China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 153 Director Wang, evening.
  In 2006, or in the next few years, it was unrealistic to make a special effects blockbuster in China.

The gap between investment and return is too large and not directly proportional.

It is possible to invest 10 billion and only recover the cost of million.

For Chinese-language films, the main battlefield lies in the mainland.

Cinemas in the mainland are limited, with only 2006 screens nationwide in 3034.

In 2007, there were 3527 screens nationwide.

In 2008, there were 4097 screens nationwide.

In 2009, there were 4723 screens nationwide.

2010年、2011年、2012年，6256张、9286张、13118张银幕。

At this time, the number of domestic screens began to increase rapidly, and films that exceeded one billion in box office became more and more common, instead of being praised everywhere as before 2010 when a domestic film with a box office of over one billion appeared.

By 2017, the number of movie screens nationwide had increased to 50776, nearly 2007 times the number in 15.

As for selling movies abroad.
  Except for a few films starring Chen Long and Jet Li, which have some audiences abroad, films starring other mainland movie stars have basically no audience.

Even if you sell movies abroad, you won’t be able to sell them for much money.

It may even fail to sell.

And released globally.
  Even if it was released, it would be a hit.

Unless the starring roles are Chen Long and Jet Li, and it is released abroad, there are still some opinions.

And Jet Li, it has to be a special type of movie like a kung fu movie, otherwise there would be no explanation.

The only one who can say something is Chen Long.

As for Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi.
  Although they did go international, they did not have much box office appeal.

If Wang Shu wants to make a special effects blockbuster at this moment, he must put aside the fact that the domestic market is not enough to recover the cost.

As for the technical aspects of special effects production, there is no corresponding technology in China.

If he wanted to make a special effects blockbuster, he had to get the film to Hollywood.

The top special effects in Hollywood cost tens of thousands per second.

A qualified computer capable of producing special effects images costs around several hundred thousand.

It takes about 50 hours to render one frame of footage.

There are approximately 24 frames in a second in a movie.

Therefore, a five-second shot takes at least 250 days to render.

If there were 1000 special effects shots in a movie, that would be 685 years.

And this is just rendering, not polished yet.

Of course, large companies trade volume for time.

For example, when "Avengers 4" was produced, 12 of the world's top special effects companies and tens of thousands of computers were used.

Not counting the cost of manpower and material resources, the electricity bill alone exceeds millions of dollars.

For Chinese-language films, if you go to Hollywood to produce special effects, you may have to risk being ripped off.

Therefore, if Wang Shu wanted to produce "The Wandering Earth" in 2006, it would take at least several years to complete the production, and the investment cost would also be an extremely huge number.

Moreover, if the film is released in China, it will not be able to recoup its costs 100%.

"Director Wang, do you want to see Superman tonight?"

In the afternoon of the next day, Zhou Xun approached Wang Shu and asked in a low voice.

Xu Huanhuan happened to come over. When he heard Zhou Xun's words, he was startled for a moment, and then silently put the movie tickets he had prepared into his pocket.

She also prepared movie tickets, but it was not the right time to take them out now.

"I won't go." Wang Shu has watched "Superman Returns". This is a superhero movie that is so ordinary that you have nothing to say. There is no need to go to the cinema to contribute to the box office.

If you have that kind of money, wouldn’t it be delicious to invite someone to have a meal of Malatang?

"Aren't you going to watch a Hollywood blockbuster?" Zhou Xun was quite surprised when he heard this.

In her opinion, Wang Shu is a young man and should be the audience for superhero movies.

In addition, he is also a director, so he will not miss Hollywood special effects films.

I never thought that Wang Shu would directly refuse?
  This is somewhat different from what she thought.

"No, there's nothing interesting to see." Wang Shu responded, and then said, "It's better to sleep at home."

Zhou Xun rolled his eyes and was too lazy to continue talking to him.

Xu Huanhuan listened on the sidelines and understood that Wang Shu did not want to go to the cinema to watch "Superman Returns", so there was no need to mention this matter to Wang Shu.

In the evening, she asked Yan Danchen to go to the cinema together.

"Has the heroine been replaced by Zhou Xun?" Yan Danchen and Xu Huanhuan asked about the crew of "The Witch in Plain Clothes". When they learned that Hao Shuli had been replaced by Zhou Xun, they were surprised to ask.

Xu Huanhuan nodded and said, "The crew won't let anyone know about this, so don't tell anyone else!" Yan Danchen smiled and said, "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone."

Then he asked curiously, "What's going on? Why did Hao Su leave the crew, and why was he replaced by Zhou Xun?"

"With Zhou Xun's current celebrity status, shouldn't he be able to take roles in idol dramas?"

