China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 348 "Terror Cruise" North American Premiere

When Monica heard this, a thick smile appeared on her face, and then she pretended to be amused and said: "Shu, what if... I simply invite you to have dinner?"

Wang Shu was also good at saying beautiful things, and responded directly: "It is an honor for me to have dinner with a beautiful woman."

When Monica heard these words, she felt like spring breeze in her heart, with a hearty smile on her face, but she pretended to be sad and said, "I'm older, I can't compare to you young people."

Wang Shu pretended to be angry and said: "On the road, those girls in their twenties are not as young and beautiful as you. Who said you are older? Who am I to worry about?"

"Keke." Monica couldn't help but smile from ear to ear when she saw Wang Shu looking so serious.

Wang Shu said in a timely manner: "I'll go back to the RV to get ready. I'll see you later."

"Well, see you later." Monica responded with a smile.

After the repairs, the afternoon shooting became busy again.

Robert Downey Jr., who plays opposite Monica, was a little surprised when he found that Monica was in better condition than in the morning.

How did he know that Monica would change like this? It was entirely Wang Shu who made a small start for her.

When Monica saw the surprise in Donnie's eyes, she just smiled proudly without explaining.

At the end of the day's work, Monica did not go back early. Instead, she waited for Wang Shu to finish his work and approached him and said, "Shu, I've been waiting for you for a long time. Let's go have dinner together."

"Okay." Wang Shu responded with a smile, and then said, "Wait until I get back to the RV to change clothes."

"Okay, I'll wait for you." Monica said.

Wang Shu changed his clothes and followed Monica to the place to eat.

He was not familiar with Los Angeles, so he relied on the other party to guide him.

Monica took into account that Wang Shu was Chinese, so she specially chose a Chinese restaurant.

The two of them were eating and chatting, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

"Monica, are you free on October 10th?" Wang Shu asked suddenly after taking a few bites of food.

When Monica heard this, she subconsciously thought that Wang Shu wanted to date her, and replied slightly awkwardly: "Shu, I have a family."

When Wang Shu heard this, he already understood that the other party had misunderstood, and quickly interrupted: "Monica, you misunderstood."

"I asked if you have time because I want to say that a movie directed by me will be released in American theaters on October 10st. I hope you can come and support it."

It is undeniable that after "Terror Cruise" landed in American theaters, no matter how high or low the box office was, Wang Shu could not get a share of the money.

However, if the box office is too high, it will appear that he, a great director, has no face.

And if the box office is high, it will show that he is a great director.

Therefore, he wanted to drag Monica to the premiere to build momentum for him.

In his plans, he will invite not only Monica, but also Matt Damon and Kristen.

In the past, Monica, Matt Damon, and Kristen Bird would not be interested in this unknown Chinese director.

Now these people happen to be starring in the American version of "The Tuner" directed by him, so they can definitely use this opportunity to smooth out their problems.

Monica was suddenly enlightened after hearing Wang Shu's explanation. At the same time, she asked with an unnatural expression: "October 10th? Aren't you going to be filming on the set?"

"I will take a day or two off then." Wang Shu said with a smile.

After hearing this, Monica knew that the crew would stop working, and then smiled and said: "As long as the crew is not filming at that time, I can go."

After saying that, he asked, "What movie? Is it the one you won the award at the Venice Film Festival?"

"No." Wang Shu shook his head and explained under Monica's doubtful gaze, "It's another movie. It was a commercial film shot in my own country. It will premiere in Los Angeles on October 10 and then be released in the United States. ”

"By then, there should be two thousand screens."

"Two thousand screens?" Monica was a little surprised when she heard this.

In the United States, many films can only be released on a small scale, let alone Chinese-language films from the East.

"Yes, Warner is responsible for distribution, and there should be two thousand screens." Wang Shu explained with a smile.

When Monica heard that Warner was responsible, she suddenly felt enlightened.

Warner is a giant American film and television company. It is distributed by Warner. As long as it works hard, not to mention 2,000 screens, even 5,000 screens are not a problem.

There are only a limited number of screens on the market, and Hollywood produces a lot of movies.

Therefore, it is impossible for any movie to be released on 5,000 screens. Two thousand screens is already an extremely impressive number.

Of course, if the movie has a high box office and can make money after its release, then it can start with 2000 screens and expand to 5000.

