Chapter 234: Rush Hour 3 Is a Big Hit! Cheng Long and Yu Haolai
Chapter 234: "Rush Hour 3" is a big hit! Jackie Chan returns to Hollywood like lightning!
Let's go back a little bit.
On the morning of January 20th, North American time, Jackie Chan, who flew from Hong Kong Island to Los Angeles again, was chatting with Will Smith nervously.
"Jackie, is Daniel really not coming to the premiere?" Will Smith asked a little unhappy.
"Yes." Jackie Chan also sighed, "He is very busy in China, filming a movie and supervising a movie. He really can't spare time to come to North America."
This is just to fool Will. Both Jackie Chan and New Line know that the reason why Wu Yuan didn't come to the premiere is that he thinks the "Rush Hour" series has little to do with him.
Even if he took over the third part, the fans of this movie are all for Jackie Chan. No one really cares who the director is.
New Line actually tried to use him and Cheng Long, both Chinese, as the focus of publicity, promoting that Rush Hour 3 would be the Hollywood movie with the most Chinese Kung Fu movie flavor.
However, movie fans don't care much about this, they only care that Cheng Long is still the leading actor!
In this case, Wu Yuan naturally doesn't need to come to the United States specifically for the premiere of this movie.
"Oh, what a pity, I still want to talk to Daniel about my new movie."
Will Smith is at the peak of his popularity in the past two years, and he has been offered various film contracts. In addition to Rush Hour 3, he also has a movie "I Am Legend" to be released this year.
And last year, he also won many Best Actor titles at Class A film festivals with "The Pursuit of Happyness".
For Will Smith, in terms of box office, he is already the ceiling among black actors and the best black commercial actor in Hollywood.
But in terms of awards, he is still lacking something. Neither the "Men in Black" series nor "I, Robot" can bring him awards.
After tasting the benefits of "The Pursuit of Happyness", he now also wants to act in some art films and win awards.
Wu Yuan is one of the directors he is familiar with with the highest artistic achievements, so he certainly wants to get in touch with Wu Yuan more.
Unlike Will's regret, Cheng Long has no regrets about Wu Yuan's absence from the premiere. As the ceiling of Chinese actors in Hollywood, Cheng Long is destined to have a lot of intersections with Wu Yuan, the best Chinese director.
Next, he will play the role of Xiao Feng in "Pirates of the Caribbean 3", and there is plenty of time and opportunity to get in touch with Wu Yuan.
He smiled and comforted: "Will, it doesn't matter if Director Wu didn't come. Believe me, this movie will definitely be a big hit."
At 3 pm on January 20, the fairly lively premiere of "Rush Hour 3" was successfully held in Los Angeles.
At the premiere, the invited film critics and lucky audiences finally met this sequel to the series.
Unlike the original Rush Hour 3, the overall plot of Wu Yuan's adaptation of Rush Hour 3 is more like Taken with more jokes. The main plot revolves around the story of Jackie Chan and Will, the golden pair, who traveled to Mexico to rescue the president's daughter.
On the one hand, Wu Yuan fully trusted Jackie Chan and let him continue the Jackie Chan style of action comedy in Project Baby and Project A. On the other hand, he accelerated the pace of the film and added more exciting fighting and rescue scenes.
As a commercial film, Wu Yuan's version of Rush Hour 3 is undoubtedly qualified. It cannot be said to be excellent, but it has definitely reached the level of Taken.
"A commercial action movie with a distinct Jackie Chan style!"
"A qualified popcorn movie, with constant jokes in the excitement, Jackie Chan has returned to his comfort zone."
"Jackie Chan X Daniel wu, Hollywood's strongest Asian director and actor teamed up to present a thrilling Chinese Kung Fu movie! "
"Not bad, better than the previous one, the participation of a first-line director has injected new vitality into this series!"
"As a popcorn movie, it is excellent. The combination of Cheng Long and Will Smith is also eye-catching. It is worth going to the cinema to see it."
"In the third part, the director boldly introduced a new setting: "Kingsman Agents". I believe this is definitely not a casual design. Perhaps the director and the production company are playing a big game. We should look forward to the follow-up works of the Rush Hour series!"
"This is a work that connects the past and the future. The starring Chris Tucker in the first two parts was replaced by Will Smith. The background story was also re-set, introducing a mysterious agent department. Perhaps our Interpol Detective Lee will start a new adventure. I am looking forward to it!"
