After buying movie tickets, popcorn and Coke, Luo Dongrui and Xiang Andong waited for the movie to start.
Because tomorrow is still a working day, there are not many viewers coming to watch the midnight screening of the movie.
This cinema is located in the bustling commercial district of Shanghai. There are only about 20 spectators, most of whom are male movie fans.
There are female movie fans, probably fans of Huang Xiaoming and Deng Chao.
Luo Dongrui and Xiang Andong chatted while looking for any beautiful female fans.
"I heard that this movie is very brain-burning, will you be able to understand it by then?" Luo Dongrui joked with his friend.
"It's a joke. My grades were so good when I was in school. I must be smart. I'm afraid you can't understand." Xiang Andong was not convinced.
"Okay," Luo Dongrui smiled: "After we read it, we will each write a review and see who writes it makes sense."
"Write just write, no one is afraid of whom."
As a result, the two good friends reached an instant decision.
Just then, the theater's loudspeaker reminded that tickets for "The Prestige" were available for check-in, and the two of them walked in with nervousness and anticipation.
Before seeing the movie, no one knows what kind of movie it is.
Previous reviews of premiere films released by the media were mostly based on artistic aspects, or expressed their thoughts on the director and actors.
The audience also knows that this is a story about two magicians fighting each other, and nothing else is clear.
Also, because of Deng Chao’s hilarious publicity style before, I thought this was a comedy-style high-IQ movie.
Ye Xiaoyi is one of them. As a fan of Zhang Hao's movie, she paid for the tickets as soon as the midnight show started, and she paid for more than 30 people's tickets at once.
These are all members of the Zhang Hao Movie Fans Support Club. Although the number of people is not large, they particularly like Zhang Hao's movies and also like Zhang Hao's appearance.
Jiang Zhicheng was also among them. In order to have a common topic to talk with the goddess, he put aside his prejudices and reluctantly watched the zero-point show with everyone.
Having watched "The Genius" before, Zhang Hao successfully upgraded from a mediocre director to a bad director in Jiang Zhicheng's mind.
I wonder if Zhang Hao can let him upgrade this time in "Deadly Magic".
Despite all kinds of licking, Jiang Zhicheng still can't lick Ye Xiaoyi.
Ye Xiaoyi was sitting in the best seat in the cinema, surrounded by several best friends, and a tall and handsome boy who was also a member of the Zhang Hao Fans Support Club, named Wu Da Bian.
Even though her name looks like a big braid, she is a genuine rich second generation, and she is also the vice-president of the movie fans support club. The president is Ye Xiaoyi.
Jiang Zhicheng looked at Wu Dabian with jealous eyes, who was sitting next to the goddess and chatting very happily with the goddess.
The goddess laughed like a silver bell from time to time, obviously being amused by the big braid joke.
This made Jiang Zhicheng very dissatisfied. People could be a dog licker around him, but he was not even qualified to be a dog licker and could only be a watchdog.
There was no time to think too much, the movie started soon.
As the movie progressed, Jiang Zhicheng, who originally focused all his attention on Ye Xiaoyi, quickly became obsessed with it, and the goddess was no longer important.
It seems that Zhang Hao is indeed capable of making movies. Watching his movies always has a very high-end quality, just like a piece of exquisite art.
At this moment, Zhang Hao was upgraded from a bad director to a so-so director in Jiang Zhicheng's heart.
As the zero-hour screening of the film ended, audiences in major cities across the country who had watched the film's zero-hour screening began to walk out of the theaters and were still discussing the plot.
"I think it was the original body that died, not the clone. Think about what Ah Hao said when he came out."
Luo Dongrui and Xiang Andong walked out of the cinema still unsatisfied and had a lively discussion about the plot of the movie.
Xiang Andong disagreed with Luo Dongrui's words and retorted: "How is that possible? Ontology found this machine built by Tesla because it didn't want to accept cheers behind the scenes and wanted to accept the cheers openly on the stage.
If the main body is dead, how can he enjoy the cheers of the audience?"
"It's the same enjoyment. Even if the main body dies, the clone is the main body. The clone inherits the main body's memory, thoughts, and everything else. It doesn't affect the enjoyment of the audience's cheers," Luo Dongrui said.
"How are you sure that the cloned body is the same as the original body? Am I still me?" Xiang Andong started to get philosophical.
