After all the previous four movies achieved good results, the entire Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios were full of confidence. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to describe it as "no one movie series is as ambitious as Marvel". They used Easter eggs to remind the audience in every movie that these superheroes live in the same universe. How vast and wonderful will the picture of this universe be?

Something called Marvel* is indeed forming.

At the end of May, Duke took all the Avengers to participate in the premiere of "Thor". Such a film adapted from Marvel's second-tier heroes also attracted the attention of countless movie fans, especially the establishment of "Avengers", which made this film more eye-catching and fully demonstrated Marvel's performance.

In the first three days, Thor, who was not very eye-catching and popular in Marvel Comics, took away a box office of up to $78.09 million from North America. Even though the reputation of the film was not very good, it still attracted a large number of fans.

Maybe Thor himself seems a bit boring, but the villain Loki's personal charm is amazing. With the release of the film, Tom Hiddleston also became popular instantly, which adds more expectations for Loki's performance in "The Avengers".

With the popularity caused by the crazy promotion of "Avengers", "Thor" received $150 million from North America in just ten days, and its global box office exceeded $250 million, which can be said to be successful.

Such a film without any celebrity actors has achieved such brilliant results in a short period of time, can be said to be a miracle in Hollywood.

But for Marvel's films, this has become the norm.

Previous series of movies were basically produced around directors, actors, screenwriters and other creative teams, such as the first three films of "Superman". The director was Richard Donald Garrichard Lester, and the screenwriters were David Newman and Mario Puzzo. Especially the audience could not imagine that other actors could replace Christopher River to play Superman. So after River had an accident, no one went to film the "Superman" movie for many years.

Now in Marvel superhero movies, the irreplaceability of the starring actors has been greatly reduced. A few years ago, Toby Maguire, who starred in "Spider-Man", consciously increased his value and asked the film crew to increase his salary to $20 million. However, Sony Columbia Pictures said that for a character who wears a mask for two-thirds of the time in a movie, changing actors is a matter of minutes, but Toby Maguire had to swallow his voice and not mention it.

Although Captain America Chris Evans signed 6 movie contracts with Marvel, and the Winter Soldier Sebastian Stan signed 9 movies, they can all be replaced, such as "Men: The First Battle" and all actors were replaced, and the love between the professor and Magneto in the past life was a possible means.

Although replacing the main actors is the last choice, in the Marvel Universe series, the uniqueness of actors has been reduced to an irrecognizable level. It is often difficult for movie fans to remember which superhero movie starring. What they remember is how this movie has to do with the previous movies and what changes have been made between heroes.

Especially in Duke's idea of ​​showing the world view as the main idea, actors will no longer be the soul of superhero movies, but have become only external skins, and the irreplaceability of actors has decreased. The development of superhero movies is no longer limited by actors' withdrawal, but can more freely develop with the development of market demand, and stories can also grow freely.

In the entire series, any character may be extended into a new universe as long as it is popular, even if he turns out to be a second- or even a third-tier character.

Of course, Thor Thor's success is not only due to Marvel*'s, but also due to the film's excellent digital effects.

The rapid development of digital effects today is undoubtedly one of the guarantees that Duke and Marvel Comics can realize the Marvel Grand Plan.

The special effects of film props in the 1970s and 1980s held up the wings of science fiction movies. After entering the 21st century, computer digital imaging technology took over special effects production, the Hollywood film industry completed its upgrade, and technology began to be comparable to creativity.

Nowadays, 3d, ima, Dolby Atmos, high frame rate, action expression capture and other technologies can better exert the imagination of the comics. This has made Marvel Comics finally usher in digital technology that can turn two-dimensional paintings into live-action movies and make imagination come true on the big screen.

Driven by producers like Duke, as well as various technical and commercial interests, superhero movies have become the most perfect digital technology models, with different styles of screen wonders taking turns, as if leading the audience on a roller coaster, flying from one * to another.

Will audiences get bored of superheroes? The answer is certain, just like they were tired of Western cowboys, singing and dancing stars, robots and aliens.

