It has been more than a year since being selected last year, and this debut film starring Li Youhu has a feeling that the girls of the Guofeng Art Troupe have been waiting for it for a long time.
Because of Li Youhu's luck, Wei Canzao and the other seven girls in the screening room were in somewhat complicated moods.
While they both hope that this Chinese-language film from the motherland will be successful, they also inevitably don’t want it to be too successful. With these thoughts in mind, the girls’ attitudes towards watching the movie are inevitably more ambivalent than those of the other audiences at the scene, with a bit of scrutiny amid their expectations. .
However, when the first exciting fighting scene of the film ended, the audience burst into spontaneous applause in the screening room, and they suddenly felt a little proud again.
The mentality also changed again.
In any case, it is something to be proud of for a Chinese-language film to receive such recognition overseas. What's more, during the past six months of touring, they have received a lot of similar applause.
Then it was relatively pure movie watching.
Follow the narrated story, travel between deep houses, Gobi, grasslands, and bamboo seas, and learn about the love, hatred, and hatred of children in the world.
During this period, the audience burst into applause again and again, which greatly boosted the confidence of everyone involved with the film. Ella Deutschman, the president of Gomen Pictures, who came to attend the premiere in person, also specifically explained her Assistant, remember to highlight the on-site feedback of spontaneous applause from the audience in tomorrow’s promotional release.
Eight o'clock in the evening.
At the end of the two-hour screening, with the last round of applause from the audience taking the initiative, the creators began to go on stage for interviews. Even Martin Scorsese, who came to support him out of favor, took the initiative to ask for the microphone and asked Ang Lee. How was the scene of the protagonist’s duel with the bamboo sea filmed, and whether CG special effects were used
Scorsese was quite surprised when he learned that the only 'special effect' was to erase the wires. He expressed his wish to make an appointment with Ang Lee to have an in-depth discussion, and Ang Lee agreed wholeheartedly.
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This conversation was naturally recorded by many media at the scene.
Because the interactive scene was so enthusiastic, the scheduled half-hour communication time was delayed for more than 40 minutes before the premiere finally ended.
Then came the after-party officially arranged by Daenerys.
This time, Li Youhu failed to ask for invitations to the seven friends. Of course she had to attend and took the time to come over to say goodbye. The girls were very sorry about this and had no choice but to leave.
Instead of going to Li Youhu's residence, they returned to the apartment building that Simon bought for them in Zhongcheng.
Because we are in the rest stage, there are also some other girls in Manhattan.
The seven girls did not disturb the others, but gathered in Wei Cancha's apartment in a tacit understanding, turned on the TV, and found snacks.
The topic is still about the movie we just watched.
"To be honest, I think it's great. The scenery is so beautiful and the action scenes are also exciting. However, overall I don't have a great feeling," Su Fengnian, who was holding a bag of potato chips, spoke first, and then added: "I don't mean to be bitter, it really feels like this."
"Your feeling is right, I feel the same way." Ouyang Shuili, who was holding a fruit plate next to him, said, then looked at Wei Canzao: "Zanzao, what do you think?"
Wei Sanli, who once again failed to get a sofa and could only sit on the carpet, rolled his eyes. Ouyang Shuli, who usually liked the single sofa the most, said: "This shows that your aesthetic level is too low, and it is only suitable for watching popcorn." Movie."
"Tsk, then tell us, what's so good about it?"
Wei Cancha arrogantly ignored him.
Yu Xuannio, who for some reason did not have a strong presence in this small circle, said weakly: "Actually, Fengnian just said that the scenery is beautiful and the action scenes are also exciting. Aren't these the advantages of this movie? For ordinary popcorn movies, people tend to just watch them once they’ve seen them, and it’s hard to leave an impression on people.”
Another Yin Caiwei also said: "I think so too."
Gu Yaoyao, who happened to be holding a box of popcorn, waited for everyone to finish talking and suddenly changed the topic: "I wonder if Simon will show up at the after-party?"
Chen Xingwei, who was next to Gu Yaoyao, grabbed a handful of popcorn from Gu Yaoyao's box and teased: "What, you miss a man?"
Gu Yaoyao's face was slightly red, but she didn't hide it: "I want to, don't you want to?"
"You two, please stop being rude."
Wei Cancha interrupted and glanced at Yin Caiwei and Yu Xuannio.
At this time, five of the seven girls in the room had been eaten by a certain man, but Yin Caiwei and Yu Xuanniiao had not yet been taken over. These things were not secrets within the Guofeng Art Troupe, but they were It is also not suitable for casual discussions and joking.
However, since Gu Yaoyao broke the topic, the atmosphere was inevitably a little delicate.
So after gathering for more than ten minutes, everyone dispersed, leaving only Wei Cancha and Gu Yaoyao.
They are a couple.
A night of silence.
