The King of Huayu Science Fiction

Chapter 311 $4 Billion

"Chen, there are many voices who are dissatisfied with Dr. Ye, who is the heroine in this movie, destroying the International Space Station. What did you think when you wrote the script? Does this plot design have any symbolic meaning?" NBC The hostess of Today News showed a professional and sweet smile with eight porcelain teeth, and asked questions that made Chen Jingxing extremely speechless.

Chen Jingxing, whose status was rising day by day, forcibly suppressed the foul words in his heart, and showed a smirk of caring for the mentally retarded: "First of all, if the audience who watched "Gravity" in the theater must know that the destruction of the ISS has no causal relationship with the heroine .

Of course, the heroine's process of operating the Soyuz spacecraft out of the orbital module without a decoupling parachute did cause some damage to the space station, but this has nothing to do with the outcome of the ISS.

The International Space Station itself has been damaged by the impact of the first wave of satellite debris. When the heroine arrives at the ISS, she can see that the parachute of the Soyuz return module has popped out, and the orbital module has also started to catch fire. Without the presence of the heroine, the second wave of satellite debris will destroy the ISS, just like the Huaguo space station was destroyed in the first place. "

"Mr. Chen,..."

"If some viewers look carefully, they will find that after the heroine enters the ISS, there is a flash shot that includes the national flags of all the partner countries on the International Space Station. The national flag is normal, and it is not deliberately promoting something..."

"...The ISS is abandoned. I don't have to set it like this. In fact, the ISS is already in overdue service, and it is likely to be decommissioned in 2024...Why not set it as the second International Space Station? Because there is currently no built space station in the world. The plan for the second international space station... Huaguo has? Yes, Huaguo has a plan to build a space station..."

""Gravity" does not try to promote any ideology. If there is, it is the spirit of human beings to explore space and never give up on life. This is a universal value. I think most people agree Can get empathy from the movie... Finally, I am the director of "Gravity", not a politician, and I welcome questions related to the movie itself..."

Chen Jingxing walked out of the studio with a cold expression on his face, and hugged the oncoming Global Vice President Jeff Miller somewhat helplessly.

"You don't know what kind of inhuman treatment I received just now." Chen Jingxing complained: "I thought I was interviewed by Fox, it really doesn't look like a left-wing news media."

Jeff Miller smiled redly and said: "Haha, you have to understand that many people are jealous of us!"

After Chen Jingxing attended the premiere in China, he rushed to North America non-stop. After all, as a big box office for the simultaneous release, it would be inappropriate for him as a director not to show up, and there is also the urging of the distribution partner Universal.

The release of "Gravity" in North America followed the principle of high-profile publicity and low-key premiere. Unlike his previous film "Source Code", there was no large-scale premiere ceremony, and the film's main creators were not involved. Did not attend the premiere and pre-screening promotional activities.

However, as the director, Chen Jingxing naturally still wants to come to North America for an interview. When he meets the media, the leading actors basically don't speak English, so coming here doesn't help much in publicity. In fact, in North America, the most well-known one is really Chen Jingxing. director.

"Gravity" is not a cast movie, but relies on special effects and plot, and the publicity after its release is mainly based on word-of-mouth communication on the Internet.

Under Universal's arrangement, Chen Jingxing didn't have much rest in a short period of time and went to a lot of programs. Except for one or two talk shows, most of the rest were interviews on online programs, including connecting with some well-known online bloggers. , interacting with netizens on the "Science Fiction House" website.

Basically, it is nothing more than listening to all kinds of "rainbow farts", talking about some interesting things about filming, answering some questions from the audience and so on.

A live news talk show on NBC was the last of his trip.

Unexpectedly, it was the first time I had a taste of power on this show. It was obvious that the host, or the producer of the show, was very aggressive towards him.

In fact, quite a few media outlets have taken a very vigilant and aggressive attitude towards "Gravity". Of course, it is not an attack on the viewing experience. Rhetoric, something like "ideological propaganda".

Not only some media, but also a lot of attacks on "Gravity" on the Internet, but the voices of maintenance and love are louder, and the voices of opposition are more or less brainless and lack of logic, so the volume of voices is not very high. big.

Chen Jingxing actually paid more attention to the public opinion in North America. It was impossible to say that he was not worried, but he did not expect that the programs on this time were not conservative media, and they were quite unfriendly.

