China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 538 Finishing

Tuesday, June 2009, 6.

The filming of "Life of Pi" was completed and the crew held a wrap-up dinner.

Tabu's scenes had been completed long ago and she had returned to India, so she was not present at the wrap party.

During the dinner, Elizabeth from Fox came to Wang Shu and said with a smile, "Shu, I heard that you are planning to make a Sino-US co-production?"

Wang Shu nodded when he heard this. Many people knew about this, so there was no need to hide it.

"I do have that plan, Ellie," he said.

Elizabeth's smile remained unchanged as she asked, "Shu, what do you think of Fox?"

Hearing this, Wang Shu already understood the other party's intention and said with a smile: "Fox is a large film company with abundant funds and strong strength."

"In that case, Shu, have you ever thought about continuing to cooperate with Fox?" Elizabeth asked with a smile.

Wang Shu knew the meaning of these words, but he still said: "Yili, didn't I say before that I have no plans to sign a contract for the time being?"

"Shu, that's not what I'm talking about." Elizabeth smiled and continued, "I'm talking about the co-production."

"Shu, Fox is very interested in the co-production you are preparing and hopes to be able to participate in it."

Under normal circumstances, when a director directs a movie, he would like to have more and bigger investors participate in the investment.

In this way, the crew's funds will be sufficient and strong, not only can they invite actors of their choice to perform, but they also don't have to live a tight life.

For example, when Zhang Yimou directed "Hero", the person he initially considered was Jet Li.

When investors learned that he had invited Jet Li, they immediately increased their investment.

Later, Jet Li used his connections to attract people like Leung Chiu-wei, Maggie Cheung, and Zhen Zidan.

Seeing that they were able to negotiate with all these people, the investors may be able to replicate the myth of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and continue to increase their investment.

The result was "Hero", a movie with a strong cast at the time.

But Wang Shu is different.

He has no shortage of investment at all.

Therefore, he is not the type who invites big-name actors to participate in the performance in order to obtain more investment from investors, nor is he the type who lacks investors.

He is the type of person who, whenever he is about to make a movie, many people will rush to give him money to participate in it.

Obviously, people like him have more say and are more dominant.

Wang Shu knew what Elizabeth was here for, and then smiled and said, "Eli, I can't make the final decision on this matter alone. I have to discuss it with investors such as China Film Group Corporation and Shanghai Film Group Corporation."

Fox is one of the eight major Hollywood studios. In order for co-productions to be released on more screens in the United States and even in more regions around the world, he would of course be happy to see Fox involved.

After all, whether it is China Film Group or Shanghai Film Group, they are only well-known in the country.

If it comes to the international stage, the Hollywood Big Eight are more powerful.

Of course, there are also strong and weak ones among the Big Eight in Hollywood.

Otherwise, Fox will not be acquired by Disney in the future.

China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group have been pushing forward the co-production of films.

Last time, we worked with Warner.

This time, it is also a collaboration with Warner.

However, the last time "Ghost Ship" was released in North America, it was only on 2,000 screens, which is less than half of the total number of screens in North America.

For this reason alone, Wang Shudu is happy to see Fox involved.

With Fox, there will no longer be only two thousand screens in North America, not to mention markets in other regions.

After a movie is successfully produced, if you want it to be shown on more screens, it is never something that Wang Shu can do just by making the movie.

We need to bring in more partners and use their strength to achieve this.

For overseas markets, if we don’t bring in partners, we can either sell the films as a package or find a small agency to be responsible for the overseas release.

Small agencies usually have limited power, which means that the film may not appear on many screens at all.

Large companies would not be willing to spend time and effort just to earn a little distribution fee, let alone help Chinese-language films, which is even more impossible.

Therefore, if you want to have enough screens for your film to be screened overseas, introducing overseas investment is an essential step.

Of course, there are miracles.

For example, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" directed by Li An.

When this movie was first released in North America, it was only shown in 7 theaters.

Afterwards, it relied on word of mouth to create a miraculous momentum, and then expanded its screening from 7 theaters to more than theaters. It then gained another wave of box office after the Oscars, and finally earned more than million in North America.

With the miracle of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", the subsequent "Hero" by Guoshi immediately became a beneficiary movie.

