Chapter 956 The First Nail
Human psychology naturally has the gene to pursue the strong.
This is the basis for the continuous progress and evolution of human beings for tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of years.
When China was in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the country came from all over the world, because the Tang Dynasty at that time was indeed the most advanced country in the world in terms of economy, politics, and military affairs.
Therefore, the culture of the Tang Dynasty was popular in the world at that time.
As time goes by, when the Europeans started global colonization with their great voyages, the first industrial revolution and strong ships and guns, they quickly conquered the whole world. As the conquered people, they also began to subconsciously to a large extent to pursue the Western culture at that time.
The strong expansion of the economy, military and culture of the West has lasted for hundreds of years, and it has always been the envy and yearning object of people in backward regions all over the world. How——Hollywood's dominance in movies comes from the expansion of the United States in economics, military affairs, culture, etc. In the final analysis, it is still a small wave in this big wave of Western dominance.
This does not mean that Western culture is really in the lead across the board.
And in fact, the global popularity of American culture in the 20th century, and the popularity of Datang culture in the world at that time, actually rely on the same root cause-apart from the strength of the economic and political level, just talk about the culture itself. Therefore, it will become a global culture that everyone yearns for precisely because it is a very inclusive and integrated culture.
Not to mention the Tang Dynasty back then, it was a multi-ethnic fusion country, but in fact, the United States is also a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural fusion country.
Such a country naturally has the best multicultural tolerance.
It is also based on this that Li Qian feels that as long as Chinese culture is well done and well packaged, it is fully capable of entering the American cultural market, not to mention becoming mainstream, at least it can become an important part of American culture.
Of course, he deeply knows that color discrimination and xenophobia, especially cultural xenophobia, will definitely exist no matter in the United States or in Europe.
Therefore, sending Chinese culture to the world is not something that can be accomplished overnight.
If it is said that from Liao Liao to the Four Great Beauties, this form of music is actually just an active catering to European, American and Western culture, then, when the movie "Gourd Baby" is basically regarded as a His attempt at cultural export.
The routines of storytelling and the basic values of the story are American-style. Of course, at present, American-style values can actually be understood as global values.
However, the aesthetic tendency of the story, the oriental cultural genes in the visual, and the oriental and Chinese cultural speculation reflected in the whole story, etc., which are hidden in the story and the picture, are all Chinese. , is Chinese culture.
Simply put, it is not enough to cater to domestic audiences, nor is it completely catering to European and American audiences.
Therefore, Cao Zhan would have high expectations for this movie, but Li Qian was always sober. He knew that this Chinese-American animated film made by Chinese filmmakers and animators, no matter which market it was in, would be very popular. It is not the most mainstream culture. In theory, it is impossible for it to become the kind of explosion that is popular.
In fact, the previous box office of this movie after its first week of release around the world basically confirmed his point of view—but nothing is absolute in the world. What is unexpected is that the matter of acquiring Columbia Films, which he wanted to acquire, was so fast. It was smelled by Wall Street reporters, and after the media reported it, it quickly aroused a considerable degree of national attention and heated discussions.
Therefore, the acquisition itself seemed to have encountered a little difficulty, but "Calabash Baby" was a blessing in disguise, and surprisingly began to explode in the North American market!
It only got 32.46 million US dollars in the first week, but unexpectedly won 49.43 million US dollars in the second week, ranking second in the weekly box office rankings in North America!
In addition, the accumulated box office in the two weeks has been added up, and it has been released for 13 days. The total box office of "Calabash Baby" in North America has reached as high as 81.89 million US dollars - breaking 100 million is almost inevitable!
Even if the time has reached the junction of 2003 and 2004, there are still very few films that can earn a box office of 100 million US dollars in the North American market-for the vast majority of non-super-produced and large-produced films, The North American box office of over 100 million is still regarded as an important watershed for box office success!
Having a few movies with a box office of over 100 million, or even several consecutive movies with a box office of over 100 million in North America, is still the most important indicator of a Hollywood superstar's box office appeal!
And for animated films, a small branch of the film world, it is even more difficult to break through the 100 million box office in North America-Hollywood's strong position in this area is far more than Hollywood films as a whole, especially Hollywood live-action films strong.
To put it simply, it is extremely difficult for an animated film to sell over 100 million in North America!
And it is even more difficult for an animated film from China to exceed 100 million!
And now, "Gourd Baby" is about to exceed 100 million!
Of course, this week, in addition to the North American market, the Chinese film market also showed signs of rebounding against the trend—a post suddenly appeared on the Internet. My buddy can’t help you with the acquisition of Columbia, just don’t know if the money is enough, so I’ll help you contribute a few more movie tickets!”
And then, this post actually developed into a craze for the whole people!
