Chapter 367 Complaint
"It is reported that the film "The Flowers of War", which cost 600 million yuan to produce, was completed today."

"The on-site wrap-up party was huge in scale, with a large number of participants."

"The movie is scheduled to be released during the Spring Festival, and Zhang Weiping boasts that the box office will be at least 1 billion!"

There have been too many big news in the circle recently. Even so, the completion of "The Flowers of War" still attracted the attention of many people.

"It wasn't easy. We shot for five and a half months, from the cold winter to the hot summer, and finally it was wrapped up."

At the Shiqiu Film and Television Base in Lishui County, Jinling, Zhang Yimou felt a little emotional as he watched the crowd cheering happily.

经历了长达164天的拍摄，从2011年1月11日正式开机，到6月22日，现在总算能松了口气。

This film is Zhang Yimou's first war epic directorial, and it is also the best script he has encountered in his 20 years of filmmaking.

"Yimou, we need to hurry up with the post-production. It would be best if we could make a trailer first so that the publicity can keep up. We can learn from Xingchen Films in this regard."

When talking about the movie "2012" produced by Xingchen Film and Television, Zhang Weiping couldn't help but sigh.

You know, before the filming of this movie started, Zhang Weiping had already announced that it would be released during the Lunar New Year. However, due to the appearance of "2012", he had no choice but to slap himself in the face. For this, he was even ridiculed by Yu Dong of Bona.

When he thought of this, Zhang Weiping couldn't help but clench his fists, wishing he could eat Gu Wei alive.

"Well, the first trailer will be out by the end of next month at the latest!" When saying this, Zhang Yimou didn't even raise his head, and obviously he couldn't see Zhang Weiping's expression at this moment.

To be honest, the filming of this movie made him exhausted, especially the conflict with his partner Zhang Weiping, which was almost known to everyone in the circle.

The most obvious result is that many shots in the movie were not within his consideration, but without the so-called "box office", he, as a top domestic director, still chose to compromise.

"Some things need to be carefully considered." At this moment, this thought popped up in Zhang Yimou's mind.

Before "2012" was announced to be released during the Lunar New Year, the industry had already announced plans to release many blockbusters during the Lunar New Year, including "The Flowers of War", "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate", "Legend of White Snake", "The Great Magician", "The Grandmaster" and many other blockbusters.

As a result, when the release date of "2012" was confirmed, "Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate" was the first to back down and was directly moved up to the National Day release date, followed by "The Flowers of War" announcing that it would be postponed to the Spring Festival release date.

When other people in the circle saw this, they also changed their release dates. They had to. The lesson of "Avatar" was not too long ago and everyone still had an impression of it.

To be honest, 2012D special effects blockbusters with huge investments like "Avatar" and "3" are fatal to movies released in the same period.

Because apart from being crushed, there is basically no other outcome.

Zhang Weiping is such a smart person, he naturally understands this truth, otherwise he would not have decisively changed the schedule as soon as he was "persuaded".

“I hope the General Administration will consider carefully when introducing imported films, otherwise the damage to domestic films will be irreparable.”

Naturally, Han Sanping ignored the reactions of other people in the circle. Seeing that "The Founding of a Party" was about to flop, he was counting on "2012", otherwise he would not be able to explain to his superiors at the meeting at the end of the year.

"The Spring Festival period is the exclusive domain of The Flowers of War. If other films are not released on the same day as The Flowers of War, they are just hyping it up. We are confident that we can get more than 1 billion at the box office."

Zhang Weiping's self-confidence makes people in the circle a little speechless.

Afterwards, Yu Dong, who couldn't stand it anymore, retorted to the other party.

"Some people exaggerate. I hope they won't be slapped in the face when the box office comes out."

Zhang Weiping naturally couldn't stand Yu Dong's sarcasm, and the two of them posted mocking messages to each other on Weibo and started to quarrel, and more people in the circle came to watch the fun.

...

In North America, "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" has successfully broken $8 million in global box office. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be another film that will break $10 billion. However, the box office of this movie in China is not exaggeratedly high. The same is true in Southeast Asia, South Korea and Japan.

The film has also started to be released in South Korea. "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" only attracted 57 people in three days last weekend, which is not high compared with other local films.

Compared with the documentary "Arirang" directed by Kim Ki-duk, there is some gap. This is another new work of Kim Ki-duk after "The Dream". It was shortlisted for the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes and received good reviews after its local release.

In Japan, "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" is competing fiercely with "Samurai: Bladeless", "Miracle" and "Tokyo Park".

"The revenue-generating ability of Hollywood blockbusters is still terrifying." Gu Wei looked at the data report. The number of fans accumulated by "Pirates of the Caribbean" around the world is truly terrifying. There are not many movie IPs in the world that can surpass this IP, and there are not even many competitors.

