The more than two-month-long writers' strike over labor disputes was only the beginning of Hollywood's doom, and the harsher test was swept along with the scorching heat of summer. This time, it is not internal disagreements that have shaken the foundations of Hollywood, but external threats.

The U.S. economy has been mired in the subprime mortgage crisis since last year, and the situation has not improved at all, with the dollar depreciating in the international market and the domestic unemployment rate rising. The impact of the economic crisis has finally touched Hollywood, the deterioration of the external market has intensified the competition within the industry, and the major film studios have desperately put the bulk of the money on those expensive commercial blockbusters.

The first to strike is Sony Pictures, and the two-year production cycle of "The New Spider-Man 2" is confirmed to be released worldwide on May 3, a news that has made many fans who have been waiting for it ecstatic. In view of the unstoppable box office appeal of the film, Sony's executives are full of confidence in this sequel work, and they are even more invested in publicity. Major TV stations are taking turns to broadcast the trailer of the film during prime time, elevators, office buildings, subways, but wherever there are electronic advertising screens, they are scrolling to broadcast the highlights of the film.

Monday mornings are the most painful time for most office workers, who have not yet recovered from the relaxation of the weekend and have to face the heavy work pressure of the new week. At this time, the people who crowded into the subway to go to work were listless and drowsy, but today everyone's attention is focused on the electronic screens hanging in the subway.

This kind of electronic screen has never only played outdoor advertisements, but today it has become an unprecedented talk show "Ladies and gentlemen, if you like movies and love comics, then you must not miss today's episode!" At the beginning, the host showed his neat white teeth when he smiled, which was his personal signature.

"Don't ask me why, because the next guest will tell you all the answers!" The host deliberately sold a pass, wanting to whet the audience's appetite. He didn't rush to invite today's guests, but asked the audience a question: "Does anyone know which is the most successful comic book adaptation in Hollywood?" ”

"It's Spider-Man!" The audience member who grabbed the right to speak took the microphone and shouted the answer without hesitation.

"That's right!" The host nodded with satisfaction, "I think you've already guessed our topic for today, but before our show officially starts, allow me to give a brief introduction to the Spider-Man movie series... In 2002, the first work of the "Spider-Man" series of movies came out, shocking Hollywood with a total global box office of 780 million US dollars, and after a gap of 3 years, the reloaded "The New Spider-Man" swept away 920 million US dollars worldwide, and the third part of the film, to be precise, should be "The New Spider-Man 2" will soon meet the audience. ”

"Even though the producers have declared that this is the fastest speed, it is still too long for people who love the film and the original Spider-Man comics. If you count the production cycle, the series has only released three titles in eight years, which is an incredible thing in Hollywood, which is known for its efficiency. The film's director, Sam Raimi, can be regarded as one of Hollywood's 'most grinding' directors... Sam Raimi is not the only director in Hollywood who likes to pursue perfection in detail, and he may drag out the production cycle of a film for so long without complaining to the producer, I think everyone and I will wonder how he did it? ”

Needless to say, everyone knows that Sam Raimi is definitely the guest invited by this talk show, but the host's introduction doesn't seem to stop there. "Of course, if you don't like to read comics in front of the TV, but simply like to watch movies, then maybe today's other guest will interest you, or maybe you will be ecstatic... He is Felix Lin, the star of "The New Spider-Man"! ”

Not only did the fans at the studio shout excitedly, but even the crowd standing in the subway watching the replay also saw bursts of exclamations. As the most watched male star in Hollywood, Lin Mingyang is famous for his habit of not endorsing advertisements and not accepting exclusive interviews, and Oprah's talk show is the only TV interview he has ever accepted, and unlike other celebrities who talked about their private lives in that interview, Lin Mingyang talked more about his work to Oprah.

Whether it is the media or work, what everyone is most concerned about is actually Lin Mingyang's private life, but he has always avoided talking about this issue. Even the scandal about him has never made any positive response. Since the theme of this talk show is related to the upcoming "New Spider-Man", he will definitely not talk about other topics with the host. But his appearance as a guest on a TV talk show is enough to entice people to keep watching.

In the warm applause and cheers, Lin Mingyang and Sam Raimi walked to the front desk together, shook hands with the host and sat on the sofa prepared in advance. Because the show uses the form of talking, Lin Mingyang and Sam Raimi sat on one side, and the host sat on the other side, and the two sides chatted face-to-face.

"Mr. Remy, what do you think of the new nickname (the most abrasive director) that the Hollywood press has given you?"

