Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 302 An Indirect Touch

On July 28th, Inception had been in theaters for half a month.

Based on past experience, the total box office of a domestic film can be roughly estimated in its first week of release, which usually accounts for about one-third of the total box office.

If you still have doubts about the box office performance in the first week of release, adding the results of the second week will give you a general idea of ​​the film's total box office.

The box office revenue in the first two weeks will account for about three-quarters of the total box office revenue.

This experience applies to most domestically produced films at the time.

There are definitely exceptions, either those with an outstanding reputation or those that are manipulated, but these are rare cases.

So, two weeks after the release of "Inception", a co-production film with an investment of 8000 million RMB was released, namely "Dragon Tiger Gate" starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, and Jennifer Yu.

Don't think that an investment of 8000 million is not much. In this day and age, let alone 8000 million, even a movie with an investment of 1000 million is considered to be of medium scale.

Besides Cao Yang, only Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Xiao Gangpao dare to make such big-budget films in mainland China.

Chen Kaige's only film that surpassed this scale was "The Promise".

Little Cannon only has "The Banquet"; his previous film, "A World Without Thieves," only had an investment of 3500 million.

Even in Hong Kong and Taiwan, there are very few people who would dare to do something this big.

After all, investors aren't stupid. How big is the box office market in mainland China and Hong Kong? Even if you add Southeast Asia and other markets, it's extremely difficult to recoup your investment through box office revenue alone.

With an investment of 8000 million, it needs to gross at least 2 million at the box office to break even. In this day and age, it would be very difficult to gross 2 million without selling to North America.

That's why Chinese movie stars who can break into Hollywood are valuable, and why Jackie Chan and Jet Li dare to ask for 1 million yuan in film fees.

Only after becoming somewhat of a familiar face in Hollywood did Chow Yun-fa dare to ask for a salary of over 4000 million and various super-exclusive treatments.

As a co-production, "Dragon Tiger Gate" was invested in by four film companies: Hong Kong's Oriental Film Company and mainland China's Bona Film Group, Shanghai Film Group, and China Film Group.

Looking at this lineup alone, it was quite remarkable for this period.

The founder of Oriental Film Company was Wong Pak-ming, one of the three giants of the once-glorious Cinema City and a bigwig in the Hong Kong film industry.

Bona Film Group is one of the largest private film companies in China.

Shanghai Film Group is a large state-owned enterprise, second only to China Film Group.

The China Film Co-production Corporation is even more interesting. It is a subsidiary of China Film Group and is mainly responsible for matters related to Sino-foreign film co-productions. In other words, it represents China Film Group externally.

It's quite interesting that this film, produced by a China Film Group co-production company, was released two weeks after Inception.

It's understandable that Shanghai Film Group chose this time slot to release "Dragon Tiger Gate," given their competitive relationship with China Film Group. It's perfectly normal for them to "mess around" with China Film Group.

However, the fact that China Film Co-production Corporation also agreed to this release date is something worth considering.

Ultimately, the problem lies with President Han.

The films "District 9" and "Inception," which Cao Yang collaborated on, were Sino-US co-productions due to the involvement of Columbia Pictures, and should have been handled by China Film Co-production Corporation, a subsidiary of China Film Group.

However, as the vice chairman and general manager of China Film Group, and in effect the person in charge of China Film Group, General Manager Han personally took charge of the cooperation with Cao Yang, thus bypassing the China Film Group co-production company.

This made the China Film Co-production Company very unhappy.

Therefore, since Shanghai Film Group was willing to take the lead, China Film Group Co-production Company went along with it – as is customary, it is perfectly reasonable and compliant for a film to be released two weeks after its premiere.

Of course, Bona did offer his opinions.

Bona's CEO, Yu Dong, graduated from the Beijing Film Academy's Department of Management in 94 and was subsequently assigned to the Beijing Film Studio. He was a former subordinate of CEO Han, who had promoted him.

And the reason he's doing so well now is because of President Han's support.

Therefore, Yu Dong opposed this scheduling from the beginning. He certainly couldn't do something like betraying President Han or Cao Yang, the face of Beijing Film Academy.

Unfortunately, although he invested in one-third of the project, the main control was given to Hong Kong's Oriental Film Company, with Shanghai Film Group as the main distributor and China Film Group as a co-production company, leaving him powerless to do anything about it.

This is why President Han has been holding meetings for the past few days, keeping a close eye on the box office. He wants "Inception" to achieve as much box office revenue as possible in the next two weeks.

With an investment of 8000 million yuan, the film is already considered a big-budget blockbuster in China. He was also worried that "Dragon Tiger Gate" would affect the box office of "Inception".

"Dragon Tiger Gate" is adapted from the Hong Kong comic of the same name by Wong Yuk-long. The comic has been serialized in Hong Kong for 35 years, with more than 1400 issues released by 2006, and each issue sold more than 100,000 copies.

In other words, Dragon Tiger Gate has a very good fan base.

Considering that movies adapted from Marvel and DC comics in the US almost always become huge hits, President Han must be worried.

This is also what gives Oriental Film Company the confidence to schedule its release two weeks after "Inception".

They have a good idea.

