Chapter 643: Machine Lifeforms

Back at the turn of the century, upon hearing that Sony Columbia Pictures wanted to purchase the film adaptation rights for the G.I. Joe Toy Series, Duke had paid Hasbro a hefty price to acquire the rights to Transformers. He had been waiting for the right time to develop it into a film franchise.

The Transformers series relied heavily on CG, which was exactly why Duke had waited until now. The technology had matured, significantly shrinking production costs. Visual effects that would have demanded fifty million dollars at the turn of the century could now be finished for just over twenty million.

Even so, Duke had budgeted a minimum of two hundred million dollars for production. This would guarantee Optimus Prime and Megatron more screen time, ensuring the camera wouldn't just flash over the Transformers before cutting immediately back to the human cast.

Compared to The Dark Knight, the artistic tone of Transformers was undoubtedly much lower. Yet in Duke's eyes, Transformers was far more important. Part of this came down to commercial returns, but the rest was born of a deep-seated nostalgia he had never forgotten.

During his childhood across the Pacific Ocean, Transformers had been at the height of its popularity. For how many people were Optimus Prime and Megatron unforgettable figures?

Even if this was destined to be a pure popcorn flick, Duke still intended to direct it himself.

It was still a story about a boy and his car. The film's core audience dictated this basic setup, but the approved script had undergone massive changes. First, the tone was no longer overly goofy. Furthermore, while the human characters played an important role, they would not steal the spotlight from the robots.

Duke lacked a natural sense of humor and wasn't particularly good at comedy, so he certainly wasn't going to cram tasteless jokes into the film. While the script had its share of lighthearted moments, they were kept brief and restrained.

Then there were the male and female leads. His film didn't have a single cent to do with DreamWorks, and his personal relationship with Spielberg wasn't particularly close, so naturally, he wasn't going to seek out the Jewish old man's godson. As for the female lead, he felt nothing for actresses like Megan Fox, so he definitely wouldn't cast her...

Just as outlined in the materials Duke had asked Nancy Josephson to prepare, once the crew was officially established, they would hold a wide-ranging casting call for both roles.

Next came the character designs for Optimus Prime, Megatron, and the rest.

Starting in the first half of the year when the writing team was preparing the script, Duke had Tina Fey notify Hasbro's headquarters in Rhode Island. According to their copyright agreement, Transformers directly involved Hasbro's vital interests, which the company clearly understood. If they wanted the franchise's influence to reach the next level, relying on a director like Duke was undoubtedly a wise choice.

The people at Hasbro responded with the utmost enthusiasm and speed, quickly producing the concept art for the film's Transformers.

However, when Hasbro's CEO flew to Los Angeles to personally deliver the designs to Duke Studio, Duke rejected them outright.

"Brian, I don't think this is very fitting."

In the reception room, Duke flipped through the concept art, his brow furrowing tightly. "They look too much like the cartoon characters."

"I think it's better if they resemble the originals."

Sitting next to Duke, Hasbro's CEO, Brian Goldner, held a completely different view. "When we designed them, we used the cartoon models as a foundation and drew heavily from Japan's mecha style..."

Looking at the blocky, bulky robots in the concept art that resembled stacked boxes, Duke shook his head. "These designs are too ugly. I can already imagine how they'll look on the big screen; they won't have any streamlined beauty."

"Streamlined beauty?"

Hearing this, Brian Goldner shook his head even faster. "They are giant robots; they must conform to the laws of physics. If they aren't bulky enough, it would be impossible for them to run, jump, or perform any highly difficult maneuvers."

"Brian, I think you're overlooking something."

This CEO hadn't been in his position for long, which Duke knew, so he explained further. "They aren't just robots. They are highly intelligent machine lifeforms. Any living organism will possess its own unique streamlined beauty, rather than a purely mechanical frame with rough, rigid lines!"

In Duke's view, the constant urge to design Optimus Prime as bulky and clumsy was entirely misguided.

That was just using Earth's robots as a prototype, completely ignoring one crucial point: in this sci-fi world, Transformers were not robots!

Moreover, the difference between a movie on the big screen and an animated series on the small screen was simply too vast.

In a sense, the characters appearing in the film would be a race of highly intelligent lifeforms from an alien galaxy. Their bodies just happened to be made of metal, making them distinct from the bulky, heavy robots of Earth.

