In another time and space, after Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was released, China's major newspapers and tabloids were talking about the movie, feeling that Ang Lee had grown a face for Chinese-language movies. In the United States, it was even more outrageous. At its peak,
, newspapers are talking about this movie almost every day, and some American film critics even call it a masterpiece in film history.
The American media's high praise for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is inevitably fueled by the distributor's backing, but the popularity is more due to the excellent quality of the film itself. From the perspective of film technology, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
The photography and soundtrack of "Hidden Dragon" are absolutely top-notch in the world, and the scene where Yu Jiaolong steals the Qingming Sword at night is perfect. (By the way, its cinematographer Bao Dexi is currently on the set of "Ancient and Modern Battles between Qin Terracotta Warriors" and is an Oriental actor.
Photographer contracted by an entertainment agency)
The deeper reason is that Ang Lee has repackaged Eastern aesthetics and martial arts elements and presented them to Western audiences with Western values, which allows Western audiences to watch the movie without any hindrance. That's why some people say that Ang Lee's "The Bedroom"
"Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was filmed for foreigners to see.
Kang Jianfei's "Tomb Raiders" is similar to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but he is not as literary and artistic as Ang Lee. He threw away the so-called cultural connotations and used the Hollywood blockbuster model to produce a wonderful commercial movie.
Whether it is Xu Ke's "Shu Mountain" or Kang Jianfei's "A Chinese Ghost Story", due to cultural barriers, many things that Chinese people understand at a glance find it more difficult for Western audiences to appreciate the charm.
But "Tomb Raiders" is different. Its story takes place in modern times, and Kang Jianfei does not try to spread Chinese culture. When he makes the movie, he only thinks about how to tell the story well and how to make it so that everyone can watch it.
Cool.
Ever since, Kang Jianfei succeeded. Because the audience really enjoyed watching it, and they were hooked after watching it. This movie does not need to burn the brain, just drink Coke with a popcorn bucket. While eating and drinking, you can have sex with your friends and girlfriends.
Spend two hours happily.
Precisely because it is a popcorn commercial film, the evaluation of "Tomb Raider" by the American media is far less high than that of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". But as a high-quality blockbuster commercial film, it is enough to be praised by American film critics.
——Part of it is a pen holder paid for.
The Hollywood Reporter, one of the two major entertainment industry newspapers in the United States, devoted half of its page to commenting on "Tomb Raiders": ""Tomb Raiders" is adapted from director Kang Jianfei's own novel of the same name, but according to him,
This story was originally a script, and then I decided to create it into a novel.
Hollywood directors have made many adventure films. If you want to compare one with "Tomb Raider", it would definitely be Spielberg's "Indiana Jones". The most attractive thing about "Indiana Jones" is that the film
The mysterious treasures, thrilling adventures and rich exotic customs are perfectly reflected in "Tomb Raiders".
If I have to say something different, it would be that the style of the film is very different. In the past, the adventure films that American audiences were familiar with basically had an obvious western style, even "Indiana Jones" was the same. "Tomb Raiders"
With a mysterious oriental charm, this film's popularity is largely due to the fact that it refreshes people's impressions of adventure films, and novel viewing will definitely stimulate box office growth..."
The "Hollywood Reporter" film is quite satisfactory and speaks of the excellence of "Tomb Raiders". But it doesn't exaggerate too much.
In other newspapers, some film critics who enjoyed watching it began to praise it desperately, thinking that "Tomb Raiders" is a rare commercial film classic.
There are many people who praise, and naturally some people scold. Some even scold for the sake of scolding, purely to find faults, so as to attract attention and show that they are unique.
Regardless of whether it is praised or criticized, it is undeniable that "Tomb Raiders" has become popular in the United States, and major newspapers have commented on this film.
"Tomb Raiders", which had a box office of only 16.74 million US dollars in its first week, is still far behind "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", which was also released on Friday but had a box office of more than 25 million US dollars in its first week. But from the second week,
Judging from the box office decline, "Tomb Raiders" is not inferior to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
The second weekend box office of "Tomb Raiders" was 15.88 million. Judging from the three-day box office of the two weekends, the drop can be said to be negligible. The weekly box office of the second week soared to 29.49 million, with a total box office of 4,623 in 10 days over the two weeks.
million. Although it is far from the box office of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" of 64.34 million in the first ten days, the box office gap is getting closer after all.
In its third week of release, the decline of "Tomb Raiders" is still very low, with a cumulative box office of 70.08 million US dollars in 17 days. At this time, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" has been in theaters for 24 days, with a cumulative box office of 96.88 million. The box office gap between the two movies continues to narrow.
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Two and a half weeks later, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was finally released after 41 days of screening. The North American box office was 127 million US dollars. Perhaps due to the impact of "Tomb Raiders", the box office of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was more than 8 million less than the original time and space.
.
