Huayu special effects started in 97

Chapter 33 New Film Starts Shooting

In April 98, three major events occurred in the Chinese entertainment industry. First, "Titanic" was released in mainland China on April 4, triggering an even more enthusiastic movie-watching craze, far exceeding that of "The Matrix".

After all, what resonates most with young boys and girls is love that lasts until death.

But this love story was performed at a cost of 200 million US dollars.

A movie that has both stunning visual effects and touching love stories can easily earn tears and box office revenue.

But when the film was first released in North America, it was not well received. Even Fox, one of the producers, openly stated that the box office prospects would be "a disaster no less than the sinking of the Titanic itself."

When "Titanic" premiered at the Tokyo Film Festival, the media gloated over the film as "a deserted scene with few attendees."

When the film was released on December 12, although The New York Times called it "the only masterpiece comparable to Gone with the Wind in many years," most media outlets, led by the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, did not buy it, and their opinions were unanimous: Is this movie really worth two hundred million?

What's worse is that the film grossed $2760 million in its first weekend, which was shockingly low compared to its production cost.

The top executives at Fox are probably wondering which way to die is more dignified: jumping off a building or being shot.

Then, they waited for a miracle.

In the second week, it grossed over 281 million, and in the third week, it grossed over million. The film was released in North America for days, setting a record for the longest number of days a film was released in North America.

And its box office results are even more astonishing: 6.59 million US dollars in North America and 18 billion US dollars worldwide, making filmmakers all over the world extremely envious.

As for "The Matrix" directed by Jiang Heng, it has only grossed more than 3 million yuan so far, and it is probably difficult to reach the global box office record of 4.6 million US dollars of the original.

After all, it didn't use European and American actors, and its global distribution was far inferior to that of Warner Bros., so it was normal that the box office was lower.

But for the Chinese entertainment industry, a film with a global box office of more than 3 million US dollars is equivalent to more than billion yuan in RMB, which is almost twice the total annual box office of the mainland film market, which is also quite shocking.

And the news that such a director is going to make a new film is definitely the big news of the year.

Beijing, Beijing Film Studio.

Major entertainment media from across the country gathered to attend the press conference for Jiang Heng's new film "100 Million Years BC".

As for the title of the film, people from the Beijing Film Studio wanted to take advantage of the popularity of "Jurassic Park" and proposed to call it "Dream Back to Jurassic", but Jiang Heng directly rejected it.

Dream back?

What’s going on? At the end of the film, the hero wakes up in a mental hospital and finds out that the heroine is the little nurse who coaxes him to take medicine every day, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex is the caregiver who bullies him!

If we follow this line of thinking, the reputation may drop to 2 or 3 points.

After all, he is an internationally renowned director, he can’t afford to lose face!

"08 Million Years BC" is naturally inspired by the science fiction film " BC" produced by Warner Bros., which can roughly let the audience know what the movie is about.

Anyway, it hasn't been released yet, and there were many name changes before it was finalized. For example, "Titanic" was changed several times before it was released, and it was finally called this.

To his surprise, the media were actually looking forward to this name.

"Hello, Director Jiang Heng. I'm a reporter from the movie channel. I see the title of your film is '100 Million Years Before History'. That should be the Jurassic period, right? Is this a film about dinosaurs?"

Jiang Heng smiled and said, "Yes, the Jurassic period was approximately between 1 million and 9960 million years BC. The rulers of the earth during that period were the dinosaurs, which later became extinct."

"Wow!" The reporters exclaimed, a little bit unbelievable that the Chinese-language film market could produce high-quality films about Jurassic dinosaurs.

"Hello, Director Jiang. I'm a reporter from Film Works magazine. I'd like to ask what the budget for this film is. If the investment is small, it would be difficult to shoot a perfect Jurassic scene!"

Jiang Heng glanced at Han Sanping beside him and said with a smile: "Director Han, you are also their old leader. Can you answer this question?"

Han Sanping was once the deputy director of Emei Film Studio. The director of Emei Film Studio sponsored a magazine called "Film Works".

However, in 98, this magazine was still a niche magazine. In 99, it merged with other companies and was renamed "Watching Movies". It gradually became the most widely distributed and influential film magazine in the country.

But at this moment, the magazine is still very weak and still has to be taken care of by Director Han.

Han Sanping raised a finger and said arrogantly, "For this film, Beijing Film Studio and Youteng Pictures jointly invested 100 million yuan, just to create the best monster film in China..."

Han Sanping was so excited that he thought, without knowing the truth, that Beijing Film Studio was the main investor of the film.

Afterwards, Wu Aizu and Li Meiqi came on stage and immediately destroyed a pile of film.

The reporters kept asking questions and were unwilling to let the two leave.

Next are Sammo Hung and Yuan Tak, who are also very popular.

When Uncle Ge appeared on the stage, he made witty remarks one after another, causing bursts of laughter.

As for Wu Jing, since he was not well-known at that time and appeared with Yuen Wah and Timmy Hung, almost no reporters asked him about it.

Jiang Heng originally wanted to invite Xiaoyanzi and Jinsuo to participate in the show. After all, after the show was aired in Taiwan at the end of April, it had a high viewership. When it was aired in mainland China at the end of the year, it became a hit overnight.

However, considering what the two did later, he gave up the idea.

After the opening ceremony, the entire crew drove to the border town of Jiayin to prepare for filming modern archaeological and gun battle scenes.

The mercenary team sent by the international antique dealers hired a group of foreign extras, with the main purpose of saving money and offering low pay.

The arrival of the crew caused a huge sensation in this small border town.

Jiang Heng was not good at dealing with local authorities, so all issues were coordinated and resolved by people from the Beijing Film Studio.

The next day, the filming officially started. Jiang Heng first ordered people to look for a suitable "fossil pit" location in the nearby mountains and forests and arrange the relevant props.

He led a group of cast and crew members to finish filming the characters' scenes in the county town first.

This kind of daily scene is not difficult for people with some acting experience, and it was filmed in less than a week.

However, the excavation of the "fossil pit" and the battle in the mountains and forests were somewhat difficult to shoot.

Fortunately, the crew had two action directors, Sammo Hung and Yuan De, and the task was completed without any major incidents.

The really difficult part was going back to the digital studio that was being built at the Beijing Film Studio's film and television base, where they were required to film their performances in front of a green screen.

This is quite difficult for actors who have never had this kind of filming experience.

Taking this into consideration, Jiang Heng ordered the props team to make some realistic dinosaur models in advance, and combined them with CG special effects to show the fantasy world of 100 million years ago.

(End of this chapter)