Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 510: Distribution
Briefly, when did Hollywood begin to pay attention to the domestic market?

Actually, it started with "Avatar".

13.4 billion yuan (about 1.97 million US dollars), accounting for 6.7% of the global total box office, surpassing traditional film markets such as France (1.74 million US dollars) and Japan (1.7 million US dollars) to become the second largest market after the United States.

All future blockbusters will take the Chinese market into consideration and try to incorporate Chinese elements.

But that was 2009, and now it is 2007, and Hollywood doesn't think the Chinese market is that important.

Just look at the box office:
Spider-Man 3, RMB 1.5 million (approximately $2000 million);

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 1.4 million yuan (about 1870 million U.S. dollars);

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," 3 million yuan (about 1.25 million U.S. dollars);

Casino Royale, RMB 007 million (US$1 million);

The market performance of Hollywood blockbusters in China is usually just over 2000 million yuan, or at most 13 million US dollars, and the current distribution ratio is %, which is not much at all.

If it was a Hollywood company given to you, you definitely wouldn't take it seriously.

Everyone knows that the potential is huge, but until there is actual performance, potential is just potential.

But this year there will be a landmark event, which is "Transformers".

"Transformers" directly raised the box office of imported films to more than 2.81 million yuan, and the domestic box office was 3722 million yuan, about million US dollars.
It is the best performing market outside of the United States (3.19 million) and the United Kingdom (4860 million), ranking third in the world, and has also impressed the six major Hollywood films.

The growth in box office is closely related to the rapid development of the Chinese film market.

In 2001, there were less than 2000 screens in China.

So the box office of Hollywood blockbusters at that time, even if they were popular series, would not be very high.

By 2011, there were 6000 screens in China.

No country in the world has a film market that develops in this way, so Hollywood has to pay attention.

The development speed is too fast.

In time, it is not impossible to surpass the United States.

……

In the cinema, Zhang Chen and Guo Fan watched two gangs of robots fighting.

The movie is purely in English, but it doesn’t matter, because due to the filming, both of them have no problem with English and it seems there is no barrier.

Guo Fan enjoyed watching it very much. He was a science fiction fan, and seeing things like that was like a woman seeing jewelry.

Michael Bay's "Transformers" really understands men.

Cars, women, explosions, armies, airplanes and cannons, all kinds of cool machine transformations, the fight between good and evil...

Almost all the elements that men like are included.

Add to that the sentimentality, it’s impossible for the box office not to be a hit.

But Zhang Chen felt that the fact that this project could make money was purely luck.

Paramount's planning is very poor, and the level of Explosive Bay is not that good either.

Why do we say Paramount’s planning is low? Because the direction of the entire series is wrong.

If this drama is given to Zhang Chen to shoot, there can only be one development path, which is the changes in the Transformers world.

The perspective of the movie is very important. Is it about people or about Transformers?

Of course it’s about Transformers.

There is no need to think about it, the successful cases have already given the answer.

Can't you even copy it?
"King Kong" and "Terminator" are of similar types. Your selling point is to tell the story of that person.

So how can we make the film more interesting? We can humanize these protagonists.

If you film a scene of cars fighting each other, how can people empathize with them?

Only when cars become like humans can people empathize with them.

The King Kong in "King Kong" and the T800 in "Terminator" are all the same. Only when they have emotions connected with humans can they become classics.

Paramount did a very poor job in this regard, and Baywatch also has an unshirkable responsibility.

The Transformers they tinkered with looked like tools, without any recognition at all.

There are only a few memorable characters in the 7 movies, including Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Cable...

Who knows what other robots look like and what their special features are?
Even the main villain Megatron is not very recognizable.

If they are not recognizable, how can people empathize with them as the plot progresses?

At the end of "Transformers 1", Megatron tore Jazz apart with his bare hands. This was obviously an emotional point set by the director, but did everyone empathize with it?

What a fart!
I don't even know who the Jazz is, why should I waste my feelings on it?
In this regard, the animated version does a very good job, and each King Kong is highly recognizable.

Optimus Prime is resourceful;
Megatron is treacherous and cunning;
Grimlock is a cocky fool;
Red Spider is a big talker, ambitious but incompetent, arrogant and cowardly;

Ironhide is a muscular man, Jazz likes to show off, Locomotive is honest, Shockwave is loyal, and Lightning is rebellious and arrogant but has a bottom line;
This way, the character comes alive.

In this regard, Marvel is really ten blocks ahead of Paramount.

