Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 412 The little girl is about to be kidnapped
The overseas journey of "The Wandering Earth" was not smooth.

Although it has demonstrated a high level of quality and strong box office performance in the domestic market, overseas distributors are still picky about various cooperation conditions.

To put it bluntly, the reason is actually very simple, that is, "The Wandering Earth" is a Chinese movie.

China Film initially focused on the North American market for overseas distribution, but the results were not satisfactory. The feedback from the North American market was mainly in two points. One was that the film was almost entirely in Chinese, and the overseas version only had subtitles. But American audiences generally don't like to watch subtitles and are not used to this format.

Shouldn't everyone in the universe speak English?

Another point is that many people, from various film associations to ordinary American audiences, cannot accept that the protagonists of a sci-fi movie about saving the world are actually a group of Asians. The only "foreigner" who has more scenes is actually a Maozi.

Where does this put our great American?
Many domestic audiences like to complain that domestic films like to hold "protection months" and various mainstream films that eat "patriotic food". In comparison, Hollywood's view on movies is more "tolerant and free".

But in fact, those who have watched American blockbusters seriously know that the American ideological control over the film industry is actually quite strict. It's just that it's not the government that is responsible for this, but the Film Rating Association and the Jewish consortium behind it. Any foreign film that wants to be released in the United States will have a hard time passing the MPAA's review if there is any problem.

Just like the plot in "The Wandering Earth" that "Israeli scientists had proposed a related plan seven hours ago" -

You put "Israeli scientists" in front and "Old Israelis" were happy; but you said that this plan was rejected and "Old Israelis" didn't like it.

The crew doesn’t know if there is such a reason. In short, the final result is that only a few theaters are willing to show The Wandering Earth, such as AMH, which was acquired by Wanda a few years ago, and some small joint theaters, whose audiences are mainly Chinese.

But despite this, in the first weekend after its release, "The Wandering Earth" achieved a box office of 80 million US dollars in the North American market with an attendance rate of over 380%.

There is no Spring Festival in the United States, and this period is not an important period so no blockbusters are released. As a result, "The Wandering Earth" unexpectedly won the championship in the North American box office chart in its first weekend.

Needless to say, this result has attracted the curiosity of many American audiences. Many American audiences went to the cinema to see what this science fiction movie from Asia is like.

The cinema chain has also conducted statistics, and the results were unexpected. Many of the audiences who were attracted to the movie said that they liked the movie very much.

[I thought it would be an action movie like Jackie, but it turned out to be a standard sci-fi movie, and the quality was surprisingly good. The idea of running around with the Earth was also very interesting. The only problem was that there was no English dubbing, and the subtitles switched too quickly, so I missed many places. If the film crew released a disc, I would be happy to collect a copy and watch it several times. ]

This is a high rating for "The Wandering Earth" on Rotten Tomatoes, which obviously received support from many American audiences.

Perhaps it felt that this movie was indeed something, and starting from the second week, the number of theaters showing it increased from the initial 164 to 235. Although it is still insignificant compared to the more than theaters in the United States, it is still good news.

Compared with the North American market, the situation in the European market is slightly better. La Peikang of China Film Group studied in Europe before and has some connections.

The audience is still mainly Chinese, as for local audiences, the response in northern European countries is relatively cold, and many people don't understand why the escape must take the earth with it. Southern countries like Italy are slightly better, and the overall box office has also received 4 to 5 million US dollars.

What was unexpected was the Japanese and Korean markets, which are also part of the East Asian cultural circle. Especially in Sakura, because it is close to the city, the production team invested more in publicity and came up with a lot of slogans such as "Boys and Girls Who Hope for Freedom" and "The Last Hope of Humanity".

There are also many international students in Japan who simply took matters into their own hands and made a "Japanese version of the promotional video", with things like "Brother-sister bond", "Boy and girl saving the world", "Shouting out hope and future", "I really want to drink another bowl of miso soup"... In short, it's full of all kinds of second-year elements.

This is really what many Sakura fans are looking for. The movie has been out for more than a week and has already grossed more than 800 million yen. This result even exceeds the North American market.

In addition, with the addition of several overseas markets such as Australia and Southeast Asia, The Wandering Earth can probably add tens of millions of box office results. Although there is still a gap from Wolf Warrior 2, it is still an improvement.

This is actually where science fiction movies are truly powerful. Comedy requires a language background, fantasy requires a cultural background, and suspense requires a national background - action movies don't need anything, but the problem is that in the current global film market, action movies are on the decline.

In contrast, science fiction movies do not have these concerns. After all, no matter which country the audience is from, their imagination of the future is always similar. The "Chinese culture" color of "The Wandering Earth" is already very strong, but it can still attract many foreign audiences. This is the charm of science fiction.

