Extracting skills from movies

On July 7, the day it was officially released, "Heaven's Gate" only grossed 7 million on the first day.

The reputation has been declining.

Saturday, the 8th, a key day during the prime time, only had 673 million.

The situation was even worse later, with only 521 million.

The total box office revenue for three days was less than 2 million.

This result is considered good among small and medium-budget movies.

But "Heaven's Mouth" is a big production with huge investment, and this kind of performance is simply an avalanche!
Huayi is already shrouded in gloom and the atmosphere within the team is depressed.

On the other side, Interstellar Media was in high spirits and full of joy.

Because the performance of "The Man from Nowhere" is simply amazing.

The first-day box office was 3280 million, directly breaking the domestic box office record of "Wanted";
The total box office in three days reached 8600 million.

The movie that was released simultaneously in Bay City was not far behind either, with 2 million TWD coins on the first day and 5692 million TWD coins in three days. Its first-week performance was second only to the Hollywood blockbuster "Transformers".

Those in the industry know how bad the box office performance of Chinese-language films is in Taiwan nowadays. The appeal of Du Sheng + Liu Yifei is simply amazing.

This movie has been making great strides along the way and can be called the hit of the summer season!

What’s even more infuriating is that in this head-on confrontation, “The Man from Nowhere” almost pinned “Heaven’s Gate” to the ground.

Wu Yusen saw that something was wrong and started to blame others:
“It’s not that the films I produced are bad, it’s that the audiences can’t understand them!

They don’t understand what art is!”

Unfortunately, no one bought it. Everyone had already regarded his words as a joke.

After all, it’s no secret that this man worships foreigners and fawns on Europe and the United States.

In addition, Renren has developed so well now that it has almost become a social platform for the entire population.

"Heaven's Mouth" should not have been screened in advance, and the negative reviews spread like a virus.

The reputation was completely ruined, and the Internet was flooded with criticism:
"Not only is the plot clichéd, but the pace is also slow. I wanted to leave halfway through watching it."

"Yusen Wu really got carried away this time, and he didn't even get the basic narrative logic right."

"I came here for the 'aesthetics of effort' and you feed me shit?"

"The plot is too confusing, the characters' motivations are inexplicable, and they're all pretending to be profound the whole time."

On the other hand, The Man from Nowhere received mostly positive reviews online, with discussions continuing to heat up:
"This mainstream movie is so exciting. It has enough depth and excitement. I had a blast watching it!"

"Du Sheng's action scenes are so exciting, every punch and kick carries the ferocity and strength of a special forces soldier!
Especially the scene where he went into the tiger's den alone and defeated the entire Kuroki army, it was so cool!"

"Wu Jing and Wancheng artist Lian Kai also played well, but these two villains are still a little lacking compared to Du Sheng."

"Everyone is used to Lian Kai playing a silly husband, but I didn't expect that he could transform into a wicked boss who sells his wife and husband's money with Du Sheng. What a surprise!"

“If you ask me, Du Sheng’s greatest skill is choosing people!

Liu Yifei is an example. She simply wowed the audience this time!"

Speaking of Liu Yifei, this movie "The Man from Lone Star" has indeed made her popular again.

She plays the girl next door in the film, pure and beautiful.
Especially the poignant beauty when she was kidnapped, which instantly attracted countless fans.

Her reputation also soared, and she became the hottest new goddess at the moment.

In this summer blockbuster battle, Wu Yusen lost completely, and Du Sheng won a lot of money.
But the one who gained the most was Liu Yifei.

She went from being a young actress whose acting skills were criticized to being a "tragic goddess" in the hearts of the audience, and became the talk of the town.

Behind all this, in addition to her own efforts, of course, it is inseparable from the stage created by Du Sheng.

At the same time, it also makes many first-line actresses envious and jealous.

They also want to be with a man who has vision, resources and strength, but there is only one Du Sheng.

At this time, Ye Jingzhi opened the door and came in, smiling and handing Du Sheng a report:
“The North American box office statistics are out.

"Transformers" and "Die Hard 4" took in $3228 million and $2869 million respectively, but both fell by more than 39%.

Our film The Man from Nowhere unexpectedly made it into the top three with $2160 million, and it has great staying power.”

"The Man from Nowhere" has two strong rivals in the overseas market.

One is "Die Hard 6" which will be released on June 29th.

This sequel has a huge fan base in Europe and the United States and was produced by 1.3th Century Fox with an investment of million US dollars.

It opened in 3622 theaters in North America in its first week and grossed $5829 million, which was a huge success.

The other is "Transformers," directed by Michael Bay, adapted from the toy series of the same name and produced by Paramount Pictures at a cost of $1.8 million.

The film was released in North America on July 7, a week earlier than "The Man from Nowhere".

According to previous life data, "Die Hard 4" finally grossed $3.8 million worldwide, which is still above the passing line.

"Transformers" grossed $7.1 million, ranking among the top ten global box office films of the year.