Look at Marvel’s superheroes, each of them has a rich personality and distinct character.

……

Two and a half hours later, the two came out of the cinema, and Guo Fan was still not satisfied.

"Now I finally understand why you want all your company's movies to avoid July..."

There was a long queue outside the cinema.

Not only does July in China belong to "Transformers", but so does July in the United States.

Even if the movie is bad, men are willing to pay for their dreams.

Even though a man's spending power is usually low, if you really touch his heart, he will be more willing to spend money than anyone else.

No other movie can compete with Transformers.

This is a carnival for all men.

"Director Zhang, I feel a little awkward..."

"Tell me what you think~"

Guo Fan organized his words: "First of all, it's too long. The movie is two and a half hours long, but it's filled with a lot of boring human scenes. I think those can be deleted..."

This is exactly what Zhang Chen thinks is lame about Explosive Bella.

The rhythm of "Transformers" is not good. What the audience wants to see is transformation. Why do you have so many human scenes?

If the purpose is to save budget, the human roles should be reduced rather than lengthened.

"Anything else?" Zhang Chen encouraged.

Guo Fan continued, "Also, the Autobots protecting the Earth is too abrupt to me. They are an alien species that just arrived on Earth. They should not have any sense of belonging here, but they are clamoring to protect the Earth. This is too fake..."

In fact, this is also the underlying reason why later generations of "Transformers" have become increasingly worse.

The logic breaks down.

All the Autobots have become sanctimonious bitches.

You know, the people on Earth are not friendly to the Autobots.

By the fourth film, the Autobots were captured and dismembered.

Optimus Prime, as the leader, was chased like a dog, but he still maintained enough restraint towards humans.

He wishes to protect the earth unilaterally, as if the earth is his home.

The more I watch, the more I feel that Megatron is the one with the most positive values.

He looks a bit like the Emperor. Now that Cybertron is gone, what is the use of the Earth?
It is no exaggeration to say that if the character design is made richer, Megatron can completely replace Optimus Prime and become the protagonist of "Transformers".

I think he will have more fans. As he was talking, the phone rang suddenly. It was David Heyman.

Zhang Chen had a feeling it would be good news: "Hey, David~, is there any result?"

"Yes, congratulations, Zhang. After internal discussion, the company decided to adopt your version as the release version..."

Zhang Chen was not surprised by this: "Then how many theaters are showing the film?"

"3450 families."

"Can I ask what the opening number of Transformers is?"

"4099, but Zhang, this is different, that's Transformers, the cartoon has been popular for more than ten years."

"I understand. By the time Ring 2 is released, I hope to be able to reach a scale of 4000."

"If the box office of Ring 1 is satisfactory, then of course there will be no problem."

For the first time, Zhang Chen felt frustrated about the film scheduling.

In fact, he is used to smooth sailing in China. Every time his film is released, China Film Group Corporation and Shanghai Film Group Corporation will strongly support it, and he never needs to worry about scheduling issues.

But here in Hollywood, he has no face at all and everything is done according to business rules.

Still haven't proven themselves.

If you are a card god, you don't have to follow the rules.

Actually, there is nothing wrong with what Warner did. Generally speaking, the number of theaters opening for independent films is usually around 1,000, while the number of theaters opening for commercial films released by the six major distributors starts at 2,000, and the number of theaters opening for A-level blockbusters is around 3,000. Only sequels to popular movies are likely to reach more than 4,000 theaters.

As Pacific Rim is a blockbuster without a fan base, 3450 is a reasonable number.

The reason why "Transformers" was able to reach 4000 stores is because it has a strong fan base, which is equivalent to a sequel.

"Has the time been decided?"

"It's confirmed that December 12th and December 7th are the most ideal dates, but there's already a big movie on that day, Will Smith's I Am Legend, and its cast is better than ours, so we can only move it forward..."

"I Am Legend" is also a monster, a zombie movie starring Will Smith, with a North American box office of 2.5 million and a global box office of 5.8 million.

If Pacific Rim was released after it, it would definitely be suppressed, so Warner’s suggestion is to move it forward. Although it will miss some of the best schedules, it is not a big problem.

"I understand. China will cooperate and release the film simultaneously."

The so-called global simultaneous release does not necessarily mean it will be released on the same day. A difference of one week is very normal.

There is absolutely no need to worry about this.

China Film Corporation is responsible for the film scheduling. Han Sanping assured that there would only be one blockbuster, Pacific Rim, in December.

