China Entertainment 1997

Starring in Arrow?

Cao Xuan also heard the voices from the outside world, but he could only say three words - impossible.

Let alone Green Arrow, even if Warner creates a Chinese-American Superman, Cao Xuan cannot play it.

Marvel is not a fool. The non-competition agreement has been signed long ago, regardless of whether it is a comic-adapted movie from DC or another company. Cao Xuan can't play, unless it's another superhero from Marvel.

For example, Mr. Peach, before playing Captain America, also played the role of Human Torch in the Fantastic Four. In addition, there are other superheroes. He is definitely the old savior of the American people.

But for a role like a superhero, playing one role is to expand your own fame and influence, but it becomes boring if you play too many roles.

Cao Xuan is not short of money. As long as the Eagle Eye goal is achieved, there is no need to fight with superhero movies.

If he really wants to act, Cao Xuan would like to be in a Chinese superhero movie, but this kind of movie is really difficult to make.

The national conditions are different, and many plots cannot be set.

For God's sake, where do you put the police comrades? Punishing bad guys without relying on the law. Strictly speaking, this is called a thug, and you can be sentenced if caught.

Aliens are coming, and superheroes are fighting. What to do with the people’s army? It’s not just unreasonable, but the color of superheroes fades away.

Many times, in superhero movies, the role played by American officials is not decent. If China filmed it like this, Cao Xuan would be called to drink tea by his brother-in-law.

To put it bluntly, individual heroism is not mainstream in China. Some viewers may like it, but it is not officially recognized.

If China really wants to make a superhero movie, it won't be the kind of being who flies into the sky and escapes from the earth, but an ordinary hero like "You Are Not the God of Medicine".

If you really want to fly to the sky and escape from the earth, I'm afraid it can't be placed in modern society.

But if it is not placed in modern society, it will become a martial arts theme in ancient costumes. The audience will not have a sense of empathy, and there will be no talk of superheroes.

Therefore, Cao Xuan could only think about this matter. If it were to be realized, it would be extremely difficult...

In late May, Cao Xuan and the main creators of "Avengers" came to Asia for promotion.

Marvel attaches great importance to this trip to Asia, which is understandable, because Asia is so popular this time.

At present, in the box office of "Avengers" in various countries, it goes without saying that North America is definitely number one. China and South Korea are ranked second and fourth respectively, and Japan should be sixth or seventh.

Even if the Chinese box office is separated, the box office in Taiwan alone can reach more than 20 million US dollars, firmly ranking among the top 15 box office in each country/region of "Avengers".

For this trip to Asia, Marvel even cut back on its itinerary in the United States and Europe, but also brought the main creators of "Avengers" to Asia to build their reputation.

The first stop is South Korea.

Even though Japan has the second largest ticket sales in the world, perhaps because of its indifference to American comics, the performance of Marvel and DC movies in Japan is not as popular as in other countries.

The most popular Hollywood movie series in Japan should be "Harry Potter".

Then there’s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and even “Star Wars” and “The Matrix” are more popular than Marvel movies.

Among the top 50 Japanese box office films, there are five or six "Harry Potter" series shortlisted, three or four "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, and there should be more than two "Star Wars" and "The Matrix" films.

Prior to this, the most popular superhero series in Japan was the "Spider-Man" series starring Tobey Maguire, with an average of almost US$60 million per series.

At present, the box office data of the "Avengers" and "Spider-Man" series are similar, largely due to Cao Xuan's bonus, otherwise the data would be estimated to be reduced by 30%...

In comparison, Marvel's treatment in South Korea is much better than in Japan.

Although the land is small and the people are small, and the market potential is scorned by Japan, South Korea's enthusiasm for Hollywood movies is enough to make North America pay attention.

Under the premise that the base market is far lower than that of mainland China and Japan, the Korean box office of many Hollywood movies can firmly rank among the top three in Asia, and most even rank second or first.

