Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 449 Explosive Box Office Success

Little Cannon still gave Cao Yang special face.

"Aftershock" is currently in the midst of filming. If it were a film by another director, Little Cannon would definitely not even bother with the premiere.

On the one hand, "Aftershock" is the second collaboration between Xiao Gangpao and Cao Yang, the first being "Assembly".

When Xiao Gangpao first collaborated with Cao Yang, he probably still hoped to get on Cao Yang's good side, mainly because he wanted to achieve something in terms of awards.

The "Little Cannon" has become much more "pragmatic" long ago. He no longer cares about the top three European teams, and his requirements are not high. He would even be willing to accept the Hundred Flowers Award.

However, what truly made Xiao Gangpao decide to completely side with Cao Yang was the box office success of "Assembly".

A film that broke domestic box office records is no less impressive than winning major awards, and may even be far superior. In the future, when discussing films from this period in Chinese film history, the films that set box office records and their directors will certainly be indispensable.

Furthermore, "Assembly" not only broke the domestic box office record for Chinese-language films, raising it significantly, but also gave Xiao Gangpao another surprise.

Nowadays, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festivals are held separately.

This year happens to be the Year of a Hundred Flowers.

"Assembly" swept four awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.

This made Little Cannon's heart surge with excitement.

That's not all.

In the nomination list announced by the Golden Horse Awards on October 30, "Assembly" received six nominations, including Best Feature Film, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, Best Action Choreography, and Best Sound Effects.

In two days, on December 6th, the 45th Golden Horse Awards will be held. I reckon that with six nominations, they'll win at least two awards.
The movie "Assembly" made Xiao Gangpao win both box office success and major awards. How could he possibly give up Cao Yang's "big leg"?
So when Cao Yang approached him in April to collaborate on a disaster movie, Xiao Gangpao didn't hesitate and abandoned his upcoming project, "If You Are the One," to return to Cao Yang's "embrace."

He did whatever Cao Yang told him to do.

As soon as Xiao Gangpao arrived at the film set today, he saw that Gao Yuanyuan was especially happy, her face practically screaming "I'm so happy today."

"Hey, Yuanyuan, you look radiant today."

He gave Gao Yuanyuan a knowing look and teased softly, "Did that person from yesterday come?"

The film "Aftershock" is currently being filmed at Zhejiang University's Zhijiang Campus, while Cao Yang came to Hangzhou yesterday to promote "Joker".

Isn't this a coincidence?
Gao Yuanyuan blushed immediately, ignoring Xiao Gangpao's teasing, and simply said, "Good morning, Director."

Thinking about what happened yesterday, she felt ashamed.

"Ha ha……"

Little Steel Cannon grinned widely.

Xiao Gangpao was just teasing Gao Yuanyuan. When he learned yesterday that Cao Yang was promoting his movie in Hangzhou, he immediately called Cao Yang that night.

Little did he know that the guy surnamed Cao was a real scoundrel. Not only did he take a long time to answer the phone, but he could also hear Cao Yang's heavy breathing on the other end. Little Cannon was stunned.

Is this someone working out?
He initially thought Cao Yang was working out.

Until a faint voice came through the phone: "Cao Yang, I forgot my pajamas, could you get them for me..."

Little Cannon finally realized what Cao Yang had been doing.

It's obvious that he was busy with "important business" when he didn't answer the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Xiao Gangpao thought about it carefully and concluded that the female voice that came out was most likely Gao Yuanyuan.

Gao Yuanyuan left after filming her scenes yesterday and didn't eat on set.

I tested it out today, and sure enough, it should be Gao Yuanyuan.

Cao Yang is such a jerk. I've been so open and honest with him, and the first thing he does isn't to see me or come to the film set, but to go find Gao Yuanyuan!

Value sex over friends!

Once everyone in the crew had arrived, Xiao Gangpao clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention before saying, "Everyone, be on your best. Our producer, supervisor, and screenwriter will be coming over later. You should know who I'm talking about."

As Xiao Gangpao had predicted, everyone in the crew's eyes lit up, their excitement palpable.

