Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 435 Global box office success is enough to suppress the Chinese entertainment industry for twenty years!
Huayi.

"Guo Fu, it's fortunate that you decided to upgrade the Tongtian Empire."

Wang Zhongjun said to Chen Guofu with a hint of relief in his voice.

After the National Day film season where gravity dominated the box office.
He had no doubts.
If Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame were to truly defy gravity head-on...

Even with Fruit Chan as producer and Tsui Hark as director, it will probably be beaten even worse than last year's 1942!

After watching the special effects of Gravity, he looked at his own Tongtian Empire and realized that it was completely incomparable, with a gap of at least ten years!

Gravity is a special effect ahead of its time.

The special effects in "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" barely reached the level of early 20th-century Hollywood, thanks to the added benefit of set design experience.

"I didn't expect Gravity to be so successful. It seems I'm getting old and don't understand what kind of movies young people really like these days."

Chen Guofu gave a wry smile, showing no sign of joy.

He is now like the Qing Dynasty that was blasted apart by cannons.
He was initially proud of the nearly 300 million box office of the Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, but then his entire understanding was forcibly shattered by the cannon, making him realize what the power of technology is!
At fifty, one knows one's destiny.
This was forcibly pried open.

To distort the senses and perceptions accumulated over decades

It's really not a pleasant feeling!
"I really can't understand it. Gu Bei's movie is not the kind of movie that can be a big hit, so how did it get so much box office revenue?"

Wang Zhonglei kept puffing on cigarettes, just like Chen Guofu, whose entire perception had been forcibly altered, leaving him completely bewildered.

"Because Gu Bei's Weibo promotion is too aggressive!"

Wang Zhongjun was the one who understood filmmaking the least among everyone present, yet he saw things the most clearly.

After a pause,

He said coldly:
"I've seen the data; Gravity's reputation is definitely not universally positive."
As some film critics have said, Gu Bei's film is not even as entertaining as La La Land, and it feels like an independent film made with a budget of $100 million.

But if you look at Weibo now, you'll see almost no negative reviews.
Furthermore, if you watch Gu Bei's opening ceremony, you'll find that the entire ceremony is very short.

Wang Zhonglei looked up and asked doubtfully, "It's not short, is it?"

"No, it's very short!"

Wang Zhongjun shook his head. "The red carpet ceremony is longer, lasting about an hour, while the formal opening ceremony only lasts about half an hour. The pace is very fast."

If we had asked a TV station to broadcast this kind of content before, no TV station would have allowed it, as the ratings wouldn't have gone up.

But this time, the live stream, hosted by Gu Bei's Weibo account, received a very positive response from young people.

You've all seen the buzz surrounding gravity after the opening ceremony, haven't you?

"That's outrageous!"

Wang Zhonglei nodded. "Our opening ceremony might get a little bit of coverage from the portals, but the opening ceremony of Gravity was all over Weibo all day long."

Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei exchanged a glance, both noticing each other's confusion.

They still don't quite understand.

In the past, opening ceremonies attracted attention through celebrity interactions.
The plot twists of Gravity include Leonardo DiCaprio's unexpected appearance, Gu Bei's prediction of a box office exceeding 4 billion, and the fireworks display at Tiangong-1.

They have absolutely no idea why these things generate so much discussion, especially the fireworks show, which accounted for at least half of the discussion. They just don't understand.

This doubt made them almost forget about Li Bingbing's rebellious arrival.

Or rather, they tacitly kept silent. After all, Li Bingbing was able to renew her contract and not leave like Huang Xiaoming and Wang Baoqiang because of Huayi's goodwill towards her.

"Um...didn't you guys say you wouldn't let people from Huayi use Weibo?"

Chen Guofu looked at the two Wangs with suspicion.

Since Gu Bei silenced Xiao Gangpao last year, Huayi Brothers has explicitly banned the use of Weibo, and all of Huayi's artists have switched to Tencent Weibo.

How come these two brothers, Wang Da and Wang Xiao, are so skilled at using Weibo?
"Cough cough!"

Wang Zhongjun cleared his throat twice. "We were just trying to get the latest information, and we were only using a secondary account to observe the situation on Weibo; we didn't participate."

After a pause,

Wang Zhongjun changed the subject: "Guofu, what do you think of Xiaogang's version of 'If You Are the One'?"

"Excellent! A masterpiece of Feng Xiaogang's comedies!"

