Chapter 304: Gravity Premiere (25 in 1)

Chapter 304 "Gravity" premiere (2.5 in one)

July 4, 2008, a fairly ordinary Friday.

In order to buy movie tickets at 5 pm, Hou Shaobin took a taxi to the largest Light and Shadow Times Cinema in the city three hours in advance.

Today is the premiere of the movie "Gravity."

Although there was no grand premiere held in advance, the news of the film's release had already spread throughout the country.

Hou Shaobin has been paying attention to this movie since a few years ago. After seeing the trailer, he made up his mind to go to the cinema to watch this movie.

Special effects blockbusters like "Gravity" must be watched on the big screen in a cinema to enjoy it!

Not only him, but his college roommates and classmates from Beijing Normal University also wanted to watch the movie together. They entrusted Hou Shaobin to buy movie tickets together, and then they would rush to join him before the show started.

However, when Hou Shaobin rushed to the cinema with great expectations, he was completely dumbfounded.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, a time that has already missed the peak movie viewing period, there is a huge queue outside the cinema.

"So many people?" Looking at the crowd surrounding the entrance of the cinema, Hou Shaobin made a rough count and found that there must be at least two or three hundred people. From the inner hall to the outer corridor, the darkness was filled with heads.

In Hou Shaobin's countless memories of going to the cinema to watch movies, he has never seen such a lively and busy situation.

Even if you come to the cinema during the prime time of seven or eight o'clock in the evening, there will only be a few dozen people crowded in the lobby at most.

"Classmate, you can't jump in line!" In a daze, Hou Shaobin squeezed forward, and a young girl standing in front of him immediately criticized him with raised eyebrows.

"Sorry, sorry!" Hou Shaobin apologized quickly: "I didn't mean to jump in line."

His face was filled with a tangled look, and he pointed at the endless line of people: "Isn't everyone here to buy tickets for the movie "Gravity"?"

For the recently released new movie, "Gravity", China Film Group directly cleared a one-of-a-kind schedule for half a month.

Obviously these viewers are here to watch "Gravity"

"Of course." The girl said with an unsurprised look, "This queue has been waiting for several days."

"People have been coming to pre-order movie tickets since Monday. Tickets for today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and even the day after tomorrow are basically sold out in advance."

"I came in line yesterday and bought three tickets for the day after tomorrow. I came to buy them for my friends today."

"You don't want to buy today's movie tickets, do you?"

"Then you are late. You may only be able to buy tickets for the day after tomorrow."

"No, is it so exaggerated?" Hou Shaobin murmured blankly.

It was the first time that Hou Shaobin saw that all the movie tickets had been sold out in the first three days before the movie was released.

It wasn't so exaggerated when "The Call to Action" and "Assembly Number" were released before!

"I think you should try another theater and check the situation." The girl said with a smile: "There must be a lot of people coming to buy movie tickets in big theaters like this in the era of light and shadow. If you go to a small theater and check it out, you might still be able to get tickets."

"If I hadn't been waiting in line for more than an hour, I would have wanted to visit Jinyi in Wangfujing."

too crazy!

Hou Shaobin raised his head and sighed, thanked the girl, and ran out.

He no longer expects to be able to buy tickets for today's premiere movie, but he knows a newly opened small cinema in a relatively remote location. Maybe he can try his luck there now and buy tickets for tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. .

He didn't want to watch "Gravity" for several days. If he couldn't watch this movie for a day, he wouldn't be able to sleep well.

At the same time, the same scene is playing out in countless places across the country, especially in several first-tier cities. Major theaters have begun pre-selling tickets for "Gravity", and it is difficult to get a ticket for this movie.

Films that directly support propaganda from the national level are so convincing.

In addition, it is already 2008, and the living standards of the people in the mainland have really improved a lot. Although they are still far from being fully prosperous, for urban residents, watching movies is no longer a luxury. Something happened.

Including second-tier, third-tier, and fourth-tier small cities, watching movies has become more and more a common means of entertainment. Calling friends or taking your family to the cinema to experience the charm of the ninth art has been the most trendy in the past two years. one thing.

It's just that there has never been a movie that can attract the attention and participation of all people.

Until the emergence of "Gravity", it caused a sensation from the official to the private sector.