In the long-term plans of Duke and Marvel Studios, even movies in ten years have already had preliminary plans. Will the new generation in the future still be extremely popular with the superhero universe? Is the idea of ​​pursuing a worldview deviating from the art of narrative and going further and further?

Duke doesn't know about this kind of thing, only the future can answer the answer.

As a contemporary myth, as long as there is a benefit, the stories of superheroes will continue to be told until the entire society and culture are changing. Duke understands very well that it is commercial interests that shape superheroes and that society needs to give them divine nature.

Whether Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Spider-Man, they are actually projections of the real world in another parallel universe.

The emergence of this "Avengers" also means that the Marvel Universe series of movies has entered the second stage. The superhero movies at this stage are no longer a single hero showing themselves on the screen. The entire Marvel series of movies intertwined and formed a nearly real social picture, allowing its superheroes to live, fight, fight or assist each other.

Even Duke's layout of the entire Marvel movie is very clear. For example, in terms of style routes, the "Thor" series focuses on gorgeous fantasy style; the "Iron Man" series takes the high-end handsome and rich prodigal son and high-tech routes; the "Captain America" ​​series may continue to follow the realistic route; the "Guardians of the Galaxy" that has been put on the agenda has almost never played in the previous superhero movies...

In the future, the world of superheroes will become larger and more real, and may also be darker and more chaotic.

By July, when the preparations for "Avengers" had been fully launched, Thor Thor's North American box office accumulated nearly $230 million, and the global box office exceeded $450 million.

The new San Diego Comics Exhibition also kicked off in San Diego. As an important publicity base in Hollywood, Marvel Studios certainly won’t miss this grand event.

On the day of the opening of the San Diego Comic Show, Duke led all of Marvel's main actors to appear in the Marvel Comics exhibition area.

The media reported on the spot directly described this promotional event as "The Avengers All-Stars Showcased at the Animation Festival, and Superheroes Gathered".

At the Marvel Comics exhibition that day, facing nearly 10,000 comic lovers and movie fans present, SHIELD Director Samuel Jackson took the stage to introduce the super cast of "Agent Colson" Clark Greg, "Black Widow" Scarlett Johnson, "Thor" Chris Hemsworth, "Captain America" ​​Chris Evans, "Iron Man" Robert Downey Jr., "Hawkeye" Jeremy Renner and "Hulk" Mark Ruffalo.

At the same time, Marvel also released the first batch of posters of the film at the comic convention, and the new look of the six Avengers was also exposed for the first time.

"When we took the final makeup photo, Thor held his hammer in his hand, Captain America had his shield, Hawkeye also equipped with bows and arrows, Iron Man was suspended above us, and the Hulk was even more capable of killing directly,"

During the interview, Scarlett seemed a little resentful, "I was the only one holding two small pistols, but the stylist immediately comforted me, 'This gun is perfect for you! It's a killing machine that doesn't blink!"

Compared with the focus of these actors, Duke was also distracted by other work in addition to preparing for "Avengers".

This month, he also attended the premiere of "Transformers 3". Since Michael Bay took over, the series has reached its third part. Although the reputation of the film is not as strong as the first part, its commercial performance is still impressive enough. The second part has won more than $350 million from North America and has received more than $1 billion from the world.

Michael Bay himself has completely gotten rid of the past downturn with this series and returned to the ranks of Hollywood's first-tier commercial directors.

This series has always cooperated closely with China and has set new highs in the box office in the Chinese market. In the third part, the advertising commercial sponsorship revenue from China alone exceeded US$30 million.

"Transformers 3" has remained unabated in its commercial momentum. North America won more than 130 million US dollars in the first week, and it has won more than 400 million US dollars in nearly 100 markets around the world at the same time.

The machine life that used to be has become a global popular culture.

Duke is at ease with "Transformers". This is a completely commercial series. Michael Bay can be said to be a very suitable director candidate. If you follow what those professionals say, let Optimus Prime and Megatron always engage in philosophical reflection and think about the meaning of survival, this series will only rot.

While paying attention to Transformers, Duke devoted more energy to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", which has been released from North America. He and Warner need to use many means to prevent some people from sharing their profits too much. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!