Chapter 260 Popular Overseas
There were no heavyweight films released in the North American film market in August.

"Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which was released on the 4th, had a North American box office of 1.48 million, ranking 12th of the year.

The animated film "Farmville" released on the same day had a lower box office of over 70 million, ranking 34th for the year.

"Step Up", which was released on the same month as "Kung Fu Panda", had a box office of only over 11 million yuan. It is also a youth inspirational film with street dance culture as its theme.

Therefore, during the period when "Kung Fu Panda" was released, it can be said that there was no one who could fight.

The film grossed over 60 million dollars in its first weekend upon its release, astonishing many Hollywood film companies and media critics.

Firstly, the box office results were really unexpected. Even Hollywood animated films might not achieve such results, let alone a foreign animated film.

The second reason is the shock brought by the film's content, because at first glance, the film has a strong Chinese element, and many scenes are also very exotic to some American audiences, which makes people's eyes shine. But its story structure and tone are actually Hollywood-style.

Therefore, it is very easy for American audiences to understand this story, which is one of the important reasons why the film was a big hit at the box office.

On the Rotten Tomatoes website, 88% of film critics gave the film a positive review after watching it.

Popular reviews believe that the success of Kung Fu Panda is mainly due to its interesting story and likable characters. But it is undeniable that the Chinese elements do add points to the film, and the beautiful Chinese scenes in the film are really great, like a dreamland.

The film critic of the Chicago Tribune praised Kung Fu Panda: "Director Jiang Heng produced the most interesting animation that surpasses all the works of DreamWorks... The reason why I like this movie is simple - the pictures are beautiful, very 'Chinese', and the jokes are very interesting, which can make audiences around the world laugh. In addition, it is also very interesting to see an animated film set in ancient China."

If we say that North American film critics treated "Kung Fu Panda" with shock and surprise, then DreamWorks was completely confused.

They started making the film in September last year. The subject matter was also a panda that knew kung fu. The inspiration came from classic Chinese action movies such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Kung Fu", "House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero". The scripts were very similar, and the character images and scene styles were also similar to their sketches.

Yes, the production cycle of animated films is long, and DreamWorks expects the release date to be 08.

As a result, before they even started drawing, Jiang Heng came up with a work that was better than the action movie they had imagined and designed. This was quite frustrating.

After some investigation, we found out that the project of "Kung Fu Panda" in mainland China was launched earlier than theirs, and it took several years to produce such a fine action movie.

The more DreamWorks investigated, the more dumbfounded they became. They wanted to file a lawsuit but didn't know how to protect their rights. They could only watch this film become a global hit in the film market and achieve impressive box office results.

Yes, Kung Fu Panda's overseas box office is very good and has not been affected by the fact that it is a Chinese production.

I think it is the charm of "Kung Fu". There is no doubt that "Kung Fu" is a powerful symbol of Chinese culture.

It is also the charm of "pandas" that requires no elaboration on the love of pandas by countries around the world.

The panda who knows kung fu and the animated film are extremely attractive to teenagers and children from all over the world.

Having a tiger as the protagonist may scare children.

But when the panda appears, the children only have the urge to touch it.

Because in the eyes of Westerners, pandas are gentle and honest animals.

This view may not necessarily be consistent with the habits of pandas themselves, but this is what Westerners think.

The contrast between a gentle and cute panda and martial arts is already very interesting. Coupled with Jiang Heng's reputation as the producer, it can be said that once the film was released, it achieved amazing box office results in major film markets around the world.

The film's global box office has exceeded 200 million, 300 million... and 500 million US dollars at an astonishing speed. Looking at the box office trend, it is no surprise that it will exceed 600 million, and it seems that 700 million is even possible!

The news spread back to China, shocking the entire Chinese-language film market.

It’s fine that special effects blockbusters make money, but how come even animated films make so much money?
For a time, whenever the bosses of major domestic film companies got together for drinks and meals, they would always talk about "Kung Fu Panda".

After all, it's not surprising that "Zhu Xian" is a big hit at the box office, but the fact that "Kung Fu Panda" is a big hit is a bit beyond these people's understanding.

In Beijing, in a private room of a high-end hotel, Wang Zhonglei, Chen Guofu, Liu Weiqiang and others gathered together for dinner.

The Huayi version of "Investiture of the Gods" has completed filming and is currently in the post-production special effects stage.

What gave Wang Zhonglei a headache was that because of the fear that Jiang Heng would do something shady, all the special effects shots of the film were outsourced to special effects companies in Japan, South Korea and the United States.

This does make people feel at ease, the only drawback is that the cost has increased by nearly 30%, which is very painful.

But there was nothing they could do. Knowing that Jiang Heng was going to shoot a film about the Conferred Gods, Huayi still tried to seize the spot. They must have been afraid of retaliation from the other party.

A high price has already been spent on the special effects, and when the film is released in the future, we don’t know whether the other party will make changes to the screening schedule, so we can only deal with it as it comes.

When talking about Jiang Heng, we naturally have to mention several popular movies released during the summer.

"Red Cliff" was a complete failure. Relying on the Three Kingdoms theme, the box office barely exceeded 200 million. The next part will be released and will make another 200 million. It's still a loss anyway.

As for "CJ7", although the box office was not a huge hit, it still made some money.

The box office performance of these two movies, "Zhu Xian" and "Kung Fu Panda", is so good that it makes people envious and jealous!

"Hey, you say, we can understand that "Zhu Xian" has a high box office, but how come cartoons are also so profitable? Haven't foreigners watched cartoons?" Wang Zhonglei took a sip of wine and asked in confusion.

Chen Guofu responded: "If you ask me, it's still a good choice of subject matter. Foreigners like pandas and kung fu. When these two elements are combined, and the quality of the film is better, it will really attract children."

Liu Weiqiang nodded, "I called a few old friends recently, and many of them said they wanted to take their children to see Kung Fu Panda."

Liu Weiqiang was born in 60, and people of the same age are now in their forties.

However, people in the entertainment industry get married very late. Many of my friends have children who are only in elementary school, which is the age when they like watching cartoons. I can understand this very well.

But Wang Zhonglei couldn’t quite understand it. After all, Huayi Company had been established for quite some time, and among all the film companies in the mainland, it had good performance.

But when watching iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video, you still have to look up to them.

It was fine that it couldn’t compare with the special effects blockbusters before, but now it can’t even compare with cartoons, it’s so disappointing!

"What do you think about us making an animated film?" Wang Zhonglei suggested.

Chen Guofu and Liu Weiqiang looked at each other and smiled bitterly. They were really not good at animated films!
(End of this chapter)