This is originally a movie for all ages. Anyone over 12 years old can basically understand it and be amazed by the story and special effects of the movie.

In addition, the special effects of this movie are really good, and every frame of the pictures released in the trailer is extremely attractive. No one wants to take a look at what the "real" space is like, and take a look at China's Space exploration story.

As a result, the release of "Gravity" naturally achieved this effect of almost empty houses.

Although it may still be a little different from the sensation caused by "Avatar", the gap is really not that big.

At ten o'clock in the evening, in the No. 2 screening room of Baina Cinema in Fangshan, Beijing.

"Huh, luckily I got the ticket."

"Binzi, okay!"

"I heard that many classmates queued up for a whole day today, but they didn't get movie tickets. You actually got one, and you got one for the same day. That's amazing!"

"Hehe, I'm lucky, I'm lucky."

Hou Shaobin smiled and scratched his head. He was so proud of the compliments from his roommates.

Yes, he got the movie ticket for the premiere day.

This is a coincidence.

When Hou Shaobin was reading the newspaper a few days ago, he happened to see a news that a new movie theater had opened in Fangshan, a suburban county of Beijing. He didn't pay much attention to it at the time.

But today, after seeing the terrifying queue at the Light and Shadow Times Cinema, he immediately changed from the subway to the bus and came to this movie theater in Fangshan.

Beijing is worthy of being Beijing. Even the movie theaters in the suburban counties are very popular.

But Hou Shaobin was very lucky. There were still four tickets for the 10 o'clock evening show of "Gravity" at this Baina Cinema, which was just enough for him and his roommates, so he bought them decisively.

Now, everyone is sitting in the screening room, waiting for the movie to start.

Hou Shaobin's roommate Li Wei was still curiously looking around.

"This is a movie at 10 o'clock in the evening, and the theater is still full of people. It's too popular!"

"Shh, be quiet!" Hou Shaobin made a gesture to silence people: "The movie is about to start."

Sure enough, as his voice fell, the big screen that was originally playing the trailer of "Red Cliff" suddenly dimmed and lit up again, and a familiar dragon logo appeared.

The movie started!

On the other side, in the first cinema opened by Light and Shadow Times in Beijing.

Although Wu Yuan did not have any premieres this time, he still invited some friends to come to the cinema to watch "Gravity", a work he worked hard for three years.

Actor friends like Cheng Long, Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Liu Ye, Xia Yu, Yuan Quan, Zeng Li, Yan Danchen, Zhang Ziyi, and internally appointed directors such as Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen, and Feng Xiaogang were all invited.

Only Zhang Yimou was busy with the final and most critical rehearsal stage of the Olympic Games opening ceremony, and he really couldn't spare time to join in the fun.

Of course, Wu Yuan, Gong Li, Wang Xueqi and other film creators were also present.

Wu Yuan took them and Liu Yifei into the screening room in a low-key manner and sat down in the empty seats left for them in the front row.

As soon as he sat down, a voice came from beside Wu Yuan: "Director Wu, your cinema chain is really good."

"Light and Shadow Times has opened 30 to 50 cinemas across the country, right?"

"In the future, you have to take care of us brothers in the film scheduling."

Yes, Wu Yuan knew who it was without looking back when he heard this.

Only Feng Xiaogang, who was called "full of money" by the media, would pay attention to the cinema of Light and Shadow Times at this time, rather than the film itself.

"As for the cinema brand, I don't interfere with the daily operation, and I give it all to professional managers." Wu Yuan tilted his head to look at him, and said calmly: "I won't interfere with the specific arrangement of the cinema's film schedule."

"But I believe in Director Feng's movies, no cinema will not schedule them."

"Assembly was the champion movie of last year's Lunar New Year, and it was also the runner-up in the box office last year."

The number one movie in the mainland box office in 2007 was Transformers, which took 280 million yuan in the box office.

The second place was Assembly, which defeated The Warlords in the Lunar New Year and crushed The Warlords to the ground. Its box office performance of 250 million yuan was also very good.

After being praised by Wu Yuan, Feng Xiaogang also felt proud and smiled brightly, "No, no, this is all the support of the audience."

