China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 421 A good movie to cleanse your soul
“Zombie movies are no longer a Western monopoly?”

Chen Kaige looked at Chen Hong's back as she walked away, muttering to himself in surprise.

This statement is too high a praise, which shows that "Travel to Taipei" is an extremely excellent zombie movie.

But, with the example of European and American zombie movies, how good does a movie have to be to deserve this statement?

"Could it be that he hired someone?" Chen Kaige couldn't help but mutter to himself.

The more I think about it, the more I feel that this is most likely the case.

Are you kidding me?
How is it possible that once "Travel to Taipei" was released, zombie movies would no longer be a Western monopoly?
What are you talking about?

Chen Kaige doesn't believe it at all.

However, Chen Hong's appearance made him hesitate again.

If the quality of the movie is not good, Chen Hong would not have said this in a serious manner, but would have said it in a teasing tone.

"Did Chen Hong do this on purpose?"

"You know that there is a conflict between me and Wang Shu, so you deliberately make me angry?"

Chen Kaige thought about it carefully for a while and thought that this possibility was very high.

It is highly likely that Chen Hong did it on purpose.

As for the release of "Travel to Taipei", zombie movies are no longer a Western monopoly.

It's pure bullshit.

"Xiaogang, now you believe what we said before about the high quality of Taipei Trip, right?"

Mr. Wang Zhonglei and Feng Xiaogang came out of the cinema together.

"Travel to Taipei" has been released. Even if you didn't go to the premiere, you can still go to the cinema to watch it.

Huayi was the "extraordinary investor" of "Travel to Taipei", and Mr. Wang and his wife had already watched "Travel to Taipei" during its internal screening.

Afterwards, I told Feng Xiaogang that "Travel to Taipei" was of very good quality and had a high probability of becoming a hit after its release.

Feng Xiaogang is skeptical about this.

Because zombie movies have never been made in China, "Travel to Taipei" is the first time.

This kind of movie has never been made before, and it will only be a product of trial and error.

This will inevitably lead to a lot of problems.

In this case, if it’s not a bad movie, it’s already a good one, so how could it possibly become a hit?

Furthermore, since there are so many excellent zombie movies in Europe and the United States, Wang Shu will not be able to become a hit unless he makes it outstanding.

Moreover, this is the first time that the film has been shot and they are trying their best by trial and error. How can it be possible to make it great?

Wang Zhonglei knew that Feng Xiaogang didn't believe it, so when "Travel to Taipei" was released in theaters, he immediately took Feng Xiaogang into the cinema.

Now, Feng Xiaogang has been silenced.

He turned his head to look at Wang Zhonglei and said suddenly, "The quality of Taipei Trip is not bad. Doesn't it have a great impact on us?"

On December 2008, 12, the Lunar New Year film "If You Are the One" produced by Huayi, Media Asia and Zhejiang Film Group, directed by Feng Xiaogang, and starring Ge You, Shu Qi and others was released.

"Travel to Taipei" was released on the 19th, just one day later.

The two movies are competing in the same period.

Wang Zhonglei sighed, "If Media Asia and Zhejiang Film Group had not agreed to withdraw the film from the schedule, and if we were not short of funds, we really would not want to release it at the same time as Trip to Taipei."

As people who had watched the internal screening of "Travel to Taipei", Wang Zhonglei and Wang Zhongjun knew that the film was not bad, so they considered withdrawing "If You Are the One" from the schedule.

However, withdrawing a film from the schedule is not something that can be done at will, as it is linked to the funding chains of several producers.

Several producers need to recover funds as soon as possible, and they don’t want to miss the gimmick of Feng Xiaogang’s return to the New Year season.

And after analysis, we know that zombie elements are imported products in China and the audience is likely to be limited.

It was subsequently decided that If You Are the One and Travel to Taipei would be released at the same time.

After Wang Zhonglei finished speaking, he looked at Feng Xiaogang and said, "What do you think of this zombie movie? Can it compete with our If You Are the One?"

Although Huayi also holds a 5% share of "Travel to Taipei", it is completely different from Feng Xiaogang's "If You Are the One".

From Huayi's perspective, they naturally hope that If You Are the One will make huge profits.

"It's hard to say." Feng Xiaogang continued.

"If You Are the One" had a box office of 1500 million yuan on the first day.

