Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 174 Chapter 184 [First Week Box Office Exceeds Million US Dollars]

Around 27 a.m. on the th.

Li Yishu, who had been staying up all night without sleep, finally received a call from Morishima Hisao.

"Hahaha, Director Li, that's great. Guess how much the box office is?"

"More than 500?"

Li Yishu raised his eyebrows. He felt that 500 million US dollars must be a lot of money to make Hisao Morishima laugh so happily.

“Yes, $520 million!”

After saying this, Hisao Morishima burst into laughter.

Although this number seems to be less than $150 million more than yesterday, you have to remember that yesterday was Wednesday and there were basically no people in the movie theaters during the day.

Moreover, this is not a big-budget film, and no one would go to the cinema on their way to work or school.

520 million U.S. dollars may not seem like much, but it is actually very good. Including the half day of the premiere, the film earned nearly 900 million U.S. dollars in a day and a half, which is already a huge success.

If you hold on for one day on Thursday, you can wait until the three-day outbreak period from Friday to Sunday.

Following this trend, it will definitely not be a problem to break the tens of millions of dollars in box office revenue every day from Friday to Sunday.

In the first week of its release, the investment cost was basically recovered, which is quite good.

But what really gave "The Sixth Sense" a chance to explode was a film review published in The New Yorker on the morning of May 5.
The person who wrote this film review is Pauline Kael, a very famous American film critic.

Pauline Kael is 74 years old this year. She began writing film reviews in 1968. After more than 20 years, she has been widely recognized as one of the most influential media film critics in the second half of the th century.

She is characterized by being witty, sharp, to the point and opinionated.

This is also very popular among movie fans.

Because Pauline Kael is not the kind of film critic who would just take money and write good reviews to trick movie fans into going to the cinema.

If Pauline Kael writes a good review, then the movie must be really good, and vice versa.

It is for this reason that Pauline Kael’s article for The New Yorker, written two years after her retirement in 1991, caused a huge response:

“In my many years of watching movies, I have found that a wonderful movie is often not restricted by the subject matter.

Yesterday I watched a movie called "The Sixth Sense" directed by a Chinese director. It is a thriller with a very artistic flavor. The twist at the end was surprising and shocking. After watching it, I have been trying to sort out the previous plot and foreshadowing.

But obviously I didn't do it, so I could only go to the cinema to watch it for the second time in the afternoon. Please forgive me, I'm old and need to take a lunch break.

After watching the movie twice, I was able to thoroughly sort out the meaning that the director wanted to express through the lens. This will definitely be something that the audience will have endless aftertastes about, because I was also deeply shocked by the director and screenwriter's fantastic ideas.

Well, the director and the screenwriter are the same person, Li from China. He is worthy of being a double-gold director in Europe. He cleverly used thriller as a gimmick and rendered a movie that is worthy of every American to watch seriously.

What I appreciated most was that the director tried to induce the audience's sympathy through the role of the young actor; besides the fright, the emotions were written in a profound way, such as the friendship between the boy and the psychologist, the affection between the boy and his mother, the kindness between the psychologist and his wife, and so on.

Cold yet full of humanity.

The most appreciative thing about this film is the transition of film genres, from a thriller in the beginning to a thriller in the middle, and then a sharp turn to a warm and affectionate family film in the last five minutes, with the climax of the mystery revealing the truth, which is unexpected.

"The Sixth Sense" is not a simple horror film, but a family problem movie, but it is packaged as a horror film. The adults in the film do not believe the children's claims of seeing supernatural phenomena, which is consistent with the blind spot of adults not listening to their children.

Listening to each other is an important way for parents and children to communicate. Although it is old-fashioned, it becomes clearer in the conversation between the mother and son at the end of the film...

China Li is worthy of being a director of independent films who has won the Venice Golden Lion Award and the Cannes Palme d'Or. His portrayal of human nature and family is truly breathtaking.

I think most North American families should bring their children to watch this movie. It is not a family-friendly film like Home Alone, but it is the film that can best connect parents and children spiritually..."

Inside a restaurant.

"Lee, did you hear that?"

After reading the article, Thomas danced with joy and said, "This is Pauline Kael! She actually wrote this article for you after retirement. It's incredible. You know, many people tried to invite her to continue writing film reviews after she retired."

Li Yishu raised her eyebrows and said, "Okay Thomas, you know I'm not familiar with these North American film critics, can you tell me about her?"

“Do you know Steven Spielberg?”

"Of course, I think there are few people who don't know him."

"In 1991, when Spielberg's Hook was released, Pauline Kael went to see the movie and later wrote a review, saying that Spielberg's movie was substandard. As it turned out, the movie finally grossed only $3 million."

Thomas paused and said, "The production cost of Hook was 7000 million U.S. dollars, not counting the cost of publicity and promotion. The global box office was 3 million U.S. dollars, which seems like a lot, but you have to know that the North American box office was only 1.19 million U.S. dollars! Many people say that the movie box office is so low because Pauline Kael is not optimistic about the movie!"

Li Yishu didn't have a deep impression of "Hook". She knew it was directed by Spielberg, but she only knew there was such a movie. Now after hearing what Thomas said, she understood why she didn't have a deep impression of it.

The box office is too low and the reputation is too bad.

