The four popular films of the 82nd Academy Awards - "Avatar", "Bomb Disposal Unit", "Manchester by the Sea", and "Gravity", the rest of the participating films belong to the second or third echelon, and these four films have the highest demand for awards, belonging to the first echelon.

Among them, the global box office of "Avatar" has exceeded the $2 billion mark, officially topping the global box office championship. Catherine Biechlow, the director of "Bomb Disposal Unit", is the ex-wife of director James Cameron. The directors of "Manchester by the Sea" and "Gravity" are the same person, and "Gravity" also created a super high global box office of $1.69 billion, ranking third in global film history.

The above points undoubtedly make this year's Academy Awards full of highlights.

This year's Oscars will be held on March 7, more than a month away, this year's Oscars Li Mu has three films nominated at the same time, and he himself will naturally not participate, so the start time of "The Hunger Games" is set after the ceremony.

And the more than a month before the Oscar ceremony, Li Mu will naturally not waste it in vain, he is already preparing for his next sci-fi masterpiece.

In the previous life, the four-part "Hunger Games" series of four-part series grossed more than $3 billion worldwide, which is considered an extremely successful series, but this series seems to be a little unaccustomed to Chinese audiences.

In the first part, the domestic box office results only ranked more than 20 in the annual list of the Chinese box office.

The second part was even worse, dropping to more than 40.

On the third part, there are more than fifty.

Under the third subordinate, more than sixty.

It stands to reason that after Li Mu's version replaces the heroine with Liu Yifei, who is more familiar to Chinese audiences, its domestic box office should improve, but to be honest, Li Mu is not sure in his heart.

Therefore, Li Mu will not shoot four "Hunger Games" in four consecutive years, and there will always be some works that are more popular with domestic audiences.

And this time he set his sights on "The Martian", which also won the Hugo Award.

"The Martian" is selling very well in China, and the total sales of the Chinese version alone have exceeded 15 million copies.

Hugo Award-winning works, director Li Mu's works - these two labels alone have already made this book sell directly in the domestic market.

Moreover, the plot of Martian survival and alien potatoes in this book is still very in line with the cultural genes of Chinese people.

And in recent years, almost every year, countless readers have strongly called on Li Mu to make this work as soon as possible, "Inception" has been released, and it has created a box office miracle.

"Gravity" was also released, and it also created a box office miracle.

So now it's Li Mu's turn to have the highest domestic sales of "The Martian", right?

So it was decided, and Li Mu's next sci-fi work will be "The Martian".

In the original timeline, the film "The Martian" grossed 585 million yuan in China and 630 million US dollars worldwide.

is not particularly good, but it is definitely not bad, and after selecting Chinese actors who are more familiar to domestic audiences, Li Mu believes that his version will at least surpass the original box office performance in China.

The readership is much larger than in the previous life, and the director's fame (Li Mu's fame) is also much larger than in the previous life, and there is no reason why the box office of Li Mu's version will be bad in China at least.

It is worth noting that the plot of Li Mu's version has been changed compared with the original version, and as for the magnitude of the changes, it can be said that it is very large, or it can be said that it is not big.

First of all, the biggest change is definitely that the implementer of the Mars program has changed from the United States to China, and the original version is that American astronauts have contacted NASA through the long-abandoned Pathfinder Mars rover launched by the United States in 1996.

Then, according to the general logic, Li Mu's version should be modified to mean that the Huaxia astronauts got in touch with the Huaxia Aerospace Department through the abandoned Huaxia Mars probe launched in a certain year.

But it is obvious that Li Mu has not changed so much.

Huaxia's Mars rover was not launched until 2020 is only one of the reasons, and taking into account the European and American markets is another reason for Li Mu to consider

。

In order to open up the Chinese market, Hollywood movies often add some Chinese elements to their films.

Now it was Li Mu's turn to do the same.

In the script of his version of "The Martian", the Chinese astronauts also found the American Pathfinder Mars rover launched in 1996, and then contacted NASA through this probe, and then NASA contacted Huaxia NASA, and finally the Chinese and American NASAs worked together to rescue the hero back to Earth.

And after setting the protagonist's first contact object to NASA, Li Mu can write the leaders of NASA a little more stupid and stumbling, so that there will be no psychological burden at all.

The original "The Martian" finally used Huaxia's rocket booster technology for the supply mission, and this version of Li Mu is not ready to trouble the Americans.

