Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 366: A Very Interesting Schedule
"The Fault in Our Stars," which topped the North American weekend box office charts, outperforming "Rush Hour 3" and the sequel "The Bourne Ultimatum," which was a huge hit in its second week of release, has indeed exceeded many people's expectations.

However, considering that "The Fault in Our Stars" is another novel adapted into a film by Cao Yang, and it has such high popularity, it is not unacceptable that it appears at the top of the list.

Judging from the current box office, a blockbuster is definitely impossible. Those blockbuster movies that can easily earn three or four hundred million dollars at the North American box office, which one didn't make around one hundred million dollars in the first three days of the opening weekend?
Based on the patterns of North American box office, a film that grosses around $5000 million in its opening weekend usually only reaches a total box office of around $1.5 million.

Of course, there are definitely exceptions, but they must have an exceptionally good reputation or be affected by special events.

Good reputation isn't enough; it has to be exceptionally good.

For example, "The Bourne Ultimatum," which was released last week, is a film series that solidified Matt Damon's status as a leading actor and has consistently received positive reviews.

The Bourne Ultimatum grossed over $70 million in its opening weekend, but due to less-than-stellar reviews, its box office revenue was halved to less than $34 million.

This is considered a normal drop, and it didn't fall below the 60% mark.

As long as the word-of-mouth doesn't collapse and the box office doesn't drop below 60%, for most Hollywood movies, you can roughly estimate the total North American box office by multiplying the box office from the first three days of the opening weekend by 3.

For example, "Rush Hour 3" earned 5040 million yuan in its opening weekend. If the box office does not fall below 60% in the second weekend, the total box office can be estimated to fluctuate around 1.5 million yuan.

The amount of fluctuation reflects the reputation.

Of course, if the drop in the second week is very low, such as not falling below the 30% threshold, then it is a movie with particularly good word-of-mouth, and the final box office will not be simply the total box office of the first three days multiplied by 3.

Therefore, Hollywood film companies are taking the second week's decline very seriously.

Cao Yang was not surprised by the success of "The Fault in Our Stars," nor was it beyond his expectations.

In its original trajectory, "The Fault in Our Stars," adapted from the bestselling novel "The Beautiful Pain," grossed over $2600 million on its opening day in North America and over $4800 million over its opening weekend.

Now, the novel may not be as famous as it was originally, but Cao Yang's influence is huge. "Adapted from Cao Yang's novel..." is not just a few simple words.

With Colombia's Wishing Day campaign in full swing, it's no surprise that the company grossed $5160 million in its opening weekend.

In Cao Yang's view, the power of the Wishing Day event has not yet been fully revealed, and next week's box office results may surprise everyone.

Jackie Chan's assessment of the opening weekend box office performance of "Rush Hour 3" is, overall, mixed.

The good news is that after the huge flop of "Around the World in 80 Days", "Rush Hour 3" didn't crash and its box office performance was passable.

The worrying thing is that "Rush Hour 3" didn't do well either. Judging from its current reviews and box office performance, it's likely to only reach $1.5 million in North America.

The North American box office of around $1.5 million looks pretty good, but you can't just look at the box office; you also have to look at the production costs.

Keep in mind that New Line Cinema poured $1.4 million into Rush Hour 3, and the North American box office of around $1.5 million wasn't enough; they could only pin their hopes on the global box office.

However, the overseas box office distribution costs outside North America are very high, so New Line Cinema's share is much smaller, generally around 30%.

In other words, even if the overseas box office can match the North American box office, New Line Cinema will still find it difficult to recoup its costs through box office revenue.

Moreover, the new line also has to give Cheng Long and Big Black a huge share of the profits.

New Line Cinema can recoup a significant portion of its revenue from DVD rentals and other sources. Jackie Chan's films typically generate a stable income of between 5000 million and 8000 million, but this is split between the two of them.

Even after deducting the share of profits and adding the box office revenue, it's highly likely that the costs still won't be recovered.

This new movie won't be making money anytime soon.

Jackie Chan knew that his chances of starring in Hollywood movies were probably numbered.

However, it's not entirely without a chance, if Director Cao is willing...

Cheng Long now genuinely looks up to Cao Yang.

It's really disheartening that someone who produced and controlled an art film with an investment of only around 1000 million yuan was able to overshadow his own "Rush Hour 3".

Jackie Chan estimated that even if "The Fault in Our Stars" had a similar box office performance to "Rush Hour 3", it would still be a huge hit!

