Millennium director

"Snap, snap, snap, snap—!"

"Suguichi (すごい!)"

“Isn’t this really a local film?”

"It's so beautiful. Beautiful and sincere love is indeed the most touching thing!"

"I like Sanye so much, I like her and Lin Jun's courage to risk their lives, and I like this meeting that spanned two thousand kilometers.

"If we can't meet in reality, let's meet in dreams."

The screening hall, which can accommodate nearly a thousand people, was filled with excited discussions from the moment the subtitles rolled on the screen.

Wu Yuan, Liu Yifei and others could not understand Japanese and had no idea what the audience sitting in the back were saying.

But they could tell through their body language and facial expressions that these fans loved the movie.

"Director Wu, the premiere was very well-received!" the distributor representative, who also served as a translator, relayed with excitement: "Critics all said this is a great romance film."

"They also praised you for being so awesome for being able to make a movie that is so appealing to Japanese movie fans."

"They saw the shadow of "Love Letter" in this movie."

"Sure enough, as the birthplace of East Asian culture, Chinese films can still resonate with Japanese audiences!"

Wu Yuan smiled and listened to his narration, laughing secretly in his heart.

But no, this "Your Name" is originally a Japanese movie.

He is completely "exporting to domestic sales"!

Japanese movie fans would be damned if they don't like watching it.

"That's good." Wu Yuan asked with a smile: "Have you made arrangements for the rest of your promotional schedule?"

“It’s all arranged,” the publisher’s representative said excitedly.

"Then let's get started!"

On March 26, "Your Name" premiered in Japan.

In the afternoon of that day, major entertainment media in Tokyo reported and reprinted the film’s premiere news.

Just like in the mainland, most of the film critics and audiences who watched the premiere were full of praise for the film when writing about the film and being interviewed by TV station and newspaper reporters.

For Japanese movie fans, this movie does not have any incorrect values. Instead, it is a very good and fresh movie.

From the pictures to the plot to the character stories, the clever interweaving of parallel time and space and the idea of ​​swapping bodies in dreams have been praised in various ways.

To be honest, this is what Japanese movie fans and critics like.

Some film critics even lamented after watching the film that Wu Yuan was like an authentic Japanese film, and produced a story style that can only be found in excellent Japanese films.

In Japan, film critics still have a great influence.

Regardless of whether the distributor Fang Dongbao paid these film critics, in short, with the praise from public opinion, many Japanese fans who had not paid attention to this movie have developed a strong interest in watching this movie.

On March 28, two days after its premiere, "Your Name" was fully released in 326 theaters in Japan.

Don’t be too little, this is already 90% of the theaters in Japan.

Although Japan is the second largest movie market in the world, there are really not many theaters in Japan, less than 400 and only more than 3,000 screens.

Because rents in Japan, especially in big cities, are so expensive, opening a movie theater is not a very profitable industry, even if the venue is full. If you have the money, it would be better to open something else.

Therefore, the number of movie theaters in Japan has not been increasing.

Even so, with such a small number of theaters, Japan has become the second largest box office market in the world, relying on their super high attendance!

The average box office revenue of Japanese theaters is twice that of North America! It is 5~6 times that of China!

Once Japanese theaters encounter a blockbuster movie, the box office stamina will be very high, and it is common for the film to remain the box office champion for weeks or even months.

On March 28, "Your Name" was released with great fanfare, covering almost all theaters across the country.

But it is unfortunate because the movie "Flower and Alice" written and directed by Shunji Iwai is also a new movie that was only released on March 13.

Therefore, major theaters did not arrange too many screenings for "Your Name". On average, only two screenings of "Your Name" were screened in every ten shows.

The bosses of major theaters believe that a 20% screening rate for such a foreign film is extremely overestimated and should be enough.

Unexpectedly, movie fans who came to big cities by train, Shinkansen and other railway transportation from all over the country snapped up the "Your Name" movie tickets in less than half a day.

By the afternoon, fans who came to the cinema from all over the country to see "Your Name" could no longer buy tickets!

Yes, most Japanese audiences who want to watch a movie have to take short-distance transportation, such as trams and Shinkansen, to nearby big cities.

no way.

There are only more than 400 cinemas in Japan, but there are about 1,500 towns, with an average of one cinema for every three towns.

And it’s impossible to distribute it equally.

In the Tokyo metropolitan area alone, there are more than 70 movie theaters, covering approximately 30-40 million Japanese citizens.

Then there are more than 20 theaters in Hyogo Prefecture, more than 20 theaters in Hokkaido, and the remaining ten major cities have 10-20 theaters.

These big cities have almost divided the theaters.

In other words, thousands of Japanese cities and towns do not have movie theaters.

