Chapter 130: Total Box Office of "Pirates of the Caribbean" And "Museum of Wonders"

Chapter 130 The total box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Night at the Museum"

The next day, January 1, 2004, Wu Yuan fled from Hengdian and returned to Beijing.

The reason why he used the word "flee" is because he found that his mentality had undergone some subtle changes.

And this change made him feel a little at a loss.

Especially when facing Liu Yifei.

This little girl who he always regarded as a sister seemed to have become a big girl in a blink of an eye.

He seemed to no longer be able to look at her with the same eyes as he used to look at a little sister.

He didn't sleep well last night. When he closed his eyes, he would think of Liu Yifei's bright and hot eyes on the rooftop, and the indescribable things in her eyes.

After waking up in a daze in the morning, Wu Yuan didn't want to stay in Hengdian any longer, and the plan to watch the filming of "Legend of Sword and Fairy" for a few days was also cancelled.

Let Xiao Zhang book a flight, and Wu Yuan went back to Beijing directly.

He needs some time to think and adjust his mentality.

He also needs time to think clearly about some things.

But the world will not stop just because Wu Yuan stops.

The reporters are much faster than Wu Yuan.

When he returned to Beijing, domestic newspapers of all sizes were already reporting news about Wu Yuan's new movie.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" had just been released in China.

Compared with the viewing craze caused by this movie in other parts of the world, although "Pirates of the Caribbean" earned more than 40 million box office in the mainland and ranked in the top five box office rankings in 2003, it did not cause a high sensation.

There is no way. Domestic audiences are not too interested in the Caribbean and pirates. The main force watching this movie is still young people.

Although the director of this movie is Wu Yuan, the leading actors are all foreigners who are not familiar with him. At least older people are not willing to watch it.

So Wu Yuan is very embarrassed now.

He is very well-known in the industry. Anyone related to the film and television industry knows him and admires him very much.

But in the outside world, after the news that "Departures" won the Berlin Best Director Award passed, Wu Yuan was gradually forgotten by the public.

Even though "Pirates of the Caribbean" was a hit, and the domestic media also reported on him as a topic figure, his influence in China is ultimately insufficient.

Who is the most influential director in China now?

The first place is undoubtedly Director Zhang Yimou, whose "Hero" currently maintains the throne of the mainland movie box office champion.

And his next movie "House of Flying Daggers" has also been filmed and is ready to be released in the summer vacation, which will set off another wave of mainland movie watching.

The second most influential person is not Wu Yuan, let alone Chen Kaige, but Feng Xiaogang!

Director Feng has a great influence on the public level with a high-grossing New Year's film every year, and has established his identity as a major commercial film director!

His status and influence in the circle are definitely not as good as those of the three directors Wu, Chen, and Zhang, but his public appeal is really terrifying.

On December 18, "Cell Phone" directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Ge Da Ye and Fan Xiaopang was released in the mainland, and it earned 30 million box office in less than half a month!

Another movie that is destined to be the annual box office champion in the mainland was born from Director Feng.

From 1997 to 2002, Feng Xiaogang made a total of five movies in 6 years, winning the box office champion in 1997, the box office champion in 1998, the second and third place in 1999, and the second place in 2001!

Five movies, all of which were successful and made a lot of money at the box office!

With the high number of works and the box office results that have repeatedly broken new records, Feng Xiaogang is very well-known among the mainland public.

In comparison, although Wu Yuan is a big director in Hollywood, "Pirates of the Caribbean" has a global box office of 650 million US dollars. He has awards in his left hand and box office in his right hand, but his style is too high and not down-to-earth.

His last Chinese-language movie released was "Departures", and the box office in the mainland did not exceed 50 million yuan. There is indeed a gap with Feng Xiaogang, whose cumulative box office has exceeded 180 million yuan.

Everyone knows that you, Wu Yuan, are very good. You can direct blockbusters in Hollywood and win a big award in Berlin.

But if we really say that there are not many mainland audiences who have watched Wu Yuan's movies in the cinema, they are concentrated in the group of young people aged 20 to 30.

This is just like Mo Yan, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The public knows that you are very good, but very few people have actually read Mo Yan's novels.

On the contrary, Wu Yuan's popularity in North America is really exploding.

His assistant Daisy will compile reports about Wu Yuan in North America every week and send them to his email.

Occasionally, Wu Yuan will take a look to understand the situation.

The box office performance of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" in this life is better than Wu Yuan's dream.

Perhaps it is because Disney is more confident and has invested more publicity funds, or perhaps it is because the participation of Wu Yuan, a well-known director, is indeed worth carrying the box office.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" has earned $3.5 in the North American market alone, which is $50 million more than in the dream!