"If you want to talk like this, this topic can't be discussed. Let's watch the movie again tomorrow and then give our answers." Luo Dongrui suggested.
"I can't do it tomorrow. I have to go to work. Let's see the day after tomorrow."
"OK, then the day after tomorrow." Luo Dongrui agreed, actually secretly deciding to secretly watch the movie tomorrow.
He still has many questions and does not understand many details and needs to study it several times.
As everyone knows, Xiang Andong thinks the same way.
Because two good friends had questions about the plot of the movie, they planned to watch it several times secretly without telling each other to decide the winner.
The loud discussion between the two did not attract any attention, because many of the audience outside the cinema were discussing the plot with each other.
As a semi-professional film critic, Zhou Yang bought tickets for the midnight screening early in the morning due to the demand for contributions.
After watching it, Zhou Yang, who was going to write a movie review when he got back, sat blankly in front of the computer without moving a word, because there were still many things he didn't understand.
After thinking for a long time, Zhou Yang shouted: "Honey, will you accompany me to a movie tomorrow?"
Zhou Yang's wife said dissatisfied: "What movie are you watching? I have to go to work tomorrow, so go to bed quickly."
"That's right, let's go watch a movie together the day after tomorrow." Zhou Yang shouted.
Zhou Yang's wife thought that it had been a long time since the two of them had gone out to eat or watch a movie, so she agreed: "OK, then you can make arrangements."
The reason why he calls his wife is because Zhou Yang needs someone to confirm some plot details.
He had forgotten that his wife had never been interested in movies like "The Prestige" and she might have slept for two hours by then.
In the capital, the movie fan group led by Ye Xiaoyi also walked out of the cinema. Some people felt that the movie was not good to watch and it was too confusing.
Although the plot is compact and full of ups and downs, the overly brain-burning plot still leaves fans who watch the movie with a relaxed attitude feeling exhausted.
There is nothing we can do about it. In the film market, simple films tend to have a wider audience than complex films.
Therefore, these fans expressed their feelings about the movie. Some thought it was average, while others thought it was pretty good, but they would never watch it a second time.
However, since they didn’t pay for the movie this time, they didn’t feel it was a big loss.
Of course, fans who love the movie "The Prestige" love it so much that their souls tremble, as if they have found a unique treasure.
Coincidentally, Ye Xiaoyi and Wu Dazui are two of them.
Several of Ye Xiaoyi's best friends thought the movie was average and had no interest in discussing it after it ended.
Ye Xiaoyi found it exciting, so she and Wu Dazhuan, who also found it exciting, discussed the plot with great interest.
The two of them also discussed the question of whether Ah Hao's body was alive or not.
Ye Xiaoyi believes that the body is alive. She gave an example to prove her point of view: "If you worked hard to find Tesla and spent a lot of money to build this machine,
Wouldn't it be inconsistent with his nature to die like this?"
Wu Dazui retorted: "Have you ever thought that he didn't actually want to die, but was forced to die? Remember the gun he put in? It was in front of the replicating machine.
I think that during the first experiment, the original body was already killed by clone number one.
If you look at the details of the performance, clone No. 1 came out of the machine and was confused for a moment when he saw the pistol. When he saw an identical person walking out from the opposite side, he shot and killed that person.
What the man said before he was shot was, 'No, no, I'm the one...', but before he could finish his words, he was beaten to death by clone No. 1."
"According to what you said, this machine creates a replica on the spot and then teleports the original body away. So after clone No. 1 knows the secret..." Ye Xiaoyi suddenly woke up.
"That is to say, the one who survived every subsequent performance was clone No. 1, and the other clones No. 2, 3, 4, etc. all fell into the water tank and died.
Moreover, these clones do not know that they will die, so they express the desire to survive.
Every shot directed by Zhang Hao has a meaning, and none of it is superfluous," Wu Dazui added.
"Wow, you are so awesome. You paid attention to so many details after just reading it once." Ye Xiaoyi clapped her little hands.
Wu Dazui smiled and said: "Maybe I am a fan of suspense reasoning, so I read it more carefully."
Jiang Zhicheng, who was following behind to admire the goddess's long legs, heard the goddess praising Wu Dabian, and instantly felt his heart tightening, and quickly interjected:
"Actually, I think the cloned ones are the same as the ones left inside. There is no such thing as a clone of the original body.
