hollywood melon man

Chapter 706: First to be released, first to be seen
Peace Cinema, located on Zangxi Road in HP District, Shanghai, is the first commercially operated IMAX cinema in Shanghai and even in mainland China.

The cinema has two IMAX screens and all the equipment is imported from Canada.

The screen is 15 meters high and 20 meters wide. It uses 70MM 15-perforation film, has extremely high picture clarity, and is equipped with 12000-watt stereo sound, which has a great audiovisual impact.

However, these two IMAX theaters can only show documentaries or something like that on a regular basis, after all, there are not many real IMAX movies.

However, when "Batman Begins" was released in mainland China in 2005, many people still witnessed the excellent viewing effects of IMAX.

This time, "The Dark Knight" was released simultaneously in mainland China and North America, and Heping Cinema put out advertisements early on to promote the IMAX effects.

Two days before the film was released, 85% of the tickets for the midnight show and the first week's show were sold out. Less than two hours before the midnight show, all the tickets for the week were sold out.

Because of the time difference, midnight in Shanghai is exactly morning in North America, so mainland movie fans can see "The Dark Knight" earlier than North American fans.

Liu Xiaojun has been a loyal fan of Gilbert Jr. since the Lord of the Rings series. When he was in college, he went to the cinema to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy and remembered Gilbert Jr.'s name ever since.

He starred in all the later films including "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Warriors", "The Last of Us", etc., and also met his girlfriend Zheng Xiaowen because of this.

The release date of "The Dark Knight" coincided with the May Day holiday, and as working people, the two obviously did not have extra money to travel.

So the couple decided to go to the cinema to watch a movie and booked tickets for the midnight show of "The Dark Knight" in the IMAX theater a week in advance.

"I heard them say that this movie is best watched in an IMAX theater." Zheng Xiaowen was a little excited.

"Yes," Liu Xiaojun was also looking forward to it: "I watched Batman Begins in the IMAX theater at that time."

"How's the effect?"

"Of course it's great. Although the ticket price is more expensive than in other theaters, I think it's a good deal."

"I feel the same way."

Not only the two of them were looking forward to it, most of the people who chose the IMAX theater had previously seen "Batman Begins", and some were inspired by the publicity.

Soon it was time to enter the theater, and Liu Xiaojun and Zheng Xiaowen lined up to enter IMAX Theater No. 1.

In the mainland market where the habit of watching movies has not been cultivated, the average person can only go to the cinema a few times a year. Therefore, the choice of movies is very important. After all, unlike TV series, movies are not available at any time.

Therefore, a big director plus a star with charisma is a guarantee of box office success, and the audience naturally trusts these people.

In addition, Hollywood films can easily conquer the Chinese market because of their excellent production.

Little Gilbert happened to be a famous director, and the Hollywood films he directed were extremely popular.

Liu Xiaojun observed for a while and said to Zheng Xiaowen, "It seems that there are still quite a lot of people. I don't think there are any empty seats."

Zheng Xiaowen was not surprised at all: "It's normal. Director Gilbert Jr. is the Hollywood director we are most familiar with. Moreover, he spoke for us when we had those things happen this year.

I think many fans also use this method to repay him!"

Indeed, Gilbert Jr.'s appeal in the Chinese market is very high, even higher than that of Hollywood's top stars.

Even his Hollywood colleagues find this incredible. Why is Gilbert Jr.'s appeal greater than that of Tom Cruise?

But this is indeed the case. If you were to discuss who is the favorite Chinese-language film director among Chinese movie fans, no one would be able to give a clear answer and there would be some debate.

But if you ask who their favorite foreign director is, most people will choose Gilbert.

Just before the release of The Dark Knight, Forbes released a list of Chinese celebrities. Gilbert Jr. beat Benshan and ranked tenth on the list.

There is no need to be surprised that a foreigner is on the list. After all, Jet Li and Yi Fei Liu can also be on the list, so there are no restrictions.

This shows one thing: although Gilbert Jr. is far away in Hollywood, his influence transcends the Pacific Ocean and he has gained huge popularity in China.

So it goes without saying why his movies are so popular in China, he is always a winner. Liu Xiaojun and Zheng Xiaowen had a very pleasant IMAX movie-watching trip this time. The use of IMAX technology in "The Dark Knight" this time was even more shocking than the previous one.

However, what attracted the two was not only the shocking IMAX effects, but more importantly the story of "The Dark Knight".

After returning to the rented house, although the two were a little tired, they still discussed the film enthusiastically.

"I've never seen a superhero movie like this, even though I've seen Spider-Man and last year's Iron Man.

But I dare say that these two super-hit movies are not as good as The Dark Knight." Liu Xiaojun vowed.

Zheng Xiaowen agreed: "Indeed, I think this movie is just like other Hollywood commercial blockbusters, focusing on being refreshing.

But I didn’t expect that, although it was fun, it was a different kind of fun.

The subject matter is heavy and profound, raising questions worthy of thought and discussion.

As expected, he is Little Gilbert, a great Hollywood director."

Liu Xiaojun smiled: "My favorite are the Batmobile and the Batbike."

Zheng Xiaowen rolled her eyes at Liu Xiaojun and said, "Don't even think about it. We can't afford it. But..."

"But what?"

“The model is still available for purchase.”

"Really? Thank you, my dear wife."

Liu Xiaojun was beaming with joy. He liked to buy some movie peripherals. If he really couldn't afford them, he would buy fake ones.

In fact, in Shanghai Global Harbor, there is a Batmobile specially shipped from North America, and two Batmobiles. These are real things, and they are placed in Global Harbor for promotion of the movie.

Because of its cool shape, it attracts many tourists to watch and take pictures.

A rich second-generation man took a fancy to the Batmobile and Batbike and wanted to buy them for his collection. After some enthusiastic negotiations, he finally bought them for 935 million RMB and shipped them back to his garage after the exhibition.

The news spread along the Pacific Ocean to Los Angeles. After returning to Los Angeles from Chicago, Gilbert Jr. took the main creators to record "The Ellen Show".

I returned to the studio in the afternoon to prepare for the final work before the North American release.

Little Gilbert specifically asked him to report any box office situation in Asia to him, so Little Gilbert saw the box office in Asia as soon as possible.

The box office in the island country is just so-so, and superhero movies are not well received in the island country. So even though Gilbert's several island women promoted it hard, the midnight show only earned 327 million US dollars.

The situation in South Korea is not bad. Although the market is small, it also contributed $122 million in midnight box office.

The remaining regions in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia generated a midnight box office of 225 million US dollars.

However, the Chinese mainland market surprised Gilbert a little. The midnight show actually took in 335 million US dollars, which is equivalent to more than million RMB, a very high box office figure for a midnight show.

The Chinese mainland market has been in an upward stage in recent years, and the market capacity has continued to expand, but there are actually not many audiences for midnight shows.

Being able to create this midnight data proves Gilbert's appeal there.

One of the data comes from IMAX. There are five IMAX cinemas in mainland China, and the midnight shows have a 100% attendance rate.

IMAX is not only exploring the North American market, but also exploring other markets around the world, with the Chinese market being a top priority.

According to IMAX, a cinema chain there, seeing the outstanding performance of IMAX theaters, plans to become the sole agent for IMAX cinemas in mainland China.

Of course, the two sides are still in contact.

(End of this chapter)