Chapter 229 Hot Summer: Spider-Man vs Iron Man

The two-month-long writers' strike over labor disputes was just the beginning of Hollywood's doom and gloom, and even harsher trials swept in along with the rolling heat of the summer. This time, it wasn't internal disagreements that shook Hollywood's foundations, but threats from the outside.

The U.S. economy has been mired in the subprime mortgage crisis since last year, and so far there has been no improvement in the situation, with the U.S. dollar depreciating in the international market and the domestic unemployment rate climbing higher and higher. The impact of the economic crisis has finally reached Hollywood, the deterioration of the external market has intensified the competitive situation within the industry, the major film producers are all desperate to put the big head on those costly commercial blockbusters, from May onwards, the smoke-filled summer war has already begun!

Sony Pictures was the first to make a move, with the two-year-long production cycle of "The New Spider-Man II" set to be released worldwide on May 3, a news that has delighted many fans who have been waiting for the film. Given the unstoppable box office appeal of the last movie, Sony executives are full of confidence in the sequel, and have been investing even more in publicity. All major TV stations aired the trailer in prime time, elevators, office buildings, subways, but wherever there is an electronic advertising screen, the film's highlights are scrolling.

Monday morning is the most painful time for most of the office workers, who have not yet adjusted from the relaxation of the weekend, and then have to face the heavy work pressure of the new week. Usually at this time of the day, the people crammed into the subway to go to work all have a listless and drowsy expression, but today everyone's attention is focused on the electronic screen hanging in the subway.

This electronic screen has never played only outdoor advertisements, but today it was turned into a talk show for the first time!

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you like movies and you're also a fan of comics, then today's episode is one you can't afford to miss!" At the beginning of the program, the host reveals his neat white teeth as he smiles, which is his personal signature.

"Don't ask me why, because the next guest to appear will tell you all the answers!" The host intentionally sold a secret, trying to whet the audience's appetite. He didn't rush to bring out today's guest, but instead asked the audience a question, "Does anyone know which is the most successful comic book movie adaptation in Hollywood?"

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

"That's right!" The host nodded with satisfaction, "I think you've already guessed our topic today, but before our program officially begins, allow me to give a brief introduction to the Spider-Man film series... The first installment of the Spider-Man film series came out in 2002 and shocked Hollywood, and after a gap of three years, the rebooted New Spider-Man rolled in $920 million worldwide, with the third installment of the film, which should be New Spider-Man II to be precise, coming to audiences soon."

"Even though the producers have claimed that this is the fastest pace possible, the movie has kept everyone waiting far too long for those who loved the movie and those who loved the original Spider-Man comics. If you count the production cycle, the franchise has only released three installments in eight years, which is an incredible thing in Hollywood, which is known for its efficiency. Sam Raimi, the director of the movie, can be considered as one of the 'most dilly-dallying' directors in Hollywood... Sam Raimi is not the only director in Hollywood who likes to pursue perfection in details... I think we are all curious about how he managed to drag the production cycle of the movie to such a long time and still managed to make the producers have no complaints. How on earth did he do it?"

It goes without saying that everyone knows that Sam Raimi must be an invited guest on this talk show, but the host's introduction seems to have no intention of stopping there. "Of course if sitting in front of the TV you're not into comics and simply enjoy watching movies, then perhaps today's other guest will intrigue and possibly delight you...he's Felix Lim, star of The New Spider-Man!"

Not only were the fans at the studio yelling with excitement, but there was also a gasp from the crowd standing in the subway watching the rerun. As the most popular male star in Hollywood, Lin Ming Yang's habit of not endorsing advertisements or accepting exclusive interviews is notorious, and the Oprah talk show is the only TV interview he has ever given, and what was different from other stars talking about their private lives in that interview was that Lin Ming Yang talked more to Oprah about his work.

Whether it is the media or work, everyone is most concerned about Lin Mingyang's private life, but he has never avoided talking about this issue. Even the gossip about him has never made any positive response. Since the topic of this talk show was related to the upcoming release of New Spider-Man, he certainly wouldn't pull any other topics with the host. However, the fact that he was able to appear as a guest on a TV talk show was enough to entice people to keep watching.

Amidst the loud applause and cheers, Lin Ming Yang walked up to the front stage with Sam Raimi and sat on the pre-prepared sofa after shaking hands with the host. Because the program was in the form of a conversation, Lin Ming Yang and Sam Raimi sat on one side, and the host sat on the other, and the two sides chatted face to face.

"Mr. Raimi, what do you think about the new nickname given to you by the Hollywood media (Most Abrasive Director)?"

