Barry believes in bigness, and he also believes in bigness.

At the end of the "Batman Prequel" trilogy, Warner Bros. was even willing to give up box office dividends in order to keep Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan, the two pillars, but unfortunately, these two are artists whose art is higher than profit, and almost without any consultation, both of them rejected the proposal and simply announced the end of the trilogy.

Despite this, Warner Bros. still gave the green light to pay for a series of Christopher Nolan films, without affecting the relationship between the two parties in the slightest.

Now, rebooting the Batman series and restarting the Superman series, Warner Bros. is still eyeing top stars, at least first-line actors and directors.

In his bones, Barry still has a pride in his superiors, refusing to copy Marvel's path to success, eager to carve out his own path, the path that belongs to Warner Bros., and leave his name in the annals of history. As for whether such persistence will be a blessing or a curse, it is impossible to predict.

Originally, Lan Li was the first choice on the alternate cast list, but after "Edge of Tomorrow", Barry changed his mind.

is different from Robert Downey Jr., who has established a reputation with "Iron Man", and unlike Johnny Depp, who is charismatic in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, Lan Li has unique characteristics, acting skills, temperament image, audience reputation, professional attitude, etc., and gradually established his own "brand".

This kind of brand, in the 80s and 90s, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Will Smith are typical representatives, including Tom Hanks. Compared with Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp, these actors still have a strong appeal after breaking away from their personal characteristics, and they are still valid after the 21st century.

The difference between the two is that:

The former must focus on the combination of actor image and brand image, and solidify the character image for the camp step by step through one work after another, and the film company can only benefit from one series.

The latter is not so restrictive, the actor's management team and public relations team will be responsible for the brand packaging and operation of the actor's personal image, and the film company does not even need to spend energy, only need to prepare the right project and send out invitations, which is fine. In principle, studios can apply the actor to any commercial film template.

Of course, this is the theoretical result of talking on paper, and in the actual operation process, there are bound to be many problems, but on the whole, this is the truth. This is also the reason why the film market always respects top actors-

Since "Star Wars", the Hollywood film industry has gradually matured, but in the past 35 years, only Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise and Will Smith have really been called box office superstars. On average, there is only one in ten years, the real big waves and sand, and the real gold and fire.

After the great success of "Pirates of the Caribbean", Johnny Depp's film contract was almost relented, which is the most direct proof of this, because the major studios thought that another Tom Cruise and another Will Smith were born, but soon, industry insiders were disappointed, and Johnny's limitations were gradually revealed.

Later, when "Iron Man" was born, the market seemed much calmer.

Now, Lan Li has the potential to become the next top actor, and there is no need for Batman's image bonus, the market appeal is enough, so Warner Bros. also uses Lan Li to play a superhero, which seems to be a tyrannical thing.

In Barry's concept, they should hand over other works that need more star effects to Lanli, and maximize the market value of Lanli, which is the most reasonable and effective business strategy.

After entering the 21st century, the global film market is gradually evolving towards "serialization", series of movies, sequel movies, and fan movies are becoming the protagonists of the market, while the personal appeal of actors is gradually declining, especially the strong rise of grassroots stars in the Internet era, which means that all people can become stars, which further weakens the halo of stars.

Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. topped Hollywood in the way of the new millennium, creating brilliance, but after all, they could not reproduce the strong star effect of the nineties. Now, Lan Li has appeared, so, can he turn the tide of the entire era?

Everything is a string of numbers in Barry Meyer's eyes, and there are still too few references for "Fast & Thrill/Love 5", "Love Crazy" and "Me Fighting Cancer", but the unexpected explosion of "Edge of Tomorrow", especially from the super schedule, is even more eye-catching, which changed Barry's mind.

Barry wants to take a gamble and really test how big the name "Blue Gift Hall" really is, how deep the potential is and, more importantly, how much of a contribution it can play into the future of Warner Bros.

So, Barry showed up in London himself, not for a specific project, but for the whole blueprint for the future. What if Warner Bros. could build "Blue Rite-Hall" into a brand and build a series around that brand, a series outside of DC Comics?

After a face-to-face conversation, Barry further confirmed his confidence, "Two days ago, I just received the cumulative box office data for Edge of Tomorrow on a global scale, and congratulations, you've done a fantastic job. He held up the whiskey in his hand and gestured to congratulate him.

