Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 509 The Popularity of Transformers
Beijing Film Academy
The restaurants here are not only the favorites of BFA students, but also frequented by BFA teachers.

In a private room, two people were already chatting over cold dishes.

Jiang Wei and Cao Baoping raised their glasses and clinked them together. The latter asked, "Old Jiang, when will the TV series you directed be aired?"

Jiang Wei heard this and said happily: "Soon, around July, Beijing TV..."

"Well, I'll see your masterpiece then..."

Jiang Wei waved his hand: "Don't give me that. You are a movie director, and I am a TV drama director. There is a huge difference in level..."

Cao Baoping also joked: "How can it be the same? I make movies, but no one watches my movies. On the contrary, your TV series has triggered a viewing frenzy. I can't even envy you enough..."

"Okay, okay, stop trying to fool me. Ever since you asked me out for a drink, I knew you were up to no good. Tell me, what's the matter with calling me here today?"

"It's still you, Old Jiang~"

Cao Baoping laughed: "I really can't hide anything from you~"

Cao Baoping raised his glass, but Jiang Wei did not: "Hurry up and tell me, otherwise, I dare not drink this wine~"

Cao Baoping simply put down his glass and said, "It's like this~, I recently got a book and wanted to film it..."

Jiang Wei became interested as soon as he heard it: "TV series?"

"No, the movie."

"Did you bring the notebook?"

"Bring it."

"Let me see."

I took the script and saw that the name on the cover was "Li Mi's Conjecture".

Jiang Wei was reading the script while Cao Baoping didn't say anything. The box suddenly became quiet.

After hearing the rustling sound of papers being flipped, Jiang Wei raised his head again: "Lao Cao, this book is pretty good. Did you write it yourself?"

Cao Baoping smiled and nodded.

"It's a very good book. I think it has a chance to win a prize."

"Yeah, I think so too."

Cao Baoping is obviously very confident in the script.

"Then you're looking for me?"

Of course, Jiang Wei would not be so stupid as to think that the other party wanted him to help revise the script. Cao Baoping himself is a teacher who teaches screenwriting.

Cao Baoping hesitated, and Jiang Wei suddenly realized: "Lack of funds?"

The former nodded.

"Go find Zhang Chen. Didn't he say that if the teachers at Beijing Film Academy have any ideas, he would support them..."

Zhang Chen did say this and did this.

Not to mention Teacher Fu, even Jiang Wei and Xue Xiaolu have gotten projects from Zhang Chen.

"Beauty's Rival in Palace" directed by Xue Xiaolu has received great ratings, and his "The Disguiser" will be aired soon.

Hearing Jiang Wei's words, Cao Baoping's face turned bitter: "The main reason is that among the actors I want to use this time, there are people from Huayi. As you know, Zhang Chen and Huayi have never had a good relationship. I am a little worried..."

"People from Huayi? Who?"

"Zhang Hanyu and Wang Baoqiang~"

When Jiang Wei heard these two names, he thought about it for a moment and then a look of sudden enlightenment appeared on his face.

"Ye Qingcheng and Qiu Shuitian?"

"Ah."

Jiang Wei nodded: "It is indeed suitable, but it is indeed difficult."

Cao Baoping also smiled bitterly: "That's why I'm looking for you. Can you help me find out..."

Jiang Wei was embarrassed: "Can't we just change two actors?"

Cao Baoping insisted: "If possible, try not to change it. I wrote the roles of Ye Qingcheng and Qiu Shuitian based on these two people..."

"Ah~"

Jiang Wei sighed: "I'll do my best. You should come to me for this matter. If you ask Lao Fu, it will be difficult to handle~"

Cao Baoping also understood what he meant.

Fu Donglai is Zhang Chen's teacher. If he asks, Zhang Chen will most likely agree even if he is unwilling.

But this would create a thorn in the side between Fu Donglai and Zhang Chen.

On the contrary, let Jiang Wei, who has a more superficial relationship with the other party, try to find out the truth. Even if it fails, it will not hurt the relationship.

At worst, he can look for investment from other channels, it just becomes a little more troublesome.

……

Cube Pictures, Hollywood

Zhang Chen was sitting at his desk and Diane was reporting to him.

"How's the Twilight Zone thing going?"

Diane pushed up her glasses and said, "It will be finished in half a month. Director Catherine asked me to ask you if you want to go over and take a look. The whole crew is looking forward to your arrival..."

