director of the millennium

"Hey, it is indeed Wu Yusen. The box office exceeded [-] million in four days."

Li Xiaoping sighed and said with some disappointment: "As soon as "Red Cliff" was released, our film schedule for "Gravity" was reduced by nearly half. In the past few days, the number of films scheduled nationwide has dropped to about 42%."

"The daily box office of "Gravity" also dropped to more than 2000 million, which was still affected by the release of "Red Cliff"."

Now, with the combined seats in theaters across the country, it is theoretically possible to achieve a box office of more than 2 million in a single day.

Of course, this is a theoretical result, and this requires all theaters in the country to be full on one day to achieve this.

In fact, when all the shows are added up in a day, the total attendance rate is only about 30%. After all, there are no people in the cinema in the morning, noon, and afternoon on weekdays. Only the prime theaters in the evening to evening can have an attendance rate of 90%.

Therefore, in fact, China's current one-day box office is only around 6000 to [-] million.

If you eat more of "Red Cliff", you will eat less of "Gravity".

As for the other movies of the same period other than these two movies, they were all literary and artistic films that followed the policy. The box office was only a few hundred thousand a day, which didn't add up to much.

The big battlefields are still in the two movies "Gravity" and "Red Cliff".

Before "Red Cliff" was released, the daily box office of "Gravity" was about 4000 million, otherwise it would not have exceeded 12 million in 5 days.

When "Gravity" was released, this score immediately dropped by half, and the daily box office was only 2000 million.

The newly released "Red Cliff" is coming with a lot of momentum. With a 48% screening rate, the box office exceeded [-] million in four days.

In Li Xiaoping's view, although this result is not as good as "Gravity", it is still eye-catching enough. It is half a day ahead of last year's "The Legend" which grossed over [-] million in box office in four and a half days.

Moreover, the box office of "The Legend" is over [-] million, which is the total box office of the mainland plus Hong Kong Island. The box office results of "Red Cliff" only count the box office results of the mainland.

Overall, the premiere results of "Red Cliff" were very gratifying.

However, in the eyes of Wu Yuan, who knew the inside story, the release of "Red Cliff" was already a setback.

In his dream, the box office of "Red Cliff" in the four days it was released was 1.2 million, 2000 million more than now!
Don’t underestimate this 2000 million, this is 1% of 20 million!
"Don't worry, let the bullets fly for a while." Wu Yuan was not nervous at all, and said calmly: "There has been a lot of buzz about "Red Cliff" recently. It's hard to say whether the box office can be maintained in the future."

Wu Yuan once read a joke on the Internet.

It was said that when Wu Baige was going to make this movie, the first screenwriter he wanted to find was Lu Wei, the screenwriter of "Farewell My Concubine".

According to Lu Wei's recollection, he asked John Woo at that time, what was the core theme that the film "Battle of Red Cliff" wanted to express?
Wu Baige said: Peace.

Lu Wei asked again which character he wanted to focus on.

Wu Baige said: Xiao Qiao.

Lu Wei asked again why?
Wu Baige: Lin Chiling is very beautiful.

Then Lu Wei parted ways with him and refused to touch the film "Red Cliff".

Regardless of whether this joke is true or not, Wu Baige's idea of ​​expressing "peace" in "Red Cliff" is indeed true.

So the question becomes, what kind of good Chibi battle can be filmed with this kind of thinking as a guide?
Wu Yuan sometimes wonders whether none of these Hong Kong directors have studied history?

In the current film industry, Hong Kong directors are indeed number one in the Chinese-speaking world in terms of their ability to make commercial films.

But the premise is not to touch historical themes.

Director Wu Baige's importance in the history of Hong Kong action films is undoubted. However, what he is good at is simple and straightforward stories of male and female love and brotherly loyalty.

He is proud of "A Better Tomorrow", "Across the World" and "Bleeding Heroes". The first two are actually about brotherly loyalty and love, while the latter promotes his violent aesthetics.

Including "Mission: Impossible 2", the entire story line is straight forward, the fight scenes are slow-motion, flying pigeons, and two guns shooting at each other. These are all things Wu Baige is used to playing.

This is Wu Baige's advantage, but for him, "Red Cliff" is where his shortcomings are shown.

He is neither good at grand narrative nor good at leaving blank space.

In a war movie, if you don’t shoot grand and cruel war scenes properly, you will try to pack everything into it.

The relationship between men and men, the relationship between women and women, and the relationship between men and women need to be discussed in the history of the family and the country, as well as the emperors and the people.

As a result, nothing was said.

In a sense, Wu Baige is very powerful.

He was able to film a thrilling battle involving a group of heroes into a deeply emotional film.The most impressive thing in the whole film is the phrase "Mengmeng, stand up!"

If there are no other blockbusters to choose from during the same period, then everyone would just hold their noses and go to the cinema to watch it because of the huge investment of 3 million.

But there is another "Gravity" being screened at the same time.

If "Red Cliff" had a mediocre reputation, would people still go to the cinema to watch this movie with an indifferent attitude?
Wu Yuan took out his laptop and found the newly opened "Red Cliff" movie review page on the Douban website.

