Chinese entertainment for engineering students

When "The Matrix" set a miraculous record of 20 million in a single day in China, the film was officially launched in Xiaoli and Southeast Asia under the operation of Golden Harvest and New Line.

Golden Harvest has made great efforts in this matter. Southeast Asia and small countries are the traditional ticket warehouses of Hong Kong movies. In recent years, various places have begun to support local films and tightened imports from Hong Kong.

In fact, this is also one of the reasons for the decline of Xiangjiang movies. The external market has shrunk, and the Xiangjiang market alone cannot support the prosperity of Xiangjiang movies.

However, Southeast Asia is very large, and even if the policies are adjusted, it will take some time to show results. Therefore, Xiangjiang still regards Southeast Asia as its base camp.

Zou Lao is no exception. Golden Harvest has produced many good films, so it is already well-known in Southeast Asia. The release of new films in Southeast Asia is naturally a matter of course.

Xiaoli is quite picky about Xiangjiang movies. Most of them buy out and screen them, and rarely give them a share.

This time, Golden Harvest announced that the investment in "The Matrix" was as high as 35 million US dollars, and it organized a lineup of four superstars. Wang Xu, Wang Fei, Zhang Guorong and Whitney were all influential singers in their childhood.

Zhang Guorong can be said to be unparalleled in his childhood this year, well, comparable to Wang Xu. The reason is of course "Farewell My Concubine" released in February, in which Zhang Guorong was the most popular character.

As we all know, I like this in my childhood. If you haven't seen the contract for Wang Xu's women's photo album, they are eager to get a quote every day. Wang Xu is not in a hurry. Where is this? When "The Matrix" is released, the price will be astronomical.

More money is needed. This is not just talk. Wang Xu really needs more money.

Wang Fei is the only Asian to reach the top of the Billboard in Asia. Her influence has long transcended her nationality. People in this era regard themselves as the leaders of the entire Asia. For other countries to be able to stand out in the West, it is also the same as There is honor.

And Whitney, not to mention, is the top singer from Ugly Country's father's family, and an international superstar whose movie has sold out all over the world. Little Days is shouting from Asian leaders all day long, Little Days is promoting the idea of ​​saying no, and buying the whole United States is being implemented.

But when I really meet people from my father's family, I still worship them. Mu Qiang's attribute can be said to be most vividly reflected in Xiaoli.

As far as the lineup of "The Matrix" is concerned, to be honest, there is really no movie that can compare with it, let alone a Chinese-language movie that can sell 42 million U.S. dollars in four days in the ugly country, even before New Line. Take action, Xiaoli has already publicized it here.

With this kind of foreshadowing, and the fact that Mr. Zou gave up some of his own interests to the distributor of Xiaori, in the end, the film will be screened nationwide in the form of split accounts.

The premiere reached 1,000 screens, which is the maximum distribution intensity that Xiaori can achieve. Even Xiaori's own movies, not many of them can achieve this.

Everyone looked at him and knew that he actually valued the Asian market the most, because no matter how much money he spent, he could get it back from the stock market. Therefore, if he needed to transfer benefits, he would naturally do it with great force.

Mr. Zou is also a bachelor and directly transferred some of his interests to the distributor of Little Days, which is why the scale of the release is so huge.

It is indeed surprising to reach 1,000 screens, because the total number of screens in Xiaoli is just over 1,776, accounting for nearly 60%. As an imported film, it seems that it has not happened in this era.

Watching movies was very complicated when I was young. In this era, almost five to six hundred movies were released every year, and more than 40% of them were imported. Of course, not all of them were blockbusters. They would import movies of various genres.

The exchange rate in Xiaoni has been rising year by year in recent years. It has gone from 160 yen to one US dollar before the Plaza Accord to 100 yen to one US dollar this year. The fares in the Xiaoni market are charged in Japanese yen. This is As a result, movie ticket prices in Xiaoli are higher than those in Ugly Country, with an average price of more than 12 US dollars.

For a big-budget movie like this with top stars joining in, the general ticket price will be even higher, reaching 14 or even 18 US dollars per ticket, which is 50% higher than the average.

Of course, this is not the limit. After all, the investment in "The Matrix" is not particularly large. There is a movie called "Ben-Hur" in history. When it was released in the early days, the ticket price was three times the average price.

Just think about it, if you make this money, it’s a great profit.

There is a reason why all three companies are eyeing the small market.

Then, of course, there was the explosive revenue. The box office revenue in the first week was an astonishing 3.5 billion yen, which is about 35 million US dollars. It almost caught up with the first week box office of Ugly Country. This is a figure comparable to a bomb. , directly topped the list of movies in my childhood that year.