After the premiere, various film critics quickly expressed their views on "Rush Hour 3" on the Internet.
Obviously, Wu Yuan, who has seen countless Hollywood mature commercial films in his dreams, can easily adapt "Rush Hour 3", which can still be recognized by most film critics.
Hollywood film critics are actually more professional than Asian film critics. They will make a clear distinction in their evaluation of a movie from the beginning.
Commercial films have their own set of criteria for judging commercial films, and art films have another set of criteria for art films.
Many domestic film critics always criticize a commercial film with the eyes of examining art films, which often makes a commercial film that is still good be criticized as worthless in their mouths.
This is wrong behavior.
Commercial films and literary films are two different shooting systems. From the conception of the script to the final effect, they are completely different. If they are treated together, can any normal judgment be drawn?
Film critics in Hollywood will not be like this. They have treated "Rush Hour 3" as a commercial blockbuster from the beginning, and naturally concluded that it is a qualified popcorn movie. It is a work worth going to the cinema to relax and watch.
Although, it is inevitable that some film critics will complain at the end of the review. Wu Yuan seems to prefer commercial films in recent years. It has been a long time since he made a literary film, and he is somewhat self-destructive. But it is just a complaint and does not affect his views on the film. Review of "Rush Hour 3".
Thanks to the praise of these film critics, "Rush Hour 3", which already has a large fan base, grossed US$76.52 million at the box office in 3,268 theaters in North America during its first three days of release.
This result is higher than the opening weekend box office performance of "Rush Hour 2" of $66.8 million, and far exceeds the $33 million of "Rush Hour 1".
Who said "Rush Hour 3" has the hottest black actor Will Smith at the moment, and Wu Yuan, the "Billion Dollar Box Office Club Director" joining the cast!
Their combined appeal is higher than that of the original protagonist, Chris Tucker, right?
So far, Cheng Long has successfully won the top three opening records for action movies in North America, namely "Rush Hour 1" with 33 million U.S. dollars, "Rush Hour 2" with 66.8 million U.S. dollars, and "Rush Hour 3" with 76.52 million U.S. dollars. Dollar.
In the field of action movies, Cheng Long is undoubtedly the most box office actor in Hollywood!
Even Hollywood entertainment newspapers have predicted that the North American box office of "Rush Hour 3" will exceed the record of the second part of 226 million US dollars, reaching 250 million US dollars in North America. It should not be a problem to break 300 million US dollars globally.
The cumulative global box office of the entire "Rush Hour" trilogy will exceed $850 million.
The box office success of this series is entirely supported by Cheng Long's personal influence.
This actor from Hong Kong Island, China, had to be taken seriously by all the capital and film and television companies in Hollywood again.
On the day the box office opening of "Rush Hour 3" was announced, Jerry called Wu Yuan and praised him for his wise decision in choosing Cheng Long to play Sao Feng.
Although Cheng Long's salary is indeed a bit high, and he received 8 million US dollars from Disney, it was well worth the money.
Does Zhou Yunmao have the strength to win 1 billion US dollars in box office in Hollywood (the cumulative total box office of Cheng Long's Hollywood movies)?
Can Chow Yun-mao attract 40 million people to watch his movies just by relying on his reputation? ("Rush Hour 2" was watched by 40 million people in the United States, accounting for 14% of the U.S. population. This statistic includes videotapes.)
Before "Rush Hour 3" is released, Jerry and Disney may still hesitate whether Cheng Long is worth the price.
After all, since "Rush Hour 2", Cheng Long has made three movies in Hollywood, "The Magic Tuxedo", "Royal Dragon" and "Around the World in 80 Days", and is already on the verge of being abandoned by Hollywood.
His salary quotation also dropped from US$15 million + box office share for "Rush Hour 2" to US$10 million, and it was only US$8 million when he joined "Pirates of the Caribbean 3".
This is the reality of Hollywood. Directors or actors who make three films in a row will be eliminated by this vanity fair immediately.
But things are different now. With the success of "Rush Hour 3", Cheng Long is back in Hollywood!
Looking back now, spending 8 million US dollars to replace such an actor to play "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" is undoubtedly a very worthwhile thing. Disney got a big deal.
Cheng Long's normal market price is around US$15 million.
