In 2001, the total box office of Chinese movies was 2.35 billion.
During the same period in history, it was only 890 million.
The reason why there is such a big gap is that the Chinese film reform led by Xiao Qian is proceeding smoothly.
Especially in the past time, China Film and Dongying respectively completed their initial expansion.
China Film Group went to great lengths to finally include Shanxi Province in its cinema chain system.
However, Dongying is faster. After merging the film market in Guangdong Province, it has already begun to conquer Sichuan and Chongqing. Going back to capture Hubei Province, the preliminary layout has basically been completed.
In the rest of the South, it's all lunch, and you can eat it whenever you want.
The booming box office growth and the impact of foreign blockbusters have made local filmmakers realize that the only way to grab as much dividends as possible is to produce their own blockbusters.
The tastes and choices of the audience are here, and it is impossible to succeed if you don't adapt to the market.
The first one to take action was Zhang Guoshi.
As China's number one director, Zhang Guoshi has numerous honors and is also a leading figure in Chinese films. As Chinese films are about to enter the blockbuster era, it is of course appropriate for him to be the pioneer.
China Film's film production plan was submitted and received Li Jianguo's full support. Even Li Jianguo was not satisfied with Zhang Guoshi's one-man show, so he approached Xiao Qian and asked him to make a difference.
Xiao Qian knows that the era of blockbuster movies will definitely appear and will become the mainstream of the movie market in the future.
It's not that he never thought about making a blockbuster, but he was temporarily hampered by the action movie plan. In addition, Ning Han, Zhou Xingxing and others had endless plans, so he just couldn't do anything at all.
Now that Li Jianguo has issued a death order, he will have to do it even if he doesn't.
On the way back to the Magic City, he completed his initial idea.
When I arrived at the company, the first thing I did was to talk to Weng Zhian and Xu Jiayi.
"Great, you have taken some action."
Weng Zhian expressed support immediately.
Although making blockbusters is expensive, one advantage is that starlight special effects technology can be used.
Since the establishment of Starlight Special Effects, the input and output are completely out of proportion.
While other departments are making huge profits, Starlight Special Effects is a gold-swallowing behemoth.
Even with Weng Zhian's big heart, he felt frightened.
"Which actors are needed? Give me the list now, and I will coordinate their schedule."
Xu Jiayi is also gearing up and full of motivation.
The artists in her hands are all very ambitious, and they are all waiting to be promoted. Starring in a blockbuster movie is definitely the best opportunity.
Xiao Qian didn't expect that they were more anxious than herself, and couldn't help but laugh.
"Wait until I establish the project first."
With the support of the two bosses, project approval and funding were no problem, and Xiao Qian quickly held a meeting.
There were not many people attending the meeting. Apart from Wang Fei, the head of Starlight Film and Television, there was only one director, Shen Peiwen.
The rest are the screenwriting team, photography team, etc.
Shen Peiwen was very happy about this situation.
It is obvious that Starlight Film and Television's blockbuster will be directed by him.
Ning Han is preparing for "Crazy Racing", and Zhou Xingxing is still in the northwest and has not returned. If Xiao Qian doesn't direct it himself, he will be the only one left among the remaining film directors.
"You all know about China Film and Zhang Yimou's big blockbusters, right?"
A group of people nodded.
As a leading Chinese film director, Zhang Guoshi's every move has attracted much attention. In order to build momentum, China Film has done a booming publicity, and with so many top stars joining the film, who in the industry can not pay attention?
"We all know the box office market last year, and you have all seen the scenes of foreign blockbusters conquering the city. I think China Film's idea is right. We must create our own blockbusters to win over the audience and the market."
He set the tone for the blockbuster plan and boosted military morale.
The people below were gearing up and fighting high.
Many of them participated in the production of "The Opium War" and of course they know the benefits of blockbusters.
Although the filming was very hard at first, they all made a lot of money from "The Opium War".
Now that several years have passed, Starlight has finally started major production again.
"This is the hero's script. You should read it first and give your opinions."
Xiao Qian distributed the scripts one by one, shocking everyone.
Can I get the script of "Hero"?
In the eyes of others, the blockbusters carefully produced by China Film Group must of course be kept secret, but they must also be divided.
