Chapter 408 Disney's Surprise
Although the six major Hollywood studios are far away in North America, they have offices in China. Warner, which was the first to enter China, established an office in China as early as 93, and the others followed suit.

These offices are usually very low-key and have few staff, usually six or seven people, and the smallest number is even just one. They are "low-key and lurking", keeping a close eye on the mainland market.

But then again, there aren't many Chinese-language films worthy of the six major film studios.

Therefore, in the eyes of some Hollywood film executives, offices in China are a very useless existence. They are just a helpless move because they want to enter the Chinese market but are restricted by policies and cannot do anything.

They cannot distribute movies, nor can they import reliable Chinese-language blockbusters. They are basically just supporting idlers.

When Reid and the people from Disney and DreamWorks arrived in the capital, the box office of "2012" had just exceeded billion yuan.

The media, the Internet, and even outdoor billboards were all celebrating enthusiastically, with the big headline "Twenty Billion" standing out prominently.

"It's incredible, unbelievable that the Chinese film market can produce such a high-grossing co-production." Durrant widened his eyes and muttered to himself.

You know, the domestic box office of "Frozen" is still some distance away from 1 billion.

William, the representative of DreamWorks, was first thinking about whether his company could also follow this model, make a co-production film, and reap the box office revenue.

Of course, considering that "2012" has already grossed over billion U.S. dollars worldwide, William naturally doesn't expect every co-production to achieve such results, but as long as they perform a little better, he can make a fortune.

You know, it is very difficult for Chinese-language films to enter Europe and the United States, and in the eyes of several major Hollywood film producers, it is also extremely difficult for them to enter the mainland Chinese market.

Censorship is the first hurdle. A few years ago, Sony Pictures tried to make Chinese audiences feel more involved in the film by changing the landing site of the aliens in "Battle Los Angeles" to Zhonghai City and changing the title to "Battle in China".

The result was naturally rejected by our Da Optoelectronics without hesitation. What was their intention in wanting to let aliens land in Zhonghai?

This incident also fully demonstrates Hollywood's ignorance of Chinese culture and emotions, which is very naive.

The second is the issue of distribution and revenue sharing. Hollywood film companies cannot distribute their own films, are not responsible for dubbing, subtitles, film printing, and have no right to decide the release time. Therefore, the famous "Domestic Film Protection Month" is actually artificially created, not an official product.

The 25% box office share is also a depressing thing for Hollywood film producers. Although the Chinese market has become the world's third largest box office after North America and island countries, their box office revenue in China only accounts for or percent of the global box office.

The only solution to these problems is co-production, but because it cannot take into account the cultural differences between China and the United States, it was once synonymous with "bad movies", with the most typical example being "The Forbidden Kingdom".

But "2012" gave the two companies hope. "Is there a market for combining European and American stories with Chinese stories and then making a 3D version?" This idea popped up in their minds at the same time.

"Reid, we hope to meet with Chairman Gu Wei of your company as soon as possible to discuss cooperation." Darrant and William asked directly, with some impatience in their tone.

"Oh, sorry, my boss's schedule is very full right now, and I won't be able to spare the time until at least three days later.

But don't worry, I will take you around to see this ancient country full of magic and mystery."

It is not necessarily true that Gu Wei is very busy at the moment. If he is busy, it is because the box office of "2012" has exceeded billion yuan, and the authorities are planning to hold a seminar to analyze the reasons why this Sino-US co-production has achieved such a high box office, and to commend Gu Wei at the same time.

If you say you are not busy, then Gu Wei can skip these meetings and find an excuse to have Song Ge represent him.

After much thought, Gu Wei still felt that he should leave the people from the two companies alone first. Some things could not be as shocking when said out loud as when they saw them with their own eyes.

In this way, Durrant, William and others had to follow Reid and start a three-day "publicly funded tour".

The first stop is naturally Xingchen Film and Television Company.

On the third floor, when the group saw rows of brand new machines, they couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

"God, they have all the latest Hollywood-specific equipment and machines."

“In addition to the equipment, they actually have so many engineers who can operate the equipment proficiently.”

"What is that? Part of Titanic?"

"Also, is this part of the footage from their independently produced 3D animated film?"

After looking around, the two of them were no longer as arrogant as before.

In the evening, after returning to the hotel room, Durrant immediately reported his experience to the president.

