With Lin Mingyang's encouragement, Kling decided to have a good talk with his father again. They chatted as they walked, and when they walked to the door of the dormitory, Lin Mingyang's mobile phone rang.

The corridors of Kirkland's dormitory are not only narrow and dark, but also have a strong shielding effect on cell phone signals. People who answer the phone in the hallway often have "What did you say?" "Hey? "Can you be louder?" "Complaints like that. In order to ensure the call, Lin Mingyang motioned for Klin to go up first, and he stood downstairs and connected the phone.

"Have you been low-key lately?" Ackes' lazy voice came from the phone, "I don't see your lace news in the newspapers, I'm really not used to it!" ”

"You're calling just to talk to me about this?" After soaking in the library for a long time, Lin Mingyang's temper has become much more "gentle".

"As your agent, I called you to say hello, is that also wrong?" Ex said pretending to be aggrieved.

It's a pity that Lin Mingyang doesn't eat him, "Don't talk about these useless things for me, just say anything straight!" ”

"Hehe, I knew you guy would say that!" Ex and Lin Mingyang knew each other well, and he didn't sell Guan Zi anymore, "Are you free lately?" ”

"You know I'm going to have an exam right up."

"I know you don't have that much time, but this time I'm not looking for you to act, I think you should be able to find time to write a script after reviewing, which is your forte. The script requirements are very lenient and there is no clear time limit, so even if you finish the exams in school before you start writing, I guess it's still too late. Ex had already made a small calculation in his heart, "How about it, think about it?" ”

The most difficult requirement in the world is "casual", and no request means no direction, which is equivalent to re-creation. Ex said it very easily, but Lin Mingyang seemed very cautious when he thought about it, "Genre, subject matter, don't the other party ask for these?" ”

"Of course not!" Ex held yesterday's phone memo in his hand, "Universal would like to ask you to write a sequel to their 'The Mummy' film franchise..."

"Mummies again?" As soon as he heard this word, Lin Mingyang felt a little big.

"Have you been working on this lately?" Ex thought about it and felt that his statement seemed a little untenable, Lin Mingyang majored in psychology, and mummy seemed to involve archaeological knowledge.

"The first two episodes of 'The Mummy' have turned the Egyptian pharaoh's tomb upside down, what else is there to write about a sequel?"

"Seeing other studios make a lot of money with sequel films, Universal Pictures is naturally not far behind!" Ex laughed on the phone, "If I had such a cash cow in my hand, I would definitely spare no effort to squeeze out his value!" ”

"So you'll always be just a qualified businessman, not a qualified filmmaker!" Lin Mingyang sighed softly. Although Ex's words are cheesy, the truth is very clear. In the summer of 1999, almost everyone's eyes were on George Lucas, because the first thing the dinosaur director did when he made a comeback was to bring the new "Star Wars Prequel" to every hardcore Star Wars fan. At the time, no one paid any attention to director and screenwriter Stephen Sommers and his remake of the '70s classic of the same name, The Mummy.

However, it was this adventure film with second-tier directors and second-tier actors that earned $400 million under the nose of Star Wars and ranked 31st among the highest-grossing films in global film history. Sommers knew exactly what the audience wanted to see, so on a limited budget, Sommers gave up too much ink on the characters and focused on special effects and action scenes. In addition to using a lot of special effects, Sommers also stole a few tricks from Spielberg, and the Raiders of the Lost Ark-style funny scenes make the film relaxed, quite a bit of a new Indiana Jones flavor. The clip in the film where the mummy casts a spell to launch a sandstorm and swallow the biplane alive is regarded as a test machine by movie enthusiasts.

Backstage boss Universal Pictures reacted "quickly" to the film's success, announcing a sequel in the second week, with production costs soaring to $100 million, with Sommers continuing to direct. Brandon Frazier, who quickly became popular in "Tomb Robbery", also signed on to continue the adventure Rick O'Connor for twice the salary of the first episode.

Brandon's cynical appearance is very popular with the audience, after the release of "Tomb Robbery", many fans recommended Brandon to replace Brosnan and play the new 007, although it did not become a reality in the end, but it is an indisputable fact that this film made Brandon Fraser one of Hollywood's first-class movie stars.

After a lapse of two years, the success of "The Mummy Returns" once again set off a wave of "Egyptian exploration fever", and films of the same genre sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, with uneven quality and mixed reviews, driven by commercial interests, this theme was finally filmed to a vulgar level by Hollywood film manufacturers, which is also an important reason why Universal Pictures died down at the moment when the "Mummy" series was in the limelight.

With the bursting of the bubble in the Internet industry in 02, the entire American economy has been affected, and the competition between the major Hollywood film manufacturers has become fierce, and the production cost of movies has been rising. Because the investment is too large, the failure of a film can put a company in a situation from which it will never recover; Of course, the success of a film may also have a resurrection effect, both of which were played out at the same time at MGM.

At the same time as the form of competition has changed, the landscape of Hollywood has also changed dramatically: with the support of Viacom, Paramount acquired DreamWorks for $1 billion, and its strength has increased significantly; Warners has the strong support of Murdoch News Corp. and the trump card of "Harry Potter" in hand. Behind Sony Pictures is the powerful Sony company, and the cooperation with Marvel Comics is typified by the "Spider-Man" series, which has been in the limelight for a while; After Disney acquired Pixar Animation Studios, it dominated the animated film market, and now it is gearing up to set its sights on the Chengren Film Market, and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series is a successful stepping stone.