Cao Yang is very busy and rarely comes to the film set, so the crew members and actors rarely see him... except for Gao Yuanyuan.

In any case, "Aftershock" is a film in which Cao Yang and Xiao Gangpao teamed up. Who in the crew wouldn't want Cao Yang to come to the set more often and then take a liking to them?

Cao Yang is in a league of his own among domestic directors. He has made so many actors famous that everyone wants to get on his good side.

Another important point is that Joker's box office performance was phenomenal.

Even those who were focused on filming the movie were stunned by the box office success of "Joker".

内地首日票房3690万、次日4216，周六票房4782万、周日4814万，新的一周周一3120、周二3147、周三3189，周四3108……

The box office on the first weekday broke records, significantly surpassing previous weekday records.

Breaking 1.27 million in 3 days, a new record.

1.75 million in 4 days, a new record.

Breaking 2 million in 5 days, a new record.

Breaking 3 million in 8 days, a new record...

It's important to know that this is a standard art film; there are no grand scenes, no fighting, and no explicit sexual content.

But Joker's momentum is so strong, and it has received amazing reviews. Most people who have seen the movie can empathize with it, which is why the movie has been able to maintain its strong momentum.

If it were only a huge box office hit in China, one could say that Cao Yang has a strong box office appeal in China. However, Joker was a global hit, not only in China but also in North America.

Furthermore, Joker's box office performance in North America was phenomenal.

With a massive 4375 theaters, "Joker" became the film with the most theaters opening in North American history, surpassing the previous record holder, "The Dark Knight," with 4366 theaters.

North America: $4326 million on Thursday, $7451 million on Friday, $6570 million on Saturday, $6010 million on Sunday...

It broke 100 million in two days, reaching 11777 million US dollars.

The total revenue for the three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday, exceeded 2 million, reaching $20031 million.

Including the $4326 million earned on its opening Thursday, the film grossed $24357 million in its first four days.

One sentence became the number one box office record holder in North American film history, along with the Thursday box office record, Friday box office record, single-day box office record, and opening day box office record!
Saturday's box office reached $6570 million, surpassing the $5133 million record set by Spider-Man 3 and rewriting the Saturday single-day box office record.

Sunday's box office grossed $6010 million, breaking the previous record of $4359 million set by "The Dark Knight" earlier this year and rewriting the Sunday single-day box office record.

It grossed $20031 million over the weekend, rewriting the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend in North American film history.

It also set new records for the highest November opening weekend in North American film history, the highest opening weekend during the Thanksgiving period, and the highest opening weekend for an R-rated film.

As for breaking all records for comic book adaptations, that goes without saying.

Many North American media outlets believe that while it's hard to say how well "Joker" will fare in the film industry, its record in comic book adaptations will likely stand for at least a century...

Cao Yang also saw this statement from American media online.

Perhaps subconsciously, people believe that the global box office of "The Dark Knight" is the ceiling for comic book adaptations, which is why they think that the records set by "Joker" are hard to break.

After all, Joker is too special.

Heath Ledger's death greatly boosted the success of "Joker".

Jim Carrey's "jumping off a building" added another layer of excitement to "Joker".

The burning of the film reels of "Joker" has generated another wave of buzz.

The gimmicks of "curse" and "prophecy" movies are like a double boost.

Most importantly, the global financial crisis and economic depression resonated so deeply with the message of "Joker," it was incredibly powerful and evoked such strong empathy. This kind of synergy is almost a once-in-a-century phenomenon...

That's why the media dared to make such bold statements.

But Cao Yang knew that in a few years, there would be a... well, a compilation of several comic book superhero movies that would break many of Joker's box office records.

No one could have predicted it.

Nowadays, both foreign and domestic media outlets have gone crazy.

Everyone is reporting extensively on everything related to "Joker".

This has led many people to wonder, even unconsciously, whether an art film can break global box office records.
However, considering that the film ranked first is the one with a precipitous lead and a box office of over $18 billion, many people find it somewhat impossible.

That wrecked ship is a box office legend, and since it's a legend, it's not something ordinary people can break.

