Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 182 192 [Am I the biggest culprit for the box office slump? ]

The female reporter grasped the point: "So, Director Li, you are not good at action movies?"

Li Yishu smiled and did not answer the other party's question, but pointed to the next reporter.

We agreed that each person would have one problem and I would never indulge them.

A reporter from the "Film Works" weekly magazine sponsored by Emei Film Studio asked:
"Director Li, The Sixth Sense has grossed over $3 million worldwide. Your personal total global box office has now reached over $6 million, nearly doubling the global box office of your previous films. I wonder when you can break $10 billion? At the same time, will you make another Chinese-language film like Sword Rain that will be released worldwide?"

Two questions, but Li Yishu answered both of them because the other party was a weekly reporter sponsored by Emei Studio:
"It's hard to say whether it will break $10 billion. The movie I'm currently shooting is a black comedy drama. As for making another martial arts movie, I have no plans for now, but I may consider making a Chinese-language blockbuster later."

The gap is actually quite obvious. In the past three years, Li Yishu has filmed "The Mountain", "Love Letter", "Farewell My Concubine", "Sword Rain", "Central Station", "The Sixth Sense", and the currently filming "Nobody".

Excluding this one, the previous six films only made a total box office of more than 6 million US dollars, and the majority of it was brought by "The Sixth Sense". In contrast, Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" alone made more than 10 billion US dollars.

I have to sigh that these days the box office revenue of blockbusters is really exaggerated. No wonder so many Hong Kong filmmakers go to Hollywood in the past few years.

After answering the three questions, Li Yishu asked Yongmei to arrange for the reporters to sit down and have lunch, and also called the crew to come and eat and drink together.

After the meal, most of the reporters present left with smiles on their faces. The purpose of their interview was achieved, they took a lot of photos, and even got a meal. Naturally, they would report on the event after returning.

Within a few days.

As major newspapers and weekly magazines successively published interview articles, Li Yishu suddenly became the focus of domestic public discussion again.

It has only been two years since Lee Ye-su made her movie debut in 1991, but the films she directed have already grossed over 6 million U.S. dollars worldwide, and recently a single film grossed 3 million U.S. dollars.

The shock it brings to ordinary people is very, very strong.

This is even more shocking than exchanging canned food for airplanes a few years ago. Nowadays, the public has no idea about the investment cost of movies. In their opinion, it's just a few actors making a movie and then putting it out for screening.

It's so simple, and you can get $3 million in global box office, which is more profitable than earning foreign exchange from commodity exports.

This has also led to many people discussing whether Li Yishu should be allowed to make more domestic films and go abroad to earn foreign exchange?

Of course, this is just a joke among many people. After all, no matter how much money a movie can make, can it make money from exporting goods?
In recent years, the number of goods exported has increased. Thanks to the high quality and low price of low-end products, China is still quite competitive internationally.

Especially the textile industry, which has been developing fastest in recent years, because the domestic raw material costs are low and workers' wages are low. This has also attracted many Hong Kong businessmen to invest in the mainland, and has gradually attracted a large amount of overseas capital.

But as time went on, "Jurassic Park" grossed $7 million worldwide and completely ignited the dinosaur craze around the world.

Although this movie has not been released in mainland China, related topics, photos and videotapes have also flowed into the mainland from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Resurrecting dinosaurs from hundreds of millions of years ago, and using advanced cloning technology...

All of them touched the hearts of mainland movie fans.

According to Hong Kong, the process has been streamlined from big-budget films to "blockbuster movies".

After watching the videotape of "Jurassic Park" in the coastal areas of the mainland, people finally understood what a Hollywood blockbuster is!
time flies.

Early July.

After Yu Feihong finished filming her guest role, she chose to go back to her hometown. After that, she had to return to Yanjing to prepare for the freshman acting class in the second half of the year.

It was her first time teaching a class, so naturally she hoped to do it perfectly. She also had a lot of teaching experience to ask people for advice, otherwise she was afraid she would be confused for a while.

Jiang Qinqin also officially took part in this year's college entrance examination. Judging from her scores in the recent test, she has firmly reached the cultural line of Beijing Film Academy.

The crew of "Nobody".

Han Sanping's eyes flickered as he asked, "Yishu, do you have any idea of ​​making a blockbuster movie?"

"Big movie?"

Li Yishu was slightly stunned. He hadn't heard this word for a long time. He thought it might be related to the cloning craze and dinosaur craze that has been sweeping the country recently.

Han Sanping nodded and said, "Yes, the Film Bureau asked me to ask you if you have any ideas for making a big-budget movie. If so, they will definitely support it."

"Support? How come you have the idea of ​​making a blockbuster?" Li Yishu was a little surprised.

"This one……"

Han Sanping hesitated for a moment and whispered, "The higher-ups are planning to bring in foreign films to be screened in mainland China."

"Imported blockbusters?" Li Yishu blurted out with a frown on her face. It seems that the era of imported blockbusters wreaking havoc in the country is about to begin.

"Yeah, imported blockbusters."

Han Sanping sighed and said, "The influence of Jurassic Park is too great. The higher-ups are worried that if we let this loophole go, our domestic films will be crushed. So they hope to let you, the most commercially minded director in the country, make a blockbuster of our own."

As "Jurassic Park" caused a sensation around the world, many people actually took the cloning technology and the technology of resurrecting dinosaurs in the movie as real. In this situation, the authorities began to worry about the domestic film market.

