"There is no doubt that this will be a movie that people will not forget and will still want to watch for many years to come!"
Martin Lloyd's film review of "The World of Chu Xing" was published in the "Hollywood Reporter" the next day.
What kind of era is ours?
Does the development of technology and material abundance liberate people or constrain them?
Does it push people in a more independent direction, or does it put them even more in opposition to themselves, making them lose themselves even more, and further away from the real world and living life?
"The World of Chu Xing" uses an almost cruel story and a fable-like narrative to give us an intriguing answer.
Obviously, Chu Xing only belongs to Chu Xing's world - a manipulated virtual world.
His birth, growth, all the joys, sorrows, sorrows, and joys, if nothing unexpected happens, including his death, will be staged on a stage that has been manipulated and designed by humans, and will be played out by countless people living in the glamorous and affluent modern world.
The men and women of the world stopped and watched.
They merged with Chu Xing and experienced the process of growth together. Without Chu Xing, their lives would be unsustainable, the world would be in chaos, and life would be meaningless.
But an unprecedented reality show that was designed to last for thirty years was finally shattered due to Chu Xing's suspicion and desire to explore.
After Chu Xing went through the test of man-made storms, thunder and lightning, and huge waves, the ship carrying him towards the truth ruthlessly crashed through the dazzlingly blue, beautiful but false sky.
At that moment, a myth ended and a conspiracy was brought into the light.
More importantly, this deep impact proves that as long as human nature remains, the mind cannot be controlled forever.
However, Chu Xing does not only belong to Chu Xing's world.
He is also you and me living in this world filled with electronic smoke.
From birth, to growth, to death, our understanding of the world has always been limited. We will never be able to understand the world as fully as the Almighty God does.
We have to use various carriers to transcend our physical barriers, so that our minds can access the distant past, think about the long future, and imagine the foreign world to satisfy our infinite curiosity and desire for knowledge.
In this sense, we have to agree with McLuhan's wise saying: "The medium is an extension of the human body."
However, the paradox of the development of civilization is that it often goes against itself, becoming an accomplice in depriving freedom and dissolving subjectivity.
Today, the popularity and rapid expansion of electronic media on a global scale has fully realized McLuhan's genius prediction of the "global village".
It is precisely because of this that people all over the world can watch Chu Xing's world at the same time on the same earth, thus vividly interpreting human nature's desire for snooping in such a vast range of time and space.
The tragedy of reality is that in this era of media, no one can escape Chu Xing's fate, and no one has the full confidence to say that he has nothing to do with Chu Xing.
In various forms of reality TV shows, won’t we see the shadow of Chu Xing?
When we are cheering enthusiastically for those variety show stars, don't we see in ourselves the shadow of those viewers who hold the TV and stay with Chu Xing?
Today, when economic interests drive everything, the proliferation of business logic has forced us to play with ourselves. We can only entertain ourselves, and sell our money, privacy, and freedom in the moment of carnival.
, and even life.
From this point of view, "Chu Xing's World", as a manipulative metaphor of the times, not only tells the boundary between truth and falsehood, but more importantly, reminds us to step out of the deception of the times, get closer to our hearts, and in a tenacious way
In the reflection, there is a freedom that is not so fashionable.
This eloquent article does not introduce too much about the content of the movie, but it also digs into the deep thoughts that this movie brings to people. In fact, in this article, Martin Lloyd describes the deep things hidden in this movie.
, a large part of it was written, and at the same time, it also used the content of the movie to warn ordinary people today.
Not only that, Martin Lloyd also emphatically praised Wu Jianye and Zhou Xingchi in his film review.
"A long time ago, someone said that I have a soft spot for director Wu Jianye's movies. I do not deny this. In fact, after seeing this movie, my admiration for director Wu Jianye has risen to the level of
From another dimension, in my opinion, only a genius can come up with such a wonderful story, and only a genius can tell a story with profound meaning so simply and so close to everyone's life."
"In this movie, we can see ourselves and the people around us without thinking too much. When you watch this movie, many questions will naturally appear in your mind, and
You will also go into the cinema to watch a second or even third time with this kind of doubt..."
"At the same time, there is also the performance of the actor Zhou Xingchi in the movie. He has given comedy another meaning. In the past, our movies have always been almost retarded performances, just to make the audience laugh clumsily.
Now the actor Zhou Xingchi has redefined for us how a comedian should perform. His slightly neurotic performance in the movie, I believe that every audience who sees this movie cannot ignore his existence...
..."
As one of the best-selling magazines in Los Angeles, this report immediately attracted the attention of many people after it came out. At the same time, many other magazines also published the random interview with the audience yesterday.
"This is an excellent movie. Although it was a bit dull at the beginning, isn't our life dull? I like this movie very much!"
"There are some parts that I haven't understood yet, but that doesn't stop me from liking the movie, so I decided that I will watch the movie again tomorrow, hoping to find the answer I want!"
"For a moment, I even suspected that I was living in a fictional world!"
"What kind of movie is it? It's completely meaningless. It can't be compared to "Jurassic Park" at all!"
There were all kinds of answers, but most of them said that the movie was very interesting and worth their ticket price.
Seeing these answers, the production companies who were also paying attention to Wu Jianye's new movie fell into silence for a while.
Before the movie "The World of Chu Xing" was released, they were not optimistic about the movie. They thought that no matter how good Wu Jianye was, what achievements could a Chinese movie achieve in North America?
The biggest possibility is that, like other Chinese films, it will become a particularly niche film and be praised by some film critics, which will already be a great success.
But now seeing the answers from these audiences, their hearts began to waver. Is Wu Jianye really a genius as Martin Lloyd said? Even a Chinese film can achieve good results in North America.