这部电影于2008年12月18日零点开始在全国各大院线正式上映，至19日下午，其票房收入已经达到了1500万元。

This result not only broke the previous box office record of 1428 million set by "Mei Lanfang" in one and a half days, but also far exceeded other movies in the same period, such as "Ip Man" with 600 million and "Women Don't Die" with 500 million.

Moreover, the first-day box office of If You Are the One was 400 million yuan higher than that of Assembly which was released in the same period last year. This result also broke Feng Xiaogang's personal record.

On the day the film was released, a reporter visited several cinemas in Beijing and found that most of the screening rooms were full, and the average attendance rate throughout the day was over 9%.

Moreover, this movie has completely broken the previous situation of "Feng-style comedy" being "cold in the south and hot in the north". According to the person in charge of the Yaodu Zhengjia Plaza Cinema, the film has been scheduled to be screened 31 times in the cinema throughout the day. Even during the non-prime time at 10:50 p.m. on Thursday, "If You Are the One" attracted a full house of people.

Industry insiders analyzed that the film’s box office will easily exceed 2 million yuan within a week after its release, and the final box office target of million yuan is basically no suspense.

Mr. Wang and Mr. Wang Xiaogang are aware of the news and data.

If "Travel to Taipei" had not been released, "If You Are the One" would have swept the New Year box office.

Starting with 1500 million, let alone the goal of million, million is possible. But now there is a movie "Travel to Taipei", which pushes everything into the unknown.

It would be fine if the box office performance of "Travel to Taipei" was similar to that of "Ip Man" and "Women Are Not Bad" after its release.

If the trend is very strong, it will inevitably squeeze the screening schedule of "If You Are the One".

Especially since "Travel to Taipei" is a movie produced and distributed by China Motion Picture Corporation, it is inevitable to use tricks to ensure the screening schedule of "Travel to Taipei".

In December 2008, the New Year season began, with competitive Chinese-language films released one after another in theaters.

On December 12, "Mei Lanfang" directed by Chen Kaige was released.

In the original timeline, the "Chinese-language masterpiece" "Mei Lanfang", which cost 1 million yuan to produce, achieved remarkable box office results in a short period of time after its nationwide release on December 2008, 12.

1400 million on the first day, and the box office reached 4218 million in the first weekend.

Afterwards, Chen Kaige led the leading actors Zhang Ziyi, Sun Honglei, Yu Shaoqun, Wang Xueqin and Chen Hong to bow to the fans at the "Mei Lanfang Classic Celebrities Appreciation Banquet" held in Beijing.

Chen Kaige, he’s pretending again.

As a rule of thumb, if a film's opening weekend box office is one-third of its final box office, the final box office for "Mei Lanfang" is expected to be between 1.3 million and 1.5 million.

In fact, this conventional prediction is indeed an overestimate.

"Mei Lanfang" only earned 1.17 million.

Now, with "Travel to Taipei" taking up the screening schedule, "Mei Lanfang" can't even reach this box office result.

If "Mei Lanfang" is a pure art film, then even if it has an investment of 1 million, as long as it achieves 1 million at the box office, it will also show that Chen Kaige has some talent.

However, "Mei Lanfang" is not an art film, but a commercial film that takes the artistic route.

No matter what route it takes, a commercial film is a commercial film.

A commercial film with an investment of 1 million yuan only earned 1.17 million yuan.

blood loss.

As the producer, China Film Group has made another contribution to Chinese-language films.

But after that, I no longer invest in director Chen’s movies…

For example, Director Chen's next film after "Mei Lanfang", "The Orphan of Zhao", was led by Shanghai Film Group.

12月，除了《梅兰芳》之外，再就是12月11日由周讯等人主演的《女人不坏》和12月12日上映的由甄子弹主演的《叶问》。

As well as the two movies, "If You Are the One" and "Travel to Taipei".

Among them, "Mei Lanfang" has been released for half a month, while "Women Are Not Bad" and "Ip Man" have only been released for a week, so the screening schedule must be guaranteed.

However, as long as the data of "Travel to Taipei" is good after its release, it will directly affect the screening schedule of these movies.

Therefore, at this time, not only Feng Xiaogang and others were paying attention to "Travel to Taipei", but many people were paying attention to "Travel to Taipei".

"If You Are the One" broke the box office record on the first day, and coupled with rave reviews, it is already a hit.

If another film like "Travel to Taipei" is added, other films will have little room to survive.

