Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 395 Comparison
The $1.09 million gross of "Pirates of the Caribbean" in its opening weekend surprised many in Hollywood; this achievement was unexpected.

If we disregard other factors and only consider the performance of Cao Yang's previous film, "Inception," then the $1.09 million gross of "New Pirates of the Caribbean" is quite normal, considering that "Inception" grossed over $9800 million in its opening weekend.

It's quite normal for a new movie to have slightly higher box office returns than its predecessor.

But why is there a "new" in "New Pirates of the Caribbean"?

That's because the previous version of "Pirates of the Caribbean" flopped. At the time, Disney's CEO was Michael Eisner, and because of its poor performance, he simply shelved this major Disney IP.

It is well known that rebooting a film is risky, even more so than creating an original film, and people always unconsciously compare rebooted films to their predecessors.

It's easy to see that the previous movie must have been a flop to be shelved. If people think it's not much different from the previous movie, or even worse, compared to a flop, then it's destined to flop.

Even if you think it's more interesting than the previous movie, it's only slightly better than a flop. If it doesn't subvert expectations or give the new movie a "high standard," it could still flop.

This is the difficulty of rebooting the film.

Robert Iger's decision to reboot the film was a well-thought-out one; he was essentially challenging Michael Eisner.

Didn't you say I wasn't cut out to be a CEO? If I succeeded in making a movie that failed and was shelved, wouldn't that just prove you had poor judgment? Then those comments about me not being suitable for CEO would have no authority and would be pure nonsense.

This is another reason why he fully supported "Pirates of the Caribbean" and was so excited when the box office results came out.

The phenomenal box office success of "Pirates of the Caribbean" not only pleased Robert Iger, but also Warner Bros. president Jeff Robinoff, who secretly marveled at Robert's incredible luck.

Currently, Warner Bros. and Cao Yang are collaborating on two films. One of them, "The Dark Knight," produced and written by Cao Yang and directed by Christopher Nolan, is currently in post-production.

Another Batman spin-off film, "Joker," directed by Cao Yang, has also been greenlit and is expected to begin filming at the end of February.

Cao Yang's success once again boosted Jeff Robinoff's confidence even further.

Nolan's first film as director, "Batman Begins," was also a reboot. Ultimately, Batman's fame is definitely much greater than that of Pirates of the Caribbean, and he has a much larger fan base.

Warner Bros. considered changing directors because the film didn't make money at the box office.

Since Cao Yang was able to make the rebooted "Pirates of the Caribbean" so successful, his second film, "The Batman," which he produced and wrote, will undoubtedly have an even greater chance of success.

The spin-off film "Joker," which he directed himself, was therefore more likely to be successful.

Cao Yang has received many congratulatory phone calls in the past few days.

Warner Bros. CEO Barry Mayer, Warner Bros. Pictures President Jeff Robinoff, Tom Rothman (who has been promoted to Vice President of Sony Pictures Entertainment), Martin Claire (President of Sony Classics), Jason Simmons (President of Fox Searchlight), and others.

Han, the general manager of China Film Group, Hou Keming of Beijing Film Academy, Xie Xiaojing, who also serves as the director of Qingdao Film Studio, and Lao Tian, ​​all called Cao Yang.

In addition to congratulating "Pirates of the Caribbean" on its box office success in North America, they also told Cao Yang about the domestic box office situation.

In China, it was also released on the 21st. Although Cao Yang did not return to China to promote it, he did send Duan Yihong and Jude Law to China to promote it a week before the release.

Jude Law, known as "Jude Flower" in China, is currently in his prime. Most importantly, he hasn't gained weight or gone bald yet, and has a thick head of long hair. His looks are no less than Leonardo DiCaprio's when he was young.

Although he is not as famous as Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio in China, and his box office appeal is certainly not as strong, he still has a large following.

Duan Yihong is now one of the few people in China who has gained significant fame in Hollywood. In this day and age, actors who can gain fame in Hollywood are automatically considered to be among the top stars in China.

With Jude Law and Duan Yihong promoting the film domestically, and given that it's directed by Cao Yang, the promotional efforts are already quite substantial.

To put it bluntly, given Cao Yang's current influence, the purpose of promoting his films domestically is not to create any gimmicks or to focus on the content of the films.

The main purpose is simply to let people know that Cao Yang's film is about to be released, and that's enough.

In the US, this period is called the Christmas season; in China, it's now called the Lunar New Year season.

Since the Lunar New Year film season was popularized by the small-budget film "The Cannon," it has now become one of the main periods for competition among blockbusters, with several blockbusters "going head-to-head" every year.