North America has always been the world's largest box office, and Spielberg is no longer a new director. He is a famous director who has made "Jaws", "Indiana Jones" and "ET the Extra-Terrestrial".

The film is very famous in Europe and the United States. With a production cost of US$7000 million, plus a publicity and promotion cost of no less than US$1000 million, a total of US$8000 million, it earned less than US$1.2 million at the box office in North America.

Even though the overseas box office earned $1.8 million, the film's overseas box office revenue was split according to the internationally accepted box office sharing method, that is, 35% for the producer, 17% for the distributor, and 48% for the exhibitor. With this calculation, the film did not lose money, but it did not make much money either, thanks to the distribution of videotapes and other peripheral products.

For a big director, if a movie doesn't make money, it means he loses money, not to mention that its reputation has collapsed.

After hearing what Thomas said, Li Yishu finally understood why he was so excited. She raised her eyebrows and said, "So, with this Pauline Kael's film, our movie will be a big hit at the box office?"

"It's more than a hit, we're going to make a killing!" Thomas said excitedly, "Lee, you should know the box office revenue sharing model in North America, right?"

Li Yishu nodded: "Amy told me before that the approach is to decrease in number."

The decreasing model can be said to have greatly satisfied the interests of both the film producers and the cinemas.

For example, in the first week, the box office profits are shared by the film company and the cinema chain in a ratio of 7:3. Starting from the second week, the film company's share will gradually decrease from 6:4 to a fixed ratio of 3:7.

This is also the key reason why "Titanic" can be shown continuously for a year.
After the 3:7 profit sharing, the cinema chain could take $70 for every $ million of box office revenue for "Titanic".

When the box office of a single movie show on a given day is still pretty good, cinemas and producers are definitely thinking about making as much money as possible and are naturally reluctant to take the film off the screen.

"Yes, decreasing!"

Thomas nodded. "But because you are a new director from China, when we first talked to the theater chain, they lowered the price of the profit sharing ratio. Finally, after communication, we determined a 6:4 ratio for the first week, 5:5 for the second week, and maintained it at 4:6 until the movie was released."

Li Yishu raised his eyebrows. He really didn't understand this matter very well.

Even though North American art film companies were asked to follow up on this matter before, they had no say at all.

Art (American) Film Company has not followed up on what Columbia Pictures discussed with the theater chain.

However, this also reminded Li Yishu that she should ask Amy to find a more professional person to be responsible for the North American business.

In the next few years, he will definitely have to come to the United States frequently to shoot movies. If he can't even figure out this little thing and doesn't report it, the loss will be huge.

Thinking of this, Li Yishu asked, "There should be a guaranteed release date, right?"

"Yes, we guarantee that the release time will not be less than one month. At the same time, as long as the box office reaches the standard, the number of screens will remain at a fixed value and will not change."

Thomas nodded.

Both parties are very satisfied with this cooperation.

Because North American theaters decide the number of screens based on the first week’s box office.

If the first-week box office is high, the number of screens will naturally increase.

But if the box office is not ideal in the first week, the number of screens will instantly be reduced by one third or more.

Just like the famous "Cutthroat Island", the production cost of the film was as high as 9800 million US dollars, and the publicity and promotion costs definitely exceeded million, but what about the box office?

The North American box office was 1017 million, and the global box office cumulatively was only about 1500 million US dollars.

Including publicity and promotion costs, the film directly lost $1.1 million.

It was even rated by Guinness as the film with the heaviest loss in history, and directly caused the production company, Carlock Pictures, to go bankrupt.

Coincidentally, MGM Studios, which acquired the company, invested in the blockbuster "Windtalkers" many years later, but also suffered heavy losses, leading to MGM's third bankruptcy.

The reason why the North American box office was only 1017 million was mainly because the box office on the first day was only more than 500 million US dollars. Seeing this situation, the theater chains immediately withdrew a large number of screens, resulting in the film being released for three days in the first week. This movie, which cost nearly 1 million US dollars, did not even make million at the box office in the end, and was therefore taken off the screen early by the theater chains.

Although "The Sixth Sense" has the support of Hisao Morishima, the theater chain will not care whether you, the president of Columbia, support it or not. They are concerned about profits. Lee Yi-su has not proven her ability to make English films in North America, so naturally she will not be given too many screens.

The 6:4 split and the 5:5 split in the second week showed the theater chain's sincerity.

Because according to the normal ratio, the first week is 7:3 and the second week is 6:4.

They can make an additional 20% profit within two weeks.

Moreover, in the first week when the movie had the highest box office, the theater chain made an additional 10% profit, which was undoubtedly the most cost-effective.

What's more, the highly anticipated "Jurassic Park" will be released on June 6. Representatives of the theater chain have already seen this movie and gave it a super A-level review, believing that it will set off the entire North American summer schedule.

The box office of "The Sixth Sense" can be regarded as an appetizer.

With Thomas' words, Li Yishu also began to look forward to the box office data for the next three days.

Time passed quickly and three days went by in a flash.

On Friday, May 5, the North American box office of "The Sixth Sense" officially exceeded 28 million.

On Saturday, May 5, the first day of the holiday weekend, the box office exceeded $29 million.

On Sunday, May 5, the box office fell slightly, but still reached $30 million.

From its release on May 5 to May 25, the first week box office of "The Sixth Sense" reached an astonishing 5 million US dollars.

(End of this chapter)