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Chapter 338 International Students' Pampering, "A World Without Thieves" Released

Ong-Bak's release in the United States was not large-scale. Even though the film was a Sino-US co-production and featured many white and black actors, the US distribution company was not optimistic about its box office performance in the US.

The main reason is that this movie has too many Chinese elements.

The director, screenwriter, production team, male and female leads, etc., are all Chinese. Although there are many white, black, Japanese and Korean actors in this film, almost all of them are villains.

The key point is that the male lead is not Jackie Chan.

If Jackie Chan were the male lead, the scale of the film would definitely be much larger.

Currently, among Chinese actors, only Jackie Chan's films have a certain box office appeal in Hollywood; even Jet Li's films haven't achieved that level of success.

In 1998, Jet Li came to Hollywood to star in "Lethal Weapon 4". Although his performance in the film was amazing and he was valued by the producers, "Lethal Weapon 4" was a box office flop.

The film cost $1.4 million to produce.

But the final box office was only $1.3 million.

At first glance, it may seem like the losses weren't too great, but anyone with a little knowledge of the industry knows how serious the losses were for this movie.

Because a film's box office revenue generally needs to exceed three times its production cost in order to recoup its investment, meaning that for a film with a production cost of 140 million, the box office revenue needs to reach 420 million to break even.

Note that the figures for this movie are in US dollars.

This movie lost approximately 3 million US dollars. How much is that in RMB?
Fortunately, Jet Li is not the male lead who carries the burden of box office revenue in this movie.

Moreover, although his role in this movie was small, his performance was outstanding.

So last year, the production company specially made an action movie for him – Romeo Must Die, and this time, Jet Li played the male lead.

This movie didn't lose money at the box office.

But I didn't make much money.

With an investment cost of $2500 million, the film only grossed $9100 million worldwide. The key issue was that during filming, Jet Li lost the support of Hong Kong action teams and used a Hollywood team for the action choreography. As a result, the action sequences lost their former charm, and his performance in this film was not as outstanding as his performance in "Lethal Weapon 4".

The most frustrating thing is that both of the films he starred in in Hollywood were rated R.

Hollywood's R-rated films require viewers under the age of 17 to be accompanied by a parent or guardian, which naturally excludes teenage viewers from the screening room.

Therefore, during this period, Jet Li's box office appeal in the United States was also very limited.

Among Chinese stars, only Jackie Chan's movies have box office appeal in the United States.

Zhao Wenzhuo, the male lead in Ong-Bak?

Sorry, not many people around here have heard of him.

The distribution company only allocated 80 screens for the premiere of "Ong-Bak," which was only because the film had many European and American actors.

It's worth mentioning that when this movie was being promoted in the United States, the focus of the promotion was not on the director or the male and female leads, but on the screenwriter "Zhongyuan Yidianhui".

Because of the name "Zhongyuan Yidianhui" (meaning "a touch of gray in the Central Plains"), it has been reported by many American media outlets.

After the script for Pacific Rim was sold to Paramount, some media outlets reported on it.

After the script for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was sold to Disney, more US media outlets began reporting on "Zhongyuan Yidianhui".

When Fox bought the scripts for the Twilight quartet, the number of media outlets reporting on it far exceeded what they had done before.

Thanks to the sensationalism of some media outlets here, Zhongyuan Yidianhui has seemingly become a young, talented screenwriter among the Chinese community.

Young geniuses always attract attention.

In the United States, there is also a focus on young talents.

However... the pen name "Zhongyuan Yidianhui" is a bit hard for the foreigners here to remember.

However, because it is difficult to remember, many people, even if they don't remember the pen name, feel that it looks familiar when they see it again.

The most eye-catching tagline on the movie poster for the promotion of "Ong-Bak" in the United States is: "The debut film of Zhongyuan Yidianhui, the number one genius young screenwriter in China".

As for whether this film is Cao Sheng's first screenplay?
It doesn't matter at all to the publishing companies here.

Anyway, the audience here hasn't seen his screenplays before, so they're promoting this as his first screenplay, and I'm sure many people will believe it.

This is enough!

"Nonsense! This wasn't even the first film written by Zhongyuan Yidianhui!"

Lin Ming, who had just immigrated to Chinatown this year, looked at the promotional poster for "Ong-Bak" on the movie theater wall and scoffed.

