Chapter 362
Superhero movies won't change actors, but they may change roles directly
"Kung Fu Master" is not only the beginning of a series of stories, but also has to tell a clear independent plot of this film, which actually tests the storytelling ability of the screenwriter and director.
To the audience's relief, Dilland and Miracle did not disappoint this time.
As a commercial film, "Kung Fu Master" not only tells a clear story, but also gathers almost all the things that audiences like to watch and are popular in the market.
There are super-exciting fighting scenes and special effects, ups and downs of excitement and hooks, a growth line for the protagonist "They all don't think highly of me, but I am the most competitive", and some comedy and reasoning elements.
Of course, the most important thing is Li Mo’s identity as an oriental hero. Compared to "Kung Fu Master", mainland audiences feel that this title suits her better.
Because Li Mo knows so many things - Kung Fu is just one of her skills. She can draw talismans, chant spells, and tell fortunes (?). Li Mo also has many other specialties that Diland did not emphasize, which made the audience exclaim in surprise when they walked into the theater.
(Some enthusiastic people corrected that Li Mo's was fortune-telling, which was used to sense monsters, and it was different from street fortune-telling.)
"The Kung Fu Master" had more than 30 screenings on the first day, and maintained around 30 on the second and third days, ranking among the top in the summer season.
Despite this, the box office of "Kung Fu Master" is still higher than its screening schedule. Among the so-called "Four Heavenly Kings of Summer", two of them are in reverse order, and it is estimated that they are going to lose some money.
As for who to spit on, the cinema already has the answer.
The films in July have passed their peak period, and the last few that ranked last have basically no hope of a comeback. These new screenings are evenly divided between kung fu movies and comedy films.
Currently, the two films are competing fiercely. The comedy was released first and has a leading advantage in total box office, but the daily box office of Kung Fu has exceeded it for three consecutive days in the first weekend. It depends on how it performs on weekdays.
If nothing unexpected happens, the champion of this summer vacation will be born from these two works. The market in July was not as hot as it is now. The suspense crime film that led July did not receive as good as expected after its release. The current cumulative box office is only more than 900 million, which is no match for these two.
Currently, the ticket purchasing platform predicts that the box office revenue for "The Kung Fu Master" is between 1.8 billion and 2 billion yuan, which is a significant increase compared to the media's advance predictions.
The situation in the mainland is very good, and the overseas market is taking off directly. It earned 50 million U.S. dollars on its first day of release in North America, and its box office reached 130 million in its first weekend. At this rate, it is expected to become one of the top five films of the year.
China and North America are the two major voting bases that Diland focuses on. The first week's results both met expectations and even exceeded them by a lot.
If these two places are stable, the global box office will basically be stable. What's more, the box office performance in various countries and regions was good, and the box office in Southeast Asian countries completely exceeded Diland's expectations.
Although the box office results in these places cannot be compared with those in key ticket bases, it also depends on what data they are compared with.
Compared to previous years, "Kung Fu Master" is far ahead, and when comparing the return on investment based on the marketing costs invested by Deland, it is even more incredible.
Industry insiders believe that there are two main reasons. First, the role of Li Mo can give Asians a greater sense of cultural identity. The plot arranged for her in "Kung Fu Master" is very European and American, but Ling Sui's presentation is very East Asian. She has found a delicate balance between the two.
Another reason is Ling Sui’s own passerby disk.
Even though she mainly made movies in Hollywood and participated in only three European film festivals when she "went international", her influence in the entire Asian region is not low. In the overseas versions of video platforms such as Aoqi and Antenna, her works are the most watched exported dramas in many Southeast Asian countries.
This achievement has been maintained for a long time, but Ling Suisui has too many halos, even fans, not everyone knows about it...
Logically speaking, it’s not Suisi’s fault that she doesn’t care about Ling Suisui. After all, for Ling Suisui, this was just a natural thing and there was nothing to be surprised about.
Good news came from all over the place, but because the movie was released not long ago, the Diland officials certainly can't open the champagne in advance.
However, the director of Kung Fu was already excited enough to contact Ling Sui Sui privately, asking her to get ready for the second part.
No, not just the second one. According to this box office trend, unless there are any unexpected events, a new superhero universe will be born!
Ling Suisui calmly said he understood. She acted calm and composed during the call, and after hanging up, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, fortunately, half of the burden on her shoulders can finally be lifted... God knows, during the time of waiting for the release, her mood has been a roller coaster for several times.
She originally wanted to have a hotpot to celebrate, but the entire month of August was a battlefield for movies, so she decided to just wait quietly for the results. Celebrating now is equivalent to actively raising your expectations, which is not a good attitude.
