Made in Hollywood

This time, the forum was held in the theater of Warner Fox World. Because Duke personally attended the forum, the routine Sino-US film forum immediately became very attractive. Not only the media reporters, but also many directors and actors here and producers are involved.

Taking a battery car all the way past the attractions of Warner Fox World, Duke and Scarlett arrived at the song and dance theater, but their goals were not the same. At the media office in front of the theater, Tina Fey accompanied Scarlett to stop Preparing to accept an exclusive interview with the Chinese media, Duke directly entered the theater under the leadership of the staff of China Film Group.

There are not many people in the theater, but any one of them is a well-known figure in the Chinese film circle.

At the front seat, Duke saw many familiar faces, such as Yang Lan and his wife, the movie national teacher here, Jiang Xiaojun, Ge Guangtou, Feng Daya, etc., and even a mountain sculpture appeared.

This is an oval-shaped song and dance theater. The core figures of the big names participating in the forum sat in a circle in the center of the theater. In the discussion that Duke participated in, in fact, only these people had the right to speak.

Sitting here are not only those who make movies, but also representatives of theater chains, which are also an important part of the film industry.

The topic started from Yang Lan, who presided over the forum, and slowly turned to free discussion. Duke has been listening, basically did not speak, and I don’t know who started it. on The Avengers.

"I went to several theaters yesterday and found something very interesting."

The person who spoke was Jiang Xiaojun. He looked at Duke and said, "In the shops and markets near the theater, the best-selling products are two T-shirts, commemorative T-shirts of "The Avengers". 75 yuan each... ..."

Knowing that Duke can understand Chinese, he said directly, "Moreover, the supply exceeds demand, and there are related mobile phone cases, which are also very popular."

Duke just smiled, but didn't say anything. Because the relevant authorization of Marvel Comics here is still under negotiation!

Jiang Xiaojun showed some curiosity, and asked, "Director Rosenberg, I would like to ask, what percentage of your film's box office revenue accounts for the total revenue? Ah, what percentage."

"Before 2000. It probably accounted for between 30% and 40%. It depends on the type of movie."

The two sides were placed on the table, Duke looked at Jiang Xiaojun, and said honestly, "The current film is basically between 20% and 25%, and rarely exceeds 25%."

As soon as he said this, Jiang Xiaojun, Ge Guangtou, Feng Daya, Zhang Guoshi and the Wang brothers present all had some strange expressions. Duke's films rarely make less than $500 million at the box office, according to the ratio he said. How much did that movie gross?

Looking around, Duke also sighed in his heart. In fact, what Chinese films need most is not innovation and creativity. After all, innovation represents a huge risk. It is not creative innovation that enables Hollywood to circulate around the world. What Chinese films need most is industrialization and standardization.

It's just the latter... He looked at Zuo Shandiao, and shook his head lightly. The problem that even the Shandiao could not solve was not something that an outsider like him could explain clearly after a few words.

"How much of our film's total box office revenue?"

After Feng Daya asked this sentence, the scene was deserted. After a while, the eldest of the Wang brothers said, "The average is over 95 percent."

Then, he added, "I'm talking about the domestic box office."

"That is to say, the domestic box office revenue of a Chinese film will account for more than 95% of the total revenue!" Feng Daya asked the aspirations of everyone present, "Let's not talk about the unrealistic international market, we Where is the domestic derivatives market?"

He turned to look at Duke, "Director Rosenberg, would it be convenient for you to disclose the income from derivative products of your film in China?"

Duke will say some things, but matters involving commercial secrets are by no means in this category.

However, what he said is also true, "Any film market that wants to mature needs a stage of development, especially the derivatives market."

After thinking for a few seconds, Duke looked at Feng Daya and said, "The development of Chinese film derivatives is basically at the primitive stage. Most of the film derivatives are decorations for film promotional activities. Film derivatives are indispensable in the film industry chain. It is also a key to satisfy the cultural consumption needs of the audience, and the development of Chinese film derivatives is still at a low ebb, which also means that the marketing and development of derivatives has a huge market space.”

As soon as Duke finished speaking, Fatty Yu nodded and answered, "The domestic movie derivatives market is not standardized enough, and the market development and sales channels are not perfect and smooth enough, and the consumer market for derivatives also needs to be cultivated urgently. The derivatives market still has a long way to go.”

"Also, piracy is rampant, and the benefits of legitimate copies have been eroded, resulting in a sharp drop in profit points."