"The Man from Nowhere" chose to be released during the highly competitive North American summer vacation, which is not the best time for a Chinese-language film.

But this date change involves too many things, so we can only leave it this way for now.

Firstly, the domestic release date was decided by the top management after three options were discussed between Star Media and China Film.

Secondly, the release time in foreign countries is either during the summer vacation or the Christmas season.

But such an oriental-style film is unlikely to squeeze into the Christmas season.

Under the circumstances, it is already very good to achieve such results.

Ye Jingzhi was in a good mood and continued:

“In fact, this result is quite good.

The outside world also gave it positive reviews.

After all, the investment in "The Man from Nowhere" is far less than that of "Transformers" and "Die Hard 4".
To be able to get such a box office in the midst of two Hollywood blockbusters is already an extraordinary performance..."

.........

Seeing Du Sheng was thoughtful, he continued to explain:
“It was mainly word of mouth that played a driving role.

"The Man from Nowhere" has a very high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a freshness rating of 89% and an audience favorite rating of 92%.

In comparison, the freshness ratings of Die Hard 4 and Transformers are both below 80 percent.”

Although this does not mean that the quality of "The Man from Nowhere" will definitely exceed these two blockbusters,

But North American audiences had too high expectations for Die Hard 4 and Transformers.

The former is always compared with its predecessor when it is promoted, with all kinds of nostalgia and microcosm bursting out.

The latter promoted the images of Megatron and Optimus Prime extensively, using all kinds of tricks to please children.

As a result, the audience's actual experience failed to fully meet their expectations, which was naturally reflected in a decline in the ratings.

As an action film of consistent quality, "The Man from Lonely Planet" is backed by the popularity of Du Sheng's previous works.

After entering the theater, the audience found that Du Sheng's action scenes were still handsome and explosive, the plot was compact and exciting, and the male protagonist overcame all obstacles and rescued the hostages, which was very enjoyable to watch.

Coupled with the dynamic soundtrack and excellent special effects, it brought a lot of surprises to the audience.

In addition, Rotten Tomatoes was just acquired by News Corporation, which may have had a certain impact on the ratings.

On Facebook and Lianzhong platforms, a large number of users also recommended "The Man from Nowhere" with their real names.
Many anchors also made explosive video clips, further promoting the film's good word-of-mouth.

Thanks to this, the box office of "The Man from Lonely Planet" reversed its decline.

This also enabled the film to maintain a strong momentum in the fierce market competition, becoming a real dark horse.

Ye Jingzhi flipped through the information in her hand and continued:
"Nei earned 8 million Neon coins in the first weekend, which was a strong start.
At this rate, it should be no problem to break through 20 billion Neon coins.

The overall box office in Asia is now conservatively estimated to have reached 2.8 million yuan, and it will be easy to double it in the future. She paused and added:
"Mr. He just called me and told me that the secret key can be extended and the release date can be extended to the end of August..."

"The Man from Nowhere" has achieved outstanding results in the Mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, North America and other places, which is enough to illustrate the global potential of this film.

If the release date is moved back a bit, the competition won't be so fierce, and maybe the box office will be even higher.

However, this schedule was set by the higher-ups, and Du Sheng is about to join the crew to shoot a new film, so this is the best solution after a compromise.

Du Sheng smiled after hearing this and said directly:

"Then you can tell your boss that it's okay not to compensate us this time. We will have to show some mercy when our film is reviewed in the future."

Having your leader owe you a favor is more valuable than taking money.

Ye Jingzhi also understood this truth and nodded in response:

“I mentioned it indirectly, and the leader seems to care about it.

He said that it was the right thing to do to support domestic films, and he also mentioned the celebration banquet.”

After all, "The Man from Nowhere" is not an ordinary commercial film. It has had a main theme since the beginning of the project.

Being able to shine overseas now is not only a political achievement for the higher-ups, but also a business card for external publicity.

Du Sheng thought for a moment and said:

"Once the movie is released overseas and the box office data is basically confirmed, we can hold a celebration party. By then, the event will be a little bigger."

Ye Jingzhi nodded, picked up the documents on the table and prepared to leave. Before leaving, she reminded him:
“By the way, Wu Yusen accepted interviews from several media outlets today.

The reason why "Heaven's Gate" lost this time is not because the film is not good, but because we suppressed its screening schedule.
This incident has caused quite a stir in the industry, you can take a look at it if you have time."

After saying that, she turned and left the office.

Du Sheng turned on the computer and went to the official website of Xinlang Entertainment.

As expected, the headline was the interview video with Yusen Wu.

Director Wu in the screen has returned to his appearance as the artistic young man he was 20 years ago, looking confused about not being able to attract investment.

He also specifically mentioned that the reason why "Tian Tang Kou" lost to "The Man from Lone Star" was not a quality issue, but rather that it received unfair treatment in the mainland.

The first problem is that the film scheduling is suppressed.

