Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 231: Hurricane Wrap-up

Zhang Chen interrupted forcefully: "Are you really not interested in the movie itself at all?"

Well, since the billionaire director has spoken, we have to give him some face and show our support.

"May I ask Director Zhang what is his box office forecast for "The Accidental Murder"?"

"One hundred million, maybe." Now that I've entered the hundred million yuan club, I definitely can't back out.

Xingchen Films has actually calculated that "A Guilty Story" can conservatively make 8000 million at the box office. Of course, the goal is definitely to break million.

The second work of billionaire director Zhang Chen must break 100 million.

This has also been discussed internally at Xingchen Entertainment. "The Accidental Murder" is a suspense film, and the ceiling for suspense films is not high.

It’s 05 now, not 20 years later, and a movie like “Detective Chinatown” can make 8 million.

At this stage, simple things are still popular.

Stories that are a little more complicated are usually well received by the critics but not by the box office.

This phenomenon is strange, but it does exist.

Everyone who has seen it admits that it is a good movie, but the box office just won’t be very high, and I don’t understand why.
-
Overall, today's premiere was quite successful, at least it will definitely make the headlines tomorrow.

This also opens up a new idea for other companies. Female celebrities have quarreled with each other before, but generally the parties involved would not respond directly, so the quarrel would not break out.

But "The Accidental Murderer" is different. People responded positively and then it became a hit.

The entertainment media reported the show without restraint and the audience couldn't get enough of it, resulting in "Sanchakou" completely disappearing from the media.

Originally, the publisher Huanyu bought some space, but it was useless. Those notices were sent out and it was like a stone sinking into the sea, and no sound could be heard at all.

All media are discussing "The Accidental Murderer", all audiences are discussing "The Accidental Murderer", and all eyes are on "The Accidental Murderer".

After noticing this situation, the top management of Universal Pictures made a decisive decision. On the 28th, the same day when "Crossroads" was released, the disc was officially released to the public.

This means they are ready to completely give up on the movie box office.

It's not surprising, as they started out in the CD business, and compared to movie box office, CD sales are what matters.

The distributor has already given up, do theaters still need to be polite?

The initial agreement between "The Accidental Murderer" and the theaters was that the opening ratio would be no less than 55%. Then on the day of its release on the 29th, it directly broke 70%.

Souxiu Cinema has four halls, three of which are showing "A Guilty Story" all day long, while all other movies share one hall.

The situation is similar at New Century Cinemas, with six of the seven theaters filled with "Accidental Murder."

It is conceivable that if the box office is good on the first day, the screening schedule will definitely be higher.

Xingchen Entertainment prepared 600 copies for "The Accidental Detective", which is actually not bad. A few years later, "Curse of the Golden Flower" only had 800 copies.

At this stage, it is still film copying and the cost of distribution is very high.

Basically, one copy costs 600 yuan, and 600 copies would cost 1000 million yuan, while the total publicity and promotion cost of "The Accidental Murderer" was only million yuan.

According to industry norms, the number of copies of imported blockbusters released is generally between 500 and 700, and the same scale is also true for domestic blockbusters.

Generally, the investment in imported films is between 350 and 500, and the investment in domestic low-cost films is about 100 to 200. The specific results are related to marketing and film quality.

According to the cost of "The Accidental Murderer", it cannot be considered a blockbuster, but if the box office wants to reach 100 million, the number of copies cannot be small.

At present, film copies are very heavy, weighing more than ten kilograms each, and a movie usually has three to four copies.

And usually several cinemas share one set of prints.

Ge You once acted in a movie. He was a film distributor and his daily job was to deliver copies between various cinemas on a bicycle.

After the first copy of the film is played in this cinema, the distributor has to ride a bicycle to deliver it to the next cinema. If it is delivered late, the audience will not be able to watch it and can only wait in the cinema.

The situation did not improve until 2012.

Starting from 12, the country began to gradually promote digital copies. A movie of several hundred GB can be placed on a mobile hard drive, or the cinema can directly download it losslessly from the Internet.

The cost is also very cheap, just over 300 yuan, which is a huge difference from the previous yuan for a copy.

When the release date arrives, China Film will directly issue the secret key.

The validity period of the secret key determines how long your movie can be released.

That's why China Film Corporation later extended the secret key.

On the 29th, the movie was officially released. Zhang Chen did not wait for the box office, he had already returned to France.

On May 5, Dong Jianqiang called and said: "The box office for the first weekend is out, 2 million, not amazing, not as good as The Shallows or House of Flying Daggers.

But according to this expectation, it should be no problem to exceed 100 million. Don't forget that the May Day holiday is a seven-day holiday, and the box office of the first weekend only includes one day of holiday, and there are still six days to go.

So theoretically, the second week’s box office will definitely be higher than the first week’s…”

Zhang Chen nodded, "How's the reputation?"

"It's very polarized. Some people think it's very exciting, while others think the surrender at the end is just a waste of time..."

Dong Jianqiang shook his head helplessly, and Zhang Chen also laughed. He had foreseen this when he did it.

Some people commented online that Zhang Chen ruined such a good story and that he didn't understand movies at all.

