April 29-May 5 North American weekly box office champion "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (★ distribution company Bowei Films), May 6-12, "Heavenly Dynasty" (★ 20th Century Fox), May 13-19, "Kung Fu Panda" (★ Flame Movie), May 20-26, May 27-2, "Star Wars Prequel 3: Revenge of the Sith" (★★ 20th Century Fox), June 3-9, "Madagascar" (★), DreamWorks, June 10-16, " Mr. and Mrs. Smith (★), 20th Century Fox.

17-23 June, 24-30 June, 1-7 July, 8-14 July, Fireflies ★★★★, 15-21 July, 22-28 July, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (★★), Warner Bros., 29-4 August, The Wedding Guests ★, New Line Films, 5-11 August, 12-18 August, League of Assassins (★★), Flame Films, 19-25 August, 26-1 September, Forty-Year-Old Virgin (★★), Universal Pictures.

"Life, don't talk to me about life!" On the big screen when early summer arrives, the melancholy robot Marven makes the audience laugh, but it still hangs its head: "Don't pretend to want to talk to me, I know you hate me." A blacksmith fights desperately to defend the city of Jerusalem, and the chubby panda Po finds himself: "I'm not a fat panda, I'm the fat panda!" Under the Imperial March, Anakin Skywalker transforms into a black knight, and a group of animals brave the island of Madagascar: "Marty, I know it's you." ”

"If I die, please bring me back to the Valley of Tranquility!", "Attack New Shanxi!" The audience will not forget the madness of midsummer, not the cool Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but the funny guys on the Tranquility, the group of intergalactic cowboys who see death as home, "I am a leaf in the wind, see how I fly." It was the pure smiles and joyful laughter of the children, "Where did you come from?" that films such as "Batman at War", "War of the Worlds", "Fantastic Four" and later Charlie Proud were all overshadowed...... These '05 summer films have their own reviews, their own box office and their own fates, whether they are annoying flies or cute butterflies, they have all become history.

But if you ask the media and fans to have a correct ranking of this summer's list, the most anticipated, the most favorite, the most grossing, the highest praised, and the most memorable...... It's bound to be all "Firefly" that won.

Same as in 2004, Flames-Films released a total of three films this summer, "Kung Fu Panda", "Firefly", and "League of Assassins", and also created three championship movies with good reputation and over 100 million box office! After winning 4 out of 18 North American weekly championships last year (22.22%), this year it took home 7 golden trophies in one fell swoop, making Yahoo and other media continue to sigh that it is a super winner!

Flame Movies ★★★★★★★ the weekly champion, followed by 20th Century Fox ★★★★, Warner Bros., ★★ Universal Pictures ★★, Broadway ★, DreamWorks ★, and New Line ★.

This may seem like a big win for an independent film company, as the three companies together account for half of the nine weekly titles!

The news that DreamWorks has been acquired by giants due to improper expansion and high debts may suddenly appear on the pages of tomorrow's newspapers; the new line can be described as happy and sad, since the huge success of the "Lord of the Rings" series, its ambitions have become bigger and bigger, but the results have not been as good as year after year, so far this year has launched 5 new films, "The King's Ransom" failed, "Monster Mother-in-law" just paid off, "Strange Jack in Disguise 2" 84 million production costs/57.55 million global box office, "Shadowless Sword" The box office is flat, and only "Wedding Proud" has a small scene. Every bad debt made its headache a little worse, and at the same time, the lawsuit continued because of the distribution of revenue from "The Lord of the Rings", and after a few more years of development, the 38-year-old independent film studio was merged and acquired by giants, and only one "Wind Whisperer" was missing.

In 1967, the newborn calf was not afraid of tigers, and the then 27-year-old Robert Shayer founded a new line of films, and in 1998, the newborn calf was not afraid of dinosaurs, and the 18-year-old Wang Yang bought A-Pix and reorganized it into a flame movie, which has developed in an almost crazy way, and this summer is simply terrifying!

"Kung Fu Panda" 100 million production cost/229 million North American box office/356 million overseas box office/585 million global box office, "Firefly" 200 million production cost/642 million North American box office/1.090 billion overseas box office/1.733 billion global box office, "League of Assassins" 100 million production cost/114 million North American box office/overseas unreleased.

Excluding the cost of publicity and distribution, FF took away 2.432 billion US dollars worldwide in 4 months with a total production cost of 400 million! This does not include the expected 1-200 million overseas box office of "League of Assassins". Although the 16.4% production cost to the box office seems to be less than last year's 10.5%, FF has a new CGI cartoon series gold mine, a new interstellar pop culture gold mine, and an action comic series gold mine.

Because of the role of "Firefly" in promoting ancient Chinese poetry, a group of filmmakers sang "There is no way to eliminate this feeling, so I frowned, but I was in my heart." The more direct words would be "Fuck!are-you-kidding-me?"