"Everyone put together some money to help the leader buy Columbia!"
This has become a very fashionable sentence among young people!
Therefore, in the second week of its release, the domestic box office of this movie was similar to that of North America. After finishing it, I thought, wow, this movie is good! interesting!
Then, he will call others to see it!
There are also a large number of young people, some of whom go to the second or third swipe by themselves, and some simply donate one or two tickets a day willfully and buy tickets directly on the newly opened ticket purchase channel of QQ blog , but in fact he didn't look at it at all.
Therefore, with such popular support, the movie's box office in the second week surpassed the box office of 101.053 million in the first week, reaching 104.236 million!
The sum of two weeks is as high as 252.89 million!
In addition to the fact that this movie has been screened in more than 20 other countries and markets around the world, and this week, more than 20 countries have started showing it again. By the end of the second week of screenings, its global box office has already reached as high as $263.49 million!
In particular, calculating the global box office, "Calabash Baby", which is currently being screened in more than 50 countries around the world this week, ranked third in the world with a weekly box office of 143.76 million US dollars!
This result is absolutely the first time in a domestic film!
However, the achievements of "Gourd Baby" are secondary at this moment.
Because with the sudden popularity of "Gourd Baby", Minghu Culture is ushering in three important events - the acquisition negotiations of Columbia, the acquisition negotiations of the Great Wall Cinemas, and the film peripherals.
Yes, it is around the movie!
The Chinese movie circle, even until the end of 2003, still has no concept of making movie peripherals. On the contrary, Hollywood, of course, is the first to start with Disney. They have always attached great importance to the sales of movie peripherals, and even It can be said that movies are one of their peripherals. Their theme parks, souvenir sales, and movie production and release have made it difficult to distinguish who is whose peripherals. In addition to Disney, in recent years, other major film companies have also seen a sudden rise in the sales of movie peripherals, gradually becoming the most important development direction of major film companies.
However, for a cartoon from China and several other Chinese films that followed, Columbia is really not optimistic about the box office of these films in North America. Therefore, although in the discussion before the signing of the contract, because Grenshall's insistence, the two parties added a clause on peripherals to the distribution agreement, indicating that in the films that the two parties distribute on behalf of each other, each has the right to be the operator of the other's film peripherals under the same conditions.
For Colombia, this clause is of course equal, but in fact, they think that Chinese films cannot be sold well in North America, so the peripherals are almost worthless. If they need to sell them, then they will hardly face any competition. ——It is impossible for those large toy manufacturers and distributors in the United States to see the peripherals of a few Chinese movies.
And once his own movie is released in China, the conditions offered by the major toy manufacturers are absolutely impossible for Minghu Culture, which is not good at this way!
Therefore, it may seem plain, but it is actually unequal.
But what they didn't expect was that "Gourd Baby" became popular!
An animated film with a box office of over 100 million in North America, you can tell with your toes that its peripheral sales must be extremely valuable!
In particular, this cartoon from China has designed several very interesting cartoon characters, and they also have a trump card - those little gourds on their heads, which look particularly cute "Little Superman"!
To use a word more than ten years later to describe them, they are so neat and tidy, they are very "cute"!
What's more terrible is that other movies and cartoons usually have one or several, usually not more than five, important cartoon characters, and even many movies feature only one character, but in the movie "Gourd Baby", There are actually seven of their gourd baby characters!
My God, seven gourd babies!
Is it cute to put them together?
Moreover, the color of their clothing and the color of the gourd on their heads are different!
This is simply a sharp weapon in the wallets of parents who murder their children!
Baby, do you want to collect all seven gourd dolls?
Ahhh, the North American box office will exceed 100 million, and no one knows how high it can continue to reach in the future, maybe it can reach 150 million North American box office!
By that time, maybe the peripherals can achieve sales of 200 million US dollars?
300 million is also completely possible!
And as we all know, the production cost of toys is actually very low, so... huge profits!
So Columbia was dumbfounded all of a sudden.
At the same time, all major toy manufacturers in the United States sensed business opportunities and began to move out one after another!
When the North American box office of the week was not yet counted, they only saw signs of "Calabash Baby" rising against the market this week, and many large toy manufacturers have already contacted the American Oriental Dream Film Company, Columbia Pictures, etc. The two publishers of the company even sent their branches in China to directly contact the headquarters of Minghu Culture!
For Minghu culture, even for Li Qian, this is a completely new thing.
Adding up his two lifetimes, he never thought about merchandise sales—although in that time and space, even in China, after 2010, the concept of movie merchandise sales has been frequently mentioned. But in that time and space at that time, he was really a fool, just talking a few words, and never had the opportunity to get in touch with that level of business operations!
