Millennium director

Chapter 130 The total box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Night at the Museum"

The next day, January 1, 2004, Wu Yuan left Hengdian as if fleeing and returned to the capital.

The reason why he used the word "escape" was because he found that his mentality had undergone some subtle changes.

And this change made him a little confused.

Especially when facing Liu Yifei.

This little girl who he had always regarded as his younger sister seemed to have become a big girl in the blink of an eye.

It seemed that he could no longer look at her the way he looked at his little sister before.

He didn't sleep well last night. When he closed his eyes, he would think of Liu Yifei's bright and hot eyes on the rooftop, and the indescribable thing in his eyes.

After waking up in a daze in the morning, Wu Yuan didn't want to stay in Hengdian any longer, and his original plan to watch the filming of "Sword and Sword" for a few days was also cancelled.

After letting Xiao Zhang book a flight, Wu Yuan returned to the capital directly.

He needs some time to think and adjust his mentality.

It also takes time to think things through.

But the world will not stop just because Wu Yuan stops.

The reporters were much faster than Wu Yuan.

Just when he returned to the capital, newspapers of all sizes in the country were already reporting on Wu Yuan's new movie.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" has just been released in China.

Compared with the movie-watching craze this movie triggered in other parts of the world, although "Pirates of the Caribbean" earned more than 40 million in box office in the mainland and was ranked among the top five box office rankings in 2003, it did not cause a high sensation. .

No way, the domestic audience is indeed not too interested in things like the Caribbean and pirates. The main group of people watching this movie are young people.

Although the director of this movie is Wu Yuan, the starring actors are all foreigners whom they do not know. At least older people are not willing to watch it.

So Wu Yuan is very embarrassed now.

His reputation in the industry is very high. Anyone related to the film and television industry knows him and admires him extremely.

However, in the outside world, as the news of "The Embalmer" winning Berlin's Best Director has passed, Wu Yuan has gradually been forgotten by the public.

Even though "Pirates of the Caribbean" was a hit and the domestic media reported on the director as a topical figure, his influence in the country was still insufficient.

Who is the most influential director in China now?

Ranking first is undoubtedly director Zhang Yimou. His "Hero" still maintains the top spot at the box office of mainland movies.

And his next movie "House of Flying Daggers" has also been filmed and is ready to be released in the summer vacation. By then, it will set off another wave of movie viewing in the mainland.

The second most influential person is not Wu Yuan, let alone Chen Kaige, but Feng Xiaogang!

With one high-grossing New Year's film every year, Director Feng has a huge influence on the public level and has established himself as a leading commercial film director!

His status and influence in the industry are definitely not as good as those of the three directors Wu, Chen, and Zhang, but his appeal to the public is really terrifying.

On December 18, "Mobile Phone" directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Uncle Ge and Fan Xiaopang was released in mainland China. It earned 30 million in box office in less than half a month!

Another movie that is destined to be the mainland box office champion of the year was born from director Feng.

From 1997 to 2002, Feng Xiaogang made a total of five movies in 6 years, winning the box office champion in 1997, the box office champion in 1998, the runner-up and third runner-up in the box office in 1999, and the runner-up in the box office in 2001!

Five movies, none of them failed, and all of them were box office hits!

With a high number of works and record-breaking box office results, Feng Xiaogang is well-known among the mainland public.

In comparison, although Wu Yuan is a great director working in Hollywood, and "Pirates of the Caribbean" has a global box office of 650 million US dollars, with awards on his left and box office on his right, his style is too high and not down to earth.

The last Chinese-language film he released was "The Embalmer", and the box office in the mainland did not exceed 50 million yuan. There is indeed a gap between Feng Xiaogang, whose cumulative box office has exceeded 180 million yuan.

Everyone knows that you, Wu Yuan, are great. You can direct blockbusters in Hollywood, and you also won a grand prize in Berlin.

But if you really want to say that the number of mainland audiences who have gone to the cinema to watch Wu Yuan's movies is indeed small, and they are concentrated among young people aged 20 to 30 years old.

This is just like Mo Yan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Everyone knows that you are awesome, but very few people have actually read Mo Yan's novels.

On the contrary, Wu Yuan's popularity in North America has really exploded.

His assistant Daisy would summarize North American reports about Wu Yuan and send them to his mailbox every week.

Occasionally Wu Yuan would take a look and understand the situation.

The box office performance of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" in this life is even better than Wu Yuan's dream.

Maybe it's because Disney is more confident and has invested more publicity funds, or maybe it's because the joining of Wu Yuan, a well-known director, does have box office value.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" earned a box office of US$3.5 in a single market in North America, which is US$50 million more than in dreams!

