Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 212 Celebration Party

Since "Big Ship" was released in China in 98, it has always held the domestic box office record. It has maintained this record for more than six years until now, and no movie has been able to break it.

Of course Columbia also wants to break this record. This movie was invested by 20th Century Fox and Paramount, and Columbia certainly wants to overthrow them.

To Mr. Han's surprise, Columbia not only invited Depp and Charlize Theron to promote the movie, but also invited "Gandalf" Ian McKellen and "Bald Egg" Samuel L. Jackson to come.

President Han was not particularly surprised.

in the country, when it comes to box office appeal and the amount of attention you attract, you still need international superstars.

Depp and Charlize Theron have received a lot of attention and influence because they are the new Oscar winners for Best Actor and Best Actress. As for the other two, it can only be said that they are better than nothing.

President Han is now much more arrogant. He even looks down on "Gandalf" and "Magneto". Even Samuel L. Jackson, who won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actor Award, has become someone who is better than nothing in his eyes.

Now that we are here, Mr. Han is thinking, can we have a bigger one?
For example, the 20-city tour of District 9?

The four actors initially refused. Are you kidding me? A 20-city tour? How could it be possible? Are they going to die?

Then President Han appealed to the audience’s emotions and reasoned with them, saying that our movie is going to break records, do you understand? Break records?

The reason why Leonardo DiCaprio is so famous in China and can enter the 2000 million club in Hollywood is because of his influence abroad.

Especially its influence in China is unparalleled.

You, Oscar winner and Hollywood's sexiest man, Depp, think you're not as good as Leo? Come on, there's a chance to surpass him.

And you, Oscar-winning actress, Hollywood sex goddess, Ms. Theron, don’t you think you are more sexy and charming than Kate Winslet?
Kate Winslet doesn't have the title of Fat Win yet, she is still very sexy.

Well, no matter whether what Mr. Han said was true or false, he convinced several actors, including the agencies behind them.

In fact, the agency becomes interested earlier than the actors.

Breaking a record in the world's most populous country will surely have a significant impact.

Therefore, President Han once again called together domestic actors, including Duan Yihong, Wu Qihua, and even Dong Xuan who made a guest appearance.

This operation is called the Seven Days and Twenty Cities Plan.

Mr. Han wants to raise the box office to 3 million this week, and then in the remaining ten days or so, see if there is a chance to collect more than 6000 million.

What if I can’t collect it?
What else can I do? Postpone it.

According to the current box office trends and popularity, it is still possible to make around 3.5 million in a month.

Any extension would break the record.

Of course, it would be better to break the record without any delay.

In fact, the release of "Big Ship" was delayed for three months before it earned 3.6 million yuan at the box office.

Under normal circumstances, the box office of Big Ship in the first month of its release would be 2.6 million.

Cao Yang commented that the good reputation and success in Hollywood have made the film the most famous brand in China, and its box office appeal is simply unprecedented.

President Han’s seven-day twenty-city plan was so amazing, he did not let the actors act separately, but gathered them together. Every time they arrived at a city, they all made a concentrated appearance, and the sensation they caused was so great that the streets were deserted.

Except for the actors, everyone was very happy.

When reflected in the box office, the power of Hollywood superstars is even more evident.

In seven days, the box office revenue reached 1.13 million yuan, and more than % of the viewers watched the movie twice or even three times, just to see the Oscar-winning actor and actress.

For those viewers who failed to buy movie tickets in the first and second weeks and could only book tickets for the third week, this was a blessing from heaven.

Well, actually, most of the young girls went there for Depp, who is known as the sexiest man in Hollywood, while the guys were either dragged there by their girlfriends or went there for the "sexy flower" Charlize Theron.

Of course, some people went there for other actors, but they certainly can't compare with Depp and Theron.

"District 3.17" was released for days and the box office exceeded million, successfully reaching million, which is not far from the record of the big ship.

In fact, after seeing the amazing box office in the third week, President Han wanted to force a few Hollywood actors to stay and launch a seven-day twenty-city plan.

Helplessly, even though the other party’s agency was very interested, several actors refused to do it.

This is simply not a human job.

In Depp's words, this week, when he opened his eyes, he was either on a plane or in a movie studio. When he closed his eyes, he was either on a plane or in a movie studio. It was a nightmare!