Movie fans in non-urban areas need to travel to several cities to watch a movie.

Therefore, the attendance rate of Japanese movie theaters on weekdays is also extremely high. Basically, it does not matter what movie schedule it is. You don’t have to worry about the attendance rate as long as the movie has a good reputation.

But the premise is that the movie fans who come to the cinema specifically can buy the movie they want to watch!

On the day of the release of "Your Name", 20% of the films were scheduled, which could not resist the enthusiasm of the fans!

It is true that Shunji Iwai is a very good director in Japan, and his "Flower and Alice" was indeed very well shot.

But foreign monks like to chant sutras!

Or the foreign monk who has conquered Japanese movie fans once with "The Embalmer"!

With no other choice, on the afternoon of the 28th, many theaters, under pressure, could only immediately reduce the film schedule of "Flower and Alice" and increase the film schedule of "Your Name".

In order to make more money, some theaters even directly added more movies. By adjusting the interval between shows, they just added a few more movies to each hall.

This can be considered as the fan traffic of "Your Name" on the first day of its release.

However, this is just the beginning.

In order to cooperate with the publicity, Wu Yuan and the male and female protagonists began to frequently appear in front of Japanese audiences according to the arrangements of Toho Co., Ltd.

Today I will participate in Fuji TV's comedy variety show to promote the movie, tomorrow I will participate in a news interview on TV Tokyo, and the day after tomorrow I will appear on TBS's street assault program.

Even though the audience didn't know much about the three of them, through the host's introduction and popular science, they all got to know Wu Yuan and his new movie.

At this time, Wu Yuan's reputation as an "international director" came into play.

Even if Zhang Yimou comes to Japan to appear on a TV show, the only thing that can be talked about is his "Hero". "Hero" was released in Japan and the box office results were okay, with a box office of 4 billion yen.

But Wu Yuan is different.

"Juno" earned 1.2 billion yen at the box office in Japan.

"The Embalmer" earned 2.6 billion yen at the box office in Japan.

The scariest one is "Pirates of the Caribbean". This movie earned 6.8 billion yen at the box office in Japan, ranking sixth on the Japanese box office list in 2003!

"Hero" is only ranked tenth!

In Japan, Wu Yuan is the most famous Chinese director with the highest box office performance!

As soon as he appeared on the TV show, there were dozens of subtitles for the opening introduction, coupled with the usual exaggerated attitude of Japanese artists, and a proper international director, the publicity effect should not be too good!

In addition, after the first day of screening, fans who watched "Your Name" praised the movie on the Internet and brought their own dry food to promote the movie.

On the second and third days of the release, more Japanese movie fans poured into the cinema to watch the movie.

The box office potential of commercial films is indeed unmatched by literary films.

"The Embalmer" only earned 80 million yen at the box office on its first day of release in Japan.

But "Your Name" earned 200 million yen on the day it was released in Japan, and 232 million yen the next day.

Within three days of its premiere, the cumulative box office revenue exceeded 600 million yen!

The movie "Your Name" quickly became a hot topic on the Internet.

As a developed country, Japan's computer penetration rate is not comparable to that of China today. Basically, the young people of the Heisei generation grew up playing with the Internet.

And "Your Name" happens to be aimed at young people!

On the fifth day that Wu Yuan took the two protagonists to participate in various TV shows and offline theater roadshows in Japan, the box office of "Your Name" exceeded 1.4 billion yen, showing an unstoppable power!

The film schedule rate of "Flower and Alice" was squeezed to only 20% within five days. On the contrary, the film schedule rate of "Your Name" quickly increased to about 50%.

Toho Co., Ltd., which is also the distributor of these two movies, should have lamented that its own people beat their own people.

But the reality is that the top executives of Toho Co., Ltd. are simply laughing.

Under the same circumstances of being responsible for distribution, I can make more money by publishing "Your Name" than by publishing "Flower and Alice"!

"Your Name" is a foreign movie!

It's the same as imported films from the Mainland don't get as much revenue share as local films.

The share of foreign films in Japan is only 22%, which is far lower than local films!

Toho Co., Ltd. hopes that "Your Name" will have a higher box office, because both they and the theaters can eat more!

Just like domestic movie theaters like Laiwu imported blockbusters!

"Hahaha, Director Wu, you are really amazing."

Backstage at Fuji TV, a representative sent by Toho Co., Ltd. to cooperate with Wu Yuan's promotions praised Wu Yuan with a bright smile: "He is indeed a great director who is sought after by Hollywood!"

""Your Name" should be able to achieve a box office of over 10 billion in Japan, breaking the box office record set by your "Pirates of the Caribbean"!"

"Si Guoyi, really Si Guoyi!"