This year's competition is also fierce. Cao Yang is collaborating with Xiao Gangpao, whose film "Assembly" will be released on December 1st, and "The Warlords," with a production cost of $40 million, will be released on December 12th.

With the addition of co-production "Pirates of the Caribbean," the competition in this year's domestic Lunar New Year film season is exceptionally fierce.

Although the domestic box office market is getting better and better now, major film seasons such as the Lunar New Year are no longer like before, where a single blockbuster would siphon off the box office of other films.

However, compared to the Christmas season and box office market in the United States, the domestic market is still incomparable.

The American Christmas season can accommodate blockbusters like "I Am Legend" starring Will Smith and "Pirates of the Caribbean," and also allow "National Treasure: The Lost Tomb" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks" to do well at the box office. This is something that China certainly cannot do at present.

Therefore, with "Assembly" being a huge hit, it directly impacted the box office of "The Warlords," which was showing for 12 days.

Since its release on December 1st, "Assembly" has grossed over 310 million yuan in just over three weeks. However, it is absolutely impossible for "Assembly" to reach the 400 million yuan mark that "Little Steel Cannon" (a popular Chinese film) aimed for.

If nothing unexpected happens, we'd be lucky to get 3.3 million.

The main reason is that the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean" not only affected the unfortunate "The Warlords" which was sandwiched between the two films, but also the box office of "Assembly".

Of course, the influence is mutual.

The release of "The Warlords" will definitely siphon off the box office revenue of "Assembly". The combined box office success of "Assembly" and "The Warlords" over the past twenty days will also affect the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies.

After all, this isn't a decade or two from now, where watching a movie will only cost the price of two cups of milk tea. Nowadays, the price of a movie ticket is still a significant burden relative to one's salary.

This resulted in the fact that although "Pirates of the Caribbean" also had a huge box office success, even surpassing "Assembly" by nearly 1000 million on its opening day, it did not break the opening day box office record.

By the way, the record for the highest opening day box office is held by Cao Yang's "Inception," which grossed a staggering 4000 million yuan on its opening day.

Indeed, a first-day box office of just over 4000 million was a jaw-dropping achievement for all filmmakers in 2006.

Even on the opening day of its release, "Inception" set a new single-day box office record, exceeding 5000 million yuan, setting a new record for the highest single-day box office in Chinese history.

However, this box office record was not maintained, because on the day of the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean," the box office reached 5500 million, setting a new single-day box office record once again.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" only grossed over 39 million yuan on its opening day. The remaining approximately 16 million yuan was divided up by a host of films released in late November and December, including "The Warlords," "Assembly," and "Call for Love."

"The Warlords," which has only been in theaters for ten days, only grossed a little over 700 million yuan on that day, and its total box office has just exceeded 6000 million yuan.

This is only because "The Warlords" received decent reviews and starred big names like Li Lianjie and Liu Dehua; otherwise, the impact would have been much greater.

Influenced by "Pirates of the Caribbean," this movie would be lucky to break 100 million in total box office revenue; it's probably going to be difficult, since the impact has only just begun.

Domestic media coverage of "Pirates of the Caribbean: New Horizons" largely used the word "regretful." For example, an article on Singer Entertainment stated:
...Due to limitations in the domestic box office market, Cao Yang's film "New Pirates of the Caribbean," which was a huge hit in North America and around the world, did not break box office records as people predicted.

This fantasy blockbuster grossed over a million less than "Inception," which holds the record for the highest opening day box office. The editor believes the main reason is the release date.

If the movie had been released during the summer holidays, or swapped its release date with "Assembly", it would definitely have set a new opening day box office record.

This fantasy blockbuster is top-notch, even by Hollywood standards, in terms of its storyline, character portrayal, and audiovisual effects.

Director Cao Yang maintained his consistently high standards, and Depp delivered a truly transformative performance...

The film grossed over 100 million yuan in its opening weekend in China, reaching 1.28 million yuan, surpassing the 88 million yuan grossed by "Assembly" in its first four days.

For this reason, Xiao Gangpao even called Cao Yang to complain:

"Old Cao, you're so unfair! 'Assembly' is the culmination of our hard work, our own flesh and blood. As soon as your new movie was released, it caused 'Assembly' to lose half of its box office revenue on the first day. How can you be so heartless?"

Although Xiao Gangpao spoke in a complaining tone, the meaning behind his words was somewhat ambiguous, making it clear to everyone that he was joking.

"Get out, get out! Who's talking to you about being your blood relative or your flesh and blood? Go say those mushy things to your Xu Fan."

Cao Yang said with a smile.

