"Magic City Fortress" was a bloodbath in a situation that was both unexpected and expected by everyone.
A month ago, "Fortress" was still a highly anticipated science fiction blockbuster, a strong contender for the summer film championship, and a blockbuster hit of the year.
However, from the schedule arrangements of other distributors, we can see how professionals in the industry view this film.
"The Wandering Earth" was released on July 4th. As the beginning of the summer season, there was no other decent movie released in the first week.
Next week, there are still no new movies released. This is the summer season, and every inch of space must be fought for. Generally, there are new movies released every week.
It wasn't until the third week, 14 days later, that two new films, "Heroes of Fire" and "Anti-Drug 2", were released on the 18th. One of these two films requires a lot of investment, and the other is a sequel. I would rather put them together and it's not far away.
Go early to take advantage of the second week without competition.
Even, "Fortress" will be released on the 25th of the fourth week, just a few days apart.
It would be better for the two films to be released on the same day and compete with each other. It is one week apart from the much-anticipated super blockbuster "Fortress". It is enough to see that they would rather touch "Fortress" than "The Wandering Earth".
Anyone who is professional can see that Guo Fan had previously filmed a sci-fi movie called "The Adventures of Li Xianji", and it disappeared immediately after it became a hit, and he was concentrating on preparing for "The Wandering Earth".
In addition, Li Qian's attention makes him much more reliable than Teng Huatao, who is good at making emotional dramas, has been involved in street fights, and even became a director of variety shows.
Not to mention the male protagonists, although everyone is willing to use traffic, they just need their traffic, and they are well aware of the acting skills of these people.
The gap between the box office and reputation of the two science fiction films was expected, but the gap was also unexpectedly large.
I originally thought that although the movie might not be very successful, with Penguin and Ahri's two major capitals, and the leading actor's 60 million fans, it would still be able to earn over a billion at the box office.
But let alone one billion now, it was more than 90 million on the first day, 20 million on the second day, and the final estimate is just over 100 million.
Two major capitals, a traffic of 60 million fans, a big IP, and a box office of more than 100 million, this is what everyone unexpectedly expected.
There are 60 million fans, and one ticket per person is worth hundreds of millions in box office.
Such a disastrous failure has caused film companies in the industry to re-examine the role of traffic in movies.
You don't have to spend money to watch TV series, and various click data and Internet popularity can be faked, so traffic will work. However, if you actually spend money to buy tickets for movies, traffic will be ineffective.
This has also caused some projects that were originally looking for traffic to be temporarily shelved or to reconsider the cast.
However, "Fortress" is still struggling, and Chen Wu has not given up.
At noon on the 27th, Teng Huatao, Jiang Nan, and several actors simultaneously apologized to the entire audience on Weibo.
The actors' apology meant that they were sorry and accepted criticism. As the director, Teng Huatao wrote a lot of them eloquently.
A few thousand words, probably just a few points.
First of all, Teng Huatao said that he is aware of the public's opinions and will now explain it to the public.
Then, it was very difficult for me. It has been filming for five or six years. It was very difficult for everyone on the team. It was also not easy for domestic science fiction.
Then, because I really have no experience, the pictures I took were so unsatisfactory.
In the end, although the filming was not good, the movie is like my own child and I am very satisfied with it. I hope everyone will continue to support it.
Such a perfunctory apology, without a word of apology or any fault, the audience will definitely be dissatisfied.
There are also talented netizens who have re-condensed Teng Huatao's apology, made a reading comprehension, and changed the tone: I am Teng Huatao, and this bad movie was made by me.
Your blind bb, I know, I will explain it now.
I have been filming for 6 years, 6 years, shouldn’t you be moved?
It's good if you can make a bad picture without experience. Don't compare us with "The Wandering Earth" and Hollywood blockbusters, okay?
I'm very satisfied with this bad movie. You can do whatever you like.
This apology, however, made "Fortress" even more popular. A lot of trolls suddenly appeared on the Internet, and they all came out to express their understanding, saying that domestic movies, especially domestic science fiction movies, are not easy.
It's good to be like this. I hope everyone will be more tolerant of domestic movies.
Some fans also copied the sentence from "Nezha" that "the prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain that is difficult to climb."
They attributed the failure in box office and word-of-mouth to the audience's ill will toward actors and popular celebrities.
In their words: Do you want to completely destroy domestic movies?
Yes, in their eyes, scolding "Fortress" will ruin domestic movies. I don't know what kind of brain circuit they have to equate the two. They must have very good grades in elementary school mathematics.
The marketing at this stage is simply a failure. It’s not easy here, it’s not easy there. He needs to be tolerant and give more patience to domestic films.
If your wife cheats on you, you should be more tolerant. After all, if you are not good enough, your wife will not be easy either.
