In the past two years, major directors from all walks of life have taken turns to appear in the film industry. One blockbuster after another has made people overwhelmed.
But this summer season, it doesn’t have the same flavor as previous summer seasons.
That is to say, "Tiny Times" came out of nowhere, which made the Internet look so lively.
However, the film market is still tepid.
On the 11th, "Rooftop Love" directed and starred by Jay Chou was officially released. In the evening, CBD Wanda and "Pacific Rim" also held a premiere ceremony.
Originally, Hollywood movies would only hold a meeting in China, but rarely hold a large-scale premiere ceremony like domestic movies.
Li Qian originally didn't want to do it, but Song Ge wanted to do it, so Wanda should pay for a premiere ceremony on its own.
In the past few days, Li Qian has also helped promote the movie. After all, he owns most of the mainland box office, so he promoted it on Weibo.
Fortunately, movie fans are very considerate of it. As a Hollywood movie, it is not a big IP like "Transformers" or a superhero movie, so it is quite popular.
However, the protagonist of the premiere was obviously Jingtian, and the ceremony was also held on Wanda's property. Wanda paid for it, so Li Qian was indifferent anyway, just a heroine with little presence.
Li Qian did not come on stage. Wanda invited the director and the leading actor to support the heroine. Now that Wanda has acquired the second largest theater chain in North America, it has full credibility. Warner agreed to this request without saying anything. .
Ever since, Jingtian has become the protagonist on the stage.
The heroine of a Hollywood blockbuster with an investment of 200 million US dollars, the treatment she received at the premiere made all the female stars in the audience jealous to death.
But I can only feel envious.
The ceremony went smoothly, Wanda worked hard, and the reporters who received the red envelopes were quite sensible.
The movie started to show. The plot of this kind of sci-fi movie that focuses on special effects and mechas is usually very simple, let alone a large-scale production with an investment of 200 million. Usually the more expensive Hollywood movies are, the simpler the plot is to understand, avoiding the Any possible failure factors.
The plot of the movie is also very simple. A parallel universe "Breakthrough Point" appears deep under the sea in the Pacific Rim region, and then a huge behemoth creature rises from the "ocean".
The first behemoth destroyed San Francisco and all surrounding coastal cities, and most of mankind's military operations to stop the behemoth ended in failure. However, the behemoth eventually died in a nuclear bomb under the desperate resistance of humans, but San Francisco A hundred miles in radius became a deserted land.
Monsters began to appear one after another. In order to fight against the monsters, humans were at their wits' end and invented their own "monster": the Mecha Hunter, which was operated synchronously by two operators with mutual brain neural networks.
Although it has been baptized by the "Transformers" series, when the huge mecha appeared on the big screen, it still aroused the audience's amazement.
"Fuck!"
"So big!"
"This mecha is so domineering, it can kill "Transformers" instantly!"
Not long after the show started, Li Qian heard the reaction from the audience in the front row, which was completely uncontrollable.
With a production cost of 200 million US dollars, the special effects can be said to be top-notch among similar movies, and even overcome the shortcomings of light and shadow in CG special effects.
The light of CG special effects is not typed, but painted by the compositor. Therefore, careful viewers will find that the light of 9 out of 10 blockbusters with CG shots is almost the same.
However, "Pacific Rim" achieved the transformation of CG lighting from textures to light and shadow.
I can only say that it is awesome. This change in lighting directly made the special effects of the movie stronger.
Technically speaking, it may not be as good as "Transformers", but just in terms of visual effects, it can be said to be a level better than "Transformers".
Technology does not mean the effect presented. Technology is one thing, but visual effects are another.
Under the IMAX3D viewing experience, the reaction of the audience in the front row was particularly obvious. Against the backdrop of the huge mecha, it felt completely immersive.
As far as the front row is concerned, the effect can be said to be second only to "Avatar".
Top-notch audio-visual effects and a smooth and simple story are already close to perfect for a popcorn movie.
The premiere went very smoothly, and the exclamations in the movie never stopped from the beginning. This is completely the instinctive feedback brought to the brain by vision and hearing, just like watching a comedy. You can't help but laugh at the funny parts.
As a result, the audience no longer cared about Jingtian's expressionless Sima face throughout the whole process.
It was officially released the next day. "Pacific Rim" has a surprisingly high reputation as a popcorn movie. The low-key setting, such as tall mechas that need to be transported by helicopter, did not deter the audience.
63 million on the first day, beating "Love on the Rooftop" which was released a day earlier, and the science fiction movie "Back to Earth" starring the Smiths.
231 million in the three days of the first weekend, with a single-day peak of over 90 million.
280 million the next week and 511 million in 10 days.
swept the mainland film market.
Throughout July, there was no opponent at all.
Although the follow-up trend of popcorn movies will not be too strong, after two weeks, the box office has reached 740 million.
Breaking 800 million is basically stable, and it is second only to "Avatar" and "Transformers 4" among Hollywood movies.