Marvel's previous movies have achieved good results in South Korea. For example, the "Iron Man" series and "Hawkeye" both grossed more than 20 million US dollars at the box office in South Korea.

Although it may not seem like much, you must know that South Korea's box office plate is not high.

So far, "The Flying Taegeuk Flag", which ranks fourth in film history, has only earned over 64 million US dollars, while "Avatar", which ranks first, is the only movie in Korean film history to have a box office of over 100 million US dollars.

It is no exaggeration to say that a box office of more than 20 million US dollars in South Korea is considered a pretty good result.

Cao Xuan once even suspected that South Korea does not calculate movie results based on box office data but on the number of moviegoers because the box office data is too shabby.

Of course, this is just a joke.

South Korea did this mainly because its statistical technology was not perfect in the early years. Of course, major theaters and some distributors resisted the tax, and it was easier to use headcount statistics for many reasons.

This is not just the case in South Korea. Due to various reasons, the box office of Japanese and French movies is sometimes calculated based on the number of moviegoers.

However, in the large international environment, countries still use box office revenue as the main statistical method. In 2013, South Korea will also begin to change the model and change the number of movie viewers to more intuitive box office data.

Although it is difficult to clearly convert the number of movie viewers in South Korea to US dollar box office due to differences in years, ticket prices, and market factors, according to the trend in recent years, it is about 50 million US dollars and almost 10 million moviegoers.

The estimated box office of "Avengers" in South Korea should be over 60 million, which is expected to hit the top five movies in history.

At the same time, it also means that almost 10 million people in South Korea watched this movie.

You know, the total population of South Korea in 2012 has just reached 50 million, which is equivalent to one out of every five people in South Korea going to the theater to watch "The Avengers".

Of course, this calculation must be very different. We do not rule out the difference in fares between big cities and small cities, and there are still many people who pay twice or three times.

But even so, such high popularity has made "Avengers" a phenomenon-level movie in South Korea this year.

Not to mention the foreshadowing of other Marvel movies. Although the box office of those movies is not as exaggerated as "Avengers", each movie still has an average of several million viewers.

In addition to the accumulation of Internet and TV channels, as soon as "Avengers" arrived in Seoul, it immediately felt like a superstar.

"Cao Xuan Oppa, Sarah hey."

"Iron Man, ah ah ah, I'm going to die."

"Hawkeye, so handsome."

"Oh!! Widow sister, kill me!!!!"

"..."

To be honest, Cao Xuan has been seeing fans from all over the world for so many years since his debut and has experienced various scenes.

But if he were asked to make an objective selection, Cao Xuan must also admit that Japanese and Korean fans are the most professional fans he has ever seen.

Especially in South Korea, the entertainment industry has been highly developed in recent years, so that the "quality" of fans has continued to rise, and fans have become very good at it.

When he was picked up at the airport in South Korea, he saw more than a few hundred members of Cao Xuan's Korean fan club, each holding a board, and then pieced together a huge support sign that was about 30 meters long.

Above are stills of him in "Avengers" with various bows and arrows. At the end, there is a sentence printed in Chinese, Korean and English, which was shouted out by many fans.

"Our superhero, welcome to Korea!"

"Thank you, thank you, Sarah."

Even the veteran Cao Xuan was rarely moved by this dedication. He clasped his hands together and bowed slightly to greet the fans many times when passing the support sign.

Cao Xuan's grand arrival at the airport made other Avengers members envious.

But there's nothing we can do about it. Besides being a Hollywood movie star, Cao Xuan is also the world's pop king.

Not to mention at home in Asia, even when promoting in Europe and the United States, their popularity cannot be compared to Cao Xuan.

In this regard, actors are indeed not as popular as singers. On social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, the vast majority of the top performers are singers.

Because even if the audience likes the film and television work, the work is not completed by one actor, there will be a certain degree of diversion, and people may also like the film and television itself, or they may like the characters.

From liking a work to becoming a personal fan of an actor requires a certain degree of purification.

