Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 623 The 2018 Summer Movie Battle

To be honest, the success of "Wolf Warrior 3" is based on Galaxy Group's mature film industrialization system, but it also relies on the solid story content and the wonderful plot structure.

From this perspective, most of the credit should be attributed to Liu Cixin.

Because he was the main leader of the screenwriting team for this film, and the story of "Wolf Warrior 3" is more of an adaptation of Liu Cixin's novel "Angel Era".

This article, published by Liu Cixin in 1998, mainly tells the story of how Dr. Ismail Itah, an African scientist, used genetic engineering to modify the human digestive system to solve the food shortage problem, which triggered an international conflict.

At that time, the human genome sequencing had just begun, and he had already started to think deeply about the possibilities of the future.

Even from today's perspective, the ideas in this article can be considered very forward-thinking.

Moreover, the core of "Age of Angels" is not an exploration of new technologies, but rather a deeper expression of humanistic concern for the Third World and a subtle accusation and satire of the hypocrisy of a certain Western power.

However, since it was a novel published twenty years ago, Liu Cixin was somewhat limited by the times when he wrote "The Age of Angels," and there was no Chinese character in the story.

However, if it were to be integrated into the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe], such a huge undertaking would not be possible without China, hence this adapted version of "Wolf Warrior 3".

As it turns out, Liu Cixin's writing is indeed of a high standard.

With an opening score of 7.7 on Douban and 9.6 on Taopiaopiao, this film is a testament to its popularity.

During this hot summer vacation, it successfully attracted audiences of different ages and from different regions to the cinema. Young people were attracted by the film's exciting battle scenes, novel military equipment, and realistic special effects, and were also proud of the national spirit and grandeur conveyed in the film.

Amidst their busy work schedules, office workers were inspired by the unique adventure and heroism of the protagonist in the film, regaining a long-lost passion and excitement.

Online, people are enthusiastically discussing "Wolf Warrior 3" on almost every platform. It seems to have become a national cultural phenomenon, and related products have also started to sell well in the market.

However, the best-selling items were not the new armor models, drones, or character figurines of the "Wolf Fang" team from the movie, but rather the Pegasus that Dr. Ita gave to Colonel Stanton.

In the movie, this little thing won over the Iron-Blooded Colonel with its beautiful appearance; outside the movie, as a plush toy, it immediately became a best-selling product.

Amidst this immense popularity, "Wolf Warrior 3" garnered another 18 billion yuan at the box office in its second week of release, without any strong competition from other blockbusters, bringing its cumulative box office to over 33 billion yuan.

In just two weeks, Wang Hao has already achieved half of his predicted box office target for this film.

Given the immense popularity the film generated, coupled with the high praise for "Wolf Warrior 3," both cinemas and the production company realized that this film indeed had the potential to achieve even higher box office returns.

A minimum of 60 billion is guaranteed, but 70 billion will require effort.

Cinemas began to increase screenings, and the film's producers and crew also intensified their promotional efforts.

Wu Jing and others once again flew non-stop to major cities across the country to participate in various offline activities. As the director and lead actor of this film, he was able to enjoy a share of the box office profits, so it was really hard not to work hard.

With the simultaneous release of "Wolf Warrior 3" overseas in its second week, the film has generated considerable buzz in both nearby Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, as well as in more distant regions such as Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Canada.

Compared to domestic audiences who feel a sense of pride while watching this film because they live in a peaceful era, overseas audiences, especially those in turbulent regions, undoubtedly have more complex feelings after watching "Wolf Warrior 3".

However complex their viewing experience may be, they have at least gained a new perspective on issues and had an experience completely different from the past.

In Wang Hao's previous life, although China was still rising and gaining enormous influence in the international community, the poor level of people in the field of cultural promotion meant that the export of Chinese culture was always a false proposition.

In other words, the emergence of TikTok has given the international public a more convenient opportunity to understand China. As for those cultural workers, their work is terrible.

Compared to Hollywood's global cultural influence, they have made little contribution to China's rise.

However, things are different now. Wang Hao's rise and the establishment of Xinghe Group are like a sharp knife, helping China to exert a lot of effort and achieve great results in the global struggle for discourse power.