On the 22nd, Li Binbin's ambitious work "The Secret Fan of Snow" is about to be released, and the publicity is also very high. After all, this lesbian theme is starred by top female stars from China and South Korea, so it is naturally very attractive, and of course there is a lot of discussion.

"Whether or not this movie can win awards depends on it. Maybe it can achieve both box office success and awards." Li Binbin thought as he kept an eye on the box office data. He was also thinking about participating in the film festival. The homosexual theme made it hard not to think of Li An's "Brokeback Mountain" and the scene where he swept all the awards at the Oscars.

At the same time, Wendi Deng was extremely optimistic about the domestic market for "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". In order to build momentum for her film, she even invited Hollywood media tycoon Murdoch to attend. The purpose was of course self-evident, which was to increase the publicity.

On the 23rd, the first day box office figures came out, and it was only 800 million, which seemed pretty good for an art film.

Judging from the box office alone, this is still okay, of course it can't be compared with the more than 20 million on the first day of "On the Beach at Night Alone". However, the reputation of the movie among netizens and moviegoers on the Internet has collapsed first.

"What kind of thing is this? Is it rustic or Western?"

"I am too lazy to complain. I was tricked into going to the cinema. I will have to be careful when watching it next time."

"It was advertised as a homosexual theme, and I thought it was another Brokeback Mountain. Now it seems like a huge difference."

After watching the movie, the audience started cursing without even any foreplay, and the cursing became increasingly harsh.

Even if Li Binbin and others came forward to explain, it didn't have much effect.

Afterwards, another famous film critic gave a summary comment and posted a message.

“First, there is the language confusion: the film uses a variety of languages, including Mandarin, Hunan dialect, Shanghai dialect, Korean and English. This mixture of languages ​​​​confuses some viewers and affects their viewing experience.

Secondly, the issue of time travel is not handled properly: the film switches between three time periods: Hunan in the late Qing Dynasty, Shanghai in the 90s, and the modern era. This large-scale time and space conversion makes some viewers feel "too time-traveling" and "a bit confusing."

Then, there is the improper use of cultural elements: although the film attempts to spread Chinese culture through cultural elements such as Nüshu, some viewers think that the director's handling of these cultural elements seems superficial and lacks depth.

Finally, and most importantly, the plot and narrative are bland: some viewers think that the plot and narrative of the film are too bland, lacking sufficient conflict and tension, making the overall viewing experience not satisfying expectations. "

As soon as the post came out, a large number of netizens left comments below.

"It's a good summary, but it's still missing something," said a netizen.

"What's missing?" There was someone next to him who was making fun of him.

"The lack of a director who can tell a story is a common problem for bad movies." The netizen then gave a reply.

"No problem. I really don't know what the director of this movie was thinking. Is it so difficult to make something that the audience can understand?"

At this moment, Wendi Deng and Li Binbin naturally also saw the large number of word-of-mouth reviews on the Internet. The two of them looked at each other in confusion, speechless.

What is even more disturbing is that after only three days, the box office trend is showing signs of a major collapse.

The box office of 350 million on the first day was already the highest point, and then it kept declining. By the third day, the average daily box office was less than half of the first day, only million, and the reputation was getting worse and worse.

"Honestly, please take it off the screen right away, don't embarrass yourself. The third day's box office is worse than the box office of 'On the Beach at Night Alone' which is about to be taken off the screen."

"They are all commercial films. It's easy for them to break 300 million at the box office. Looking at the box office of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, it's probably difficult to break 40 million."

"The gap is ten times? Liu Yifei = ten Lee Binbin + ten Jun Ji-hyun."

At this moment, Li Binbin and Jun Ji-hyun were a little bit in tears. They had both been running around for promotions, but the box office still did not improve.

It seems that "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" is destined to suffer huge losses, and Wendi Deng sees this very clearly.

"The only way to make a profit now is to see if we can get into the Oscars. If we win, the copyright fees alone will make the money back."

After realizing this, Wendi Deng started to launch new promotional methods.

"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is an art film, and we don't pay much attention to the box office."

"I will strive for this year's Oscars and try to win the big prize."

As soon as the propaganda direction changed, netizens started to mock it again.

"Honestly, don't bother the judges. It's hard to say whether they can understand it or not."

"You say you don't care about the box office, but you haven't relaxed at all on publicity and promotion. Are you saying one thing and thinking another?"

No matter how people discuss it online, it cannot change the ending of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". The producer is destined to suffer a huge loss this time.

I spent real money, not only did I not get my money back, I didn’t even get a good reputation.

On the other hand, Fan Binbin, who had originally envied Li Binbin, became happy at this moment and was almost clapping his hands to celebrate secretly.

After all, there are only so many top resources in the circle. When a top star falls, the vacant film resources will naturally be taken over by others, and Fan Binbin happens to be one of them.

...

(End of this chapter)