Chapter 250 I Have General Zhang Guorong, Who Can Defeat South Korea!

The movie "Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Weird Guys" itself doesn't really have much to say.

With Wu Yuan's suggestions for revising the script, the script Zhang Guorong received was very similar to the Korean version, except that the characters were changed from a few Korean horse bandits who had left their hometown in the Northeast to authentic Chinese people.

The story of Who Called the Korean Version itself took place in the land of Northeast China. Wu Yuan could use it directly without any modifications, which was very convenient.

The entire movie is based on the story and character style of "The Good, the Bad, and the Bad".

The story is a typical commercial film model. The highlight of the film is a train robbery, which effectively creates a thrilling opening.

Then the normal plot begins. Huang Bo plays the weird guy Maziliu who is a habitual thief. He is interested in a Manchu treasure map that a group of Japanese officers on the train grabbed and wants to steal it.

As a result, he happened to run into the cold-blooded killer "Bad Guy" Lao Dongbei (played by Xu Jinjiang) who also came to intercept this group of Japanese officers.

The two happened to be in trouble when they attacked a Japanese train. Not only did they have to get rid of the Japanese army, but they also had to deal with Lao Dongbei's men.

Amidst the hail of bullets, a mysterious man suddenly joined the battle and rescued Maziliu with his superb marksmanship and fled the scene. The man who rescued Maziliu was Zhang Magui, a good guy who robbed the rich and helped the poor in Manchuria and made trouble for the little devils ( Played by Liu Ye)

However, although Maziliu was rescued by Zhang Ma, his plan to steal the treasure map also failed, and the plan of Lao Northeast, who received money from a local wealthy family to intercept and kill Japanese officers, also failed.

Under the mediation of Zhang Magui, Maziliu, who did not know each other at first, decided to cooperate with Lao Dongbeixu and Weishe, and secretly stole the treasure map while Lao Dongbei was intercepting and killing this group of Japanese officers.

The fierce gun battle on the train was just the beginning, and a strange and cunning "anti-Japanese" cooperation began.

Three Northeast horse bandits with different personalities and different goals embarked on a series of hilarious and exciting battles of wits and courage around a treasure map and a group of Japanese officers.

In the end, this group of Japanese officers were killed by a combination of good guys, bad guys, and weird guys, but the treasure map was fake, and there was no Manchu treasure at all.

In the final ending, the three horse bandits, who have gone through a series of cooperation, from intrigues and calculations to becoming friends, rode against the sunset, laughed and left the empty treasure cave, starting their new journey.

The movie ends here.

Zhang Guorong cleverly left an introduction, and he could decide whether to continue making a sequel based on the film's box office performance and reputation.

After all, in the chaotic Northeast of the 1930s and 1940s, there were so many stories about horse bandits and bearded men that could be adapted and filmed.

It is not impossible to create China's own Western movie series.

At least, when the opening credits came on after the premiere, there was a lot of applause and cheers from the viewing audience, which gave Zhang Guorong confidence.

"Thank you, thank you for your applause!"

Zhang Guorong took the microphone and stood in front of the screen again with a smile on his face, "Is this movie good?"

"This is my first time making a purely commercial film, and I don't know if it will turn out well."

"But seeing that everyone still has smiles on their faces after watching the movie, this movie shouldn't be too bad!"

This is the first commercial film with an investment of RMB 80 million. It would be a lie to say that Zhang Guorong is not nervous.

Being a director is different from being an actor. Even if an actor makes a movie that doesn't get good reviews and doesn't do well at the box office, he's not the first to take the blame.

Screenwriters, directors, and even investors are the ones who are really under pressure and have to bear the blame for box office failure.

But now that he himself is the director and one of the screenwriters of this movie, the pressure on him is immediately different.

Fortunately, the immediate feedback from the site was very good.

Perhaps the guests were in a relationship and would give face-saving applause, but the smile on the face of the film critic sitting in the back was probably sincere.

"It's very good to watch. There haven't been movies of this type in China before."

"Is this a Western? A story full of irony and humor about a group of lawless horse bandits, and the conflict between primitive violence and kindness?"

"The action scenes are very smooth, especially the fight on the train. It has the feel of a Cheng Long movie. It is both enjoyable and funny!"

"Maziliu's performance as the thief is so exquisite. He is cowardly but still cowardly, but he always pretends to be brave. It's so funny!"

Zhang Guorong randomly selected a few lucky fans to express their opinions on the movie, and most of them were complimentary.

