1980 My Literary Era.

Chapter 714 AIA Surprised
In late March, the news that "Farewell My Concubine" won the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the 66th Academy Awards was like a typhoon, leaving a big shock to the Chinese cultural community.

Media at all levels across the country have reported almost all aspects of the Oscars news, with various special articles sorting, summarizing, and reviewing published one after another.

"Farewell My Concubine", Lin Weimin, Cheng Kaige, Gong Li and other names closely related to movies frequently appear on TV, newspapers, magazines and many other media, tirelessly hitting the public's attention.

Everyone knows it!

"Farewell My Concubine" has created a news craze in China, and it is no less popular in the United States.

The novel "Farewell My Concubine" has been in the United States for more than 10 years and has sold nearly 200 million copies. The drama version has been performed on Broadway for several years and has attracted more than [-] million viewers. With such a huge readership and audience base, it can be called a masterpiece-level work.

Since the filming started, it has attracted the attention of countless readers, audiences and many production companies in the film industry.

At the end of last year, after winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, "Farewell My Concubine" entered the Hollywood awards season with great momentum.

In just one month, it won three of the four major American Film Critics Association Awards, making it an instant hit.

Immediately afterwards, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film was won by this film without any surprise, pointing to the Academy Award.

At the 1994 Academy Awards, the biggest winner was undoubtedly "Schindler's List," which won seven awards including Best Director and Best Picture. Spielberg's film reflected the tragic experience of Jews during World War II. The movie has surpassed the movie itself and become a kind of political correctness.

Of course, the quality of "Schindler's List" itself also deserves this honor.

The many films that were shortlisted this year were overshadowed by the shining light of "Schindler's List", except for one film.

That is "Farewell My Concubine".

Because it had not been released in the United States when it competed for the Academy Award, "Farewell My Concubine" could only be nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Award.

Xu Feng and Mike had two considerations in doing this. First, focusing on the Best Foreign Language Film Award can avoid distractions and ensure the greatest possibility of winning; second, if it is released in the United States in advance in order to compete for other major awards, there will be no Achieving maximum publicity effect will affect the box office after release.

On the contrary, if it can be released with the greatest media exposure after being guaranteed to win the Best Foreign Language Film Award, it will definitely be a strong boost to the box office of "Farewell My Concubine".

Obviously, Xu Feng and Mike's strategy succeeded.

"Farewell My Concubine" not only successfully won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but also quickly made the headlines of major news media in the United States after winning the award. It received as much attention as "Schindler's List" which won seven awards. This level of attention is naturally inseparable from the folk foundation of the original novel "Farewell My Concubine".

On the third day after winning the award, "Farewell My Concubine" was officially launched in 1400 theaters in North America.

Late March has always been a cool time in the United States, but "Farewell My Concubine" was filmed for three days. With the addition of Oscar's best foreign language film, it abruptly hit 5243 million meters, and it deserves to be the leader of the North American film market. Weekly box office champion.

This number not only set a box office record for Chinese films in the United States, but also broke the box office record for foreign films released in the United States.

The week after its release, the screening scale of "Farewell My Concubine" expanded again, reaching 2279. The highest single-day box office occurred on Friday, with an astonishing 3460 million US dollars.

In the seven days of the following week, "Farewell My Concubine" received an incredible box office of 1.25 million US dollars, once again winning the box office championship in North America that week, with a cumulative box office of 1.77 million US dollars, approaching the 2 million US dollars mark.

Everyone knows that 2 million meters will not be the end of "Farewell My Concubine".

1993年的《窈窕奶爸》用了23周拿到了2.19亿米刀，1992年的《阿拉丁神灯》用了22周拿到了2.17亿米刀，1990年的《人鬼情未了》用了30周拿到了2.18亿米刀，1988年的《雨人》用了25周拿到了1.73亿米刀，1986年的《壮志凌云》用30周时间拿到了1.77亿米刀……

Looking at the North American film market, there are not many movies that took 1.77 million yuan in box office in two weeks and ten days, but they are very few. Almost all the movies that finally exceeded 2 million yuan in box office used extended screening, which took more than half a year. Got it.

In the face of "Farewell My Concubine", which has been building momentum and raising hopes for ten years, these movies are more than inferior.

Ten days ago, Farewell My Concubine was just an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.There will be one such movie every year, and most movies will not cause any splashes in the Beimi film market, and no one cares about them.

Ten days later, "Farewell My Concubine" announced to the American film industry with its incredible box office that this was its era!

Today, there are only a handful of opponents facing "Farewell My Concubine".

3.59亿米刀的《外星人E.T.》、3.57亿米刀的《侏罗纪公园1》、2.85亿米刀的《小鬼当家1》……

Every opponent it will challenge is a classic that will remain in the history of film in North America. While challenging these predecessors, the name of "Farewell My Concubine" will also be written in the history of film in North America and the world.

A Chinese-language film conquers the North American market and has no enemy.

Even 20 years later, this will still be the most dazzling legend in Chinese movies!

The brilliant achievements of "Farewell My Concubine" are inseparable from all the movie audiences who support it. A large part of these people are fans of the novel and the drama. Based on the fans of the book and the drama, the film has formed The strong moviegoing crowd gave "Farewell My Concubine" unlimited box office potential, completely shocking the American film industry.

The North American film market has always been the back garden of Hollywood. Before "Farewell My Concubine", if you ask any American filmmaker, they would never have imagined that a Chinese film could be so raging in the North American market.

terrible!

"It's so scary!" Michael Phillips' tone was even a bit horrifying, "Lin, can you imagine? This is actually a Chinese-language movie, and a Chinese-language movie that I participated in investing in!"