Looking at how Joker is conquering the world, it seems to be unstoppable. Based on its box office trajectory, $18 billion may be impossible, but it is still possible to reach $15 billion in global box office.

If Joker can reach $15 billion, then the "broken ship" with a box office of over $18 billion will no longer be considered to have a precipitous lead.

Yesterday's promotional trip to Hangzhou was Cao Yang's last stop. He hadn't originally planned to do city-wide promotions.

Unfortunately, the momentum of "Joker" was just too strong, and the same was true in the country.

Based on the current box office trend, even if we follow the pattern and the box office drops significantly after two weeks of release due to piracy, "Joker" could still potentially gross around 6.5 million yuan.

When Warner Bros. learned that the box office in mainland China might reach $1 million, they stopped urging Cao Yang to go to the United States and instead urged him to promote the film in key cities in China.

Currently, the top-grossing film in China is Cao Yang's "Inception," with a box office of 5.1 million yuan.

Second place goes to Cao Yang's "New Pirates of the Caribbean," which grossed 4.8 million yuan.

The third place goes to Cao Yang's "District 9", which grossed 420 million yuan.

But neither Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, nor District 9 are Warner Bros. films.

Now Warner Bros. has the opportunity to earn $1 million at the Chinese box office with "Joker," becoming the new box office champion and taking a "cliff-like" lead over the second place. Warner Bros. is really tempted.

Cao Yang spent the morning on the set of "Aftershock". He instructed the producer to provide the crew with a lunch break, and he had lunch with Xiao Gangpao, Gao Yuanyuan, and cinematographer Lü Le.

Lü Le was a classmate of Zhang Yimou and Gu Long in the 78 class of the Cinematography Department at Beijing Film Academy. He previously worked as Zhang Yimou's cinematographer for films such as "To Live", "Shanghai Triad", and "Keep Cool".

He has now served as the cinematographer for "Assembly" and is currently filming "Aftershock".

Since 2000, Xiao Gangpao has preferred to collaborate with photographers who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy's photography department. This is partly due to psychological factors, and partly because the photographers from the Beijing Film Academy are very useful.

Generally, the lead actors, directors, cinematographers, and other important members of the production crew either eat out separately or in small tents set up by the crew.

"Hey bro, you're really not going to the Golden Horse Awards? The nominations for Best Feature Film and Best Adapted Screenplay for 'Assembly' are all for you."

When Little Cannon said that, he was actually being a little sarcastic.

"Assembly" received six nominations at the Golden Horse Awards, including Best Feature Film and Best Adapted Screenplay, but was missing Best Director.

In Xiao Gangpao's opinion, this is Jinma trying to curry favor with Cao Yang.

When Cao Yang first ventured into Hollywood, the Golden Horse Awards offended him due to their internal "struggle."

Back then, Cao Yang was just a big director in the art film field, and his influence certainly couldn't compare to what it is now.

Those idiots at the Golden Horse Awards probably think that offending a mainland art film director is nothing, what else can you do?
Do you think you can just blow up some thorns?

Cao Yang exploded.

He publicly criticized the Golden Horse Awards at the time.

Since then, I haven't been to Kinmen even once.

Over the years, as Cao Yang has become increasingly successful in Hollywood and his influence has grown worldwide, he has even become one of the most influential directors in Hollywood, as well as one of the most influential gold medal producers in Hollywood.

The Golden Horse Awards have "softened".

They have made several semi-public gestures of goodwill.

Furthermore, the Golden Horse Executive Committee and the annual judging committee would privately approach Cao Yang, hoping that he could participate in the Golden Horse Awards.

On several occasions, they even sought out important figures as intermediaries.

At that time, people in China still harbored illusions about certain things and were particular about...

Cao Yang's current status is different, so there are many things he can't say. He doesn't say anything about resisting, but only uses his busy schedule as an excuse to "get away" time and time again.

The Golden Horse Awards were also helpless.

The fact that a Chinese film award, whose most famous Chinese director, and one of the most influential directors in the world, hasn't participated for many years, has diminished the credibility of the Golden Horse Awards.