As the producer of "If You Are the One," Chen Guofu has devoted most of his energy to the show this year, apart from "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame," and he gave it a very high rating.

"I think it's good too!"

Wang Zhonglei echoed this sentiment.

"I can rest assured that!"

When Wang Zhongjun heard that both of them said the same thing, he nodded.

Although they couldn't understand or learn from the success of gravity,
However, audiences' tastes are unlikely to change completely because of a single film like Gravity.
The legacy built by Feng Xiaogang's comedies remains intact. If Feng Xiaogang makes another move, then this year's Lunar New Year box office champion is destined to belong to Huayi Brothers.

"What about Linlang Entertainment's 'Let the Bullets Fly'?" Chen Guofu asked.

"There's no need to worry about that!"

Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei exchanged a glance, and both of them smiled.

They knew Jiang Wen all too well; Huayi Investment had produced Jiang Wen's film "The Japanese Invaders" back then.

Despite winning the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, the film could not be released due to Coco Kang's ban on directing, resulting in a complete box office failure.

Later, when Jiang Wen was filming "The Sun Also Rises," they originally wanted to invest, but because they had been scammed by the Japanese in the First Invasion of Japan, they hesitated and didn't invest, thus avoiding the possibility of a huge loss this time.

In terms of artistry, If You Are the One probably can't compare to Let the Bullets Fly.

But in terms of box office revenue, Let the Bullets Fly would be considered a success if it broke 100 million.

The key is,

Judging from the recently released content,
Jiang Wen maintained his eccentric style.

Keep it up, and make Gu Bei's Linlang Entertainment suffer a huge loss!
Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei

It feels like I've stepped into a huge pit before.
Then they waited silently, as excited as if the next person would unconsciously step in.
Add to that their conflict with Gu Bei, and it would be even better.

Wang Zhongjun smiled and said to Chen Guofu, "Jiang Wen is capable, but investing in his movies will only earn you some fame at best. The copyrights aren't as easy to sell as others. Linlang Entertainment is definitely going to lose money this time!"

After a pause, Wang Zhongjun thought of gravity again: "By the way, since sci-fi movies are so popular lately, why don't you go back and discuss it with Xiaogang? Isn't the protagonist of our dating show a genius inventor? That's sci-fi too!"

"That's a great idea! Science fiction isn't divided into hard and soft science fiction. Gravity is hard science fiction, so if we're talking about 'If You Are the One,' then it's soft science fiction!"

Wang Zhonglei echoed this sentiment.

This is also Huayi's usual approach to film promotion: they'll jump on any trending topic they can.
Moreover, since it's a hotspot created by Gu Bei's gravity, they're even more eager to capitalize on it!

……

"Bruce, you guys need to get back to North America!"

Eric, the president of Summit Entertainment, said to Gu Bei on the phone with a pleading tone, "I've already checked, the National Day holiday season in China is over, and your promotions won't be very effective. Now is the time to come to North America to increase North American box office!"

"How's the situation in North America?"

Gu Bei asked, seemingly unconcerned.

Based on Gravity's opening day box office of $1300 million,
It was around $3000 million in the first weekend.
The final box office figure in North America is around $100 million, which is similar to the box office revenue of China during the seven-day National Day holiday.

This result is somewhat similar to the box office performance of Pacific Rim: the west is not doing well, but the east is doing very well.

However, Gravity itself is a Chinese theme, and with a North American box office of $100 million, all parties are already quite satisfied with this result.

Even Gu Bei wasn't entirely satisfied, but he could accept the result.

"Bruce, didn't you read the email the distribution manager sent you?" Eric asked, somewhat puzzled. Gu Bei usually never missed these crucial emails.

"I've been too busy lately."

Gu Bei didn't offer much explanation.

The promotion of Gravity wasn't the main reason; rather, his energy was focused on other, more important projects.

However, there was no need to explain these things to Eric. He asked directly, "Looks like Gravity North America had a pretty good opening weekend, huh?"

"It's more than just good!"

Eric said with a slightly excited tone, "It grossed $4300 million in its opening weekend, ranking third in North American October box office history, only behind Scary Movie 3 and DreamWorks' Shark Gang from six or seven years ago."

Currently, Summit Entertainment is in complete turmoil due to issues such as distribution agency and the lack of investment from Gravity.
Bernard Eisinger and his group were heavily criticized as a result, and it's estimated they won't be causing any trouble for a long time.

This is probably not a good thing!

