Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 297 What a pity
Unlike North America, where there are weekend box office rankings that are authoritative and provide good reference, China's domestic box office is not yet as competitive.

It's already difficult to accurately calculate a single day's box office revenue in China. Many smaller cinemas aren't connected to the internet, making the process complicated, troublesome, and not always accurate.

Often, a film's box office results are announced by the production or distribution company itself.

Of course, the production company doesn't need to announce that the box office has broken a single-day record; many people can find that information themselves.

Inception grossed over 40 million yuan on its opening day, shocking all domestic filmmakers. Then came a sense of realization and exhilaration.

Wow, the daily box office potential for a movie is actually this high!
I never knew the domestic box office market could be this good!
Anyone with even a little inside knowledge would hardly doubt the success of Inception.

This can be corroborated.

Because July is no longer the protected month for domestic films, and everyone knows that Cao Yang's 15 billion yuan investment in "Inception" is about to be released, there are very few new movies being released during this period.

Therefore, after entering July, the daily turnover of the market never exceeded 10 million, and it fluctuated around a few million.

By the 14th, the box office had surged, with total box office revenue exceeding 5000 million yuan, setting a new single-day box office record in China's history.

Everyone understood which movie brought in this sudden extra 4000 million.

Even if you wanted to criticize it, you couldn't.

In the Wulong Karst Sinkhole of Chongqing, a major action scene from the film is being shot, featuring a stampede of horses and a royal procession. At this crucial moment, a brutal assassination plot is brewing undetected, its target being nonetheless General Jay Chou.

Zhang Yimou sat behind the director's chair, watching martial arts choreographer Ching Siu-tung direct the crew, and finally breathed a sigh of relief as they finished filming this thrilling scene.

"Take a half-hour break."

Zhang Yimou said that filming these kinds of thrilling fight scenes is very mentally and physically demanding, so once the filming is done, there will be a longer rest period.

Gong Li, dressed in a domineering ancient costume, exuded a queen-like aura.

However, at this moment, she was holding her phone, lacking her usual imposing manner. Instead, she quickly walked to Zhang Yimou's side and said, "My assistant just received a call about yesterday's box office."

Zhang Yimou perked up, snapping out of his half-reclining, dozing state in the director's chair and sitting up straight.

During this period, he had to film during the day and review the day's filming schedule at night before studying the Olympic Games plan. He was busy until the early hours of the morning almost every day, so he would use all his free time during the day to rest.

"How about it?"

He attended the premiere of "Inception" the day before yesterday and has his own opinions on the film.

He felt that Cao Yang's film would be a top-tier production even in Hollywood, so he was eager to see how it would perform in China.

"Yesterday, the domestic stock market broke 5000 million, setting a new record."

Gong Li spoke with a complicated expression.

"Fifty million?"

Even the seasoned strategist Zhang Yimou couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

He vaguely remembered that the previous record for the highest single-day box office in China was over 3000 million yuan, so this was quite a significant increase.

"What about Inception? Has it surpassed 3500 million?"

Just then, Zhou Runfa stepped out of the ultra-luxury RV provided to him by the film crew and loudly said something in Cantonese to Cheng Xiaodong, who was not far away. Zhang Yimou did not understand.

However, Zhou Runfa and Cheng Xiaodong arrived shortly after. He held up his phone and waved it, first adding an interjection in Cantonese before speaking to Zhang Yimou and Gong Li:

"I just got the news that Cao Yang's film 'Inception' grossed 4100 million yuan at the box office yesterday!"

Then he asked Zhang Yimou, "Director Zhang, you went to the premiere, was that movie really that good?"

Cheng Xiaodong, standing next to him, shook his head with a wry smile and whispered, "4100 million, I can't even imagine." Zhang Yimou fell silent. He sat in the director's chair for a while, stunned, before rubbing his face vigorously with both hands and letting out a long sigh.

"That movie is very creative and subversive, and the plot is very clever. It may create a box office miracle."

"in the country?"

Zhou Runfa added a sentence.

"worldwide!"

Zhang Yimou said without hesitation.

For a moment, everyone was speechless, but no one left; they just didn't know what to say.

Not far from them, there was a minor actor, to be more specific, who used to be an extra, but because he had built a good relationship with the assistant director of the crew, he became Gong Li's stand-in.

Don't underestimate this role just because it's a stand-in; for a bit-part actor, it's definitely a huge improvement.

The lighting double is essentially Gong Li's stand-in, mainly helping to test the blocking and lighting so that Gong Li doesn't have to worry about these "tedious" things.

As Gong Li's stand-in, she could stay on set as long as Gong Li's filming didn't wrap up, earning much more than she did as an extra.

She was relatively lucky; the assistant director wasn't the type to turn his back on her and actually did a lot of work for her.

At this moment, she listened to the words of a few people who were "unattainable" in her eyes, but she didn't feel much; they were all too far removed from her.

She envied Zhou Runfa the most. She had heard from the assistant director that Zhou Runfa's salary was 4000 million yuan, and he also had to stay in a five-star hotel with seven rooms and be provided with a super RV, not for living, but mainly for going to the toilet.

Of course, the latter statement was made jokingly by the assistant director who was on good terms with her.

Whether or not it was specifically for using the restroom, that large RV was something she could see and touch. Apparently, the rental fee for such a super RV is extremely expensive, costing nearly ten thousand yuan a day.

There's no comparison; other toilets are all much more expensive than hers now.

"Zhang Tian'ai, come here, let's get into position and find the best angle."

The assistant director called her over there.

"coming."

She stood up very quickly and behaved very obediently.

According to the assistant director who was on good terms with her, the executive assistant director had a lot of power, and she should never offend him.

She always remembered what the assistant director had said: there were people in the crew she couldn't offend, and she kept a small notebook to keep track of them.

In fact, it wasn't just in China; Inception was also a huge hit in North America, with excellent box office results. More importantly, its critical acclaim was phenomenal.

Almost everyone who has seen this movie has given it a bad review.

Columbia Pictures added several hundred more theaters to screen "Inception," bringing the total to 4060. This is a privilege usually reserved for blockbuster films that the studio is very optimistic about.

Only the seven major Hollywood studios could pull off something this large-scale.

In its opening weekend, Inception, a film that is not a sequel, was a huge success in North America, grossing $9800 million.

"It's a bit of a shame that it didn't reach 100 million."

During an internal company meeting, Columbia Pictures executive director Tom Rothman grinned and slammed his fist on the table.

You can tell he was really disappointed, otherwise he wouldn't have grinned so wide.

(End of this chapter)