On the other end of the phone, the president of Disney was silent for a long time before he spoke slowly, "Perhaps, we should change our view of the Chinese film industry, because they have a world-famous director who is familiar with the Hollywood film system and has a company with film shooting and production technology that is not inferior to ours."

"Boss, but they don't have fixed distribution channels and theaters in North America, so there's no need for us to do this." Durrant said puzzledly.

"Haha, technology is the foundation. As for other things, as long as there is profit, other companies will naturally not refuse." Suddenly, Darrant was also full of thoughts, "Yes, I originally thought that Chinese films were still lagging behind. Perhaps what they are most interested in Disney may be those large theme parks.

In the past, what China often called blockbusters were nothing more than finding some stars that Chinese people liked, telling a messy story and adding some third-rate special effects. They were indeed not to the taste of European and American audiences.

But I didn’t expect that they are now no less capable than us.”

.........

In the company.

Gu Wei looked at Tong Liya in front of him and felt somewhat relieved. To be honest, he really admired Tong Liya for taking the initiative to ask for resources.

In the entire entertainment industry on a larger scale, or in a film and television company on a smaller scale, children who take the initiative will always be able to eat their fill.

Just like Qin Hao, who is not only proactive but also thick-skinned. Chen Minghao is learning and moving closer to the former.

In Gu Wei's office, Tong Liya sat on the sofa, seeming a little reserved during the conversation.

"Director Gu, according to online media reports, the head of the Hollywood company has come to China."

Tong Liya also completely let go at this time, just as Wang Jinghua said, she treated this as a job.

Gu Wei glanced at Tong Liya, who showed an expectant smile on her face.

"Haha, the people over there are here to discuss cooperation on an animated film, not that the company is going to shoot a live-action film in Hollywood."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Director Gu, I was overthinking it." Tong Liya explained immediately after hearing that.

Gu Wei waved his hands and organized his words.

“The company has no new projects in Hollywood right now, and the script for ‘The Breakup Master’ is still under review, and no results have been announced yet.

Just wait for the news, and you can play a supporting role in The Wandering Earth."

Tong Liya immediately pricked up her ears and listened carefully.

Gu Wei stopped talking when he saw the man opposite him with lights in his eyes, looking very excited.

"Thank you, thank you Director Gu, there won't be any conflicts in our schedules, right?" After the Yang Mi incident, no one in the circle dares to try to overlap with other projects, especially those directed by big directors.

"No problem. The character doesn't have many lines and there aren't many scenes. I'll arrange it."

Hearing this, Tong Liya felt a little disappointed, but then she thought that she might be the first person to have a role in "The Wandering Earth", and she couldn't help but get excited.

The next day, Reid took a few people to visit the domestic filming base. Darrant and others reacted normally to the various buildings built in the base.

But when they saw the audience queuing up to buy tickets and watch the movie in the cinema, they felt a little emotional. When they saw that the hall was crowded with adults, children and old men, Darrant's eyes widened and he turned around and asked, "What movie are they all here to watch?"

Reid nodded and said, "That's about right. Whenever a movie they consider a blockbuster is released, this kind of scene will happen."

"What a magical country! This is unimaginable in the United States. Don't they have other movies to watch?"

You know, in the North American film market, the primary issue related to film scheduling is the schedule coordination mechanism.

Even the six major companies will publish a report called "Competitive Positioning". The main purpose is to avoid schedule conflicts with other large companies producing commercial films. The comparison between the strong companies enables them to decide their own pre-production investment, while the weak companies adjust their release plans.

This spontaneous industry coordination mechanism allows information to be aggregated, counted, analyzed and then distributed by NRG, so that full coordination is carried out before the film enters the theaters.

The summer season is a battleground for the "Big Six" and is filled with blockbusters every year. From September onwards, Oscars are approaching and most of the films are "high-quality films".

Then comes the year-end and Christmas season, which is mainly family-themed. In February of the following year, there is a large number of romantic comedies because of Valentine's Day.

In the North American film market, the market and schedules are divided very finely due to the full competition among the six major film companies. Mainstream commercial theaters and art theaters can almost meet the viewing needs of all audiences.

Therefore, it is almost impossible for such a "retaliatory" movie-watching craze as in China to occur in North America.

……

(End of this chapter)