The fact that a film like "Wolf Warrior 3," with its strong ideological stance, was able to be released in many overseas countries and even receive a significant number of screenings demonstrates that times have changed.

As the third week began, the competitive landscape of the film market intensified slightly compared to the previous week. The previously lackluster competition was suddenly disrupted by two major releases, with two relatively well-known new films joining the fray.

On August 10th, the "iPartment" movie was released.

Despite the plagiarism controversy surrounding the supposedly national sitcom IP sequel, this "iPartment" movie has captivated many viewers since its inception.

The emotional foundation built up over ten years of drama series is already deeply rooted. From Zeng Xiaoxian's cheeky and adorable quotes to Hu Yifei's fierce aura, from Lu Ziqiao's cunning to Chen Meijia's adorable math skills, those characters and jokes etched in the audience's memory have all left a deep impression.

In the trailer released by the production company, when the familiar apartment setting and music play, it always instantly transports viewers back to that summer.

The fact that the box office exceeded 50 million yuan in just three hours after the pre-sale started further confirms the destructive power of this "nostalgia bomb".

In contrast, another film released at the same time, "The Island," despite the hype surrounding Huang Bo's directorial debut, still received a lukewarm reception.

Indeed, Huang Bo has accumulated a lot of audience favor as a comedian, and the film's cast also includes a cameo appearance by his longtime partner Wang Baoqiang, making it seem like a comedy.

However, during its internal screenings in 2018, the film was not well received by theaters because it was not a pure comedy. Huang Bo, after transitioning to directing, wanted to unleash a big surprise right away.

Although he brought in some well-known actors to bolster the film, the situation is still far from ideal, judging from the perspective of the distributor.

However, there's nothing that can be done about it. The release date of "The Island" can't be delayed any longer. Once the summer blockbuster season is over, the market will likely be even less favorable for it.

The second week of August thus reached the climax of the summer movie season amidst the competition of three films.

The two films achieved drastically different results on their opening day. Leveraging its strong emotional foundation and powerful fan base, the "iPartment" movie achieved a phenomenal opening day box office, breaking the 3 million yuan mark even with several competitors.

In fact, the film's pre-sale performance was already quite impressive before its release, with pre-sale box office exceeding 100 million yuan on its first day, August 7.

After its official release on the afternoon of August 10, "iPartment" saw its box office soar. By 11:31 p.m. that day, it had reached 300 million yuan, with 849.6 million viewers, accounting for 41.5% of the total daily box office.

This achievement not only made "iPartment" the most popular movie of the day, but also successfully entered the top 20 in the history of mainland Chinese film box office on the opening day.

Although "The Island" was at a disadvantage in terms of screening share, on its opening day, thanks to the influence of director Huang Bo and the main creative team, its box office successfully exceeded 1 million yuan.

Compared to "iPartment," this result is naturally not very impressive, but the high rating of 7.4 on Douban is some consolation for the film's producers.

Even amidst the competition from these two new films, "Wolf Warrior 3," which still enjoyed considerable popularity, raked in 1.8 million yuan at the box office on its opening day, ranking second in daily box office, only behind "iPartment" but ahead of "The Island."

It seems that "Wolf Warrior 3" is struggling in the fierce competition of this summer's box office, and its popularity has inevitably declined after half of its release date has passed.

However, on August 11, the day after the two films were released, the situation took a turn for the worse.

In fact, it is not uncommon for fan-made films to experience a high opening followed by a decline in box office revenue, both domestically and internationally. However, despite grossing over 3 million yuan on its opening day, the "iPartment" movie only grossed 1.28 million yuan on its second day, a drop of over 50%, a situation comparable to a high-dive.

Furthermore, online, the film's reputation plummeted compared to the other three films released in the same period.

The controversy surrounding the film's misleading advertising has become the most criticized point among moviegoers, and it can also be said to be the trigger for the sharp drop in box office revenue.

Before the movie's release, "iPartment" focused its marketing efforts on the "10th Anniversary of iPartment," playing on nostalgia.

However, after the movie was released, what the audience saw was a completely different story about the tomb raiding IP.

