Chapter 853 Not Afraid
The movie "Hero" itself is a tribute film to celebrate the return of Hong Kong. As long as there are no major ideological issues, there will be no problem in passing the review, so its passing the review is almost a foregone conclusion.
But this film still gave a great surprise to the many leaders who came to review it today. After watching the movie, everyone gave the most direct evaluation with long applause.
After the screening, everyone was still discussing the plot of the film with great interest. Several people even pulled Zhang Yimou aside to ask him about some designs in the film that they did not quite understand, and to marvel at the superb art design and camera language in the film.
With the praise from everyone present, Zhang Yimou finally let go of the worry that had been hanging in his heart.
Liu Jianzhong smiled and said to Lin Weimin: "I finally know how you dealt with this tragic ending."
"Hero" follows the same plot as the story of Jing Ke assassinating Qin Shi Huang, but does not use the names of historical figures. Instead, it fictionalizes a group of brave warriors who are willing to sacrifice their lives based on historical facts. One of the purposes of doing this is to avoid problems that may be encountered in the censorship process of fictional history.
Another purpose is that although "Hero" is wrapped in a historical theme, it actually tells a story of martial arts. If real historical figures are used, it may also give the audience a sense of disconnection in the viewing experience.
In the final ending, Wuming (Jing Ke) is bound to die, and the audience knows this, so the tragic ending is inevitable.
But how to find a reason that the audience can accept is crucial.
"Hero" handles this point much better than "The Opium War". Wuming died, not from exhaustion or because he was inferior to others in skills, but because he surrendered and was willing to die for the sake of the people of the world.
King Ying Zheng of Qin may not be a good monarch, but at least he could end the war and let the people of the world live in peace.
Even though the people behind this peace and tranquility may still not be so happy, it is still better than treating human lives as worthless.
Wuming was willing to die, but he had no choice, because from his perspective, he wanted to change the world and let the people live in peace from now on. This was probably his best choice at the moment.
Sacrificing one person to save the whole world is something the assassin Wuming is willing to do, just like his predecessors who sacrificed their lives for this common goal.
So after watching the ending of "Hero", the people present did not feel depressed. What they felt was more of a sense of sadness and heroism, and empathy for the protagonist of the movie.
This ending perfectly sublimates the theme of "hero".
Liu Jianzhong and Lin Weimin joked for a while, and Tian Congming asked, "Is it really scheduled for July 1st?"
Lin Weimin nodded. "It's this day. It's a tribute film. Besides, we have to leave some time for The Opium War. It's meaningless if our own people kill each other."
Tian Congming sighed, "When you say that, I don't know whether to praise you for your broad-mindedness or for being stupid."
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "Whatever you say, I am confident in the quality of Hero and I am not afraid of any release date."
It is true that "Hero" is a tribute film, but the release date is not set in stone.
The reason why Tian Congming asked Lin Weimin this question is that the upcoming July and August will be the most fiercely competitive period in the Chinese film market this year. In July, "Space Jam" produced by Warner Bros. will be released, and in August, Spielberg's science fiction masterpiece "Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World" will be released. In addition, many domestic films will be released.
Imported Hollywood blockbusters have now been labeled "invincible" in the Chinese market. When ordinary domestic films encounter imported blockbusters, even those that are not popular abroad, they will be swept away.
Lin Weimin understood what Tian Congming meant. His words were actually half true and half false.
It is true that we don’t want to compete with “The Opium War” for the market. “The Opium War” is not a good commercial blockbuster, but it is definitely a good movie, and it is a movie that more Chinese people should see.
"I'm not afraid of any release date" is of course a lie. He doesn't have the confidence to compete with "Hero" and "Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World". Fortunately, this movie will be released in mid-August, which is more than a month away from "Hero", which is enough time for "Hero" to reap the market.
As for "Space Jam", Lin Weimin really didn't take it seriously. This thing is just a hybrid of cartoon and live-action made by Warner Bros. Even if Michael Jordan and other big-name stars made cameo appearances, it couldn't change the fact that it was a terrible movie.
The film grossed over 230 million US dollars worldwide, but it flopped badly in China, which was a rare case of a Hollywood blockbuster flop in the 1990s.
The failure of this movie also shows that no matter how powerful Hollywood blockbusters are, they always have to pay attention to quality.
The day after the Film Bureau's review was completed, Wenhua Films obtained the screening license for "Hero".
With the movie about to be released, the publicity campaign is coming like a gust of wind sweeping up the yellow sand, overwhelming the sky and the earth.
"Hero" was jointly distributed in China by China Film Corporation and Yanying Studio. Yanying Studio and Wenhua Film and Television had a tacit understanding that they were just the distributor in name only, while Wenhua Film and Television was still in charge of the specific publicity and distribution. Wenhua Film and Television only gave a symbolic 5% share of the box office revenue.
But the same cannot be said for China Film Corporation, which is a formal bureau-level unit. If they want to distribute the film, they have to pay them a 17% share of the box office revenue.
In order to obtain the greatest possible number of theater resources, Wenhua Film and Television does not mind paying the money, but the prerequisite is that China Film Corporation can provide publicity and distribution treatment worthy of "Hero".