And even if he was making an animated film like "Gourd Baby", he had thought about the surrounding things in his heart, but before that, he really thought that this movie was just a pathfinder, and he didn't expect it to really become a global success. Selling, so, thought about it, but didn't really make it into the overall plan.
As a result, it is not only Colombia who deeply regrets that it has lost a chance to make a fortune, but also Minghu Culture, which seems to have a chance to make a fortune.
What to do, Li Qian, Cao Zhan, and Xie Mingyuan are all talented people who are good at doing things, but if you ask them to negotiate business with people, they must compare pennies. They are obviously not good at it. Han Shunzhang is filming a TV series, and Zou Wenhuai is hosting a talk show Contacts at the government level are mainly focused on the acquisition negotiations of the Great Wall Cinemas, and it is even more impossible for Qi Jie to abandon the negotiations for the acquisition of Columbia and come back from the United States to preside over this matter.
Even if she is in the United States, she can handle this matter directly in the United States, but that is not enough.
The acquisition of Columbia is the most important thing in all the affairs of Minghu Culture at present, and it is even the core event that affects the whole body. Once the acquisition fails there, the acquisition price of the Great Wall Cinemas here will be agreed. It's entirely possible that it will turn yellow eventually.
She absolutely can't do two things at once.
But fortunately, at critical moments, there is still someone who can use it.
Moreover, she gave Li Qian the impression that no matter what was thrown at her, she could do it with ease--Du Yihua.
As a result, Du Yihua was requisitioned, so he had no choice but to put the domestic affairs aside, and with Minghu Culture and Li Qian's entrustment, he flew directly to the United States quietly and started negotiations with several major global toy giants in the United States.
Although all members of the Columbia Film Company are resistant to the sudden acquisition by Minghu Culture, the acquisition is the acquisition, and the commercial interests belong to the commercial interests. No one can guarantee that Minghu Culture will be successful in the acquisition, but Columbia has the priority agency But it's written into the contract.
Therefore, Colombia has also participated in negotiations and competitions.
Of course, the sudden popularity of "Gourd Baby" has attracted several major toy manufacturers to directly enter the market. A reseller like Columbia is almost uncompetitive.
Under such circumstances, after Du Yihua arrived in the United States, he only spent three days in contact with each family, and then quickly cut through the mess and directly selected the partner.
Qi Jie flew over to sign the contract and left directly, while Du Yihua was in charge of staying in the United States and continued to follow up on this matter.
Drawings, design, sample making, finished product, and launch—for a new toy, it often takes months, half a year, or even a year to go through this set of processes, but the advantage of the movie peripherals is that the toy The image is in the movie, take it directly, at most, modify it slightly, and then it can be produced!
So, when "Calabash Baby" was released in North America and around the world, it ushered in the third week.
Just on Wednesday, a complete set of movie toy peripherals of "Calabash Baby" has been placed on the peripheral sales counters of major movie theaters, as well as the counters of major supermarkets and toy stores throughout North America.
At this time, filmmakers, media, and the public in China still don't know anything about it.
And when Li Qian sat in his office, opened his e-mail, and saw Du Yihua's shipment data of "Calabash Baby" peripheral toys from the United States, and the approximate sales statistics two days after its launch, he suddenly realized that , although it came from an unintentional accident, but it seems that at this moment, the first step of the promotion of Chinese culture that I have been looking forward to, seems to have taken it!
In two days of shipment, the shipment volume of the peripheral toy series of the movie "Gourd Baby" has reached 130 million US dollars, and the incomplete sales according to the current statistics have also reached more than 74 million US dollars !
You know, even if the North American box office exceeds 100 million, according to the original account sharing agreement, Minghu Culture can only get 20% of the total box office. 25%, and cap it!
But toys peripherals are not. This is a typical cultural and creative sales. Therefore, Du Yihua cut it down severely. Although in order to pursue the launch as soon as possible, compared with other Hollywood film companies, the sales of peripheral toy series of "Gourd Baby" The share is not too high, but still as high as 45%!
In other words, relying on peripheral sales alone, Minghu Culture has already earned more than 60 million US dollars in North America! Next, this number may exceed 100 million US dollars!
Much higher than the box office share of the movie "Calabash Baby" itself in North America!
And more importantly, with this first success, from now on, Minghu Culture has started to have a small foothold in North America!
Chinese films may not be successful in the North American market, but the films produced by Minghu Culture are very likely to be successful—if you don’t believe me, “Gourd Baby” is a success!
What's more, Minghu Culture already has the qualification to directly contact with the major toy manufacturers and sellers in the United States in the future when it comes out with movie peripherals!
In other words, even if the acquisition of Columbia Pictures was not successfully completed in the end, Minghu Culture and itself had already smashed the first nail in North America!
***
Another big chapter of 5,000 words, work hard to ask for a monthly pass!