In 2000, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" created a miracle. When the 2002 Chinese film "Hero" was released in North America in 2004, it was no longer shown in only 7 theaters, but in 2301 theaters when it opened.

Not only was it a huge success in North America, but it was also the first Chinese-language film to be screened on a large scale, allowing American audiences to watch it directly with subtitles.

In addition, "Hero" also won the weekly box office championship in many places including the United States, Australia, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan.

If we compare the results, the box office of "Hero" in North America is not as good as that of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but its global box office excluding North America is higher than that of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

However, the large-scale release of "Hero" in overseas markets is inseparable from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which was only released in 7 theaters in North America at the time, and then relied on word-of-mouth to expand its screening and earned more than million US dollars.

Everyone knows that "Hero" is a costume martial arts film directed by the internationally renowned director Zhang Yimou. Since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" can create miracles, "Hero" may also be able to do so.

It is said that when one person opens a window, someone will always jump out to close it.

Li An's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" opened the window, and then the window was slowly closed again.

But no matter what, the fact shows that distribution is a critical factor for a movie to achieve good box office.

For example, Chen Long was extremely popular in Japan in the 80s, but a bunch of movies produced by his Hong Kong company just couldn't sell as well as the Hollywood crappy movie "The Trench".

This is because the distribution capabilities of Hollywood companies are so much stronger.

As for Li An's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", if it hadn't been for its unstoppable popularity, it would not have been possible to open in 7 theaters and eventually earn more than million US dollars at the box office.

This kind of success is rare and difficult to replicate.

For example, the movie "The Wandering Earth" opened in 64 theaters in North America, but its reputation did not improve and its screening expanded, and it ultimately only earned a few million dollars at the box office.

The second film opened in 170 theaters, but its box office performance was not as good as the first one.

"The Wandering Earth" is naturally a rare science fiction film in China.

But there are so many science fiction movies in Hollywood.

On the contrary, there are a lot of martial arts-themed film and television works such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in China.

But in Hollywood and North America, such movies are rare.

The former is not very popular, while the latter is rarely attractive. The fact that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon can achieve a reversal in terms of word of mouth is feasible.

Elizabeth nodded and said, "Shu, I hope you can take the lead in this matter."

Of course she knew that Wang Shu alone had no say in this matter, so she went to see Wang Shu this time just to let him take the lead.

Wang Shu nodded and said, "Wait for my news."

"Okay." Elizabeth agreed with a smile.

Fox is one of the Big Eight in Hollywood. A department of the company has analyzed Wang Shu's abilities and knows that Wang Shu has never failed since his debut.

This kind of talented director who can write and direct his own films and has not yet failed is the best target for investment and cooperation.

In Hollywood, there is an unwritten rule that a director will be thrown into the trash only if he or she has two consecutive flops.

Wang Shu is a director who has never failed, so he is naturally favored by many investors, film and television companies, and producers.

There are no fools among the producers or film and television companies that can survive in the film and television industry for a long time.

Wang Shu’s strength made them see the opportunity to make money, so they naturally came to him to seek cooperation.

Hollywood has always been a place where the winner takes all and the loser leaves.

Wang Shu has not only not lost, but has also demonstrated his value.

Therefore, he is moving towards a one-size-fits-all approach.

At the wrap-up banquet, in addition to the crew members, there were also Jiangcheng’s system staff.

These people came here not only to congratulate on the completion of the film, but also to talk to Wang Shu about some things.

"Director Wang, you are not only the first Oscar-winning director from the mainland, but also the youngest Oscar-winning director in history."

“You are now well-known both domestically and internationally.”

"Therefore, we sincerely invite you to serve as the image ambassador of Jiangcheng."

The staff member of the culture and tourism department raised his glass and clinked it with Wang Shu's, then explained his intention.

"Director Wang, although you are not from Jiangcheng, you are from Anlu. Anlu is only one or two hours' drive from Jiangcheng. If you think about it, we are all family."

"So, Jiangcheng can also be considered your hometown."

"Yes, Director Wang, whether it is Anlu or Jiangcheng, we are actually one family, and Jiangcheng is also your hometown." As this system staff member finished speaking, another system staff member took over.

"Director Wang, to be honest, looking at the entire entertainment industry, you are the most suitable person to be the image spokesperson for our Jiangcheng."