At least Han Siping and Zhang Guoshi knew that there was no possibility of Xiao Qian leaking the secret. The most important thing was that Xiao Qian also promised that after the script of Starlight's blockbuster was polished, it would be open to them.
This is mainly because China has little experience in blockbuster production, and even Starlight is a student who has just started. Since you can't go to Hollywood to learn, you can only learn from each other among your own people.
By first analyzing the script of "Hero", you can summarize some pros and cons and provide yourself with experience.
The conference room became much quieter, everyone formed different small teams, and the discussion became more and more lively.
After two hours, everyone began to communicate with each other.
"Let's talk about the advantages of heroes first. Mr. Wang, you go first?"
Wang Fei did his part and was the first to speak.
"When it comes to the project of Hero, there is no doubt that it is the way to go for a blockbuster. Big production, big director, big actors, big publicity. Based on the production, the result of this movie is already determined. As long as the quality is not bad, the box office will definitely be
very good."
Wang Fei is now a top producer, and his thinking direction is also in production.
The views he put forward were unanimously recognized by everyone.
Many laypeople have a big misunderstanding about movies.
I just feel that the risks of high-investment movies are too high, and it is easy to lose everything.
But in fact, the movie market operation is very mature. Unless there are special unexpected circumstances, otherwise, with careful and perfect operations, even if the quality of the movie itself is very poor, the box office will not be bad.
For example, "The Promise" has been criticized by many people. Even if it has a bad reputation, who still remembers that this movie was the box office champion in 2005?
With a box office of 181 million yuan, I don’t know how many colleagues are envious of it.
In the final analysis, the market for blockbusters does not only depend on the quality of the movie itself.
Operation is the key to success in blockbusters, and the risk of failure is almost infinitely close to zero.
In other words, quality determines the upper limit of blockbusters, while operation ensures the lower limit of blockbusters.
After Wang Fei, Shen Peiwen, as director, began to analyze the plot.
"The production scale of this movie can definitely be called a blockbuster, but the plot is slightly weak. The overall story construction is unscientific, the literary and drama is a bit bland, and the martial arts is too dull, but it is excellent in terms of color, camerawork, special effects, etc.
There is something outstanding.”
Although Starlight has not produced a blockbuster since "The Opium War", its research on blockbusters has never been interrupted. On the contrary, it has been quietly preparing.
Xiao Qian once made a request to the directors and screenwriters of Starlight that they must fulfill.
You must watch more than ten Hollywood blockbusters every year and write down your viewing experience and analysis.
Then, these people will gather together with analysis reports to discuss and communicate, so that they can learn from others while also accumulating experience.
Blockbusters must take a commercial route, and how to create the greatest value is an issue that commercial blockbusters must consider.
No matter how ever-changing the stories of commercial blockbusters are, there are certain rules in plot settings.
A splendid and dazzling opening, complete and strict plot structure, smooth and charming foreshadowing, and then a grand finale with explosive effects are the blockbusters that give the audience the highest level of enjoyment.
When China's commercial blockbusters first started operating, they suffered from a lack of experience and had issues with plot design.
Take "Assembly Number" as an example.
The most exciting part of this movie is the scene in Wayaochang that blocks the national army. It is a wonderful and intense battle scene that makes people excited to watch it.
Apart from this, the rest of the fight scenes in the film are slightly lacking.
The most problematic part is that the ending of the movie is too bland.
The core content of the entire movie is the journey of a man named Gu Zidi in search of his identity.
The original movie has almost no ups and downs, just like a running account.
A commander of the People's Liberation Army fought bloody battles during the war years and was ordered to stop the enemy. He was taken as a prisoner because he was wearing the clothes of the national army.
However, he has never given up his efforts to clear his grievances and desperately desires to regain his identity.
Later, on the Korean battlefield, he met an officer who admired him very much. With the help of this officer, Gu Zidi went through all kinds of hardships to find his identity and understand the truth about that year.
But the final scene of the confrontation with the witnesses in the Martyrs Cemetery can only be regarded as a literary drama, and it is not enough to support the structure and ending of a commercial blockbuster.
If Xiao Qian had been asked to film, he would never have plotted like this.
