China Entertainment 1997.

Chapter 516 Big Honey: Although I seldom appeared on the scene and died miserably, I am still the second female in the movie

In North America, six new theater films were released in the first half of February, and in addition to the ones that were not released in January, a total of more than a dozen films competed in the most during the same period.

Of course, most of the movies here are made up. Leaving aside the movies with declining data in January, the real supporters are "Shuttleman", "Dance Out 1" and Cao Xuan's "Taken".

In the previous notices made by relevant media, "The Shuttler" is undoubtedly the most promising movie of this batch.

There are 3428 theaters in North America for joint screenings. You must know that the total number of theaters in North America is only a little over 4000. The number of theaters where "The Shuttle" is released is quite good.

In contrast, Disney's "Dancing Life 2" was also favored by theaters because its previous work was a dark horse in last summer's film, and it was released in almost 2500 theaters.

And Cao Xuan's "Taken" is weaker.

The King of Pop is very powerful in the world, but it is another matter in the movie market. Movie audiences and movie fans are the most realistic. They may look at the star lineup, but the most important thing is the movie itself. No matter how good Cao Xuan sings, it does not mean that they are allowed to sing. Pay for Cao Xuan's movie.

In China, Cao Xuan also transformed from a TV drama actor to a low-budget movie, step by step, into a movie actor with the most box office appeal.

In Europe and the United States, there are indeed too few people who have seen his movies. People still think of him as a singer. They may not hesitate to buy albums and concert tickets, but movies are another matter.

But then again, Cao Xuan is the king of pop in the world after all, with his fame and popularity, the signature of Chinese Kung Fu, and examples of success in the Chinese market.

North American theaters may not list "Taken" as the most important movie in the schedule, but they will definitely not take it lightly.

To put it bluntly, they feel that even if Cao Xuan's movie gets a wave of fans' money when it is released, it can still earn 800 million US dollars, which is better than those movies that make up the numbers.

And there are also some theater managers who watched the movie "Taken" and felt that the quality of the plot was good. They just hesitated because the background was in Asia, and Cao Xuan was the only box office winner. The disadvantage was obvious, but they also made some inclinations.

So this is why Cao Xuan and New Line have always insisted on releasing it in February, which is relatively unpopular. Although the market is small, the competitors are relatively weak, and they can strive for more convenience.

In the end, "Taken" was released in more than 2000 North American theaters, and the screening rate of most theaters was second only to the above two movies.

I dare not say it was the best start, but it also created extremely good favorable conditions.

What's more favorable is that "The Shuttler", which was endowed with high expectations, pulled over at a critical moment.

This movie is also called "Mind Teleporter". The leading actor, Hayden Christensen, made his debut in the "Star Wars" series of movies, and is not well-known in the eyes of domestic audiences.

The only impression I have is the kiss scene with Liu Tianxian, who played the heroine, in the bad film "Legend of the White Phantom" co-produced by China and the United States.

The male protagonist is not well-known, but the director is good. It is the director Doug Liman who directed "Bourne Shadow 1" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". This is why "The Shuttle" can win $8500 million in production Fees, and the reason why theaters and media value it.

But it turns out that famous directors also have overturns, and "The Shuttle" is precisely Doug Liman's overturned work.

This movie tells the story of a young man who has the superpower of teleporting to every corner of the world and fights against a conspiracy organization. The routine is very old and the filming is not very good.

Expert Rotten Tomatoes has a freshness score of 15%, and the public IMDB score is only a little over 6 points.

Word-of-mouth doesn't matter, there are many Hollywood popcorn movies that don't have high reviews, and the scary thing is that the box office of "The Shuttle" is not satisfactory.

Different from the habit of domestic box office statistics, North America counts more weekend box office, that is, the three days from Friday to Sunday.

This is because there is a big difference between the off-season and the peak season of the box office on weekdays in North America. The box office on weekends can better reflect the popularity of movies. For example, the domestic box office data for the whole week is also available, but not much.

