Chapter 251: The DC Universe

It wasn't until early September that Murphy finally received a definitive response from 20th Century Fox. After a series of preliminary investigations, evaluations, and audits, the review committee at 20th Century Fox finally signed off on the project proposal for "Deadpool," and the project was successfully submitted to Fox's top management and then smoothly approved.

A bit later, good news came from Bill Roscis, who represented Murphy and Stanton Studios in negotiations with 20th Century Fox. Both parties reached an agreement on the investment issue for "Deadpool," with 20th Century Fox agreeing to Stanton Studios' financial contribution to the project.

This outcome was expected. With huge investments in "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" and "Kingdom of Heaven," and another project promoted by Cara Fes, "Alien vs. Predator," also starting preparations and needing substantial funding, 20th Century Fox was facing significant financial pressure.

Financing was a necessary choice to source funds for these projects. Directors bringing in funds was also a necessary choice to reduce risk and secure funding.

Murphy, representing Stanton Studios, quickly signed a specific investment agreement with Cara Fes, representing 20th Century Fox.

The total production cost for "Deadpool" was $60 million, with Stanton Studios covering a quarter of the investment, amounting to $15 million. Correspondingly, they would also enjoy a quarter of the box office profit share.

In terms of television rights, DVD rights, and online streaming rights, Stanton Studios also reached an agreement with 20th Century Fox, enjoying an income share proportional to their investment ratio from all these rights revenues in the first five years.

The agreement also included a memorandum clause that all investments and revenues would not involve the film's copyright issues, meaning Stanton Studios would not own any copyright of "Deadpool."

This was a basic premise that Stanton Studios could negotiate with 20th Century Fox and a common practice in the industry, with neither party having objections.

Additionally, merchandise like Deadpool's hand toys, dolls, and image licensing, etc., were also unrelated to Stanton Studios.

However, securing these was quite satisfactory for Murphy, who didn't have much capital to negotiate more stringent conditions with a company like 20th Century Fox.

Subsequently, 20th Century Fox held a quite large project kickoff press conference for "Deadpool."

Of course, this was a result Cara Fes fought hard for.

"This is a new chapter in the 'X-Men' series."

Facing numerous journalists, Murphy said, "It will also be a unique superhero movie. Due to confidentiality agreements, I can't reveal too much about the film's details, but this is an R-rated movie!"

An R-rated superhero movie!

This news immediately caused a stir in the newsroom. The journalists were not very surprised. When Cara Fes announced Murphy as the director, many had anticipated such an outcome.

"This is just part of the grand X-Men plan." Cara Fes didn't mind dropping big news to attract attention, "20th Century Fox is committed to creating a unique X-Men universe!"

The concept of a cinematic universe had long existed in Hollywood but had never been formally mentioned before; it was a concept belonging to comics.

Cara Fes's mention of the X-Men universe, combined with the promotion by Fox's media, quickly attracted a lot of attention.

Bruce Rosenbloom, the current Vice President of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment, was one of them.

"The X-Men universe..."

In his office, he put down the newspaper and muttered to himself, "A cinematic universe space with superheroes."

Such a concept was fresh for Hollywood and the film industry, but in North America's comic world, many such universe spaces existed.

For instance, in one of the multiple universe spaces created by DC Comics, Superman is a superhero saving Earth in one parallel space, while he might turn dark and fall in another.

He habitually twiddled his fingers, continuing to ponder the news he had seen.

20th Century Fox, together with Murphy-Stanton, was making a superhero movie with Deadpool, dark and R-rated, as revealed by the media.

Bruce Rosenbloom couldn't help thinking back to that meeting a while ago, where Murphy-Stanton not only proposed to Warner Brothers the idea of creating a humanized Batman but also submitted a very reliable plan and story sample. However, being of little influence in front of the new CEO Bruce Berman, he hardly had any say.

Now, Murphy-Stanton had approached Marvel and 20th Century Fox, apparently wanting to create a unique superhero movie according to his own ideas.

