Chapter 153 Director Wang, evening.
In 2006, or in the next few years, it was unrealistic to make a special effects blockbuster in China.
The gap between investment and return is too large and not proportional.
It is possible to invest 1 billion and only recover the cost of 100 million.
The main battlefield for Chinese-language films lies in the mainland.
Cinemas in the mainland are limited, with only 3,034 screens nationwide in 2006.
In 2007, there were 3,527 screens nationwide.
In 2008, there were 4,097 screens nationwide.
In 2009, there were 4,723 screens nationwide.
In 2010, 2011 and 2012, 6256, 9286 and 13118 screens.
At this time, the number of domestic screens began to increase rapidly, and films that exceeded one billion in box office became more and more common, instead of being praised everywhere as before 2010 when a domestic film with a box office of over one billion appeared.
By 2017, the number of movie screens nationwide had increased to 50,776, which was nearly 15 times the number of movie screens nationwide in 2007.
As for selling films abroad.
Except for a few films starring Chen Long, Jet Li, etc., which can have some audiences abroad, films starring other mainland movie stars basically have no audience.
Even if you sell movies abroad, you won’t be able to sell them for much money.
It may even fail to sell.
And it was released globally.
Even if it was released, it would be a hit.
Unless the starring roles are Chen Long and Jet Li, and it is released abroad, there are still some opinions.
And Jet Li, it has to be a special type of movie like a kung fu movie, otherwise there would be no explanation.
The only one who can say something is Chen Long.
As for Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi.
Although they have indeed gone international, they do not have much box office appeal.
If Wang Shu wants to make a special effects blockbuster at this moment, he will have to put aside the fact that the domestic market is not enough to recover the cost.
As far as special effects production technology is concerned, there is no corresponding technology in China.
If he wanted to make a special effects blockbuster, he had to get the film to Hollywood.
The top special effects in Hollywood cost tens of thousands per second.
A qualified computer capable of producing special effects images costs around several hundred thousand.
It takes about 50 hours to render one frame of footage.
There are about 24 frames in a second in a movie.
Therefore, a five-second shot takes at least 250 days to render.
If there were 1,000 special effects shots in a movie, that would be 685 years.
And this is just rendering, not polished yet.
Of course, large companies will trade quantity for time.
For example, when "Avengers 4" was produced, 12 of the world's top special effects companies and tens of thousands of computers were used.
Not counting the cost of manpower and material resources, the electricity bill alone exceeds millions of dollars.
Chinese-language films, when brought to Hollywood to produce special effects, may run the risk of being ripped off.
Therefore, if Wang Shu wanted to produce a "Wandering Earth" in 2006, it would take at least several years to complete the production, and the investment cost would also be an extremely huge number.
Furthermore, if the film is released domestic, it will not be able to recoup its cost 100%.
"Director Wang, do you want to see Superman tonight?"
In the afternoon of the next day, Zhou Xun approached Wang Shu and asked in a low voice.
Xu Huanhuan happened to come over. When he heard Zhou Xun's words, he was startled for a moment, and then silently put the movie tickets he had prepared into his pocket.
She also prepared movie tickets, but it’s not the right time to take them out now.
"I won't go." Wang Shu has watched "Superman Returns". This is a superhero movie that is so ordinary that you have nothing to say. There is no need to go to the cinema to contribute to the box office.
If you have the money, wouldn’t it be delicious to invite someone to have a meal of spicy hotpot?
"Aren't you going to watch a Hollywood blockbuster?" Zhou Xun was quite surprised when he heard this.
In her opinion, Wang Shu is a young man and should be the audience for superhero movies.
In addition, he is also a director, so he will not miss Hollywood special effects films.
I never thought that Wang Shu would directly refuse?
This is somewhat different from what she thought.
"No, there's nothing to see." Wang Shu responded, and then said, "It's better to sleep at home."
Zhou Xun rolled his eyes and was too lazy to continue talking to him.
Xu Huanhuan listened on the sidelines and understood that Wang Shu did not want to go to the cinema to watch "Superman Returns", so there was no need to mention this matter to Wang Shu.
In the evening, she asked Yan Danchen to go into the cinema together.
"Has the heroine been replaced by Zhou Xun?" Yan Danchen and Xu Huanhuan asked about the crew of "The Witch in Plain Clothes". When they learned that Hao Shuli had been replaced by Zhou Xun, they were surprised to ask.
Xu Huanhuan nodded and said, "The crew won't let anyone know about this, so don't tell anyone else!" Yan Danchen smiled and said, "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone."
Then he asked curiously, "What's going on? How did Hao Su leave the crew, and why was he replaced by Zhou Xun?"
"With Zhou Xun's current status, not Should he be accepted into an idol drama?"
Xu Huanhuan knew that Yan Danchen would ask this, because Zhou Xun's acting in an idol drama had an air of outrageousness from beginning to end. She said helplessly: " I don’t know either. Neither Director Wang nor Zhou Xun has revealed the reason to the outside world.”