"Director Wu, I'm curious about one thing." At this time, Chen Kaige, who was sitting on the other side, also frowned and asked, "Why do you want to make such a space disaster movie? This type of movie is rare in the world."

"Hmm" Facing Chen Kaige's in-depth inquiry, Wu Yuan touched his chin, thought for a while, and then said in a melancholy tone: "Perhaps, as a human being, my fear of the vastness of deep space is at work?"

"After all, in front of the vast space, we humans are too small, aren't we?"

"Because we are small, we want to know more about the dark, silent, lifeless and terrifying universe."

"Okay, the movie is about to start."

"I hope everyone likes this movie."

On the big screen, watching the familiar dragon logo fade away, the logo of Light and Shadow Era appear, and the logos of co-producers such as China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group also appear one after another, Hou Shaobin and other audiences consciously shut their mouths and looked up at the screen quietly.

"Director Wu Yuan's work."

However, as this line of opening subtitles appeared and gradually dimmed, the entire big screen suddenly turned black, and there was no sound at all.

The audience, who were looking forward to experiencing a shocking journey of a science fiction blockbuster, immediately turned their expectant eyes into confusion.

After waiting for about three or four seconds, when the big screen was still dark, a noisy discussion sounded in Hou Shaobin's ears.

"What's going on? Why is there no picture and no sound?"

"Is the projection tape broken?"

"Impossible, nowadays movies are no longer projected on tapes, but on digital projectors!"

"Then what's going on? Is the digital projector broken?"

"That shouldn't be the case, right?"

Just when the audience was talking about why the movie didn't start showing normally, suddenly a majestic string ensemble sounded from the surround sound system in the screening hall.

This piece of string music sounds very ethereal, with an indescribable sense of loneliness, which makes people feel empty when listening to it.

The big screen also lit up again, and a piece of text that everyone had seen in the trailer appeared.

"This is a space 600 kilometers above the earth's surface"

"The temperature fluctuates between +258 degrees and -148 degrees."

"There is no gravity, no atmospheric pressure, and no oxygen."

"This is space, a place where life cannot survive!"

As the subtitles with white characters on a black background appeared, all the discussions immediately stopped, and everyone's eyes and attention were once again focused on the big screen.

The magnificent and ethereal soundtrack gradually reached its climax.

Hou Shaobin watched and listened very seriously.

Just as he was staring at the screen seriously, the music suddenly disappeared, and the auditorium became silent again.

The soundtrack that reached its peak just disappeared. It was like riding a roller coaster, and the hearts of all the audience were suddenly plucked.

"Fuck!"

"This is so beautiful!"

"This is space. Is this what the Earth looks like when viewed from space?"

All the audience were stunned. They didn't know what words to use to describe the shockingly beautiful scene in front of them.

In the empty and silent space, a blue planet slowly rotated in the center.

This is a view that can only be seen from the perspective of the space station, overlooking the earth.

This is a scene that will bring tears to the eyes of astronauts after entering space, and they will be shocked and speechless.

"This is space, this is the earth..." Hou Shaobin opened his mouth wide and stared at the shocking scenery on the screen. He didn't even notice when the popcorn in his hand fell to the ground.

The opening scene of "Gravity" brought a shocking and beautiful scene to all audiences.

This is a picture that cannot be described in any words. The visual shock it brings to people captured Hou Shaobin's heart in an instant.

"Please confirm that the hard drive removal procedure on the replacement cover, Parts 1 and 2 have been completed..."

"Procedure No. 1 is completed, program No. 2 inspection is completed..."

"Okay, Jiuquan has received it. Please ask the maintenance staff to continue checking the remaining procedures. The survey space telescope depends on you."

A burst of radio chatter rang in Hou Shaobin's ears, pulling his thoughts back to the movie.

After the shocking special effects scene, the main story begins.

It's just the content at the beginning that confused most of the audience. These professional terms are really difficult for ordinary people to understand!

However, the picture that appeared on the screen the next second answered everyone's doubts.

It turns out that these are three astronauts who are performing maintenance and repair work on the survey space telescope in space.

In fact, no one knows what a survey space telescope is, but the word "telescope" is still very understandable. Anyway, it must be a very powerful space equipment.

