director of the millennium

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

The next day, January 2004, 1, 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 has always been regarded as his younger sister seems 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, and when he closed his eyes, he would think of Liu Yifei's bright and hot eyes on the rooftop, and the inexplicable and unexplainable things in the eyes.

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

Let Xiao Zhang book the flight, Wu Yuan went back 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 turning just because of Wu Yuan's stop.

The speed of the reporters was much faster than that of Wu Yuan.

When he returned to the capital, all the newspapers in the country were already reporting the news of Wu Yuan's new movie.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" just released in China.

Compared to the movie-watching frenzy this movie triggered in other parts of the world, although "Pirates of the Caribbean" earned more than 4000 million at the box office in the mainland and ranked among the top five in the 2003 box office rankings, it did not cause a high sensation.

No way, domestic audiences are indeed not too interested in things like the Caribbean Sea and pirates, and the main force of watching this movie is still young people.

Although the director of this movie is Wu Yuan, all the leading actors are foreigners whom they don't know, at least the elderly are not willing to watch it.

So now Wu Yuan is very embarrassed.

He is very well-known in the industry. Anyone related to the film and television industry knows him and admires him extremely.

But in the outside world, after the news that "The Undertaker" won the best director in Berlin passed, Wu Yuan was gradually forgotten by the public.

Even if "Pirates of the Caribbean" was a hit, the domestic media also reported on him as a director, but after all, his domestic influence is insufficient.

Who is the most influential director in China now?
The No. [-] film is undoubtedly directed by Zhang Yimou, whose "Hero" still maintains the box office champion of mainland movies.

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

And the second most influential person is not Wu Yuan, nor Chen Kaige, but Feng Xiaogang!
With one high-grossing Lunar New Year movie a year, Director Feng has a great influence on the public level, and he has established himself as a leading director of commercial movies!

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 12, "Mobile Phone", directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Uncle Ge and Fan Xiaopang, was released in the mainland, and it earned 18 million at the box office in less than half a month!

Another movie that was scheduled to be the box office champion in the mainland of the year was born from Director Feng.

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

None of the five movies failed, and all of them made big 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 contrast, although Wu Yuan is a great director in Hollywood, "Pirates of the Caribbean" has a global box office of 6.5 million US dollars, with the left hand award and the right hand box office, but his force is too high and he is not down-to-earth.

His last Chinese-language movie was "The Undertaker", and the box office in the mainland did not exceed 5000 million, which is still far behind Feng Xiaogang, whose cumulative box office has exceeded 1.8 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 there are really not many mainland audiences who have watched Wu Yuan's movies in the cinema, and they are concentrated in the group of young people in their 20s and 30s.

This is the same as Mo Yan who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The public knows that you are very good, but there are very few people who have actually read Mo Yan's novels.

On the contrary, Wu Yuan's popularity in North America is really exploding now.

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

Occasionally, Wu Yuan would take a look to understand the situation.

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

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

"Pirates of the Caribbean" earned a box office of US$3.5 in a single market in North America, US$5000 million more than the dream!

Wu Yuan has also become the "father of Pirates of the Caribbean" in the hearts of 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, it can be understood if you think about it carefully.

Yuan Wu is not like Gore Verbinski.

Before Gore Verbinski took over "Pirates of the Caribbean", he was an unknown little director.

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

His identity as a Chinese is an advantage at this time.

Because he is the only Chinese director to have achieved a box office of US$2 million in North America, most North American movie fans will remember him immediately.

Afterwards, his "The Undertaker" won the best director at the Berlin Film Festival, and attended the Oscars again, making a lot of faces.

Thanks to his yellow skin, black 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 the release, Wu Yuan frequently appeared in the news reports of major North American TV stations, and participated in various talk shows and interview programs.

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

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 symbols of this series of films.

Because Wu Yuan signed a three-part contract with Disney in one go!
Disney can't wait to tie Wu Yuan to this series, and can't wait for him to become more famous and successful in Hollywood!
Because this will bring more and better box office returns to the follow-up films of 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 in 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 Sparrow and the beautiful Elizabeth.

KK, a new actress who just debuted, also relied on this wave of influence to become another Hollywood vase in one fell swoop, known as the rose of England.

Everything is great and beautiful.

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 of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1". Even if the movie has not been released in some countries, Disney is also preparing to start preparations for the 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 group.

Both Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are very talkative. They knew how much the sequel of "Pirates of the Caribbean" would help their acting career. They signed the contract with almost no bargaining, and signed the follow-up in one go. two parts.

But Depp is different.

Even before the first film was launched, he was extremely dedicated and humble. After "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" won a global box office of 6.5 million US dollars, his attitude changed immediately.

As the absolute protagonist and soul of this series, Depp knows that if Disney wants to make a sequel, he can't get around him no matter what, not even a replacement.