Zhang Chen waved his hand and said, "Forget it. I won't go over there and delay their filming progress. Just keep an eye on it over there."

"By the way, how's the 'Ghost Ship' going?"

Diane actually doesn't care much about "The Cruise".

He didn't like the story because he couldn't understand it.

She hates anything non-linear.

Moreover, the budget of the entire movie was only 300 million, which is nothing compared to the 3500 million of "Twilight".

But this project belongs to Zhang Chen, so she can't just ignore it.

"The film's distribution was handed over to Warner Bros. After evaluation, they decided that it was not suitable for large-scale promotion. They planned to open the film in 1500 theaters..."

1500 stores, Zhang Chen is already very satisfied.

In Hollywood, the publicity and promotion costs required for theatrical distribution and cinema screenings are extremely high.

Generally speaking, horror films released by independent film companies open in between 1200 and 1500 theaters.

When the first "Saw" was released, there were only 1400 theaters.

By the time the second part came around, the number of stores had increased to 2900 due to the success of the previous work.

"Ghost Ship" is an original story and does not have any fan base.

The number of 1500 is actually very large.

Brain-burning movies generally do not perform well at the box office, and are the kind that are critically acclaimed but not commercially successful. Nolan is an exception.

In the original time and space, because his production company had no money and could not afford the high distribution fees, the film had no choice but to be screened in art theaters and non-mainstream theaters. In addition, the threshold for viewing the film was a bit high, and ultimately the box office was dismal.

In the initial stage, Zhang Chen didn't dare to touch this movie.

Although many people regard it as a masterpiece, there are many movies in history that were critically acclaimed but not commercially successful.

"A Chinese Odyssey" is considered a classic, but it lost so much money when it was released.

But after the success, Zhang Chen didn't mind filming it.

Anyway, the cost is only 300 million US dollars, he can afford it.

In order to try and see if this movie could be successful, I approached Warner Bros.

Zhang Chen also didn't know whether "The Cruise" could change his fate.

The threshold for viewing this movie is too high.

Time loops, infinite reincarnation, non-linear narratives, various metaphors...

No one can understand it after watching it once, which is likely to lead to two situations. One is that the audience is curious and watches it repeatedly.

The other is being overwhelmed by a large number of negative reviews, with the movie being criticized as a bad movie.

Zhang Chen didn’t know what would happen in the end, so he wanted to give it a try.

But Li Lianhua was destined to be disappointed.

There is no chance that "The Grim Reaper" will be released in the country.

This film is an independent film, not a co-production, and it cannot occupy the import quota.

If domestic audiences want to watch it, they can only download pirated copies.

……

Warner Bros
In the internal conference room, David Heyman was also discussing the details of "Pacific Rim" with people from the distribution department.

“Do you think Pacific Rim and Transformers are comparable?”

After a long silence, someone spoke up first, "I think there is a certain degree of similarity. Transformers is selling well right now. When Pacific Rim is released in half a year, some people will definitely compare the two. Although one is a machine life and the other is a mecha, to the audience, they are both robots. I think we can combine Transformers for promotion..."

Speaking of which, "Transformers" is really popular now.

It will be released in North America on July 7 and in China on July 3.

Paramount has invested heavily this time, with the movie released a month in advance and the publicity has been overwhelming.

The shape-shifting robotic life has become the focus of the global film market.

The movie did not disappoint. Since its release on July 7, it grossed $3 million in its opening weekend, breaking the "July opening weekend box office record."

The previous record was 2 million for "Pirates of the Caribbean 6230".

The Autobots conquered America.

The film was also a huge hit overseas, taking the top spot at the local daily box office in South Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, and Australia.

The movie became a phenomenal topic as soon as it was released.

The visual spectacle of "car transformation" has become a hot topic on the streets. A single movie contains about 500 CGI shots, and a single Transformer model has more than 10 details.

"Autobots, transform!" became the buzzword of the year.

In China, "Transformers" was also a big hit.

In the cinema, 90% of the posters were of Autobots, and the trailers of "Transformers" were played on a loop at various booths.

The momentum is quite similar to the style of the big ships in the past.

"Hey guys, did any of you go see Transformers?"

David Heyman suddenly spoke up and most people raised their hands.