It is very simple to like a singer. Even if you like the song more than the singer himself, it is difficult to dislike the singer. The number of fans and popularity are relatively easy to accumulate.

In particular, some super popular singers have certain idol qualities, and their popularity and number of fans can easily overwhelm actors and actresses of the same level.

"I'm envious. I'll make two fewer movies and two more albums. Maybe I can even win a Grammy."

Cao Xuan looked at the sour widowed sister and couldn't help but make fun of her, which earned her two big eye rolls.

However, Cao Xuan is really not trying to push others. The widowed sister is indeed a singer. She has released albums before and collaborated with several big-name singers, but her results are not very good.

Cao Xuan has never listened to Widow Sister's album, but later there was an anime movie "The Voice", and Widow Sister, who was the dubbing voice, sang a song. Her low and slightly hoarse voice had a different kind of sex appeal. It's actually quite suitable for singing lyrical songs.

Of course, with her current momentum, she should seize the time to kill everyone in Hollywood. There is really no need to change careers.

Singers don't become famous just by having a good voice.

Cao Xuan's singing skills are much better than hers. He doesn't have Golden Finger's songs, and he will never reach the level of the King of the World. Maybe he is not even an artist, but chooses to go into business.

If he is lucky enough to achieve something, a few years later, at the annual meeting of a large company, he will go on stage as the boss to play "Nothing", beat Lao Wang, and crush the pony...

Cao Xuan may not be the best at making money among the rich, and his acting may not be as good as those old guys, and he may not even be the most handsome, but when it comes to singing, he doesn't accept anyone.

………

The hotel arranged by the Korean organizers this time was not the Shilla Hotel, but a five-star hotel called Four Seasons Hotel.

This made Boss Cao feel relieved. I don't know why, but he was a little scared of that place now, especially after Cao Li and Cao Yang were born, so it would be best to avoid them.

This is a promotional trip in South Korea that lasts about three days, then Japan for two days, and then back to China, which lasts about a week.

We didn't have enough time, so we took a short rest. That night, the creators of "Avengers" were interviewed by Korean TV stations.

Dry interviews do not attract attention, so the Korean TV station made an authentic Korean meal, and then let everyone eat, comment and be interviewed at the same time.

This kind of publicity model is to a certain extent Koreans are showing their own culture, and at the same time they hope to gain praise from these international superstars and thus gain a sense of satisfaction.

Although Cao Xuan somewhat dislikes the purple rice, kimchi, barbecue and other foods on the table, he still understands this approach.

Because these are the same routines in China. For example, if some international superstars or NBA stars and football stars come to China, the organizers also let them eat dumplings, play mahjong, write Spring Festival couplets, and recognize Chinese characters.

Cao Xuan also received similar treatment when he went to places such as the United Kingdom and Brazil, such as tasting British black tea and playing beach football.

Essentially pleasing the local audience, or supporting and approving it, is a very normal way of publicity.

But then again, let Cao Xuan praise these things very seriously. He really can't praise it. He really doesn't think that purple rice with kimchi is a unique delicacy.

He simply acted as an introduction and translator on the spot. He had been to Korea many times and was quite familiar with these things in Korea, and his introduction was very clear and logical.

The widowed sister and others were also very cooperative. Although they did not exaggerate how delicious it was, they nodded in approval and kept highlighting the words "good" and "delicious" in their mouths.

This is the most basic publicity etiquette. As long as it is not unacceptable, it will be evaluated positively.

It's the same in Korea, and it's the same in China. Only they know how they actually feel about it, but if they really like it, their evaluation and performance will be more enthusiastic.

Next came the interview session. The host spoke fluent English: "Except for Senior Cao Xuan, have any of you been to South Korea before?"

"This is my first time here."

"Me too."

Several people looked at each other. Most of them came to Korea for the first time. Generally speaking, unless for work reasons, Americans’ first choice when visiting Asia is Japan.

China's tourism has also been better in the past two years. On the contrary, South Korea cannot be said to be uninterested, but it is indeed tepid.