Lan Li was slightly surprised that Barry was direct, did not greet politely, and went straight to the point, and at the same time, Lan Li was slightly surprised that the success of "Edge of Tomorrow" actually alarmed the CEO.

In the past few weeks, Nathan has been gushing in Lan Li's ear about the box office Changhong of this movie, but Lan Li has no in-depth understanding of the specific figures, and takes it for granted that it may be the same level of box office as "Fast and Exciting / Love 5", but now it seems that there are still surprises -

After going back, with curiosity, Lan Li asked Nathan, and when he learned about the cumulative box office so far, he showed a rare expression of astonishment, and opened his mouth slightly in astonishment, which made Nathan and Roy laugh out loud with great joy.

Even Lan Li himself, when he heard about the box office of "Edge of Tomorrow", he lost his temper slightly, let alone other people?

"My pleasure. Lan Li smiled and raised the whiskey in his hand in response, "Luckily, our bold attempt was echoed by the audience, otherwise it would have been a completely different situation now." I think Paul would have been very happy. "It's not deliberately emphasized, but obviously it's referring to director Paul Greengrass, not Paul Walker, who also starred in the work.

"Haha, of course, of course. Barry laughed cheerfully, nodded his head, took a long sip of whiskey, and relaxed with a comfortable look.

But then the conversation changed, and the sharp tone and attack power did not decrease but increased, which can be seen that relaxation is just a confusing appearance, in fact, the attention is still highly concentrated, "Do you have any ideas for the sequel?"

Although it was a question, Barry didn't wait for Lan Li to speak, and then said, "Yesterday, Paul and I talked on the phone about the idea and creativity of the sequel, and he has some good ideas, but he thinks it needs to be further discussed and refined. Paul mentions that you also contributed a lot of inspiration to the production meeting of this work, and maybe you could have more ideas for a sequel. ”

"No, to be honest, I don't have any ideas right now. Lan Li chuckled, shook his head, and said sincerely, "In the past time, all my energy and attention have been focused on the work at hand, this is a difficult job, and no distractions are allowed. Even during the promotion period of the movie, I kept going through the script and staying in shape. So, I don't really have any ideas for a sequel. ”

Speaking of this, Lan Li gestured to Barry with his right hand, and there was a hint of urgency in his eyes, "Actually, before the movie was released, we didn't expect that the sequel would be considered, and even now, I'm still out of the situation. So, we're seriously discussing the possibility of a sequel now?"

"Yes. A smiling glint flashed in Barry's eyes, and Cheng Zhu said in his chest, "The sequel is on the agenda, and if you're willing to nod and join, it's a sure thing." ”

There is no fanci, just a simple sentence, but it shows the decisiveness in Barry's bones: there is no need for cumbersome sweet words, a simple invitation is already full of weight. This confidence, concise, crisp and clean.

Lan Li could clearly feel the weight of Barry's words, and his eyebrows couldn't help but raise slightly, and his eyes showed a playful look.

I've heard of some special cases before, and the sequel has been decided before the movie officially starts filming, and maybe even the trilogy is packaged and signed in one go. Even if it's not a comic book adaptation movie like "Iron Man" and "Thor".

But now, "Edge of Tomorrow" is still in theaters, and Warner Bros. has put a sequel on the agenda, which is still very rare.

"In the absence of a script?" Lan Li's first reaction made Barry chuckle, the corners of his mouth and eyes were full of smiles, and even with it, Lan Li couldn't help but laugh, and said half-jokingly, "It seems that I made the mistake of being a rookie and asked inappropriate questions." ”

"This is not unexpected. Barry curled his smile slightly, and his expression became serious. "I'm even more curious, are you really reluctant to sign if you don't have a script, even if Warner Bros. is willing to pay $20 million?"

Lan Li could sense Barry's posture as a superior, which reminded him of Harvey Weinstein, and in a way, these top bigwigs were used to giving orders, and they all had more or less similar habits and gestures.

When he first faced Harvey, Lan Li went his own way, and now when he faces Barry, Lan Li is still full of confidence.

"Yes. Answering crisply and neatly, without roundabouts and tactfulness, without politeness, without hypocrisy and grievances, Lan Li frankly admitted the "accusation".