?
Just in such doubt.
The second day of the release of "The World of Chu Xing" ended. Also in the early morning, all the production companies also knew the box office of this movie on the second day.
$15.82 million!
The box office on the third day was still gratifying, with 15.31 million US dollars!
Thanksgiving is a unique holiday in the United States. It falls on the Thursday of the fourth week in November, so on Sunday, the box office was still as high as 14.21 million US dollars!
The box office in the first week reached US$56.23 million!
When this box office came out, everyone was in great confusion. Even Matthew Murphy and Johnson felt that the box office of this movie was a bit too amazing!
In fact, when Wu Jianye saw this box office, he was a little surprised. You must know that in another time and space, this movie was not known for its high box office.
The box office in the first week was just over US$31.54 million.
Even if there is one more day of release now than in another time and space, it shouldn't bring in more than 20 million yuan more at the box office, right?
During the subsequent investigation conducted by Phantom Pictures, Wu Jianye learned the reason.
First of all, the fact that this movie can achieve such a high box office must be related to himself. Now Wu Jianye is also a director with great box office appeal in North America, with "The Last Days" and "Jurassic Park"
"The two movies have made him a god. Even if some viewers chose not to watch the movie because of its subject matter, the box office revenue brought by others is still amazing.
In another time and space, although Peter Weir, the director of the movie "The Truman Show", is also a well-known director, his work is more on independent films and cannot be compared with Wu Jianye.
Secondly, this movie was released six years earlier than another time and space. The novel experience it brings will make audiences of this era even more fascinated by this movie.
When the movie entered its second week of release, the box office inevitably declined, with a drop of 35% and a box office of US$36.55 million!
This level of decline is already a very good figure. Judging from the current box office trend, the final box office of this movie may be fixed at around 150 million US dollars!
It far exceeded everyone's expectations when the first day's box office came out.
Other film production companies know the production cost of this movie, which is less than US$2 million, but this is not the cost of releasing the movie in North America.
Including the US$20 million in promotional expenses for this movie in North America, this is the production cost of this movie in North America at US$22 million!
The promotional cost of US$20 million is also one of the key reasons why this movie can achieve high box office.
The cost of 22 million US dollars was exchanged for a box office of 150 million US dollars. This result is enough to drive many film production companies into madness.
Wu Jianye's appeal in Hollywood has been proven again.
At this time, Wu Jianye was receiving representatives from major production companies. They had no other ideas but wanted to establish a good cooperative relationship with Wu Jianye, and Universal even talked to Wu Jianye.
In the future, their company can invest in movies directed by Wu Jianye without asking any questions. Although rb Panasonic acquired Universal, Universal's exaggerated debt dragged Panasonic to the point of collapse, and it had always maintained a relationship with Universal.
Spielberg, who has a good cooperative relationship, has also begun to choose to cooperate with other film production companies in the past two years. This is equivalent to breaking an arm of Universal, and the situation has become even more difficult.
Now they urgently need to find a director with more box office appeal to work with.
And Wu Jianye was their target.
As for their previous conflicts with Phantom and Wu Jianye, they are no longer important at this time.
Nowadays, the Phantom has long been established in North America, and it cannot be defeated by anyone who wants to. However, Wu Jianye has now achieved such success with "The World of Chu Xing", an atypical film in North America.
The huge success made them want to cooperate even more.
There are no eternal friends and enemies, only eternal interests!
This sentence is also a standard answer in Hollywood. The same is true for other film companies. They all hope to establish a cooperative relationship with Wu Jianye!
Prior to this, Wu Jianye was regarded by all production companies as a director of Spielberg's level. After experiencing the baptism of the movie "The World of Chu Xing", they even ranked Wu Jianye as a director.
Before Spielberg!
Because Wu Jianye has never failed...
Wu Jianye neither agreed nor disagreed with all requests for cooperation from production companies. The Phantom has now entered a process of stable development in Hollywood.
It is no longer like when we first started, we had to fight against the sky and the earth to establish our own authority. Now the Phantom is more about establishing its own alliance and seeking a long-term development path!
You still have to find the business partner that suits you best among these alliances!
In the end, Wu Jianye just told them that if they needed cooperation, Wu Jianye would come to them!
Apart from Wu Jianye, the one who benefited the most from this movie is Zhou Xingchi!
He also received many invitations from Hollywood film companies. At this time, Zhou Xingchi found Wu Jianye and expressed his thoughts.
"If you say you don't have the idea of making movies in Hollywood, it must be a lie. It's just that there are many movies here and I have read the scripts they submitted. To be honest, they don't suit my style!" Zhou Xingchi said with some distress.
.
Wu Jianye smiled after listening to Zhou Xingchi's narration. This is an actor who has a very clear plan for his future.
"Actually, I don't think you are suitable for Hollywood right now!" Wu Jianye said straight to the point.
Wu Jianye then explained: "In my opinion, the Hollywood film companies found you after seeing your performance in "The World of Chu Xing", but your movie style is more exaggerated than this.
In particular, there are many scenes that Westerners cannot understand. Your style and Cheng Long's are different. Cheng Long's is an action comedy, which everyone can tell at a glance, while your comedy needs some cultural background to set it off.
It can be shown better!"
Zhou Xingchi also nodded when he heard this, but thought that it would be a pity if he just gave up the opportunity to come to Hollywood. In this era, no one would be so determined to refuse Hollywood's invitation!
Wu Jianye laughed and said: "If you really want to come to Hollywood, I think you can first familiarize yourself with the Western cultural background, and then find a compromise entry point among the differences between Eastern and Western cultures!"