"Even when Hao Su quit, the crew said it was because of Hao Su's personal reasons."
"What exactly is going on in this matter, except for Director Wang, Zhou Xun, and Hao Su, must be involved. Except for those who know it, no one else knows the specific reason."
In the inherent understanding of Xu Huanhuan and Yan Danchen, Hao Shu will not be banned for "The Summer Palace".
Because, generally only the director and producer will be punished, and the actors will not be affected.
There are many examples to support this.
Therefore, they subconsciously believed that Hao Su would not quit "The Witch in Suit" because of "The Summer Palace", but only for other reasons.
Xu Huan saw Yan Danchen scratching his head and thinking, and then said: "If Hao Su was replaced by another actress with a lower status, maybe it can be said that Hao Su was snatched away for some reason. "But Zhou Xun, this is obviously not the case."
"The disadvantages of acting in an idol drama outweigh the advantages. There is no need to compete for Hao Su's role." "
"So, I think Hao Shuxian quit the crew for some reason, and then Director Wang went to find Zhou Xun."
"And Zhou Xun happened to have a schedule, and he had a good relationship with Director Wang, and maybe there were some additional conditions, so he agreed to replace Hao Su."
"After all, Zhou Xun is Huayi's artist. "
"Even if Zhou Xunkan agrees to star due to her relationship with Director Wang, Huayi will not let the company's leading actress act in an idol drama."
"Inevitable. What conditions were attached to make Hua Yi agree?"
Listening to Xu Huanhuan's analysis, Yan Danchen felt it was reasonable and nodded. She said, "It seems that Director Wang has agreed to something. Only under these conditions can Zhou Xun succeed Hao Su.”
At the same time, I felt quite resentful in my heart. Even though the heroine had been replaced, she was not approached to play the role.
Not only did she not need to agree to Huayi’s conditions to cast her, the pay was also much lower than Zhou Xun’s.
She also knows that Wang Shu will first look at whether the actor's image is suitable for the role.
She was not cast, most likely because she was not suitable.
It’s just that, even though I know this, I still feel a little bit disgusted in my heart.
Especially now, she has no job, no filming, and is idle at home.
The two of them walked out of the cinema after watching the movie. Their impressions of "Superman Returns" were neither good nor bad.
The special effects of Hollywood blockbusters are indeed not only cool, but also more realistic. Compared with the cutout special effects in domestic films, they are many times better.
It’s just that the plot seemed a bit weak to both of them.
They didn’t know that the film "Superman Returns" had gone through a lot of twists and turns from when Warner originally wanted to put it on the big screen to when it actually entered theaters.
Kevin Smith wrote the first version of the script for the film when Tim Burton was still the director.
Then, Tim Burton was replaced, and the script was also... changed.
Warner invested US$350 million in "Superman Returns", but only US$300 million actually reached Bryan Singer.
The remaining 50 million US dollars were wasted on the bumpy road of changing scripts, directors, and actors.
The director choices also ranged from Tim Burton to Michael Bay to McG, and finally the dust settled on Brett Ratner.
However, this was not the end, and it was eventually replaced by Bryan Singer.
As a director, Bryan Singer once tailor-made a role for Jude Law, but after Jude Law withdrew from the film, Bryan Singer did not find someone to replace him. This character was simply deleted from the script.
The film was originally scheduled to start shooting in early 2003, but it was shelved once again because Nicolas Cage, the default candidate for "Superman", was fed up with the repeated delays in the entire process and switched to other films.
Just when the funds, script, and director were all in place, Brett Ratner had contacted Jude Law, Ashton Kutcher, Paul Walker, Josh Ha Knight and many other popular actors, except for Russell Crowe who refused to play "Superman" without a second thought, they have never been able to reach a consensus on other candidates.
During the casting process, James Caviezel, who was originally the most vocal, was rejected on the spot by Bryan Singer because his "The Passion of the Christ" was too famous.
In the end, Brandon Routh was cast as Superman.
In order to better fit the image of Superman, Brandon Routh gained 20 pounds in fitness.
Although the competition for "Superman" is not as fierce, the role of the heroine Lois Lane also passed through Keira Knightley, Claire Danes, and Eliza Cuthbert. and Keri Russell before being transferred to Kate Bosworth.
Although scripts, directors, and actors were changed along the way, many well-known directors and popular actors still flocked to it.
After all, it is a superhero movie produced by Warner with an investment of more than 300 million US dollars, especially a superman movie that is extremely popular.
In Hollywood, except for some popular actors who already have classic masterpieces and do not need to star in this type of film, they are not interested.
Other actors who want to stand out also want to get roles.
In Hollywood, if an actress wants to get a role in the fierce competition, lying down is just the first step.
(End of this chapter)