Whoever wants to stop them, first ask NATO (American Theater Owners Association) and countless theater owners if they agree, if it were not for the rescue of "Firefly", this would definitely be a difficult summer! FF's movies are already synonymous with making money and losing money, and they are also synonymous with leading the development of the market, and the latest beacons are Chinese/foreign culture, IMAX technology, adaptations of non-superhero comics, and even "The Hollywood Reporter" and other professional media commentaries predict that maybe in a few years, any blockbuster movie that says "I'm not an IMAX movie" will end up being unwatched.

You must know that under the development of the "Hangover" series, low-budget R-rated comedy films such as "Wedding Proud" and "Forty-Year-Old Virgin" began to create market miracles in batches, collecting box office money again and again, making corresponding studios such as New Line, Universal, and NBC TV smile. On the other hand, as far as "Heavenly Dynasty" and "The Brothers Grimm", the birth of one big bad movie after another has also made heartache-stricken filmmakers start a new round of thinking, what should the film industry be done in the 21st century? How should superhero blockbusters be made, and how should popcorn summer movies be made...... How exactly can you make money!...... Is the operation strategy of Flame Movie's boutique theater line + film and television library selling peripherals really impeccable?

Now it seems that yes, the huge film and television library accumulates a lot to maintain the daily expenses of this company with more than 600 employees, and then make a lot of money with one high-quality new film, of course, this requires a very precise investment vision, for example, how could the new line company never think of the tragic situation of "Strange Jack in Disguise 2". FF doesn't need to go public for financing at all, so they have too much cash to spend, but they can continue to stabilize the pace of "step by step", and they don't blindly jump from 10- to 20+ annual film production, and they seem to be very satisfied with the current scale of mini studios.

Next summer, FF, which has scheduled four movies such as "Ice Age 3", "Furious Speed 2", "The Hangover 3" and "Mamma Mia", will perform?

A year ago, a lot of suspicion hung over Wang Yang's head, the Oscar-winning director curse, the law of office buildings, only business, and the end of the ...... The magical BABY defended the name of madness with facts! There are countless classic pictures in the history of summer championships and science fiction films, and even "Star Wars Prequel 3" has been compared; during this period, the magical baby has aroused the competition of the media and the public, and he has appeared on the covers of movies, entertainment magazines and other magazines in a row, including the third time in "Time" magazine. Time into autumn, no one can forget the huge shock brought by the summer "Firefly" storm", the IMDB-TOP250 list is still as high as 9.4 points, Rotten Tomatoes three indicators 95%/98% 98%, film critic Roger Albert gave the highest rating, and rarely praised it again and again, thumbs up again and again, writing a film review in the newspaper column "Wang Yang's real bombshell" is not enough, he wrote on the blog again: "Magical Yang's lens has the power to obsessive", " He finally treats his Barbie doll as an adult, and the gorgeous fighting is a hundred times more beautiful than the brand-name clothes", "If "Firefly" suffers the traditional sci-fi film treatment at next year's Oscars, the Golden Sour Plum Award will be more authoritative than that golden man", "Japanese film critics are probably the most pitiful group of people in the world right now".

He also sent his blessing to Wang Yang when he was unconscious: "There has never been a death of a passenger on a Boeing 777 passenger plane due to a flight accident, Magic Young has created many miracles and the first time in history, but this time he has to relent", "At the age of 25, Stanley Kubrick's first feature film "Fear and **" appeared on the screen, and Magic Young was the ninth, I didn't say that he had a reason to retire, he made at least 90 films!", and mentioned in the reviews of other films: "Heath Ledger is a smart guy and a fool, he appeared in "Firefly" , he also appeared in "The Brothers Grimm". "Lame-Brained, outdated-heeze, if "Strikers of Justice" is a comedy, what is "Firefly"...... No one knows what "Firefly" will gain in next year's awards season, but what is certain is that it has the excess qualification to impact every award nomination, and the promotional posters that will come soon will inevitably be full of award names: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Soundtrack, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Makeup, Best Original Film Song, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Effects, Best Visual Effects...... However, the behavior of the magical BABY is often beyond the comprehension of ordinary people, although he simply and neatly broke through the layers of doubts brought by "The Demon Wears Prada", he was inevitably quickly encountered with new question marks.

Wang Yang seems to "love the house and Wu" of Warner Bros., not only to buy its garbage project "I Am Legend", but also to take over the terminally ill "Batman"; now the world's eyes are focused on the Katrina disaster area, but there are still industry insiders and fans who have noticed that Lin Wei, the "sinner" who just left Warner Bros. not long ago, has entered the production department of Flame Films as vice president! FF spokesperson Foona Hassen said happily on the official website: " Dan-Lin is exciting to join, and he's an important piece of the puzzle we've been looking for for a long time, and he's given a new impetus to Flame's production business. We all believe that Dan will do a great job. ”

Dan Lin messed up two big productions in a row, don't say he was just out of luck!