Well, it’s actually the number one in history. The current historical number one in my childhood is “Antarctic Story”, a 1983 feature film starring Ken Takakura about an Antarctic expedition and 12 dogs. It’s a pretty cruel film.

But that was ten years ago. At that time, the ticket price was less than half of what it is now, and it was only about one-third as weak as "The Matrix".

So at the end of the stipulated 8-week release period, the movie was released, and the comprehensive revenue was 13.86 billion yen, equivalent to 140 million U.S. dollars, which is close to three-quarters of Ugly Country’s total box office of 190 million, but you have to know, small days Only less than one-third of the population of Chou Country.

Therefore, from a per capita perspective, the box office of Little Days is much higher than that of Ugly Country, making it the largest box office for this film.

In addition, this film also broke the 11-year-old box office record of Little Days, which had been held by "Antarctic Story", becoming the first film in the history of Little Days to break 10 billion yen, and the first foreign language film to occupy the top spot in history. piece.

This box office result naturally made all three companies overjoyed. This is a real result, far exceeding the expectations of Golden Harvest and New Line.

As for Wang Xu, he didn't even plan to make money at first.

The global box office of "The Matrix" was finally settled three months after its premiere. It was a long time coming. After all, there were many countries and it was not released simultaneously. Statistics at this time are even more difficult.

But after going through a lot of hardships, the final figure came out. The global US$580 million, unfortunately, did not reach US$600 million. This is a very important threshold. I don’t know why, but more than 500 million sounds less than 600 million. A lot like that.

Among them, the contribution of Ugly Country and Little Life accounted for more than half of it. Europe has almost 100 million. Developed countries are still the mainstay of movie watching, and other regions are still lagging behind.

Huaxia contributed a total of more than 20 million U.S. dollars. Although it is not outstanding in the world, the market of 20 million U.S. dollars per chip is already a market worth fighting for.

With the subsequent release of "The Fugitive" earning 70 million yuan and nearly 10 million U.S. dollars in profits, no one will completely ignore the Chinese market.

In the field of business, nothing can explain the problem better than money. Whether a film is good or bad often simply depends on how much it sells.

At least that's what most people think. Of course, the kind of money-making that relies purely on publicity does not count, and the kind that only counts as fraud.

"The Matrix" came out a few years ahead of schedule. Although it starred a Chinese, it still surpassed the results of its previous life. After all, the past few years have coincided with the beginning of Hollywood's large-scale production of special effects films.

Since dinosaurs ravaged the global film market, special effects production has become Hollywood's golden finger. In recent years, special effects blockbusters have been released frequently, whetting the audience's appetite again and again.

Wang Xu's version of "The Matrix" just follows this trend, which also allows him to use more gorgeous special effects and sharper and cooler battles to successfully attract countless audiences who have not yet whetted their appetites.

Although the box office of Ugly China stopped before 200 million, the strength of the overseas market, especially the explosion of the small-time market, made the "The Matrix" storm countless times more intense this time.

35 million US dollars in exchange for a box office of nearly 600 million. This is not a dark horse. What is a dark horse? This year's highly promoted "Forrest Gump", with an investment of 55 million and a promotional budget of 30 million, only made more than 600 million in global box office.

I don’t know if any Hollywood film producers suddenly felt something tight, like their luck had been taken away, but the appearance of Wang Xu really made Hollywood conquer the world with great momentum, and suddenly there was a little bit of dissonance. flavor.

The emergence of Wang Xu made the road of special effects blockbusters take a slight turn. He successfully used a movie to tell the world that Hollywood is not the only one who can produce special effects blockbusters.

Just like the atomic bomb explosion itself can convey the most important scientific information, the success of "The Matrix" has undoubtedly given a glimmer of light to many European filmmakers who are worried about Hollywood.

Nowadays in Hollywood, Europe, and in the small world, there are actually many filmmakers who are carefully studying this Chinese-language film that came out of nowhere.

When the film was promoted, it was claimed that the cost was 35 million US dollars, and the publicity and distribution was 15 million US dollars, but everyone knows that it is just publicity, and judging from the number of openings of this film, 15 million is simply a joke.

Many filmmakers have a question mark on whether this film has earned US$35 million even in publicity.

It can be seen from the structure of the producer that although this film is dominated by New Line in Europe and China, it is obviously not their way. They have never made a science fiction film, and the special effects are all bloody. Well, except for " Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

It seems that New Line, the film company, is also changing and can no longer look at people with the old eyes. Since being acquired by Warner, they have indeed changed their approach. They are moving on a new path, and they must keep up. This is the consensus reached by many medium-sized Hollywood film companies.

But different companies definitely have different views on how to take this path.

But it is undeniable that the people of Chou Country are quite pragmatic in this era. After they completely studied this new movie, they determined that the Chinese special effects capabilities are not inferior to the top special effects studios of Chou Country. Technology.