Sam Raimi was dismissive of this nickname: "It's fine if I have to get these films done in half a year, but the audience will never see such exquisite effects as they are now, and I think that every minute I spent on this movie was worth it...With a 'Spider-Man' such a classic title as a backdrop, I didn't want to waste the title or present the audience with a shoddy movie."

"Is there no comment from the producer's side when you do this?"

Sam Raimi helplessly stated, "Sony Pictures has been urging me since a year ago, and at that time, they called me almost every day with a phone call, the content of which was all about asking me to speed up the schedule!"

"You're not impressed?"

"I threw my calling card down the toilet." Sam Ramey gave a very graphic gesture, "There was a crash, and then the whole world went quiet!"

"Counting the upcoming 'The New Spider-Man II', you've now made three 'Spider-Man' movies, and the big question on everyone's mind right now is whether or not you're going to continue making new Spider-Man movies?"

Sam Raimi shook his head with certainty, "I've invested nearly eight years in the 'Spider-Man' movies, and both the franchise itself, and myself, need to try new changes...so this will be my last Spider-Man movie! "

"So Felix what about you?"

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

At this time, the host interjected, "It's because of the comparison that many people think you're better as Spider-Man!"

"Maybe!" Lin Ming Yang shrugged, "When I first decided to act as Spider-Man, one of the big reasons was that my mom is a Spider-Man comic book fan, hehe, and she really wanted me to play the role, and then she could brag to the onlookers, 'Look, the Spider-Man in the movie is my son!' ...Although the initial motivation was to fulfill one of my mother's wishes, when I actually stepped into the cast and then was responsible for building the entire story of the script, I realized that everything was not as simple as I had previously thought, and that the character of Spider-Man carries a lot of memories for many growing up, and that it's not that simple to write the story to play the character well."

"As the screenwriter of the movie, I also tried to give the character more realistic connotations...In this movie, you will see a Spider-Man presented from the perspective of a normal person. He has the same joys and sorrows as a normal person, and will also face some troubles from his marriage and family...maybe he is living right next to us, but you just haven't realized it."

"If the last episode of the movie was a showcase of Spider-Man's superpowers, the sequel story will flesh out Spider-Man's personality, and I've done everything I can to make the character perfect, both in terms of the story and the character, and left nothing to be desired, so I won't be continuing on as Spider-Man!"

...

From the two most important creators to the rest of the film's cast, everyone has said that they will not be continuing their roles in the Spider-Man movies, making the New Spider-Man II movie a true farewell. Sony Pictures will certainly continue to release new Spider-Man movies in the future, but we all know that the era of Spider-Man movies is over!

In this generous and sad atmosphere of parting, "Spider-Man II" easily exceeded $100 million at the box office in its first week of release. Behind this record-breaking opening week box office record is a record-breaking premiere size. The new Spider-Man II" beyond once by the "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" set a record of 4362 theaters of the premiere, despite the U.S. economy into the doldrums, but this does not affect people's enthusiasm for the film, the entire U.S. 4,366 theaters synchronized screenings, but the attendance rate is still as high as 83%, the results of a number of U.S. economic observers jaw-dropping.

After 4 weeks in theaters, New Spider-Man II exceeded 1 billion dollars at the global box office. Because of Lin Mingyang's presence, history took a small diversion here. Originally, Batman Prequel 2: The Dark Knight was the first comic book adaptation to break the $1 billion box office mark, but now The New Spider-Man II achieved this goal ahead of schedule.

The successful release of "The New Spider-Man II" kicked off the summer box office battle of Hollywood commercial blockbusters, while MGM's long-preparing "Man of Steel" was finally set to be released on June 28 after releasing three rounds of trailers to build up momentum. The strong landing of "Man of Steel" has added more uncertainties to the turbulent summer movie market.

Many movie makers who were prepared to get a piece of the summer movie market have postponed their plans to release the movie. The huge box office of "The New Spider-Man II" is indeed eye-catching, but people haven't lost their minds yet. The United States is in the midst of an economic crisis right now, and people may tighten their pants pockets and walk into the movie theater to watch a yearly mega-hit such as "The New Spider-Man II," but there's no reason to take out any more money from their parched wallets to go and watch other movies.

Are there any movies that will keep audiences shelling out money? The answer is yes, and Man of Steel, for example, which is on its way to theaters, is probably one of them, but all the other movies that cost tens of millions of dollars and don't have many big stars in them are being very self-conscious and choosing to back off at this point. As a result, the summer movie market has become a battleground for the two big productions "Iron Man" and "Spider-Man II".

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 has extended this episode to the box office battle between these two movies. Although "The New Spider-Man II" has already rolled in a billion dollars in the global movie market, the raging "Iron Man" seems to be ready to make a big splash as well.

