There are five important movie schedules in the United States, among which the summer schedule and the year-end schedule (including Thanksgiving and Christmas) are the most popular. Under normal circumstances, good movies are scheduled to be released in the summer and year-end schedules, but
This year's spring box office competition in the United States is extremely fierce.
As one of the first movies to be released in the spring season, "The Hunt for Red October" produced by Paramount swept the spring box office as soon as it was released, with a box office of more than 17 million US dollars in its first weekend. Such a strong momentum has caused theaters to continue to
The film's screening rate was greatly increased, and the screening canvas was increased from 1,225 to 1,817.
Due to the increased number of screenings, "The Hunt for Red October", a Cold War-themed movie, actually saw its box office increase in its second and third weeks of release, occupying the top spot at the weekly box office for three consecutive weeks.
It wasn't until "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", which Golden Harvest participated in the investment, was released and shocked the spring season with an opening weekend box office of more than 25 million US dollars that the madness of "The Hunt for Red October" ended.
"The Hunt for Red October" continued to be in theaters until early April, and its final North American box office was more than 122 million U.S. dollars. The film was produced by Paramount, and Kang Jianfei, as a shareholder of Paramount,
Naturally, I am happy to hear about this.
Just when "The Hunt for Red October" was about to come to an end, "Tomb Raiders", jointly released by Oriental Pictures and Paramount, was finally released in the spring as the third batch of movies. At this time, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"
It has been in theaters for two weeks and has topped the weekly box office with a cumulative box office of US$64.34 million.
"Ninja Turtles" is a comic created by Phantom Studio six years ago and adapted into an animated film three years ago. It is quite popular among some animation fans, but it is still far from being well-known to the whole people. It is this time that "
The success of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie made the American people, and even the people of the world, aware of the four little turtles and the big mouse who always wears pajamas.
The movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" has not yet been completed, and its various peripheral products have become popular in North America. Various clothes and toys printed with the image of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have begun to sell like hotcakes. There are even game development companies that have reached an agreement with the producer.
, planning to make a video game related to Ninja Turtles.
In the long run, the money earned from peripheral products of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is actually much more than its box office. Unfortunately, Zou Wenhuai is only one of the investors of this movie and does not own the peripheral copyright. He can only share some of the box office revenue and watch others
Make big money.
When "Tomb Raiders" was released in the United States, it happened to be when "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was at its most popular, and it was easy to find young people wearing turtle T-shirts on the street.
As a Chinese-language film, the promotion of "Tomb Raiders" in North America is very difficult. There are only two things that can arouse the interest of American audiences: First, the film's director Kang Jianfei, who is not only the second largest shareholder of the Hollywood giant Paramount
, is also an investor in last year's science fiction blockbuster "Terminator 2"; secondly, the computer special effects of "Tomb Raiders" are in the same vein as the special effects team of "Terminator 2".
One month before the release of "Tomb Raiders", related publicity had already begun.
The Oscar ceremony had just ended at that time, and "Terminator 2" won four technical trophies in one go. In an interview afterwards, the famous James Cameron mentioned Kang Jianfei's new film "Tomb Raiders" three times and said that the film was
The special effects shots are more exciting and advanced than those in "Terminator 2".
Immediately, some exciting clips and stills of "Tomb Raider", as well as soft articles about "Tomb Raider" becoming popular in East Asia, began to appear frequently on American TV channels and film publications.
Then Kang Jianfei’s personal experience was brought out again for speculation. How he smuggled himself to Hong Kong because he couldn’t eat enough. After that, he couldn’t find a job and slept on the streets in public toilets. But gold will always shine. Kang Jianfei Nian
When he was only 18 years old, he wrote the script of "Shanghai Beach" and was appreciated by a TV director. He then published his novel Knights of the East.
A few months later, Kang Jianfei put all the money he had earned from writing scripts and novels into filming a low-cost comedy. After running into obstacles with copies of the movie, Kang Jianfei finally found an opportunity, and this low-cost comedy broke through in one fell swoop.
New box office record for Hong Kong movies.
These reports were sporadic at first, until the American "People" magazine suddenly came into force. This mainstream magazine, which is known as the most suitable for reading on the toilet, not only published a special article about Kang Jianfei, but also listed him as the reporter.
The cover character of the magazine.
"People" magazine mainly focuses on American celebrities and pop culture. It rarely reports on Asian celebrities - because few American readers are interested in Asian celebrities. The reason why it reports on Kang Jianfei this time is because it is the publisher of "Tomb Raiders"
The result of proactive contact.