Early the next morning, Gu Yaoyao woke up and found that Wei Sanzhao was no longer around. After getting dressed and washing, she went to the living room and found Wei Sanzhao sitting on the sofa reading a stack of newspapers.
Gu Yaoyao roughly knew what her partner was reading. She also picked up a newspaper, flipped through it, and quickly gave up. Her English ability was not yet at the level of Wei Canzhao who could read a newspaper, so she could still understand some of it even if she forced herself to read it. . But why bother with that
So he asked directly: "How is the evaluation?"
"Very good," Wei Cancha said, and read a paragraph from the film review in The New York Times: "Li has successfully broken through the limitations of the unique martial arts film genre in Eastern China and created a gorgeous, poetic, romantic and It is a film that is full of depth. The beautiful natural scenery in the film is like a scroll falling into reality, and the creative action scenes are both incredible and natural and smooth."
Gu Yaoyao was listening next to her and tilted her head: "This evaluation is too high."
"It's a very good movie," Wei Sancha continued to flip through the newspaper in his hand and added, "All the articles I just read were praising them, and they also predicted that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" will become the highest-grossing Chinese film in North America. .”
"How much box office can it sell?"
"Who knows, it must be tens of millions."
"It seems like the cost is only $15 million, right?"
"It's not just North America, Europe, and China. In short, it must be very profitable."
When the two girls were discussing in their apartment, on a new day, media opinions about "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" also spread rapidly. After all, the premiere last night invited more than a hundred media from various platforms such as TV, newspapers, and the Internet. , after all is rolled out, the public who pays even a little attention to movie information will not be able to escape the news brainwashing of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Oscar-nominated best director's new film, premiered in New York. The audience spontaneously applauded many times and the response was enthusiastic."
“Martin Scorsese asked Ang Lee for advice at the premiere on how to shoot the film’s exciting stunts.”
"Two Chinese male stars, Jack Cheng and Jet Lee, attended together to support the film."
"Roger Ebert praised "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as Ang Lee's self-transcendence."
"Background revealed, the heroine of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is from the Guofeng Art Troupe."
“…”
“…”
In just one day, many people knew that an excellent Oriental movie was about to be released, and the film's super-high movie score of 9.7 after comprehensive evaluation from various media also made more people want to buy tickets to enter the theater.
However, after the public opinion fermented on Thursday, when Friday came, some viewers discovered again that the film had only 143 screens in several core cities such as New York and Los Angeles in its first week.
The hype was so high, but many people were unable to buy tickets immediately.
What a scam.
This is naturally a deliberate arrangement for Daenerys’ entertainment.
In the final analysis, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a literary and artistic film. After so many years of exploration, Hollywood has already concluded a set of progressive long-term distribution models for the distribution of literary and artistic films that first screen and then gradually expand the scale of the film.
Although awards season is the best time for this distribution model, it is equally effective at other times.
Simon is personally very aware of the box office potential of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". It would be okay to intervene personally and directly roll it out on a large scale, as he did with other films in the past. However, the reason why he did not do so this time is mainly for maintenance. A fixed distribution model for literary films.
A more important reason is the intention to gradually let go of Daenerys Entertainment, allowing the company to operate more and more on its own.
To achieve this goal, rules must be established.
Otherwise, if you think a film will be a big hit and you break the distribution rules, the consequences will be ineffective, and sooner or later it will be your own company that will suffer losses.
On the other hand, Daenerys Entertainment's current strong distribution capabilities can also accurately and flexibly adjust the subsequent release strategy of the film. Just like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", now that the reputation is confirmed, it only needs to be screened in one week, and then More than 1,000 screening screens can be arranged in a week, and more will be added quickly later, ultimately maximizing the film's box office potential.
Simon did not attend the after-party for the New York premiere of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as Gu Yaoyao suspected.
On July 23, Irene Lauder gave birth to a boy again, who happened to be Simon's 10th child. He had already been named Noah Westeros.
Next, only Lin Su was left.
Because Irene was emotionally unstable before and after giving birth, Simon stayed with her in the following days and had no time to pay attention to other women. He even turned down a lot of work.
Hollywood is still paying close attention to the 1997 summer season as it enters the second half.
The key is of course box office.
With the release of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" on July 25, the box office for the week just past July 18 to July 24 was also released.
Roland Emmerich's blockbuster "Days of Independence," which opened on July 4, is still leading the pack.
After the box office of 91.07 million in the first week set a record for a movie in 1997, the box office of "Alone Day" in the second week was even better than that of "Tornado" due to its strong reputation and lack of competition, with a drop of only 23%. Revenue is still as high as US$70.12 million. In the third week that just passed, the decline of "Independence Day" slightly expanded to 33%, and it collected another US$46.98 million.
In three weeks, the cumulative box office of this US$90 million blockbuster quickly exceeded 200 million, reaching US$208.17 million.
Unstoppable.
The second place on the list is finally no longer another film from Daenerys Entertainment, but a new Fox Film film "Spawn" released on July 18.
