Chapter 141: Victory From Export to Domestic Sales!

“Pah pah pah pah pah——!”

“Sigoi!”

“Isn’t this really a local movie?”

“It’s so good. Beautiful and sincere love is really the most touching thing!”

“I like Sanye so much. I like her and Lin Jun’s selfless courage. I like this meeting across 2,000 kilometers.

“If we can’t meet in reality, let’s meet in dreams.”

In the screening room that can accommodate nearly a thousand people, from the moment the subtitles started rolling on the screen, it fell into a sea of ​​excited discussions.

Wu Yuan, Liu Yifei and others didn’t understand Japanese and didn’t know what the audience sitting in the back were saying.

But through body language and facial expressions, they could see that these fans liked this movie very much.

“Director Wu, the premiere has a very good reputation!” The representative of the distributor, who also served as a translator, excitedly relayed: “The critics said this is a great love movie. ”

“They also praised you for being so good that you could make a movie that appeals to Japanese fans.”

“They saw the shadow of Love Letter in this movie.”

“Sure enough, as the birthplace of East Asian culture, Chinese movies can still resonate with Japanese audiences!”

Wu Yuan listened to his retelling with a smile, laughing in his heart.

Yes, Your Name is originally a Japanese movie.

He is completely “exporting and selling domestically”!

If Japanese fans don’t like it, that would be hell.

“That’s good.” Wu Yuan asked with a smile: “Have you arranged the next promotion schedule?”

“All arranged.” The representative of the distributor said excitedly.

“Then let’s get started! ”

On March 26, "Your Name" premiered in Japan.

That afternoon, major entertainment media in Tokyo reported and reprinted the news of the premiere of this movie.

Just like when it was in the mainland, most of the film critics and audiences who watched the premiere praised the movie when writing about the film and accepting interviews from TV stations and newspaper reporters.

For Japanese movie fans, this movie does not have any incorrect values. Instead, it is a very excellent small fresh movie.

From the picture to the plot to the character story, the clever interweaving of parallel time and space and the idea of ​​swapping bodies in dreams have been praised in various ways.

To be honest, Japanese movie fans and film critics like this.

There are even film critics who sighed after watching the film that Wu Yuan is like an authentic Japanese movie, and he made an excellent Japanese movie. The story style that only movies can have.

In Japan, the influence of film critics is still very large.

Regardless of whether the distributor Toho gave money to these film critics, in short, with the praise in the public opinion, many Japanese movie fans who originally did not pay attention to this movie have developed a strong interest in watching this movie.

On March 28, two days after the premiere, "Your Name" was fully released in 326 theaters in Japan.

Don't think it's too little, this is already 90% of the theaters in Japan.

Although Japan is the second largest film market in the world, there are really not many theaters in Japan, less than 400, and only more than 3,000 screens.

Because the rent in Japan, especially in big cities, is too expensive, opening a cinema is not a very profitable industry even if it is full. If you open something else.

So the number of cinemas in Japan has not increased.

Even so, Japan has become the world's second largest box office market with such a small number of cinemas, relying on their super high attendance rate!

The average box office revenue of Japanese cinemas is twice that of North America! It is 5~6 times that of China!

Once Japanese cinemas encounter a hit movie, the box office will be very strong, and it is common to win the box office championship for several weeks or even months.

On March 28, the release of "Your Name" was still quite huge, almost covering theaters across the country.

But unfortunately, because Shunji Iwai's self-written and directed movie "Flowers and Alice" was also a new movie that was released on March 13.

So the major theaters did not arrange too many screenings for "Your Name". On average, only two out of every ten shows were screened. The movie "Your Name" was screened in theaters.

The owners of major theaters thought that a 20% screening rate for such a foreign film was already very high, and it should be enough.

But unexpectedly, fans who came to the big cities from all over the country by train, Shinkansen and other railway transportation bought out the tickets for "Your Name" in less than half a day.

In the afternoon, fans who came to the theater from all over the country to watch "Your Name" could no longer buy tickets!

Yes, most Japanese audiences have to take short-distance transportation, such as trains and Shinkansen, to nearby big cities to watch movies.

There is no way.

There are only more than 400 theaters in Japan, but there are about 1,500 towns, with an average of one theater for every three towns.

And it is impossible to distribute it evenly.

In the Tokyo metropolitan area alone, there are more than 70 theaters, covering about 30-40 million Japanese citizens.

Then there are more than 20 cinemas in Hyogo Prefecture, more than 20 cinemas in Hokkaido, and the remaining ten major cities, each with 10-20 cinemas.

These major cities have almost divided the cinemas.

That is to say, there are thousands of towns in Japan without cinemas.

