Chapter 116 is dedicated to playing devil’s advocate
Although the European concerts were decided to be added before Yang Ye arrived in the United States, due to the huge power of a global company like PolyGram, the London concert only took a short time The preparations were completed in two months.
And, after Yang Ye sang the song "We Will Rock You" at the Hollywood Open Air Concert, PolyGram released the mini-disc as quickly as possible.
In this way, by the time Yang Ye arrived in London in early May, he was already a well-known rock singer in the UK.
Speaking of which, since Hong Kong is British and Yang Ye holds a Hong Kong passport, he is still a British man, so this can be considered a return to China.
It has to be said that the market in Europe and the United States is still huge. Less than a month after the release of "WeWillRockYou", sales exceeded 1.3 million copies.
It has successfully appeared on the National Billboard and has stayed there for three consecutive weeks. For a newcomer and a yellow person, this is a miracle.
In addition to the four songs on this small disc being very classic, PolyGram’s overwhelming publicity is indispensable for such achievements.
Yang Ye’s title as a kung fu star has also brought him a lot of popularity. Three consecutive movies have been a hit at the North American box office, and he has won the Oscar for Best Director. His achievements have transcended his skin color.
When Yang Ye and his party arrived in London, this song had already spread throughout the streets.
Before the London concert, local media interviewed Yang Ye: "Why did you write the song "WeWillRockYou"?"
Yang Ye said lightly: "Oh, I just wanted to create an atmosphere at the concert. ”
Speaking of which, the wool from poplar leaves is quite measured. If one person gathers a little bit, the rain and dew will be absorbed by it.
This is the benefit of traveling through time early. There are classics everywhere. Just pick up a few and you will be full.
However, because it is a collection of wool, the songs released by Yang Ye do not have any style.
Because of this, if you release a large number of songs, it will look very messy and strange. Therefore, Yang Ye will not release songs if it is not necessary, and try his best to maintain a mysterious and playful mentality.
Besides, he doesn’t have that much energy. He spends twenty-four hours a day, two hours practicing and two hours writing, so that’s four hours gone.
When I was filming a movie, I was so busy that I couldn’t even touch the ground.
You still want to be a singer, release albums, hold concerts, and perform everywhere?
Let’s count the balls!
It’s not easy to travel through time, so why bother?
You have to work hard and enjoy life, so Yang Ye can only have one main business, and the others are incidental.
……
The success of Yang Ye’s concert with 20,000 people at the Hollywood Bowl gave PolyGram confidence. They held a concert with 20,000 people in London and planned to invite A local British singer will be a guest at the concert.
PoGram asked Yang Ye who he wanted to invite? Yang Ye thought for a while and asked if he could invite the Queen band? PolyGram met Yang Ye’s requirements.
Yang Ye actually didn't mean anything else, he just wanted to meet Mustache.
However, later generations of media have many interpretations of this encounter. The most common theory is that Yang Ye and Mustache are both Asians, not authentic British, and then involve a series of racial remarks. Bala, bala...
But that’s all for another day. All in all, the London concert was a success again.
After the concert, when Yang Ye rushed to Cannes, there were only two days before the awards ceremony.
Since Yang Ye is not very versatile, Hu Jinquan is responsible for the exhibition in Cannes.
Jiang Zhiqiang, who must come to Cannes every year to buy movies, was naturally made a young man, responsible for negotiating the purchase of movies with film producers from all over the world.
The exhibition hall of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is the same as that of "Shaolin Temple" two years ago, with a large number of viewers and a long queue.
Wang Zuxian said excitedly: "Wow, there are so many people!"
Xiao Yingying said matter-of-factly: "Of course, Brother Ye's movie is the best."
Wu Jingyi Wang Looking at the queue of people, he asked: "Can we go see it?"
Zhou Huimin shook her head and said: "No, children can't watch it."
Wu Jingyi asked: "Why?"