If you were to promote it like this before the film's release, it might attract fans of another novel while also giving your own fans a heads-up.

This whole mess has really pleased neither side, turning a "surprise" into a "fright."

Therefore, not only did the box office drop rapidly on the second day, but on the third day of its release, "iPartment" continued to plummet, with its box office falling to only 5917 million yuan, becoming the first film to have a box office of over 100 million yuan on its opening day but then drop by more than 50% in the following two days.

This resulted in "iPartment" only grossing 4.9 million yuan in its opening weekend, and many data forecasters have lowered their total box office predictions from over 10 billion yuan to less than 6 million yuan.

In contrast, "The Island," which was released on the same day, only grossed 1.5 million yuan on its opening day, half of "iPartment." Its absurd comedy and dark humor were not well accepted by the public. However, thanks to its mature and complete story and high word-of-mouth, "The Island" surpassed its competitor with 1.91 million yuan on the second day, achieving a single-day box office comeback.

到首周末（8月10日-12日），影片累计票房达 5.34亿，反超《爱情公寓》的4.89亿。

However, even with its successful comeback, it failed to claim the weekly crown.

This week, although the daily box office performance of "Wolf Warrior 3" was not particularly eye-catching, its stable long-term trend still allowed it to achieve a box office of 12 billion yuan, and its cumulative box office also successfully broke through the 45 billion yuan mark, taking another step closer to the target of 60 billion yuan.

By the fourth week of "Wolf Warrior 3's" release, and the second week of "The Island" and "iPartment"'s release, the competition among the three films had gradually shifted.

With its reputation plummeting, "iPartment" was the first to be eliminated from the box office, and theaters shifted their screenings to two other films. Its daily box office revenue continued to decline, even falling below 1 million by the end of this week.

Then there's "The Island." Although its screening rate steadily increased from 26.5% on the first day to over 30%, it was limited by its subject matter. Compared to sci-fi war blockbusters, the plot of survival on a deserted island was ultimately less appealing. In the end, it grossed another 5.82 million yuan in the second week of August, ranking second in the box office charts.

As for "Wolf Warrior 3," experience truly matters. A sci-fi blockbuster with a mature film industry system, its long-tail effect during its release period is undeniable.

It is worth noting that on August 17, the Qixi Festival, despite facing competition from five new films including "Europe Raiders", "Wolf Warrior 3" still became the top-grossing film of the day, helping the box office to reach a record high of 4.69 million yuan for the Qixi Festival.

In that week, it also grossed 8.6 million yuan, bringing its cumulative box office to 54 billion yuan.

However, by the fourth week of August, new competitors for "Wolf Warrior 3" began to emerge during the summer season.

This time, the film competing for the title is "Ant-Man and the Wasp," a new film from the well-known Hollywood movie IP, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As one of only two top-tier cinematic universes on par with the Galaxy Cinematic Universe internationally, Marvel superhero movies enjoy considerable popularity and recognition in China.

Moreover, the first Ant-Man movie received a lot of praise, and the size-changing effect brought by Pym particles was indeed very unique in the visual effects of the movie.

In addition to the film's consistent comedic style, it garnered considerable anticipation from moviegoers after its release date was announced.

Fortunately, Wolf Warrior 3 did not seem too worried about this new opponent.

On the one hand, "Wolf Warrior 3" has been released for almost a month, and its daily box office has dropped to a very stable level, so even the release of new films is unlikely to affect it.

On the other hand, the emergence of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe has successfully demystified Hollywood movies for domestic audiences. Compared to Wang Hao's previous life, watching these movies no longer seems particularly surprising to them.

In terms of storytelling, can they even surpass Inception?
In terms of special effects, Gravity is already at the top international level.

In terms of villain portrayal, Thanos, the main villain in Avengers: Infinity War released in May this year, is a bit less impressive than Dr. Chen Ang.

As for patriotism and mainstream themes, they can't compare to the "Wolf Warrior" series.

So even with the addition of "Ant-Man and the Wasp" further intensifying the competition during the summer season, "Wolf Warrior 3" remained unfazed, steadily approaching the 6 billion yuan mark at the box office, while watching other films fight tooth and nail for audiences.

(End of this chapter)