“I admit that Transformers is excellent, but I must also say that if you put aside all the filters, Pacific Rim is actually the one that makes people’s blood boil.

The popularity of Transformers is largely due to the embodiment of our memories of the same year, but the story itself is nothing special. Who of you can tell me what you remember after watching the movie?
Is it just the moment when the Autobots transform? As for why they fight and who they fight with, we don’t care at all…”

Hahaha~
David's words immediately resonated with everyone.

That's true. Apart from the deformation special effects, I can't remember anything else.

In comparison, Pacific Rim is indeed better.

The humans in the movie put aside their prejudices for the sake of a common destiny.

China, the United States and Russia were obviously rivals before, but for the fate of all mankind, they would not hesitate to choose to self-destruct to buy opportunities for their teammates.

This feeling is real.

This is something that ordinary visual blockbusters do not have.

"David, I agree with you, but I think that by the time Pacific Rim is released, it will be half a year after Transformers. By then, it will be difficult for us to catch up with his popularity."

"I have a way, maybe I can get it..."

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, the man who spoke said, "Did you notice that when Transformers was released, Paramount asked Cameron to comment on Michael Bay. What Cameron said was that Michael Bay was an amazing science fiction kid...

Did Cameron say this out of admiration?

How can it be?

It can only be for Paramount's money.

If they can, so can we.

When Pacific Rim is released, we can also ask Cameron to endorse it, it’s just a matter of price.

And in return, when his "Avatar" is released, Zhang Chen can also help him to support the platform. Don't forget that Zhang Chen has a very high status in China..."

"This is a good idea, maybe it's worth a try..."

This opened up other people's minds and they came up with some good ideas.

"Okay, after today's meeting, let's come up with a rough plan, but there is one thing we must pay attention to. We must emphasize the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind...

Everyone knows the reason. After all, this is a non-Hollywood production, and Warner Bros. doesn’t want to be influenced by others.”

……

When everyone at Warner was talking about "Transformers", Zhang Chen happened to ask Diane to help him get two "Transformers" movie tickets.

He also wanted to see if the Transformers in this life were the same as those in his previous life.

I originally wanted to go back to China to watch the Chinese subtitled version, but it would be at least a month before I could go back, and I couldn’t wait, so I just watched it here.

In North America, tickets for Transformers are also hard to come by.

Why does "Transformers" have such a large audience? It's not because the movie is so good, it's simply to fulfill childhood dreams.

At the same time, it also indirectly shows that Hasbro's promotion ability is really strong.

Speaking of which, we can watch "Transformers" in China thanks to Hasbro's cool operation.

In 1988, "Transformers" was already popular in the United States.

After its success in the United States, Hasbro began to conquer the world.

In that era, cars were considered high-end gadgets, not to mention that cars could be transformed.

This kind of imagination was invincible in that era.

"Transformers" quickly became popular all over the world.

Hasbro is full of confidence in its attempt to capture the Chinese market, using Transformers as a leveraging force to gain respect.

Who knew I would be educated as soon as I started talking.

CCTV actually directly refused to introduce the film on the grounds that it contained "too much violence and was not conducive to shaping screen culture".

Hasbro was turned down.

Can’t enter the Chinese market?
Then Hasbro began to change its thinking.

Since CCTV refused to cooperate, I looked for a local station and chose Shanghai, the second most developed city.

I’ve agreed with Shanghai TV and it’s free.

I'll let you broadcast it for free, my purpose is to sell toys anyway.

This trick is very unique, and we later learned it.

During those two years, there was a refrigerator seller in our country called Haier who also followed suit. This refrigerator seller even made a cartoon called "Haier Brothers".

I don’t know how Haier Brothers’ refrigerators are selling, but Hasbro’s Transformers toys are indeed selling like hot cakes.

When "Transformers" was broadcast on Shanghai TV, it became an instant hit.

It is loved by children all over Shanghai.

Hasbro also took the opportunity to introduce Transformers toys to the Chinese market.

With the popularity of the cartoon, children have developed a strong interest in Transformers toys, and parents are also influenced by their children, resulting in a surge in sales of Transformers toys.

In the past 7 years, the sales of genuine Transformers toys in China have reached 10 billion RMB, and these are only the genuine ones; there are even more pirated ones.

(I remember when I was a kid, my parents had a one-child award, and the prize was a Transformers toy. Of course, it was probably a pirated one.)
(End of this chapter)