Moreover, it is not the director's decision whether to shoot a sequel or not, and the cooperation with Diland must be based on the contract.
When negotiating a film contract with a major film studio of this size, Ling Suisui did not dare to be careless at all, otherwise he would be easily controlled.
Friends in her list sent congratulations again. The autographed character photo that relatives and friends wanted became Li Mo. The related peripherals of "Kung Fu Master" were sold out, and Ling Suisui received another purchasing request.
She really can't help with this. Diland is a giant enterprise, and the production and peripheral sales businesses do not overlap at all. The only things she collected were the filming props she took from the crew.
Well, this is also an old tradition of superhero movies... Anyway, there will definitely be new ones in the next movie, and folding fans are much cheaper than shields, armor and other things.
Ling Suisui has been traveling around the world on roadshows during this period and has met with the leading actors of Kung Fu many times.
The film business was very good, with Dillard making the most money and Ling Suisui reaping the biggest dividends. However, other actors also gained highly-known roles. This kind of thing did not distinguish between the main and supporting roles, it all depended on individual performance.
Although there is no love line in "Kung Fu Master", there is still a popular CP in recent days, namely Li Mo and Amy, who plays senior investigator Michelle.
Michelle had doubts about Li Mo's identity since she first appeared. It was she who exposed Li Mo and asked the question "Can you guarantee success?" But she was also the first to firmly express her support for Li Mo during the team battle.
There was no special reason, just because Li Mo was right at that time and she would support the right side.
Compared to Li Mo, who has a distinct growth line, Michelle's setting is a bit more like a tool man, which is also a common problem of supporting characters in many superhero movies.
What made this character attract the attention of the audience was not only Amy's acting skills, but also the interaction between her and Li Mo.
Although the plot is not new, when the two of them look at each other, the kind of communication that can only be understood fills the gap in the lines' description of their relationship.
Moreover, precisely because it is inexpressible, netizens on both sides of the Pacific Ocean have different opinions on this aspect.
The sentiment in North America is "My charm will eventually conquer you", while the sentiment in Chinese is "Love and hate each other". Some people have wild imaginations and think that the character of Michelle has a very "motherly" feel. She and Li Mo are seniors and juniors in the Secret Service. Isn't this a kind of development system?
When Ling Suisui shared this statement with Amy, she was very surprised. Because when she was playing the role, she never thought of herself as Li Mo's mother.
Hmm... Ling Suisui continued to explain to her that the motherly feeling does not necessarily refer to a specific mother, but can also be a female image that makes people feel warm and especially safe.
Michelle is very capable. Although she didn't trust Li Mo in the early and middle stages and even tore off her vest, after she confirmed that Li Mo was not Master Li, her first reaction was to send her back to her country.
The interpretation given by netizens is that it is very dangerous here and Michelle feels it is not suitable for her to stay there any longer, so this is a form of protection.
Based on this, all her criticisms and accusations can be understood as having a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Mom is thinking well of you, but she won’t express it so directly. This is more in line with the image of mother in the minds of Chinese people.
No one expected that compared to the mysterious Master Li, who never showed his face in the movie, Michelle, played by Amy, would become Li Mo's mother in the minds of Chinese netizens.
Amy still didn't quite understand this idea, but she was happy that she was loved by the audience. Therefore, she would use translation software to explore the secondary content about Michelle on the Chinese Internet.
Now that the box office is doing so well, everyone knows that "The Kung Fu Master" will definitely have a sequel.
Ling Suisui will definitely continue to play the leading role, and Kung Fu 2 will further unfold the story of Li Mo. As for the other actors, we will have to wait for a while to see if Diland will issue new invitations for cooperation.
Superhero movies don't usually change the actors who play the roles, but they may directly change the roles. Apart from the villain who has already been confirmed to be killed, it is really hard to say whether the characters that appeared in the first part will appear in the second part and how much role they will have.
Judging from the plot, Michelle, as a senior investigator, is very suitable to appear in the second part. Unfortunately, they don’t know what kind of story Kung Fu 2 will tell, and whether there will be new investigators parachuting in - from various levels.
After all, building an empire involves risks, but sitting back and waiting to reap the rewards does not. This kind of thing not only happens in the domestic entertainment industry, but also happens all over the world.
Ling Suisui was a little surprised, because judging from the audience feedback, although Li Mo's popularity was far superior, among the supporting roles, Michelle was the most popular. Even she would worry about this?
Amy sighed. Well, it seems that it is disadvantageous for Ling Suisui not to live in the United States all the time, as she is not so well-informed.
In fact, there are so many actors in Hollywood eyeing this big pie that it’s hard to count them.
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