The Wang brothers have obviously done research on this aspect, "In recent years, many domestic manufacturers have used genuine products as prototypes to quickly produce pirated derivatives during the movie schedule, and rely on wholesale markets and the Internet to launch and ship products, and have already A complete piracy industry chain has been formed. Pirated products have reduced the profit margins of genuine products and occupied a large market share, resulting in increased competitive pressure on genuine operators and a reverse crowding out effect, restricting the development of China's fledgling film derivatives market To grow stronger. For the governance of pirated products, corresponding policy support is urgently needed.”

When it came to the end, many people's eyes were swept away from the mountain eagle.

Although he is not an official in charge of copyright, Zuo Shandiao is the only official present here anyway.

Unlike those big figures who are always mysterious, Zuo Shandiao has been immersed in this industry for decades, and also hopes that Chinese films can develop.

He coughed lightly and said, "Insufficient awareness and ability to develop derivative products is the most important problem facing all domestic filmmakers."

As soon as these words came out, many people looked at Jiang Xiaojun again, and Jiang Xiaojun could only show a wry smile.

Last year, "Let the Bullets Fly" allowed him to "make money while standing", and he was envied by everyone. In fact, Jiang Xiaojun knew that there was a lot of money that he didn't make. The most important thing was the development of film derivatives. this one.

The development of derivatives requires well-established prototypes and visionary derivatives market developers. Many domestic films only have distribution rights and no original authorization, so they do not meet the conditions for developing derivatives; or they have authorization but do not develop derivatives. awareness; or have the awareness of development, but do not have the ability to develop independently...

Since it is a film forum, as long as it does not involve commercial secrets or his own interests, Duke will still say a few words, even though he has figured out the so-called 'position' and 'identity' decades ago, but There is a tendency in the heart, but it is unavoidable.

"Currently, most traditional Chinese film derivative products are low-end and elementary, and they have not yet reached the stage."

Although these words are not pleasant, but with Duke's character and his work and lifestyle over the years, he did not beat around the bush.

Of course, he would not mention the so-called innovation and creativity at all. Anyone who has a little understanding of the film industry knows that innovation and creativity have never been the foundation of the development of this industry.

And there are too many examples of good ideas turned into bad movies, too numerous to count.

If a country's film industry wants to truly develop, industrialization is an inevitable path.

"Chinese films must first pass the quality test, establish a brand, and establish their own cultural influence after serialization."

After being silent for a few seconds, Duke said into the microphone again, "Abandon the idea of ​​temporary development, OEM production, and making quick money, fully research the market, and develop something that audiences of the same age level as the film like. Furthermore, clear copyright ownership , Establish a fixed network and sales channels for derivatives; establish a dedicated consumer product company, and position different prices to cover all levels of consumption.

"Film should be an industrial chain, and the works we usually see in theaters are just the locomotive of this industrial chain\

,"Jiang Xiaojun, Ge Guangtou, Zhang Guoshi and others were all nodding. To them, Duke's unappealing words were far more sincere than those Hollywood directors who came to China to praise Chinese films.

Yes, they can sense from Duke's words his understanding of Chinese films and his sincerity in helping Chinese films.

This kind of sincerity is very limited, but it is very rare for such a foreigner.

"Currently people focus on the box office mostly, ignoring the important stage of the development and utilization of film derivative products, which is precisely the important difference between modern and traditional film industries. As far as I know, China currently lacks professional licensing The company also has no industry norms, so China's movie derivatives market has always been an untapped mine."

Duke’s words never stopped, “In Hollywood, derivatives account for 70% of the total movie revenue, far higher than the movie box office, and according to my understanding, 95% of your country’s movie revenue All of the above comes from domestic box office and product placement, and the revenue from derivative products of many movies is actually zero.”

Having said that, Duke cited some real data in order to let these people more intuitively understand the huge impact of derivatives on the film industry.

"For example, the total box office revenue of the "Star Wars" trilogy is 1.8 billion US dollars, and its derivatives account for more than 20 billion US dollars."

Duke's speech speed is not fast, and his spoken Chinese is a bit blunt, but it does not prevent him from becoming the most eye-catching one in the venue, "Disney's animated film "The Lion King" only had an initial investment of 80 million US dollars, and gained 80 million dollars. 100 million US dollars at the box office, but the revenue from derivative products is as high as 3 billion US dollars, some people even joked that "The Lion King" is a money printing machine made by Disney." (To be continued~^~)

PS:  Ask for monthly and recommendation tickets!