"Shuttleman" was released on Thursday, with a box office of 650 million US dollars on the first day in North America. After that, it won 2300 million US dollars at the weekend box office on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It performed well and won the box office of the week. .

But by next week, the negative word-of-mouth began to ferment, and the box office was a bit like last night’s starting app—it collapsed.

It was still $430 million on Monday, but it slipped to $130 million on Tuesday.

Although there is a large difference between the peak season and the off-season in North America, if the film trend is favorable and the stamina is strong, the data will not decline so quickly.

The performance of "Shuttleman" cannot be called a complete collapse, but it also faintly shows signs of exhaustion.

In contrast, the box office data of "Dancing Life 2" is not as good as "Shuttler", but it can't stand the low cost.

There is no uniform standard for box office sharing in North America. Some major film companies are so strong that they even dare to take more than 60% of the box office revenue.

Moreover, some companies have weird contracts with theaters, such as the film company gets 90% of the box office in the first week, and the theater gets 60% of the box office in the next few weeks. .

Later, with the prosperity of the domestic film market, Chinese film and television companies and theaters also like to play this way. Many popular movies have related gambling contracts, seeking to maximize the benefits of each other.

Therefore, due to the diversification of contracts, it is difficult to have an accurate statistical ratio. We can only make a rough estimate based on most normal contracts.

The box office of a movie in North America is generally 40% to 55% for the producer, and almost 40% for the overseas box office. However, due to changes in exchange rates and government taxes, the income often fluctuates greatly. In other words, the domestic box office is more reliable.

The US$8500 million investment in "Shuttleman", temporarily ignoring overseas and various copyright income, the North American box office must reach at least US$1.7 million to pay back.

And in terms of the current box office trend, let alone 1.7 million US dollars, it is difficult for the North American box office to break through [-] million...

However, the investment in "Dancing Life 2" is less than 2000 million U.S. dollars, and the North American box office of more than 4000 million U.S. dollars will return the capital, and the rest will be pure profit.

Not only is the rate of return high, but the key point is that this kind of movie doesn't require much energy. Compared with those blockbuster movies that consume time, effort and money, the money earned is really cool.

However, no matter how cool it is, it can't be as cool as "Taken".

The filming cost of this film is not high, even in Japan, it will cost 5000 million RMB.

Of course, this does not count Cao Xuan's salary, his own film salary is almost the same as the production cost.

Since it was a joint investment with New Line, the remuneration should not be less. Cao Xuan took 5000 million RMB, about 600 million US dollars, which was regarded as an internal friendship price, and later used this as a bargaining chip in negotiations.

In other words, the actual shooting cost of "Taken" was about 1200 million US dollars.

Of course, this is the exchange rate at the time of shooting. This year, due to the financial crisis, the exchange rate between RMB and US dollar has been falling.

At that time it was 8.2, and now it has dropped to 7.2. If you calculate the cost of "Taken" at the current exchange rate, it will cost nearly 1400 million US dollars.

Boss Cao’s overseas capital evaporated hundreds of millions out of thin air. Fortunately, he made arrangements before, and his financial and financial team also did a certain amount of work to help him recover a lot of blood.

However, no matter how the exchange rate is calculated, the cost of "Taken" is definitely the least among several films in the same period, which also makes the rate of return of "Taken" particularly amazing.

The release time of "Taken" and "The Shuttle" are only two days apart, and the first day is Saturday.

The theaters thought very clearly, if the movie hits the street, it would attract as many fans as possible during the peak season in the first two days.

But even so, the weekend box office of "Taken" was not very good, with only 325 million US dollars on the first day, and slightly more on the next Sunday, which was only 351 million US dollars. It only ranked fourth in the box office of the first weekend.

Although considering the cost, this data is already good, and it is very likely to make a small profit.