On the contrary, if the attendance rate of a released movie is not high and the theater chain cannot make money, it can also unilaterally release the movie.

The same is true for domestic entertainment. There are only so many screens, and it is always the strong ones who get the chance to be released in theaters. At the same time, the strong will kill, and the winners will all kill.

For example, during the Spring Festival at the end of 2023 in the original timeline, due to the release of many blockbusters, "Defiant 2" was a movie registered for theaters, and the movie was announced and converted to an online movie.

It also appeared that the movie "Mr. Red Carpet" dropped from more than 0.3% of the film schedule to %, and then chose to withdraw from the screening.

This is the chance for the "strongest" to get a theatrical release, and the "strongest" will all kill, and the winner will all kill.

"Defiant 2" couldn't get a good schedule in theaters, and it was a hit when it was released. It might as well be a gimmick to convert it to an online movie.

"Mr. Red Carpet" had a good schedule and film schedule, but the attendance rate was not high and the box office revenue was sluggish. Its schedule and film schedule were quickly occupied by movies with high attendance rates in the same period. In order not to directly close the coffin lid, it chose to release it. Withdraw file.

In this era, the media industry’s method of creating information islands has evolved from “closing key information” to “providing massive amounts of information.”

Compared with the former, the latter clearly has all-round advantages.

For example, through massive information disclosure, the intention of the publisher to use public opinion to attract negative reviews can be greatly avoided, which greatly avoids the resentment of the audience.

It also increases the difficulty of audience retrieval by providing massive amounts of information. Simply put, it uses a large number of good reviews, neutral reviews, and indifferent negative reviews to drown out the negative reviews that really hit the point, so that the audience cannot truly understand the movie before watching it. To detect the true quality of the video, you can't make a warm sound after watching the video.

At the same time, various "exploding points" are created through massive amounts of information.

In this era, the reasons for audiences to enter theaters are quite diverse. They no longer judge the quality of a movie solely by the director and cast as in the past.

In this era, the reason why many viewers enter theaters is not just the quality of the film, but may be a certain value recognition, a certain popular star, an opinion leader, or simply go to the theater to relax.

Under the intensive push of massive information, the "hot spots" and selling points of a movie from beginning to end were exhaustively exhaustive, and finally all the viewers of the movie found a reason to buy tickets and go to the theater.

Then, due to the herd mentality, or combined with it, more people went into the theater to buy tickets.

Under the intervention of this highly organized and rigorous means of public opinion, publicity has completely crushed the quality of the work and has become the most critical factor in determining the life or death of a movie.

The cost of publicity and distribution therefore far exceeds the production cost of the film, becoming the largest portion of a film's budget.

For example, for the movie "Hot", the production scale of the movie obviously does not cost much to produce, but its overwhelming publicity and distribution costs are definitely comparable to the publicity and distribution costs of a first-tier major production.

It turns out that this approach is indeed extremely useful.

The movie "Hot" earned 27 billion at the box office.

Similarly, there is also the comparison between "Man Jiang Hong" and "The Wandering Earth 2".

"Man Jiang Hong" has a box office of 45 billion.

"The Wandering Earth 2" has a box office of 35 billion.

Released at the same time, the film quality of "Azo" was inferior to "The Wandering Earth 2".

As a reborn person, Wang Shu understands the importance of Xuanfa better than anyone else.

It is precisely because of this that when he made the big production "Terror Cruise", the publicity and distribution costs exceeded the production costs.

With the reputation accumulated in the past and the overwhelming publicity, the effect is remarkable. With the movie "Terror Cruise", he sits on the throne of the number one director at the box office in mainland theaters.

The national teacher Zhang Yimou was not as good as him.

Seeing that Monica was silent, Wang Shu thought she was confused, and then smiled and said, "Warner also participated in investing in this movie."

"So, although the distribution fee is quite high, it is not too high."

When Monica heard this, she suddenly realized again.

If Warner is solely responsible for distribution, then two thousand screens will inevitably cost a lot of distribution expenses.

Chinese-language films have never been able to generate high box office sales due to their limited audience in the United States.

This makes the producers unwilling to spend huge distribution fees for theatrical distribution in the US market.

Because the money spent on distribution may not be recovered at the box office, and it will end up losing money over time.