Among them, the most mentioned one is Mazi Liu played by Huang Bo. Who knows that this character is the funny person in this movie, and almost all the laughs revolve around him.

In 2007, although the domestic Internet has developed very rapidly, most young people actually don't know much about foreign movies, let alone Western movies, which have already declined in Hollywood.

Zhang Guorong cleverly adapted the Western film style into a local film, which undoubtedly brought a dazzling effect to most audiences.

Just like the novelty when "Heroes" came out, the story structure of "Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Weird Guys" and the wild, lawless, lawless and typical western style in the movie, whoever has the big fist is the most powerful. The style of the film is also very enjoyable.

Why have American Westerns been popular in the European and American film circles for a long time, and even Italian film companies have come to shoot this type of work?

Isn't it because in the modern society with a sound rule of law and high moral requirements, many people have nowhere to vent the pressure in work and life.

At this time, wild and unrestrained, narrating a world without legal restrictions, without bureaucratic restrictions, very happy to enmity, and duels at every turn, it is simply too cool and too suitable for fantasy substitution.

The core of Westerns in Europe and the United States is actually the same as that of Chinese martial arts novels and movies.

They all build a fantasy world of happy enmity, walking alone in the rivers and lakes, drawing swords to help when seeing injustice, and fighting and killing at every turn.

Whether it is the martial arts world or the Western world, the official forces in it are basically invisible throughout the whole process, with only a group of unscrupulous knights and cowboys who break the law with force.

And knights and cowboys are actually no different in essence, except that one solves problems with a sword and the other with a revolver.

It's just that after changing the cultural background, everything becomes new again.

The only difference is that Chinese "martial arts" is more difficult to understand, with higher philosophical meaning and higher literary expression. Hollywood cannot understand it, and it is impossible to adapt it into European and American movies.

However, the background of Hollywood western movies can be easily adapted by Chinese people. There are too many similar eras in Chinese history.

For example, the period when horse bandits and bandits were rampant after the fall of the three northeastern provinces, which Zhang Guorong found, is a perfect western background.

Even Koreans can't compare with this.

Zhang Guorong, who has made many martial arts movies and has been influenced by Jin Yong's martial arts novels, understands the chivalrous spirit in Chinese culture too well.

He easily integrated the chivalrous spirit and cowboy culture and made this movie "The Good, the Bad, the Weird".

The process of the three protagonists fighting wits and courage with Japanese officers is not a chivalrous act to eliminate harm for the people. In the end, the three protagonists set off again facing the sunset, which is also meaningful, reminding people of many heroes in classic martial arts novels.

People who don't understand Chinese martial arts culture can see this movie as a Chinese-style western, while people who understand Chinese martial arts culture can see more intriguing things and will be more amazed after careful appreciation!

Wu Yuan, who was sitting in the first row and applauding with a smile, looked at Zhang Guorong with admiration.

After several years of training in three movies, Zhang Guorong, a talented new director, has finally grown into an excellent director.

His life trajectory has also been completely changed.

Wu Yuan believes that this "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" is just the beginning.

After the premiere of "The Good, the Bad, the Weird", the premiere reviews of this movie appeared on portal websites such as Sohu, Xinlang, and Penguin that night.

Overall, most film critics gave the movie a good review after watching it.

Of course, as a commercial film, and Zhang Guorong's first commercial film, there are also some criticisms that the rhythm is not tight, not hearty enough, too much funny, too few violent elements, and not American Western enough.

From the audience's point of view, this movie does have some flaws.

But even if it is a commercial film directed by Feng Xiaogang, it is impossible to hear only good things from mainland film critics.

There are only two commercial films directed by domestic directors, and domestic film critics dare not criticize before the box office results come out, and only dare to say good things.

One of them is Zhang Yimou and the other is Wu Yuan.

The former is a pioneer of mainland commercial blockbusters, half a master.

The latter is a first-class director of Hollywood commercial films. Mainland film critics are not qualified and dare not criticize before the release results come out.

Zhang Guorong certainly cannot enjoy this treatment. As long as the voices of criticism are only a minority, he will be very satisfied.

And the waiting movie fans and audiences, after seeing that most of the film critics and the lucky audience who attended the premiere said on the Internet that this movie is interesting and novel, they also have the idea of ​​going to the cinema to watch the movie.

In recent years, watching movies has become more and more popular. Although the price of movie tickets has risen instead of falling, the pockets of ordinary people are getting fatter and fatter.

In the first decade of the 21st century, China's economic development was so rapid.