But it can still be clearly seen that even though New Line has done a lot of publicity, the world's pop king is not popular in the North American film market.

Cao Xuan's fans provided more than 85% of the box office in the first two days. In fact, this is also understandable. Action movies rely on the appeal of the leading actors.

In the eyes of most Americans, Cao Xuan is a singer. Even with Chinese Kung Fu as a selling point, Americans are more willing to watch Jack Cheng and Jeter Lee.

Even Cheng Long and Li Lianjie are half dead now, Americans are more willing to watch Will Smith (Happiness Strike), Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Jayden Stein Sen (Guo Da) and other movies of Hollywood action stars.

Even Cao Xuan himself didn't expect that the ticket price of American movie fans was so easy to fool.

Fortunately, the two cards of World King and Chinese Kung Fu are not easy to play, but fortunately, the movie quality of "Taken" is still there.

Moreover, relying on Cao Xuan's fame, this movie gained a certain amount of exposure, and was seen by a large number of professional movie fans and film critics, who then gave good reviews.

The negative reviews of "The Traveler" began to ferment on Monday, and the effect showed on Tuesday. "Taken" took almost the same steps as it, or even a step faster.

On the Monday after the weekend, the box office of many movies was directly cut in half, but "Taken" had 232 million US dollars, and the decline was extremely limited.

On the following Tuesday, it still had US$174 million, ranking first at the North American box office that day.

Compared with "Shuttleman" and "Dance Out of Life", which fell several times over the weekend, it can be said to be full of resilience, and it indicates that the box office potential of this movie still has to be tapped.

.........

New Line Cinema, Office of the President of the International Department

Camila Gallano clapped excitedly. He is the person in charge of the company's international business. In the past two years, he has also had a certain authority to intervene in the North American business. "Taken" is what he advocated to cooperate with Fanxing.

Here I want to talk about New Line Films, an independent film company established in 1967. The owner is Robert Shea. He is very capable. He started from distribution and then began to produce low-cost films.

With the rise of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1984, it has gradually become a medium and large production company with complete channels.

After that, the owner changed twice, but Robert Shea always maintained a certain shareholding and control over New Line, and always kept New Line Pictures independent.

However, due to investment mistakes, it was once suppressed by the parent company Warner, and Robert Shea had no decision-making power for an investment of more than 5000 million US dollars.

Under such circumstances, Robert Shea chose to put all his eggs in one basket and spent hundreds of millions of dollars investing in an epic blockbuster.

Under the circumstances at the time, if it failed, it was hard to say whether the new line would be there, and Robert Shea would definitely be kicked out by Warner.

But he won the bet, because the epic movie was called "Lord of the Rings."

However, he succeeded in "Lord of the Rings" and lost in "Lord of the Rings". Because Xinxian concealed a large amount of box office data, he was sued by relevant stakeholders and personnel, and eventually lost a lot of money one after another, and his reputation was ruined.

Conceal the box office, if you don’t disclose it, you’ll be fine, who dares to cooperate with you if you disclose it.

Cao Xuan also hesitated several times at the time, and finally chose to cooperate with Xinxian after a comprehensive comparison. For this reason, he also sent a special team to follow up and supervise.

This is very unsightly, but who made Xinxian itself have a dark history, and Cao Xuan's family is not the only one who is on guard against them.

Reputation was damaged, a large amount of money was paid out, and the investment in the next few films did not go well. Last year's desperate $1.8 million production "Golden Compass" rushed again. After catching up with the financial crisis, New Line's current situation is not good.

Especially the parent company, Warner, has long been unhappy with the greater independence of New Line, and has always wanted to completely annex the company.

Taking advantage of this situation, they continue to put pressure on New Line, and want to turn New Line into a subsidiary of Warner.

A few days ago, Warner has made outstanding progress, and the countdown to the complete merger and acquisition of New Line has begun. Even "Taken" is likely to become the last film of New Line Films as an independent film company.

