Chapter 309: Imported films continue to fail

Every January and February, the most eye-catching things in the circle are just a few.

One is the Spring Festival movie, and the other is the nationwide art examination.

Needless to say, many people in the industry keep an eye on the movie box office. Every major company will have people dedicated to monitor and study which movie sells well or which series of movies is popular.

As for art examinations, only a handful of people receive media attention every year.

This year, Zhou Dongyu, as a "Mou Girl", was directly selected by the Beijing Film Academy. I think the domestic examinations are fair, but there are still many people who belong to the privileged class.

For example, Han Sanping's daughter was directly admitted to the Beijing Film Academy as a graduate student, and the directing department is generally recognized to be more difficult to enter.

In addition, as the year draws to a close, the Berlin Film Festival announced the final list of shortlisted films.

None of the Chinese-language films sent from Hong Kong and Taiwan were spared and were completely defeated.

"On the Beach at Night Alone" appeared in the list of the main competition unit and became the only one.

For this purpose, the Berlin Film Festival selection staff also made a special trip to Xingchen Film and Television Company to remind Gu Wei to attend this year's Berlin Film Festival on time.

"The treatment for big directors' movies is different. They take responsibility and come to remind you of the business."

"Congratulations Yifei!"

I don’t know who took the lead, but Liu Yifei’s Weibo was immediately filled with congratulations.

The young lady happily replied to each message on Weibo and interacted with netizens.

At this time, Gu Wei, as one of the producers of "Let the Bullets Fly", was acting as a matchmaker, and together with Jiang Wen and others, he was negotiating with the head of Warner Bros. about the distribution rights of the film.

Originally, Jiang Wen was planning to cooperate with Greyhound Audio Company of the United States, but considering the involvement of Gu Wei and the other party's familiarity with Hollywood, he finally chose Warner.

China Film Group and Emperor Entertainment Group also handed the matter over to Gu Wei, under the pretext that you have connections there and it would be easier to talk to them.

"What a joke. People only care about whether you can make money. Who would talk about feelings with you?" Gu Wei complained in his heart.

"Gu, there are two options. One is that we buy out the copyright directly, but the price will definitely not be too high. You know, this movie is not directed by you after all, and no one can predict how much the box office will be in the end.

In addition, we are responsible for distribution, but the number of copies sold is…"

Hearing this, Gu Wei also understood that the other party planned to use the method of previewing first to promote word of mouth, which is also the most common way to release Chinese films in North America.

Because it was released on a large scale all at once, without any well-known Hollywood director or actors, it is difficult for the film to be known by the audience.

"We need to discuss this."

"no problem!"

"What are your thoughts? Should we buy out the copyright or let the other party distribute and release the film?" Gu Wei asked Jiang Wen during the break.

Jiang Wen chuckled, "Why not just release it? The copyright buyout price is not high. I want to try to release it, but I'm afraid the other party won't understand this movie."

"It's a miracle that the American people can understand your movie. Many people in China can't understand it, let alone them."

In the end, the two parties decided that Warner Bros. would be responsible for the distribution and release, but the number of releases would be increased.

“Director Jiang Wen is a frequent guest at the three major European film festivals and has won many awards, and Chow Yun-fat has a certain reputation in Hollywood.

Besides, this movie has a high box office in China, so it is not an unknown work.”

However, the other party still insisted on screening the film first to see the effect and then decide whether to release it on a large scale. Neither Gu Wei nor Jiang Wen refused this.

After all, it costs a lot to release it on a large scale right from the start. If it fails, it will also affect Jiang Wen's reputation.

"Gu, you have to know that this is not Interstellar or 2012. We can only operate this way."

Faced with the other party's explanation, Gu Wei also chose to understand. After all, Jiang Wen's name in Hollywood is still too small. If it were Zhang Yimou or Li An, the other party might have given a different attitude.

After finishing the business, Jiang Wen reminded Gu Wei before leaving, don't forget the celebration banquet in a few days.

"I can be considered proud of myself this time. If you don't come, I won't eat."

"Aren't you afraid that Painted Skin 2 will break your box office record? Don't go to the celebration party with a gloomy face when the time comes."

Gu Wei teased the other party.

"Hey, am I that kind of person? But it's hard to say whether Painted Skin 2 can surpass Let the Bullets Fly."

Jiang Wen chuckled. There were still two Hollywood blockbusters coming up. Even if their box office was average, they would still occupy a lot of screening time.

In addition, the domestic blockbuster "New Shaolin Temple" is about to be released, so "Painted Skin 2" will face considerable competition at this point in time.

Gu Wei is not worried. Not to mention that these movies are destined to be bad, it doesn’t matter even if "Painted Skin 2" cannot win the domestic box office championship, as long as it can surpass "Aftershock".

...

The box office of "Painted Skin 2" has successfully exceeded 6 million yuan, and the current average daily box office is still over million yuan, with less than ten days left before it is taken off the screen.

People in the industry have all turned their attention to "The Chronicles of Narnia 3" and "The Green Hornet" which have already been released.

结果可想而知，相对2006年《纳尼亚传奇1》首周末2504万，2008年《纳尼亚传奇2》首周末2700万，《纳尼亚传奇3》的首周末仅有4200万的票房。“国产电影崛起，好莱坞进口大片连续扑街。”

"The opening weekend box office of The Chronicles of Narnia 3 was not as good as the opening day box office of Painted Skin 2. The myth of the invincibility of imported films has been broken again."

"Is it a cultural difference or a problem with the release date? Analyze the reasons why "The Chronicles of Narnia 3" failed."

