Chapter 16 Amazing First Day Box Office

原本历史上，《黑客帝国》于99年3月31日在北美上映，但要到2000年1月14日才开始引入内地。

Since there was a difference of nearly one year between the release dates in China and the United States, pirated discs flowed in, which affected the film’s box office to a certain extent.

Furthermore, for Chinese audiences in 2000, computers were still a luxury, not to mention concepts such as the Internet, the Matrix, and the virtual world.

In addition, the mainland distributors at that time had never paid much attention to the promotion of foreign blockbusters, and ultimately the film only achieved a box office revenue of 1700 million.

In this life, the mainland was the first to release the film, and even Hong Kong was nearly a month late, so the impact of piracy was very weak.

Although it is difficult for the audience to understand computers, the Internet, and artificial intelligence, fortunately, it is a Hong Kong film, so not only are the faces familiar, but they are all handsome men and beautiful women.

Jiang Heng also made some changes to the original version's action style, replacing the light and graceful with swift and fierce, which is more in line with the aesthetic tastes of mainland audiences who are influenced by Hong Kong action films.

With the publicity gimmick of being the first science fiction film and special effects blockbuster in mainland China, and powerful promotion and distribution, it finally achieved an amazing first-day box office result.

967 million!
In 97, when more than million was enough to enter the annual box office top ten, the first-day box office result of more than million was definitely an "explosive" existence.

After hearing the result, Yu Dong was so surprised that he couldn't hold the phone steadily.

It earned over 9 million in one day, and it will definitely exceed 100 million by the time the film is released.

The first film released by Bonna Company grossed over 100 million yuan, which was considered an instant hit!
Although his shares only amounted to 18%, he was still able to receive a large dividend.

In order to achieve this goal, Yu Dong ordered people to increase the promotion of the film, and at the same time called various theaters, hoping that they would continue to increase the number of screenings.

"Don't worry, Lao Yu, even if you didn't call, we wouldn't reduce the screening schedule. No one is competing with you at all!"

Even though "Party A and Party B" has some competitiveness, it has to wait until December 12th to be released. It can be said that from the 24th to the 19rd, the mainland theaters were completely dominated by "The Matrix".

On the 20th, it earned 1047 million at the box office. On the 21st, the performance began to decline, earning only 906 million.

At this point, the box office revenue for the first three days of the weekend for "The Matrix" has been released, and it has achieved a box office revenue of 2920 million.

After the media reported it, the whole country was shocked.

After all, this is a brand new genre of Chinese-language films, science fiction!
When will the Chinese make a science fiction blockbuster? Just thinking about it makes the Chinese excited.

Jiang Heng, who has seen all kinds of publicity methods, seized this point and repeatedly emphasized in interviews with various media that "The Matrix" is the best science fiction movie in the world, and both its storyline and picture quality have surpassed Hollywood in all aspects.

This interview was broadcast repeatedly by various local TV stations because it was felt to be inspiring to the Chinese people.

The reason is simple. Life in China in the 90s was really difficult and frustrating!
Not to mention too much, just the negotiations for joining the WTO took 15 years!

It’s been a constant struggle!

At that time, the Chinese people were all full of energy.

Therefore, in the business wars of the 90s, patriotism was a very good card.

Of course, if you want to get the audience to support you in the name of "patriotism", you must first have a solid product.

Anyone who passes garbage off as "the pride of domestic products" and uses the name of patriotism to defraud people will eventually be abandoned by the people!

Fortunately, the quality of "The Matrix" is excellent, whether it is the core story of the film or the special effects, they are all refreshing.

So apart from the fact that the plot is difficult to understand, the film has almost only advantages in the eyes of the audience, and the box office also declined slightly.

On the 22nd, 817 million!
On the 23nd, 791 million!
After five days of release, the film grossed 4500 at the box office, ranking seventh on the box office rankings in 97!

Ahead of it were "Jurassic Park 7210" with 2 million, "The Opium War" with 7200 million, "A Good Man" with 6500 million, "Skyfall" with 4760 million, "Say It Well" with 4600 million, and "The Evaporator" with 4580 million.

It can be said that it is really only a matter of time before it surpasses these films and tops the annual box office rankings.

At the Beijing Film Studio, Han Sanping sat in his office, unable to calm down for a long time.

After all, they had considered changing the release date of "Party A and Party B" to avoid the limelight of "The Matrix".

But if it really needs to be changed, there is really no better schedule. We can't be afraid of "The Matrix" and move "Party A and Party B" to the summer of 98. Then he will stop being the factory director!

It can be said that Han Sanping has been under great inner pressure during this period of time.