Wu Yuan has also become the "Father of Pirates of the Caribbean" among North American movie fans.

It's strange. Although he didn't write the script of this movie, and the copyright belongs to Disney, many North American movie fans think that he is the soul of this movie.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, you can understand it.

Wu Yuan is different from Gore Verbinski.

Gore Verbinski was an unknown little director before he took on "Pirates of the Caribbean."

Wu Yuan has already become famous in North America with "Juno".

His Chinese identity is an advantage at times like this.

Because he is the only Chinese director to have achieved a box office of US$200 million in North America, most North American movie fans will remember him immediately.

Later, his "The Embalmer" won the Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival, and attended the Oscars, earning a lot of praise.

Thanks to his yellow skin, dark eyes, and black hair, Wu Yuan is firmly remembered by North American movie fans.

It is also because of this that Disney has always used him and Depp as the main promotion points when promoting "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Half a month before its release, Wu Yuan frequently appeared in news reports on major North American television stations, and participated in various talk shows and interview programs.

This makes him deeply bound to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie.

When North American movie fans mention him, they will think of "Pirates of the Caribbean", and when they mention this movie, they will think of him.

This is also the result of Disney's push behind the scenes.

Disney doesn't care that Wu Yuan became the father of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and became one of the icons of the franchise.

Because Wu Yuan signed a three-part contract with Disney in one go!

Disney wishes that Wu Yuan would be tied to this series and wish that he could become more famous and successful in Hollywood!

Because this will bring more and better box office returns to subsequent films in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, and even open up the Asian market for this series!

As a result, Wu Yuan is now extremely popular in North America, almost tied with Depp, and together he has become the soul of "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Just like Nolan is to "The Dark Knight", he is a rare director who is still remembered by the audience for his Hollywood commercial blockbusters.

However, Wu Yuan is not so influential in other countries outside North America. Audiences in other countries still focus more on Captain Jack and the beautiful Elizabeth.

KK, a newly debuted actress, has also relied on this wave of influence to become another Hollywood star and is known as the Rose of England.

Everything is great and wonderful.

Well, except for the fact that Depp drifted.

After Wu Yuan returned to the capital, he received a call from Jerry within two days of rest.

Disney is very, very satisfied with the box office performance of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1". Even if the movie has not yet been released in some countries, Disney is ready to start preparations for a sequel.

The two screenwriters have already started writing the script, and Jerry has also contacted several actors to sign contracts and set a suitable schedule for joining the cast.

Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are both easy to talk to. They knew how much the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean" would help their acting careers. They signed the contract with almost no bargaining, and signed the follow-up in one go. Two parts.

But Depp is different.

He was obviously extremely dedicated and humble before the first movie was launched. After "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" won a global box office of US$650 million, his attitude immediately changed.

As the absolute star and soul of this series, Depp knows very well that if Disney wants to make a sequel, they can't avoid him at any cost, not even to replace him.

So when Jerry approached him to negotiate a sequel contract, he asked for $20 million + 10% of the global box office share.

Note, this is a global box office breakdown!

Different from the North American box office division, in many countries, the proportion of Hollywood movies after release is very low.

For example, in China, movies that enter the mainland market on a split-account basis can only get 13%.

"Titanic" sold for 360 million yuan, but the North American producers only took away 50 million yuan in the end, and the rest of the money was kept in the mainland.

Depp has asked for 10% of the global box office share. So 10% of the profits from a market like China must go to Depp, and the remaining 3% belongs to Disney.

Which production company can accept such conditions?

Even if Disney made this series mainly to sell movie peripherals and build theme parks, it would not be so generous!

If "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" can continue to earn 600 million US dollars at the global box office, then Depp alone will take away 20 million + 60 million!

What a joke.

Although Jerry could see that Depp was asking for a high price and then paid back the money.

But this lion's mouth was too wide. Just negotiating with Depp would probably take less than half a year to negotiate a price that satisfies both parties.

The specific shooting of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" is probably going to have to be postponed for a while. It is 80% impossible to shoot in 2004 and will have to wait until 2005 to prepare.

On the phone, Jerry complained bitterly to Wu Yuan.

He hopes that the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series can be produced once a year. Who wouldn't want to make money if it can be made?

Wu Yuan, who is very familiar with the entire "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, can only laugh and say nothing.

It's pretty good now.

If Jerry knew that Depp later had a fight with his ex-wife, which directly ruined the entire "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, then he might really be able to make up his mind to replace him now.

After vomiting a lot of bitterness, Jerry finally brought good news.

The global box office statistics of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" have been released. In the end, the global box office of this movie was fixed at US$712 million!