"Calm down, Mike, I think it will be difficult for "Farewell My Concubine" to break through the box office of 3 million US dollars." Lin Weimin said on the other end of the phone.

"Do you know what you are talking about? With 3 million US dollars, the box office of North American movies, you can rank in the top five in history!" Michael Phillips said in surprise.

Don't blame the boss for not seeing the world, he was really shocked by the box office of "Farewell My Concubine" which was 1.77 million yuan in two weeks.Today is the 90s. The Titanic ship has not yet set sail, the Matrix empire has not yet risen, and the Marvel universe has not yet exploded. A movie with a box office of more than 1 million US dollars is already a big hit, and it is rare to see more than 3 million US dollars in ten years.

In a year when the box office is sluggish, with $1.77 million, it can even win the annual box office crown.

Such a shocking box office performance of "Farewell My Concubine" has been seen only a handful of times even if Michael Phillips has been in the industry for more than 20 years, not to mention that this is a movie he invested in.

Michael Phillips was venting his emotions on the phone, about things related to the movie box office, about the production company, about media reports...

In short, the success of the movie is a success. The world has opened its arms to "Farewell My Concubine". As one of the investors and producers of "Farewell My Concubine", Michael Phillips has naturally been enthusiastically received by Hollywood. sought after.

When Michael Phillips turned five years old, his old tree blossomed again, and he became a guest of major Hollywood production companies. He felt very proud for a while.

He also enjoyed this kind of treatment 20 years ago. In 1974, "The Liar", which he served as the producer, swept the Academy Awards that year, starting Michael Phillips' life journey as a well-known Hollywood producer.

In the past 20 years, Michael Phillips has enjoyed peaks and experienced troughs. He has long been proficient in the tricks of Vanity Fair and has a firm mind. He knows how to enjoy life in time without any nostalgia.

Because he understood that all the applause and honors he received were due to hugging his thighs.

"Lin, really, you should really take a look at the faces of these production companies. Now whenever you meet me at a cocktail party, they will try their best to get your contact information from me and let me help introduce them to you. company.

They have probably forgotten their arrogant faces when you asked for 500 million yuan! "

Michael Phillips' words were full of pride, but Lin Weimin felt that this guy was stirring up trouble and stirring up dissension.

"Farewell My Concubine" is a hit and is expected to be among the top box office hits in North America. Lin Weimin, a famous screenwriter who has been ignored by Hollywood for several years, has once again returned to the attention of major production companies.

That year, "The Last Emperor" won nine Oscars, and "The Intouchables" grossed 2 million US dollars at the global box office. Lin Weimin once became a favorite in Hollywood, and major production companies offered him olive branches.

But Lin Weimin is well aware of the piss-poor nature of Hollywood. He is so open-minded that a script costs 500 million yuan, which immediately scares off countless production companies who are interested in taking advantage of his popularity.

Because of this, Lin Weimin was labeled as "ignorant of current affairs" by Hollywood. Since then, few people have paid attention to his works, and he has received a cold reception in Hollywood.

Now that "Farewell My Concubine" has been released in North America and exploded at the box office, no one will give credit to director Cheng Kaige.

Whether it's the audience or Hollywood, all they see is "Farewell My Concubine" and its creator Lin Weimin.

Such dazzling achievements are hard for even Hollywood to ignore.

When it comes to doing business, don’t say it’s a waste of time. You have to eat what you have to do.

Michael Phillips certainly needs to be wary of this situation.

It was hard for him to get hold of Lin Weimin. After running the business for so many years, he would not let it go easily.

The little goblins in Hollywood are very good at trapping people. He must not give those people an opportunity to take advantage of him. Taking this opportunity to give them some eye drops, Lin's chance of being seduced will be smaller.

Because the distribution capabilities of Xu Feng and Michael Phillips in North America are relatively weak, the distribution of "Farewell My Concubine" was handed over to their old partner Columbia Pictures.

The film distribution model in the United States is different from that in China. It is more market-oriented. There are generally three ways for producers and cinemas to cooperate: negotiated guaranteed minimum price, fixed price and share. The method of dividing the accounts of "Farewell My Concubine" is no guaranteed share.

The unguaranteed split method is a big test for producers and distributors. Most companies dare not sign it. Only those producers and distributors who are extremely confident in the work dare to do this.

The calculation method of this account sharing method is more complicated. Generally speaking, the final box office share will be about 5:5 between the producer and the distributor: theaters.

Producers and distributors are further divided. This ratio is generally 6:4 in Hollywood. If a weak producer cooperates with a strong distributor, the ratio can even reach 5:5. The producer of "Farewell My Concubine" and Columbia The film industry's share ratio is normal, which is 6:4.

If calculated based on the box office of 3 million US dollars, the theater chain will share 1.5 million US dollars, the distributor Columbia will share another 6000 million US dollars, and Xu Feng, Michael, and Lin Weimin as producers can share 9000 million US dollars. .

Michael Phillips accounted for 35% of the box office revenue, which is 3150 million US dollars.

For a movie, the box office of Beimi alone exceeded the income of Michael Phillips for most of his life.

Let alone Hollywood, even if White G comes, Michael Phillips will not be able to let go of this thigh.

In the eyes of Michael Phillips, Lin Weimin is now a money-spreading boy exuding golden light.

"That's all you've been talking about for so long?"

Michael Phillips was still chattering on the other end of the phone, and Lin Weimin interrupted him.

"Of course not, there is another very important thing."

Seeing Lin Weimin's impatient tone, Michael Phillips stopped talking nonsense and became serious.

"what's up?"

(End of this chapter)