Chapter 429: Earn some hard-earned money in Hollywood
This year's Mainland China market seems to be less lively than last year, but a big event happened in April. Zhang, a Chinese-language superstar known as Brother, jumped up and disappeared.
Perhaps this also indicates that the Chinese-language film market will be unstable this year.
In the first half of the year, the mainland film market was basically dominated by Hong Kong films. However, there are very few movies with a box office of more than 30 million RMB. It seems that mainland audiences are no longer interested in Hong Kong movies.
The Chinese-language film with the highest box office in the first half of the year was "Mouse Falls in Love with Cat" starring Dehua Liu and Cecilia Chang, with a box office of 33 million RMB.
The movie with the highest box office is "X-Men 2" from Hollywood, with a current box office total of 43 million RMB.
After last year's "Hero", Guo Shi has no new works released this year. Feng Dapao's "Mobile Phone" is still early in release date. Little Gilbert said that he has never heard the names of other mainland movies.
Although the overall box office situation in the mainland in the first half of the year was not ideal, this situation changed after the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean".
Released on Tuesday, June 10, the film made a box office of 1.3 million RMB on its first day. The box office on its first day was higher than the total box office of many movies released in the first half of the year.
You must know that in the top 30 of the mainland box office list in the first half of the year, there are still films with a box office of hundreds of thousands, which can be described as extremely bleak.
Next, "Pirates of the Caribbean" continues to dominate the mainland film market.
It earned 2.21 million box office on Wednesday, 3.07 million on Thursday, and a total of 11.6 million RMB on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The box office in the first week was as high as 18.18 million RMB.
Judging from this box office situation, although it cannot replicate the success of "Return of the King" in the mainland last year, it is not a problem to get a box office of 80 to 90 million RMB, or even hundreds of millions.
It seems that in addition to Hong Kong films, this year will be dominated by Hollywood films, because there will be many films coming to the mainland market.
Since the signing of the WTO agreement, the quota for mainland imported films has reached 20 per year. More and more imported Hollywood blockbusters have become an important part of the mainland market.
However, this market potential still needs to be explored. Even if "Pirates of the Caribbean" grossed 100 million RMB at the box office in the mainland, it would still only be over 12 million US dollars in U.S. dollars.
According to the account sharing agreement, the publisher can only get more than 1.8 million US dollars in box office.
Looking at the revenue from this box office split, it is not even as good as some small European countries. In other words, Hollywood movies all earn some hard-earned money, and the real big share is taken away by China Film Group, which is responsible for the introduction.
The accounting system for mainland movies is different from that of Hollywood. In Hollywood, the distributor gets the big share and the theaters get the small share. The theaters mainly rely on peripheral add-on products to make profits. This has been explained before.
Mainland movie theaters may starve to death if they rely on peripheral add-on products to make profits, so box office is the main source of profits for mainland movie theaters.
Therefore, people in Hollywood movies will be very surprised. It is obvious that Chinese production companies and distribution companies have spent investment and energy on making movies and promoting them.
As a result, Chinese theater chains did nothing but took the most. So what’s the point of these production companies making movies?
In fact, this is because many Hollywood filmmakers do not understand the situation of the mainland film market, because Hollywood has a system that separates production and broadcasting.
A movie company is a movie company, and a theater chain is a theater chain.
Chinese film companies are not only responsible for the production process, but also control the screening process and own theater chains, such as China Film.
So you might think that Chinese film companies only take a small share of the box office, which seems like a huge loss, but in fact, part of the theater revenue also belongs to them.
This is equivalent to a person who has a job, is responsible for all aspects of this job, and then makes a lot of money.
If you put it on "Pirates of the Caribbean", China Film Group will make a lot of money, while Disney and Warner, as producers, will make pitifully little money.
It seems that with this box office, there is no need for Little Gilbert and Johnny Depp to make a special trip, but they came anyway.
Many times, we can’t focus on the present, but focus on the future.
When the film was released in the first week, it received good reviews, and many mainland media gave "Pirates of the Caribbean" their own praise.
But in terms of talent, Chinese netizens are the most talented.
A netizen compiled a limerick, which goes like this;
“The captain is so charming that all crabs love him.
Following Jack, I starved for nine meals in three days.
After eating one meal but not another, I had to be beaten with a steel rod if nothing happened. "
Another netizen commented: "I have to say, the part where the pirates attacked the castle under the moonlight and turned into skeletons, and the part where Elizabeth saw the skeleton crew on the ship, scared me."
"The special effects of Hollywood blockbusters are real. Captain Jack and Barbossa are fighting swords in the cave. The two shuttle through the moonlit hole, turning into humans and skeletons for a while. It's so exciting."
"I want to watch it again. This is the best movie I have seen this year. The last time I had this experience was "The Return of the King."
"I'm different. My youngest favorite is Titanic."
