"Edge of Tomorrow", I really did not expect that the script Andy said was actually "Edge of Tomorrow"!
According to the context of the previous life, this movie should have been released in 2014, the actor is Tom Cruise, and the heroine is Emily-Blunt; It locked the top big-name actors, Brad Pitt at the beginning, and Tom Cruise later, and never considered other options.
However, it's only 2011, and the script has already been approved? And, not Brad, nor Tom, actually came to him? Although it was just a temptation and inquiry of intentions, without even a single word, the development trend of things was still completely different from the previous life.
Is this the butterfly effect, the timeline is disrupted? Or, at present, it is just a project, and there is still a long way to go before shooting and release. Maybe, in the final analysis, the work will still be released in 2014, and it will still be in Tom's hands.
However, for the time being, putting aside the jumpy nature of the disrupted timeline, the script was a work that was blacklisted in 2010, and now that Warner Bros. has started the project, all of this is in the past. Going back to the script itself of "Edge of Tomorrow", I have to say that the blacklist is indeed trustworthy, and Andy's decisive killing is also admirable.
"Edge of Tomorrow" tells an uncomplicated story. The future world is caught in the panic of alien invasion. The hero William Cage (William-Cage) is an officer who can only talk about soldiers and has never actually fought. , after refusing the orders of his superiors, the general threw him as a deserter into a suicide attempt, and as soon as he entered the battlefield, he died. But he did not expect that he entered an infinite time loop, participating in this suicide action again and again, and dying again and again, until he was victorious.
Similar to the time-space cycle or confusion of works, "Groundhog Day" is undoubtedly a classic masterpiece, and then there are many works such as "Butterfly Effect", "Source Code", "Ring Messenger", "Edge of Tomorrow" is also one of them.
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In the last life, the film was directed by Doug-Liman, the director who filmed "The Bourne" and "Mrs. Smith", known for his sharp editing style and crisp rhythm control. Under the directing of "The Edge of Tomorrow", the advantages and disadvantages are very obvious. The urgent and fast rhythm leaves the characters without enough room to play, and they become a popcorn hero image with a mask, but the rich imagination and powerful fighting style make the characters. The movie-watching process is full of highs/tidal waves, and the entire narrative rhythm is completed in one go, which is very addicting.
"Edge of Tomorrow" won a lot of praise from film critics. The media comprehensive review reached 71 points, and the Rotten Tomatoes Fresh Index was as high as 91%, with an average score of 7.5. It can be said that it is very gratifying. In the summer of 2014, it stood out, surpassing "Transformers 4", "Godzilla", "X-Men: Days of Future Past", "How to Train Your Dragon 2" and other works. The most outstanding commercial work by film critics in the summer.
But what is surprising is that "Edge of Tomorrow" has diverged in the audience's word of mouth. The IMDB score is as high as 8 points, and it once ranked among the 250 classic movies, and the popcorn index also reached 90%. , but the theater score is only a disappointing "B+". It can be understood that senior audiences and professional audiences couldn't put it down and sent praises one after another; ordinary audiences refused to buy it.
Such a situation is ultimately directly reflected in the box office data, which can be described as a typical representative of applause and unpopularity.
The film invested as much as 180 million, but it only achieved a box office of 100 million US dollars in North America. Thanks to the strong appeal of Tom Cruise, the overseas box office swept 270 million, but even so, the global box office Only 370 million. As a result, Warner Bros. lost nearly 40 million. Fortunately, the film later performed well in the Blu-ray disc market, and finally the revenue and expenditure barely reached a balance, which is risky and dangerous.
However, considering the film's exceptional reputation and Tom Cruise's strong appeal, Warner Bros. gave the green light to set the stage for a sequel. It's just that the sequel project has been dragging its feet, and it has not been able to shoot until Renly is reborn, and there is no way to know the quality.
There is no doubt that the script from the blacklist lineup, the quality of the script of "Edge of Tomorrow" has been affirmed. This script adapted from the original Japanese novel "Killing Samsara" is neat, concise, and logical. The action scenes complement each other. The only regret is that the ending is a little weaker, losing the sublimation and aftertaste of the works such as "Groundhog Day" and "Butterfly Effect".
Overall, compared to sci-fi, this work has achieved an excellent balance between sci-fi and action, and focuses on action scenes. Last life, "Edge of Tomorrow" was widely regarded as Tom Cruise's best work of the decade, even surpassing "Mission: Impossible" fourth and fifth, and it's not without reason.
If the quality of the finished product is so good, why didn't the movie's box office pick up? Even if you don't expect 300 million in North America, even the average of 200 million is far from the average, just barely breaking the 100 million threshold, which is really disappointing.