"Haha, okay, I'll tell my wife later. You can't find anyone to confide in if you want to be mushy."

Xiao Gangpao joked that he knew Cao Yang would never lack women. As one of the top directors in the country, he knew all too well how proactive those actresses were.

It wasn't a matter of you waving your hand or making a gesture; the actresses just took the initiative and pounced on you.

Little Cannon understands this all too well.

However, Cao Yang doesn't have a girlfriend on the surface, so we can use that as an opportunity to make a joke.

Then, Xiao Gangpao thought about the box office of "Assembly". Although it was definitely impossible to reach the 4 million he had been hoping for, the current 3.1 million was enough for him to be proud of.

"Old Cao, let me ask you something. Is your 'Nine-Tailed Fox' the highest-grossing Chinese-language film of all your works?"

Cao Yang thought for a moment and realized that if only Chinese-language films were considered, the highest-grossing film was indeed "Nine-Tailed Fox".

Almost all of his Chinese-language films were art films, and their box office performance was certainly very high at the time, but it can't compare to the high-grossing films of the last two years.

For example, "Nine-Tailed Fox" grossed 2.13 million yuan at the mainland box office, which was only slightly less than Zhang Yimou's "Hero," but it still maintained its position as the second highest-grossing Chinese-language film in mainland China for several years.

"Yes, you're right. 'Nine-Tailed Fox' is the highest-grossing Chinese-language film I've ever made."

Cao Yang laughed; he roughly knew what Little Cannon was going to say.

"Ha ha……"

Little Cannon laughed loudly and began to boast, "Little brother, do you know who's currently number one on the Chinese film box office chart, um, the holder of the record for the highest-grossing single Chinese film?"

"Who is it?"

Cao Yang asked in a very cooperative manner.

"Well, before the release of 'Assembly,' the record holder was Zhang Yimou's 'Curse of the Golden Flower' with 2.91 million yuan. Now, hehe, 'Assembly' is about to reach 3.2 million yuan."

Little Cannon grinned widely, his mouth stretching almost to his ears, revealing a mouthful of teeth.

"Oh, congratulations, Director Feng. Although I produced and wrote the screenplay for 'Assembly,' I still want to say that 'Hero' grossed $5300 million in North America and 'Nine-Tailed Fox' grossed $6000 million in North America."

After a pause, Cao Yang asked with a smile, "I imagine 'Assembly' will have an even higher box office in North America, right?"

"Domestic, I mean domestic box office. Is it meaningful to compare the box office of Chinese-language films with their overseas box office instead of their domestic box office?"

Little Cannon asked, sticking his neck out.

"Isn't it interesting?"

"Is this interesting?"

"Okay, if you say it's interesting, then it's interesting."

"That's right, comparing overseas box office figures is meaningless... Pshaw, it's pointless!"

Instead of returning to China, Cao Yang joined the film crew to promote the movie in several major North American cities.

According to Disney's plan, Cao Yang and several main actors will spend a week promoting the film in North America, then travel to several major European cities for a couple of days before returning to China for further promotions.

In fact, when the promotional plan was formulated a few months ago, Cao Yang only needed to spend two days promoting the film in North America and appear on two TV shows before returning to China to promote it.

However, affected by the writers' strike, and with the unexpectedly good box office performance of "Pirates of the Caribbean" worldwide, Disney revised its promotional plan.

Pirates of the Caribbean raked in $5900 million in its second weekend, topping the weekend box office charts.

Second place went to "Alvin and the Chipmunks" with 2400 million, and third place went to "I Am Legend" with 2100 million.

The film ranked fourth is not "National Treasure: The Secret of the Treasure Hunt," which only garnered 1018 million views this week, placing it in fifth place.

Fourth is "Charlie's War," which was released last week and grossed 1064 million.

The sixth-ranked film in the weekly box office chart is a very famous movie called "Alien vs. Predator".

This $60 million film opted for a Christmas Day release instead of the traditional Friday.

Its box office revenue was only 900 million over the weekend, and with the three days from Tuesday to Thursday, the total for the first six days was only 2400 million, which can be considered a box office flop.

However, although this famous R-rated film flopped at the box office, it should be very popular for offline DVD rentals or TV on-demand viewing, and overall it is likely to make money.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" grossed $2.26 million in North America in just ten days, including $5900 million over the weekend, $5800 million from Monday to Thursday, and $1.09 million from the previous week.

Back when "Inception" was a huge success, it grossed $2.25 million in just ten days thanks to its excellent word-of-mouth. "The New Pirates of the Caribbean" is definitely something to look forward to.

It's highly likely that the total box office of $4 million in North America will be achieved.

(End of this chapter)