If the box office of "Dragon Tiger Gate" on its opening day is similar to that of "Inception," which has been in theaters for two weeks, then the press releases can be linked to "Inception" and use Cao Yang's name to generate hype.

Hong Kong filmmakers are quite adept at this; just look at the Huayi Brothers, who learned from them, and you'll know how amazing they are.

After getting off work today, President Han stayed in the office and even ate dinner there.

It wasn't until around 2 a.m. that the staff member in charge of box office statistics appeared in his office.

"Mr. Han..." "The statistics are out?"

Startled, President Han threw off the air conditioning blanket covering him, got up from the sofa, and asked impatiently.

"Yes, we have learned about the box office figures for 'Dragon Tiger Gate' through coordination."

The staff were very understanding; they knew what President Han most wanted to know.

"How many?"

Mr. Han was a little nervous at this moment.

After all, Inception has been in theaters for two weeks. Even if yesterday was Friday, the box office should not have reached 2000 million, probably only around 1800 million at most.

The box office is a bit uncertain. If "Dragon Tiger Gate" were a movie like "Hero" or "The Promise," its box office today could still be similar to that of "Inception."

"320."

"How much? Is it 320 million or 3200 million?"

President Han was taken aback, thinking he had misheard.

"It's 320 million."

The staff member glanced at the record in his hand again and said with great certainty.

Mr. Han was stunned for a full twenty seconds before waving his hand weakly, "Okay, I understand. What about Inception?"

"1864."

President Han plopped down on the sofa, forced a smile, and said to the staff, "Xiao Zheng, you've worked hard tonight. You can go home now. You'll have a day off tomorrow."

After the staff left, Mr. Han couldn't suppress the anger in his heart. He stood up and wanted to kick the sofa over, but then he stopped himself. It would hurt too much to kick the sofa over anyway.

Finally, he threw a few punches and cursed, "Damn it, I worried for ages, and this is all I got?"

The indescribable anger and frustration of missing his punch just wouldn't go away. After thinking for a while, he simply picked up his phone and made a call. It rang for several tens of seconds before the other party finally answered.

He ignored the other person's complaints about him being awake in the middle of the night and waking him up, and asked directly, "Are you home alone?"

He then ignored the other person's teasing and said, "I'll be there in a bit."

Then he hung up the phone.

He needs to release this evil fire.

The following day, some media outlets wrote:

"The action film 'Dragon Tiger Gate,' starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, and Jennifer Yu, was released on the 28th. Its opening day box office was a huge success, with total box office revenue in mainland China and Hong Kong exceeding 6 million yuan, making it the highest-grossing domestic film on its opening day in July..."

Whether the combined box office in mainland China and Hong Kong exceeded 6 million on its opening day is unknown, but it truly deserves the title of the highest-grossing domestic film on its opening day in July, given that very few domestic films were released in July...

However, there is still some problem with saying that. Strictly speaking, this movie is also a co-production and should be compared with other co-productions, such as Inception.

Of course, what they said is not wrong. Hong Kong is part of the country, and Hong Kong films are also domestic films.

"Factory manager, I've been ripped off by those people."

After learning about the box office results, Yu Dong called President Han to complain. He was a smart man and knew how to avoid angering President Han.

Yu Dong graduated in 94 and joined the Beijing Film Studio. In 94, General Manager Han was transferred to the Beijing Film Studio as its director. Yu Dong's private way of addressing General Manager Han has never changed.

President Han leaned back against the headboard of the large bed, shirtless, and laughed heartily into the phone.
"What's so bad about you? Didn't you guys already announce that you've recouped your costs by selling the rights in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe?"

"Hey, factory manager, are you mocking me? Do you think I can hide the details from you?" Yu Dong continued to complain.

"You don't need to complain. You shouldn't lose much money on this movie. Yesterday's box office was 320 million, and today and tomorrow are the weekend, so the box office will be even higher."

Making 1000 million in these three days shouldn't be a problem, and the total box office should be around 3000 million. Adding that to the Hong Kong box office, it should be around 1000 million. That's pretty good.

President Han was in a great mood and calculated the box office of "Dragon Tiger Gate" for Yu Dong. The box office was quite good by domestic standards.

"I hope so," Yu Dong said with a wry smile.

After hanging up with Yu Dong, President Han didn't get up. He stayed up until 2 a.m. at the company yesterday and then came here to work for a while. He's getting old and it's really taking a toll on him.

"We should check on the business operations of China Film Co-production Corporation in a while."

Mr. Han muttered something to himself, then lay back down, intending to sleep a little longer.

The situation for "Dragon Tiger Gate" is not as optimistic as Mr. Han said. The second day of its release was a Saturday, so it should have had higher box office revenue than yesterday.

However, many viewers criticized the film for its weak plot. Coupled with the high praise and continued popularity of "Inception", "Dragon Tiger Gate" saw its box office drop on Saturday, earning only 260 million yuan.

The situation was similar on Sunday, with box office revenue dropping again to only 230 million.

The box office only reached 810 million over the weekend. Given the current downward trend in box office revenue, it would be considered a stroke of luck to reach 2000 million.

In an instant, many people involved began to regret it, and they regretted it deeply.

(End of this chapter)