Wu Yuan has also become the "Father of Pirates of the Caribbean" in the hearts of North American movie fans.

It's strange that the script of this movie was not written by him, and the copyright belongs to Disney, but many North American movie fans think that he is the soul of this movie.

Actually, if you think about it carefully, you can understand it.

Wu Yuan is different from Gore Verbinski.

Gore Verbinski was an unknown director before taking on the role of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Wu Yuan has become famous in North America with Juno.

His Chinese identity is an advantage at this time.

Because he is the only Chinese director who has achieved a box office of 200 million US dollars in North America, most North American movie fans remember him at once.

Later, his film The Undertaker won the Best Director Award at the Berlin Film Festival and attended the Oscars, which made him famous.

Thanks to his yellow skin, black eyes and black hair, Wu Yuan is remembered by North American movie fans.

It is also because of this that Disney has always used him and Depp as the main promotional points when promoting Pirates of the Caribbean.

Half a month before the release, Wu Yuan frequently appeared in news reports on major North American TV stations and participated in various talk shows and interview programs.

This makes him deeply bound to the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.

When North American movie fans mention him, they will think of Pirates of the Caribbean, and when they mention this movie, they will think of him.

This is also the result of Disney's behind-the-scenes promotion.

Disney doesn't care that Wu Yuan became the father of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and became one of the symbols of this series of movies.

Because Wu Yuan signed a contract with Disney for three movies at once!

Disney is eager to tie Wu Yuan to this series and hope that he can become more famous and successful in Hollywood!

Because this will bring more and better box office returns to the subsequent movies of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, and even open up the Asian market for this series!

As a result, Wu Yuan's popularity in North America is now very high, almost on par with Depp, and together they have become the soul of "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Just like Nolan in "The Dark Knight", he is a rare director who is still remembered by the audience in the Hollywood commercial series of blockbusters.

However, in other countries outside North America, Wu Yuan does not have such a great influence. Audiences in other countries still focus more on Captain Jack and the beautiful Elizabeth.

KK, a new actress who just debuted, also relied on this wave of influence to become another Hollywood big vase in one fell swoop, and was hailed as the English Rose.

Everything was great and wonderful.

Well, except for the fact that Depp was floating.

Wu Yuan received a call from Jerry within two days of rest after returning to Beijing.

Disney was very, very satisfied with the box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1". Even though the movie has not been released in some countries, Disney is ready to start preparations for the sequel.

The two screenwriters have already started writing the script, and Jerry has also contacted several actors to sign contracts and set a suitable schedule for joining the crew.

Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are both easy to talk to. They know how much the sequel of "Pirates of the Caribbean" will help their acting careers. They signed the contract without any bargaining, and signed two subsequent ones at once.

But Depp is different.

Before the first film started, he was extremely dedicated and humble. After "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" won a global box office of 650 million US dollars, his attitude immediately changed.

As the absolute leading actor and soul of this series, Depp knows that if Disney wants to make a sequel, it can't get around him no matter what, and it can't even replace him.

So when Jerry approached him to discuss the sequel contract, he asked for $20 million + 10% of the global box office share.

Note that it is the global box office share!

Unlike the North American box office share, Hollywood movies can only get a very low share of the box office after they are released in many countries.

For example, in China, movies that enter the mainland market in a split-revenue manner can only get 13%.

Titanic sold 360 million, but the North American producers only took 50 million in the end, and the rest of the money was left in the mainland.

Depp asked for 10% of the global box office share. In a market like China, 10% of the profits must go to Depp, and the remaining 3% is Disney's.

Which production company can accept such conditions?

Even if Disney made this series mainly to sell movie peripherals and build theme parks, it can't be so generous!

If the global box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" can continue to get 600 million US dollars, then Depp will take away 20 million + 60 million!

What a joke.

Although Jerry can see that Depp is asking for a sky-high price and paying it back.

But this lion's mouth is too big. It is estimated that it will take at least half a year to negotiate with Depp to reach a price that satisfies both parties.

The specific shooting of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" is estimated to be delayed. It is likely that it will not be shot in 2004 and will have to wait until 2005 to prepare.

On the phone, Jerry complained to Wu Yuan.

He hoped that the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series could make one movie a year. Who doesn't want to make money?

Wu Yuan, who knows the entire "Pirates of the Caribbean" series very well, can only smile and say nothing.

It's still good now.

If Jerry knew that Depp's quarrel with his ex-wife ruined the entire "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, he would probably be determined to change actors now.

After complaining bitterly, Jerry still brought good news.