Xu Huanhuan knew that Yan Danchen would ask this question, because the fact that Zhou Xun acted in an idol drama had an outrageous air from beginning to end. She said helplessly: "I don't know, neither Director Wang nor Zhou Xun told the outside world." The reason was revealed.”

"Even when Hao Su quit, the crew said it was because of Hao Su's personal reasons."

"Except for Director Wang, Zhou Xun, and Hao Su, no one else knows what exactly happened."

In the inherent understanding of Xu Huanhuan and Yan Danchen, Hao Shu will not be blocked because of "Summer Palace".

Because generally only the director and producer will be punished, and the actors will not be affected.

There are many examples to support this.

Therefore, they subconsciously believed that Hao Su would not quit "The Witch in Suit" because of "The Summer Palace", but only for other reasons.

Xu Huan saw Yan Danchen scratching his head and thinking, and then said: "If another actress with a lower status replaced Hao Su, it might be said that Hao Su's role was taken away for some reason."

"But Zhou Xun, it's obviously not the case."

"Acting in an idol drama will do more harm than good to her. There is no need to snatch Hao Su's role."

"So, I think it was Hao Suxian who quit the crew for some reason, and Director Wang then went to find Zhou Xun."

"And Zhou Xun just happened to have a schedule, and he had a good relationship with Director Wang, and maybe there were some additional conditions, so he agreed to replace Hao Su."

"After all, Zhou Xun is Huayi's artist."

"Even if Zhou Xunkan agrees to star because of his relationship with Director Wang, Huayi will not let the company's leading actress act in an idol drama."

"There must be some conditions attached before Huayi would agree."

Yan Danchen listened to Xu Huanhuan's analysis and nodded, feeling that it was quite reasonable. She said: "It seems that Director Wang agreed to certain conditions before Zhou Xun succeeded Hao Su."

At the same time, I felt quite resentful in my heart. Even though the heroine had been replaced, she was not approached to play the role.

To cast her, not only did she not have to agree to Huayi's conditions, but the pay was also much lower than Zhou Xun's.

She also knows that Wang Shu will first look at whether the actor's image is suitable for the role.

She was not cast, most likely because she was not suitable.

However, even though I knew this, I still felt a little bit uneasy in my heart.

Especially now that she has no job, no filming, and is idle at home.

The two of them walked out of the cinema after watching the movie. Their feelings about "Superman Returns" were neither good nor bad.

The special effects of Hollywood blockbusters are indeed not only cool, but also more realistic. Compared with the cutout special effects in domestic films, they are many times better.

It's just that the plot seemed a bit weak to both of them.

They didn't know that the film "Superman Returns" had gone through a lot of twists and turns from when Warner originally wanted to put it on the big screen to when it actually entered theaters.

Kevin Smith wrote the first version of the script for the film when Tim Burton was still the director.

Then Tim Burton was replaced and the script was... changed.

Warner invested $350 million in "Superman Returns," but only $300 million actually reached Bryan Singer.

The remaining $50 million was wasted on the bumpy road of changing scripts, directors, and actors.

The director choices also ranged from Tim Burton to Michael Bay to McG, and finally the dust settled on Brett Ratner.

However, this was not the end, and it was eventually replaced by Bryan Singer.

As director Bryan Singer once tailor-made a role for Jude Law, but after Jude Law withdrew from the film, Bryan Singer did not find someone to replace him, but directly removed the role from It was erased from the script.

The film was originally scheduled to start shooting in early 2003, but was once again shelved because Nicolas Cage, the default candidate for "Superman", was fed up with the repeated delays in the entire process and switched to other films.

Just when funds, scripts, and directors were all in place, Brett Ratner had contacted many popular actors such as Jude Law, Ashton Kutcher, Paul Walker, and Josh Hartnett. , except for Russell Crowe who refused to play "Superman" without a second thought, there has been no consensus on other candidates.

During the casting process, James Caviezel, who was originally the most vocal, was rejected on the spot by Bryan Singer because his "The Passion of the Christ" was too famous.

In the end, Brandon Routh was cast as Superman.

In order to better fit the image of Superman, Brandon Routh gained 20 pounds in fitness.

Although the competition for "Superman" is not as fierce, the role of the heroine Lois Lane also passed through Keira Knightley, Claire Danes, Eliza Cuthbert and Keri Russell. Then it passed into the hands of Kate Bosworth.

Although the script, director, and actors were changed along the way, there were still many well-known directors and popular actors flocking to it.

After all, it is a superhero movie produced by Warner with an investment of more than 300 million US dollars, especially a superman movie that is extremely popular.

In Hollywood, except for some popular actors who already have classic masterpieces and do not need to star in this type of film, they are not interested.

Any other actor who wants to get ahead wants to get a role.

In Hollywood, when actresses want to get roles in the fierce competition, lying down is just the first step.

(End of this chapter)