In Li Mu's version, the role of the Americans is limited to helping the Chinese astronauts who landed on Mars to get in touch with the Huaxia Space Agency, nothing more.

After solving the script problem, Li Mu then began to study the cast of this movie.

In fact, at this time, Li Mu already had a suitable candidate for the leading actor in his heart, but he didn't know if the other party would agree to his invitation.

To say that with Li Mu's status in the film industry today, let alone China, there are few actors in the world who will categorically refuse Li Mu's invitation to play the leading role, but the person he wants to invite this time is a little special, simply put, the person he wants to invite this time is also a director.

This person is none other than Director Jiang Wen from Xiying.

In fact, as early as when Li Mu wrote the version of "The Martian", he already felt that Jiang Wen was very suitable to play the leading role in this movie.

So after Li Mu officially decided to shoot "The Martian" today, he quickly called Director Jiang Wen.

Noon one day in February.

Li Mu dialed the phone, and the other end was quickly connected.

"Yo, Director Li! It's strange, why did you remember to call me today?"

Li Mu smiled: "Now I have a good script in my hand, and I want to find a powerful person to do it together." How's that, are you interested?"

The other end of the phone smiled and said, "Yo, I see, I see. Then I'll translate and translate: you have a very awesome script in your hand, and you want to find someone to do it together, and everyone will make a very awesome movie together. Director Li doesn't know if what I'm saying is right?"

Li Mu smiled, "Incisive, completely correct!"

The other end of the phone said: "Since even Director Li said that it is a very awesome movie, the investment amount must be vague, how can this ordinary investment amount be worthy of our Director Li to say a word of awesomeness, right?!" How's that, is there a hundred million dollars?"

Li Mu replied affirmatively: "An investment of 100 million US dollars, there must be!"

Jiang Wen on the other end of the phone said again: "A hundred million dollars investment, this is a great movie."

Li Mu smiled, "Then I wish the two of us awesome people a happy cooperation?"

The other end of the phone pondered for a moment, and then said, "Okay, Director Li's "Gravity" this time is the world's top awesome movie, and even Director Cameron has to give a thumbs up to the application of new technologies. If I can be an assistant director or producer for Director Li, and I can learn something new from Director Li, I will definitely not lose here."

"Assistant director or producer? Who said I'm going to find Director Jiang to do this?" Li Mu was a little surprised.

"Didn't you ask me to be an assistant director? It shouldn't be the chief director, right?" Jiang Wen's voice on the other end of the phone was also full of surprise.

Li Mu didn't go around in circles, he said directly this time: "I am looking for Director Jiang this time, neither to ask Director Jiang to be the assistant director and producer, nor to invite Director Jiang to be the main director, but to invite you to play the leading role. How about Director Jiang, come and do me a favor?"

The other end of the line asked, "Which project are you talking about?"

Li Mu said: "The Martian."

Jiang Wen said: "I know that this book is indeed a very awesome work, and when I finish "Let the Bullets Fly", I will go to Director Li to report."

Li Mu asked, "Now the crew of "Let the Bullets Fly" has not been completed? Then Hu Jun should also be on the set, right?"

"Here, just squat next to me and eat a boxed lunch." Jiang Wen said at this time.

Li Mu thought for a while and said, "Then please ask Director Jiang to help me ask, just say that I have an important supporting role here and want to ask him to try, I don't know if he is interested."

On the other end of the phone, the crew of "Let the Bullets Fly".

Jiang Wen turned his head to Hu Jun, who was eating a boxed lunch five meters away, and said, "Hu Jun, come over here, Director Li Mu said that there is an important supporting role that I want to ask if you are interested."

Hu Jun held the chicken leg in his hand and froze for six or seven seconds, and then the forehead lines on his head rose.

"Director Li Mu looking for me?"

"Yes, Director Li Mu is looking for you, and he hasn't hung up the phone yet."

Hu Jun hurriedly put down the lunch box, and then wiped his hands on the costume again, and then walked up to Director Jiang Wen and reached out to take the phone.

"Hey, Director Li, I'm Hu Jun."

I only heard the other end of the phone and said, "Brother Hu, I have the role of an astronaut here, and the role is not too much, but it is enough to be an important supporting role, I don't know if you are interested in giving it a try?"

"Interested."

