director of the millennium

Chapter 25 Who Makes Money?Pirates!

"Come, Director Wu, have some tea."

In the vice chairman's office of China Film Group, Han Sanye poured a cup of tea for Wu Yuan with a smile.

The team that went to Sitges for "The Night the Comet Came" has returned home with the trophy.

When Wu Yuan returned to China, Mr. Han personally picked him up.

You can't come here in person!
"The Night the Comet Came" sold the copyright for US$255 million abroad, and the domestic box office has exceeded 2000 million in the first week of its release. Although the stamina is a bit weak, there is still hope for a box office of [-] million.

Adding up the inside and outside, the movie with a cost of only 30 yuan created an income of 4000 million yuan!

Although 2000 million of it has to be shared with theaters, the rate of return is already terrifyingly high!

Before going abroad, Wu Yuan was still Xiao Wu in the mouth of Han Sanye, but now he has become "Wu Dao".

We can't say that Mr. Han is too realistic, I can only say that Wu Yuan showed his abilities, which made Mr. Han have to look at him with admiration!

"Director Wu, your filming is really good!"

Holding a cup of tea and taking a sip, Mr. Han clicked his tongue and said, "Apart from Feng Xiaogang, your movie is now the best-selling movie among domestic directors."

"It's a pity that you don't have as much appeal as Director Feng, otherwise I believe the box office would be even higher now!"

Wu Yuan smiled, held up the tea and did not answer.

He understood what Han Sanye said.

Who made the most money after "The Night the Comet Came" was released?

Cinema?

China Film?

neither!
The ones who make the most money are the various pirate dealers all over the country!

On the fourth day after the movie was released, just when the news came back that Wu Yuan had won the award, pirated discs of "The Night the Comet Came" had already appeared all over the country!

And this kind of pirated disc is not the kind of pirated gun version, and the clarity is not much different from the genuine DVD disc!

You want to ask where they got the resources?

Laughing to death, the major movie theaters across the country are the partners behind the pirates!
The first day of copying the disk arrives, and the pirated disk can be burned on the second day, and the shipment will be shipped on the third day!

There is no mature movie theater chain yet, and the state will only approve private capital to enter the movie theater industry next year!

On June 2002, 6, the first batch of 1 private theater chains in the country were officially established!Only then will cross-city and cross-provincial theater chains be born!

It was only in 05 that private capital invested and settled in one after another!

It can be said that the reform of the theater chain system is an important part of the development of China's film industry, and it is also a window for the reform of China's film industry!

Before this reform was implemented, mainland movie theaters didn’t really care much about the box office of released movies.

Because before this, the cinemas were all non-private.

It has nothing to do with them to make more or less money from film screenings, and they won’t get more money if the box office of the movie is high. The movie theater industry is a stagnant pool!
So now the quick-witted people in the movie theater are all eyeing the pirated disc industry!

As long as movie theater employees in various places cooperate with local merchants who deal in pirated discs, they can get a considerable share of the sales and rentals of pirated discs!

So much so that in the 90s until around 2008, the pirated disc market was very rampant!

Usually it is released in cinemas, and before it is released, pirated discs are already flying all over the sky.

Wu Yuan's "The Night the Comet Came" naturally could not escape the clutches of the devil.

He does not have the appeal of Feng Xiaogang, who can make audiences willing to go into cinemas and pay for his movies in an era when pirated discs are everywhere.

You know, the ticket price of a movie is about 30-50 yuan, and a pirated disc can be bought for only 10-20 yuan, and the price is even lower if you rent it!

When you go to the cinema to watch a movie, you can't pause the playback, and it's gone after watching it once.

Buy a disc and watch it at home. You can watch it up, down, left, and right, as long as you want, and as many times as you want!
The traditional virtues of the Chinese people include frugality.

Not to mention now, even 20 years later, there will be a lot of people who choose to wait for the movie to be released on the online platform before watching it!

There are cheap and high-quality pirated discs to watch. Unless there is a real reason to go to the cinema to watch it, most people will choose to buy the pirated disc and watch it.

Not to mention "The Night the Comet Came" is a brain-burning movie!
Watching it in a hurry in a movie theater can't understand and see all the foreshadowing details clearly. It is doomed that this movie will take two or three times to fully understand!
Such a movie is more suitable for the pirated disc market!

Now the pirated disc dealers all over the country love Wu Yuan to death, even after the reporter broke the news that Wu Yuan also sold pirated discs, many pirated disc vendors even praised him as the patriarch!