The global box office statistics of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" were released, and the global box office of this movie was finally fixed at 712 million US dollars!

It is 58 million dollars higher than Wu Yuan remembered, and most of it is contributed by the North American market.

With a global box office of 712 million dollars, "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" also successfully ranked fourth in the 2003 global box office list, only 27 million dollars behind the third place "The Matrix 2".

However, in the North American domestic box office list, "Pirates of the Caribbean" successfully won the runner-up!

The third-ranked "The Matrix" in the world box office has a North American box office of 281 million dollars.

The second-ranked "Finding Nemo" in the world box office has a North American box office of 339 million dollars.

Both movies have excellent overseas box office results, and their total box office exceeds "Pirates of the Caribbean 1".

In the North American domestic market, the box office performance of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" is only inferior to "The Lord of the Rings 3" which won 377 million dollars.

"The Lord of the Rings 3" also became the global box office champion in 2003 with a global box office of 1.14 billion dollars.

The success of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Lord of the Rings 3" also set off a wave of fantasy and magic movies in North America.

Whether it is a fantasy adventure movie like "Pirates of the Caribbean" or a magical epic movie like "The Lord of the Rings", they have become hot topics in Hollywood.

Wu Yuan received many fantasy movie scripts inviting him to direct, all of which were sent to his mailbox by Daisy.

However, he rejected all of them without even looking at them.

Wu Yuan's schedule in Hollywood is already quite full. He is expected to shoot "Rush Hour 3" in the second half of this year and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" next year. He doesn't want to take any more Hollywood movies.

But Wu Yuan still wants to take a bite of the "traffic" of the fantasy theme.

After "Pirates of the Caribbean", which fantasy movie is the most profitable?

It must be "Night at the Museum"!

This movie, which was released in 2006, sold $570 million at the box office with a cost of $12 million, which is a model of a small-cost counterattack!

The sequel "Night at the Museum 2" also sold more than $400 million at the global box office.

However, although Wu Yuan knew that the idea of ​​this movie came from a storybook drawn by a Croatian illustrator for children.

He could buy the film adaptation rights of this storybook first, but Guangshidai is really too busy now.

John is now focusing on the filming of "The Hangover 2", and there are "The Proposal" and "The Blind Side" waiting to be released later.

As a small independent production company, Guangshidai can't start the production of another fantasy movie.

So Wu Yuan temporarily just told John to buy the film adaptation rights of "Night at the Museum".

Then he will decide whether to make this series by himself or find Fox to develop it in cooperation.

It's not good to eat in other people's pots.

It's okay for Guangshidai to have a "Hangover" series, but if it adds another popular series of movies, it will be a bit eye-catching and will be regarded as a thorn in the eyes of Hollywood capital.

How many popular series of blockbusters are there in Hollywood?

You, a small independent production company, want to have two at the same time?

That's why Wu Yuan wanted to work with New Line to make the "Kingsman" series, so that New Line could share the firepower!

Wu Yuan also planned to work with Fox on the "Night at the Museum" series.

Guangshidai could take the lead and give Fox 40% or 30%, borrowing their resources and manpower to work on this series together.

In this way, after Wu Yuan instructed John to buy the film adaptation rights, he took time to start writing the script for "Night at the Museum".

He was relatively idle during the period before the New Year, and had plenty of time to write scripts.

Not only "Night at the Museum", but also some of the scripts of the movies he planned to shoot next were written by Wu Yuan one after another.

When it came to the end of January, a safe that Wu Yuan bought specifically was already filled with the scripts he had thought hard about.

These scripts were either commercial movies with good box office reputation, or classic art films that won many awards.

Since Wu Yuan was in the film industry with the mentality of cultivating and expanding the mainland film market,

He would not do the kind of behavior of drinking poison to quench thirst, and film the excellent mainland movies of the future now.

The scripts written by Wu Yuan are mainly based on some excellent foreign movies, and they are appropriately adapted for localization.

Of course, there are also some Chinese-language movies, but they are all excellent movies from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

There is only one mainland movie, that is the "Painted Skin" series, which is prepared for Wu Ershan.

As for the Hong Kong movie, of course it is prepared for Zhang Guorong, the main focus is to snipe Chen Kexin, and also to hit the Hong Kong directors who don't care about face for money.

As for the Taiwanese movie, Wu Yuan knows the nature of the Golden Horse Awards in the future, and also knows that Taiwan will become more and more alienated from the mainland in the future. He has no psychological burden to pit their film and television industry.

The future of Chinese-language movies is in the mainland!

Those Taiwanese filmmakers should take a break as soon as possible!

There are a few hundred words missing, but it's just right to write this, so I won't force it.