So when Jerry approached him to negotiate a sequel contract, he asked for $2000 million + 10% of the global box office share.

Note, it is the global box office split!
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-bill basis can only get 13%.

"Titanic" sold 3.6 million yuan, but the North American producers only took 5000 million yuan in the end, and the rest of the money stayed in the mainland.

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

Which production company would accept such a condition?
Even if Disney made this series mainly to sell movie peripherals and set up theme parks, it is impossible to be so generous!
If the global box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" can continue to earn 6 million US dollars, then Depp alone will take away 2000 million + 6000 million!
What a joke.

Although Jerry can see that Depp is asking for a lot of money and paying back the money on the ground.

But the lion's mouth is too big. Just negotiating with Depp, it may take 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 2004% impossible to shoot in 2005 and will have to wait until [-] to prepare.

On the phone, Jerry vomited bitterness to Wu Yuan.

He wished that the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series could be produced one a year. Who wouldn't want to make money?
But Wu Yuan, who knew the entire "Pirates of the Caribbean" series very well, could only laugh without saying a word.

It's pretty good now.

If Jerry knew that Depp's fight with his ex-wife later ruined the entire "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, then he might really be able to make up his mind to change someone now
After vomiting a lot of bitterness, Jerry finally brought good news.

The global box office statistics of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" are released, and finally the global box office of this movie is fixed at 7.12 million US dollars!
It was 5800 million US dollars higher than Wu Yuan remembered, and most of it was contributed by the North American market.

凭借7.12亿美元的全球票房，《加勒比海盗1》也成功位列2003年全球票房榜的No.4，与No.3的《黑客帝国2》只差了2700万美元。

However, "Pirates of the Caribbean" successfully won the second place on the North American local box office list!

"The Matrix", which ranks third in the global box office, has a North American box office of 2.81 million US dollars.

The North American box office of "Finding Nemo", which ranked second in the global box office, was 3.39 million US dollars.

Both of these films performed 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 "Lord of the Rings 3.77", which won 3 million US dollars.

"The Lord of the Rings 3" also became the global box office champion in 11.4 with a global box office of 2003 billion US dollars.

The success of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Lord of the Rings 3" also set off 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 "Lord of the Rings", it has become a hot topic in Hollywood.

Wu Yuan received many fantasy movie scripts that he was invited to direct, all of which were collected and sent to the mailbox by Daisy.

But he rejected them all without even looking at them.

Wu Yuan's schedule in Hollywood is quite full. In the second half of this year, he will be filming "Rush Hour 3" 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 $1200 million with a cost of $5.7 million. It can be called a model of low-cost counterattack!
The sequel, "Night at the Museum 2," also grossed more than $4 million at the global box office.

However, although Wu Yuan knows that the idea of ​​this movie comes from a storybook drawn by a Croatian illustrator for children.

He could be the first to buy the film adaptation rights of this storybook, but the time of light is really too busy right now.

John is now concentrating on the filming of "The Hangover 2", and there are "Fake Marriage" and "Weakness" to 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.

Afterwards, depending on the situation, I will decide whether to make this series by myself, or to find Fox to cooperate in the development.

It is not acceptable to be too eye-catching to eat in someone else's pot.

It's good that Guangshi has a series of "The Hangover". If it is added with another blockbuster movie series, it will be a bit eye-catching, and it will be regarded as a thorn in the eyes of Hollywood capital.

How many series blockbusters are there in Hollywood that can sell well?
You're a small independent studio and you want to have two at the same time?

This is why Wu Yuan wants to join Xinxian to work on the "Kingsman" series together, let Xinxian share the firepower!
Wu Yuan also plans to work with Fox on the "Night at the Museum" series.

Era of Light can be the master, distribute 4% or 3% to Fox, and borrow their resources and manpower to make this series together.

In this way, after Wu Yuan ordered John to buy the right to adapt the film, he took the time to start writing the script of "Night at the Museum".

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

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

When the time came to the end of January, a safe specially bought by Wu Yuan was already filled with the scripts he had written with great thought.

These scripts are either commercial films with good box office reputation, or they are classic literary films with soft awards.

Since Wu Yuan started 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.

These scripts written by Wu Yuan are mainly based on some excellent foreign films, and they have been adapted appropriately for localization.

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 Island movie, of course, is prepared for Zhang Guorong. The main feature is to snipe Chen Kexin, and by the way, also attack the Hong Kong Island group of directors who don't want to make money.

As for the movies in Taiwan, Wu Yuan knew that the Golden Horses would be pissed later, and that Taiwan and the mainland would become more and more alienated from each other in the future, cheating their film and television industry, and he didn't have any 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 short, but it's just right when I write it, so I won't write it hard.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)