Just like Guan Erye, you have to pray before doing business every day, begging for blessings and prosperity!
No wonder Wu Yuan was able to make a movie that is so suitable for the pirate industry!

It turned out to be my own person, who was born in the business of pirated discs. Knowing that the pirated disc market is not easy, I came to be my savior!

No kidding!

The movie "The Night the Comet Came" is the most suitable for the DVD rental market in the United States, otherwise Fox Searchlight would not be able to buy the copyright for more than 100 million US dollars!

In China, the box office of this movie exceeded 1000 million, but in the pirated disc market, it has created at least 2000 million sales!
Wu Yuan does not have the ability and charm of Feng Xiaogang to make everyone willingly go to the cinema to watch his movies with just a name!

Even if the newspapers are all praising him and "The Night the Comet Came", most ordinary people still prefer to buy a disc to watch instead of spending money to go to a movie theater to enjoy a one-time service!
Most of the 1000 million box office is now contributed by young people. They generally watch it more than once, and go to the cinema for a second or third time. That’s why they contributed so much box office!

This is why "The Night the Comet Came" clearly exceeded 1000 million at the box office in one week, which is not much different from Director Feng's 1500 million in ten days, but the total box office is estimated to be only 2000 million.

This movie inherently lacks the basic market for the public, and the box office is concentrated in the early stage of the screening, so the stamina will be insufficient!
Han Sanye didn't think there was anything wrong, he smiled and said, "It's pretty good to have a box office of 1500 million in the end."

"Except for the film directed by Zhang Yimou during the New Year's Eve at the end of the year, it is estimated that this film will be the second or third highest box office this year."

The problem of the piracy industry these days cannot be changed by one or two people, and it is even difficult to eliminate it with the power of the state administration!
This is a question of the times!

We must go through a series of reforms, increase national income, and curb industrial collusion before we can hope to improve the environment.

This is why after 2010, the pirated disc market slowly withered away.

Private theater chains have emerged in various places, and people have developed a habit of watching movies.

Private cinema chains rely entirely on the box office, and they will pay close attention to the problem of internal leakage. In addition, film technology has evolved from film to digital, which is controlled by keys, which reduces the risk of leakage from the source.

This has led to the destruction of the film piracy market.

The current Han Sanye, even if he is the vice chairman of China Film Group, is helpless in the face of the rampant piracy market.

Of course, Wu Yuan can’t do it either, he even sold pirated copies himself.
Not wanting to linger on this topic, Sanye Han changed the subject and said, "Director Wu, I heard from Xiao Chen that there is a film company in Hollywood who wants to invite you to make a movie?"

"This is a rare opportunity!"

"Our Huaxia directors want to go out more. Now Hollywood is the most powerful place to make movies in the world. Young talents like you should go for it. Even if you fail, it doesn't matter. You can also learn a lot from China. There is no knowledge!"

"I know that your directing department at Beijing Film Academy is strict with current students, but I believe Professor Xie will also support you in going to Hollywood!"

"Of course, if you have any other personal difficulties and doubts, you can come to me, and I will help you solve it!"

Wu Yuan smiled, put down his teacup and coughed lightly: "Director Han, I'm already preparing the next script."

"However, it is not certain whether Fox Searchlight is willing to cooperate. I will tell you when I have definite news."

"Okay!" Master Han smiled as brightly as a chrysanthemum and said cheerfully, "Let me tell you, how can any director refuse an invitation from Hollywood?"

Really can!
Wu Yuan rolled his eyes secretly.

That is to say, the domestic film market lacks opportunities to make big money now!

Otherwise, he wouldn't even bother to go no matter how much money Hollywood spent on him!
In Hollywood, where the class has solidified, he is a Chinese director without any background, not even Chinese, and no matter how good he is, there is a ceiling on his head.

The next Ang Lee?

No matter how great Li Yu is, he is just a dispensable Chinese director in Hollywood.

There is no shortage of good directors in Hollywood, and without Li An, nothing will change in Hollywood.

Going to Hollywood to be a big pawn, how can it be more rewarding to cultivate the domestic market that will take off in the future?
At least Wu Yuan, who is rooted in Miaohong, works hard in China, and has the opportunity to become one of the chess players in mainland movies, instead of just being a chess piece.

　The main line is still to make movies, but a person with the memory of the next 20 years should not only be satisfied with being a director, but will definitely participate in the transformation of the entire industry chain and do something that changes the industry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)