Chapter 145: Hero Premiere

In the mainland market, the box office performance of "The Matrix 2" has been soaring, and several small and medium-cost films released in the same period have all become cannon fodder.

Even a relatively successful Lunar New Year film director like Feng Xiaogang was terrified and warned the brothers Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei not to think about releasing their films at the same time as Jiang Heng's, otherwise they would be the ones who would suffer.

He is selecting the Lunar New Year movie, so let’s go to the Spring Festival.

If he wants to go to the Spring Festival period, we will choose the New Year's film. In short, we will never confront him head-on.

The Wang brothers naturally nodded in agreement, saying that Huayi had made a lot of money in the past two years because of Feng Xiaogang's joining.

But compared with Jiang Heng, the profit is much less.

If a movie loses money, it will be a huge blow to the company, so how dare we go head-on with it!
Furthermore, when Jiang Heng first came to the capital, he met the Wang brothers and the conversation was not a very pleasant one.

Although the relationship has eased in recent years, who knows if Jiang Heng still holds a grudge? I'm really afraid of being tricked suddenly.

Zhang Weiping of New Birch Films was in a state of relief and excitement.

Fortunately, the film's release date was not chosen during the Chinese New Year, otherwise, with the box office performance of "The Matrix 2", "Hero" would definitely be affected.

What’s exciting is that the box office of single films in the mainland market has now exceeded 700 million yuan, so "Hero" may be able to make 500 million or 600 million yuan. If that happens, it will be a huge profit.

Because of this, we are willing to spend money on the promotion of "Hero".

And learning from Jiang Heng's approach, not only will they invite various celebrity guests to walk the red carpet at the premiere, but they will also organize advance screenings of the movie.

After that, we will have to go to major box office centers for advance screenings. In short, the goal is to hype up the publicity.

On January 1, the world premiere of the movie "Hero" was held in the Great Hall of the People. More than 18 media outlets from home and abroad attended the event, and Phoenix TV's leading actress Chen Luyu served as the emcee of the premiere.

Zhang Weiping is quite good at publicity. The press conference followed the color tone of the film, mainly using red, blue, white, green and black.

There were 200 Qin army soldiers standing on both sides of the stage, which felt very novel to the reporters and audience attending the premiere.

These people were not the extras who played the Qin army soldiers in the movie. Instead, they were specially selected from the students of Beijing Sport University for this press conference. They were all 1.8 meters tall, meeting the standards of a guard of honor.

As a "special starring actor", Jiang Heng naturally had to attend the event and sit in the guest seats with Jet Li, Zhen Zidan, Zhang Manyu, Zhang Ziyi and others.

This time, Xinhuamian showed the entire movie.

The embarrassing thing is that after the film ended, the audience's reaction was lukewarm, and many people even left directly after watching the film.

A reporter randomly interviewed several audience members on the spot. Most of them were amazed by the film's pictures and color impact, but had doubts about the film's story.

One audience member directly said that after watching the film, he could be described as "distraught" and had no idea what Zhang Yimou was trying to say!
Some viewers also said that watching a movie is just for fun and there is no need to care too much.

Some say that the film’s colors and aesthetic composition are great, but the story is far inferior to Jiang Heng’s works.

A female audience member asked back, do you think this movie has a story?
The audience could leave if they wanted to, but Jiang Heng, Jet Li and others had to accept media interviews.

As a special starring actor, Jiang Heng was given special attention when asking questions, which really made it difficult for him.

How should I put it? As for the quality of "Hero", it can't be said to be too good, but it can't be said to be bad either.

The use of some "nonsense literature" is slightly different from his usual performance in front of the media.

Anyone who can actually make it in the entertainment industry must be good at some nonsense literature!
The reporter asked Jet Li, if this movie is shown abroad, will people understand it and can it win an Oscar?

Jet Li must be thinking, how can foreigners understand the concepts of "world" and "unification"? Division is the main theme in their history!
As for the Oscar, it doesn't look like it can win. But I can't tell the truth, so I say I'm not a Feng Shui forecaster, so it's hard for me to answer your question. My point of view is that I have such an opportunity, so many good friends have participated in this film, and they have worked hard and put all their energy into it. What will happen in the future, whether people all over the world accept it, whether Americans and Westerners accept it, is actually not important.

With Jet Li's experience in the film industry, he could naturally see that the reputation of this film would not be very good, and he did not dare to praise too much how popular the film would be. He only said that it was worth it for everyone to work together, and that box office and awards were not important. This has already expressed his attitude.

In fact, when Zhang Yimou saw the final effect of the film, he felt unsure.

When faced with a reporter's question about whether he was confident of winning an Oscar, he said that he did not have any expectations or extravagant hopes.

Zhang Weiping, who was present, looked very unhappy and said many discouraging words!

When the reporter asked him questions, he directly stated that "Hero" is expected to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and it is also very likely to win awards for costumes, photography, art, and music.

He didn't know whether the media believed it or not, but when it came to this moment, he looked very confident.

After the premiere, Xinhua Noodle Company also arranged a dinner to entertain the guests.

In addition to the film's cast and crew, CCTV Director Zhao Huayong, Deputy Director Hu Rong and others also attended as guests.

Zhao Huayong expressed his "respect" for Jiang Heng, and then said, "I heard that Director Jiang bought the copyrights of The Return of the Condor Heroes and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. I wonder if he is interested in cooperating with CCTV?"

Jiang Heng smiled, "CCTV's olive branch is something many people would love to receive. Of course I am willing to do so!"

In 2003, when Mango TV had not yet risen, CCTV was still the undisputed dominant position.

Compared to ordinary producers, directors and actors, it seems quite superior.

But in front of Jiang Heng, she couldn't act like that.

There are two reasons: one is fame and influence, the other is income and profit.

In 2002, CCTV's annual advertising revenue was 70.4 billion yuan, and the profit was only after deducting expenses.

Jiang Heng released two films in 2002. "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother" grossed $5.75 million worldwide, and "The Matrix 2" should gross $ to $ million according to media predictions.

Converted into RMB, the annual total box office exceeded 10 billion.

People like Zhao Huayong would admire such achievements when they hear about them, and they would always cooperate with the idea of ​​equality and mutual benefit.

Seeing Jiang Heng readily agree, he felt even more proud and said with a smile: "Okay, with Director Jiang's words, CCTV will definitely not let you suffer any loss!"

Zhang Weiping was envious as he was listening, but he didn't dare to respond rashly. After asking everyone to take their seats, he asked CCTV to help promote the event.

Zhao Huayong hesitated for a moment and said, "CCTV will definitely support Chinese-language films. There are more and more blockbusters coming out. I will definitely help if I am busy, huh!"

Just a short sentence and that’s it.

The topic during the meal did not revolve around "Hero". After all, everyone present was considered professional and could roughly guess the box office and reputation of a movie after watching it.

Especially when compared with Jiang Heng's films, the reputation of "Hero" is likely to collapse.

Sure enough, a few days after the official release, a large number of netizens flocked to Douban and gave "Hero" low scores.

Most of them said that the plot of this movie was tedious and repetitive, the pictures were flashy, and the spirit was empty and flattering.

I've watched too many fast-paced special effects blockbusters like Jiang Heng's, so I'm really not used to Zhang Yimou's blockbusters that combine art and commerce.

(End of this chapter)