Since we are counting on Pacific Rim to break the record for large ships, we must of course help clear the obstacles.

After hanging up the phone, Guo Fan hugged Zhang Chen excitedly. Pacific Rim had a result, and he was even more excited than Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen also breathed a sigh of relief. Up to this stage, they had done everything they could. All that remained was for the publicity department to make an effort and then wait for the movie to be released.

Zhang Chen informed the country of the news.

In China, China Film Group is actually the general distributor, and Xingchen Entertainment is able to enjoy the distribution rights because it is the producer.

In the past two days, everyone in Xingchen Entertainment has become more and more impressed with Zhang Chen's decision.

They also didn't know how Zhang Chen figured it out. He didn't avoid the more famous "Spider-Man 3" and chose to go head-to-head with "The Man from Lone Star".

But when it came to "Transformers", it was actually avoided in advance.

Many people did not understand this decision at first, but when "Transformers 1" was released, everyone realized how wise it was.

Throughout July, all the movies became cannon fodder.

"Transformers" grossed $2241 million on its first day, which may not seem like much, but it was Wednesday.

Who knows what will happen by the weekend.

"Boss, do you think it's possible for our Pacific Rim to surpass Transformers at the box office?" Guo Fan had an unrealistic idea.

Zhang Chen shook his head: "If it's domestic box office, it's possible, but forget about it for the global box office, the fan base is too different."

Zhang Chen remembered that the domestic box office of "Transformers 1" was 2.8 million, and the goal of "Pacific Rim" was to exceed the 3.6 ​​million of The Ship, so there would be no problem in exceeding "Transformers 1".

Even though Zhang Chen looks down on "Transformers" and says the characters and story are bad, he can't help but admire the good special effects.

It can be said that as long as the Autobots can transform, there will be people willing to pay for tickets to it.

The box office of later films is also higher than the previous one.

It’s so easy to make money from sentiment!

Of course, "Changes" is not completely useless. At least its aesthetics are up to standard.

Today's Hollywood has not yet reached the level of craziness that it will reach in 20 years, and has not dared to create a Black Snow Princess.

Megan Fox is a qualified vase!

It can be regarded as making up for the shortcomings of "Transformers".

It’s a pity that this woman didn’t have enough brains and was later banned.

……

In the next few days, Zhang Chen received excited calls from Chen Xi every day.

There is no competition between Golden Harvest and "Transformers". On the contrary, Golden Harvest has made a lot of money from it.

Transformers is so awesome.

On July 7, the single-day box office was 11 million, and it was a fucking Wednesday!
It broke the 100 million mark in the next five days, setting a new record for the fastest box office of an imported film to exceed 100 million!
Do you think this is over?
It's not over!

It took it 14 days to break million, becoming the first overseas blockbuster to do so since statistics were available!

The cinema was shocked!
Chen Xi was also shocked!

This is definitely a great opportunity for the development of cinemas.

During the trip to Shanxi a while ago, a large number of coal bosses joined Jiahe, and Chen Xi painted a big rosy picture for them, saying that they would get their investment back in two years and double their money in three years.

But no matter how good the words are, they are not as direct as the actual data.

These people's cinema had just been built, and the first movie they filmed was "Transformers".

Then I was stunned by the attendance.

Is this how you make money from making movies?

Tickets for the midnight show are hard to come by!
All subsequent shows were sold out.

Chen Xi was extremely satisfied with the movie. The only unsatisfactory aspect was that it was two and a half hours long and could not be shown many times a day.

But even so, I made a lot of money.

Chen Xi decisively ordered all Golden Harvest cinemas to screen "Transformers" all day long.

There are not many opportunities to make money, and if you miss it, you will lose money.

The movie was so popular that even its distributor China Film Group did not expect it.

The estimated box office for "Transformers" is 100 million yuan, which is based on the judgment of several other Hollywood blockbusters this year.

I didn't expect that I was completely wrong.

Seeing the box office rising steadily every day, the Film Bureau became a little anxious.

If this continues, Rim of the Pacific will break the record for large ships before it does.

Then Han Sanping received a call from the relevant department: "Can Pacific Rim be released earlier?"

The answer is of course no.

We just finalized the global distribution strategy with Warner two days ago, and you want to release the film ahead of schedule. Isn't this a desperate measure?
Fortunately, after breaking 200 million, the box office growth of "Transformers" finally slowed down.

(End of this chapter)