Suddenly, the intercom connecting to the secretary's desk rang. Bruce Rosenbloom pressed the answer button, and the secretary's voice came through, "Boss, the information you asked me to find out about has come back. The X-Men universe was not Cara Fes's idea. There is definitive information indicating that this concept originated from Murphy-Stanton!"

"I see."

Bruce Rosenbloom turned off the intercom, sighing deeply, "Murphy-Stanton again!"

Clearly, this was a very visionary young director.

Murphy-Stanton's plan, he thought, had strong feasibility and could very well revive the "Batman" series. And his comments on Superman resonated deeply; a god-like Superman is completely detached from the reality of the audience.

The sense of immersion is very important for superhero movies. Can a superhero detached from the audience succeed on the big screen?

He was very skeptical about "Superman Returns."

What the "Superman" series needed was not a return but a reboot.

"Not just Superman, but other DC comic superheroes as well," Bruce Rosenbloom said to himself. "If the X-Men can create a dedicated cinematic universe, why can't DC's superheroes? DC Comics has the famous Justice League, after all!"

The renown of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, the three giants of justice, is incomparable to the X-Men.

Thinking this, Bruce Rosenbloom felt a surge of enthusiasm, wishing he could immediately draft a feasible plan. But as soon as the word "plan" appeared in his mind, his burning heart turned cold again.

This plan was easy to talk about but difficult to implement. DC's comic hero movies had been silent for too long, so long that movie audiences had almost forgotten them.

Reviving their glory wouldn't be easy, and it shouldn't be rushed like "Superman Returns" but require a long-term, comprehensive plan.

"Plan..."

Bruce Rosenbloom pressed the intercom, instructing his secretary, "Keep a close watch on 'Deadpool.' If there's any new information, bring it to me immediately."

If Murphy-Stanton could prove his style suited superhero movies with "Deadpool," he might be a good collaboration partner.

The chain reaction in the media caused by the X-Men universe exceeded 20th Century Fox's expectations. Many media outlets discussed the feasibility of transplanting comic creation concepts into the film industry.

And the media's discussion influenced readers, among whom were a large number of potential audiences. The news of "Deadpool's" project initiation spread rapidly and densely among the public, achieving the purpose of preliminary publicity for the film.

With the official project initiation, Murphy's past collaboration team formally joined the crew. Having worked together on three films, this was already a mature production team.

Besides, specifically hiring Chen Hu, a disciple of Yuen Woo-ping, from Hong Kong as the action director, all department heads from the last shoot entered the "Deadpool" crew to continue working with Murphy.

This film wouldn't rely on large scenes and special effects as selling points. The action scenes, especially between Deadpool and the major villains, Juggernaut and Sandman, would focus on realistic, fist-to-fist combat.

In terms of action direction, though Hollywood was catching up, it still lagged behind Hong Kong's action directors. The previous film "Sin City" didn't focus on action scenes, and most were shot in a high-speed slow-motion manner, not demanding much from the action director. That's why Murphy used an action director under CAA's intensive training.

But his abilities still needed improvement and didn't fully meet the requirements for directing the action scenes in "Deadpool." To be safe, after communicating with Bill Roscis and Cara Fes, Murphy chose to hire a team from Yuen Woo-ping at a high salary from Hong Kong.

Hollywood indeed leads in many aspects over the now-declining Hong Kong cinema, but Hong Kong films still hold their advantage in action scenes.

And since Yuen Woo-ping and John Woo entered Hollywood, their action and gunfight styles significantly influenced Hollywood, deeply changing the shooting and production modes of these scenes in Hollywood.

Murphy's directing career began in Hollywood, also influenced by many Hollywood concepts. Like most Hollywood directors, he didn't care where the talent and skills came from. As long as it benefited him and his projects, he would use them.

Multiple actors in the crew needed specialized action training before shooting began.

After the film's project initiation, negotiations were finalized with four actors, namely Robert Downey Jr. and Jessica Alba as the lead actors, and Dwayne Johnson and Gina Carano as the villain duo.

As Cara Fes said, the actors' salaries would consist of a lower base salary plus different post-release bonuses.

Meanwhile, after a tug-of-war negotiation, Bill Roscis also finalized the salary for Murphy as director and writer.

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