Chapter 212 "Good Guys, Bad Guys, Weird Guys" Project Launch

Chapter 212: "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" project is approved, and "The Promise" is released!

It's August.

The two leading actors of "Gravity" were sent to the National Space Administration for closed-door training by Wu Yuan.

Wu Yuan himself also stayed at the National Space Administration to learn some aerospace knowledge.

Although he, as a director, doesn't have to act in person, he still has to learn some basic knowledge, otherwise it will be ugly if he shoots some obvious bugs.

While Wu Yuan was preparing for "Gravity", "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" was released in full swing around the world and good news came one after another.

The box office potential of the first few countries released on the 6th and 7th has basically reached its limit.

In North America, "Pirates of the Caribbean" has been released for nearly a month, and has won the box office championship for three consecutive weeks, with a box office of over 400 million US dollars, becoming the box office champion of movies released in North America this year!

The revenue from other countries and regions is 380 million US dollars. The global box office of this movie has accumulated to nearly 800 million US dollars, which not only broke the record of "Pirates of the Caribbean 1", but is far from the limit.

On July 22, "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" was released in Japan, the world's second largest box office, and earned 2 billion yen in the first three days of the weekend. Obviously, the box office of this movie in Japan is also heading for more than 10 billion yen.

In the following August, more than a dozen countries and regions will release "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" one after another.

Now Disney has shouted a slogan, predicting that "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" will join the club of box office breaking 1 billion, becoming the sixth blockbuster in the world with a box office of over 1 billion US dollars!

Wu Yuan's reputation in Hollywood has also become more famous.

Even if he is not in Hollywood, there are Hollywood paparazzi flying thousands of miles from the United States to China, wanting to interview and film Wu Yuan's latest schedule.

It's a pity that Wu Yuan's recent schedule is arranged at the National Space Administration, and this sensitive department is obviously a place that foreign journalists cannot contact.

Of course, as "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" is rampant in the global market and raking in box office, the complaints in the mainland about the inability to release this movie have become louder.

Originally, Wu Yuan thought that he had become the director of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and could get the green light for this movie in the mainland.

Unexpectedly, it still couldn't escape the fate of being banned from screening.

It can only be said that the domestic censorship system is really strict, and Disney is really tough. After the first review was rejected, it never re-edited and re-submitted.

There is no way, who asked "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" to only have a box office of 27 million yuan in the mainland, less than 4 million US dollars, which really can't make Disney pay attention.

Although the six major Hollywood companies are optimistic about the future of the Chinese market, the current Chinese market is far from the level that they pay much attention to.

Wu Yuan doesn't care. Anyway, it is a foregone conclusion that the box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" will exceed 1 billion US dollars. Even if it is more in the Chinese mainland market, Hollywood will not give him more money.

But he should get a good big red envelope.

Recently, when Jerry called him to report the results, he hinted to him that after "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" is released worldwide, Disney should give him an eight-digit red envelope to celebrate.

Not only him, but other leading actors will also get red envelopes, but his red envelope is the largest.

Who told Depp to have a bad time with Disney over the contract renewal?

With this red envelope, Wu Yuan can calmly invest in Zhang Guorong's new movie.

The minimum eight-digit red envelope is 10 million US dollars, nearly 80 million RMB, which is just enough for the investment of "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird".

After several months of improvement and polishing, the script of "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird" has been written by Zhang Guorong.

After reading it, Wu Yuan also gave him a lot of revision suggestions based on his impression of the Korean version.

The film can basically be approved and prepared for filming.

On the China Film side, after hearing about this, President Han also generously donated money and participated in the investment, investing 20 million.

Zhang Guorong has not lost money in the two films he shot, so he is still worth betting on as a director.

Now Wu Yuan has a red envelope of at least 10 million US dollars as a foundation. He has money in his hands and is not panicking. He also waved his hand and asked Li Xiaoping to prepare 60 million to set up the production team of "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird" and start talking about actors.

As it happens, Crazy Stone has been released, and the box office has exceeded 16 million by the end of July. It is estimated that it will eventually reach a little over 20 million.

Huang Bo, who plays Hei Pi in this movie, is also famous.

At least Zhang Guorong finally got to know him, and also dispelled Wu Yuan's doubts about recommending him.

From the image point of view, Huang Bo is indeed very suitable for the role of "weird guy", and Wu Yuan's recommendation is indeed correct.

Wu Yuan also recommended Liu Ye and Xu Jinjiang. Zhang Guorong also felt that they were quite suitable after investigating.

There is no need to say much about Xu Jinjiang. As a Hong Kong actor, he is very familiar with him and knows that this person can play that kind of fierce role.

As for Liu Ye, he won the Golden Horse and Golden Rooster Awards for Best Actor. His acting skills are beyond doubt, and his image is also suitable.

Zhang Guorong privately sighed with Tang Sheng that Wu Yuan's casting vision is really good. He just said casually that the image and temperament of the recommended actors are incomparably matched.

In his opinion, perhaps this is one of the gaps between great directors and ordinary directors, and it is a gap that is difficult to make up with hard work.

