In just three weeks, Sisyphus Pictures has released the latest news of three film projects, and such frequent action is already comparable to that of a second-tier film company, which is not quite right. What's more, all three film projects have created different speculations, which is even more abnormal.

The first is the "female spy".

This is a medium-scale investment comedy film, and the current official investment budget is 50 million US dollars, which can only be regarded as a sprinkling for large-scale commercial films, but for comedy genre works, it can already be included in the "medium to high" level. The subsequent announcement of the cast gives a slight explanation of the size of the budget: this is the third collaboration between directors Paul-Feig and Melissa McCarthy.

Paul Feiger, who came out of the classic comedy series "Freaks and Nerds", "Park Break", "Office" and "Nurse in Charge", directed a low-budget comedy "Bridesmaids" in 2011, which received 170 million in North America and 288 million worldwide at a cost of 30 million, and won two nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay in one fell swoop, which can be called the biggest dark horse of the year.

This also made Paul famous and immediately became the hottest comedy director in Hollywood.

Melissa McCarthy became popular with "bridesmaids" - before that, she rolled in the TV field for many years, and she also ran the trick in countless movies, but she never came out, and this work made her popular all over North America, and she was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

After "Bridesmaids", Melissa and Paul collaborated on "Spicy Hand Police Flower", and the co-actor was Sandra Bullock. Although the final box office results did not reach the height of "bridesmaids", it was still a success, and it can be said that it is a rare combination of comedy films in recent years that has been able to win repeatedly.

Now it's time for the "female spy".

There is no doubt that Melissa and Paul are now one of the most sought-after comedy partners in North America, during the preparation of "Female Spy", major film companies launched a fierce competition, and Twentieth Century Fox originally took the lead, but the two sides were unable to negotiate in terms of production costs and actors' salaries, and finally unexpectedly achieved the birth of Sisyphus Films.

It is rumored that Melissa's salary has risen to 10 million US dollars, and the box office dividend ratio has also come to 2%, which has undoubtedly become the first line of Hollywood comedians today - although there is still a gap compared to the top Adam Sandra, Ben Stiller and others, but among female comedians, it has come to the leading position.

However, there are still different versions of the rumors about the contract details, which have not been confirmed by both parties for the time being, and the only thing that can be determined is that the box office dividend is not full but conditional.

Considering the production cost of $50 million, and considering Melissa's salary breakthrough, it seems not surprising that Sisypheus Pictures was able to beat Twentieth Century Fox to get the project.

In fact, Twentieth Century Fox was not depressed and regretful, and industry insiders were not shocked or surprised. On the contrary, the mainstream public opinion in the industry believes that Andre Hamilton is a fool and burns a lot of money, and this investment is likely to be directly wasted, and the investment and return are very likely to be proportional.

The main reason why Melissa and Paul can be so popular is that in the North American film market in recent years, the return rate of comedy films is declining rapidly, there are more and more failures, and even if the box office is successful, the profit distribution is unsatisfactory, which is why Universal Pictures has always been reluctant to increase the cost budget of comedy films.

Not only Universal Pictures, but other studios are also cautious about the production cost of comedy films, which makes Melissa and Paul, who have been successful in two consecutive collaborations, stand out, but even the duo still can't make the studio determined to significantly increase the cost of investment.

The most direct proof is the salary: Melissa's salary of 10 million US dollars, not to mention compared with Lan Li, even compared with the leading actors of other types of films, it can only be regarded as a medium-weight - the supporting actors of "Fast and Exciting/Emotional" can already get such a salary figure, the difference is only that there is no box office dividend.

But it's such a salary, Twentieth Century Fox is not very reluctant, and Melissa can successfully rank among the top female comedians in North America. This is the truest portrayal of the current situation in comedy movies.

Only a layman like Sisyphus Films, who does not understand the rules and situation of the industry, and does not understand the current situation and situation of the market, will stupidly agree to cooperate.

Compared with the increase in Lanli's salary at the beginning, Sisyphus Pictures did not encounter any obstacles in raising Melissa's salary. Because the major film companies don't care at all, if the "female spy" fails at the box office, Melissa offers the same salary, they will not be willing to invest, but if the "female spy" achieves box office success again, they don't mind paying Melissa 10 million, in short, it is to make Sisyphus Pictures the first to eat crabs, why not?