"Look."

He motioned to Li Xiaoping to read the online reviews.

"It's outrageously bad! It's a joke about everyone's lives. It's just like Lin Chiling's dog-licking biography! Cao Cao is written like a prostitute... It also wastes a lot of good actors. It's a bad movie that just wants to deceive the box office by relying on their popularity... ”——Douban user: Xiaojinhua

"The hero has become a gangster boss, the counselor has become a chivalrous knight, and the fierce general has become a rough man. Therefore, the intrigues and heroic deeds have disappeared. The director presents the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in his personal understanding, not in the public understanding. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms." - Douban user: Tudou 123
"The grand scenes are paired with the extremely small layout. It's easy to imagine that a war movie was shot in such a petty style. We didn't see the heroic spirit, only the love between children." - Douban user: Seeing flowers in the mist
"I went into the cinema with the intention of seeing an epic masterpiece, but I only saw the chivalrous grudges performed by a group of people in the world." - Douban user: I love a piece of firewood
"The theme is absurd, the plot is absurd, and the characters are absurd. Xiao Qiao is a disaster. From the image to the actions to the lines, it is extremely artificial. One has to wonder how Lin Chiling joined the group." - Douban user: It's Youth
"Wu Baige basically shot Red Cliff from a Western perspective. It was completely for foreigners to watch. The knight-like generals, the Joan of Arc-like duel, the navy's complete defeat of the villain who relied on the cavalry to resist, and the final force of justice. A humiliating defeat against a powerful enemy.

For Westerners, this is simple and easy to understand. For Easterners, what is this thing being photographed? ”——Douban user: Tony Jia

"In a word: Towering trees cannot grow from small households. Hong Kong directors should just make some police and gangster movies. I shouldn't have any expectations for epic blockbusters made by a Hong Kong director. With this It’s better to play "Gravity" for the second time!" - Douban user: A drop in the ocean

Li Xiaoping quickly scanned the high praise comments in the "Red Cliff" comment area, and Li Xiaoping was a little surprised.

Different from the excellent box office results of "Red Cliff" at its opening, the post-viewing reviews and reputation of "Red Cliff" are not generally bad!
"Is the reputation so bad?" she said in surprise: "Then why is the box office so good?"

Wu Yuan spread his hands: "Only young people play Douban, and even fewer people can post movie reviews on Douban. It is estimated that they only account for about 5% of the moviegoers."

"Most people who watch movies now don't pay attention to Douban. They saw the overwhelming publicity for this movie and the eye-catching starring cast, so of course they were tempted to go to the cinema to watch it."

"However, I believe these negative comments will soon become known to everyone."

"At that time, the market will give a correct feedback."

I have to admit that mainland movie fans now still pay attention to the movie lineup.

Actors such as Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Chow Yun-mao, Kim Sung-wu, and Lin Chi-lin are displayed on the posters, which can still attract mainland movie fans to go to the cinema to watch "Red Cliff".

Since "Hero", mainland movies have joined the era of superstar blockbusters. As long as it is a blockbuster, it must have a superstar starring.

Do you think investors are willing to spend half of the total investment to hire these big-name superstar actors?

It’s not like today’s movie fans always look at the lineup first when watching a movie. Whoever’s movie lineup has a bigger name will be watched by more people.

So far, only two movies, "Your Name" and "Assembly", have broken this convention.

"Gravity" has Gong Li, the number one actress in Mainland China, doing the Poseidon needle.

With its star-studded cast, it is normal for "Red Cliff" to achieve a stellar box office in its first weekend, and this is something that no one can stop.

But it’s doubtful whether the movie’s subsequent box office performance will be like its original trajectory, which continued to thrive amidst all the criticism.

While Wu Yuan and Li Xiaoping were watching the online reviews of "Red Cliff", a few blocks away from them, Wu Baige and his team were also paying attention to the online reviews of "Red Cliff".

Unlike Wu Yuan's side, where the laughter was mixed with a hint of ridicule, Wu Baige's side could be said to be clouded and full of low pressure.

Wu Baige was actually very ambitious. He even looked down on Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and felt that it was not such a good novel. Luo Guanzhong wrote that Cao Cao was too stupid, and he gave all the glory to Zhuge Liang. body.

He wanted to make a film about the Three Kingdoms in his mind that was more reasonable and exciting than the original work, and wanted to reshape the public's impression of the heroes of the Three Kingdoms.

Then, he changed the classic "capture and release Cao" to have nothing to do with Guan Yu, but was captured and released by Zhou Yu.

It can only be said that Wu Baige feels that he understands "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" better than CCTV, and wants to let audiences across the country understand him.

The idea is beautiful, but the reality is very skinny.

Looking at the various criticisms and incomprehensible voices on the computer screen with a gloomy expression, Wu Baige snorted coldly, breaking the gloomy atmosphere in the conference room.

"This audience is no good and they don't understand my thoughts at all!"

"It's like playing the piano to a cow and wasting all my true feelings!"

"Have the comments from foreign audiences been collected? What do they think?" (End of this chapter)