"Tomb Raiders" failed to surpass "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" in the end. It was officially released 39 days after its release, with a box office of US$108 million. It is currently ranked third in this year's North American box office list. The first place is "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", ranking first
The second place is "The Hunt for Red October" produced by Paramount. However, when the summer and year-end movies come, when there are so many blockbusters, the rankings of the three films will drop a lot, but the top ten at the annual box office are
Proper.
There are only two or three Chinese-language films in the top ten at the annual box office in North America, but "Tomb Raiders" is the first one to have a box office of over 100 million.
Although Xu Ke's "Shu Mountain" was relatively popular in Europe a few years ago, due to too many Hollywood blockbusters during its year-end screening in the United States, the number of screenings was severely reduced, and the North American box office only grossed over 10 million.
In addition to the film itself, the box office of a movie is also very important: schedule, publicity and luck. The publicity campaign for "Tomb Raiders" is crazy, and it is scheduled in the spring when competition is not very fierce. During the same period, only one movie has been released for two weeks.
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" grabs the box office, so the box office will skyrocket. It is not as tragic as Xu Ke's "Shu Mountain".
According to the American media, "Tomb Raider" has become a favorite for next year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Not to mention whether it will win the award in the end, at least it is certain to be nominated.
It is a coincidence that "Tomb Raiders" premiered before the Lunar New Year. It has just passed the commercial release date of this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and can only apply for next year's Oscars. If it had been released in Hong Kong a few months earlier, "Tomb Raiders" would have been released in Hong Kong a few months earlier.
"Notes" will encounter a strong competitor - "Cinema Paradiso" for this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
However, Kang Jianfei has no hope of winning the award. Many films that are new to Americans can be nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. But in the end, the awards will definitely not be commercial films, but all films with a full literary and artistic style.
Kang Jianfei doesn't care much about winning awards, because he doesn't need trophies to prove himself. Making money is the key.
In order to continue making money from filming, Kang Jianfei followed Liu Zhenwei to Kuala Lumpur when "Tomb Raiders" was released in the United States.
…
"This is a villa area built in the 1970s, and most of the residents are wealthy Chinese." Liu Zhenwei walked on the street in the community and pointed to the houses on both sides and said to Kang Jianfei.
The entire community is made up of two-story small Western-style buildings. Over ten years, the buildings in the community are a bit old, but they are perfect for filming movies.
In the 1970s, Chinese were the majority population in Kuala Lumpur. At that time, nearly 60% of the population in the capital of Malaysia were Chinese. However, due to various reasons such as policies, the Chinese only accounted for half of the population in Kuala Lumpur, and they are still decreasing day by day.
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When Kang Jianfei walked in this Chinese community, he could see Chinese signboards everywhere, and he could still communicate with a local who spoke Mandarin or Cantonese.
Kang Jianfei pointed to a few buildings in front and said: "Truman's home can be located on this street. I think those houses are good. But the place where Truman works will have to be found again. I don't know if there is a suitable place in Kuala Lumpur. If
If it doesn’t work, I’ll go back to Hong Kong to shoot.”
"No need, I should be able to find it." Liu Zhenwei said.
In the next few days, the two decided on the filming location.
The hero Truman's home was rented from a local Chinese named Chu Chongxin. Kang Jianfei's movies are very popular in Malaysia, or Hong Kong movies are very popular here. The landlord Chu Chongxin happened to be a fan of Kang Jianfei's movie, so he rented the house.
The process is very easy.
As for the company where Truman usually worked, Kang Jianfei chose a 6-story office building in the center of Kuala Lumpur.
After returning to Hong Kong, Kang Jianfei threw a list full of advertising types to the marketing department of DreamWorks. The people in the marketing department peed when they saw that it listed coffee, watches, insurance, cars, and tableware.
, beer and other types of advertisements, there are as many as 18 types.
There are more than 10 types of product placement in a movie. People in the marketing department can only complain in their hearts: Brother, are you making a movie or are you going to make an advertisement?
In the film "The Truman Show", Truman has lived in a reality TV series from the moment he was born. This TV series is broadcast 24 hours a day, and even Truman's sleep is broadcast live. He is the only one
The only exceptions are having sex with your wife or going to the bathroom. The entire TV series relies on product placement to make money, so "The Truman Show" uses blatant advertising placement.
From internationally renowned Nescafe coffee and Patek Philippe watches to Hong Kong insurance companies and Taiwanese beer brands, "The Truman Show" has attracted advertising sponsorships totaling more than 40 million in just half a month.
As soon as this news came out, colleagues in Hong Kong were shocked. No matter how good other directors are, they will just sell trailers. They can make a lot of money from selling trailers before the movie is even launched. This kind of director is considered a very powerful director.
If Cheng Long is favored by advertisers again, he can earn hundreds of millions in sponsorship fees for movies. Kang Jianfei's tens of millions in product placement advertising fees is already another level that is difficult to reach. (To be continued.