An investment of 1000 million and an investment of 1.4 million are definitely not the same thing.

If Rush Hour 3 grosses 1.5 million, it will lose money.

If "The Fault in Our Stars" grosses 1.5 million, it will be a huge success.

Cheng Long knew that Cao Yang's status and influence in Hollywood were likely to increase again.

So, Cheng Long patted his cheeks, trying to make his smile as natural as possible, then picked up the phone and called Cao Yang to congratulate him on his success once again.

After the North American weekend box office rankings were released, Cao Yang received a series of congratulatory phone calls.

The calls came from executives at Columbia Pictures, Fox Searchlight, and 20th Century Fox, and from Disney, with whom they were currently collaborating, it was CEO Robert Iger who personally called.

Warner Bros. CEO Barry Mayer, who is also a potential partner, called personally, as did Warner Bros. Studios President Jeff Robinoff and Warner Bros. Vice President of Production Ian Howard.

In addition, directors such as Spielberg, Fuyuki, Martin Scorsese, and Nolan also called Cao Yang.

Even more celebrities who know Cao Yang called him.

It's as if "The Fault in Our Stars" broke box office records.

Cao Yang knew that the reason these people called despite the "mediocre" box office performance of "The Fault in Our Stars" was mainly because they were shocked.

Anyone can see that all the fancy stuff in "The Fault in Our Stars" is aimed at the Oscars; it's a preemptive "strategy" to win them over.

Who would have thought that a low-budget art film could perform so well at the box office?

Of course, everyone's main goal was to get closer to Cao Yang—film companies wanted to work with him, directors wanted him to write scripts or adapt his novels, and actors wanted to star in his movies.

Cao Yang's continued success made everyone who knew him kind and warm-hearted, as if there were no "bad" people left.

At least, after Cao Yang's "The Dirty Milk" was released, everyone around him in Hollywood turned into a good guy, and very few people opposed him anymore.

Even the top executives and CEOs of the seven major Hollywood film studios chatted and laughed with him, without any hint of arrogance.

That's just how the world is, in essence!

Just like Huang Bo said, when you are successful, you are surrounded by good people.

Even in the hours before Zhang Jingchu left, she was still desperately trying to "show off" her shy and clumsy skills.

After spending the past few days together and engaging in in-depth yet accessible conversations, Cao Yang was fairly satisfied with Zhang Jingchu's hard work.

He wasn't a heartless person. In his past life, he would even tip the author of a novel he liked. So, he was bound to reward Zhang Jingchu for her hard work.

He didn't give Zhang Jingchu any extra resources; it was a transaction after all, and any extra resources would be calculated separately. Cao Yang simply gave Zhang Jingchu a phone call before she left, telling her that if she was bullied while filming, she could call this number and he could help her resolve one problem.

Don't underestimate the power of helping someone solve a problem once. If used well, it can obscure your true intentions, and few people will dare to bully you in the future.

Just like Dong Xuan before she won the Venice Film Festival Best Actress award, President Han knew about her relationship with Cao Yang. After she was harassed by a very famous actress on set during filming, President Han secretly intervened.

The production was shut down for a week. The director and producer didn't even know who was behind it. In the end, the actress was kicked out of the production.

As a result, various rumors about Dong Xuan circulated in the film and television industry. Regardless of the type of rumors, whether they were pleasant or unpleasant, the general consensus was that Dong Xuan must have a powerful backer and was someone not to be trifled with.

From then on, no matter what role Dong Xuan played, everyone treated her politely, and she never encountered any difficulties again.

Another week later, the production of "New Pirates of the Caribbean," a collaboration between Cao Yang and Disney, was completed.

After discussions with Disney CEO Robert Iger, the rebooted film was officially titled "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl".

Originally, Cao Yang thought he would have to come up with a new name for the movie in preparation for a sequel.

Little did they know that when the original "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie was released, it didn't take on the fantasy aspect, so it wasn't titled "The Curse of the Black Pearl."

Now it's perfect to use, and it saves me the trouble of thinking of other names.

"My dear director, what do you think of the Christmas release window?"

Robert Iger was even more enthusiastic than last time, and the way he looked at Cao Yang now made Cao Yang a little scared.

The reason is simple: this week's box office figures are out.

The third weekend of "The Bourne Ultimatum" brought in another $18 million, bringing its total North American box office to $160 million.

However, despite the high total box office, the more than 1800 million yuan earned over the three-day weekend only ranked fourth on the weekend box office chart.