Liu Yifei and Hu Ge both had dreamy expressions on their faces. The box office results that had been reported in recent days simply made them unbelievable.

1.4 billion yen in 5 days!

The current exchange rate between RMB and Japanese yen is 7.67 to 100 yen!

If 1.4 billion yen is converted into RMB, it is a full 110 million RMB!

"Your Name" has been released in the mainland for a month, and now it is almost out, and it has only earned 140 million yuan at the box office!

In Japan, this achievement can be achieved in just one week!

This made them happy and excited, but also a little inferior and disappointed.

Japan only has 120 million people and China has 1.2 billion people, but the consumption levels of the two countries are completely incomparable.

The gap between developed and developing countries is really huge.

Movie tickets in Japan are not cheap, but Japanese movie fans are very happy to go to the cinema to watch movies and do not think that watching movies is a luxury.

But in China, going to the movies is still considered a luxury that involves spending money.

When will the economy of domestic audiences become more developed, and Chinese people will regard watching movies as a common and trivial matter?

When will mainland movies be able to easily exceed 100 million in box office in a week?

Hu Ge and Liu Yifei looked at each other and saw a confused look in each other's eyes.

"Don't think too much." Perhaps sensing that the two of them were depressed, Wu Yuan reached out and touched the top of Liu Yifei's head.

"Our mainland film market will also get better in the future."

"From 2000 to 2004, our country's economy has been improving rapidly every year."

“Everyone has more and more money in their pockets, and their lives are getting better and better.”

"I believe that in a few years, going to the cinema to watch movies will become a very common thing in the eyes of Chinese people."

"By then, it will no longer be a dream for mainland movies to exceed 100 million yuan or 1 billion yuan, but a very normal thing!"

Looking at Wu Yuan's confident eyes, Liu Yifei nodded her head vigorously: "Yes!"

"I believe senior brother!"

"With Senior Brother here, Chinese movies will definitely get better and better."

Liu Xiaoli, who went abroad with Liu Yifei to take care of her, looked at Wu Yuan's hand for a moment.

His action of stroking the top of Sissi's head.

Why does it look so like how Sissi usually plays with the dog at home?

"Hey, don't praise me so much." Wu Yuan, who didn't know Liu Xiaoli's thoughts, was explaining seriously: "I don't have the ability to change the entire industry."

"It's just that we were born in a good era. It was the country's good policies and strong driving force that allowed us to encounter the golden age of Chinese films."

"When the country is strong, our entertainment industry can be strong. Only when the country's economy is good, can the entertainment industry flourish."

"I don't have confidence in our mainland films, but I have confidence in the country!"

Only those who have truly lived and worked abroad, and tried to develop their careers abroad, know how blessed it is to have a strong country behind them.

If China's economy hadn't been advancing by leaps and bounds every year after entering the 21st century, Wu Yuan's salary and status in Hollywood would not have improved, let alone entering the Japanese market so easily.

Wu Yuan sighed in his heart, suddenly remembered something, and looked at Liu Xiaoli, who was standing in the corner and invisible.

"Aunt Liu, I have to remind you something."

"If Sissi's future development focus is on the Chinese entertainment industry, or even the Asian entertainment industry, then it would be best to change her nationality back."

"While she's still underage, she still has a chance to choose."

"Ah?" Liu Xiaoli looked at Wu Yuan blankly.

After the divorce, she took her daughter to the United States. In order to make life easier, she tried every means to change her daughter's nationality.

But she didn't expect that even after living in the United States for a few years, her daughter was determined to return to China to become an actress and realize her dream of being an actress, so she had no choice but to take her daughter back to China to develop.

However, the nationality was not changed back.

Because in this era, American citizenship is indeed something that people all over the world want, including a large part of the Chinese people.

After all, this is the only superpower currently.

And with American citizenship, life is indeed very convenient.

At least it’s easy to get a visa for most places in the world, and you get the treatment of a “citizen of the previous country”.

If Wu Yuan hadn't mentioned this matter, Liu Xiaoli would definitely not have gone to change Liu Yifei's place of origin.

But it was Wu Yuan who made this suggestion, one of the top Chinese entertainment workers.

Could it be that he had received some inside information?

What policies will the Ministry of Culture introduce to restrict foreign artists?

Thinking of the special national conditions of this country, Liu Xiaoli's expression became solemn.

There are some things that you really need to pay attention to. Once you ignore them, it will cost ten or a hundred times to make up for them in the future, and it may not be possible to make up for them.

"I understand. I will cancel Sissi's citizenship as soon as possible before she reaches adulthood."

Chinese citizens who immigrate to foreign nationalities have an opportunity to re-choose their nationality before reaching adulthood and can change back to Chinese nationality.

Including biracial people is okay too.

Isn't that what the skater does?