For fans in non-urban areas, they need to travel to several cities to watch a movie.

Therefore, the attendance rate of Japanese cinemas on weekdays is also very high. Basically, there is no distinction between movie schedules. No matter when the movie is released, as long as the movie has a good reputation, there is no need to worry about the attendance rate.

But the premise is that the fans who come to the cinema specifically can buy the movies they want to watch!

The 20% screening of "Your Name" on the day of its release cannot resist the enthusiasm of fans!

It is true that Shunji Iwai is a very good director in Japan, and his "Flowers and Alice" is indeed well shot.

But foreign monks are good at chanting!

Or foreign monks who have conquered Japanese fans once with "Departures"!

There is no way. On the afternoon of the 28th, many cinemas were under pressure and could only immediately reduce the screening of "Flowers and Alice" and increase the screening of "Your Name".

Some cinemas even added more screenings in order to make more money. By adjusting the interval between screenings, they added a few more movies in each hall.

This is just enough to take up the fan traffic of "Your Name" on the first day of its release.

However, this is just the beginning.

In order to cooperate with the promotion, Wu Yuan, with the male and female protagonists, began to frequently appear in front of Japanese audiences according to the arrangement of Toho Co., Ltd.

Today he participated in Fuji TV's comedy variety show to promote the movie, tomorrow he participated in Tokyo TV's news interview, and the day after tomorrow he appeared in TBS's street assault program.

Even if the audience didn't know the three of them very well, they all knew Wu Yuan and his new movie through the host's introduction and popular science.

At this time, Wu Yuan's reputation as an "international director" came into play.

Even if Zhang Yimou came to Japan to appear on a TV show, the only thing he could talk about was his "Hero", which was released in Japan and had a good box office performance, with a box office of 4 billion yen.

But Wu Yuan is different.

"Juno" earned 1.2 billion yen in Japan.

"Departures" earned 2.6 billion yen in Japan.

The most terrifying one is "Pirates of the Caribbean", which earned 6.8 billion yen in Japan, ranking sixth on the Japanese box office list in 2003!

"Hero" was only ranked tenth!

In Japan, Wu Yuan is the most famous Chinese director with the highest box office performance!

As soon as he appeared on the TV show, the subtitles of the opening introduction were played, coupled with the usual exaggerated attitude of Japanese artists, he was a true international director, and the publicity effect was too good!

In addition, after the first day of the premiere, fans who watched "Your Name" praised the movie on the Internet and promoted the movie.

On the second and third days of the premiere, more Japanese fans flocked to the cinema to see the movie.

The box office potential of commercial films is indeed incomparable to that of art films.

"Departures" only earned 80 million yen on the first day of its release in Japan.

But "Your Name" earned a terrifying result of 200 million yen on the day of its release in Japan, and 232 million yen on the second day.

In the first three days of the premiere, the cumulative box office exceeded 600 million yen!

The movie "Your Name" quickly became the subject of heated discussion on the Internet.

As a developed country, Japan's computer penetration rate is not comparable to that of China today. Basically, young people of the Heisei generation grew up playing the Internet.

And "Your Name" is targeting the young group!

On the fifth day when Wu Yuan took the two protagonists to participate in various TV shows and offline theater roadshows in Japan, the box office of "Your Name" broke 1.4 billion yen, showing an unstoppable power!

The screening rate of "Flowers and Alice" was squeezed to only 20% within five days, while the screening rate of "Your Name" quickly rose to about 50%.

Toho Co., Ltd., which is also the distributor of these two films, should have sighed for its own people fighting against its own people.

But the reality is that the senior executives of Toho Co., Ltd. are simply laughing.

In the case of both undertaking distribution, the profit from distributing "Your Name" is more than that from distributing "Flowers and Alice"!

"Your Name" is a foreign movie!

Just like the revenue share of imported films in the mainland is not as much as that of local films.

Foreign films only get 22% of the box office in Japan, which is far lower than local films!

Dongbao Co., Ltd. hopes that "Your Name" will have a higher box office, because they and the theaters can make more money!

Just like domestic theaters love imported blockbusters from Hollywood!

"Hahaha, Director Wu, you are really amazing."

In the backstage of Fuji TV, the representative sent by Dongbao Co., Ltd. to cooperate with Wu Yuan's promotion said to Wu Yuan with a bright smile: "You are worthy of being a big director sought after by Hollywood!"

"Your Name" should be able to achieve a box office of more than 10 billion in Japan, breaking the box office record set by your "Pirates of the Caribbean"!"

"This country is the best, it's really the best!"

Liu Yifei and Hu Ge both had a dreamy expression on their faces. The box office results reported in the past few days were simply unbelievable to them.

