Everyone knows that Renly has a unique vision for selecting roles, especially for independent art films. Although Renly's talent for commercial films has not been confirmed yet, it can still be felt that he perspectives and insights are unique.
Barry recalled the conversation at the Almeida Theater for the second time, and a bold idea came to him, "Would you be interested in working on a Superman and Batman movie, I mean, as a producer? Of course, it would be great if you are willing to participate as an actor.”
“No, no, no." After Renly was stunned for a moment, he laughed happily and waved his hands repeatedly. The panic that he was afraid of avoiding actually made Barry interested, and he asked, "Why?”.
Renly spread his hands and expressed his helplessness, "I am an actor, a pure actor, not a producer. I can sit here and express my opinions, but these are just theoretical knowledge, without any Feasibility. Professional work should be left to professionals..”
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