Moreover, the plot at the beginning of this scene is presented from Wang Xueqi's first-person perspective, which gives the audience an unparalleled sense of immersion, as if they are repairing this silver-white sky survey space telescope in the universe.

And through the first-person view, you can also see the astronaut played by Zhang Guorong, using the jetpack of the spacesuit next to "himself", flying around mischievously.

Although the whole person was wrapped in a bloated aviation suit, Zhang Guorong was still able to use the jetpack to do tricks. This relaxed and funny scene made all the audience laugh, and the atmosphere was relaxed and joyful.

A series of professional and profound conversations continued to appear on the radio channel.

It was cool, it looked professional, and even though the audience didn't understand it, they still enjoyed it.

Science fiction movies, what they want is this sense of mystery.

If you make it so that everyone can understand it, it won't have the sophisticated flavor of a science fiction movie.

In human terms, it just doesn't look good.

"What a great performance."

Zhou Xun, who was invited by Wu Yuan to come to the Light and Shadow Times to watch the premiere of "Gravity", tilted her head and whispered to Chen Kun, who was sitting next to her.

Although the series of special effects scenes at the beginning of the movie, the magnificent space scenes and the beautiful scenes overlooking the earth are indeed very shocking, but as an actor, when Zhou Xun watches a movie, the first thing he pays attention to is the plot and characters of the movie. of shaping.

Of course, Zhou Xun has 100% trust in Wu Yuan and his directorial skills.

Wu Yuan did a great job indeed.

While experiencing the beauty of space from a first-person perspective at the beginning, the "protagonist" has been interacting with other astronauts on the radio.

Although there are only a few lines of dialogue and the characters have not officially appeared yet, the characters of the two leading actors have already been portrayed.

Dr. Zhang Wei, played by Gong Li, showed his excellent professionalism as soon as he appeared on the scene. At first glance, he was a professional scientist.

But at the same time, she's also clearly a space noob.

Unsuitability to the universe, vomiting, shortness of breath, weightlessness and other emotions were all expressed under the cover of panic.

In comparison, the male protagonist Commander Li played by Wang Xueqi is undoubtedly the kind of humorous male lead image that is standard in Hollywood commercial blockbusters.

Although he is a soldier, he is humorous, funny, and loves to joke. He has always cared for and comforted the heroine, and he has a perfect image of a sunny and warm man.

The astronaut played by Zhang Guorong, who didn't even have a name, made the audience remember him immediately with his talkative characteristics and humorous lines.

"No matter who it is, the Jade Emperor, Sanqing Taoist Patriarch, Buddha, Jesus, or Allah, they all wish me to return to Earth safely this time."

"By the way, there is also the great Lord Shiva in India. I don't know if asking him to take care of it will work. I'm not a Brahmin!"

The astronaut played by Zhang Guorong is obviously a temporary pan-believer that is very common in China.

"This line actually passed the review and was not cut?" Chen Kun was a little surprised. This kind of sensitive ridicule of faith was actually released normally. It seems that the people above are really supporting "Gravity"!

Regardless of whether Zhang Guorong's lines were sensitive or not, Chen Kun couldn't help but sigh after being surprised.

In just a dozen or so lines of dialogue at the beginning, the images of the three astronauts who appeared on the stage were outlined in a very three-dimensional way. As for the last astronaut Liu Yifei.

As long as her face is exposed, even if it is separated by a glass helmet, it is enough to make the audience stare at her.

"Yuan'er's screenwriting skills are still as good as ever." Chen Kun sighed subconsciously.

Hearing his words, Zhang Ziyi, who was sitting not far away, turned her head and looked around. After confirming that no one of the domestic directors sitting on Wu Yuan's right was paying attention to them, she whispered in agreement:

"Yeah, I think Director Wu should be the most powerful screenwriter and the best at writing movie scripts among the big directors in China."

Let’s take a look at the level of the four major domestic directors.

Feng Xiaogang never writes his own scripts.

Zhang Yimou's script also requires the cooperation of a powerful screenwriter.

Not to mention Chen Kaige, the script he wrote was only scolded, which was his biggest shortcoming.

Jiang Wen's script is well written, but "Let the Bullets Fly", which established his image as a movie genius, has not yet been released, and his "every word" lines have not been widely known yet.