Although this adaptation has won a lot of praise from the audience, it has brought the popularity of "Fortress" to a higher level. The countless trolls and 60 million fans have made a lot of noise.
However, at this time, seeing that the dust was about to settle, people in the industry also spoke out.
For those who are more direct, Aiteng Huatao shouted from afar, asking him to be more sincere in his apology, and not to apologize while swiping data to buy hot searches.
I originally wanted to sell it as a cripple, but it turned out to be a joke.
The box office continued to fall on this day, plummeting 50% in a single day, with just over 10 million.
On the fourth day, Sunday, the sales were not cut in half, and there were still 7 million in a single day.
On Monday, there were only 2 million left at the box office.
It was completely hopeless now.
It took several years and invested 300 to 400 million yuan in exchange for a box office of over 100 million yuan. This may be one of the most failed investments in Chinese film and television, second only to "Asura".
The similarly large-scale "Legend of the Gods" both sold more than 200 million, and the two "Taiping Wheel" together also sold more than 200 million.
Not only is the box office worse, but the people involved in the movie are also worse.
Not to mention the male protagonist, his reputation plummeted and his popularity with the public fell to the bottom.
Teng Huatao was also scolded miserably, not only by the audience, but also by the actor's fans who accused him of failing to make a good movie as a director, causing his own idol to suffer, and he should be blamed.
On his own side, internal strife began. Not only were outsiders scolding him, but the actor's fans were also scolding him. Teng Huatao was suffering from double attacks, and it was hard for him both mentally and physically.
Since the movie was released, Teng Huatao has been alone unless he was participating in road shows or accepting interviews with the crew.
What I do most is to be in a daze.
Several years of hard preparation, production, and ambitious attempts to avenge the past and prove myself again turned into nothing.
Even before the movie was released, Teng Huatao was still thinking that after success, he would stand up in front of Li Qian and tell him that not investing in himself in the first place was the biggest mistake of his life.
But now, Teng Huatao remembered Li Qian's original evaluation of his script and the difficulties listed in the adaptation. All of them were on point. They were all areas that the movie failed to do well. He felt a burning pain in his face.
And, endless regret.
If I had listened to Li Qian and listened to his opinions and changed the script, maybe it would have been
Unfortunately, without what-if, Teng Huatao could only swallow this bitter pill.
In the interview, he also expressed his feelings:
"It's not that the male protagonist is not good, it's just that I have never made a film of this type. I shouldn't let an idol like him play the role. I didn't make a good judgment at the time."
Although I have always emphasized that it is not that the actor is bad, but that I made a wrong judgment at the beginning, and this type of movie is not suitable for idols, but as soon as these words came out, in the eyes of the public, Teng Huatao became the actor who blamed the blame.
For a time, both fans and passers-by were pointing at Teng Huatao, claiming that he would take advantage of himself and dump the responsibility to the actors. He was not worthy of being a director.
Almost instantly he topped the trending search list, and all public opinion was attacking him.
After this incident, the male protagonist had a chance to breathe and began to clear his name.
However, I don't know who dug out a still of him from the TV series "Cross Fire". He is also holding a gun and has the same long hair, which is exactly the same as in "Fortress".
One wave came after another, again and again, and once again attracted countless doubts.
Now "Fortress" has been completely nailed to the pillar of shame. Even in ten years, people will still remember this bad movie that can be recorded in the history of Chinese films.
Apart from the main creators, the investors are undoubtedly the ones suffering the biggest losses.
Teng Huatao ruined his career as a film director, the leading actor also interrupted his career on the big screen, and investors lost literally hundreds of millions.
The production cost is more than 300 million, and the publicity and distribution expenses from the beginning of filming to now are also hundreds of millions.
It's not that the 100 million announced is too much, it's actually not much. It has only been released for a few days, and I can't even spend any money on the follow-up. The daily box office of 1 million is still a hammer.
Huayang Media lost its last blockbuster of the year and will basically disappear from the big screen in the next year.
Moreover, without Ma Xiaogang, Tenghua Tao is in trouble, its own scandal has not escaped, and it is unlikely that there will be any new projects.
As for Penguin, although it is only the second largest investor, it has suffered greater losses than Huayang Media.
From the beginning of the film project, Penguin was basically the one doing the marketing. This film has taken too much of Chen Wu’s hard work.
All plans will rely on the success of "Fortress" as a basis to create a closed loop of the film industry and form an industry chain that Penguin can complete alone.
Now, the planned bankruptcy has cost both money and Penguin's future in the industry.
All the hard work and planning have been in vain. The audience's impression of idols has dropped to a freezing point. As long as movies starring idols are mentioned, they are all skeptical.
"waste!"