"People" magazine has no interest in Kang Jianfei's career and fame in Asia. What attracts them is Kang Jianfei's other identities, such as the investor and copyright holder of the "Terminator" series of movies, and the second largest shareholder of Paramount Pictures.
Shareholders, such as one of the screenwriters of last Christmas' most popular movie "The Last Days", such as the creator of the "Home Alone" series of movies. These are what American readers are interested in, and "People" Weekly must cater to itself
readership preferences.
The interview was conducted during the Lunar New Year. Reporters from "People" magazine made a special trip to Hong Kong. When they returned to proofread the manuscript, it was almost time for the Oscars. "The Last Days" and "Terminator 2"
Both are favorites to win Oscars this year, and both movies are related to Kang Jianfei. It is just the right time for "People" magazine to publish this exclusive interview at this time.
Perhaps because Kang Jianfei’s rise is legendary, People magazine devoted a lot of space to giving Kang Jianfei a biography, detailing his successful experience in the past ten years. If translated into Chinese, the title of the entire special report would be like this
——"Legendary Ten Years: From Stowaway to Entertainment Tycoon".
The huge circulation of "People" magazine has its own strong influence. Less than half a month after the issue of the magazine was released, Kang Jianfei, an Asian, once again became a hot figure.
When Kang Jianfei acquired shares of Paramount, his face was leaked once in the United States, and many media reported on his related experiences. At that time, everyone did know Kang Jianfei, an Asian, but only Americans who cared about the entertainment industry.
I just remembered Kang Jianfei's name, but most people forgot about him in the blink of an eye. This is actually normal. Everyone knows the popular stars in Hollywood, but how many people can remember the shareholders and presidents of several major movie giants?
who is it?
As a mainstream American magazine, "People" magazine's systematic and in-depth special report on Kang Jianfei undoubtedly transformed Kang Jianfei from a celebrity to a star.
The so-called American Dream, equality, freedom, and democracy are too empty. A more intuitive understanding is to realize your ideals and change your life through your own efforts and courage.
Kang Jianfei perfectly meets the requirements of the American Dream. The most important thing is the legendary and dramatic story of his rise from penniless to a wealthy businessman, which is more in line with the American Dream that the public expects.
What's even more rare is that Kang Jianfei is still very young, he is not yet 30 years old. And even by Western aesthetics, Kang Jianfei can be considered a handsome guy. "People" magazine even published a photo of Kang Jianfei boxing topless,
That toned body and muscular lines have added countless American female fans to Kang Jianfei.
The report in "People" magazine was a great success, and the effect far exceeded the expectations of the publicity planners. The subsequent promotion of the new film "Tomb Raiders" naturally went smoothly.
Even some other second- and third-rate American media spontaneously followed the trend and reported on Kang Jianfei for the sake of sales, but the content of the reports became varied. For example, Kang Jianfei's love affairs, scandals with many Asian actresses that were unclear, and even some gossip
The tabloids did not even have basic common sense and believed that polygamy was still practiced in Hong Kong. Kang Jianfei had married more than ten beautiful wives, several of whom were Western beauties, which really made male readers envious and jealous.
From beginning to end, "Tomb Raider" spent more than 6 million US dollars on its promotional budget in North America, which was also a very high cost in Hollywood at this time.
"Tomb Raiders" was released in the middle of the Spring Festival season in the United States. Although it cannot be said to be a hit with everyone, there is still a group of viewers who are curious about Kang Jianfei's new film and want to go to the cinema to see it.
Before its official release, "Tomb Raiders" held several screenings and paid to invite many well-known American film critics.
Thanks to the charm of money and the quality of the film itself, major American film publications spoke highly of "Tomb Raider", calling it the "Indiana Jones of the East" and praising its special effects shots for making them look fake.
Under such circumstances with sufficient publicity, "Tomb Raiders" was released against the strong momentum of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", with a first-weekend box office of 16.74 million, ending "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"'s consecutive weekly box office championship.
The first-weekend three-day box office of 16.74 million is already very high for a Chinese-language film, but considering the promotional budget of up to 6 million US dollars, this figure is still a bit low.
Kang Jianfei did become famous because of the interview in People magazine, and the blanket publicity did let many Americans know that there was a movie "Tomb Raiders". However, long-standing prejudice made many Americans not aware that it was a movie.
After watching a Chinese-language film, I subconsciously classified it as a trash movie and had no interest in even going to the cinema.
The opening weekend of "Tomb Raiders" in the United States was just beginning. It was not until the second week of screening that this Oriental adventure film really showed its talents. The good reputation quickly became popular through word of mouth from the audience. (To be completed.