Millennium director

"Along with the Gods" screened in Venice to great effect.

Although this film was not shortlisted for the main competition, it successfully appeared in the film review columns of some event magazines the next day after the screening.

Perhaps because of Zhang Guorong's fame in Europe, most film critics gave this film a fairly acceptable rating.

Of course, the ratings are given from the perspective of commercial films and are not used to compare with the artistic films in the main competition unit.

Considering that he is an actor turned director, even if he is a commercial film director, as a contestant with a non-professional background, it is already very good to be able to hand in such an answer.

Also because of the good reviews given by some of the screenings, "Along with the Gods", which continued to be screened in small batches in various cinemas on Lido Island in the next week, was quite popular, with more than half of the screenings in every screening. attendance rate.

The person in charge of the sales department of the Light and Shadow Times group has also received invitations from some Asian and European film producers to negotiate the purchase of the distribution rights of this film.

Just like China Film Group purchases a batch of films from the three major European companies every year, film companies from other Asian countries also come to buy a lot of Chinese films every year.

Obviously "Along with the Gods" is a popular style this year.

This kind of commercial film, which is based on a cultural foundation that is familiar to all Asian countries, combines fashionable packaging and creativity, gorgeous special effects and the family tear-jerking plot that Korea is good at, and fully integrates traditional culture and young tastes, at least in Asian countries, it is still Very popular.

South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand and other small East Asian countries quickly reached distribution rights purchase contracts with Light and Shadow Times.

European countries quickly followed suit.

The unit prices in various countries are not expensive. On average, a country only spends tens of thousands of dollars to acquire the domestic distribution rights of this film.

During the three days of screening, the total sales totaled almost 2 million US dollars.

When Wu Yuan heard this figure, he couldn't help but lament that the days of making a lot of money by selling copyrights were really gone forever.

It's not that the copyright is hard to sell, but that the price is really worthless for current mainland movies.

Let’s put it in perspective, if a literary film can earn two million US dollars in royalties overseas, it’s already making a lot of money.

After all, the shooting cost may not even be 2 million yuan, which is a tenfold benefit if rounded up.

When Wu Yuan's "The Night the Comet Came" sold for US$2.55 million, he felt like he was making crazy money. He had never seen so much money in his entire life.

But now "Along with the Gods" has sold for 2 million US dollars, which is less than one-tenth of the cost of the film, let alone making money.

There is no way. Now that a large amount of hot money has poured into the mainland film industry, the cost of making movies has obviously increased a lot. Even the most ordinary literary and artistic films, which used to cost tens of millions to make, now generally cost two or three. A million.

It is basically impossible for Wu Yuan to spend 300,000 yuan to make a movie like he did back then.

Times have changed!

Although "Along with the Gods" is billed as a fantasy and magical blockbuster, in fact, this movie does not have many special effects shots, only one-tenth of "Gravity". The main focus is still an emotional scene.

Even so, the budget of this movie is as high as 100 million, and the actual production cost 84 million. If the subsequent publicity and distribution expenses are included, the cost will definitely exceed 100 million.

In the face of this 100 million cost, the overseas copyright sales of 2 million US dollars can really only be regarded as a drop in the bucket.

Even if there is still more than a week to be released, the film is estimated to only sell for 4 to 5 million US dollars, barely able to recover one-third of the production cost.

Unless it wins the blockbuster Golden Lion award like "Li Wen" and "The Good Man", it is impossible to sell tens of millions of dollars.

Not only "Along with the Gods" was screened in Venice, but "Painted Skin 2" was also screened in Venice the day after "Along with the Gods" was screened in Venice.

Chen Kaige's reputation in Europe is no less than that of Zhang Guorong. In addition, the IP pioneering work of "Painted Skin" was shot by Wu Yuan.

Back then, "Painted Skin 1" sold a round of copyrights in Europe and was released in mainstream European countries.

European audiences are quite interested in this magical movie from the mysterious East.

Just as Chinese people are full of mystery about Greek mythology and Nordic mythology, Europeans are also quite curious about Chinese mythology.

After all, for European audiences, Chinese legends and stories about gods and goblins are too new.

Most of the film studios that bought the overseas distribution rights of "Painted Skin 1" back then made their money back, and even made a small profit.

According to statistics, the total box office of "Painted Skin 1" in Europe was less than 10 million U.S. dollars, and the distribution rights purchase only raised 3 to 4 million U.S. dollars.

With such a profitable predecessor, "Painted Skin 2" was screened in Venice, which naturally made the European film producers who came to watch it eager to move.

Wu Yuan and Liu Yifei also attended the premiere that day.

Unlike "Along with the Gods", Wu Yuan has watched the finished film of "Painted Skin 2" in advance.

There was no way, Chen Kaige had a criminal record. No matter how confident Wu Yuan was about him, he would inevitably feel a little nervous.

This film had just been shot and before any post-production was carried out, Wu Yuan had already seen the material shot by Chen Kaige.

Then when post-production was completed and Chen Kaige cut it himself, he watched it again.

Fortunately, although the whole film still inevitably has a strong "Chen Kaige-style film aesthetics", at least director Kaige restrained himself this time and did not overly exert his desire for expression.

The overall tone of the entire film is still that of a commercial film, and the plot and story also follow the script.

It is even blunt to say that the finished film shot by Chen Kaige is more advanced than Wu Yuan's "Painted Skin 1" in terms of visual aesthetics.

The beautiful scenery of the desert with solitary smoke and the sun setting over the long river, the picturesque scenery of the Gobi Desert and the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, are so beautiful under Chen Kaige's lens!

Zeng Li, the school belle of Chinese drama school, and Zhou Xun, the unique vixen, are even more beautiful by several levels under Chen Kaige's lens.

Chen Kaige, who can make Zhang Rongrong's Yang Guifei so stunning, comes to shoot a real beauty, it's like being stronger than ever!

The script and story are good, the natural scenery is beautiful, the actors are stunning, and the special effects are of sufficient quality. The finished film of "Painted Skin 2" is undoubtedly excellent and has the potential to be a hit!

Facts have proved that as long as there is a good script and Chen Kaige does not blindly change the script himself, then he can indeed make a very good movie.

The premise is that someone has to suppress him and prevent him from letting himself go.

Wu Yuan has a hunch that this time "Painted Skin 2" will definitely make Director Kege avenge his humiliation in China! (End of chapter)