director of the millennium

The distribution of the movie "Bruce Lee", whether overseas or domestically, has nothing to do with Wu Yuan and Light and Shadow Times.

After all, the producer and producer of this movie are both Disney. Wu Yuan only wrote the script and directed it himself.

It's like spending Disney's money to win awards for myself.

So since Disney's money is being spent, the release of "Bruce Lee" is not something Wu Yuan can decide.

The North American release has to cater to the awards rush, so Disney will explain the entire release process to Wu Yuan in advance, but overseas releases outside North America are basically arranged by Disney itself.

When "Bruce Lee" was released on a large scale, it happened to be in the domestic control period. All major cinemas were either closed or empty, so there was no domestic release plan at all.

Wu Yuan's calculation was accurate. At least the overseas release of "Bruce Lee" caught the last train. Before the epidemic swept the world, it had basically been released worldwide, and the final box office reached more than 2 million US dollars.

It was also at this time that Disney began to think about releasing "Bruce Lee" in China.

But, the director of this movie is not Wu Yuan.

However, this movie is not about Bruce Lee's story.

Disney may not necessarily consider arranging a separate release for China after the global large-scale release is over.

There is no way. Anyone with eyes can see that the movie "Bruce Lee" must have a huge market in China.

It's not just because director Wu Yuan personally has a huge film influence in China, but also because the legendary figure "Bruce Lee" is so well-known in China.

What’s more interesting is that although Bruce Lee is very well-known in China, everyone knows his image of wearing a yellow tights and swinging nunchakus, as well as his classic nose scratch and shouting “Ah Da!”

There are a lot of tributes to Bruce Lee in various movies and TV series.

But to be honest, most Chinese people don't know Bruce Lee. Few people have actually watched his movies or learned about his life. They only know that he is a legendary kung fu superstar.

There is no way. Bruce Lee was popular in North America and Hong Kong in the 1970s, and he died too early. Domestic entertainment was not so open at that time. Twenty or thirty years later, Bruce Lee was more like a symbol rather than a mark of the times like Jackie Chan and Jay Chou.

If a movie about Bruce Lee's life comes out, it will definitely arouse the curiosity of many Chinese people. Curiosity will drive them to go to the cinema to watch the biographical movie of this legendary figure.

After a little research, Disney was certain that "Bruce Lee" had a box office potential of more than 1 billion RMB in China, which is at least more than million US dollars!

Although the producers of foreign language films get very little money from domestic distribution and release, less than 20%, it is still nearly 2000 million US dollars, which is not a small amount of money.

Therefore, Disney has been keeping a close eye on the domestic film market. Now that the quarantine and risk control in various places have basically ended and major cinemas have resumed operations, Disney plans to release "Bruce Lee" in China.

For this purpose, they also contacted China Film Group, which is responsible for importing overseas films. After all, the number of Hollywood films imported each year is limited, and it depends on the appetite of China Film and Huaxia Film. Even the release date depends on the attitude of these two distribution companies. Disney only has the right to make suggestions, not the right to decide. Of course, generally speaking, if Hollywood films are to premiere in mainland China at the same time as the rest of the world, both distribution companies will accept it, and it is rare that they have to postpone the release.

Well, generally speaking, this kind of situation happens because the company behind the scenes has offended someone, and it has nothing to do with the movie itself.

Just like Marvel once had a certain incident that resulted in many of its films being unable to be introduced into China, and they were left out several times.

Wu Yuan’s film certainly would not receive such treatment. Although "Bruce Lee" is a Hollywood movie, China Film Group was still very considerate and readily agreed to Disney’s request to introduce the film, and planned to arrange its release during the Spring Festival!

You know, there haven't been any Hollywood movies released during the Spring Festival for many years. This period has always been exclusive to Chinese movies. After all, everything is international now. Hollywood blockbusters are rarely scheduled for global release from the end of January to the beginning of February, and non-blockbuster movies rarely go the imported route. They are usually released in batches, and it is impossible for batch films to make it into the cruel Spring Festival period.

So when Wu Yuan received a call and learned that his "Bruce Lee" would be released during the Spring Festival, he was quite surprised.

"This is also a lucky result." After hanging up the phone, Wu Yuan raised his eyebrows and chatted with his wife: "On the one hand, flowers bloom outside the wall, and the fragrance is inside the wall. After all, I am the director of "Bruce Lee", and this movie won the Oscar for Best Director. This is my personal honor."

"Even if the domestic release is delayed for a year, based on my fame and the honor the movie has won, some fans who have watched pirated copies online may buy a ticket to go to the cinema to show their support."

"On the other hand, the domestic film industry has been bleak in the past two years. This year's Spring Festival period is expected to be the quietest since 2010. China Film Group is also under pressure and hopes to have a happy Spring Festival to sweep away the gloom of this year. So they hope to have one more "blockbuster" released during the Spring Festival, which is why they took the initiative to arrange such a schedule."

"A blockbuster?" Liu Yifei was puzzled: "Bruce Lee is not a blockbuster, it's just a biography."

"If it wasn't shot by me, it certainly wouldn't count," Wu Yuan explained, "but if it's a movie I shot, then it counts as a blockbuster."

"In the past, the definition of a blockbuster was one with big investment, big actors, and big directors, but now the definition is broader. Happy Twist's movies have never had big investment, big actors, or big directors, but they are also recognized as comedy blockbusters."

"Now the definition of a blockbuster refers more to a movie that can sell well."

"And my movies, in the eyes of China Film Group, are sure to be big sellers."

"Even if there are already high-definition sources on the Internet?" Liu Yifei continued.

Wu Yuan thought about it, nodded, and then shook his head: "It's hard to say. I personally think that not many people will go to the cinema to watch it. After all, as you said, many netizens have already watched this movie through the Internet."

"But both Disney and China Film believed that even if the source of the film was available online, many people would go to the cinema to watch this movie just for me and Bruce Lee's name."

Liu Yifei scratched her head: "Even if they have seen it."

Wu Yuan nodded affirmatively: "Even if they have seen it." (End of this chapter)