"What are your plans next?" Meng Bai asked.

Guo Fan touched the stubble on his chin and said with emotion: "I'll take a break for a while. I haven't had a good night's sleep in the past few years. It just so happened that Huace talked to me about a new theme a while ago, which seems quite interesting."

"New subject?" Meng Bai asked curiously, "What's it about?"

"Evacuation of overseas Chinese." Guo Fan introduced, "The main background is taken from the evacuation of overseas Chinese from Libya in 11, as well as the many evacuation operations in the past to years."

"It sounds a bit like Operation Red Sea."

"The genre is similar, but the protagonists are different." Guo Fan smiled and said, "They are a commando team, taking the action route. The protagonists here are set as diplomats, translators and other civilian personnel, the style is different."

Meng Bai nodded. In recent years, due to the turbulent situation abroad, evacuation incidents have occurred frequently, which naturally became a new material for the film and television industry. The audience is also very interested in this subject. The box office of "Wolf Warrior 2" and "Operation Red Sea" are very high.

However, this type of movie is usually an action movie, where the protagonist or a team goes deep into danger, and then relies on force and tactical skills to fight their way out. It feels good the first few times I watch it, but it gets a bit boring after watching it too much.

I haven't really seen this "diplomatic" route that Guo Fan mentioned. After all, civilian staff can't arrange any action scenes, so there are fewer exciting scenes. But in fact, when encountering similar emergencies abroad, the first people to face the scene are really these diplomats.

but……

"How far have you progressed on this project?" Meng Bai asked.

"We are still in the early stages of collecting information and preparing the script. There are relatively few materials related to this aspect, and we have to find specific people to interview for many of them." Guo Fan said.

"Data collection, early preparation, crew building, actual filming, post-production... it will probably take at least two years." Meng Bai asked, "So what are you going to do with The Wandering Earth 2?"

"hiss--"

Guo Fan had a painful expression on his face.

When he first took over the project, The Wandering Earth had not yet been released. Although those who have seen the finished film think it is of good quality, no one can be sure of the result without market feedback.

If the first part fails or performs averagely, then there is no need to consider the second or third part.

It was with this idea in mind that Guo Fan took on this new project from Huace.

I just didn't expect that The Wandering Earth would achieve such a high performance. In this case, both China Film and other producers would definitely hope to make a sequel.

What? Who is the director?
Are you kidding? Is there any other choice besides Guo Fan?

If those "art student" directors who don't even know what "escape velocity" is were asked to shoot science fiction, they might turn "The Wandering Earth" into something like "a love story in the era of escape" or "dungeon fight".

As for Guo Fan, he certainly does not want to hand over the "The Wandering Earth" series. This is not only a matter of fame and fortune, but more importantly, he is reluctant to hand over his years of hard work to others.

But it is unrealistic to tell China Film that waiting for him for two years and shooting another movie first is unrealistic. So the only way now is to hand over the "evacuation" theme project to other directors.

"Alas, there is really no other way." Guo Fan said somewhat depressedly: "It's just a pity that I did so much interview material in vain."

"Hey, how can you say it's in vain?" Meng Bai said, "Let's find someone from our own family to replace him, so that we can use the information." "Our own family..." Guo Fan thought for a while, "Let me discuss it with Huace and see who is the most suitable replacement."

Putting this matter aside for the moment, he looked at Meng Bai and asked, "What are you going to do with the script of The Wandering Earth 2?"

"Don't ask me to come for the second part." Meng Bai waved his hand. "It's not easy for me, a liberal arts student, to understand the first part. No matter what the second part is about, it will definitely have more science fiction elements. We still have to find some professionals."

After that, Meng Bai patted Guo Fan on the shoulder again and said, "Okay, didn't you say you wanted to take a break? Don't worry about these things now. After you have rested, we will consider what to shoot for the second part."

"Alright." Guo Fan nodded, then smiled and said, "Oh, it's true. If I had known the results would be so good, I shouldn't have let Brother Jing be killed in the explosion. Now I don't know who to find to play the role in the second part."

"It's okay. We can increase the time span and make Liu Qi a middle-aged man. This way, we can let Brother Jing continue to play the role." Meng Bai spread his hands. "After all, it's normal for a son to look like his father."

"Haha, that's a good idea. I'll go discuss it with Brother Jing later."

The two chatted for a while, and Guo Fan went to deal with the follow-up matters of the celebration party. Meng Bai looked around and felt that there was nothing for him to do here, so he planned to leave.

"Boss Meng!"

Just as he was about to leave, he was suddenly stopped. Turning around, he saw a middle-aged woman leading a little girl.

"Mr. Meng, I'm sorry to bother you."

The middle-aged woman looked at Meng Bai with a smile: "I came here mainly to say thank you. Thank you for taking care of Mai Mai over the years."