This result surprised people in the circle.

"It was supposed to be an imported blockbuster, it was supposed to be a hit the moment it was released, but this is the result?"

As for the other film "The Green Hornet", it earned 2000 million on the first day of its release. Based on this result, there is no doubt that the movie will break million, but there is no hope of exceeding million.

"Imported films are not well received in China, and Shaolin Temple has no rivals in the same period."

On the other hand, "Shaolin Temple" will also hold its global premiere.

This film has a great background. It is the first film to be officially authorized by Shaolin since the 82 version of "Shaolin Temple".

Among the producers, most of them are well-known figures in the Chinese-language film industry, including Han Sanping of China Film Group, Wang Zhongjun of Huayi Brothers, Yang Shoucheng of Emperor Entertainment Group, Yu Dong of Bona Film Group, as well as the director of Southern Henan TV Station, director Chen Musheng and action director Yuan Kui, who are all well-known figures in the Hong Kong film industry.

It is said that the entire film cost nearly 200 million yuan, and the cast is extremely strong.

There are big brother Cheng Long, superstar Liu Dehua, little superstar Xie Chef, Fan Binbin, and many well-known supporting roles, such as Ghost Leg Seven Bear Xinxin, monk Shi Xingyu, Wu Jing, etc.

In terms of distribution, the mainland is jointly distributed by China Film, Huayi Brothers and Bona Film Group, while Emperor Entertainment Group is responsible for the Hong Kong and overseas markets.

No matter how you look at it, this is an absolute blockbuster. In terms of style and scale, it is in no way inferior to the recently popular "Let the Bullets Fly" and "Painted Skin 2".

Therefore, although "Let the Bullets Fly" and "Painted Skin 2" dominated the Lunar New Year box office and reaped huge box office revenue.

But in the eyes of some main creative staff of "New Shaolin Temple", it was just a stroke of luck and a good schedule.

Considering the appeal of Hollywood 3D blockbusters to domestic audiences and the great reputation of "The Chronicles of Narnia" with a global box office of 7.45 million US dollars, many domestic film companies deliberately avoided the period of more than ten days after New Year's Day. Who would have thought that "The Chronicles of Narnia 3" would turn out to be such a rip-off.

Today, "Painted Skin 2" still has a daily box office of more than million on weekdays, but some people think that it is a spent force that cannot pierce the silk cloth of Lu. Once "New Shaolin Temple" is released, it will surely end its box office myth.

In addition to Bona who was watching the movie, representatives of China Film, Huayi Brothers and Emperor Entertainment Group had been arguing for a while over the release of "New Shaolin Temple".

The world premiere was originally scheduled to be held on the 3rd, but now it has been delayed to the 18th. This is the final decision made after seeing the continuous flops of imported blockbusters.

If these Hollywood movies become a big hit, the other party will probably consider changing the release date.

Generally speaking, at a movie premiere, in addition to the main creative team, the attendees are basically representatives of the distribution company, media, film critics, movie fans, etc. Usually, celebrities rarely go, mainly because their schedules are too busy.

When "Painted Skin 2" premiered a while ago, not many stars came. The reason why there were bigwigs from various film and television companies was mainly because these people came for Gu Wei's sake.

Of course, we can't generalize. If the director is big enough, or the main creative staff has close friends in the circle, there will still be some stars and directors who will go to support them.

At this time, Xu Zheng's "Lost on Journey" was about to hit major theaters. Gu Wei originally planned to hold a premiere, but perhaps because the film was too small, Xu Zheng suggested releasing it directly.

"They are all big names, but our film is just me and Baoqiang, and the cost is not even a fraction of theirs, so it is not suitable for a large-scale premiere."

Gu Wei thought about it and decided not to do it. He invited a few reporters and held a press conference.

"Fuck, Xingchen Films still has a movie that hasn't been released yet, I forgot about it."

Not only have netizens forgotten it, other companies in the industry have no impression of it either.

"It's a comedy movie starring Wang Baoqiang and Xu Zheng, about the Spring Festival travel rush."

Just like that, "Lost on Journey", which was scheduled to be released on the 22nd, held a small press conference a few days in advance.

Gu Wei also asked artists from Xingchen Film and Television Company and Shiba Culture Company to help promote the film on Weibo.

The press conference was not big, but Gu Wei, Liu Yifei, Song Ge and others all went.

"Director Gu, I wonder what your box office expectations are for this movie?"

There were not many reporters on the scene, but all the necessary interviews were available.

Gu Wei raised a finger and made a 1 gesture.

"Ten million?"

"One hundred million. This movie has the potential to make over one hundred million at the box office."

Hearing this, even the beautiful reporter who was interviewing her couldn't help but roll her eyes. It seems that the high box office of "Painted Skin 2" has made this great director a little bit proud.

Your cost is less than 10 million, how can you have the courage to say this? After hearing this, other reporters nearby suppressed their inner excitement.

Big news, definitely big news. Regardless of whether the movie can make hundreds of millions, with Gu Wei's words, are you still worried about the lack of traffic?

Just like that, before the premiere of "The New Shaolin Temple", "Lost on Journey" successfully topped the hot search list of the day.

"Brother, can this movie really make over 100 million?" Wang Changtian called immediately, his tone full of disbelief. It's not that he didn't believe it, but Guangguang was responsible for the distribution of this movie, and due to cost reasons, he only charged the cost price. If the box office was a big hit, Guangguang would lose a lot of money.

...

(End of this chapter)