When Gu Bei heard Eric mention Bernard Eisinger, he frowned. Unlike Eric, he wasn't optimistic; on the contrary, he had the complete opposite thought.

However, since nothing has happened yet, Gu Bei has no motivation to remind Eric, as the two of them might not even be on the same side!
After a pause,

Gu Bei refocused his attention on the box office performance of "Gravity": "What happened? This box office result is much better than we expected!"

"Movie audiences love this kind of unprecedented experience. Gravity has explored the narrative boundaries of 3D movies, and they are willing to pay for this kind of novelty."

Eric laughed and said, "Besides, Gravity is very popular right now, and people are discussing it intensely. Your return can further increase its popularity."

"I will change my travel plans."

After hanging up the phone, Gu Bei opened the distribution manager's email.

Early October is a rather quiet period for movie screenings in North America.

Case 39 and Let the Right One In, which were released at the same time as Gravity, are both B-grade dramas. Both had a release scale of around 2000 theaters and $500 million, and neither even made it into the top five.

The release of Gravity was in over 3500 theaters, a level of treatment comparable to that of A+ productions distributed by the Big Six. This is all thanks to the box office appeal that Gu Bei has built up with each of his films.

New films released at the same time were swept into a corner by gravity.
The only two that can compete with gravity.

There are only two films released last week: Wall Street II and Legends of the Owls, both A-list productions costing seventy to eighty million US dollars.
However, projects released during this period are unlikely to be major projects, and they only grossed ten million US dollars over the three-day weekend.

The 40th weekend of 2010

The North American film market is also a stage for gravity.
The film generated $100 million in box office revenue over the weekend, with Gravity accounting for more than 40% of the market share!
What does it mean to have both China and the US flourish?

"what happened?"

Liu Yifei leaned closer and asked curiously.

"You're about to have another masterpiece that grosses over $1.5 million in North America!" Gu Bei hugged Liu Yifei, smelling the fragrance of her freshly showered body, and said with a smile.

the next day.

Liu Yifei will stay in China to continue her promotional activities.
Gu Bei flew back to North America to participate in several programs, hoping to improve the box office performance during the blockbuster season of October.

Gu Bei had just boarded the plane.

Xinlang reposted Gravity's overseas box office data from The Hollywood Reporter in North America.
This instantly made people who originally thought gravity was only popular in China realize that gravity is making history all over the world.

Data from the first three days of Gravity's release...
China ranked first with $4500 million.

North America ranked second with $4300 million.
In addition to these two major markets, France earned $1076 million, the UK $999 million, Germany $365 million, Italy $275 million, and Spain $225 million in Europe.
In addition, Mexico received $574 million, Australia received $334 million, and Singapore received $104 million.
Even more surprisingly,

Perhaps because it appeared in the movie, India unexpectedly raked in $200 million at the box office in its opening weekend.

Furthermore, the South Korean film's opening weekend performance far exceeded the size of their film market, with a staggering $630 million in box office revenue.
However, none of these countries can compare to Russia.

Because during the Cold War, the Soviet Union was one of the two extreme powers.
Russia inherited the largest population of the Soviet Union, and they are also the third largest market for Gravity. The $1100 million opening weekend far exceeded the size of their film market.

According to statistics from The Hollywood Reporter,

Gravity raked in $1.5 million at the global box office in its opening weekend.

This isn't just a blossoming of flowers in both China and the US; it's blossoming all over the world!
Moreover, it hasn't been released in some countries like Brazil and Belgium yet, so there's still a lot of room for imagination regarding its box office potential.

"What should we do? Gu Bei doesn't seem to be exaggerating. $1.5 million in box office in three days, surpassing La La Land doesn't seem impossible. Why can't the comments on Weibo be deleted? I want to delete the words I said to him before."

"Hilarious! I can already imagine all the reminders you'll be getting for the next while. Remember not to turn off phone notifications and private messages, otherwise how will we keep you updated on the latest box office news?"

"You didn't intend to let him go either!"

"Sissi has really impressed this time! She already had a 30 billion yuan box office hit before, and every time it was mentioned, it was attributed to the original work. Now, with Gravity, who can question Sissi's status as an international movie star?"

"This time, she truly deserves to be called Empress Qian. With an estimated global box office of 40 billion and the Best Actress award at Cannes, who among her contemporaries can rival her?"

"Forget about the same period. There's no one before her, and probably no one after her. Empress Qian is still young. One film, Gravity, is enough to suppress the Chinese entertainment industry for twenty years!"

(End of this chapter)