"Me too……"
In short, netizens rated this "Pirates of the Caribbean" very highly.
As for the plot, to be honest, the movie fans who watched it in the theater didn't pay attention at all, they were all attracted by the special effects and exquisite scenes. When "Pirates of the Caribbean" was released in mainland China, little Gilbert also attended a lecture at the Shanghai Film Festival and sat down to communicate with national teacher Zhang and director Chen Gege.
The host of the lecture was still the leading actress of Yangliu School, and the lecture was also broadcast in full by Yangliu School.
There is also an introduction at the beginning to introduce little Gilbert's resume to the audience in front of the TV.
"He is one of the most successful Hollywood directors since the 1990s, and every one of his films arouses people's amazement. The box office of his personally directed films has exceeded US$8 billion.
He is persistent, diligent, studious, hard-working, and tenacious. He is the representative of the American dream. Let us welcome director Gilbert Landrini..."
Following the host's words, little Gilbert walked onto the stage with mature steps, waved to the guests at the lecture, and greeted the audience in front of the TV.
After little Gilbert appeared, National Master Zhang and Pigeon Chen also appeared. After the three of them took their seats, the etiquette lady served tea.
The format this time was quite innovative, similar to a tea party. The three of them chatted about Chinese and American culture and movies.
The organizers also hope that little Gilbert will not be too formal, because what he says in formal occasions is very formulaic. Just chatting like this can actually tell the truth.
Liu Ji and Guo Fan obtained the qualifications to participate in the lecture, mainly because of Liu Ji. Of course, he did not forget his good friends and dragged Guo Fan to participate.
The two found their seats and sat down. The lecture hadn't started yet, and everyone around them was whispering.
Many of the people attending this lecture saw little Gilbert for the first time and were very curious about this handsome director from Hollywood.
"I heard that Director Gilbert can speak Chinese. Is that true?"
"Of course it's true. He greeted fans in Chinese on the red carpet."
"I'm curious, how did he learn Chinese?"
This is indeed a question, but soon Chen Gege on the stage asked this question on behalf of everyone: "Little Director Gilbert, can I ask you a personal question?"
Little Gilbert nodded and said, "Excuse me..."
Sure enough, he answered in Chinese, and his Chinese fluency was better than that of many Shanghai locals.
Ge Gechen asked: "I have been to the United States and I know that for many people, Chinese is a nightmare. How long did it take you to reach this level?"
Little Gilbert pretended to reminisce and replied: "It was probably when I was at the University of Southern California, about four years."
The audience exclaimed, "Is it Chinese to learn a language in four years?" Incredible.
Little Gilbert seemed to understand everyone's doubts. He smiled and said: "English is made up of letters, and if you want to learn it, you must memorize the words.
But Chinese is different. It is one of the few characters and languages in the world that evolved from hieroglyphs. At least for me, such a language is not difficult.
On the contrary, I studied French with Sophie Marceau, but still only know a few French curse words. "
Little Gilbert's last sentence made the atmosphere relaxed and humorous, but at the same time it was strange that Chinese is really that simple.
In fact, it's not simple. Little Gilbert just wants to pretend to show that he is awesome.
Just like promoting movies in France or the UK, little Gilbert said how interested he was in Chinese culture in China, and how interested he was in French culture in France.
"Are you interested in Chinese culture? Have you ever watched Chinese-language movies?" the host interjected.
"Of course I've seen it," little Gilbert said, looking at National Master Zhang and Gezi Chen: "Actually, I've seen both directors' works, such as "Hero" and "Farewell My Concubine," both of which are good."
Big Hollywood directors have watched their movies. National Master Zhang is fine with it, but Chen Gege is a little proud of it.
The look in his eyes seemed to say: I guess you, a ghost guy, have a lot of vision.
National Master Zhang finally asked a meaningful question: "What do you think is the gap between Chinese and American movies?"
Little Gilbert's answer surprised everyone: "I think it's the industrial base."
This answer stunned National Master Zhang, and the audience couldn't help but be surprised. Guo Fan and Liu Ji looked at each other. They thought that little Gilbert would talk about cultural politics and other factors!
But little Gilbert definitely didn’t want to talk about such a sensitive topic, so he talked about the most basic film industry, which is indeed related to the development of the film industry.
Without waiting for the audience to continue thinking, Little Gilbert continued: "Hollywood was not popular around the world from the beginning. Before the 1990s, European movies could still compete with Hollywood movies.
But by the mid-1990s, with the advancement of the Hollywood film industry and technological advancement, European films were far inferior to Hollywood films. "
In fact, the main reason for the global popularity of Hollywood movies in the 1990s was the fall of a certain giant bear, but obviously this reason cannot be mentioned on this occasion.
I have to say that looking at Chinese-language films from the perspective of a Hollywood director and looking at the development and changes of the film market has given mainland filmmakers a lot of inspiration. This lecture is still very meaningful.
(End of chapter)