China Entertainment King of Science Fiction

Chapter 346: A close encounter with "The New Mummy"

Premieres, press conferences, and communication with theaters, even for Chen Jingxing, the schedule these days is quite full, but after all, he is not only a film director, but also the boss of a film company, so he

After the subsequent publicity work was handed over to the producers and actors, I was finally able to have some free time in the office.

Especially the leading actors of "The Matrix" were not first- or second-tier actors before. Chen Jingxing left all the activity schedules to the actors. Although they will be a little tired, no, a lot tired, I'm afraid they themselves are also tired physically.

It's sweet in my heart. Under the arrangement of DreamWorks, the exposure of the male and female protagonists will reach its peak after the movie is released.

Fortunately, Yan Xiaoyue is the first generation of "Miss Chen", and she still has works and fame. The actor who plays the male lead, Lu Hongzhe, can be said to have reached the sky in one step. He has a tall figure and handsome appearance. Although his acting skills are average, "The Matrix" also

It doesn’t require an actor to have great acting skills. The fit between the actor and the character’s image and temperament is more important than anything else.

Chen Jingxing always likes to choose actors who are similar to the characters, rather than letting an actor with good acting skills use his acting skills to try to get closer to the character. Instead of letting actors with thousands of different faces perform the role, it is better to find actors who match the character to play the role, even if it is

Anonymous.

As the saying goes, the butt determines the head. Chen Jingxing, who traveled through time and became a director in this life, has a very instrumental view of actors. If he becomes an actor in the next life, his stance may also change.

However, this is all based on his status. Ordinary directors, even other big-name directors, do not have the capital to ignore the reputation of actors and select suitable candidates for roles. If the director wants to do this, the capital will not agree.

However, even if he is unlikely to collaborate with Lu Hongzhe on other projects in the future, based on the "Matrix" series alone, no fool would think that Chen Jingxing would change the starring role in the sequel, and Lu Hongzhe would almost definitely become a first-line star.

"Then keep the list and let them audition one by one." Chen Jingxing told the deputy director in charge of casting for the "Matrix" project.

The male protagonists in Chen Jingxing's previous movies, whether it was Luo Chen or Hu Ge, were basically famous actors before they acted in his movies, and they were all well-known actors. Lei Jiayin was considered a third-tier actor before he acted in "Signal".

He also starred in Ning Hao's "The Golden Heist".

Lu Hongzhe has made a living leap from being unknown to becoming a big star that attracts national attention. Especially when combined with the unique aesthetic style of "The Matrix", his image is quite communicable. At present, several big brands have approached him to talk about advertising and endorsements.

Contracted.

"No, a reporter even called Wang Molin, but he hung up immediately."

Especially after entering No. 2 and No. 3, word-of-mouth has been fully fermented. "The Matrix" has almost dominated Chinese theaters, accounting for nearly 70% of the film schedule, except for a fantasy romantic comedy movie "Let Me Stay with You"

, it can be regarded as a misplaced competition, and it has won the market of couples and love audiences in the National Day schedule. It is the only film that can drink some soup under the power of "The Matrix".

Although DreamWorks has a controlling distribution subsidiary, Firefly, in Hollywood, how many theaters can Firefly alone get without Universal's cooperation?

“What’s the online public opinion like?”

But isn’t this like working in DreamWorks? Especially when “Gravity” grossed US$200 million at the box office in North America, it’s difficult to switch from extravagance to frugality. When you take advantage of a market and take advantage many times, naturally,

I subconsciously regard it as something in my pocket.

Although "The Martian" has not yet been filmed, the actors have been confirmed, and no one knows about Chen Jingxing's new project, but at least they know that there will definitely be a sequel to "The Matrix".

In addition to the domestic box office boom, peripheral markets have also begun to release the film one after another. These DreamWorks executives are not worried. The biggest problem is that due to Universal's lack of cooperation, the North American market release is far away.

"Wang Molin and the others didn't say anything?"

However, Chen Jingxing is already very satisfied. According to the current box office trends, whether it is the internal predictions of DreamWorks, or the predictions of the media and ticket purchasing platforms, "The Matrix" is expected to become the second movie with a box office of over 3 billion, and the first

The first part is "Gravity".

However, the first part of "The Matrix", as the opening chapter, contains too much information and is too complicated. It is a heavy task to lay out a magnificent and shocking world view, even though the movie is more than two and a half hours long - the length of the original movie.

It only lasted 135 minutes, but there wasn’t much space to pave the way for the relationship between the male and female protagonists.

"Ah?" Xu Wenshen was unprepared for Chen Jingxing's decision. His idea was to communicate with Universal again, or to force Universal to compromise through the box office in China and the Asia-Pacific region. Who wouldn't want to make money?

Publish it yourself?

Even though DreamWorks, a creator of high-quality resources, is more attractive, I don’t know how many companies and industry leaders have contacted DreamWorks to recommend actors.

"The Matrix" can't match the main theme. Whether it's Omnic Crisis, Brain in a Vat or Zhuang Zhou's Dream of Butterflies, real deserts and other more in-depth philosophical issues, it can be said that this movie is definitely a philosophical exploration and science fiction concept.

It is the pinnacle work in the history of science fiction. From any angle, there is no place to make a fuss about it.”

