I didn't want to be an actor

Chapter 774: The Primitive War Chronicle (13)

In fact, the main producer of "Man Jiang Hong" is Huanxi Media.

Huanxi Media is also the main producer of Lost in Russia, which abandoned the theaters in 2020 and sold to streaming media, making a net profit of 6 million yuan...

This incident caused great anger from the cinema chain, which criticized the director and lead actor Xu Zheng for several months...

At that time, the cinema chain even threatened to ban all the films produced by the production company as revenge.

And it did - in the May Day period of 2021, "Looking for a Man", produced by Huanxi Media, directed by Tang Danian, and starring Ren Suxi and Li Baotian, only had 0.8% of the screenings on the first day of its release.
So this film, which opened with a score of 7.1 on Douban and still has a score of 6.0, only grossed a pitiful 400 million at the box office...

It's very embarrassing that it has become a material for killing chickens to scare monkeys!

So, in a sense, the work "Man Jiang Hong" can be regarded as an apology...

It is said that "Man Jiang Hong" made unprecedented concessions to the theaters, and the producer offered huge expected profits to reach a settlement with the theaters.

In terms of film scheduling, theaters are definitely biased!

The contract for The Wandering Earth 2 was negotiated during the pandemic, and the profit sharing is different. Most importantly, Guo Fan’s personality makes it impossible for him to give concessions to the cinemas. It’s good enough that he didn’t ask the cinemas to provide sponsorship...

The shooting period of "Man Jiang Hong" was only 2 months, and the filming locations were all in the ancient county town of Taiyuan. The cost basically did not exceed million yuan. Even if the theaters were given a discount, there was a guarantee of substantial profits!

From the very beginning, these two films had different status in theaters.

Shen Liang is not too worried about the box office of The Wandering Earth 2. He said: "As a science fiction film, The Wandering Earth's box office performance is already among the top three in film history!"

“…Top three?”

Shen Liang scratched his head: "It may not be accurate, but in the field of pure science fiction, it can at least be ranked in the top five. Interstellar's global box office is only 7 million US dollars, and the global box office of The Wandering Earth is 6.9 million US dollars. In the field of pure science fiction, Gravity has a global box office of 7.23 million US dollars, The Martian has a global box office of 6.08 million US dollars, and Apollo 13 has a global box office of 3.55 million. Spielberg's several science fiction movies, E.T. the Extraterrestrial has a global box office of 7.91 million US dollars..."

Wu Jing retorted: “Aren’t Avatar, The Avengers, and Star Wars considered science fiction movies?”

"I don't think so..." Shen Liang shook his head: "At most, they can only be considered to have some science fiction elements... The superheroes in "Avengers" are the focus, and science and technology can only be considered auxiliary... The same is true for "Avatar" and "Star Wars". Science and technology are not even as good as metaphysics!"

"Doesn't it count?"

“My personal feeling, just watching it personally, is that these themes are just fantasy movies with science fiction elements, and they are essentially similar to Shanghai Fortress, which is just space opera!”

Guo Fan couldn't help it: "You compare "Shanghai Fortress" with "Avatar", isn't that an insult to Cameron?"

Cameron is his idol!
Shen Liang explained: "The original work of Shanghai Fortress is actually a romance novel, about a secret love in the background of the end of the world... It has nothing to do with science fiction. Avatar is actually the continuation of Star Wars... The success of Star Wars is the confrontation between the Axis Alliance, adding religion and the background of the third world, which is all-encompassing. The technology and special effects of the film at that time were also the most advanced in the world. Combined with the background of the Cold War, it became a hit.

The route of "Avatar" is exactly the same. The technology is the most advanced, but the Cold War has ended and the focus in the United States is on racial issues. So the story is set against a science fiction background, and the theme becomes betrayal, love, and the great integration of indigenous peoples. "

"In fact, the routine of European and American science fiction commercial films has been finalized. In the setting of the villain aliens, the technology and force are slightly higher than that of humans. In "Avatar", humans became aliens. The reason is that they are the ones who bully others, and they have very few experiences of being bullied by others. I don't know how to write it, and I can't make it up..."

"It's not as good as The Three-Body Problem. The alien civilization in The Three-Body Problem is beyond the limits of human imagination. The Trisolarans say that humans are bugs. This strong sense of crisis of social collapse is the difference between Chinese and European and American science fiction. If your enemy can destroy you without even moving a finger, how can you survive? The bizarre strategic ideas generated by this greatly challenge the author's imagination, and the viewing experience will be better." "Therefore, many viewers will be disappointed with Avatar 2." After a pause, Shen Liang added: "Of course, if the level of The Wandering Earth 2 is just like that, I guess everyone will complain!"

Wu Jing interrupted: "...I watched the finished film, it's not bad...The sky elevator scene is really shocking!"

"Anyway, the Spring Festival schedule is foreseeable, which will be "Red River" and "The Wandering Earth 2"... According to the market capacity, both films should be able to exceed 35 billion..."

"That's good…"

……

After talking about The Wandering Earth 2, Wu Jing asked about the situation of Shushan...

He was relieved to learn that it would be released in mid-July: "If nothing unexpected happens, The Meg 7 should be released at the end of July!"

Lu Yang thought for a moment, then said, "Mahua's "Superpower Family" seems to be released at the end of July as well!"

Wu Jing was silent for a while...

Shen Liang asked him, "How about The Meg 2?"

“…an average popcorn movie…not big enough…”

"That's terrible... I chose Alien because it's violent and bloody. The biggest attraction of The Meg should be sharks and the fear of the deep sea, but it doesn't have these... I guess it's hard for the audience to buy into it..."

Lu Yang didn't quite agree with Shen Liang's statement: "Not necessarily. The first film of The Meg was also quite mediocre... The box office in mainland China exceeded 10 billion!"

Shen Liang shook his head: "The ticket prices are different, so the costs paid by everyone are different... When The Meg was released, the average box office was less than 30 yuan. What about now? The lowest is 55... Audiences will be cautious in choosing movies... If it's not worth spending money, they won't spend money."

Guo Fan interrupted their conversation and said, "I've read the Primal War Chronicle you mentioned before."

Shen Liang immediately asked: "How do you feel?"

"It's good, but..." Guo Fan shook his head: "It's too long... I don't think it's suitable for being made into a movie!"

"It's a trilogy. The first part is about the protagonist deciding to go out and travel, the second part is about bringing back the seeds, and the third part... I haven't thought about it yet."

Wu Jing looked at Lu Yang, who asked, "What is Primitive War Chronicle?"

"It tells the story of a modern man who was reborn into primitive times..."

Guo Fan did some basic research on "Primitive War" and added: "I remember a passage very clearly. The protagonist harvested a kind of precious rice called "Thousand Grains of Gold" in a wilderness. The author described in detail the various phenomena when the rice matured, such as the wild beasts from all directions being attracted... Later, the protagonist brought the rice seeds back to the tribe, and used many chapters to describe the rice sprouting, passing through several hurdles, absorbing specific nutrients and finally heading and maturing... The whole tribe was busy for the harvest... It was very comfortable to read..."

Shen Liang nodded: "What impressed me most was actually the feast of boasting about wealth... the part where the tribe showed off their wealth!"

(End of this chapter)