It's just that when we were talking about "Pirates of the Caribbean 3", "Rush Hour 3" hadn't been released yet, and Cheng Long was about to find out that there was no such name in Hollywood. Only then, for Wu Yuan's sake, did he join "Pirates of the Caribbean" at a low price. Pirates 3".
Unexpectedly, Cheng Long returned like lightning!
Jerry would be so happy!
Of course what he values is not the Chinese market behind Cheng Long.
"Pirates of the Caribbean 2" was not released in mainland China, and it did not affect the film's final global box office of US$1.05 billion, putting Wu Yuan into the billion-dollar box office club.
What he values is Cheng Long's influence in Hollywood!
It seems that "Rush Hour 3" will become Cheng Long's Hollywood masterpiece again, grossing more than 200 million US dollars at the box office in North America.
Such a hot actor plays the role of Depp and adds the icing on the cake of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3". This is a beautiful thing!
After receiving Jerry's call and facing his free compliments, Wu Yuan calmly echoed a few words.
Cheng Long's strong return was originally facilitated by Wu Yuan.
Without him, there would not be the current "Rush Hour 3", and Cheng Long's Hollywood journey could have ended two years ago.
You know, "Rush Hour 3" on its original track only had a box office of US$50.23 million in its first week. Although it also won the weekly championship, the final North American box office was only US$139 million.
And the reputation of the Rush Hour series was completely destroyed by the third installment.
After replacing Will Smith and Wu Yuan's changes to the script, "Rush Hour 3" not only achieved an opening score of 30 million US dollars higher than the original version, but also received a very good reputation, which can completely set the stage for the next film. A perfect start to the "Kings Agent" series!
This is what Wu Yuan values more.
He wanted to push Cheng Long back to Hollywood. In addition to truly admiring the actor, he also wanted to let him make more profitable movies for the Light Era!
By the way, will the movie "Kung Fu Dream" still appear?
After hanging up the phone call from Jerry, Wu Yuan hugged Liu Yifei and lay on the bed, thinking deeply.
The movie "Kung Fu Dream" is very special.
Produced by Columbia Pictures in 2010, directed by Harold Zwart, starring Cheng Long and Will Smith's son.
Rumor has it that Will Smith was behind the project.
He likes Cheng Long very much, is a fan of Cheng Long, and wants to pave the way for his son, which led to the cooperation on this film.
Although "Kung Fu Dream" was a hit at the mainland box office, it also received very poor reviews from mainland movie fans, who considered it a bad film.
But the movie is really popular around the world. The box office of the film exceeded 56 million US dollars in the first three days after its release, and the global box office sold 359 million US dollars!
What is the concept of this achievement?
The global box office of "Rush Hour 2" was only US$329 million, which is already a box office record for a Hollywood movie starring a Chinese actor.
"The King of Kung Fu" is a double-J project. It has been hyped that it will not do well at the box office in the mainland, but the response in the international market is very good. How much is "very good"?
The global box office was US$128 million.
"Kung Fu Dream" is nearly three times as popular as it is. What does it mean to be truly global? !
The production cost of "Kung Fu King" was as high as 500 million yuan. Even if Cheng Long was given Hollywood salary specifications, "Kung Fu Dream" could be completed with a maximum cost of 150 million yuan.
From a business point of view, "Kung Fu Dream" is definitely a high-quality movie that makes investors laugh.
Relying on his good relationship with Cheng Long, Wu Yuan knew that as long as he wanted to make it, the movie "Kung Fu Dream" would definitely be in the pocket of the Light Era.
However, this movie had a really bad reputation in the Mainland, and the box office was also a flop.
This may be due to cultural differences.
If we choose to overcome this acclimatization, we may lose the global market.
If he doesn't overcome it, he will consider being scolded by the domestic audience.
After being baptized by "The King of Kung Fu", domestic movie fans really hate the Chinese-themed movies produced by Hollywood and feel that they are an insult and blasphemy to Chinese culture.
Otherwise, why not show it in China at all?
Wu Yuan frowned, trying to think of a way to properly handle the movie "Kung Fu Dream".
This is really a happy trouble!
"Brother, why aren't you sleeping yet?" A pair of hands touched his cheek, and Liu Yifei, who had woken up in a daze, asked with a soft, sleepy voice.
Wu Yuan gently grabbed her hand and kissed her on the mouth, "I'm going to sleep now."
Nothing is more important than sleeping with your girlfriend, think about it later!
Count it from yesterday