Wang Zuxian said with a smile: "I know, because there are many in the movie The scene of Brother Ye kissing Sister Qingxia. "
Xiao Yingying sighed and said helplessly: "Brother Ye is so carefree, kissing Sister Qingxia and then kissing Sister Lijun."
But in my heart, I was looking forward to growing up quickly and kissing Brother Ye.
...
Yang Ye found Hu Jinquan and Jiang Zhiqiang and asked about the sales situation of the film. Jiang Zhiqiang said happily: "We increased the price by 10% compared with "Shaolin Temple", and the result was even better. For film dealers in the same area, I We originally wanted them to bid, but Mr. Yang said that the main purpose in the early stage was to consolidate channels, so we still cooperated with the original film producers and did not raise the price. The premise is that they must buy our other films.”
Yang Ye nodded and praised: "This strategy is good!"
For Yang Ye, just one or two movies selling well does not mean much.
His goal is to form a matrix to cultivate the habit of watching Hong Kong action movies in various markets and create a brand effect.
The kung fu movies of Chen Long and Hung Jingbao are both very exciting, but they just lack distribution channels.
For example, Chen Long's "Drunken Master" sold 2.8 billion yen in Japan, but it has not been released in the United States.
This is the huge loss caused by the lack of overseas distribution channels for early Hong Kong films.
The most successful Hong Kong film was in 1982, when "Shaolin Temple" sold more than 100 films in Cannes and made a profit of 10 million US dollars.
It is a pity that Zhongyuan Film Company at that time did not follow up with successful works. Not only did it miss an excellent opportunity to open up the global market, but it also delayed Jet Li.
The best time in Li Lianjie's life was wasted for ten years. It was not until 1991, when he was nearly thirty, that he re-emerged with the "Once Upon a Time" series.
However... that time was already the last glory of Hong Kong films.
Yang Ye is different. He opened up the global market with "Shaolin Temple" eight years in advance. He then continued to follow up with "Fist of Heroes" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and then obtained overseas publishers. trust, and took advantage of this opportunity to continuously export his company's films overseas to form a matrix.
The ultimate goal is to make Poplar Pictures’ tree-shaped title sequence as familiar to global audiences as Disney Castle and Warner Shield. In order to achieve this goal, Yang Ye put a lot of thought into the choice of movies.
In the original time and space, the box office performance of these three movies in Hong Kong was not very good. Except for "Shaolin Temple" which ranked fourth in the year, the next two movies were only so-so.
However, they all performed well overseas. "Shaolin Temple" sold like crazy, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" had a double hit at the box office, and "Fist of Heroes" also sold 100 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office overseas, and was also Time Magazine named it the greatest kung fu movie.
In other words, Yang Ye chose these three movies for the overseas market from the beginning.
As for the local soup and water, Yang Ye actually doesn’t like it very much.
For this reason, when negotiating with Jiahe, he was even willing to give up his local box office share.
Now Yang Ye has connected with New Line Cinema in advance and released "Drunken Master" in North America. As a result, it sold more than 8 million US dollars at the box office, which is a huge profit.
"Drunken Master" also did well at the box office in Europe. When I came to Cannes this time, Baiyang Pictures brought Chen Long's new film, and everyone was rushing to get it. In fact, it didn't have to be compared to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden" Dragon" bundle.
What is tied up is Sammo Hung’s new film. He is not well-known now, so he can only sell it as part of it.
But the poplar leaves don’t matter, as long as they can be sold.
Speaking of which, Hollywood’s global market has also been cultivated step by step.
In the 1980s, Hollywood was not even a big deal in Hong Kong, but in the late 1990s, Hong Kong movies were under a hammer.
Of course, there are many reasons why Hollywood is awesome, and cultivating the audience’s movie-watching habits is only one of the many factors.
What Yang Ye has to do is to try to expand his advantage while Hollywood has not yet swept the world and Hong Kong movies are in full swing.
......