It’s impossible for Wenhua Films to pay for all the publicity expenses while China Film Group makes all the money without doing anything.
Some time ago, China Film Group took over the distribution company of "The Opium War" and spent a lot of money and effort on that movie. Of course, it cannot treat "Hero" differently.
With less than 10 days to go before the release of "Hero", all kinds of information about the film have already flooded the streets and media in major cities across the country.
Television, newspapers, magazines, bus body ads, elevator ads...
Before the box office potential of third-tier and lower cities was discovered, first- and second-tier cities were the main target areas for film distribution and promotion, and all kinds of information about "Hero" almost fully covered the potential movie audiences in these cities.
Such a large-scale film promotion is the result of the continuous burning of film promotion funds.
In just half a month, the entire 20 million yuan of publicity funds were burned up, and "Hero" became a household name.
This money was not included in the production cost of "Hero", but was a separate publicity cost, jointly borne by Wenhua Film and Television and China Film Corporation, with China Film accounting for 5 million yuan.
China Film Corporation has never done such a loss-making business in its life, as it has to spend such a huge amount of publicity expenses before the movie is even released. However, Wenhua Film and Television has Lin Weimin's support, and "Hero" is known as the "first domestic commercial blockbuster" and a "tribute film", so they can only accept the debt.
Fortunately, 5 million yuan is not too much. According to the distributor's 17% box office share, they only need about 30 million yuan to recover the money. Of course, this is just an ideal situation. China Film Group also has costs for distribution. They can only make a profit if it doubles to 60 million yuan.
A box office of 60 million yuan is not a big problem for a movie of the level of "Hero".
When cooperating with Wenhua Film and Television, China Film Group was unhappy, and the cinema chain was not much better.
Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou's old partner in later generations, was a useless person in other aspects, but he was indeed a man of integrity when it came to arguing with theaters. He once managed to increase the producer's box office share from 38% to 45%. Unfortunately, he was stabbed in the back by a pair of shameless brothers in the end, and his efforts fell through.
The most fundamental reason why it is so difficult to break through the box office sharing of theaters in later generations is that after the theater reform in 2002, theaters have mastered the terminal monetization capabilities of movies and thus gained the right to speak.
At this time, cinema chains are still the younger brothers of distribution companies at all levels across the country and dare not speak loudly.
In the past, Lin Weimin felt that the film reform had just started and the market was too small, so he never cared about the box office revenue sharing.
This time "Hero" is about to be released, and Wenhua Film and Television has finally shown its fangs.
Wenhua Films directly proposed to increase the producer's box office share ratio from 38% to 45%. When this news came out, distribution companies and their affiliated theaters in various places were shocked.
How cruel! How cruel!
This is like taking out the ancestral sword to bargain.
From 38% to 45%, this immediately cut their box office share by 7%, which is tantamount to cutting their flesh.
Since it concerns their own interests, local distribution companies naturally cannot agree. However, at this time, the big brother China Film Group remained silent in the face of the huge demands of Wenhua Film and Television, without any of the domineering attitude it showed when facing them in the past.
The silence of China Film Corporation has served as a wake-up call to many dissatisfied local distribution companies.
They almost forgot that behind Wenhua Film and Television is the biggest bully in the Chinese film industry!
This bully is not here to seize my wife and daughter, he is just trying to take some fat meat from the stall.
Forget it, just bear with it!
In this way, Wenhua Films raised the box office share of "Hero" to 45% with almost no effort. This move not only secured benefits for themselves, but also brought benefits to many domestic producers.
After the news spread, Wenhua Film and Television's reputation among the many domestic film and television production companies became unparalleled, and it increasingly had the momentum of a leader.
The publicity and promotion work is still in progress. As the release date of "Hero" approaches, the various measures of the producers and distributors are constantly being improved.
Two days before the movie was released, a large inspection team set out from Yanjing and rushed to all parts of the country.
When "Farewell My Concubine" was released, Lin Weimin joined forces with several departments to organize a special campaign to crack down on the concealment and underreporting of movie box office revenues, which yielded fruitful results and helped push the box office of "Farewell My Concubine" to 200 million yuan.
At that time, piracy was not as rampant as it is now, so the main target of the crackdown was to conceal and underreport the box office. Now, times have changed, and the focus of prevention has to be changed to prevention of piracy.
In the past two years, before the release of its key projects, Wenhua Film and Television would organize a group of people to prevent piracy, but the efforts were usually not too great. After all, this kind of thing consumes huge manpower and financial costs, and if it is too big, it will easily not be worth the cost.
But this time the release of "Hero" is different from previous ones. It is known as the first domestic commercial blockbuster. Not only Wenhua Film and Television and Guowen Publishing House, but also the Film Bureau and the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television have high hopes for it.
"Hero" is once again a tribute film. This time, Wenhua Film and Television, together with several investors and the government, has sent out a 500-member monitoring team to crack down on the concealment and underreporting of movie box office and piracy in various places.
Everything is ready, "Hero" is about to debut!
(End of this chapter)
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