Sam Raimi is dismissive of the nickname: "It's okay for me to make these films in half a year, but the audience will never see such beautiful effects now, and I think every minute I spent on this film is worth it... With such a classic theme as 'Spider-Man' as the background, I didn't want to waste the genre and I didn't want to present the audience with a shoddy movie. ”

"If you do this, will the producer have no opinion?"

Sam Raimi reluctantly said: "Sony Pictures started urging me a year ago, and at that time I was called almost every day, and the content was to ask me to speed up the progress!" ”

"You're not impressed?"

"I threw my phone card down the toilet." Sam Raimi made a vivid gesture, "Bang, and then the whole world goes silent!" ”

"Counting the upcoming 'New Spider-Man 2', you've now made three 'Spider-Man' movies, and now everyone's main concern is whether you're ready to continue making new Spider-Man movies?"

Sam Raimi shook his head affirmatively, "I've been working on the 'Spider-Man' movie for almost 8 years, and both the franchise itself and myself need to try new changes... So, this will be my last Spider-Man movie! ”

"And what about you, Felix?"

Lin Mingyang, who had been in a state of dissociation, was "called" back by the host's question, he pondered for a moment, and then raised the microphone: "You know, I'm not the first actor to play Spider-Man..."

At this time, the host interjected: "Because there is a comparison, many people think that your Spider-Man is better!" ”

"Maybe!" Lin Mingyang shrugged, "One of the most important reasons why I decided to play Spider-Man was that my mother was a Spider-Man comic book fan, hehe, she really wanted me to play this role, and then she could brag to others, 'Look, the Spider-Man in the movie is my son!'" ’… Although the original motivation was to fulfill one of my mother's wishes, when I actually walked into the crew and was responsible for building the entire script story, I found that everything was not as simple as I thought before, the character of Spider-Man carries the memories of many people's growth, and it is not so simple to write a good story and play a good role. ”

"As the screenwriter of the film, I also tried to give this character more realistic connotation... In this film, you will see a Spider-Man presented from the perspective of ordinary people. He has the same joys and sorrows as normal people, and will also face some troubles from marriage and family, maybe he lives around us, but you don't realize it. ”

"If the last episode of the film was a demonstration of Spider-Man's superpowers, then the sequel story will flesh out Spider-Man's personality, and I have done my best to make this character tend to be perfect, whether it is the story or the character, there are no regrets, so I will not continue to play Spider-Man!"

…… From the two most important creators to the rest of the film's actors, everyone has said that they will not continue to play roles in the Spider-Man movie, which makes the movie "The New Spider-Man 2" a farewell work in the true sense. Sony Pictures will definitely continue to launch new "Spider-Man" movies in the future, but everyone knows that a movie era that belongs to Spider-Man is over!

Under the rendering of this generous and pathetic parting atmosphere, "The New Spider-Man 2" easily exceeded 100 million at the box office in the first week of release. Behind this record-breaking opening week box office record is the record-breaking opening scale. "The New Spider-Man 2" surpassed the premiere record of 4362 theaters once set by "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", although the U.S. economy fell into a trough, but this did not affect people's enthusiasm for watching movies, 4366 theaters in the United States were released simultaneously, but the attendance rate was still as high as 83%, this result made many American economic observers dumbfounded.

In 4 weeks after its release, the global box office of "The New Spider-Man 2" exceeded $1 billion. Because of Lin Mingyang's existence, history has undergone a small shift here. Originally, "Batman Begins 2: The Dark Knight" was the first comic book adaptation to surpass $1 billion at the box office, but now "The New Spider-Man 2" has achieved this goal ahead of schedule.

The successful release of "The New Spider-Man 2" set off a box office war for Hollywood commercial blockbusters in the summer, and MGM's long-prepared "Iron Man" was finally released on June 28 after releasing 3 rounds of trailers and creating enough momentum. The strong landing of "Iron Man" has added more uncertainties to the surging summer film market.

Many film manufacturers who were originally going to take a piece of the summer movie market have postponed the release of the film, and the huge box office of "The New Spider-Man 2" is indeed eye-catching, but people have not lost their minds, the United States is now in an economic crisis, people may tighten their pants and go to the cinema to watch an annual blockbuster like "The New Spider-Man 2", but there is no reason to take money out of their shriveled wallets to watch other movies.

Are there any movies that make audiences continue to pay for them? The answer is yes, for example, "Iron Man", which is about to be released, is likely to be one of them, but other movies that cost tens of millions of dollars and have no stars in the film are very self-aware and choose to back down at this time. In this way, the summer film market has become a battlefield for the "rush" of the two big productions "Iron Man" and "The New Spider-Man 2".