He had previously lived in Shanghai and had seen Cao Sheng's screenplays, including "Kung Fu Jungle," "If You Are the One," and "Ip Man."

Therefore, the promotional slogan on the Ong-Bak poster left him speechless.

Although he thought the slogan was fake, he still bought a ticket and went to the screening room of "Ong-Bak".

Unfortunately, as a Chinese international student, he rarely gets to see Chinese-language films here.

In this foreign land, watching a Chinese-language film every time he goes out can slightly alleviate his homesickness.

The actors who spoke Mandarin in the film and the local customs and culture of China made him feel very familiar with it.

Who is the male lead, Zhao Wenzhuo?

The foreigners here didn't know, but Lin Ming knew very well that he was one of the representative figures among Chinese action actors.

Zhongyuan Yidianhui is currently the most popular author in the Chinese-speaking world.

Their screenwriting ability has been proven time and again.

Director Tsui Hark is a leading figure in Chinese-language action films.

With such a cast, he is really looking forward to the movie "Ong-Bak".

And the quality of this movie certainly did not disappoint him.

In the movie, Zhao Wenzhuo plays the male lead, and he really enjoyed watching the scenes where he punches Japanese and Korean villains and kicks Westerners.

Because of his studies abroad, as a Chinese person, his antipathy towards Japanese, Koreans, and Westerners has grown stronger.

These guys discriminate against male Chinese students while dating female Chinese students, making it very stressful for male Chinese students like him to live here.

This perfectly illustrates a popular internet saying from later generations: "Women leave their WeChat contacts, men help themselves."

He can't get a girlfriend among Chinese female students here, and female students of other nationalities aren't interested in his Chinese identity. He's been wanting to get rid of these bastards for a long time.

Zhao Wenzhuo in "Ong-Bak" seemed to become his punching and kicking stunt double, beating up all the Japanese, Koreans, and foreigners in the movie.

"Brother Zhuo! You've worked hard! Well done!"

After the movie ended, he stood up, raised his hand in salute to the big screen, and then walked out of the screening room with a smile.

If there's anything about this movie that he's not satisfied with?

that……

The only thing that didn't quite satisfy him was that the movie's story was mainly set in the United States, so he didn't get to see any scenery from China. Also, there was a lot of English dialogue in the movie, which prevented him from properly expressing his homesickness.

But compared to the film's exhilarating action scenes, he felt that this slight shortcoming was insignificant.

Back at his lodgings, he turned on his computer, found a Chinese student forum, and recommended "Ong-Bak" on the forum.

He knew how to recommend this movie to these international students.

He posted several different messages using different accounts. The first message read: "Zhao Wenzhuo came to Chinatown and beat up the foreigners, Japanese devils, and Koreans!"

The second post reads: "Zhongyuan Yidianhui's new masterpiece 'Ong-Bak' is released in the United States today. You can always trust his screenwriting ability!"

The third post reads: "Xu Ke + Zhongyuan Yidianhui + Zhao Wenzhuo = 'Ong-Bak', don't you really want to check it out?"

The fourth post reads: "How long has it been since you last watched a Chinese-language film? Check out 'Ong-Bak,' a brand new Chinese-language film!"

……

The four posts, from four different perspectives, aroused the viewing desire of different groups of people.

International students who are usually bullied by foreigners, Japanese, or Koreans might want to watch this movie after seeing his first post.

Those who have read or watched the novel or watched the movie "Ong-Bak" will also want to watch it after seeing the second post.

The third post simply leveraged the box office appeal of Xu Ke, Zhongyuan Yidianhui, and Zhao Wenzhuo; it was simple and direct, yet incredibly effective.

The fourth post evoked the homesickness deep in the hearts of every Chinese international student.

Back then, during the Chu-Han Contention, the Chu army camp was surrounded by the Chu songs on all sides, which stirred up homesickness in every Chu soldier. As we all know, the result was that Xiang Yu, the King of Chu, met his end because of this.

How many Chinese students studying in the United States don't miss their hometown?

Yes!
The United States in this era is far ahead of China, leading in almost every aspect.

But what's that old saying?

—This place is nice, but it's not my hometown.

Whether one's hometown is good or bad, it is deeply rooted in everyone's heart.

Perhaps, you won't think about it normally.

But once homesickness is stirred, even Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Chu, couldn't stop people from going home.

The only thing holding people back from going home is probably the high cost of round-trip airfare.