"Sometimes the left is more sensitive to ideology than the right." Jeff Miller explained with a smile, and continued: "I bet other companies must be jealous of us. Although today is Tuesday, today The box office is expected to reach 1100 million, which is a reversal from yesterday! More than 80% of the IMAX and giant screen theaters are ours. Do you know what this means? The North American box office of "Gravity" is almost certain to exceed 2 million !Combined with other regions except Asia-Pacific, 3 million is almost achievable! It may even reach 4 million!"

If North America plus regions other than Huaguo Asia-Pacific can reach a box office of 4 million US dollars, plus the box office of Huaguo and the Asia-Pacific market... then it may really be a miraculous figure.

Chen Jingxing was equally excited about this number: "If they want to be jealous, they will be jealous of you!"

"Haha!" After laughing, Jeff Miller couldn't help showing credit for himself: "We also paid the price, and the pressure Universal has endured is not small."

In the joint distribution agreement signed with Firefly, Universal can get 45% of the production and distribution share from the box office, and the joint distribution regions are North America, Europe, South America and the Middle East.

The distribution in Huaguo and the Asia-Pacific region is the responsibility of DreamWorks.

If it can get a box office of 4 million US dollars in the joint distribution area, the production and distribution account should be able to have 1.7 million or more - the proportion of the account sharing negotiated with the North American theaters is close to 50% - then Universal can get a share of it The pre-tax gain is $7600 million.

The key is that Universal does not bear the production cost, only part of the distribution cost. The income of 7600 million US dollars is basically equivalent to the income that a global A-level blockbuster can bring to the studio. Only the cost of development can be regarded as the real benefit.

But Universal took almost zero risk.

As the person who single-handedly won over Chen Jingxing and insisted on cooperating with DreamWorks, this success has a crucial impact on his status in Universal.

Of course, Chen Jingxing is not being taken advantage of. Without Universal's full support, how could "Gravity" be successfully released on a large scale in North America during the summer?
DreamWorks will only earn more, after all, the income from Internet, TV, and DVD copyrights will not be shared with Universal.

Relying on these, if Universal can earn 7600 million US dollars, how can DreamWorks earn more than 1.2 million US dollars, and the basic film production costs can be offset.

The box office and other revenues in the domestic and Asia-Pacific regions are pure profits.

Chen Jingxing was still a little worried: "Is there really no need to worry about some media and public opinion on the Internet? I don't want this to be our last cooperation."

He still wants to continue to make money in the North American market. Among other things, "Matrix" will be released in China in October.

In his eyes, the commercial value of the "Matrix" trilogy far exceeds that of "Gravity", and he doesn't want to lose the big ticket warehouse in North America.

Jeff Miller looked indifferent: "It's nothing, it's just some conservative media making a fuss and a bunch of stupid people saying stupid things. Hollywood has never been a place for the elephant party, and those conservative views have never been taken here. It's America, these voices won't affect anything, at most one or two politicians will do some performances, we're not the same country as yours... Uh, sorry, I don't mean any harm, you just understand."

"Ha..." Chen Jingxing felt that the Hollywood boss in front of him was a little too optimistic, but he still let go of his worries: "I understand."

"However..." Jeff Miller thought for a while and added: "It would be better for you to make fewer films that would provoke the nerves of some people here."

I don't know if "The Martian" counts...

Chen Jingxing nodded silently, and then showed a relieved smile: "Okay, I'm going back to China soon, and I will continue to entrust you with the things here."

"Back so soon?" Jeff Miller was slightly dissatisfied in his tone: "My friend, you really didn't show enough respect for the world's largest film market."

Chen Jingxing is not the fledgling director he was two years ago. He is not what he used to be. An executive from Universal cannot scare him. A movie that might strike a nerve with some of the people here again."

"..."

Just when Chen Jingxing was thinking about "The Martian" that everything was ready and only needed to start, the domestic box office performance of "Gravity" also entered a new level.

"Gravity" took in a box office of 8.7 million in four days after its release, creating a new summer single-day box office record and a weekday box office record. raised to 22 billion.

It is almost certain to create a new box office record in the Huaguo film market again, and there will be no surprises.

Usually, when an accident occurs, the final box office of the movie is lower than the box office predicted by the ticketing software based on the box office trend, because there is a problem with its own word-of-mouth, or the word-of-mouth of its competitors overwhelms itself.

And the word-of-mouth of "Gravity" can be said to be almost overwhelming, and there is no reason to look down on it at all.

(End of this chapter)