Both have memories of before the machine came into play, everything was the same, and they were prepared to drown.
According to what Lao Bai said before, just like going home, he chose to drown himself.
But in fact, this process is painful, so when Ajie saw it, he was a struggling Ahao, but the one outside after each clone had no memory of the other one.
Ah Hao doesn't know whether to clone it or stay inside.
So when I explained later, I said that every time I did a magic trick, I had to muster up the courage to go in, not knowing whether it would be death or life."
Wu Dabian was very proud of being praised by the beautiful woman.
As a result, a kid at the back intervened and immediately retorted: "I don't know because of scientific uncertainty, and there must be original bodies and replicas.
First of all, clone No. 1 learned after the experiment on the original body that the principle is the original body teleportation, leaving a clone in place. If his brain has such a memory, then the clone also has it.
Then after the magic show, those outside will know that they are the original body, and those who stay in place will know that they are clones."
Jiang Zhicheng was also not to be outdone: "I think you didn't understand the director's meaning. It's completely meaningless to discuss the original body and clones. Think carefully about why Ahao asked Tesla to study this machine?
It's because he wants to overpower Ajie, and it's also because of revenge. The bigger reason is because he wants to enjoy the cheers of the audience and leave a great magician Ahao behind.
It doesn't matter who has the original body, because the one copied has exactly the same memory as before the copy.
Regardless of whether the living person is a newly copied one or the previous one, his feeling is that he is teleported by closing and opening his eyes, and there will be no pain of death at all.
In addition, Lao Bai said before that drowning is like going home, and his conscience will be somewhat tolerable. In other words, the pain of death will not stop him from continuing to act.
The concept of 'I' may have to die every time I perform, but the great Danton did not."
The two of them started arguing on the way back.
On the one hand, no one is willing to admit defeat because of the beauty in front of them. On the other hand, they all feel that what they say is the guess that best fits the plot.
Ye Xiaoyi and several of her best friends were dumbfounded. One of her best friends shook her head and said, "The movie is actually okay, but what is there to discuss about a movie like this?"
"Yes, but Huang Xiaoming and Deng Chao are quite handsome inside." Another best friend agreed.
It is indeed a bit difficult for them to enjoy this movie.
Ye Xiaoyi thought in a blink of an eye and stopped the two from continuing to argue: "Okay, stop arguing. If you think you are right, you might as well watch the movie a few more times to confirm your thoughts."
Wu Dazui and Jiang Zhicheng looked at each other and said provocatively: "We will watch a movie tomorrow. Do you dare?"
At this time, whoever gives in will be the grandson. Jiang Zhicheng immediately agreed: "Okay, whoever is afraid of whom will write a paper after reading it."
"Just write, who is afraid of whom?" Wu Dazui said, and said to Ye Xiaoyi: "Xiaoyi, please be a witness when the time comes."
Jiang Zhicheng climbed up the pole and followed the trend and said: "Yes, Xiaoyi, when the time comes, I will ask you to be a referee and judge which of us makes sense."
After some scheming interjection, the name of the goddess was changed to Xiaoyi. Even if he lost the debate, Jiang Zhicheng felt that he had won.
Ye Xiaoyi didn't think there was anything wrong, and immediately agreed: "Okay, I will work with the fan support group to judge who of you is right."
"That's it..."
In order to win the favor of the beauty, the two boys decided to compete with each other based on their abilities.
Movies are no longer important, overpowering each other in front of beautiful women is the most important thing.
Early the next morning, Zhang Hao came to the studio with his briefcase.
Da Mi Mi flew to Hainan early in the morning to continue filming. He came to the studio today to check on the situation and will start a nationwide road show with the crew tomorrow.
"What's the box office situation like for the midnight show?" Zhang Hao asked.
Assistant Tang Qianxi replied: "The latest data shows that the box office revenue for the zero-hour show was 9.137 million, which is a pretty good result."
Zhang Hao nodded with satisfaction and said: "Not bad, it's a good start for the next screening. How is the online public opinion?"
"Most of them received good reviews, but some viewers didn't like the movie because the plot was too brain-burning," Tang Qianqian replied.
"This is normal, this type of movie itself is very selective in its audience." Zhang Hao understood.
