Chapter 70 Cinema Reform
The mainland film market has had its prosperous period. In the late 80s, the annual box office total was almost 30 billion.

However, due to various drawbacks, it had fallen to less than 90 billion by the 10s.

When China joined the WTO in 99, two clauses were finalized regarding the entry of foreign films into China. One was to allow foreign investment in China's film exhibition industry, to build, renovate or operate cinemas on the condition that the shareholding did not exceed 49%; the other was that there would be a three-year protection period after joining the WTO, during which 20 imported films would be allowed each year.

Although there are only 20 movies, countless mainland filmmakers still feel that winter is coming.

Especially the fact that "Titanic" grossed 3.6 million at the box office is truly daunting.

Historically, the country did not begin to reform its cinema chain system until 02.

During this period, perhaps because of the excellent performance and huge influence of Jiang Heng’s three blockbusters, the idea of ​​reforming the theater system was actually proposed.

Jiang Heng, who was not only good at shooting blockbuster films but also had a lot of money, became the object of "care".

Han Sanping's question obviously had a higher meaning, so how could Jiang Heng miss it?

Worried that 1.5 million yuan was not enough, he thought for a moment and said, "I have been to the United States many times and found that the decoration and equipment of theaters there are much better than those in China. For the same movie, the audio-visual effects on both sides are completely different. I want to import equipment from there and build a few high-standard theaters."

Han Sanping's eyes lit up when he heard this. "That's great. Your special effects blockbuster will be equipped with the best audio-visual equipment..."

He seemed to have realized something halfway through his words, "No wonder 100 Million Years BC achieved such good results in North America."

Jiang Heng was stunned. What did this mean? Did he think there shouldn't be so many?

Han Sanping smiled awkwardly and suddenly said, "According to this, Lion Camel Ridge is likely to cause a sensation across the United States!"

The audio-visual effects of "Lion Camel Ridge" can be said to be the strongest in history in this time and space, but the visual shock it brings to people in different countries is different. The key factor is the theater decoration and projection equipment.

The viewing experience of "Lion Camel Ridge" shown in a theater with dilapidated decoration and aging equipment in a small Southeast Asian country and in the highest standard theater in central New York will definitely be different.

Even if the theater is well decorated, the audience will still feel unhappy if the cinema lowers the broadcasting standards in order to save costs.

A typical example is the 3D movies released in China after "Avatar". Audiences found that the visual effects were average and the screen brightness dropped by at least two levels when putting on glasses.

The reason is very simple. Some cinema companies deliberately lowered the brightness of xenon lamps.

Because the life of xenon lamp is very short, it is a consumable part.

If the brightness is turned up to full, the electricity bill will be expensive, and more importantly, the loss will be very large.

Therefore, many cinemas only set the brightness of the bulbs to 70% of the standard value, which immediately reduces costs.

It is said that this method of operation can increase the net profit of the cinema by 10-15%. Not many cinemas or theaters can resist such profits.

The consequence is that the movie-watching experience is greatly reduced.

2D is still barely acceptable, but once 3D movies are shown at this brightness, the visual experience brought to the audience is simply disastrous.

The picture that should have been bright became dark, and the details that were originally in the darkness disappeared.

But for special effects blockbusters, a lot of the subtlety lies in the details, such as animal hair.

But with this adjustment by the cinema, a lot of work of the producers has been in vain.

This is why 3D movies eventually lost their appeal to audiences, and some viewers even deliberately chose to watch the brighter 2D versions.

Therefore, Jiang Heng believes that the box office performance of "Lion Camel Ridge" in North America should far exceed that of "The Matrix" and "100 Million BC". In addition, it is natural to build several high-standard cinemas to let everyone see what it means to go all out.

"I think it should be pretty good. After all, from a visual perspective, Lion Camel Ridge is much better than those two films!"

Han Sanping couldn't help but feel a little regretful after hearing this. "I really want to see the playback effect on the best equipment!"

Jiang Heng smiled, "That's easy. Once the cinema is built, we can just re-screen the film on a small scale!"

I thought to myself, “When 3D technology develops, I will convert Lion Camel Ridge, and then you will know what it means that there is no best, only better!”

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but hesitate.

Perhaps, he could release the 3D version of "Lion Camel Ridge" half a year to a year before the release of "Avatar", and he would definitely make a lot of money.

Since the theater chain reform is still in the stage of soliciting opinions, there is no need for the two to discuss it in such depth. They just briefly talked about the cooperation model.

Afterwards, the two went to the conference room together and held a celebration party to learn from Comrade Jiang Heng.

When talking about his next film, Jiang Heng did not hide anything and directly said that he had reached a preliminary cooperation intention with Columbia Company and was preparing to shoot a super monster blockbuster.

A senior executive of China Film Group asked, "Is it still the Jurassic type?"

Jiang Heng shook his head. "The Jurassic style seemed novel at first, but after watching it many times, it became a bit boring, and the plot inevitably fell into clichés. This can be seen from the decline in box office and reputation of Spielberg's Jurassic Park series. So this time, I plan to shoot a modern monster movie!"

"Modern monsters? The kind where Godzilla lands in big cities?" asked a female leader.

Jiang Heng nodded, and someone said, "There won't be a plot where monsters land in Shanghai, right? That won't pass the review!"

Jiang Heng smiled, "We can let them land in Japan and destroy a few cities directly."

Everyone in the room couldn't help laughing. They wanted to laugh but felt embarrassed, so they could only drink water tactically.

Han Sanping asked: "Will it have a negative impact?"

Jiang Heng waved his hand, "It's okay. In monster movies, it's common to destroy a few modern cities. The Americans don't care much anyway. As for the Japanese... if they have any objections, just tell them to bear it!"

After these words were spoken, everyone couldn't help laughing.

Let’s continue discussing the plot and ask how to deal with these monsters. Is it by relying on a brave army?

Jiang Heng smiled and said, "Of course, not entirely. In my conception, those monsters are too powerful. Ordinary armies cannot pose a threat to them. It requires all countries to unite and build the most advanced mechas to destroy them!"

"Mecha?"

Everyone in the room murmured. Although they understood what the two words meant, they had no clear concept in their minds.

Someone asked, "Is it the Transformers from the cartoon?"

Jiang Heng said: "You can understand it this way, but Transformers are Autobots, and the mechas I designed are controlled by humans."

Everyone in the room was moved and shocked when they heard this.

After all, they had no such concept in their minds before. If both parties had not intended to cooperate, they would not have heard these things.

(End of this chapter)