"But..." Brian Goldner thought for a moment before changing his tone. "If they look too different from the cartoon, won't that cause some fans to reject them?"

Duke didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "Hasbro has released new 3D Transformers animated series in recent years. What was the reception like?"

Brian Goldner sighed, remaining silent.

Without exception, the recent Transformers animated series had all been fiercely criticized by fans.

"Brian, I've adapted a lot of works. I generally know what kind of designs will better suit the demands of the big screen and the expectations of a mainstream audience."

Pausing slightly, Duke stated a simple fact. "The Dark Knight was a massive hit at the box office and in merchandise, enjoying an incredibly strong market response. Yet there's still a large group of Batman fans who disliked it. They even go online to say I ruined Batman's image..."

Turning to glance at Brian Goldner, Duke continued, "No matter how we adapt Transformers, some fans will believe we've destroyed their childhood memories. No matter how popular a movie gets, it can never please everyone."

The reality was clear. Regardless of how the adaptation was handled, a segment of the audience would always claim the franchise had ruined their childhoods.

"There's another point."

Although Duke held the film adaptation rights and could do whatever he pleased, he wouldn't ignore Hasbro. For the film to achieve massive success, the toy manufacturer's promotion was equally important. There was absolutely no need to create a rift with Hasbro over an issue like this.

"Don't you agree? Fans will only be motivated to buy new toys and merchandise after the movie is released if the Transformers' designs are sufficiently different from the cartoon."

Sitting in thought for a few minutes, Brian Goldner slowly nodded and said, "I'll hurry back to Rhode Island as soon as possible and have the design department..."

"No, I'll dispatch a design team to Los Angeles."

As someone who had reached the CEO's seat at Hasbro, he was an incredibly decisive figure. "They will fully assist you and the production crew."

In the original success of the Transformers franchise, Hasbro's relentless promotion had played a vital role.

After seeing Brian Goldner out, Duke returned to his office and made a call to Warner Brothers. The budget required for this film was massive; Warner Brothers had already initiated their presale and fundraising mechanisms.

Film—especially massive commercial productions—was a high-investment, high-risk industry, making financing a foundational element. How much investment was secured and how it was allocated could decisively impact a movie's fate. The reason Hollywood could continuously churn out blockbusters and conquer the global market was inextricably linked to the robust capital support behind it.

In the past, driven by their confidence in Duke and the lower perceived risk, Warner Brothers had raised outside capital for his films in relatively small amounts.

Now, however, the situation was different. The massive funds poured into The Dark Knight had yet to be recouped. With major productions like Duke's Transformers, Zack Snyder's Watchmen, and the new Harry Potter all requiring huge capital investments, Warner Brothers couldn't afford to tie up too much liquid cash. Raising production funds through external mechanisms had become their primary option.

In addition to preselling film distribution rights to overseas distributors across various regions, Warner Brothers was preparing to accept investments from several funds.

Since 2004, investment institutions had started launching film funds to invest in a major Hollywood studio's projects over a set period, sparking a major industry trend. This was known as "slate financing."

By this era, the major Hollywood studios had long been absorbed into larger media and entertainment conglomerates, and the globalization of the film industry was becoming increasingly apparent. "High concept" films—characterized by "massive investment, massive production, massive marketing, and massive markets"—had become the Hollywood mainstream.

According to MPAA statistics, the average production cost of an American film in 1975 was five million dollars. By 1987, that number had reached twenty million. By 2007, the average production cost for major studios had climbed to 70.8 million dollars, and the average marketing cost had reached 45.9 million, pushing the total average cost over 100 million dollars.

With such massive investment scales, even the annual proprietary funds of major Hollywood studios were hard-pressed to sustain large-scale output.

Although their parent companies possessed immense financial strength, they were unwilling to pour too much capital into the highly risky business of filmmaking. Moreover, as publicly traded corporations, none of them wanted excessive debt on their balance sheets. Bringing in external investors thus became an inevitable choice for the major studios.

For a long time during the 1980s and 90s, however, Hollywood hadn't felt too much financing pressure. With the rise of new film distribution channels like videotapes, cable television, satellite television, and European regional television, Hollywood films could raise most of their funds simply by preselling distribution rights.

The tax incentives provided by several overseas governments to promote their own film industries also offered a lot of convenience for Hollywood financing. Most notably, a specific policy in Germany had become a lucrative loophole exploited by numerous Hollywood companies.