It is in this context that "Female Spy" became the third work that Sisyphus Pictures put into production.

Subsequently, Sisyphus Pictures successively announced the cast of "Female Spy": Rose Byrne, Jude Law, Jason Statham's luxurious cast made everyone stunned!

Forget about Rose, she also starred in "bridesmaids" at the beginning, and has a relationship with Melissa and Paul, and she and Lan Li are still the same agent - when Lan Li attended the Emmy Awards, Andy reminded Rose to take care of Lan Li and was willing to nod her head to join, Andy is bound to play an important role in it, but Jude and Jason?

Jude and Jason can be described as quasi-first-line actors, the cost performance is really good, the audience recognition is really good, and most importantly, they have not appeared in a comedy movie for many years. But now they're willing to nod their heads and join them? Is it a credit to Melissa and Paul? Or is it a credit to Lan Li?

Thinking about it further, Jude and Jason are both British! Jason also joined "Fast and Passion" under Lan Li's needle lead, and this thing became interesting.

In addition, after adopting such a lineup, the production cost budget of 50 million yuan is ...... Is it enough?

Before, the industry still felt that Sisyphus Pictures was "stupid and rich", but now looking at the cast lineup, I vaguely feel that this seems to be a good deal, not to say "good quality and low price", but at least it can be said to be "breaking even". In the preparatory stage, the topicality of the film project has been guaranteed, which does not seem to be so ...... Foolish.

In less than a month, the crew quickly completed the formation, and on March 31, the "female spy" officially announced the start of filming in Los Angeles.

First "Nightcrawler", then "Female Spy", Sisyphus Pictures has not had Lan Li's direct involvement in two consecutive productions. But that's not all.

The second is the formal establishment of two projects.

In late March, there were rumors in the industry that Sisyphus Pictures officially negotiated two projects, one is a low-budget horror film, "It's Behind the Scenes", directed by rookie director David Robert Mitchell (David Robert-Mitchell), which will be his second directing work, with an investment cost of about two million dollars, and there is no further cast news at present.

This one is pretty normal. At the beginning of the establishment of independent film production companies, it is a regular Hollywood routine to choose low-budget horror movies to open up the situation, and the investment of two million is a small cost even for independent film companies, and it is even more normal for Sisyphus Pictures.

But another project has sparked a lot of discussion, "The Revenant".

This project is really famous. In the past two years, this project has gone around in the pre-preparation departments of major film companies, and some companies have even appeared more than twice, which is definitely not unfamiliar to people. The production team has changed several times in the circle, and the current successors are Alejandro González Iñárritu and Leonardo DiCaprio, but even with two big names in charge, there is still no company willing to invest -

Because the cost budget is too high!

Alessandro currently has a budget of $100 million, and according to his shooting plan, the possibility of additional investment is very high, but this is an art film that will hit the awards season, not a commercial work that will hit the box office, and even more exaggerated and outrageous than Alfonso's "gravity", even the deep-pocketed Warner Bros. will not dare to take it lightly.

After the success of "Gravity", the production plan of "The Revenant" appeared for a while, but before the rumors could spread further, it was once again put on hold.

At the end of the round, Alejandro and Sisyphus Pictures came together.

According to rumors, Alejandro came together on Oscar night through Alfonso and Lan Li, and Leonardo also took the initiative to facilitate the interview. Apparently, Alejandro and Leonardo persuaded Lan Li, who in turn persuaded the investors of Sisyphus Films, which led to this difficult collaboration.

Lan Li's matchmaking is expected, just look at Lan Li's choice of works, look at Lan Li's artistic pursuit, works like "The Revenant" can always move him, desperate to serve the film, completely ignoring the return rate of the film, this is the artist's style, but not the businessman's way of doing things.

This also seems to confirm the conjecture of industry insiders again: Andre is a young master who is stupid and has a lot of money.

Things suddenly became interesting, judging from the actions of Sisyphus Films, there was no direct performance of Lan Li in three consecutive works, which did not match everyone's predictions, but from the attributes of the three works, Sisyphus Films' choice did not have a context, and it was more of a random investment.

So, is this worth noting, or is it worth complaining about?