In 2000, China's GDP was only 10.03 trillion yuan. Seven years later, in 2007, GDP had risen to 27 trillion yuan, more than doubling.

The number of cinemas in the country has tripled or even quadrupled.

With money and enough cinemas, the desire of mainlanders to watch movies is of course higher every year.

Coincidentally, after the full liberalization of privatization of domestic cinemas, major private cinema chains have also kept pace with the times and started to pre-sell movie tickets in advance.

It is not that movie ticket pre-sales only started after the emergence of online ticket purchase platforms.

In fact, many cinemas now allow you to buy movie tickets a week in advance.

The domestic release date of "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" is August 18.

After the premiere on August 15, word of mouth spread, and many young moviegoers and fans of Zhang Guorong went to the cinema as the first fans to support the film and bought movie tickets on the day of the release.

Although the ticket can be refunded before the official screening, except for a very small number of viewers who have something to do due to unexpected events, most of the fans who bought tickets in advance are firm fans and basically will not refund their tickets.

Light and Shadow Times also contacted major theaters as soon as possible and calculated the pre-sale box office.

"Five million!"

"The pre-sale box office alone sold five million!"

"Most of them bought movie tickets on the 18th, and a small number bought tickets on the 19th and 20th!"

"If the audience on the day of the release is added, the first-day box office of "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird" is expected to exceed 10 million!"

Li Xiaoping reported to Wu Yuan with a slightly excited tone. As the most important and highest-invested movie of Light and Shadow Times this year, the company has high hopes for "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird".

And Zhang Guorong did not disappoint this expectation!

"Ten million box office on the first day, this result is not good or bad, it is considered medium." Wu Yuan's reaction was very flat after hearing it.

"Painted Skin", which was released nearly two years ago, had a box office of 18 million on the first day, "The Promise" had 21 million, and "Curse of the Golden Flower" directly reached 28 million.

The predicted box office performance of "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" is still not so impressive.

"The first-day box office is actually not important. The first-day box office of "The Promise" was so high, and the final result was not as good as "Painted Skin."

Wu Yuan said calmly: "It still depends on the word of mouth of the audience after the large-scale release on the first day. Only with good word of mouth can the subsequent box office be stable and go to the next level."

"Have you negotiated with the distributors in South Korea?"

Compared with the box office in mainland China, he is actually more concerned about the distribution and release in South Korea.

After all, the movie with the same theme in the dream has been watched by 7 million people in South Korea, with a box office of about 300 to 400 million yuan.

Even if the local movie becomes an imported movie this time, it will be fine if it can have a box office of 100 to 200 million!

Otherwise, relying solely on the domestic market, the appeal of Zhang Guorong + Liu Ye, it is still a bit difficult to make back the investment of 80 million yuan for a second-tier blockbuster.

It's a pity that "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" is not suitable for release in Japan.

Japan is currently the largest box office in Asia. It is easy for a hit movie to sell more than 100 million yuan at the box office.

Who said the theme of this movie is "fighting the devil"?

"In South Korea, SHOWBOX has agreed to introduce it. Zhang Guorong is still very well-known in South Korea. Many Koreans over 30 years old know him."

"SHOWBOX guarantees that more than 60% of Korean theaters will schedule this movie, but the specific release date needs to be scheduled until early September, and it cannot be released simultaneously with the domestic release."

"However, SHOWBOX has given a lot of publicity. They like this movie very much and have great confidence in Zhang Guorong. After all, he also plays a role in the movie."

"It seems that I made the right decision to let Leslie play in the film." Wu Yuan smiled.

Zhang Guorong now directs and stars in his own films. In the eyes of his Korean fans, it is probably the same sensational effect that Stephen Chow suddenly announced that he would appear in his new film, which caused among mainland audiences.

Not to mention that Korean fans would cry and shout that they "owe Zhang Guorong a movie ticket" and then rush into the cinema to book a private screening.

(Most Korean fans also watched Zhang Guorong's films such as "A Better Tomorrow" and "A Chinese Ghost Story" by renting videotapes, and did not go to the cinema to watch them.)

At least for the reputation of Zhang Guorong directing and starring in his own films, they should support this Asian superstar who once accompanied their youth, right?

There is no need to worry about the box office in Korea, it will definitely perform strongly!

Wu Yuan smiled and said complacently: "Zhang Guorong can handle the Korean market, and I can handle the Japanese market."

"With the two of us in the era of light and shadow, why worry about the Asian market?"