However, in the United States, South Korea's popularity is still quite high. It should be second only to India, Japan and China. Because there are many Koreans in the United States, many arrogant Americans know South Korea.

This is no exaggeration. Many Americans have very poor geographical knowledge.

Cao Xuan has personally seen people who think Australia is Europe. There are only a dozen or twenty countries that they can remember. Most of them are in America and Europe, and there are only a few in Asia. Many people even refer to Asia as Japan and China. , India and other countries instead.

However, even though it was my first time here, I still have to praise what I deserve. The widowed sister said: "I was shocked by the enthusiasm of the Korean audience. We saw thousands of people at the airport. It was incredible."

The Korean host also proudly said: "The number of people picked up today was as high as more than 3,500, which is second only to the last time Manchester United came to Korea in recent years."

You know, that Manchester United team has Korean star Park Ji-sung, plus a group of stars, who are wildly sought after by Koreans. To some extent, their popularity is higher than that of the Korean national football team.

"How did Senior Cao Xuan feel when he saw that fan support sign? As far as we know, it was the result of a Korean fan group working on it overnight and rehearsing for two days."

"Special thanks to everyone for their hard work. I was really touched. That street sign gave me a big surprise. The fans are my superheroes."

Cao Xuan sincerely admires him. Putting aside other factors, Cao Xuan may have some reservations at times, but he always respects and is grateful to his fans who sincerely support him, no matter which country they are from.

Before coming here, I also sent people to collect some Hawkeye stills and posters from "Avengers". I plan to sign hundreds of them in the next few days and send them to my Korean fan group. I would like to express my gratitude to those fans who participated in the pick-up and support. grateful.

"Did anyone see this action from the fans when they were picked up at the airport?"

The host intertwined his thumb and index finger and made a heart-to-heart gesture. The widowed sisters and others imitated it, and the thunder god asked a question.

"I saw it. Are you counting money?"

"This is a heart-to-heart gesture, a gesture of affection."

The host explained, looked at the stunned people, and Cao Xuan who was covering his face in shame and sullenly laughing, and asked with a smile on his face.

"Do you know who invented this move?"

Widow Sister and the others are not fools either. When he saw this scene, he immediately looked at Cao Xuan.

"Chris, is that you?"

"Young and frivolous are all young and frivolous."

Cao Xuan was embarrassed. He was young back then and had only just become popular a few years ago. Faced with the pursuit of fans, he focused on being cool. Now that he is older, looking back, he feels a little embarrassed, not to mention ashamed.

"Oh!"

The widowed sister and the others were also very excited and surprised. In their impression, Cao Xuan was relatively calm and calm in private, and was often not as powerful as those Hollywood giants.

Even though everyone is considered equal in private, in fact all the major creators are a little scared and reserved towards him.

As a result, I never expected that Cao Xuan had such a "coquettish" side, and he immediately started to boo, and Robert Downey Jr. even whistled.

Cao Xuan was a little embarrassed at first, but later he simply broke the pot and threw it away with a calm face.

What happened to being cool?

When you were young, you wanted to be cool but no one supported you. This is exclusive to idols.

But putting this issue aside, the Korean host is very mature. He is neither humble nor overbearing when chatting. He is also very good at controlling the scale of the interview and creating an atmosphere. In an interview, everyone enjoys it.

At the end of the interview, the host wanted to take a photo with the creators. Everyone agreed and then compared their feelings to the camera.

Cao Xuan shook his head and laughed, but also extended his fingers to cooperate.

As he gets older, he is indeed no longer fit to act cool, but he doesn't put on airs all the time, and it's fun to joke occasionally.

………

The next day, "Avengers" came to attend a fan meeting again, with tens of thousands of people present, once again making everyone feel the influence of Marvel in South Korea.

It's said to be a fan meeting, but the embarrassing thing is that no one in "Avengers" speaks Korean, so even if they chat, they have to be translated.

However, the fans were still very enthusiastic. Regardless of whether they understood or not, they cheered for a while before speaking.