Furthermore, influenced by Cao Yang, several mainland actresses who have won international awards, as well as big-name male stars who have worked with Cao Yang, have stopped attending the Golden Horse Awards.

"No, I'm busy."

Cao Yang blurted it out.

Gao Yuanyuan covered her mouth and smiled; she knew Cao Yang wouldn't go.

"And you? 'Assembly' has received six nominations, aren't you going?"

Cao Yang asked Xiao Gangpao.

Before submitting "Assembly" to the Golden Horse Awards, both China Film Group and Huayi Brothers specifically called Cao Yang to consult his opinion.

Cao Yang did not refuse. The Golden Horse Awards still held some "authority" at the moment. Even if he didn't go, he couldn't stop someone else from becoming famous, could he?

Little Cannon shook his head and laughed.

"If you're not going, what am I supposed to do? I'm not going, I'm not going."

That night, Cao Yang stayed another night in Hangzhou. Since he was already there, he naturally wanted to spend another day with Gao Yuanyuan.

Of course, since it's about accompanying someone, it's essential to make sure they have a good time, enjoy themselves to the fullest, and achieve what Gao Yuanyuan often says.

"Cao...Cao Yang, I...I want to have your child!"

In the end, Gao Yuanyuan still shouted those words in a sharp voice.

Cao Yang's psychological and physiological needs were met.

Gao Yuanyuan was greatly satisfied both physically and mentally, so she hugged Cao Yang's arm and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, something even more exciting happened to Gao Yuanyuan.

Cao Yang received a call from President Han regarding box office revenue.

Yesterday was Friday, and Chen's film "Mei Lanfang" was officially released.

China Film Group produced more than 1400 copies of "Mei Lanfang," which is an exceptionally large-scale production for a domestic film.

"Joker achieved another impressive 3680 million yesterday. This is the 9th day since Joker was released. The box office is really strong."

Old Han sighed.

"The box office performance of 'Mei Lanfang' was also good, about in line with expectations."

Gao Yuanyuan was probably woken up by the phone call. Because the room was very quiet, she could hear the voice coming from the phone.

But she still approached Cao Yang, straining her ears, wanting to know how much box office revenue her arch-nemesis Li Ernai's film, "Mei Lanfang," had earned on its opening day.

"How many?"

Cao Yang asked, knowing he could guess what Gao Yuanyuan wanted to hear.

"1347 million! 'Mei Lanfang' earned 1347 million on its opening day. Well, that's not a bad result."

President Han's voice came through the phone, "Of course, it depends on who you're comparing yourself to, right, junior brother? Haha..."

Gao Yuanyuan laughed and even raised her fist and waved it.

She was initially worried that "Mei Lanfang" would overshadow "Joker," since "Joker" had already been in theaters for eight days, and yesterday was the ninth day.

Otherwise, if Gao Yuanyuan saw that the movie starring Li Ernai had a better box office than "Joker" on the day of its release, it would definitely have made her unhappy for many days.

As soon as Cao Yang hung up the phone, Gao Yuanyuan immediately wrapped her arms around Cao Yang's neck and kissed him on the lips.

Then, she pushed Cao Yang onto the bed.

I'm in a really good mood this morning, so of course I have to celebrate!

Of course, even if the female knight is in a good mood, she cannot increase her combat power much, and her combat power and endurance are easily reduced due to her excitement.

In a battle between two armies, the worst thing to do is to be merciful.

After answering the phone, Old Chen hummed twice and hung up, casually tossing the phone onto the coffee table.

He plopped down on the sofa, let out a long sigh, and rubbed his face with both hands.

"How many?"

Sister Hong, dressed in her pajamas, stood next to Old Chen and couldn't help but ask, "Has 'Mei Lanfang' surpassed 3000 million?"

Old Chen remained silent and sighed again.

"How much did 'Joker' make? I remember it made 3100 million the day before yesterday. Yesterday was Friday, did it make 3000 million?"

Sister-in-law Hong asked again.

Old Chen remained silent, only rubbing his face repeatedly.

Sister Hong suddenly felt a little dazed; the scene seemed so familiar.

(End of this chapter)