However, if there are additional scenes, the movie will become too lengthy, and even if there are "no peeing spots", it will damage the smoothness of the movie itself.

After all, "The Matrix" can still be regarded as a "love saves everything" movie. The love between the savior and the heroine carries a lot of weight and promotes the plot.

In fact, compared to the original Chen Jingxing, the love line between the male and female protagonists has been added, but compared with the powerful impact of the movie's science fiction concept and world view structure, the love line still seems a bit inadequate.

However, Chen Jingxing has made up his mind. He is eager for the North American market and hopes to maintain the so-called film and television output, but blind compromise is not the answer. Universal underestimates him, so he must prove to Universal that DreamWorks is not a soft persimmon and that the North American market cannot threaten him.

.

That is no different from giving up on the North American market. Now, Xu Wenshen no longer cares about the North American box office of 18 million.

Besides, "Gravity" is indeed a movie with the main theme, and the official is indeed very high-profile and has strong support for the announcement. You also know the domestic public opinion environment. There are indeed many people who are sensitive to the main theme or things related to patriotism.

It’s so incredible that it gets orgasmic when it’s mentioned. Some big V’s just use “Gravity” as a raft.

Xu Wenshen is actually in a position of success. If he were the CEO of another company, he would naturally not worry about the North American market. It would be great if he could keep up with the expanding number of domestic screens and share profits and dividends. There is no need to be greedy in the market across the Pacific.

Yes, at least we should maintain the mentality that if we gain something, we will be lucky if we lose it.

Whenever I can find an opportunity, I will definitely not let go of causing trouble for DreamWorks.

"Oh, that's rare." Chen Jingxing said with a hint of irony. Ever since "Source Code" created an incredible box office record of 2 billion, the relationship between DreamWorks and other big companies in the industry has become subtle.

"The media and film reviews were basically positive, and there were no naysayers after the release of "Gravity."

Both Chen Jingxing and DreamWorks have already made a name for themselves in the North American market. The failure of "The Matrix" to be released in North America is as distressing to Xu Wenshen as if he was tearing out his own flesh.

Xu Wenshen has no worries about public opinion and evaluation. What he is worried about is the box office issue.

Of course, in terms of domestic box office, there is nothing to worry about. "The Matrix" has been in theaters for three and a half days so far, and the box office has reached 770 million.

Xu Wenshen shook his head and smiled: "With the current quality and momentum of "The Matrix", these petty theft tricks are useless. After "Gravity" was released, some of the strange voices were washed away immediately? They even got burned, and

It won't affect the box office either.

In addition to a few starring roles, there will definitely be new roles, which also makes many actors and agencies flock to it.

Chen Jingxing seemed to have already made up his mind: "Then let's get rid of Universal and let's go on our own!"

Chen Jingxing did not refuse. There will indeed be many new characters appearing in the next two parts of "The Matrix". Not to mention Hua Xuguo, which has a large space in the second part, and there are quite a lot of characters. Now that various companies have come to our door.

, he just went with the flow, since he still had to go through an audition when the time came.

Therefore, even the resurrection plot with the last kiss will definitely not satisfy the couple's viewing needs for love movies.

Especially after the release of "Gravity", Chen Jingxing's mentality inevitably changed. The global box office of "Gravity" reached an astonishing US$1.02 billion, ranking 25th in the world's box office rankings.

, is also the only non-Hollywood film in the top 100.

However, it is hard to say whether the box office can surpass "Gravity". The difficulties are relatively big. Firstly, although the National Day schedule is powerful, its capacity is not as good as the long summer schedule. Secondly, "The Matrix" is too long, and a "Matrix" is too long.

"The Matrix" can almost show "Gravity" twice, but theaters can't help but show "The Matrix", especially IMAX theaters. If not "The Matrix", why not show it?

Theaters have been forced to raise prices collectively. The average ticket price is 30% higher than that of "Gravity", reaching 58 yuan. It is nearly 20 yuan higher than the average ticket price of other movies. It is terrible, and even appears.

The sky-high price of movie tickets cost more than 100 to 200 yuan. This is also an urgent task that DreamWorks urgently needs to deal with and negotiate with the theaters. Excessive ticket prices will naturally make the audience dissatisfied.

However, the Chinese market accounts for half of the US$1.02 billion box office, and the North American market has naturally lost some weight in Chen Jingxing's eyes.

Moreover, Chen Jingxing has confidence in "The Matrix". In this aspect, the science fiction concept and completion level of "The Matrix" have not been seen by Chinese people, but have they been seen by Americans?

On the contrary, this is a rare opportunity to test and see how far Hollywood can restrict "The Matrix" and how much it can suppress it.

And isn’t this just the fact that Universal’s “The Mummy”, which is aimed at the Halloween schedule, is about to be released? Universal attaches great importance to this movie. Both giants have superhero universes. Who is not coveted by other major studios? Who is?

I don’t want to build a universe.

In name, Universal even rejected "The Matrix" because of this "The Mummy". Let's see if "The Matrix" released by DreamWorks itself can cause some trouble for "The Mummy". Anyway, Chen Jingxing

He was mentally prepared to exclude the North American market, so he could remain calm even if the box office failed.

(End of chapter)