Hu Jun did not hesitate at all, and agreed on the spot.

At the same time.

Li Mu's side.

After hanging up, he continued to think about the other characters in the movie.

In the movie "The Martian", in addition to the male protagonist trapped on Mars, the most important role in the rest of the roles is definitely the commander of the Mars exploration team.

In the original movie, the character was played by Ms. Jessica Chastain, who was also the heroine of "Hunting Ben**" and "Interstellar", and also successfully won the Best Actress Award at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022.

As the commander of the Mars exploration team, this role must perform the aura of leadership, in other words, the temperament must be able to control the field.

There are not many actresses in China who can do this, and among them, the one who best meets Li Mu's requirements is definitely Gong Li.

In addition, there is also the role of a female system operator, which is played by Kate Mara in the original movie, who also played the role of the female reporter Zoe in "Paper House", the beautiful woman who is willing to sacrifice herself and is pushed off the platform.

This role is naturally left to Liu Yifei to play.

The male leader of the space bureau here in China, Li Mu initially planned to invite Mr. Li Xuejian, and the female leader continued to use Ms. Chen Shu from the original movie. The rest of NASA's staff naturally had to choose actors from Hollywood, in addition to a few astronaut roles.

One of the slightly older astronauts, Li Mu, plans to invite Andy Lau to play this time.

In fact, Li Mu has always had the idea of inviting Brother Hua to act in a movie, but he has never encountered a suitable opportunity before, and this time there are not many astronaut roles, I don't know if Andy Lau is interested.

In fact, Li Mu didn't have a movie suitable for Andy Lau in his mind, he mainly didn't have the time and energy to shoot it in person, just like now, he thought of two good movies suitable for Brother Hua when he thought about it casually.

One is "Source Code" and the other is "Gone Girl".

Especially the movie "Gone Girl".

As a suspense, drama, and thriller, it was able to win $369 million at the global box office, which shows the excellence of this movie.

After deciding to invite Andy Lau, Li Mu quickly called the other party's mobile phone.

"Hey, Brother Hua, I'm Li Mu."

"Director Li." Liu Dehua said.

"Right now, I'm preparing a sci-fi movie here, and there's a supporting role in it, I don't know if you're interested," Li Mu asked.

The two chatted on the phone for about half an hour, and Andy Lau agreed after learning the basic information of the movie.

"No problem, no problem, I can play this role, and I was still hesitant to take on another Hollywood scripture

I was not very satisfied with the script adapted from the movie, but then I heard that they were going to invite Miss Gong Li to play the heroine, so I intended to take the script, but recently I heard that Miss Gong Li had clearly rejected the other party, and Miss Gong Li stopped acting, so I didn't want to take the script."

Hollywood classic movie adaptation, looking for Andy Lau and Gong Li to act, this should be the "I Know a Woman's Heart", right?

Li Mu remembered that the movie in his previous life was quite miserable, and there seemed to be some disputes, but now under the influence of Li Mu, Andy Lau and Gong Li have not taken this drama, Li Mu feels that this result is not bad.

In the next period of time, Li Mu continued to study the actors and began to make a movie budget table.

I didn't expect it to be really hit by Jiang Wenyi, and the budget of this movie is really about 100 million US dollars.

When these things were almost done, Li Mu went to China Film Group with the basic information of "The Martian".

After Chairman Han Sanping saw Li Mu, he was not in a hurry to talk about the new movie, but came up and asked Li Mu if he was likely to win a few important Oscar awards this time.

Li Mu replied: "In terms of important awards, "Manchester by the Sea" should still be a bit stable for Best Actor, firstly, we have a tacit understanding with those big Hollywood companies, secondly, Tom Hanks's performance is indeed well deserved, and thirdly, there is no too strong opponent for Best Actor this year."

"As for the other awards, it's hard to say."

Han Sanping said, "What about the best actress?"

Li Mu thought for a while and said, "The biggest competitor is Sandra Bullock, the heroine of the movie "Weakness"."

Han Sanping smiled and said, "I also know that it is quite rare for Gong Li to be nominated for Best Actress, but I always fantasize that I can create a miracle this time, after all, the opportunity is rare."

As he spoke, he asked, "Well, have you ever thought about coming back with the best picture?"

Li Mu smiled, "Best Film? It's impossible, this year's best picture is probably "Bomb Disposal Unit"."