Sure enough, some Chinese students who frequently visit this forum were stirred up by this post and felt homesick.

I miss every blade of grass and every tree in my hometown, I miss my parents and relatives, I miss the dishes and snacks from my hometown...

Airfares are too expensive, but movie tickets are much cheaper.

If you can't afford to buy a plane ticket home, go see this movie instead!

Coincidentally, many Chinese students across the United States went to nearby movie theaters one after another.

Many people left disappointed because the film's release was too small-scale and it wasn't shown in many places.

However, some international students returned home satisfied.

They saw Ong-Bak.

I saw Tsui Hark's unique cinematic style, and I saw Zhao Wenzhuo beating up Japanese, Koreans, and Westerners in the movie.

As Chinese international students, they hadn't seen such an exciting movie in a long time.

After watching the movie, many of them went to the forum to share their thoughts.

Some people say, "Is this the craziest action movie Zhao Wenzhuo has ever done?"

Some people say, "Tsui Hark is still as sharp as ever, he's actually made it into Hollywood, that's amazing, so exciting!"

Some people said, "A speck of dust from the Central Plains has drifted to the United States. This proves that what Chinese-language films have always lacked is not good directors and good actors, but good screenwriters! I have a feeling that Tsui Hark and Zhao Wenzhuo will become hugely popular in the United States because of this movie!"

……

As Chinese students studying abroad enthusiastically embraced and praised "Ong-Bak," the film's US distribution company was surprised to find that this co-production, which they hadn't initially been optimistic about, was performing quite well in terms of box office revenue per theater and per day, despite its small scale of release. Moreover, the daily box office growth rate was increasing.

It has a promising future, doesn't it?

No amount of words from the production company could be as convincing as the promise of "financial success".

Seeing the film's box office growth, the distribution company quickly increased the film's release scale without anyone urging them to.

The number of screens increased from 80 to 220.

A week later, it increased to 520 yuan.

……

However, the box office feedback from the United States was not immediately transmitted back to China.

As Ong-Bak's box office in the United States gradually rose.

8 month 15 day.

In mainland China, another film written by Cao Sheng, "A World Without Thieves," began its nationwide release.

The screenplay for this movie was not actually written by Cao Sheng.

After he finished writing the script, he suddenly remembered to check online to see if there was an original novel, and he actually found one.

Therefore, he had his assistant, Wang Jing, purchase the film and television adaptation rights to the original novel to avoid copyright risks.

but……

Before the film's release, the distribution company downplayed the original novel during promotion, focusing instead on Cao Sheng.

For example, when the first trailer came out, the opening credits clearly stated "Screenwriter: Zhongyuan Yidianhui".

Among the many posters displayed on the walls of various cinemas, one poster's tagline reads: Screenwriter: Zhongyuan Yidianhui.

The font size is noticeably larger than everyone else's name.

As for the original novel?

The trailer and posters actually do include the annotations, but the font is very small. In the trailer, the annotations from the original novel only flash by.

On the promotional poster, information about the original novel is placed in the darkest part of the bottom of the poster, and the font color is similar to the bottom color.

You said it didn't credit the original novel? It did!
Even if you say it's marked, it's hard to find.

On the first day of the release of "A World Without Thieves," Zhao Benfu, the original author of the novel, who was based in Jiangsu, went to a local movie theater with a smile, bought a ticket, and wanted to see how the movie turned out.

As the original author, he was very satisfied with the cast of this film.

Screenwriter: Zhongyuan Yidianhui.

Director: Feng Xiaogang.

Starring: Andy Lau, Gong Li, Ge You...

The production company is Huayi Brothers, a well-known name in mainland China.

He felt very proud that his work had such a strong cast and crew for adaptation, but...

He had bought the movie tickets, but since the show he bought hadn't started yet, he went to the waiting area. While waiting, his bored gaze inadvertently fell on the promotional posters on the wall.

Seeing the names of Zhongyuan Yidianhui, Feng Xiaogang, Andy Lau, Gong Li, and others on the poster made him even happier. But after searching countless times, he finally found his own name in the darkest part of the poster at the very bottom, and then his smile vanished.

The small print that read "This film is adapted from Zhao Benfu's novel of the same name" was so well hidden that he would have missed it entirely if he hadn't been so skeptical and didn't believe his name wasn't actually on the poster.

(End of this chapter)