From the perspective of hindsight, industry professionals generally believe that the reason for the failure is Tom Cruise.
In fact, similar to Johnny Depp in "Shadow", Tom has also fallen into the rut of a fixed image. Since "Minority Report" in 2002, until 2017, Tom has appeared in sixteen films, eleven of which All of them are sci-fi action movies with a unified style. After entering the second half of his career, Tom gave up the competition for Oscar, and gave up the broadening of his acting career, and embarked on the old path of Adam Sandler, constantly repeating himself. Gone is the road to action stardom.
Even the "Mission Impossible" series is no exception. In the first three episodes, the focus of the publicity was "Tangge is charming", while the focus of the propaganda in the following series will always be "Tangge overcomes the shackles of age and constantly challenges the limit". .
Before "Edge of Tomorrow", Tom had just starred in "Lost War", whose style, genre, theme, and story were all very close. "Jack Reacher" and "Dangerous Spy War" are also all familiar.
In other words, "Tom Cruise" is one of the top signs in the United States today. Countless audiences have chosen to enter the movie theater because of him, but they have been disappointed again and again. The recovery of "Spy 4" restored some confidence, but then it was smashed to pieces. To put it simply, "cheated", the feeling of disappointment makes the audience gradually disappear in silence.
In addition, Tom's personal dedication is also one of the important reasons. Handsome, handsome, young, vigorous and energetic, this is an important part of Tom's image brand. In order to continue this image, the film's publicity plan, the character focus of the script, and even the director's shooting techniques will focus on creating such an image of "Tom"; but the fact is that when "Edge of Tomorrow" was filmed, Tom had already Fifty-two years old, the image created 20 years ago has remained the same after 20 years, and I have unknowingly fallen behind the times.
Tom's contemporaries, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, etc., have all transformed, and only he is still maintaining the iconic image established during "Top Gun".
The two heroines of "Lost War" are seventeen and nineteen years younger than Tom, respectively, and the heroine of "Edge of Tomorrow" is twenty-one years younger than Tom. The fact is that among the works starring Tom, the heroines who have a direct confrontation with him have an age gap of less than ten years. The last time was Demi Moore in 1992, when the two teamed up to star in "The Hero of the Sea of Righteousness".
Invisibly, more and more audiences are gradually leaving because of the aesthetic fatigue of Tom's image.
Looking at Tom Cruise's personal box office, since the "World War" in 2005, in addition to the "Mission Impossible" series, "Edge of Tomorrow" is the only North American box office work that exceeds 100 million yuan, the former box office superstar. , and now only rely on the "Mission Impossible" brand to continue his actor career.
In a way, "Pirates of the Caribbean" has the same effect on Johnny Depp.
This explains the audience feedback of "Edge of Tomorrow"-professional audiences do not look at Tom Cruise, but the quality, and naturally applaud; ordinary audiences don't look at the quality, but Tom Cruise, and feel pleasantly surprised, but More of a disappointment with the "old-fashioned". The negative word-of-mouth effect of 2013's "Lost War" extended to the box office failure of "Edge of Tomorrow" in 2014.
Of course, is there room for improvement in Edge of Tomorrow itself? Maybe there is, maybe not, but this is a commercial popcorn movie, the existence of shortcomings is inevitable, as long as the shortcomings do not affect the smoothness of the entire movie, then it is forgivable. So, in the final analysis, it is still Tom Cruise, and there are a series of questions derived from Tom:
Publicity positioning, script weight, character shaping, shooting focus and so on.
But to take a step back, without Tom Cruise, can "Edge of Tomorrow" still achieve 100 million box office in North America
The cost of the previous work was 180 million yuan, and the publicity expenses were even more generous, but according to what Andy just said, the budget was only 100 million yuan, and even the promotion of the project was a problem, not to mention other resources. . Without Tom, it's possible that Edge of Tomorrow really won't be released until 2014.
For the entire production team of the previous work, in addition to the director, Tom brought the entire production team, just like the "Jack Reacher" not long ago. The screenwriter is Christopher McQuarrie (cQuarrie), the screenwriter who made a name for himself by virtue of "Very Suspect" and Tom's queen screenwriter. Even if he wrote bad scripts like "Deadly Traveller" and "Jack the Giant Catcher", But he still cooperated with Tom on "Action Target Hitler", "Mission Impossible", "Jack Reacher", "The New Mummy" and other works.
In addition, photographers, lighting engineers, art designers, art directors and producers are all Tom's royal team.
Without Tom, "Edge of Tomorrow" is a complete empty shelf.