After all, Wang Shu is a big director who made a $5 million movie in Hollywood and returned to China. Now, not only the industry is paying attention to "Travel to Taipei", but many film critics on the Internet have also expressed their impressions after watching the movie.

A well-known film critic wrote on his blog: "After much anticipation, China's first zombie movie has finally hit theaters."

“Taipei is a good place to go!”

“Now, let me tell you about this movie.”

"The movie is about a virus that spreads from a biochemical factory, and those infected will eventually become zombie-like creatures. The story unfolds on a train bound for Taipei."

"Let's start with the superficial things. I have to say that the makeup technology is really good. There are so many zombies, and I don't need to say more about the makeup, they are all very good. The special effects are also great, although not many but the details are precious. For example, the first zombie deer that appeared at the beginning, the action of crawling up from the ground looked flawless in my eyes."

"Also, this movie breaks away from the established concept of zombie movies abroad, with brain-eating, slow movements, etc. Although it uses the zombie theme, this zombie is not the same as other zombies."

"Let's talk about the cast. I think the extras are all so awesome and dedicated. Many zombies are walking and running with broken hands and feet. Their movements are so natural."

"The main creators have all tried their best, and the little girl's acting is amazing. Although the appearance of the whole play is not very high (I thought the little girl was a little boy at first), it gives people a more real feeling, as if Wang Shu wants you to feel that these are real people, and this is a place you live in, not a world you can't touch."

"From a deeper level of analysis, this film accurately analyzes human nature, the selfishness of human nature, the love behind selfishness, and the selfishness behind greatness. On the zombie train where everyone is in danger, all kinds of human hearts are shown."

"The COO of the bus company who was rushing to Taipei to see his mother was undoubtedly the most hateful character in the movie. Not only did he insist on rushing to Taipei regardless of anyone's opinions at the beginning, he also abandoned other passengers and forced the conductor to continue to Taipei. Later, he even consciously pushed others into danger and sacrificed others in the hope of buying time to escape. From him, we see the ugliest, selfish and disgusting human nature, but behind this is a heart that misses his mother. When he was finally transformed into a corpse, this COO was still thinking about seeing his mother and reported his home address."

"This scene makes people sigh. How can we distinguish between black and white?"

"Then there was an old lady who thought she had lost everything. She thought her sister had been left behind, and she thought that nothing mattered to her and that other people's lives and deaths didn't matter. Later, she saw that her sister was still alive and was trying to escape from the next car into the safe car where they were, so she rushed forward to help her sister escape."

"But later my sister still failed to escape successfully."

"Because he hated all the selfish passengers around him, he took revenge by opening the door to the zombie workshop, letting the zombies rush into the workshop where they were, and perishing with everyone. This character well reflects the twisted side of the hearts of people who are powerless to change today's society, or victims of certain events. Despair because of regret, twisted because of despair, revenge because of twistedness. Similar to many terrorist attacks or murder cases."

"There are also lame homeless people who rely on others for survival. They are not very capable of withstanding great changes, as can be seen from their crazy talk at the beginning. These people do not have much ability, but in order to survive they must rely on powerful external forces for help, so being a burden is common. However, many similar people have no goals, so their lives are meaningless for the time being. Once something touches their hearts, they will do something. Along the way, the homeless people witnessed the bravery and help of their comrades, so later they also learned this behavior."

"There are also positive characters. The couple in the film are the most righteous and selfless characters in the whole film. They help others without hesitation and fight to the end. The husband's self-sacrifice in the end is really touching."

"But we still have to discuss the psychological philosophy here in depth. The couple is about to become parents, so their love for their child is particularly great, so they help the little girl again and again. Here, it is because they have their loved ones in their hearts and want to save them. The selfish emotions bring out great feelings. It's so complicated that it's hard to tell."

"Now let's talk about the little girl's father. As a financial professional, he is very calculating and selfish. He even taught his daughter that in an environment where everyone is in danger, she doesn't need to worry about others as long as she can get well. This is also common in reality. But later, for the sake of his daughter and to express gratitude for the help of others, he became selfless."

“And baseball lovers.”

"Little girl, this is a pure character without any evil thoughts or impurities."

"I was really exhausted physically and mentally after watching this movie. My mind was extremely tense, my thoughts were racing, and my heart was under a great impact. Although I was exhausted, it was a good movie that really made me reflect and cleansed my soul."

(End of this chapter)