After the merger, the new line may have to lay off a large number of employees, and the top management is also expected to change. Now the whole company of the new line is in panic.

However, this has nothing to do with Camila Gallano, because he is originally from Warner, which is why he, the president of the international department, can intervene in North America.

Before that, he was Warner Ann's nail in New Line Films, and he often made things difficult for boss Robert Shea.

The contradictory attitudes of "Taken" being valued and ignored by New Line are actually a confrontation between two forces within New Line.

But now the confrontation is basically over, and New Line is about to usher in the era of Warner, and Camila Garano will naturally be reused. He can't be the head of the reorganized company, and he is also an important high-level executive.

It is also because of this that Camila Gallano is so happy to see the extraordinary performance of "Taken".

New Line is now in a state of panic, and all major projects are in a mess. When Warner's head office and the new boss are in place, looking at the report during this period, the best-looking project is "Taken", and he Camila Gallano He is the person in charge of this project.

My God, is there a better time than this time to show your face?
Thinking of this, Galano even felt that his whole blood began to become hot.

While it was hot, Garano also kept his cool. Although "Taken" is obviously getting hotter now, how hot it will be depends on the box office data of next week's weekend.

After passing this level, "Taken" is also expected to be a success, if not, it's just a joy.

Gallano immediately called his confidant, and he wanted to add pounds to "Taken".

"Go and talk to the theater chain, talk to at least 3000 theaters, and increase the promotion. Go to contact Fanxing, and add 500 million US dollars in promotion and marketing expenses. Forget it, I will call Cao personally."

"But the most important thing now is not to wait for the higher-ups to receive it..."

The confidant was a little hesitant, the company was about to reorganize, and there was a mess everywhere. Is it necessary to work on a movie?

"The most important thing now is to let the higher-ups see the results of our work and let them know who is the real and indispensable core of the company"

"Understood, I'll do it right away."

The confidant is also a smart person, so he knew everything, so he hurried to contact, and Galano contacted several elite employees.

Now that the reorganization is imminent, according to the normal law, it is normal for the employees of the old company to be laid off on a large scale.

Capitalists will not tell you about the interests of workers, nor will they think about the ending of hundreds of employees being swept out of the house. Everything will follow the process, and the shady company will even cheat the employees.

Gallano told these employees very clearly that he had received news that of the more than 600 employees in New Line Cinema, only about 50 of them could be left behind, and the elimination rate was nearly 92%. It was very difficult to keep their jobs.

But now there is an opportunity to do a good job of the "Taken" project, and he will help intercede.

Regardless of what Gallano said was true or not, it was hard to find a job in the current financial crisis, and his words were a life-saving straw for several employees.

At least give it a try!
After attracting strong support, Gallano used the same words to appease the original team in charge of "Taken" and stabilize the morale of the army.

In professional sports clubs, whenever a player is approaching the renewal period, under the pressure of personal future, there will always be a big explosion.

For the same reason, seeing that their jobs were not guaranteed, the North American team of "Taken" exploded with strong cohesion and working ability.

Especially in the case of "The Traveler" pulling hips and "Dancing Life 2" with congenital deficiencies, "Taken" itself has been favored by theaters and the market.

The New Line team talked about 3500+ theaters in one breath, and after the joint promotion funds of Fanxing and New Line were in place, they tried their best to promote accurately.

Thanks to their efforts, the box office of "Taken" not only did not drop during the off-season, but started to rise instead.

On Wednesday it was 170 million US dollars, on Thursday it reached 210 million US dollars, and on Friday of the weekend, it rushed to 321 million US dollars in one breath.

But on Saturday and Sunday, after a week of word-of-mouth fermentation and half a week of increased publicity, "Taken" ushered in a wave of peaks.

1787 million dollars!
Adding Friday’s 321 million, it’s exactly 2108 million U.S. dollars. It overwhelmed “The Shuttle” and won the North American box office championship of the week. The total North American box office reached 3570 million U.S. dollars.