After all, more than 6 million yuan was invested, and the film is of a completely new type. I don’t know whether the audience will like it.

"Party A and Party B" is different from previous movies. The film structure is a loose "sketch series" structure, which can be regarded as a brand new attempt.

It would be better if there was no competition from "The Matrix", but the box office performance of "The Matrix" is still so terrible!
"Director, I called a few theaters and told them that the theaters that had scheduled the movie 'Party A and Party B' had a high attendance rate. There was constant laughter during the movie. After the show, I arranged for someone to randomly interview some audience members, and the reviews were all pretty good!"

"call!"

Han Sanping let out a long sigh, feeling as if a stone had fallen from his heart.

"That's good, that's good! What about The Matrix?"

"It feels even more popular than a few days ago. Jiang Heng is young and quite cunning. He keeps saying things like catching up with the UK and the US and defeating Hollywood. He tricked the audience into going to the cinema to watch his movie. I heard that some young people watched it more than once!"

Han Sanping said: "Hong Kong people have broad vision and ideas, and their media is well-developed, so they are good at stirring people's hearts!"

"Want to reflect?"

Han Sanping waved his hand, "Don't worry about it, just promote our "Party A and Party B". Also, remember to bundle "The Matrix" with it when promoting it!"

"Don't worry, Director, I'll arrange it right away!"

The Beijing Film Studio did not mention the increased publicity efforts for "Party A and Party B", but said that the film's director Feng Xiaogang was under many times more pressure than Han Sanping.

The script of the film "Party A and Party B" is adapted from Wang Shuo's novel "You Are Not a Common Man". It tells the story of four young freelancers who suddenly had an idea and started a "Good Dream Day Tour" business, promising to help people make their dreams come true for a day.

He has high hopes for this film and hopes to carve out a place for himself in the Chinese film industry with his brand-new performance techniques.

Originally, the release date of "Party A and Party B" was moved up to December 98th in order to avoid the release of Jackie Chan's movie "Who Am I" which was scheduled for January 1.

I never expected that "The Matrix" would come out of nowhere, not only was it released a few days earlier, but its box office performance was so amazing. It's really too bad!

On the morning of the 25th, Feng Xiaogang, who had been waiting for the first day's box office results, could no longer stay at home.

I dressed simply, wearing a hat and sunglasses, and went to a movie studio near my home.

I went in and before I could buy a ticket, I saw a reporter interviewing someone.

Feng Xiaogang was afraid of being recognized, so he hurried out and went to another restaurant.

"Which of these two movies is better?"

Feng Xiaogang was not famous in 97, so he was not afraid of being recognized by ordinary audiences and ticket sellers and just lined up to buy tickets.

"It must be The Matrix. Want a copy?"

"What about 'Party A and Party B'?"

"Not bad!"

For the ticket seller, it doesn’t matter which one to sell, it doesn’t matter if he has to persuade anyone.

"But The Matrix is ​​more exciting, and Party A and Party B is quite funny!"

"Give me a copy of Party A and Party B!"

"fifteen!"

Feng Xiaogang paid the money, took a movie ticket, found a place to sit down, waited for a while for ticket checking and entered the theater. After the movie started, he found that the occupancy rate was about 60%.

For a morning show, this number of viewers was already quite large. As he was the one who shot the film, Feng Xiaogang naturally didn't care about the plot, and the whole audience was watching the audience's reactions.

To his delight, the audience in the theater burst into laughter from time to time, and some even fell to the ground.

"If all the theaters in the country were like this, my movie would not be a bad box office!"

Feng Xiaogang thought about this and secretly resented Jiang Heng for blocking his rise. It was a pity that he was not as skilled as his opponent this time, but sooner or later he would make a blockbuster movie to win back the favor.

After the film ended, Feng Xiaogang stood up and walked out, listening to the audience discussing the funny plot from time to time, and his heart seemed to be blooming with joy.

But when I got to the ticket office, I found that the audience were still there to watch "The Matrix", which made me feel a little depressed.

I thought, since I'm here, I might as well take a look at this movie.

Thinking of this, I went to queue up again, but the recent sessions were all full, so I could only buy the afternoon tickets.

Feng Xiaogang was so depressed that he wanted to swear, but the ticket seller said, "Do you want to buy it? If not, let the people behind you come over!"

"That's it, whether to buy it or not, ink stains!"

"Hurry up, I don't see a queue!"

Feng Xiaogang gritted his teeth and said, "Give me one!" He then took out money and bought a ticket for "The Matrix".

When I looked at the time on the ticket, it was more than two hours later, just in time for dinner.