"He is young, talented, and the youngest Oscar-winning director in history. All of this can show the cultural heritage and temperament of our Jiangcheng."

"So I hope you won't refuse."

All the staff members in the system are talented and speak well, and they strongly invited Wang Shu to be the image ambassador of Jiangcheng.

For public figures, if they refuse such things, they will easily be criticized.

However, he said, "To be honest, the people in the capital also wanted to talk to me about this matter before."

The image ambassadors of Beijing are generally not artists from the entertainment industry, but rather internationally renowned people such as Yao Ming and Lang Lang.

The capital is a capital city and an international metropolis.

As the capital of the country, there is no shortage of people coming here to visit, so there is no need to find entertainers from the entertainment industry to serve as ambassadors to promote the city.

Therefore, the goal of the best place is to attract foreign friends.

Yao Ming and Lang Lang have more advantages than entertainers in the entertainment industry in terms of both professional and international fame.

As a basketball star, Yao Ming is well known by many groups abroad.

As a pianist, Lang Lang has a certain degree of fame in foreign upper class society.

As for Chen Long, if he were not from Hong Kong Island, Beijing would not only let him serve as the image spokesperson for the Olympic bid, but would invite him to serve as the city's image spokesperson for a long time.

Chen Long is the image spokesperson for Hong Kong Island, not Beijing.

With his international influence, Beijing Tourism Group naturally wanted to invite him to be the image spokesperson for Beijing. Unfortunately, Chen Long is from Hong Kong Island and represents Hong Kong Island.

Zhang Yimou once said in an interview: "There is only one Chen Long in the world. He is the pride of the Chinese people and has made a name for himself in the world."

This year, international superstar Michael Jackson will be there.

Since then, Chen Long has become the world's most famous international superstar.

No one can compare to him.

In 2004, the crew of "The Myth" went to India to shoot, and Chen Long was surrounded by Indian fans.

In 2009, that is, this year, Chen Long went to Japan to observe and learn in order to perform the style of the triad society while filming "Shinjuku Incident".

When the boss of Shinjuku's underworld learned the news, he ordered the closure of more than 20 nightclubs just to line the streets to welcome his arrival.

When Chen Long arrived by car, the whole street was filled with two rows of black-clad gang members, who all bowed to Chen Long and shouted, "Big Brother!"

Not only that, Chen Long can be seen everywhere in the comics industry that Japan is proud of.

The author of "Dragon Ball" even said that there would be no "Dragon Ball" without Chen Long, and the prototype of Master Roshi is Chen Long.

In "Naruto", many of the martial arts moves are 1:1 reproductions of the scenes in Chen Long's movies.

When the movie "Rumble in the Bronx" was being filmed in the UK, the Queen of England generously lent her hovercraft to the crew for filming.

In "Police Story 4", defense-grade weapons such as the Rocky-class submarines and intercontinental missiles that appeared in the film were provided as requested. The Ukrainian military stated that even if nuclear weapons were needed for filming, they would all be provided.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a number of nuclear weapons.

"Police Story 4" was filmed in 1995, and Ukraine lost its nuclear status in 1996.

When the movie "Who Am I" was filmed in Rotterdam, its mayor not only provided local characteristic buildings for the crew to shoot, but also directly dispatched armed forces to block the site to ensure Chen Long's safety, and even arranged speedboats and helicopters to conduct real-time monitoring by sea, land and air.

When filming "Kung Fu Yoga", the Prince of Dubai, who is a fan of Chen Long, directly provided more than 70 supercars for the crew to use.

During the filming, the crew accidentally crashed one of the cars, and the prince sent another one overnight without saying a word.

During the filming of "The Chinese Zodiac", four national treasures were returned from overseas after the film was released.

In addition, when Chen Long went to extremely backward areas in Africa to shoot movies, the local indigenous people, both adults and children, would shout "Jack Chen" when they saw him.

He is known all over the world, whether in developed or backward regions.

It can be said that since Chen Long, no other Chinese artist has enjoyed such a high international reputation as him.

Even Wang Shu, the youngest Oscar-winning director in history, is not as good as him.

Director is a behind-the-scenes job and cannot compare to actors on stage in terms of public popularity.

Unless Wang Shu also steps to the front and becomes famous.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to match Chen Long in terms of global popularity.

(End of this chapter)