This box office also surpassed "Red Fan District" and "Fearless", becoming the third Chinese-language film in North America.

Well, although "Taken" was filmed in Japan, and the English version was released in North America, considering the main production company, it can also be regarded as a Chinese film.

Of course it doesn't matter, Cao Xuan doesn't care about this ranking, he cares more about the box office of "Taken".

Cao Xuan, who was originally producing new songs and promoting movies in China, gave up promoting in the mainland and flew to the United States with Liu Tianxian to promote "Taken".

Gallano came to the airport to welcome them warmly: "Cao, your movie made America go crazy again."

This bald-headed Yankee of Jewish blood, with a bright smile, spread out his flattery without any money, and Cao Xuan and him flirted with each other.

He hadn't forgotten that when Fan Xing cooperated with him before, the arrogant attitude of this guy, as if the two sides were not cooperating, but Cao Xuan begged him to enter Hollywood.

Now that I saw Qian Tu in "Taken", his arrogance disappeared instantly, and his attitude changed 180 degrees. Those who didn't know thought that he and Cao Xuan had been friends for many years.

Galano didn't forget Liu Tianxian next to him. Having watched the movie, of course he knew she was the heroine, but he really didn't pay attention to her name.

After hesitating for a while, Liu Tianxian didn't understand, and Cao Xuan reminded him to introduce himself.

"Hello, Mr. Galano, you can call me Christo (Crystal) or Liu."

Cao Xuan glanced at Liu Tianxian, it was the first time he knew her English name, it was similar to his own Chris, it was a coincidence.

Galano also felt the same way, fearing that it would be difficult to distinguish, so he directly called him "Liu".

Jiajianuo has already contacted him for several programs and interviews, and the relevant media are also very interested in Cao Xuan and have received many invitations.

It's just that Cao Tianwang switched to film, there are not a few similar artists, but the successful transition to film is the other two.

In the past two days, the American media has begun to discuss whether Cao Xuan will become "the next Bruce Lee" and "the next Jack Cheng". When the box office gets higher, the questions will probably become affirmative sentences.

In the interview program, there was not only one time when the media asked Cao Xuan this question, Cao Xuan was very calm.

"The two of them are well-deserved action superstars and the pride of the Chinese people. I will learn from them and bring more Chinese culture to the world in the future."

As for why it is Chinese culture and not Chinese Kung Fu.

The main reason is that Cao Xuan is a half-way monk, Yehu Chan, who is really embarrassed to represent Chinese Kung Fu, and his action style is more modern in actual combat, so there is no need to put a high hat on himself.

However, Chinese culture is all-encompassing, whether it is Kung Fu, history, thought, folklore, crafts, skills, or art, and the pattern is even bigger.

Cao Xuan has dealt with this group of American media not once or twice, and he is very comfortable. Although Liu Tianxian has lived in the United States for several years, this is the first time he has dealt with this group of media.

However, with Cao Xuan's help, there was no danger. Instead, he followed Cao Xuan to make a face in the United States.

Many people left a good impression of this pure and beautiful Asian girl with fluent English.

Looking at the North American news reprinted in China, Liu Tianxian followed Cao Xuan to be active in major American programs, and the eyes of the big honeys in China were all red with anger.

Incompetent and furious for a while, Da Mimi could only comfort herself.

She is also a participating actor in "Taken", regardless of the length of appearance, according to the proportion of actresses, she can be regarded as the second female.

Although this behavior is a bit like Adou's claim that he and Zhao Zilong fought seven times in and out in Cao Jun.

But then again, don't worry about whether A Dou moves or not, just say whether he is there or not.

So the big honey also has something to say, although I have only played for a few minutes, one of the innocent girlfriends, and the one who died is a miserable one, but she is still the second female in "Taken", and the heroine Liu Tianxian is not far behind Then a little bit of "billion"...

(End of this chapter)