Zhang Chen just wanted to say, it's not that I don't understand movies, it's that you don't understand censorship. If you don't do this, the film will definitely not be released, just like the "Shinjuku Incident" in later generations. Cheng Long's influence was so great at that time that he was almost a business card of China, but it still couldn't be released.

Even if the director is Zhang Yimou, it’s the same if it can’t be released.

The only exception in Chinese history was probably Ang Lee. After winning the Oscar, he gave the green light to "Lust, Caution" and allowed him to edit the film himself.

The only time in Chinese history.

It is understandable that the 2005 Oscars were of very high quality.

Moreover, the country was eager to gain recognition from the West at that time, and the Oscar selection became a national act, known as "rushing for an Oscar."

Exaggeration is not exaggeration.

It’s nothing like later times, where Hollywood movies are getting worse and worse, no one watches award ceremonies anymore, and film and television companies are also starting to give up, with everything being about political correctness.

Snow White became black, the mermaid is also black, there are hundreds of genders, and even making a game requires blackmail. Damn it, the damn SweetBaby actually wants to get involved in our "Black Goku", who gave him the courage?

Optoelectronics gave Ang Lee the greatest trust, and then Ang Lee taught Optoelectronics a lesson.

After the release of "Lust, Caution", some college students found that the film had incorrect values ​​and began to report it. The film was urgently stopped, the film was withdrawn, and the relevant actors were banned.

To be precise, it was the actress involved who was banned, while the male lead and the director had nothing to do with it at all.

I don't know what the criteria are. Is it that whoever contributed the most to the film will be banned?
In the second week of its release, which coincided with the long holiday, the word of mouth of "The Accidental Murderer" spread, and queues began to form for the movie, making tickets hard to come by.

"Tell me, where did you hide my son?"

"…I've already told you, I didn't kill your son!"

"Don't force me. I can do anything for my child!"

"Some children are children, and some children are beasts!"

The scene in the movie where Jiang Wenli and Xu Qing confront each other has been talked about a lot, especially the scene where Jiang Wenli yelled at Guan Xiaotong: "Tell me, what did you see that night?"

The explosive power was really strong. Guan Xiaotong was frightened and trembled in front of the camera, and then burst into tears with a "wow".

The younger daughter was frightened and pointed out the place, and the matter became a big deal.

The police arrived at the identified location, and the public gathered around, but in the end all they dug out was a sheep carcass.

The angry crowd broke through the blockade, and the police chief was forced to step down due to public opinion. In the end, he could only beg desperately: "Please, tell me where my son is buried?"

Xu Qing glanced at him expressionlessly: "In fact, he has always been with you."

At this point, if the movie ended, it would definitely be a masterpiece.

But there is no way. No matter what the starting point is, if you break the law, you will be punished. This is the national condition of China.

Then, the plot of A Yu turning herself in was added as a rip-off.

Frankly speaking, netizens are right to criticize, but there is really nothing we can do.

But even so, the plot is exciting enough.

In the second week of its release, "Mistakenly Killing" grossed 5000 million at the box office, and everyone at Star Entertainment was excited.

This will definitely exceed 100 million.

Zhang Chen’s divinity was preserved.

In fact, Dong Jianqiang himself was a little worried before, fearing that Zhang Chen’s divinity would be lost.

After all, it is really difficult for a movie to break the 100 million mark at this stage, otherwise the title of the 100 million yuan club would not be so valuable.

It’s right to worry, because "The Accidental Detective" is not a blockbuster. So far, except for Zhang Chen, all other works with a box office of over 100 million are blockbusters.

Zhang Chen was not surprised when he learned about the second week's box office, because the day before, Diane had just informed him that "Eden Lake" was officially taken off the screen, with a North American box office of 4800 million.

Zhang Chen was already numb.

"New Line asked me to ask you when you are free. They want to prepare a celebration banquet..."

"About a week later. My shooting is almost done and we will be finished in another week."

Yes, Lu Yang and Guan Hu had a good control over the progress. Zhang Chen came back to check the footage and found that it basically met his requirements and did not require rework.

The Loli Island Battle has been filmed, and all that’s left is to shoot some more shots and then film the ending scenes before it can be completed.

At the same time, Diane also brought another piece of news: "Orphan has been released. Lionsgate is very good at taking advantage of the box office. Seeing that The Shallows and Eden Lake did well at the box office, they immediately released Orphan as well. Moreover, the main promotion is that the director of The Shallows and Eden Lake wrote the screenplay himself. They really get as much as they can from the main film."

"Did you go see it? How was it?"

"Not bad, I went to see it myself, there has never been a similar film in North America before, you can be said to have created a new genre.

At the beginning of the film, when those guys saw the intimacy between the little girl and her stepfather, I could imagine what they were thinking at the time. It must be another pedophilia trick.

Then when the little girl gradually revealed her true nature, killed the hero's eldest son, and then killed the hero, I could clearly see the astonishment on their faces, hahahaha..."

Diane enjoys this feeling very much, which is probably one of the sources of happiness for all film practitioners.

“How’s the box office?”

"The opening weekend grossed $1080 million, which is not as good as Eden Lake, but Lionsgate made a lot of money this time. They didn't spend much money on the script."

(End of this chapter)