Jurassic Park grossed $7 million worldwide, and within a month of its release in Hong Kong, it grossed 6100 million Hong Kong dollars.
If this were introduced into China, how could the large number of feature films and art films currently available in the country resist it?

You know, the authorities have already started negotiating with the United States on the draft of introducing overseas films.

The issue of importing foreign films was raised by the United States as early as 1991. How could the bosses of Hollywood film companies let go of China's market with a population of one billion?
The United States has long used its connections with the trade department to demand that China open up its film market, under the pretext that this would allow China to better embrace the world and move toward the world.

But any smart person who has watched the comparison between the two films can clearly find that in terms of entertainment, American commercial films are more attractive.

Especially those big-budget American movies, once they are released in China, they will definitely crush the audience.

After all, from the perspective of viewing experience alone, the big-budget Hollywood blockbusters are definitely better.

So it was delayed until this year, but with Li Yishu's success in the United States, people from Hollywood film companies immediately began to incite American upper echelons to continue negotiating with the country on the introduction of foreign films.

After being delayed again and again, it can no longer be delayed. The authorities have officially begun discussing the issue of introducing foreign films with the United States.

Judging from the other party's eagerness to enter the Chinese film market, no matter how stringent the conditions are, they will definitely agree to them given a population of 10 billion and the 1992 billion moviegoers in 105 announced by the Film Bureau.

In fact, the negotiation conditions were indeed very harsh.

According to international common practices and referring to the internationally accepted box office sharing method, the revenue sharing ratio of imported blockbusters among the parties is 35% for the producer, 17% for the distributor, and 48% for the exhibitor.

In the Chinese market, Hollywood producers only get 13% of the box office revenue, which means that for every 100 yuan in box office revenue, they can only take 13 yuan.

But the profit sharing ratio has not been fully negotiated yet, and the higher-ups know that Hollywood blockbusters are unstoppable, so they asked Han Sanping to contact Li Yishu through his connections and ask if he has any ideas for making a domestic blockbuster.

If there is, it would definitely support the filming of a domestic blockbuster.

After all, the fourth and fifth generation directors currently active in the domestic film market basically focus on making art films and feature films. Asking them to make a film that can compete with Hollywood commercial blockbusters seems to them to be hopeless.

"This one……"

Li Yishu actually wanted to agree, but there was simply no large tracts of land for this in the country.

He also wants to make "The Wandering Earth" and "Pacific Rim", which are high-end science fiction blockbusters at first glance, but the film industry cannot be achieved overnight.

We can ask a Hollywood special effects team to produce it, but how high will the cost be?
Li Yishu said with a headache: "Uncle San, please let me think about the big movie. After all, it's not that easy."

"Okay, I just want to tell you something."

Han Sanping patted Li Yishu on the shoulder and said, "But no matter what, you have to be mentally prepared. The introduction of American movies this time is basically a done deal. Although the movies have not been introduced yet, I believe you should be very clear about the impact this will have on the domestic film market."

It's more than huge. Li Yishu knows that in the next few years, except for Jackie Chan's "Rumble in the Bronx" which won the annual box office champion in mainland China, all other annual champions will be Hollywood movies.

Moreover, Li Yishu was well aware that in the next few years, until 2001, when domestic blockbusters were launched, the domestic film market would become sluggish to a frightening degree.

Following the "household contract responsibility system" film mechanism reform announced by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television in January this year, domestic cinema chains will begin a pilot reform starting from the beginning of next year.

The consequence of the pilot reform is that movie ticket prices are no longer unified across the country. In places like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, ticket prices peaked at 20 to 30 yuan, and movie ticket prices in ordinary areas have also increased significantly.

Then there is the rise of pirated "laser discs", which will push the number of moviegoers to a staggering "3 million" next year.

It took just over a year for the number of moviegoers to drop from 1992 billion in 100 to 1994 million in 3.

The reason is that the films produced by major studios are no longer distributed in a unified manner. The second reason is the pirated discs in 94 and the rise of home VCDs.

A movie ticket costs more than ten yuan, and you can only watch it once. I might as well buy a disc and watch it at home. I can also watch it with my family and watch it whenever I want.
Li Yishu scratched his head. Huo Wenxi called him yesterday and said that the VCD had been completely completed and the factory had already started recruiting workers to assemble and produce VCD machines. It was expected that the first batch of 3000 VCD devices would be produced by the middle of next month.

He is somewhat responsible for this. It is not difficult for Li Yishu to imagine that if people in the film industry know that he is the boss behind VCD, they will probably regard him as the biggest culprit for the sluggish box office in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, right?

But it is normal for technology to change an industry.

Later, wasn’t the VCD industry also replaced by computers and the Internet?
All we can say is that Li Yishu tried her best to sell "VCD" overseas and earn foreign exchange for the country.

Han Sanping smiled and said, "By the way, Yishu, I have something to tell you. I will be going to the Beijing Film Studio in October."

"Congratulations, Uncle San. This time you finally got your wish and became the factory director."

Li Yishu's eyes lit up. It seemed that she could speed up the process of setting up her private film company.

"Haha, it doesn't matter whether I'm the factory director or not. The main thing is that I can do a lot more things after I go to Yanjing."

Han Sanping wanted to do something big, but it was not his turn to work at Emei Film Studio, so he could only find a way to go to Beijing Film Studio.

　Thanks to book friends 20180915100847327 and book friend 131120202817612 for their rewards. Thank you both!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)