This is a comic book movie.
It tells the story of the male protagonist Al Simmons who signed a contract with the devil after being framed and died, and was reborn in the world to carry out revenge. It is obvious that the creativity is similar to Marvel's Ghost Rider.
Fox invested US$50 million in the production budget of "Spawn", which can be said to be an important attempt to follow the trend of DC comic book movies in recent years. In addition, the male protagonist of "Spawn" is black, which is also the first A gimmick for a comic book movie with a black protagonist.
With 2,762 opening screens, "Spawn" earned a box office of US$25.31 million in its first week.
Obviously not up to expectations.
The box office has not even reached the blockbuster level of over 10,000 US dollars. Coupled with the poor reputation, even if it starts well, the local box office will probably stop at around 50 million US dollars.
The third place on the list is "Nothing to Lose," a comedy produced by Disney, which is also a new film that premiered last week.
To put it simply, this is a story about the male version of the comedy-style "Thelma and Louise". It tells the story of the male protagonist Nick, starring Tim Robbins, who drove away from home in anger after his wife betrayed him, and was robbed by a robber played by Martin Lawrence. Later, he accidentally partnered with the other party and started a crazy journey.
With a production cost of US$25 million, "Nothing to Lose" earned US$17.55 million at the box office in its first week.
Average.
The fourth place is "American Pie", and the ranking once again returns to Daenerys Entertainment.
This low-cost youth sex comedy, released on June 20, can be described as the biggest dark horse of this summer. In its fifth week of release, the single-week box office of "American Pie" fell back to the range of 10 million US dollars for the first time, taking in 9.16 million US dollars. The cumulative ticket price But it happened to break through the 100 million yuan threshold, reaching 100.61 million US dollars.
With a total investment of only 20 million US dollars in production and promotion, Daenerys Entertainment has already made a lot of money just for local distribution.
A sequel has been planned.
The fifth place is "Tornado", which is in the final stage. It also fell into the box office range of 10 million for the first time. In the seventh week of its release, "Tornado" took in 9.03 million US dollars, which is not far behind "American Pie". However, this film invested 1 The domestic box office of the US$100 million blockbuster movie has reached US$256.16 million.
After all, it has been impacted by "Independence Day". Judging from the current trend, there is no hope for the local 300 million.
Of course, with only the local box office exceeding US$250 million at this time, Daenerys Entertainment has basically recovered the total production and promotion costs of US$150 million. Counting the same rising overseas box office, this blockbuster has already entered profitability cycle.
In addition to the top five, it is worth mentioning that "Eagle Project" ranked seventh.
That's right.
It's the one starring Jack Cheng.
Jack Cheng was able to attend the premiere of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" on July 23, precisely because he had to participate in promoting the project the previous week.
The film had already been released in Hong Kong in 1991. It was also an old film that New World Pictures bought in a package. Due to the success of "Once Upon a Time in the World", New World Pictures temporarily arranged the release of this film, and with "Spawn" was released on July 18 like "No More", with an opening number of 1,317 screens and a box office of US$6.17 million in its first week.
A library average of about US$5,000 is not considered a success. However, considering that the average buyout expenditure for the film after packaging was less than US$500,000, even if US$2 million was invested in this release, it only brought in US$6.17 million in the first week. All expenses have been recouped.
It made more than 6 million U.S. dollars in the first week, and the total North American box office of the film is expected to be around 10 million U.S. dollars. Coupled with the subsequent video revenue, it is still a dark horse with a very high return on investment.
Coincidentally, like "Iron Horse", "Eagle Project" comes from Jiahe.
Hong Kong Golden Harvest made a fortune with "Police Story 4", which was released on May 16 at the beginning of the summer season. Unfortunately, the total box office of "Police Story 4", which has been canceled, was only US$53.46 million. Considering that for Hong Kong movies, it took US$25 million. The high costs involved, and the profit sharing with Disney, the distributor. Even if follow-up channels are included, the final net income will not be much higher than that of "Eagle Project" released by New World Pictures this time.
If "Eagle Project" and "Iron Horse" are added together, they can directly beat "Police Story 4".
Even Simon, who is far away in North America, heard that Boss Zou was in a very bad mood recently and directly fired a Jiahe executive who was in charge of the copyright transaction.
Then there was Face Off.
"Face", which is in its 9th week of release, has only earned US$1.79 million in the past week. It will be released soon. The film's cumulative box office is US$198.38 million, a difference of less than US$2 million. Before it was released, it had been under 2 The billion threshold is not a problem.
New week of July 25th.
Because there were several new films last week, except for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" which was screened on 143 screens, there was only one low-cost black comedy "Hamburg" produced by Paramount and costing only US$9 million to open at the same time this week. Nothing to worry about. The ones that can pose a threat to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" are the still-powerful "Day of the Alone", as well as last week's "Spawn" and "Nothing to Lose" and other old films.