Vision is something that is innate and difficult to cultivate.

After Zhang Guorong agreed to the casting, the production team sent by Light and Shadow Times immediately contacted the three actors, invited them to star in the film, and negotiated their salaries.

Although the salaries of domestic actors have entered a period of rapid growth, there is still a big gap with the madness of the traffic era after 2014.

Among the three leading actors, the most expensive double-awarded actor Liu Ye only paid three million yuan, Xu Jinjiang only needed one million yuan, and Huang Bo, a newly popular actor, was even cheaper, with 300,000 yuan.

Even so, including other supporting roles and role actors, the salary of this film alone will cost more than five million yuan. Five years ago, five million yuan was enough to make a movie, but now it is only enough to pay the salary.

The era when actors were paid very cheaply when Wu Yuan first entered the industry is gone forever.

It is no longer possible to invite a well-known actor to make a movie with only 30,000 or 50,000 yuan.

This is both good and bad for the Chinese film industry.

On the other hand, although the mainland film industry did not have the Hollywood blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" after entering August, there were also blockbusters of China's own released.

Yes, it was "The Promise" directed by Kego!

Under Wu Yuan's deception, the production of "The Promise" directed by Kego was delayed for half a year, and finally met with the national audience on August 6 during the summer vacation.

This is a pretty good schedule.

"Dragon Tiger Gate", directed by Ye Weixin and starring Zhen Zidan and Nicholas Tse, which was released on July 28, did not perform well in the mainland box office. The box office did not break 10 million in the first week, and it was basically a flop.

After "The Promise", the imported animated film "Don't Mess with the Ants" voiced by Nicolas Cage will be released on August 11, but this movie for American children is really not a threat to "The Promise".

Cars, which replaced Pirates of the Caribbean 2, will also be released on the 22nd, but it is still an animation. In the mainland, it is mainly watched by parents with their children. It is not on the same track as The Promise.

It can be said that there will be no movies that can compete with The Promise in August. Compared with the fiercely competitive Lunar New Year period, The Promise faces a much better environment.

In addition, with the success of Your Name, Chen Kaige also believes that his The Promise can get very good box office in the summer period.

It is also released simultaneously in many Asian countries and is also a blockbuster film made by one of the best directors in the mainland.

Chen Kaige ambitiously aimed at Painted Skin. At the premiere of The Promise, he shouted the slogan "The box office exceeds Painted Skin and becomes a new benchmark for Chinese fantasy movies."

And The Promise, with its superstar lineup, as well as Chen Kaige's fame and word-of-mouth blessing, did deliver a perfect answer on the first day of its release.

At 18:00 on the afternoon of the premiere, Mr. Weng, the spokesperson for the distribution and screening of China Film, the distributor of The Promise, announced to the media that the box office of The Promise on the first day of its premiere reached 21.3 million yuan!

This result is even three million more than the 18 million of Painted Skin, breaking the first-day box office record held by Painted Skin and setting a new record.

Even the highest daily box office record of 25 million held by Painted Skin is somewhat precarious and is likely to be broken.

However, reality soon poured cold water on Chen Kaige.

Although it achieved high box office on the first day of its premiere, the reputation of The Promise was very poor.

Audiences, especially young audiences, who were attracted to the cinema by the big-name lineup, Chen Kaige's name, and the label of a domestic fantasy blockbuster, complained on Douban, Tieba and other platforms as soon as they finished watching the movie.

The vast majority of viewers who watched The Promise did not understand what story the movie was about.

The looks of the main actors, especially Chen Hong, also became the focus of complaints.

Everyone entered the cinema with great expectations, thinking that they would see a better and more beautiful movie than "Painted Skin".

After all, the director of "The Promise" is Chen Kaige, who has won the Palme d'Or, and the actors are all big names from Hong Kong Island. Whether it is the lineup or the investment, it is even better than "Painted Skin".

In the end, we didn't see a movie that surpassed "Painted Skin", but a "super blockbuster" with a chaotic narrative, a fragmented rhythm, and an obscure plot!

As the saying goes, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

Many netizens angrily questioned Chen Kaige's directing level and "The Promise" on the Internet, and some fans even suspected that this movie was not shot by Chen Kaige.

But the only thing worth praising about the film is the aesthetics of the picture, which silently tells the fans that this is indeed the ultimate aesthetics that only Chen Kaige can shoot.

This makes the fans feel uncomfortable. They can't accept that a great director like Chen Kaige can actually shoot such a "crazy" movie.

The box office performance is reflected in the fact that the daily box office of "The Promise" on the second day not only did not exceed that of the first day, but it dropped by 5 million, and only received a daily box office of 16 million.

On the third day, the box office fell to 15 million, and there were more and more doubts and abuses on the Internet.

After watching such an excellent fantasy movie as "Painted Skin", the appetite of domestic movie fans has obviously become more picky.

It is a bit difficult for Director Kaige's "The Promise" to win a box office of 170 million amidst the scolding and doubts.