Made in Hollywood

This forum was chosen to be held in the theater of Warner Fox Great World. Because Duke personally attended the event, the China-US Film Forum, which was originally routine, immediately became very attractive, not only for media reporters, but also for many directors and actors here. Both the producer and the producer are involved. ○

Taking a battery car all the way through the attractions of Warner Fox World, Duke and Scarlett arrived at the Song and Dance Theater, but their goals were different. At the media office in front of the theater, Tina Fei accompanied Scarlett to a stop. Preparing to accept an interview with the Chinese media, Duke entered the theater directly under the leadership of the staff of the China Film Group.

There are not many people in the theater, but if any one is taken out, it is a well-known figure in the Chinese film circle.

In the front seat, Duke saw a lot of familiar faces, such as Yang Lan and his wife, the film masters here, Jiang Xiaojun, Ge Guangtou, Feng Daya, and so on. Even mountain eagles appeared.

This is an oval-shaped song and dance theater. The big-name core figures participating in the forum sat around the center of the theater. In the discussion that Duke participated in, only these people actually had the right to speak.

Sitting here is not only the people who make movies, but also representatives of the theaters, which are also an important part of the film industry.

The topic started from Yang Lan, who hosted the forum, and slowly turned to free discussion. Duke was listening all the time, and basically did not speak. I don’t know who started it later. The topic naturally shifted to the current hot topics in China and the world. On the "Avengers".

"I went to several theaters yesterday and found something very interesting."

The speaker was Jiang Xiaojun. He looked at Duke and said, "The best-selling products in the shops and markets near the theater are two t-shirts, a commemorative t-shirt from "Avengers." 75 yuan each... …"

Knowing that Duke can understand Chinese, he said directly, "Moreover, in short supply, there are related mobile phone cases, which are also very popular."

Duke just smiled, but didn't say anything. Because the relevant authorization of Marvel Comics here is still under negotiation!

Jiang Xiaojun showed some curiosity and asked, "Director Rosenberg, take the liberty to ask, what percentage of your film's box office revenue accounts for the total revenue? Ah, that's what percentage."

"Before 2000, it could account for between 30% and 40%, depending on the type of movie."

Both sides are placed on the table. Duke looked at Jiang Xiaojun and told the truth, "The current movies are basically between 20% and 25%, and rarely exceed 25%."

As soon as he said this, Jiang Xiaojun, Ge Guangtou, Feng Daya, Zhang Guoshi, and the Wang brothers all showed some strange expressions. Duke's films rarely sold under $500 million at the box office. According to the ratio he said, what is the total income of that movie?

Look around. Duke also sighed. In fact, what Chinese movies need most is not the illusory things such as innovation and creativity. After all, innovation represents a huge risk. Hollywood can circulate the world by not relying on creative innovation. Chinese movies need most. It is industrialization and standardization.

Only the latter... He looked at the mountain eagle and shook his head slightly. A problem that a mountain eagle can't solve can not be made clear by an outsider like him.

"How much does our film box office revenue account for in total revenue?"

After Feng Daya asked this sentence, the scene was deserted. After a while, the boss of the Wang brothers said. "The average is over 95%."

Then he added, "I'm talking about the domestic box office."

"In other words, the domestic box office revenue of a Chinese film will account for more than 95% of the total revenue!" Feng Daya asked everyone on the scene. "Let’s not talk about the unrealistic international market. Where is the domestic derivatives market?"

He turned to Duke, "Director Rosenberg, is it convenient for you to reveal the income of your film's derivatives in China?"

There are some things Duke would say, but things that involve trade secrets are by no means in this rank.

However, what he said is also the real situation, "Any film market wants to mature, it needs a stage of development, especially the derivatives market."

After thinking for a few seconds, Duke looked at Feng Daya and said, “The development of Chinese movie derivatives is basically at the primitive stage. Most of the movie derivatives are decorations for film promotional activities. Movie derivatives are indispensable in the film industry chain. A part of the market is also a key to meeting the audience’s cultural consumption needs, and the development of Chinese movie derivatives is still at a low point, which also means that the marketing and development of derivatives has a huge market space."

As soon as Duke’s words fell, Fatty Yu nodded and accepted, “The domestic movie derivatives market is not standardized enough, and the market development and sales channels are not perfect and smooth. The consumer market for derivatives also needs to be cultivated. The derivatives market has a long way to go."

"Also, piracy is rampant, and the benefits of genuine copies have been eroded, resulting in a substantial drop in profit points.