However, the North American box office was not that good. Four weeks later, the box office was only 90 million US dollars, not even 100 million US dollars.
It was a complete bloodbath, Legendary Pictures was going to lose money, but Li Qian was able to make a small profit.
With a US$200 million investment in a large-scale production, the North American box office was not as good as the mainland box office, and it also shocked the major Hollywood studios.
Li Qianke was extremely busy, and Thomas from Warner came over with a lot of projects and wanted to continue cooperation.
Li Qian looked through these projects seriously and said to him seriously, "Sorry Thomas, I am currently preparing a new movie. This is a very important movie. I have no time to take care of other things for the time being. For subsequent cooperation, I asked Du
Let’s talk to you anyway.”
"Director Li, we are friends, and our previous cooperation was very pleasant." After hearing what Li Qian said, Thomas became anxious. "Pacific Rim" was avalanche in North America, and the box office in Japan was average. Even though Warner didn't invest much, it was mainly for distribution.
But for this movie, the promotional expenses paid in North America alone were a huge sum, and the cycle was so long, with countless manpower and material resources invested, it was a total loss-making deal.
Li Qian also took the lion's share of the box office in the Mainland, but that's okay. If it were approved as a film itself, that's probably what it would be written about.
However, the sales of 800 million and more than 100 million US dollars also allowed Warner to see the box office potential of Hollywood blockbusters in the mainland. He must achieve subsequent cooperation.
However, Li Qian didn't have time and asked Du Yang to talk to him directly, so Thomas had no choice but to talk to Du Yang instead.
After Du Yang finished dealing with Thomas, he came to Li Qian's office and asked with some confusion, "Director Li, why did we reject Warner's follow-up cooperation?"
Li Qian shook his head, "Pacific Rim is just an example. If it wasn't a Japanese mecha that domestic audiences are familiar with, it would definitely not have the same box office. It's better to be cautious. Besides, our main focus is on our own movies, and we occasionally collaborate with Hollywood movies."
Just once will do."
If "Bad Pacific" hadn't had a sequel, and the sequel had a domestic heroine, there's a high chance that it would have been a hit domestically, otherwise Li Qian wouldn't have cooperated at all, and the risk was too great.
"Well, if we cooperate more, it is inevitable that the movie will fail at the box office. This is not good. If we keep hanging on to each other, we will become more proactive." Du Yang thought for a while, expressed his understanding, and then said, "And
, in order to make a co-production film, we finally made a sidestep and the investment ratio was not reached. If we do this again and again, Optoelectronics will not be able to turn a blind eye."
"That's the truth. After all, some manipulation has been done to fail to meet the investment ratio requirements. We can't do it all the time. It's almost enough once in a while." Li Qian nodded.
Not only Warner, Fox, Disney, and Columbia all sent people over to collaborate on a co-production, but Li Qian let Du Yang hold him back for a few days before finding an excuse to refuse.
The risk is high. Unless it is a very promising film, Li Qian will cooperate with it. Moreover, he is not short of money. Making domestic films is the main thing.
However, it feels good to have Hollywood giants chasing after you.
Hollywood is shocked by the contrast between the overseas and mainland box office performance of "Bad Pacific". As for the domestic film industry, some people are even rumoring that the success of "Pacific Rim" was mainly due to Li Qian.
Although this statement is a bit ridiculous, the quality of the film is there for all to see. It cannot be said that Li Qian is one of the producers, and just because of the publicity, it should be attributed to Li Qian.
However, it is such a coincidence that the box office is higher than in North America, which inevitably makes people think too much.
Li Qian didn't care about the outside world. He had not cared about the film since the premiere and concentrated on preparing for "Rejuvenation".
In two months, the script was polished, and then a group of people from the digital field were transferred over to prepare for the special effects.
Although it is just a simple "face change", even the subtle changes in facial muscles need to be perfect, which is not that simple.
Unlike those amateur TV dramas, where the powder on the face and the facial skin are almost gone, it is easy to capture the expression. Anyway, there is no change in the facial muscles.
We have been making preliminary preparations, and the location team has also been sent out to find suitable locations across the country.
It was not until August 7 that Li Qian appeared again to attend the premiere of "The Pursuit of Happyness".
The protagonist this time is still not Li Qian. As Li Qian's former executive director, Wen Muye was also favored by reporters and audiences. When the movie started to be promoted, he was more famous than many second-tier directors.
There is no way, who made Li Qian's executive director make a movie and it became a hit.
As an inspirational chicken soup movie, "The Pursuit of Happiness" is absolutely top-notch in these two aspects. Although the previous plot is dull, it guides the audience step by step into the feelings of the characters.
The scene where Deng Chao was sleeping in the toilet with his son in his arms, covering his ears, banging his feet against the toilet door, listening to the violent banging outside, and crying silently, directly made the audience's emotions burst out.
With the success of Deng Chao, the premiere was also a complete success with overwhelming applause from the audience.
Just like the success of "Pacific Rim", "The Pursuit of Happiness" as a drama film sold 43 million on its first day.