1.4 billion yen in 5 days!

The current exchange rate between RMB and Japanese yen is 7.67 to 100 yen!

If 1.4 billion yen is converted into RMB, it is as much as 110 million RMB!

"Your Name" has been released in mainland China for a month and is about to be taken off the screen, but it has only earned a box office of 140 million RMB!

In Japan, this achievement can be achieved in just one week!

This makes them happy and excited, but also a little inferior and lost.

Japan has only 120 million people, while China has 1.2 billion people, but the consumption levels of the two countries are completely incomparable.

There is really a huge gap between developed and developing countries.

Movie tickets in Japan are not cheap, but Japanese movie fans are happy to go to the cinema to watch movies, and do not think that watching movies is a luxury consumption.

But in China, watching movies is still considered a luxury behavior of wasting money.

When will the economy of domestic audiences also develop, and Chinese people can also regard watching movies as a sparse and ordinary thing?

When will mainland movies be able to easily break the 100 million box office in a week?

Hu Ge and Liu Yifei looked at each other, and saw the look of bewilderment in each other's eyes.

"Don't think too much." Perhaps sensing the low mood of the two, Wu Yuan reached out and touched Liu Yifei's head.

"In the future, our mainland film market will also get better."

"From 2000 to 2004, our country's economy has been rapidly improving every year."

"Everyone has more and more money in their pockets, and their lives are getting better and better."

"I believe that in a few years, going to the cinema to watch a movie will become a very common thing in the eyes of Chinese people."

"By then, it will not be a dream for mainland movies to break 100 million or 1 billion, but a very normal thing!"

Looking at Wu Yuan's confident eyes, Liu Yifei nodded vigorously: "Yeah!"

"I believe in my senior brother!"

"With my senior brother here, Chinese movies will definitely get better and better."

Liu Xiaoli, who went abroad with Liu Yifei to take care of her, kept her eyes on Wu Yuan's hand for a moment.

The way he stroked the top of Xixi's head.

Why does it look so much like Xixi playing with her dog at home?

"Hey, don't flatter me like that." Wu Yuan, who didn't know what Liu Xiaoli was thinking, was explaining seriously: "I don't have the ability to change the entire industry."

"It's just that we were born in a good era. It's the country's good policies and strong driving force that have allowed us to encounter the golden age of Chinese films."

"Only when the country is strong can our entertainment industry be strong. Only when the national economy is good can the entertainment industry flourish."

"I'm not confident in our mainland films, but in the country!"

Only those who have truly lived and worked abroad and tried to develop their careers abroad know how happy it is to have a strong country behind them.

If China's economy hadn't been advancing by leaps and bounds every year since entering the 21st century, Wu Yuan's treatment and status in Hollywood would not have risen, and it would have been impossible for him to enter the Japanese market so easily.

Wu Yuan sighed in his heart, and suddenly remembered something, looking at Liu Xiaoli standing in the corner.

"Aunt Liu, I have something to remind you of."

"If Xixi's future development focus is the Chinese entertainment industry, or even the Asian entertainment industry, then it's better to change her nationality back."

"While she is still a minor, she still has the opportunity to choose."

"Ah?" Liu Xiaoli looked at Wu Yuan in a daze.

After the divorce, she took her daughter to the United States. For the convenience of life, she tried every means to change her daughter's nationality.

But she didn't expect that before she lived in the United States for a few years, her daughter was determined to return to China to become an actor and realize her dream of being an actor. She had to take her daughter back to China to develop.

But the nationality was not changed back.

Because in this era, American nationality is indeed something that people from all over the world want, including a large part of Chinese people.

After all, this is the only superpower at present.

And with American nationality, life is indeed very convenient.

At least it is easy to get a visa to most places in the world, and there is also the treatment of "nationals of the upper country".

If Wu Yuan didn't mention this, Liu Xiaoli would definitely not go to change Liu Yifei's nationality back to her original place.

But. The one who made this suggestion was Wu Yuan, one of the top Chinese entertainment workers.

Could it be that he received some inside information?

What policies will the Ministry of Culture introduce to restrict foreign artists?

Thinking of the special national conditions of this country, Liu Xiaoli's expression became serious.

Some things really need to be paid attention to. Once ignored, it will cost ten or a hundred times more to make up for it in the future, and it may not be possible to make up for it.

"I know, I will help her renounce her citizenship as soon as possible before she comes of age."

Chinese citizens who immigrate to foreign nationalities have a chance to re-select their nationality before they come of age, and they can change back to Chinese nationality.

This includes mixed-race people.

Isn't that what the skater did?