Chapter 45 "Hero" is a hero in itself
In the past two days, the most exciting news has been about Zhang Yimou. In addition to the release of "House of Flying Daggers", "Hero" has finally been officially released on a large scale in North America. Released.
However, the title of the film was changed to "Hero: Jet Li".
Yes, in North America, the main promotion of "Hero" is Jet Li.
Jet Li has strong appeal in the field of overseas action films. He is known as the "King of Kung Fu". When "Hero" was first established, it was only a three to four million US dollar project. Investors said, you If Jet Li comes to you, I will raise 30 million yuan for you.
It was for his sake that Miramax paid a high price of $15 million to purchase the rights to "Heroes".
However, after the purchase, the film was not released for a long time, which caused a rift between the producers of "Heroes" and Miramax.
Zhang Chen has heard two versions of rumors about this.
One version is that after Miramax bought the rights, it happened to be breaking up with Disney, and there were all kinds of quarrels between the two parties. Miramax's release of "Heroes" at this time is equivalent to subsidizing the enemy. So definitely not allowed.
Later, it seems that Quentin strongly recommended it to Harvey. He admired Zhang Yimou very much and was even willing to sign "Hero" as a producer. Only then did Harvey agree to release it, and it was a large-scale release in more than 2,000 theaters.
Another version is that Miramax purchases heroes purely for the purpose of eliminating competitors, which is somewhat similar to a protective acquisition.
In March 2001, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" became the highest-grossing foreign language film in American history after its North American box office exceeded US$100 million. Therefore, the eight major production companies are very optimistic about "Hero".
After the completion of "Heroes", both Warner and Sony Classics expressed their intention to distribute it, but in the end it was taken over by Miramax.
Miramax also had no choice but to invest in two blockbusters, "Gangs of New York" and "Chicago". The investment in both movies was US$200 million, so they could only succeed but not fail.
Miramax must do its best to ensure that other films have minimal interference with these two movies. If "Heroes" is acquired by other companies, it is likely to become a strong competitor in the Christmas season that year, so haha Wei relied on Jet Li's relationship to successfully win "Hero".
After winning it but not releasing it, it was to ensure that his two films would have no competitors at the same time.
From this point of view, "Hero" is indeed quite successful, and its box office is not bad. It successfully won the North American weekend box office championship within three days of its release, which is the only one in the history of Chinese-language films.
Based on the strong sales of "Heroes" in North America, "House of Flying Daggers" became even more popular in China. Zhang Weiping was very happy, not only making horizontal comparisons, but also vertical comparisons.
The three-day box office of "House of Flying Daggers" in its first weekend was 55 million, exceeding the 52.4 million of the previous "Hero".
The first-day box office of "House of Flying Daggers" was 15 million, while the first-day box office of Feng Xiaogang's "Mobile Phone", which was the top film last year, was only 2.2 million.
Feng Xiaogang was very depressed. Why are you pulling me when nothing happens?
But he seemed to have forgotten that he had pulled Xiao Cui along in the same way.
But he can't refute it yet. People speak with data.
But Zhang Weiping also has some unsatisfactory aspects. According to the feedback of word-of-mouth, "House of Flying Daggers" is a bit of a critical hit. To use a popular saying on the Internet, it is - the word-of-mouth is mediocre.
People who watched the movie came out and said that "House of Flying Daggers" was not good to watch, and it seemed like a rush job.
Some even said it was a gorgeous piece of poop.
Zhang Weiping naturally retorted, saying that these are all bribed trolls, and they are completely deliberately smearing. But the strange thing is that more and more trolls are being bribed.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Xiaobei took the opportunity to interview Zhang Chen and wanted to stir up trouble: "Have you watched "House of Flying Daggers"?"
"Yes."
< br>"How is it?" Zhang Chen was not polite: "To be honest, I'm a little disappointed. This film, like "Hero", is aimed at the overseas market and is made for foreigners. The costumes and pictures are very exquisite, and the colors are also very beautiful. Director Ah Mou's style is like poetry, but the plot is too slow and the action design is extremely beautiful, but it doesn't look like a martial arts film. So foreigners may think it's good after watching it, but domestic people will definitely feel that they are Cheated..."
Zhang Chen complained to his heart's content, and was angry that his movie was forced to be taken off the production line.
"You mean, "Hero" is also a piece of garbage?" Zhang Xiaobei didn't even bother to cover up his little thoughts.
How could Zhang Chen fulfill his wish? He waved his hand and said righteously: "I didn't say that. Don't write it randomly. "Hero" is still very good. Although he also filmed it for foreigners, But it’s far more exciting than House of Flying Daggers.”
After Zhang Chen finished speaking, he turned around and left, not giving the other party a chance to continue.
In fact, what he just said was not the truth. He also disliked "Hero", but the significance of this movie is extraordinary. He can no longer describe it as good-looking or bad-looking. In the history of Chinese movies, it is a milestone. .
The mainland box office revenue was 250 million, which directly broke the box office record of Shaolin Temple and accounted for a quarter of the total box office in the mainland that year.
The era of blockbusters has begun, saving the mainland market with blockbusters and bringing audiences back to the cinema.
Hong Kong ranked fourth with 26.67 million, Taipei ranked third in the top ten with nearly 75 million, the only Chinese film in the top ten with nearly 75 million, South Korea ranked first in Chinese films with 1.91 million, Japan ranked among the top ten with 4.05 billion, breaking the 20-year Chinese record of "Shaolin Temple" Film Japan Documentary.
Furthermore, "Hero" is the first Chinese-language film to open in 2,000 theaters in North America, which has never happened before.
For example, when "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was released at about the same time, no one knew about it at all because it was only shown in two theaters. After it was shown for a while, everyone thought it was pretty good, so it opened 20 more theaters. Okay, we just added it to more than 100, 200.
Secondly, "Hero" has grossed more than 30 million U.S. dollars at the box office in the world's three largest markets, Mainland China, the United States, and Japan. It is also unique in the history of Chinese-language films. Even in the future, there will still be no Chinese-language film overseas that can gross US$30 million at the box office in the United States and Japan at the same time. Only "Hero" can do that.
With so many firsts, even though Zhang Chen doesn't like "Hero", he can't say bad things about him, because he is no longer a movie, but a pioneer of Chinese movies going global. Pathfinder.
"Hero" itself is a hero.
……
Zhang Chen's complaint spread throughout the entertainment industry through the media the next day.
"Young Director Criticizes Zhang Yimou"
"House of Flying Daggers Let Me Down"
"House of Flying Daggers: A Movie for Foreigners"
< br>"Zhang Weiping angrily scolded Zhang Chen for disrespecting his seniors"
Reporters like Zhang Chen the most. If this guy just says hello, they can get a lot more bonuses.
Teacher Fu called again:
"Teacher, I promise, I have no objections to Director A Mou. I am just commenting on the movie... Okay, I understand. , be sure to pay attention next time..."
After making a lot of promises, Teacher Fu let him go.
Just when the phone was hung up, another unfamiliar number called. Zhang Chen thought for a moment, answered the call, and heard a voice inside:
"Hello, Director Zhang, I am Wang Jinghua..."
...
New book, please vote for me, please read it
(End of this chapter)