While the media is fanning the flames, Lin Mingyang is sitting still. Iron Man" was originally prepared to be released at the beginning of the year, the reason for the delay to the summer schedule, in addition to avoiding the impact of the writers' strike, a more important reason is that Lin Mingyang that the film's final robot battle some of the top-heavy feeling, the beginning of the Iron Man by the opponents, "abused" very bad, there is almost no fighting back, but the final victory over the opponent seems to be very relaxed, but the Iron Man is also the most important thing. Iron Man was "abused" by his opponents at the beginning and had little room to fight back. Just start the energy device, the villain was sucked into it, the whole battle is over.

It's not that the director was "lazy", but it can be said that the action sequences in the entire "Iron Man" movie were magnificent, especially the scenes where the armor was molded into the body, which showed Industrial Light and Magic's ingenuity to the fullest. Although viewers will be well aware of the amount of CG imagery that has been incorporated into the movie, they will still be thrilled by the precision and intricacy of the work that has been done.

In the movie, there are more flying scenes and relatively few fighting and confrontation scenes. The sudden "emergency braking" in the air when fighting with F22 can be said to be a highlight, which not only highlights the versatility of Iron Man's battle armor, but also reflects the exciting rhythm brought about by the change of tone in the scene scheduling. Unfortunately, this rhythm is not well reflected in the final battle, the duel between the two robots is typical of the Western big stupid fight, both the lack of eye-catching moments of surprise, but also did not highlight the characteristics of the "Iron Man" combat.

Although Jon is an imaginative and innovative director, but in the handling of this plot he still followed the Hollywood commercial blockbuster "convention" - the bad guy can not be killed, the good guy was almost killed, in the good guy almost killed, the bad guy is killed.

Because the boss is not satisfied, this episode had to carry out a lot of changes, the final battle is a number of supplementary shooting. Modified version is Iron Man was "abused" after the Jedi counterattack, the use of equipment advantage to the villain beat a pass, and finally because the energy is not in favor of passive, but in Kate played the "secret" at the critical moment to start the energy device, the villain was sucked in! The villain is sucked into it.

In addition to showing his personality, Lin Mingyang so "sword to go sideways" there are deeper considerations. The superheroes who have previously owed the Earth countless favors include almost all the best qualities of mankind and character flaws that can trigger deep sympathy, so how can the newly minted Man of Steel come back to share the audience's emotions that have already been divvied up and the wallets of people who have tightened their purse strings in the midst of the economic crisis?

Lin Mingyang's answer is to do the opposite, knowing that viewers rely on psychological immersion in the characters to get satisfaction from watching this kind of movie. Imagine how many people wouldn't be happy to show off their superpowers, to punish the evils and promote the good, to welcome endless flowers and applause, and to become a national idol?

Previously, superheroes on the silver screen were too low-profile, they struggled to remain anonymous, and even willingly indulged in a whirlwind of misunderstandings in order to conceal their identities. And the protagonist in Man of Steel can proudly announce at a press conference, "I am Man of Steel!"

Other superheroes are too shy in their feelings, always "love you in the heart of the mouth is difficult to open", while the Man of Steel in the movie is not only will play with their "secretaries" to play ambiguous, he is the standard playboy, never skimp on their own "energy", not to mention the waste of "energy". Energy", not to waste the beauty of the good sense.

Previous superheroes are too stuffy, always like to think of themselves as the tragic heroes of Greek mythology, while "Iron Man" Stark knows how to make full use of his own charisma, this role in the interpretation of Lin Mingyang, the sense of humor is injected into every sentence, written in every body language.

The previous superheroes were too shabby, Stark demonstrated by example that people with superior intelligence and the ability to advance science and technology should use the most advanced weapons, enjoy the most glamorous treatment, and spend money appropriately.

Before the superhero is too kind, always can not afford to their enemies under the heavy hand, resulting in the other side more and more arrogant, so Stark in the engagement is always to eliminate the other side of the living forces for the purpose of not to beat you to the ground looking for teeth is sorry for us this all high-tech.

Have these qualities with the previous superhero movie is very different, to love to sex, I do what I want, very cute and even a little bad Iron Man naturally easier to cause the audience to resonate with the film after the release of the natural natural also successfully took over the "New Spider-Man II" handed over the torch, leading the entire summer movie box office.

Iron Man" box office in the first week of release only 90 million U.S. dollars, but later on, the final North American box office to take 52 million U.S. dollars, the global box office successfully exceeded the 1 billion U.S. dollars mark, and finally with a narrow advantage of 30 million U.S. dollars, "New Spider-Man II" has not been warmed up comic book adaptation of the box office champion of the throne snatched over.