Apart from anything else, the scene was indeed very lively.

The organizer did not just let "The Avengers" support the entire concert, but arranged multiple shows during the period.

One of the boy groups caught Cao Xuan's attention.

There are 12 people in total, all of them are pretty boys. They are not particularly popular, but some girls are screaming.

Cao Xuan asked the organizer's leader and sure enough, the boy band was called EXO. They had just debuted two months ago and had only released one mini-album, but the sales were good.

At present, this boy group is highly praised by SM, otherwise it would not perform at the "Avengers" fan meeting. It is considered a promising new group in the industry.

"Four members of this EXO team are Chinese. Do you want to meet them?"

To be precise, there are three Chinese + one Canadian.

Cao Xuan knows this boy group very well. There are two of the four major traffic niches, and the other two are not much inferior.

The most legendary thing is not their achievements, but the fact that one of them fell in love at their peak and paralyzed Weibo, the other became a top socialite and used sewing machines, one returned home and inherited hundreds of millions of assets, and the other in his thirties claimed to be a virgin.

I dare not say too much, but in the past ten years this boy band will definitely leave a certain mark in the history of Chinese entertainment.

Even because of its "legendary nature", it is difficult to be surpassed by younger generations...

"It's okay to meet."

Cao Xuan is quite willing to watch the fun. Back then he went to see Girls' Generation who had just debuted, and now he also wants to see the four top stars in their childhood.

EXO, who had just finished their performance, were about to pack up and leave when they were suddenly stopped by the person in charge of the organizer.

"Stay here. A big shot will want to see you later and won't let you go. You can't leave."

The EXO members were a little confused. They didn't know how a young boy band that had just debuted could catch the eye of a big shot. The accompanying manager was afraid that something would go wrong and hurriedly called the head office for help.

As a boy group that is preparing to launch, SM still attaches great importance to EXO and specially sent a vice president to negotiate.

"What did you do?"

"The company didn't train you to get into trouble."

"Xiba, why did the artist department choose you bunch of losers?"

The vice president had a bad temper and seemed to have just come back from the wine shop. As soon as he arrived at the scene, he glared at everyone and scolded them indiscriminately.

South Korea has a strict hierarchy, and reprimands and beatings are commonplace in the workplace. Not many of the dignified vice presidents dare to stab him, let alone scold him or slap him with a few slaps.

EXO was scolded and kept their heads down. Some of them were dissatisfied and wanted to stand up to argue, but their teammates held them back.

Just as the vice president was showing off his lust, the meeting in front of him finally ended. There was a knock on the door of the dressing room backstage, and Cao Xuan opened the door and came in.

"sorry for disturbance."

"You didn't see..."

The still angry vice president thought it was a staff member, so he turned around and was about to curse. Suddenly he saw Cao Xuan's face. His face changed from red and angry to a smile, and his body that was originally full of chest and belly suddenly bent over. 30 degrees.

"It turns out that President Cao came to visit us, but he was not welcomed from afar."

Cao Xuan looked at the other person and squinted his eyes and thought for a moment: "You are the director of SM, your name is Park..."

"Park Zhican, I didn't expect you to still remember me. Oh, I'm really honored."

Vice President Park looked proud. As an SM executive, he knew Cao Xuan's energy.

Not to mention the super entertainment group that spans Asia, in South Korea alone, the gaming companies and investment companies under its name have assets worth billions of dollars. Even Cao Xuan himself is a shareholder of two major Korean entertainment companies, SM and JYP.

Although he doesn't have many shares, he has a lot of influence in the company thanks to various resources. It is no exaggeration to say that a few words can make him, a wage earner named the vice president, get out, and it will even be difficult to find a new employer.

In South Korea, which is dominated by chaebols, people are more afraid of the super-rich than the government, and at the same time they are proud of being able to associate with them.

Hearing that Cao Xuan remembered him, even Vice President Park, who was already at the top of the Korean entertainment industry, was very happy and felt very proud.