It was US$58 million higher than Wu Yuan remembered, and most of it was contributed by the North American market.

With a global box office of US$712 million, "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" also successfully ranked fourth on the global box office list in 2003, only US$27 million behind "The Matrix 2" in third place.

However, in the North American domestic box office list, "Pirates of the Caribbean" successfully won the runner-up!

"The Matrix", which ranks third at the global box office, has a North American box office of US$281 million.

"Finding Nemo", which ranks second at the global box office, has a North American box office of US$339 million.

Both movies performed very well at the overseas box office, surpassing "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" in total box office.

In the North American domestic market, the box office performance of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" is only inferior to that of "Lord of the Rings 3" which took in US$377 million.

"Lord of the Rings 3" also became the global box office champion in 2003 with a global box office of US$1.14 billion.

The success of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Lord of the Rings 3" has also sparked a wave of fantasy and magic movies in North America.

Whether it is a fantasy adventure movie like "Pirates of the Caribbean" or a magical epic movie like "The Lord of the Rings", they have become hot topics in Hollywood.

Wu Yuan received many fantasy movie scripts that he was invited to direct, and Daisy summarized them and sent them to her email.

But he rejected them all without even looking at them.

Wu Yuan's schedule in Hollywood is already quite full. He is expected to shoot "Rush Hour 3" in the second half of this year and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" next year. He doesn't want to take on any more Hollywood movies.

But Wu Yuan still wants to take a bite of the "traffic" of the fantasy genre.

After "Pirates of the Caribbean", which fantasy movie is the most profitable?

That has to be "Night at the Museum"!

This movie, released in 2006, sold a box office of $570 million with a cost of $12 million. It can be called a model of low-cost counterattack!

The sequel "Night at the Museum 2" also sold more than 400 million US dollars at the global box office.

However, Wu Yuan knew that the idea for this movie came from a storybook drawn for children by a Croatian illustrator.

He could be the first to buy the movie adaptation rights of this storybook, but Light Times is really too busy right now.

John is currently focusing on filming "The Hangover 2", and there are also "Fake Marriage" and "Weakness" waiting for the follow-up.

As a small independent production company, Light Times couldn't afford to start another fantasy film production.

So Wu Yuan just ordered John to buy the film adaptation rights of "Night at the Museum" for the time being.

We will then decide based on the situation whether we should produce this series ourselves or cooperate with Fox to develop it.

It's not okay to eat in someone else's pot and be too conspicuous.

It's okay that Light Times has the "Hangover" series, but if this is coupled with another popular movie series, it will be a bit eye-catching and will be regarded as a thorn in the side of Hollywood capital.

How many blockbuster series does Hollywood have in total?

You are a small independent production company and you want to own two at the same time?

This is the reason why Wu Yuan wants to join forces with New Line to make the "Kings Agent" series together, so that New Line can share the firepower!

Wu Yuan also plans to work with Fox on the "Night at the Museum" series.

Light Times can take control and allocate 40% or 30% to Fox, borrowing their resources and manpower to jointly develop this series.

In this way, after Wu Yuan asked John to buy the film adaptation rights, he took the time to write the script of "Night at the Museum".

During this time a year ago, he was relatively free and had plenty of time to write scripts.

Not only "Night at the Museum", but also some movie scripts he planned to shoot next were written by Wu Yuan one after another.

When the time came to the end of January, a safe that Wu Yuan bought specially was already filled with scripts that he had been thinking about writing.

These scripts are either commercial films with good box office reputations, or classic literary films that won awards.

Since Wu Yuan entered the film industry with the mentality of cultivating and expanding the mainland film market.

Naturally, he will not do that kind of behavior of drinking poison to quench his thirst, and will shoot outstanding mainland movies in the future now.

The scripts written by Wu Yuan are mainly based on some excellent foreign films, and have been appropriately adapted locally.

Of course, there are also some Chinese-language films, but they are all excellent films from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

There is only one mainland movie, and that is the "Painted Skin" series, which was prepared for Wu Ershan.

The Hong Kong movie is, of course, prepared for Zhang Guorong. It focuses on a sniper Chen Kexin, and by the way, it also attacks the group of directors in Hong Kong who are shameless in order to make money.

As for Taiwanese movies, Wu Yuan knew about the urinary nature of the Golden Horse and also knew that Taiwan would become more and more alienated from the mainland in the future and cheat their film and television industry. He had no psychological burden at all.

The future of Chinese-language films will be orthodox in mainland China!

Those filmmakers in Taiwan should take a break as soon as possible!

It's a few hundred words off, but it's just right so I won't forcefully write it down.