He vowed that he would never take part in such inhumane propaganda work again.

Besides, Charlize Theron is just a guest star, and the fact that she can go abroad for promotion is already a great honor to Cao Yang and Colombia.

Of course, Cao Yang also treated Charlize Theron warmly when she first came to China.

This time I didn't ask her to hold the sofa.

However, when a gunfight was about to happen, he asked Theron a meaningful question.

"Honey, you haven't broken up with your boyfriend yet?"

"Well... why are you asking this question at this time? We have a good relationship... ah..."

Since you have a very good relationship, what are we now?
I don’t understand what foreigners are thinking?

Cao Yang almost wanted to ask her, does your boyfriend know about us doing this?
But in the end I didn't ask, for fear that it would spoil the fun. It's fine like this now.

In North America, the box office of "District 40" fell sharply in the third week, by more than 2692%, and only earned million US dollars.

However, as it is the third week of its release, this drop is still within a good range. Many movies have dropped by 60% or even more in the third week.

Combined with the box office on weekdays, the total box office of "District 2.063" also successfully exceeded million, reaching million US dollars.

However, in the weekly box office rankings, "Meet the Fockers 2" successfully counterattacked in its third week, with a box office of 2850 million US dollars in three days of the weekend, and the box office decline was only a little more than 30%, which is smaller than the decline of most movies in the second week.

The movie "Meet the Fockers 2" is simply amazing, and it is rare to see such a drop in the box office in Hollywood.

The film's box office also successfully exceeded 2 million, with a total box office of 2.043 million US dollars, only slightly less than "District ".

For Colombia, the current box office has already made them very satisfied. According to the rules, when the movie is taken off the screen, it should still have a box office of 20 to 30 million. This is a big hit.

To this end, Columbia held two celebration parties and invited many media outlets, just to promote the movie one last time to see if it could boost the box office again.

One was held in North America, and Cao Yang, the director and producer, was originally invited to attend, but Cao Yang thought it was too far and was too lazy to go, so he did not go.

Another celebration was held in China, held by China Film and Columbia. It was large-scale and had a great theme, which was to celebrate the fact that District 28 had grossed over 3 billion yuan worldwide. The global box office of District 25, excluding the mainland, had already exceeded 3 million US dollars, which is about 28 billion at the current exchange rate. Add the million in China, and it has already exceeded billion.

President Han is also very interesting. For the celebration party of "District 9", he sent invitations to almost all the famous film directors in the country, not to mention Xiao Gangpao, Lao Mouzi and Kai Ge.

Even a special invitation was sent to Hong Kong's Stephen Chow - you were asked to adjust your schedule but you were still so long-winded. Now you can tell the difference between the big and small kings, right?

In fact, President Han’s idea is similar to Columbia’s. They want to see if they can use this popularity to arouse the interest of those who are not very interested in “District 9”, impact the box office, and break the record as soon as possible.

Barbara Robinson, president of Columbia Pictures Asia, has been paying close attention to the box office information of District 9 during this period.

As the president of the Asia region, she has conducted extensive research on market information in the mainland and Hong Kong, and has a lot of data to support her.

In her opinion, if placed in the whole world, Zhou Xingxing would definitely not be able to compare with Cao Yang. Whether in terms of fame or influence, he is far inferior to Cao Yang.

But in Hong Kong, and even in mainland China, Stephen Chow has extremely terrifying audience appeal.

In Barbara Robinson's opinion, in the land of China, only Stephen Chow has the possibility to compete with Cao Yang at the box office.

However, sometimes bare data is not reliable, and reality taught her a hard lesson.

Given the current market conditions in the mainland, let alone a box office of 300 million, even for Stephen Chow, it would be difficult to break 200 million.

Cao Yang's movie will be able to break 3 million and may even break the record.

In fact, it is not impossible. "District 9" will definitely break the record. It just depends on whether it is a natural record or a record broken by human intervention.

If "District 9" can break the record naturally, there will be no human intervention. If "District 9" cannot break the record naturally, there will definitely be human intervention.

This sentence sounds confusing, but this is the situation, and it is also a philosophical category.

Lao Chen is working on his costume blockbuster "The Promise". I heard that he is very busy, building cities and customizing special armors. He is determined to create a unique grand scene.