I don’t know how many times Chen Wu got angry. It’s not that he hasn’t thought about the failure of “Fortress”. In fact, in the past few years, he has made countless response plans and plans for the possible consequences of the movie.
The next action plan.
However, he never expected that "Fortress" would greatly exceed his bottom line in terms of reputation and box office.
More than 100 million points in box office!
If someone had said this to Chen Wu two or three years ago, instead of being angry, Chen Wu would have laughed. Then he would have opened Weibo and pointed at the actor's 60 million fans and told him.
The actor's fans alone contribute far more than 100 million in box office.
Normally, a company of this size is fully prepared to deal with the worst possible outcome.
However, Chen Wu had not even thought about this situation, and had not made any preparation at all. Any previous plans for the poor performance of the movie were naturally useless.
Just like Chen Wu prepared a variety of medicines, ranging from cold medicines to anti-cancer medicines, he also prepared the best doctors in all aspects. No matter what patient is sent, even if it cannot be cured, at least it can be delayed for a while.
Two years.
However, "Magic City Fortress" is not a patient, it is simply a dead person with one breath left, and even the gods and gods cannot save him.
However, after getting angry, Chen Wu is not an ordinary person to be the vice president of Penguin and in charge of Penguin's entertainment business group with a market value of hundreds of billions.
Put down the fire first, Chen Wu still has to fight to the death.
"Within a week, I will see an analysis report on all the reasons for the failure of "Fortress". If one thing is missing, everyone in your department will not receive the year-end bonus. Get out of here too!"
Chen Wu's chilly voice made the director of the marketing department feel a chill in his heart. He couldn't help but shudder even though he was more than one meter away and across his desk.
"Fortress" failed, but Chen Wu still has another movie "Zhu Xian".
The four major traffic stars, as well as the even bigger, even super IP "Zhu Xian" with national status.
The movie has been shot and is in post-production. It is expected to be released during the Lunar New Year, which is still four months away.
Within four months, Chen Wu avoided all the problems encountered in "Fortress". Even the smallest negative factors had to be eliminated before the movie was released.
Find the problem and solve it!
Chen Wu firmly believes that there is no problem in this world that money cannot solve.
If so, that leaves only one question.
Not enough money!
As "Fortress" dropped 2 million in a single day on its fifth day of release, Penguin also stopped subsequent marketing, basically giving up.
However, fans of the male protagonist still support their idol and have been persistently criticizing the comments online to clear his name.
If you didn’t buy tickets to support the movie when it was released, all your efforts are wasted now.
And other movies, whether it is "Heroes of Fire" or "Anti-Drug 2", have achieved good box office.
"Heroes of Fire" earned 600 million in its second week, and its total box office exceeded 1 billion.
Huang Xiaoming has ushered in another turning point in his acting career, which can be regarded as a turnaround.
"Drug 2" exceeded 500 million in its second week, and its total box office exceeded 900 million.
The two billion-dollar movies have made up for the failure of "Fortress" and have not affected the overall summer market.
And "The Wandering Earth" could still earn 400 million in its fourth week, bringing the total box office to 4.9 billion.
Now, with the further expansion of the market and the increasing movie-watching habits of the audience, it is difficult to break out of the trend of 100 million on the first day and 2 billion in total box office five or six years ago.
"The Wandering Earth" sold 3.6 billion in the first two weeks. I've seen everything I should see, and it has consumed most of its potential.
However, even so, it will only take a few days to exceed 5 billion.
For the last 100 million, "The Wandering Earth" took four days to become the third Chinese-language film to exceed 5 billion!
Modern military, animated movies, and domestic science fiction, three different genres, and all of them were unpopular genres at the time, which proves that today's film market is based on quality, and even unpopular movies can explode with unimaginable energy.
5 billion, coupled with the controversy that Li Qian stopped in time, "The Wandering Earth" has achieved the role it should play and set a good example for domestic films.
Although I have not heard of any company following the trend of making science fiction films, the failure of "Fortress" did not affect the audience's enthusiasm for domestic science fiction.
"Director Li, there is a joke on the Internet recently, saying that "The Wandering Earth" opened the door to domestic science fiction movies, and "Fortress" closed the door again. What do you think?"
When Li Qian was being interviewed, he was asked this question.
He smiled without thinking, "As you said, this is just a joke. Once this door is opened, it cannot be closed so easily. At least it cannot be closed by one or two bad movies. And
I believe that in the future, this door will open wider and wider until there are no more doors and it becomes a thoroughfare."
Although "The Wandering Earth" itself is not perfect, as the first domestic science fiction film, it is enough to be called perfect.
Although the garbage "Fortress" has stained domestic science fiction, the two movies were released at about the same time. When people talk about this summer movie, they only talk about the classic "The Wandering Earth", and "Fortress"