The Wang brothers have obviously done research on this aspect. “In recent years, many domestic manufacturers have used genuine products as prototypes to quickly produce pirated derivatives during movie schedules, and rely on wholesale markets and online channels to ship them. Form a complete industry chain of piracy. Pirated products have compressed the profit margins of genuine products and invaded a large amount of market share, resulting in increased competition pressure from legitimate operators, and a reverse crowding-out effect, restricting the development of China’s just-starting film derivatives market Growth. The management of pirated products urgently needs corresponding policy support."

In the end, many people's eyes swept over from the mountain eagle.

Although he is not an official in charge of copyright, Zuo Shan Diao is the only official present.

Unlike the big figures who are always mysterious, the mountain sculpture has been immersed in this industry for decades, and also hopes that Chinese movies can develop.

He coughed lightly and said, "The awareness and ability of derivatives development is not enough. This is the most important problem facing all domestic filmmakers."

When these words came out, many people looked at Jiang Xiaojun again, and Jiang Xiaojun could only show a bitter smile.

Last year, "Let the Bullets Fly" made him "make money while standing", and he was envied by everyone. In fact, Jiang Xiaojun knew that there was a lot of money he didn't make. The most important thing was the development of movie derivatives. This piece.

The development of derivatives requires deep-rooted prototypes and far-sighted derivatives market developers. Many domestic movies only have distribution rights and no original authorization, so they do not have the conditions to develop derivatives; or there are authorizations but no derivatives development. Or have the awareness of development, but not the ability to develop independently...

Since it is a film forum, as long as it does not involve trade secrets and self-interest, Duke will still say a few words, even if he figured out the so-called'position' and'identity' issues decades ago, but There is a tendency inside, but it is inevitable.

"At the moment, most of the traditional Chinese movie derivative products are low-end and elementary, and can't make it to the table."

Although these words are not good, but with Duke's character and work and life style over the years, there is no obtuse.

Of course, he will not mention the so-called innovation and creativity at all. As long as anyone who has a little knowledge of the film industry knows that innovation and creativity have never been the root of the development of this industry.

And there are too many examples of good ideas being turned into bad movies, too many to count.

For a country’s film industry to truly develop, industrialization is an inevitable way to go.

"Chinese films must first pass the quality barrier, establish a brand, and establish their own cultural influence after serialization."

After a few seconds of silence, Duke said into the microphone again, “Abandon the idea of ​​temporary development, OEM production, and quick money, and fully research the market and develop things that audiences of the corresponding age level like the film. Furthermore, clarify the copyright ownership. Establish a fixed network and sales channels for derivatives; establish specialized consumer product companies to cover all levels of consumption with different price positioning. The most important thing is to spend a period of time patiently cultivating the habit of consuming derivatives."

"Film should be an industrial chain. The works we usually see in theaters are just the locomotives of this industrial chain",

Jiang Xiaojun, Ge Guangtou, Zhang Guoshi and others are nodding their heads. To them, Duke’s unpopular words are far more sincere than those Hollywood directors who come to China to praise Chinese films.

Yes, they can feel his understanding of Chinese films and his sincerity in helping Chinese films from Duke's words.

This sincerity is very limited, but for such a foreigner, it is already very rare.

"At present, people's focus on movies is mostly on the box office, and they ignore the important stage of the development and utilization of movie derivative products. This is precisely the important difference between the modern and traditional film industries. As far as I know, China currently lacks professional authorization. The company does not have industry regulations, so the movie derivatives market in China has always been an undeveloped deposit."

Duke's words have not stopped, "In Hollywood, the revenue from derivatives is as high as 70% of the total movie revenue, which is much higher than the movie box office. According to my understanding, your country’s movie revenue is 95%. All of the above comes from domestic box office and product placement, and the derivative income of many movies turned out to be zero."

Having said that, Duke has listed some real data in order to let these people more intuitively understand the huge impact of derivatives on the film industry.

"For example, the total box office revenue of the "Star Wars" trilogy was $1.8 billion, but its derivatives accounted for more than $20 billion."

Duke’s speech speed is not fast, and his Chinese is a bit blunt, but it does not prevent him from becoming the most eye-catching one in the venue. "The initial investment of Disney’s animated film "The Lion King" was only 80 million US dollars, and 8 At the box office of 100 million US dollars, the revenue of derivatives is as high as 3 billion US dollars. Some people even joked that the "Lion King" Disney made the money printing machine." (To be continued.)

ps: Sum recommendation ticket!