He said that the screening volume of "The Man from Nowhere" accounted for more than 30% of the theaters, which is totally unreasonable!
Then they cited the example of Hollywood, saying that according to the regulations there, production companies cannot own theaters, otherwise they will easily become arbitrary and affect market fairness.

He criticized Miracle Cinemas and China Film for joining forces to monopolize the market, and he himself became a victim.

He even made some indirect complaints about the above-mentioned sect.

I have to say, he is as brave as ever.

Then, he boasted about his work in a self-indulgent way:

“‘Heaven’s Gate’ was remade to make up for the regrets of ‘Bullet in the Head’. It is definitely a profound and thought-provoking film.

But the audience generally follows the trend and is unwilling to use their brains, and just watch the kind of fighting and killing without depth..."

He also specifically mentioned:

"I watched The Man from Nowhere, and it was fun, but how much nutrition and value did it provide?"

"If all Eastern films are like this, how can they rise?"

Then he secretly praised his own movie:
"Schindler's List and Life is Beautiful are both great works of art, but they didn't do well at the box office."

Finally, I would like to summarize:
“This is not the director’s fault, it’s the sadness of the times.

If another ten or twenty years pass, will Tiantangkou also be reborn like them? "

It must be said that Director Wu, who once thrived abroad, is really good at talking.

First use Hollywood cinemas to promote yourself, then bring in a few well-known art films to elevate your status.

A movie with a bad reputation was packaged as a masterpiece of "independence from the world".

Unfortunately, the true nature was exposed invisibly.

The condescending attitude and self-proclaimed elite attitude make people want to roll their eyes when listening to it.

But some audiences who are chasing fame really fall for this.

I feel that watching some obscure movies that others can't understand can make me look superior.

So Wu Yusen’s interview did spark a lot of discussion, just as Ye Jingzhi said.

Du Sheng was too lazy to respond directly, so he logged onto Renren and posted a status:
“One week after the release of The Man from Nowhere, the global box office has exceeded 4.8 million (including North America).

To celebrate this good result, I plan to hold a lucky draw.
We will randomly select 1000 fans from the comment section and give each of them 500 yuan in cash + two movie tickets + a gift box of "Kung Fu School"..."

This news not only revealed the latest box office data, but also came with an attractive lucky draw.

Before the media had a chance to report it, the success of "The Man from Nowhere" had already spread among netizens.

Instantly, the comment section exploded:

"He just casually spends millions. President Du is so domineering!"

"I've been a die-hard fan for 20 years and it's unacceptable if I don't win the lottery!"

“Bah, who started to be a fan of Du Sheng 20 years ago?

He’s only been in the industry for less than five years!
Mr. Du, look how cute my little fangirl is, let me win the prize!"

"Oh my god, a Chinese-language film can make over 100 million yuan in the first week in North America. This is amazing!"

"Yes, I hope it will soon surpass Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and become one of the representatives of Chinese-language films at the overseas box office."

"The Man from Nowhere tells a story about the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the characters are very positive. This achievement has a far-reaching impact on Eastern films.

Although Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not bad, it is a Qing Dynasty drama after all, and it is wrapped in a Western skin. I don’t like it very much.”

"With the current momentum of The Man from Nowhere, it is only a matter of time before it surpasses Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in Asian box office.

Tomorrow is a day off, I will go to the cinema to watch it again to support "The Man from Nowhere"! "

“Did you guys watch Yusen Wu’s new interview?
Does he still dare to say that Du Sheng suppressed "Tian Tang Kou"?
The competitor of "The Man from Nowhere" is Hollywood blockbusters, not the likes of "Heaven's Gate."

"After watching his interview, I feel like Wu Yusen just wants to ride on the audience's heads!"

"There is a reason why the box office of "Heaven's Gate" is so low. Look for the reason in yourself."

"Brothers, there is a spoof video of "Heaven's Mouth" on TVING platform, it's very funny, go check it out!"

"Haha, I watched it too. It's really hilarious and a hundred times better than the original."

Du Sheng noticed that the number of views of this spoof video has exceeded one million and is still growing rapidly.

When I clicked on it, I saw that the content was an exaggerated imitation of "Tian Tang Mouth" and the exaggerated performance made people laugh out loud.

As soon as this spoof video was released, the reputation of "Heaven's Mouth" as a "low-quality film" became more deeply rooted in people's minds.

Many people have only heard others say that "Tian Tang Kou" is not good, but they have no intuitive feeling of how bad it is.

After watching the spoof video, they finally understood how outrageous the movie was.

This isn't just bad quality, it's the worst of the worst.

After watching the video, many people posted messages to thank Du Sheng.
He said that he not only saved money but also avoided mental torture.

After seeing this video, Wu Yusen was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He announced that he would stay in seclusion to edit "Red Cliff" and no longer pay attention to what happened in the outside world.

Obviously, he wants to make a comeback with this super production and is planning an epic counterattack!

Shut up the public.

………(End of chapter)