Millennium director

"Come, Director Wu, have some tea.

In the office of the vice chairman of China Film Group, Mr. Han poured a cup of tea for Wu Yuan with a smile.

The team that went to Sitges for "The Night the Comet Came" has returned home with the trophy.

When Wu Yuan returned to China, Mr. Han personally picked him up.

It’s not possible if you don’t come in person!

"The Night the Comet Came" sold US$2.55 million in copyrights abroad, and the domestic box office has exceeded 10 million in one week of release. Although the stamina is a bit weak, there is still hope for a box office of 20 million.

Added together, this movie with a cost of only 300,000 yuan has created an income of 40 million yuan!

Although 20 million of it has to be shared with theaters, the rate of return is already terrifyingly high!

Before going abroad, Wu Yuan was still Xiao Wu in Mr. Han's mouth, but now he has become "Director Wu".

We can't say that Mr. Han is too realistic, I can only say that Wu Yuan showed his abilities, which made Mr. Han have to look at him with admiration!

"Director Wu, your film is really good!"

Holding a cup of tea and taking a sip, Mr. Han clicked his tongue and said, "Besides Feng Xiaogang, among domestic directors, your films are now the most popular."

"It's a pity that you don't have as much appeal as Director Feng, otherwise I believe the box office would be even higher now!"

Wu Yuan smiled, held up the tea and did not answer.

He understood what Mr. Han meant.

After the release of "The Night the Comet Came", who made the most money?

Theater chain?

China Film?

neither!

The ones who make the most money are the various pirate dealers all over the country!

On the fourth day after the movie was released, just when the news came back that Wu Yuan had won the award, pirated discs of "The Night the Comet Came" had already appeared all over the country!

Moreover, this kind of pirated disc is not the kind of stolen disc, and the resolution is not much different from that of genuine DVD discs!

You want to ask them where they got the resources?

It’s so funny, all the major movie theaters across the country are partners behind all kinds of pirated goods!

The copy arrives on the first day, you can start burning the pirated disc the next day, and it will be shipped on the third day!

There are no mature movie theater lines yet, and the state will only approve private capital to enter the movie theater industry next year!

On June 1, 2002, the first batch of 30 private theater chains in the country were officially established! Only then will cross-city and cross-provincial theater chains be born!

Only in 2005 did private capital invest and settle in!

It can be said that the reform of the theater chain system is an important part of the development of China's film industry, and it is also a window for the reform of China's film industrialization!

Before this reform was implemented, mainland movie theaters didn’t really care much about the box office of released movies.

Because all cinemas before this were non-privately owned.

Whether they make more money from movie screenings has little to do with them. If the movie box office is high, they won't get more money. The movie theater industry is a stagnant water!

So now smart people in movie theaters have set their sights on the pirated disc industry!

As long as movie theater employees in various places cooperate with local merchants who deal in pirated discs, they can get a considerable share of the sales and rentals of pirated discs!

So much so that from the 1990s until about 2008, the pirated disc market was very rampant!

Usually it is released in movie theaters, but before it is released, pirated discs are already flying all over the place.

Naturally, Wu Yuan's "The Night When the Comet Came" could not escape its clutches.

He does not have the appeal of Feng Xiaogang, who can make audiences willing to go into cinemas and pay for his movies in an era when pirated discs are everywhere.

You know, the ticket price of a movie now is about 30-50 yuan, while a pirated disc can be bought for only 10-20 yuan, and the price is even lower if you rent it!

When you go to the cinema to watch a movie, you can't pause the playback, and it's gone after watching it once. perform

When you buy a disc and watch it at home, you can watch it up, down, left, right, and back, as long as you want, and as many times as you want!

The traditional virtues of the Chinese people include frugality.

Not to mention now, even 20 years later, there will be a lot of people who choose to wait for the movie to be released on the online platform before watching it!

There are cheap and high-quality pirated discs to watch. Unless there is a real reason to go to the cinema to watch it, most people will choose to buy the pirated disc and watch it.

Not to mention "The Night the Comet Came" is a brain-burning movie!

Watching it hurriedly in the cinema once is not enough to understand and see all the foreshadowing details. It is destined to take two or three viewings of this movie to fully understand it!

Such movies are more suitable for the pirated disc market!

Nowadays, pirated disc vendors all over the country love Wu Yuan to death. Even after reporters revealed that Wu Yuan also sold pirated discs, many pirated disc vendors even praised him as their ancestor!