When he first made this film, he was well prepared for this. Because he lowered his expectations, Zhang Hao believed that the film would be fine as long as it did not lose money at the box office.
The rest can be made profitable through peripheral income such as copyrights.
With the zero-hour screening, on Friday, June 3rd, "The Prestige" began to land in mainland theaters on a large scale.
It is estimated that the reputation gained by the first two films, coupled with the full support of China Film Group's theaters, "The Prestige" reached 28.6% of the film's opening schedule on the first day, ranking first.
This kind of film scheduling rate has secured multiple screenings for "The Prestige".
Through the reputation accumulated in the first two films, Zhang Hao also has some fans. In addition, Deng Chao and Huang Xiaoming are also very popular in the mainland, which can be regarded as a bit of box office appeal.
"The Prestige" had good box office figures on the first day, with a box office of 23.356 million in a single day.
Including the zero-hour box office, "The Prestige" received a box office of 32.493 million, successfully winning the single-day box office championship.
Even though it was a working day, the box office was already good enough. The good box office performance made investors Huayi and Tangren smile. Cai Yinong of Tangren even called Zhang Hao to congratulate him.
Zhang Hao understood that all this was just the beginning.
The reason why the performance was so good on the first day is that a large number of movie fans were attracted to the theater to support the movie from the beginning.
If word-of-mouth collapses later, or even if other ordinary viewers don't like the movie, the box office will still be a flop.
As the Dragon Boat Festival holiday begins, movie theaters begin to boom.
On June 4th, a horror film "B Area No. 32" was released in theaters. The director of this film is Lu Jianmin, the producer who later invested in and released "Wolf Warrior 2".
Of course, now that Wu Jing is experiencing the life of a special soldier in the military camp, the story of "Wolf Warrior" is probably only taking shape.
If Wu Jing seeks investment in the future, Zhang Hao will definitely invest immediately. This is a good opportunity to make money.
Not only the box office, but just holding part of the copyright is a long-term meal ticket.
The horror film released that day was produced and distributed by Lu Jianmin's Spring and Autumn Period Films. The leading actor, Zhang Hao, looked so confused that he didn't even recognize it.
Such a low-budget horror film probably won't be able to recruit any well-known stars. It will just make a fortune in theaters and then sell copyrights.
Sure enough, on the first day of release, "B Area No. 32" only took in 2.111 million box office.
For a low-budget horror film, this is already a good result.
You know, the production cost of "B Area No. 32" is only over 3 million, and it may even be profitable through the box office.
However, compared to "The Prestige", such results are simply not worth mentioning.
On the second day of its release, "The Prestige" did not cause any discomfort to the audience due to its brain-burning plot.
Although some viewers thought the film was not good to watch, many fans who wanted to explore the details of the film watched it a second time or even a third time.
Under such circumstances, "The Prestige" grossed 41.862 million at the box office on its second day of release, but it did not retain the single-day box office title.
The single-day box office champion was the Hollywood animated film "Kung Fu Panda 2" based on Chinese Kung Fu culture.
Driven by the cute and naive panda Po, this movie made a box office of 44.85 million in a single day, regaining the box office title it lost the previous day.
On the previous day's premiere of "The Prestige", "Kung Fu Panda 2" grossed 31.801 million at the box office
Even "The Prestige" is no match for Po, which is enough to testify to the popularity of "Kung Fu Panda 2".
Abao also proved to the mainland film market that animated movies are not just for children.
Otherwise, children and parents alone would not be able to support such a high box office.
At the very least, before the box office explosion, the upper box office limit for movies for children was not high.
The big movie "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" released on the first day of the Lunar New Year has a box office of 134 million. "Kung Fu Panda 2" has a box office of nearly 300 million within 8 days of its release. When the movie is released, it is expected to get a box office of more than 600 million.
By then, this animated film will set a new box office record for animated films in the mainland, and will also allow more Hollywood animated film producers to target the potential of the mainland market.
With such a strong opponent as "Kung Fu Panda 2" and the lack of release days for "The Prestige", it is no longer possible to win the box office championship next week.
As a result, "Kung Fu Panda 2" topped the box office for two consecutive weeks and was a great success.
On Sunday, the third day of its release, the box office of "The Prestige" dropped slightly, taking in 38.649 million in a single day. It continued to lose to "Kung Fu Panda 2" with 42.612 million, ranking second.