Because they both belong to the Marvel Comics camp, Iron Man and Spider-Man have had confrontations and battles in the comics, so the media extended this plot to the box office battle of the two films. Although "The New Spider-Man 2" has swept up $1 billion in the global film market, the menacing "Iron Man" seems to be ready to make a big deal.

The media was "fanning the flames" on the side, but Lin Mingyang sat still. "Iron Man" was originally intended to be released at the beginning of the year, and the reason why it was postponed to the summer file was not only to avoid the impact of the screenwriters' strike, but also because Lin Mingyang thought that the robot war at the end of the film was a bit top-heavy. Just activate the energy device, the villain is sucked into it, and the whole battle is over.

It's not that the director is "lazy", it can be said that the action scenes of the whole film of "Iron Man" are gorgeous, especially the scene where the armor is formed, which shows the magic of industrial light and magic to the fullest. Although the audience will be well aware of the large number of CG images combined with it when watching it, they will still be thrilled by the accuracy and complexity of the representation.

There are many flying scenes in the film, relatively few scenes of combat and confrontation, and the sudden "sudden braking" when fighting with F22 in the air can be said to be a highlight, which not only highlights the diversity of the functions of the Iron Man armor, but also reflects the very exciting rhythm brought by the pitch change in the scene scheduling. It's a pity that this rhythm is not well reflected in the final battle, and the duel between the two robots is typical of the Western Dasha fight, which neither lacks eye-catching and stunning moments, but also does not highlight the characteristics of the "Iron Man" operation.

Although Jon is an imaginative and innovative director, he follows the "convention" of Hollywood commercial blockbusters in the handling of this plot - the bad guys can't be killed, the good guys are almost killed, and when the good guys are almost killed, the bad guys are killed.

Because the boss was not satisfied, this plot had to be revised a lot, and the final battle was reshot in many places. The modified version is that Iron Man fought back after being "abused", using the advantage of equipment to beat the villain, and finally fell into passivity because of the lack of energy, but fortunately, the "little secretary" played by Kate activated the energy device at a critical moment, and the villain was sucked into it.

In addition to highlighting his surname, there are deeper considerations for making Lin Mingyang so "sword sideways". The superheroes who have previously made the earth owe countless favors include almost all the good qualities of human beings and the surname defects that can arouse people's deep sympathy, how can the newly debuted "Iron Man" share the emotional and economic wallets that the audience has been carved up again?

Lin Mingyang's answer is to do the opposite, he knows that the audience watches this kind of film by relying on the psychological sense of role substitution to obtain satisfaction, just imagine, if you have superpowers, how many people are not willing to show off, punish evil and promote good in a chic manner, welcome endless flowers and applause, and become a national idol?

The superheroes on the screen were too low-key before, they were struggling to be incognito, and even willing to indulge in the whirlpool of misunderstanding in order to cover up their identities. And the protagonist in "Iron Man" can proudly announce at the press conference: "I am Iron Man!" ”

Other superheroes are too shy emotionally and always "love you in their hearts", and the Iron Man in the film is not just going to play ambiguously with his "little secret", he is a standard playboy, never stingy with his "energy", and he does not waste the goodwill of beautiful women.

The previous superheroes were too sullen and always liked to think of themselves as tragic heroes in Greek mythology, but "Iron Man" Stark knows how to make full use of his personality charm, this character is interpreted by Lin Mingyang, and the sense of humor is injected into every sentence and written in every body language.

The previous superheroes were too shabby, and Stark showed everyone by example that people with extraordinary intelligence and the ability to advance science and technology should use the most advanced weapons, enjoy the most glamorous treatment, and squander them appropriately.

The previous superheroes were too benevolent, and they were always reluctant to give heavy hands to their enemies, causing the other party to become more and more arrogant, so Stark always aimed to destroy the opponent's living force when he was fighting, and he was sorry for our high-tech body if he didn't beat you all over the ground to find teeth.

has these characteristics that are completely different from the previous superhero movies, the love to the surname, the iron man, who is very cute and even a little bad, is naturally more likely to resonate with the audience, and after the film was released, it naturally took over the torch handed over by "The New Spider-Man 2" and led the box office of the entire summer movie.

"Iron Man" only grossed $90 million in the first week of release, but came out on top, and finally won $520 million at the North American box office, and the global box office successfully exceeded the $1 billion mark, and finally snatched the box office champion of the comic book adaptation of "The New Spider-Man 2" with a slight advantage of $30 million.

(To be continued)