As soon as Yang Ye appeared on the red carpet, he was immediately treated like a superstar, and various cameras were pointed at him to take pictures.
Someone in the crowd shouted his name from time to time.
Yang Ye said to Lin Qingxia who was holding his arm: "Calm down, smile, and look at the camera!"
While saying this, he smiled and waved to the crowd!
Lin Qingxia felt happy when she saw her boyfriend was so popular. Yang Ye also taught her how to smile when she was at the Oscars. Now, there is no need to squeeze at all, the bright look is written all over the face.
After entering, the crew of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" found the seats arranged by the organizing committee and sat down. Soon, the awards ceremony began.
Lin Qingxia asked nervously: "Brother Ye, do you think we will win the award?"
Yang Ye said calmly: "The chance is not great."
"Why? Our movie It’s very popular. When we were exhibiting, our exhibition hall was the busiest.”
Lin Qingxia asked the same question as Zhao Yazhi two years ago.
Yang Ye had no choice but to explain: "So many ordinary audiences love to watch our movies, and if the judges give us awards, it seems that they have no taste."
"Ah, why is this? But we won a lot of awards at the Oscars."
"Cannes is very aloof and thinks that movies are real art, while the Oscars are too business-oriented and have a bad odor, so they often go against the Oscars. . Last year, Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" failed to win an Oscar, but Cannes gave Lao Ma a Palme d'Or. "
Yang Ye said it clearly, and Lin Qingxia listened. My heart feels so cold.
Hu Jinquan next door smiled and said: "Young Master Yang, you said you wouldn't win the award the year before last, but didn't you win the award later?"
"Uh..." Yang Ye said with a bit of embarrassment, his face hurting. : "That was an accident. Who knew that the jury would suddenly come up with a technology award that I had never heard of."
After hearing this, Lin Qingxia said brightly: "Maybe we will win the technology award this time."
When Yang Ye heard this, this statement made some sense, because the technology award Although it is not a permanent award, it has appeared several times in later generations. Once, Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang won it for a recording technology.
Cannes does not announce the shortlist for each award like other awards. It is a general nomination that tells you that your film has been shortlisted.
It does not say exactly what is shortlisted, so before the lottery is drawn, everyone is unsure.
The awards were being handed out on the stage, and Yang Ye and others were chatting quietly in the audience. Everyone was very relaxed, because they had already earned enough at the Oscars, and even winning the award in Cannes was just the icing on the cake, so Not nervous.
In the middle of the show, Yang Ye even went on stage as a presenter and presented an award to the best actress.
The Actor Awards at Cannes are Best Actor and Best Actress. Anyone can win the award regardless of the leading role or supporting role.
The winner is an American actress named Shelly Duvall. She is not beautiful, but she is very distinctive. Inexplicably, she looks a bit like... Anita Mui.
Yang Ye handed the award to her hands and said with a smile: "Congratulations, Xie Li, for having the opportunity to work together."
Xie Li said strangely: "Mr. Yang, are you here? Invite me to collaborate?”
Yang Ye smiled and said: "Of course, you can give me your contact information later."
Xie Li readily agreed. After all, Yang Ye is an Academy Award-winning director.
Yang Ye went down after handing out the prizes, and then chatted with Hu Jinquan.
The Cannes awards these days are very monotonous and not as flashy as later generations.
There are only a few mainstream awards, and it didn’t take long to reach the Palme d’Or.
When the title of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was called out on the stage, Yang Ye's expression was one of confusion.
While others stood up excitedly to celebrate.
“It shouldn’t be!” Amidst the warm applause, Yang Ye also stood up and said with a smile.
Lin Qingxia said happily: "What shouldn't be done? Didn't you say that Cannes just loves to go against the Oscar? The Oscar refused to give the best film, so Cannes gave it!"
"You That’s right! Hahaha.”
Yang Ye thought as he walked: Brother Kaizi, the best you can do is be the second child!
(End of this chapter)