So after three days of opening, "The Prestige" created a first-week box office of 113 million, shocking the entire industry.
This result, at any other time in the past, would have been enough to win the box office championship next week.
However, "Kung Fu Panda 2" was strong enough, and "The Prestige" failed miserably, and Zhang Hao once again lost the weekly box office championship in his directorial career.
By the way, although the box office of Zhang Hao's works has been higher than the previous ones since his debut, it seems that only "Manslaughter" won the weekly box office championship in its first week of release.
It can only be said that during the release schedule of Zhang Hao's film, there were quite a few films that were attacking him, so that Zhang Hao had no chance of becoming the weekly box office champion.
Driven by the strong performance of "The Prestige" and "Kung Fu Panda 2", the Dragon Boat Festival schedule, which had seemed calm in previous years, suddenly became popular.
This year’s Dragon Boat Festival box office increased by 32.1% compared to last year. Driven by the strong market, many industry insiders once again paid attention to the Dragon Boat Festival period.
Why is this Zhang Hao's movie so popular no matter which time it is released? Does he have any magic power?
I didn’t expect him to leave the May Day schedule this year, but the May Day schedule immediately dropped. When it came to the Dragon Boat Festival schedule, the Dragon Boat Festival schedule immediately increased.
These people in the industry probably haven't considered it. In fact, it's not a problem with the schedule, but because Zhang Hao's movie is so good.
After the first week, the Douban score of "The Prestige" was also released, which was as high as 9.1 points. There are subjective factors in the initial score, and the subsequent score will drop.
In the previous life, Nolan's version of "The Conjuring" scored as high as 8.9 on Douban. I don't know if it can maintain such a high score in this life.
Douban's ratings are actually very harsh on domestic Chinese-language films, to the point of being picky.
Many Chinese-language movies are obviously of good quality, with an 8-point rating, but then they automatically drop one point on Douban.
But Douban seems to be particularly tolerant of Zhang Hao's films, and his films always receive high scores here.
The previous naval battle with Chen Gege caused the ratings of "Manslaughter" and "Genius Gunman" to drop sharply.
After such a long time, the score of "Farewell My Concubine" has returned to 9.3 points. It seems that returning to the top of Douban's Chinese-language film reputation list is not a problem.
This is what this movie deserves. Regardless of the conflicts between Zhang Hao and Chen Gege, objective analysis shows that "Farewell My Concubine" can indeed be called a classic movie.
The film brought together the best people in the Chinese film industry at that time. From the visuals, costumes, props, art design, etc., they were all top-notch in the industry, plus an outstanding cast.
How virtuous and talented Chen Gezi is, to be lucky enough to direct such a film.
As time goes by, the film that has been smeared by the trolls will eventually return to its rightful place.
The same goes for "Manslaughter" and "Genius Gunslinger". After so long, "Manslaughter" has returned to 8.1 points, and "Genius Gunslinger" has reached 8.3 points.
If a film with a score of seven or more is considered a qualified movie, then a film with a score of eight or more is enough to be called a good movie.
Of course, there are many 5 or 6-rated movies that don’t seem to have high ratings, but many viewers actually like them, and they can also achieve good box office results.
If you don't care so much about your reputation, just looking at the box office is enough to prove a director's ability.
Being able to make a not-so-good movie that sells well at the box office is also a skill.
In addition, Zhang Hao's movies were not only listed on Douban, but also on the IMDB website.
IMDB was established in 1990, and like Douban, it also provides a rating mechanism. Unfortunately, the ratings of "Manslaughter" and "Genius" on IMDB do not seem to be ideal.
"Manslaughter" scored 6.7 points, and "Genius Gunslinger" scored 7.1 points.
There is nothing we can do about this. Just like Douban doesn’t like Chinese-language movies, IMDB doesn’t like Chinese-language movies either.
So far, there are a total of twelve Chinese-language films that have appeared on the IMDB TOP250, among which "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" reached the ninth position.
Currently on the list in 2011 are Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love", the classic police film "Infernal Affairs", and the 2008 movie "Ip Man".
I don’t know if Zhang Hao can keep his works permanently on Douban and IMDB TOP250 lists in his lifetime.
Although this is just a list, it is also an honor!