They didn't know the price yet, but when they learned that the film was shot entirely in a studio, they were completely shocked.

The scene of the woman in red has been taken out and studied repeatedly. Yes, if you are an ordinary viewer, you will definitely pay attention to cool scenes such as bullet time and freeze-frame surround.

But in the eyes of experts, those are indeed admirable flashes of inspiration and an excellent experience to show the effect, but that's it, they can completely achieve the same effect.

The scene with the girl in red is completely different. They also have connections. Most of the actors here are actors registered with the Screen Actors Guild. A little research will reveal the filming process of this scene.

That is, this scene was not even shot on the same day, but was shot at any time and replenished at any time.

Although most people are just background panels, and although the whole scene is still slightly incongruous, it is this slight incongruity that makes it more suitable for the setting of being unable to obtain more resources from the system after external invasion.

What's more important is that these scattered scenes, when presented, are complete and integrated. They are different from the superposition of long shots, such as the speech scene in Washington Square in "Forrest Gump". Most of the audience below are It's made by special effects.

But those are all long shots, and in the scene of the red girl in "The Matrix", these people can only be regarded as medium shots at best, and many people are shot in close shots, and even close-ups, but in this scene But it blends together almost perfectly.

There is almost no trace of splicing and pasting in the light, shadow, color, and character movements. This is the kind of completeness that directors can't find any flaws in even if they study frame by frame.

If it weren't for the incongruity he deliberately made, people would even think that this was the effect of a long straight shot. This is the most surprising special effect of this film.

As for explosions, flying kicks, scattered debris, etc., Hollywood itself is very experienced and they can absolutely do it. But for the girl in red, the special effects company's response is that it can be done, but it is very slow and will It costs a lot of money, a lot.

According to the estimates of these directors, the cost of the entire film "The Matrix" is at most just over 20 million US dollars. This cost is not even as much as the special effects shot in the ugly country.

Going to China to visit has become a common decision for many directors and producers.

Of course, these people did not make these decisions on the same day, but any filmmaker who has watched this movie and carefully studied the development of future film technology will have this idea.

How on earth did they do it?

Then, New Line's newly introduced theater management system and film post-processing system began to enter the field of vision of filmmakers. Using software to manage crews was an unprecedented move. Using software for post-production, although not a pioneering work, was Judging from the finished product, the effect is also outstanding.

And, based on their interviews with actors who worked on The Matrix, they also got the surprising news that the software matured on this set.

This is obviously another innovation. The price of such a complete system is about 2 million US dollars, which is very expensive, but compared to any B-level investment movie, it is really not a great price.

Moreover, these things are not disposable. Even if they are replaced every year, the production cycle of a movie is generally about three months, and they can be used by four crews within a year.

And it is said that this system itself can even support the simultaneous use of multiple crews, but these people are only users at most, pure receivers of information, and they really don’t even have a little knowledge of the system.

So, there is one more reason to go to China.

Ever since, Wang Jinghua has been very busy recently, Senior Brother Yuzhuo has been very busy, and Fang, Founder, Bird, ZTE, and Huawei have all been very busy, because almost every day they receive consultation calls from all over the world, asking about cooperation and prices. Yes, just ask the service staff and everything will be there.

Fortunately, Wang Xu had reminded them a long time ago and set up a dedicated person to answer international calls. Otherwise, these calls alone would be enough to keep these people busy.

Then, waves of guests from Europe, China, and other small-time customers came to visit, inspect, cooperate, purchase, and business came like a tornado, making all the previous hard work disappear.

Similarly, following The Guests from Xiangjiang, more and more filmmakers are paying attention to the film base in Changping, the imperial capital of China, especially Asian filmmakers.

Setting up a stage and singing operas are a routine that governments around the world often use to attract investment these days.

This time I don’t know if everyone can sing the stage of "The Matrix", but Wang Xu is also looking forward to it.

——

(I went for a physical examination today, but ended up spending a whole day in the hospital, undergoing a lot of tests, and finally, I was told that I needed to have an operation.

Come on, I will be hospitalized tomorrow. Originally, I was thinking about updating the 10,000 words today. I even thought about maintaining the daily 10,000 words for a month to get a badge. But this is it. The plan really cannot keep up with the changes. I'm sorry everyone.

If everything goes well, I will be discharged from the hospital next Wednesday and then go to work in Shanghai. I hope it won’t take away all my work.

During this period, it depends on the hospital arrangements and physical condition. If you have time, write something down, but don’t expect any plans.

After that, I will resume daily random updates. The new job may be more busy, and it is my old profession, architect.

Finally, I wish you all good health, a strong back and a strong body, which makes you jingle when you walk on the road. )