Under this situation, even if most Chinese-language films land in American theaters, they will be released on a small scale.

And if it is released on a small scale, the box office will not be very high.

The box office won't be very high, and it will give American audiences a feeling that Chinese-language films are very different.

Vicious circle.

"I wish the movie a big hit at the box office." Monica smiled and raised her glass.

Wang Shu clinked his cup with it, then shook his head and said: "Chinese-language films have always had a limited audience in the United States, and the box office is not much higher."

This was the truth, and Monica couldn't open her eyes and tell lies, so she said: "The movie hasn't been released yet, everything is possible, and no one can be directly sure."

Wang Shu smiled when he heard the words and didn't say much.

Monica's words were obviously words of comfort, but what followed was a bit off.

The two then chatted for a while while eating and ended the meal.

"Shu, I will go to your movie premiere on October 10th." Monica said with a smile before leaving.

"Thank you." Wang Shu said sincerely.

After hearing this, Monica waved her hand towards Wang Shu with a smile on her face, and then left.

As she had just said to Wang Shu at the dinner, she was a married woman with a family, not a single woman.

Although in August 2013, Monica and her husband Vincent officially announced their divorce.

At this moment, they are indeed together.

Moreover, the two gave birth to their second daughter, Leonie, in 2010.

Furthermore, there is a big age gap between Wang Shu and Monica.

Wang Shu is 21 years old and Monica is 41 years old, a full 20 years apart.

It is said that time makes people grow older. Although Monica is 41 years old, her charm is still the same and she is still one of the sexiest actresses in the world.

Another week passed, and Kristen joined the set for filming again.

"Little K."

When Wang Shu saw Christine, he subconsciously shouted.

Xiao is the Chinese pronunciation, and K is the alphabetical sound.

"Little K?" Kristen asked with strange eyes, imitating Wang Shu's pronunciation.

Although she didn't understand the meaning, she guessed that it was calling someone's name.

And shouting at her must be calling a woman's name.

Wang Shu looked into Kristine's eyes and instantly understood that Kristine had misunderstood him as another woman and called her by the wrong name.

So he explained in Chinese and English: "Little K, is your name."

"Xiao means little girl, and K is the initials of your name."

"Together, it's Little K."

"It's a short and affectionate term."

When Christine heard this, she immediately understood that this was the nickname Wang Shu had given her.

She was 17 years old, had her own way of doing things, and was a bit rebellious. She immediately rolled her eyes.

Obviously, I have no interest in this Chinese nickname.

Seeing this, Wang Shu changed the subject and asked, "Have you had breakfast?"

Kristine nodded and said, "Eat a little."

When Wang Shu heard this, he didn't take the opportunity to persuade the other party to eat more.

Because actresses need to maintain their figure, they must control their diet.

Advising actresses to eat more is a very disrespectful act.

It is even said that for many actresses, the decision whether to eat or not is not decided by herself, but by the agency.

Many managers will constantly warn their artists not to eat to avoid getting out of shape.

The topic changed with the question "Have you had breakfast?" Wang Shu then chatted with Christine for a while, and then the day's work began again.

In a blink of an eye, October 10th is here.

After Warner's promotion and promotion, "Terror Cruise" officially premiered in Los Angeles theaters and landed in U.S. theaters.

October 2007, 10 is Halloween Eve in the United States, which is the most lively day of this holiday.

On October 10th, there is actually a very strong Halloween atmosphere.

However, Halloween is not a legal holiday in the United States and is not a holiday.

Just like the Chinese Ghost Festival in July and a half, there is no holiday!
Normally, this holiday period is not suitable for movies to be released in theaters.

Because movies usually have the highest attendance at night, and Halloween events are also held at night.

In this way, there is overlap, causing the movie's attendance to be affected.

But if it hadn't been chosen during this schedule, it would have been impossible for "Terror Cruise" to have 2,000 screens in North American theaters.

Wang Shu is not Zhang Yimou or Li Yu.

He is unknown in the United States and does not have such a big name at all.

On the day of the premiere, the stars were not bright at all.

The leading actors Gong Li and Liang Jiahui were present, but other actors did not come to the United States due to work schedules.

Moreover, even if Zhou Xun and others all came to the scene, the starlight would still not be bright.

Because this is in the United States, not at home.

The actor's reputation is not high.

(End of this chapter)