As she spoke, she patted the little girl next to her. It was Zhao Jinmai who was making faces at Meng Bai. As for the middle-aged woman, she was naturally Zhao Jinmai's mother.

She came here today for two reasons, one was to accompany Zhao Jinmai to attend the event, and the other was to thank Meng Bai.

Since the release of "The Wandering Earth", Zhao Jinmai's popularity and fame have skyrocketed, and he has received countless script invitations.

Mother Zhao naturally knew how these invitations came about. Not everyone could get the title of "5 billion box office heroine", even if it was just a free ride.

Zhao Jinmai was able to star in "The Wandering Earth" mainly because of Meng Bai's recommendation. So she brought her daughter here today to express her gratitude. Although this gratitude is not worth much, they still have to show their sincerity.

Hearing Zhao's mother's sincere thanks, Meng Bai smiled and said, "You're welcome. Actually, I didn't do anything. Mai Mai has a good image and her acting skills are also good among actors of the same age. The reason she got the opportunity is mainly due to her own efforts."

After saying that, he glanced at Zhao Jinmai next to him and said, "Speaking of which, we should actually thank Mai Mai. At that time, no one knew what the outcome of the movie would be, but she was willing to join the film, and she played the role of 'Han Duoduo' very well. She also contributed to the 5 billion box office."

Hearing Meng Bai's words, Zhao Jinmai immediately became proud. She couldn't hide her smile. If her mother wasn't here, the little girl would have laughed out loud.

Brother Meng Bai is still a pretty good guy. He knew to praise himself in front of my mother, and then crossed out one of the bad things he did in the little notebook... Well, make it two.

Perhaps sensing her daughter's change of heart, Mother Zhao gently pushed her and whispered, "Why don't you say thank you?"

"Oh." Zhao Jinmai responded, and then said to Meng Bai seriously: "Brother Meng Bai, thank you."

Mother Zhao frowned when she heard this: "Tsk, who are you calling brother? You have no respect for your elders."

Zhao Jinmai's mouth drooped, but Meng Bai waved his hand nonchalantly: "It's okay, we were used to calling each other that when we were on the crew. Besides, I've known Mai Mai for so many years, and she's almost like my sister, so it's fine to just call her brother, and it makes me look younger."

"Mr. Meng, you are joking. If you think you are old when you are only in your twenties, then what are we like?"

Mother Zhao smiled and replied, then looked down at her daughter. Seeing her expression of "I told you not to bother with that", she wanted to say something, but after opening her mouth, she held back.

Meng Bai remembered something else: "I remember that Mai Mai should be in her third year of high school this year, right?"

"Yes." After getting permission from "Brother Meng Bai", Zhao Jinmai rushed to say, "After the summer vacation, I will be in the third year of high school."

"How are the results?"

"Very good!" Zhao Jinmai said confidently.

"Really?" Meng Bai looked at her suspiciously, then looked at Mother Zhao. Seeing her nod, he said, "That's good. Cultural studies are also very important for actors. If you don't know anything, you won't even understand the lines. Besides, good colleges have high requirements for grades. I'm still waiting for you to become my junior sister."

"Don't worry, Brother Meng Bai, I will definitely be admitted to the Central Academy of Drama next year!" Zhao Jinmai said confidently: "I still remember the drama you mentioned about the heroine."

"Don't worry, no need to remind me every now and then, I remember."

"Hey, I'm just saying this casually..."

After chatting for a while, a staff member came to find Meng Bai. He said something to the mother and daughter, then took his leave.

"Goodbye, Brother Meng Bai!"

Zhao Jinmai waved his hand and watched Meng Bai leave. Only when his figure disappeared did he look away reluctantly.

Mother Zhao glanced at the somewhat lost expression on her daughter's face, then squinted her eyes to look in the direction where Meng Bai left, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

Girls aged 16 or 17 are at the age of young love. What's more, her daughter is in the glamorous entertainment industry, so as a mother, she will pay more attention to it.

However, it seems that her daughter has nothing to do with those little boys of the same age, but she seems to have some affection for her "Brother Meng Bai".

This was a bit confusing, not to mention the twelve-year age difference between the two. More importantly, she had heard a lot about Mr. Meng's "romantic affairs." It was hard to say whether it was true or not, but it showed that he was not an "honest man."

Today, she actually had something in mind, which was to see if Meng Bai had any feelings for her daughter.

Now it seems that there is both good news and bad news.

The good news is that Meng Bai doesn't seem to have any thoughts about his daughter. At most, he just treats her as a little sister.

The bad news is that my daughter seems to be a little confused.

Alas, my daughter has grown up now. As a mother, I am really worried. I have to talk to her father later. I can't let my little girl be kidnapped.

(End of this chapter)