After leaving the cinema, I found a noodle shop and ordered a bowl of Old Beijing Noodles with Soy Sauce. After having a full meal, I went shopping in a nearby shopping mall for a while and then went to the cinema again.

Wow, there are more people here than in the morning.

I stood aside and listened for a few words, and found out that they were all here for "The Matrix".

"You've never seen a computer before, how can you understand it?"

Feng Xiaogang muttered something, luckily no one heard him, otherwise there would have been a conflict.

Soon it was time for ticket checking, and I followed the line into the theater.

Looking around, wow, the place was packed with people, almost completely occupied.

"Where the hell did this come from!"

Feng Xiaogang muttered something and sat down in his own seat.

Soon the main film started, and as the plot unfolded, Feng Xiaogang became more and more frightened, because he is a professional.

The so-called layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

When a layman sees it, he will just think wow, awesome, this is great, but he cannot explain why.

It’s different for insiders, they can see what’s so great about it!
Although Feng Xiaogang is not well-known among the mainland directors at the moment, he has real talent.

You can see how advanced the core story of the film is and how difficult it is to shoot the special effects scenes in the film.

The fighting scenes are okay, although they are exciting, but I believe many Hong Kong directors can shoot them.

But the scene of dodging bullets was so shocking that he couldn't figure out how to shoot this scene even if he racked his brains!
"Someone must have helped him. A complete newcomer could definitely make a film like this!"

After watching the movie, Feng Xiaogang had to admit that his film could not compare with "The Matrix", and he suspected that Jiang Heng was not the real director of the film.

But no matter how much he doubted it, Jiang Heng had already succeeded, which made him feel a little disappointed.

"Hey, Lao Feng, the first day box office results are out!"

Feng Xiaogang was walking on the road when he suddenly received a call from Zhang Xiang from Beijing Film Studio. Hearing that the first day's box office figures had been released, he was extremely excited.

"How much, how much?"

"257 million!"

"257?"

"Ok!"

"Well, if the reputation can be maintained, it will definitely be over 20 million!"

Zhang Xiang was also a little excited, "Yeah, it will definitely be over 2,000!"

However, few people know that in history, the first-day box office of "Party A and Party B" was more than 3.6 million. Due to the impact of "The Matrix" and other factors, the box office dropped by more than one million.

But Feng Xiaogang didn't know all this. He just felt that if the box office could reach more than 20 million, the cost would definitely be recovered.

By then selling some copyrights and distributing videotapes, Beijing Film Studio could make a small profit.

"Very good, very good!"

Feng Xiaogang was slightly excited, and felt that his tense heart finally settled down.

Although I am still jealous of Jiang Heng's box office performance, the situation is not as good as his!

However, Jiang Heng, seeing that the single-day box office of "The Matrix" continued to decline, felt that there was nothing more to promote, so he booked a flight back to Hong Kong, ready to fight during the Spring Festival.

Suddenly, I received a call from Yu Dong, "Director Jiang, good news, good news! CCTV wants to interview you!"

Jiang Heng was stunned and said, "It's not Cai...!"

He wanted to ask if they had interviewed him before, but halfway through he realized that the previous interview was with the movie channel.

Although it is very influential, it is not the strongest.

"you are right?"

"News section!"

"hiss!"

Jiang Heng took a deep breath. It was such an honor for a news program to interview him!

"what's the situation?"

"I just heard it from others. Maybe the leaders think that with the current financial crisis in Asia, Hong Kong can produce a special effects blockbuster that surpasses Hollywood to boost the morale of Hong Kong people!"

After hearing this, Jiang Heng didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Things like morale and confidence are always difficult to talk about, but it is a blessing to be officially recognized.

After all, the ratings of CCTV news program are so high that “The Matrix” can be known throughout the country just by appearing on it!

"Okay, tell them, I'm always available!"

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Heng hurriedly refunded his flight back to Hong Kong and renewed his hotel stay in Beijing.

Looking at the night view outside the hotel window and thinking about the current housing prices, he secretly said: "When I get the box office share, I can find a way to get a piece of land! If I can build a building in Beijing, I won't be afraid even if I lose everything else!"

Like Zhang Chaoyang, the market value of his company plummeted, but because he owns three buildings, he is still a billionaire.

The next day, I finally received a notification from CCTV and went to record the interview video, but I had to wait for several days before it was broadcast.

"So far, the Chinese-language science fiction blockbuster "The Matrix" has grossed 7486 million yuan, surpassing "Jurassic Park 2" to become the annual box office champion in 1997."

(End of this chapter)