Hollywood's famous Big Eight, MGM, has declined, and the remaining 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures have been lackluster. In contrast, Universal Pictures is a little more unlucky. In this year's DreamWorks acquisition war, public opinion is almost optimistic about NBC Universal, believing that the famous entertainment group owned by General Electric is the best buyer of DreamWorks. But after a fierce battle between the open and the dark, Paramount Pictures defeated NBC Universal at the "last minute" and finalized the acquisition agreement with DreamWorks for about $1 billion, surviving the "unexpected" ending of a Hollywood blockbuster.

And that's not the only bad news, as Universal International Pictures, a joint venture distribution company, has recently broken up, and the company's overseas distribution advantage has been lost. In this situation of internal and external difficulties, Universal Pictures desperately needed a successful blockbuster film to salvage the decline, and the shooting plan for the sequel to "The Mummy," which had been shelved for several years, was put back on the company's agenda.

After 4 years of silence, the popularity of mummy-themed films in Hollywood has slowly subsided, and the external conditions for launching a sequel are ripe, but the biggest problem for Universal is what should be done with a sequel?

Tossing the Egyptian pharaoh and his mummies, the first two episodes of the film have already filmed these things to the extreme, and it is almost impossible to make any new ideas. Just when Universal was at a loss, someone proposed to keep the theme of the film's tomb exploration and robbery unchanged, and then change the story background. This idea struck the eyes of the world's top executives, and their thinking immediately broadened.

Egypt is only one of the four ancient civilizations, and since mummies can arouse people's strong interest, do other ancient civilizations also have characteristics that can be explored? Following this line of thought, Universal first thought of ancient Babylon, but there are not many things left over from this ancient civilization, and there are not many clues that have the value of filming. Moreover, the current two river basins are where the situation in the Middle East is sensitive, and Hollywood has always been grateful for Islam-related themes.

Then they turned their attention to ancient India, but the local and religious colors of ancient Indian civilization were too strong, and it was estimated that audiences in other countries would not buy it, so they excluded another one.

In the end, only the four ancient civilizations of Chinese inheritance have not been broken, and China has a long history. With the rise of China's economy, more and more Americans have developed a strong interest in China, but for most Americans, their impression of China's ancient culture is still stuck in the superficial things such as the Great Wall and the Terracotta Army, but not the essence.

Placing the sequel's story in China is exactly what Universal intended. After determining the general shooting idea of the film, Universal wanted to find a screenwriter who was familiar with China to write the script for the sequel. Combining various factors, Lin Mingyang will become the most suitable candidate in the eyes of Global Company.

"After digging the pyramids of the Egyptian pharaohs, they are ready to toss the ancestors of the Chinese?" Lin Mingyang said coldly and sarcastically, in his memory, the "Mummy" series of movies did have a sequel related to China, but he didn't want to evaluate the quality of that film.

Lin Mingyang's temper was very clear, and he smiled noncommittally on the phone: "No matter what, I think you can still get in touch with their people first." ”

-- Lin Mingyang finally accepted Ex's suggestion, Universal was very efficient, and the day after receiving the reply, their representatives rushed to Boston, and the place of appointment was still the café where Lin Mingyang often went to.

Rushing to meet Lin Mingyang was a producer from Universal, a middle-aged man named Buffy who looked like a talent, and his flashing eyes revealed his wit and flexibility. His shoulders were broad, his physique was as strong as an aspen tree, his snow-white skin, brown beard and hair, which glistened like gold in the sun.

Different from the rigorous attitude of the other party sitting upright, Lin Mingyang looked very casual, he stirred the small spoon in the coffee cup, and said casually: "Mr. Buffy, tell me more about your requirements for the script!" ”

Lin Mingyang's performance made Buffy a little undecided, the purpose of his trip was to convince Lin Mingyang, but now this situation made him a little uneasy. He carefully organized his wording, and then said: "We are going to set the story of the third episode of "The Mummy" in China, considering that the time period should be connected with the first two films, the first part of the film takes place in 1925, and the second part is in 1933. Our initial idea was to set the story of the script in the 40s of the last century. ”

"At that time, most of China was occupied by himself, and in the war-torn era, the protagonist went to China for archaeology, don't you think it's absurd?" Lin Mingyang mercilessly pointed out the fallacy of this setting.

"This—" Buffy was a little nervous, took out a tissue and wiped the sweat from his forehead, which they did miss when they thought about it.

"If you're still going to star with Brandon Fraser, and you want the sequel movie to make a little bit of historical logic, then it's better to set the era in the '30s, and before Ben launches a full-scale attack on China."

"It's only four years..."Buffy silently calculated in his heart, "Isn't this a bit too hasty?" ”

"This is just a little bit of my personal advice, just for reference!" Lin Mingyang looked like he had nothing to do with himself, which made Buffy start to sit still, he nodded hurriedly, "I think this suggestion is good, the time setting is as you say!" ”

"What about the rest?" Lin Mingyang still had a noncommittal expression on his face, "For example, the theme of the film's archaeological expedition, there are no mummies in China!" ”

"But they have terracotta warriors!" As soon as this topic was mentioned, Buffy's eyes immediately lit up, "There is a very famous director in China named Zhang Yimou, I have seen a movie he acted in when he was young, called "Ancient and Modern Wars of Qin Warriors", the heroine of the film is the current big star Gong Li, they used to be good partners. This film involves some concepts of past and present lives in Buddhism, I didn't understand too much, but I know that the terracotta warriors and horses are resurrected in the end! ”

He excitedly said: "Although there is a big difference between ancient Egyptian culture and Chinese culture, I feel that the terracotta warriors and horses are Chinese mummies, and the two are equally unbelievable in production, and both are full of mystery, which is perfect for the theme of the film's excavation!" ”

(To be continued)