This is more surprising to people in the industry, especially Dan Lin's old club Warner Bros.!B production department has a lot of discussion about this, in fact, everyone doesn't think that Dan Lin lacks ability, at most he lacks the ability to run blockbusters, and now FF wants Lin Wei, B seems to remember his goodness. But in Hollywood, it is very normal for middle and lower level personnel to change, and it is not surprising that high-level executives such as vice presidents are not surprising.

Of course, Warner President Alan F. Horn still called Wang Yang and asked a few words with the topic of "Dan is very enthusiastic about his work". Wang Yang frankly admitted that he had already learned that Lin Wei was unhappy in B, and had an exchange, and immediately sent an invitation when he saw him resigning, B did not treat Lin Wei lightly, but he was really unlucky...... "Yang, I heard that you are going to co-produce "Iron Man" with the new line?" Horn didn't care too much about Lin Wei's job hopping, he was concerned about this stage, after all, Dan's resignation gave them an explanation to the board of directors, no matter what Dan made in FF in the future, they couldn't blame them for their current harshness.

Knowing that he couldn't hide it, Wang Yang, who was basking in the sun in the garden at home, generously admitted to President B on the other side of the phone: "Oh yes, that's a new plan of ours, don't worry, Alan! Stark and Wayne have no conflict." He laughed: "If all goes well, we're going to release it in '07, and you know 'TDK's '08." ”

In April 1990, Universal Pictures purchased the big-screen rights to Iron Man from Marvel Comics, but due to commercial potential and budget issues, the project was kept under cold storage until February 1996, when Universal simply sold the rights to 20th Century Fox. Nicolas Cage expressed interest in "Tony Stark" in January '97, followed by Tom Cruise in September '98, and Quentin Tarantino in October '99 was close to signing a contract to write the script for "Iron Man...... All of them ended in miscarriage, and in December of that year, 20th Century Fox transferred the filming rights to New Line Films.

To this day, over the years, New Line has searched for a screenwriter to write a script for it several times, and in June 2001 had talks with Joss Whedon about the possibility of taking the helm as a director, but of course all of them were also aborted.

If "I Am Legend" is a regrettable chicken rib project, every time you write a script, find a good director and lead actor, and suddenly call CUT before filming starts, "Iron Man" is a poor project that no one wants to try, and the filming rights have changed hands several times, and finally fell into the hands of an independent film company. Originally, with the revival of superhero movies, "Iron Man" has gradually become more valuable, although there is still the successful experience of the "Blade" series, but the new line that has not been in good times for a long time is no longer capable of operating such a very risky project, think of "Hulk", "Blade 3", "Black Angel", "Batman at War".

Now Marvel Pictures has proposed to buy back the copyright of "Iron Man", and the new line was originally inclined to agree to return the capital, but at this time, Flame Films came out halfway and proposed that the new line sell the shooting rights to Flame, and then the main investment of the flame and the deputy investment of the new line are indispensable.

This is almost the only chance to win a popular superhero, of course, Flame Films hopes to be able to invest fully independently, but it is impossible, first of all, if Surprise takes back the copyright, it is not a matter of competing with big studios for the right to shoot, in that case, it is okay, FF will most likely win with the "magic aura", but now Marvel wants to make the film independently, and then find a distributor to cooperate in distribution, in addition to viral marketing, which aspect of FF's distribution system is comparable to that of large studios? Another problem is that when the new line saw that the flames had taken a fancy to Tony Stark, they immediately changed their attitude and wanted to protect this "Howard Hughes"! Marvel Pictures didn't even want to fight this genius idea!

So only the plan of cooperation between the two sides can be on the negotiating table, otherwise there is no need to talk! The negotiation between Flame and New Line on "Iron Man" has been going on for nearly half a month, and FF will naturally not reveal the production plan at all, and sign the contract first. Although New Line is an independent film company with independent management rights, and its founder Robert Shayer still holds a major stake, it belongs to the same Time Warner Group as Warner Bros., and its internal affairs are not related, but the news can be communicated, not to mention that rumors have appeared about this matter.

"That's good. Alan F. Horn didn't have any ideas, as the president of B, he only cared about "The Dark Knight", and besides, even the group couldn't stop the decision of the new line, and no one knew how "Iron Man" should be filmed?

The first weekend of September has just passed, and the news of Hurricane Katrina's disaster area still occupies the public's attention, but fans who pay attention to movie entertainment are suddenly surprised to find that Flame Movies has taken over another garbage project, the superhero "Iron Man" that has been floating for many years! Here the new line reached an agreement with the flames, and the Warner Bros. finally signed a contract with the flames, with terms involving the transfer of the copyright of "I Am a Legend" and the joint production of "The Dark Knight" As well as some distribution affairs, for a while, the three companies joined forces to implement all the corresponding rumors during this time, which made people stunned! Wang Yang's brain was really not damaged by the ceiling of the cabin?

"Jan, now you can reveal your specific plans, who are you going to ask to direct The Dark Knight?" Horn smiled brightly anyway.

(To be continued)