Just like Mr. Guan, he has to bow before doing business every day and pray for good fortune and prosperity!

No wonder Wu Yuan can make a movie so suitable for the piracy industry!

It turns out that he is one of our own, and he comes from the pirated disc business. He knows that the pirated disc market is not easy, so he has come to be the savior!

No kidding!

The movie "The Night the Comet Came" is the most suitable for the DVD rental market in the United States, otherwise Fox Searchlight would not have paid more than one million US dollars to buy the rights!

In China, the box office of this movie exceeded 10 million, but in the pirated disc market, it has created at least 20 million sales!

Wu Yuan doesn't have Feng Xiaogang's ability and charm to make everyone willing to go to the cinema to watch his movies just by his name!

Even if the newspapers are praising him and praising "The Night the Comet Came", most ordinary people would still prefer to buy a disc and watch it instead of spending money to go to the cinema and enjoy a one-time service!

Nowadays, most of the 10 million box office is contributed by young people. They generally watch it more than once, and go to the cinema to watch it twice or three times. This is how they contribute so much box office!

This is also the reason why the box office of "The Night the Comet Came" obviously exceeded 10 million in one week, which is not much different from Director Feng's 15 million in ten days, but the estimated total box office is only 20 million.

This movie inherently lacks a public base, and the box office is concentrated in the early stages of the screening, so the stamina will be insufficient!

Mr. Han didn't think it was a big deal. He smiled and said, "It would be great to have a box office of 15 million in the end."

"Except for the film directed by Zhang Yimou during the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of the year, this film is estimated to be the second or third highest-grossing movie this year."

The problem of the piracy industry these days cannot be changed by one or two people, and it is even difficult to put an end to it with the power of national administration!

This is a question of the times!

We must go through a series of reforms, increase national income, and curb industrial collusion before we can hope to improve the environment.

This is also the reason why the pirated disc market has slowly withered since 2010.

Private theater chains have emerged in various places, and people have developed a habit of watching movies.

Private theaters rely entirely on box office, so they will pay close attention to the problem of internal leaks. In addition, film technology has evolved from film to digital, and is controlled by keys, which also reduces the risk of leaks from the source.

This has led to the destruction of the film piracy market.

Now Mr. Han, even if he is the vice chairman of China Film Group, is powerless in the face of the rampant piracy market.

Of course Wu Yuan can't do it either. He even sold pirated copies himself.

Not wanting to dwell on this topic any longer, Mr. Han changed the subject and said, "Director Wu, I heard from Xiao Chen that there is a film company in Hollywood that wants to invite you to make a movie?"

"This is a rare opportunity!"

"We Chinese directors should go out more. Now Hollywood is the most powerful place in the world for making movies. Young talents like you should try it out. It doesn't matter even if you fail, you can still learn a lot of domestic knowledge." There is so much knowledge!”

"I know that your directing department at Beijing Film Academy is strict with current students, but I believe Professor Xie will also support you in going to Hollywood!"

"Of course, if you have any other personal difficulties or concerns, you can come to me and I will help you solve them!"

Wu Yuan smiled, put down his teacup and coughed lightly: "Director Han, I'm already preparing the next script."

"But it's not yet certain whether Fox Searchlight is willing to cooperate. I'll let you know when there is definite news."

"Okay!" Master Han smiled as brightly as a chrysanthemum and said cheerfully, "Let me tell you, how can any director refuse an invitation from Hollywood?"

It really works!

Wu Yuan rolled his eyes secretly.

That is to say, the domestic film market is currently lacking opportunities to make big money!

Otherwise, no matter how much money Hollywood throws at him, he won't even bother to go!

In Hollywood, where class has been solidified, he is a Chinese director with no background, not even Chinese. No matter how good he is, there is always a ceiling.

The next Ang Lee?

No matter how great Li Yu is, he is just a dispensable Chinese director in Hollywood.

There is no shortage of good directors in Hollywood. Without Li Yu, nothing will change in Hollywood.

How can it be better to go to Hollywood and become a big chess piece than to delve into the domestic market that will take off in the future?

At least Wu Yuan, who has a well-established career, works hard in China and has the opportunity to become one of the chess players in mainland movies instead of just being a chess piece.

The main focus is still on making movies, but a person with memories of the next 20 years will not be satisfied with just being a director. He will definitely participate in the transformation of the entire industry chain and do something to change the industry.