But he still came to the celebration party of "District 9".

Cao Yang could see that Lao Chen must have been very busy during this period. He looked a little haggard and seemed to be under a lot of pressure.

"It's great that you can find your own way. I took some time to watch District 9. It has artistic qualities, but also has a commercial flavor..."

Lao Chen originally wanted to say that the film had too much commercial flavor, but when he thought about his own work "The Promise", which also compromised on artistry and commerciality, he was speechless for a moment.

After a while, Lao Chen patted Cao Yang on the shoulder and said listlessly: "Keep working hard. Your District 9 is already very good. It is two levels higher than that Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. That movie... was not well integrated."

"Senior brother is right. I will continue to work hard." Cao Yang replied with a smile.

Old Chen is a somewhat arrogant person, but he doesn't have many bad intentions. Ever since he married Sister Hong, he has been successfully controlled and no scandals have been spread about him.

I can only say that Sister Hong is amazing.

You know, the temptations faced by a famous director are unimaginable to ordinary people.

To put it bluntly, Lao Chen is a very scholarly person. He considers himself a cultured person and an artist, and he disdains to explain or argue about many things.

"Don't passively compromise with the box office, you still have to maintain your artistic quality... The teacher is old, go see him more often when you have time."

Old Chen gave another final reminder.

"Brother, I remember what you said."

Lao Mouzi also came, and the first sentence he said to Cao Yang was a little beyond Cao Yang's expectations.

"Are the aliens in your District 7000 fully CG? But I saw that the publicly announced investment for this movie is only million US dollars, and there is a Hollywood actor in the cast. If it is fully CG, will the funds be enough?"

“It’s not all CG synthesis. We specially hired several art designers and artistic designers to draw satisfactory concept drawings first, and then make detailed hand-painted molds…”

Cao Yang gestured to Lao Mouzi and finally said, "This way, not only can we save money, but we can also shorten the special effects production cycle."

Lao Mouzi pondered for a while and said:

"I watched your film District 9. There weren't too many complicated movements or close-ups. Maybe this is the limitation of casting? Full CG can indeed make a lot of incredible movements, which cannot be achieved by casting."

“That’s right. District 9 is all small scenes, so it’s OK to use molds. But if it’s a large scene with more complicated action design, the molds will look too stiff and won’t be as natural as full CG.”

Cao Yang explained.

Lao Mouzi nodded thoughtfully and walked towards his seat.

Cao Yang wanted to laugh. If Lao Chen was a scholar, then Lao Mouzi gave people the impression of being a man of few words, a bit like a tech geek.

However, Cao Yang did not have much contact with Zhang Yimou and did not know much about him, so he was not sure what kind of person he was.

Little Cannon arrived relatively late. He didn't want to come at first. "District 9" had a huge impact on "A World Without Thieves", and he was not a very magnanimous person, so he certainly couldn't swallow this humiliation.

But after thinking about it, instead of sulking, it would be more satisfying to ridicule Cao Yang face to face, so I came.

It came, but when he saw the big words "28 billion", he almost couldn't help himself and really wanted to go up and tear it down.

Alternatively, if "District 28" is replaced with "A World Without Thieves" to celebrate the box office of "A World Without Thieves" exceeding billion, that would also be great.

Alas, damn Cao Yang, it would be great if you could work hard in the art film market and win international awards. As an internationally renowned art film director, why do you need so much box office revenue?
Aren’t you afraid of being criticized by others?

How many art film directors have you seen who are so awesome at the box office?

I really don’t know what to say!
When the hell will a movie’s box office ever exceed 28 billion?

Damn Cao Yang, don’t you want us to live? The box office of one of his movies is more than all my fucking movies combined.

Well, that's flattering myself.

That’s 28 billion. How much can your total box office revenue add up to?

Oh, forget it, it’s boring.

Xiao Gangpao no longer wanted to mock Cao Yang or scold Cao Yang. He just felt that life was fucking boring.

Cao Yang saw that Little Cannon didn't come over, but just took a detour and walked towards the venue from a distance, with a serious face, and no one knew what he meant.

He waved to Little Cannon and called out, "Director Feng?"

The little gangster waved his hands arrogantly, then put his hands in his pockets and seemed to be whistling, with an arrogant expression as if he didn't care about anything.

(End of this chapter)