Third place went to Jackie Chan's "Rush Hour 3," which grossed 2100 million over the weekend, a drop of 58%.

However, it did not fall below 60%.

This drop is actually quite large, and it seems a bit doubtful that the total North American box office will reach $1.5 million.

With the $1710 million earned over four weekdays and the $5040 million earned in the opening week, the total box office reached $8850 million.

The second-place film wasn't "The Fault in Our Stars," but a newly released movie called "Superbad," which grossed $2800 million over the weekend.

It's worth mentioning that the production company behind "Superbad" is Sony Pictures Entertainment.

That's right, it's the parent company of Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures, which is also the company where Cao Yang's old friend Tom Rothman will be serving as global vice president.

"The Fault in Our Stars" was produced by Columbia Pictures under the direction of Tom Rothman, and it was also the last film Rothman made for Columbia before he was transferred to another position.

This is a bit interesting.

Could it be that Tom Slim's appointment as Sony's global vice president has blocked the promotion path of some people at Sony Pictures, so they want to give Tom Slim a hard time?

It's a pity that if that were the case, it would be a gross underestimation of the power of "The Fault in Our Stars".

"The Fault in Our Stars" grossed 3350 million over the weekend, a drop of only 35%. Although it fell below the "super" 30% threshold, this is still a very healthy drop.

Furthermore, it garnered 2830 million yuan in box office revenue over four weekdays, and combined with last week's 5160 million yuan, it has achieved a remarkable 1.134 million yuan in just ten days.

It's important to understand that this isn't one of those art films that gets an Oscar before being released; achieving this result now is already quite remarkable.

Moreover, this is just a low-budget art film.

This is also why Disney CEO Robert Iger is more enthusiastic about Cao Yang.

When Cao Yang heard Robert Iger ask him about the Christmas release, he knew that Iger wanted "Pirates of the Caribbean" to be released during the Christmas season.

The Christmas season is the most important film season in North America, comparable to the summer season with its many blockbusters, and its status is similar to that of the Chinese New Year film season in China.

During the Christmas season, audiences' movie-watching needs are relatively concentrated, and their demands for film quality and word-of-mouth are also relatively high. A film with good word-of-mouth is likely to achieve good box office results during this period.

It's only late August now, and there are still about ten days left in the summer movie season. Releasing "New Pirates of the Caribbean" at the tail end of the summer season wouldn't be appropriate.

Unless they don't care about box office revenue.

In fact, apart from the Christmas season, there are no other suitable release dates this year for a film with such a large-scale investment as "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Is the Christmas box office competition fierce this year?

Cao Yang asked out of curiosity, not because he was afraid of competition, but because he wanted to understand the situation of the Christmas season. Robert Iger must be quite knowledgeable about this kind of information.

The reason is also very simple.

Films shown in North America also need to be reviewed and rated, and this work is done by the MPAA, the Motion Picture Association of America.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has seven main members, which are now the seven major Hollywood film studios.

So now you understand why, after all these years, even new American film companies, like DreamWorks, which is made up of Spielberg and Jewish capital, can't compete with the Big Seven.
Because the seven major powers possess "core technologies," they can easily impose "strict" requirements on the review process, even if it's just a weak excuse.

Originally, a movie could have been rated G or PG, but instead it's rated R, which means that those under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. This will cause a significant loss in box office revenue.
To give a somewhat inappropriate but apt example, it's a bit like the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. If you're not one of the five permanent members, you'll never be able to beat them, and it'll be very difficult for you to become one, unless you have the ability to beat them all.

"If we're talking about a more significant threat, Warner Bros.' 'I Am Legend' would be the one, starring superstar Will Smith."

Additionally, Disney also plans to release *National Treasure 2* during the Christmas season. If *Pirates of the Caribbean* chooses the Christmas release date, it can avoid conflict with *National Treasure 2*.

Disney CEO Robert Iger said to Cao Yang with a smile.

"I Am Legend?"

Cao Yang nodded. Will Smith is one of the few black movie stars who has box office appeal and has even entered the $2000 million club.

This movie seems to be doing well at the box office.

Warner Bros. produced some very interesting movies.

So, how about we go head-to-head with Will Smith and Warner Bros. during the Christmas season?
It just so happens that it's about time I went to Warner Bros. to make a movie, which sounds really interesting.

For Europeans and Americans, the way to quickly gain their respect is through direct interaction, a language they can understand quickly.

"Let's release it during the Christmas season. It's a great time to release it, and it's sure to be very interesting."

(End of this chapter)