Who called "The Devils Are Coming" and "The Sun Also Rises" are still too obscure and difficult to understand.

Counting it all together, Wu Yuan's script writing ability is truly unique among mainland directors in the eyes of industry insiders.

On the big screen, the movie continues.

Although the atmosphere at the beginning is very relaxed, this is just an illusion.

"Gravity" is a space disaster movie, not a heartwarming space travel movie.

Soon, the story on the screen reached a turning point.

The astronauts in space received news from the satellite base on the ground.

Russia used a missile to blow up one of its defunct satellites. The debris of this satellite would not have affected them originally, but for some reason it suddenly changed its orbit and came towards them.

The news came in time. At least when they received the news, the three astronauts who were still repairing the telescope could not feel anything strange. Space was still the same space, calm and calm.

"I can't leave yet. There is still one last step left. Give me a moment..." As a scientist, Dr. Zhang Wei obviously does not have the instinct to obey orders like a soldier. She only has eyes for the space telescope that is still being repaired. .

However, Commander Li, played by Wang Xueqi, is obviously a qualified commander.

He roughly pressed Zhang Wei's shoulders and shouted sternly: "Not even for a second, turn it off and come back with me, this is an order!"

Although in the weightless environment of space, all sharp movements would appear clumsy and slow, but the commander's serious tone gave people an irrefutable feeling.

Zhang Wei looked at the commander, their eyes met, and there was no doubt in the other's eyes. She knew that she had to obey.

At this time, the movie fans who were watching the movie attentively felt their hearts gradually become tense under Wang Xueqi's serious tone, and the originally relaxed and sighing atmosphere quickly dissipated.

"Obviously, a disaster is coming." Hou Shaobin whispered to himself, but his eyes did not move from the screen.

On the screen, the four astronauts were making final preparations for evacuation, and the "Shenzhou spacecraft" docked with the survey space telescope was undergoing emergency evacuation procedures.

The commander also took the three people, preparing to return to the spacecraft and leave this dangerous place.

In the communication channel, signals from the ground are still warning.

"Shenzhou, we have received new data."

"How is it going?"

"The situation is not good, most systems have failed, and the chain reaction of debris is completely out of control and spreading rapidly."

"Many satellites are broken, and many more will be destroyed!"

"How much is a lot?"

"Almost all are broken, the remote communication system is out of order, and a communication midpoint may appear at any time from now."

A few words of dialogue with the ground command center immediately brought the situation to a very serious stage.

The background music of the film also began to become faster, and the drum beat seemed to hit the audience's hearts.

However, at this tense moment, the astronaut played by Zhang Guorong actually had time to joke: "This is really bad news. Half of the earth should not be able to log on to the Internet."

Obviously, this seemingly powerful cosmic disaster did not seem to shake the heart of this soldier (Chinese astronauts are selected from soldiers). At this time, he was even in the mood to make a joke.

Listening to the laughter of other audiences, Hou Shaobin also breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that the tension caused by the previous series of conversations suddenly disappeared.

However, just when he was about to raise the corners of his mouth and smile, Gong Li, who played Zhang Wei, suddenly exclaimed and grabbed the hearts of all the audience again.

"Oh! Chen Jun, at 9 o'clock! I see the fragments!"

The astronaut played by Zhang Guorong finally got his own name, but it was not good news.

The perspective on the screen also switched to Li Wei's first-person perspective in time, and a silver object like a "pebble" flew towards her head-on.

Although the distance is still far, against the background of the deep and dark space, this "silver stone" is undoubtedly very oppressive.

Although it is only a 2D movie, not as exciting as 3D and IMAX, but for the current Chinese audience, this visual impact is enough.

It seems that there is a super-fast fragment flying towards them in front of the audience.

The strong impact of this first-person perspective even made many viewers who have never seen this special effect almost bounce out of their seats.

"Fuck, this shot is really good!"

"It's a very impactful scene. The director has a strong control over the language of the lens!"

"I almost thought I was this astronaut. I felt scared to death just by being in it!"

On the big screen, after being attacked by this satellite debris, several astronauts were already nervous and incoherent, and they were constantly contacting the ground center.

The noisy radio streaming sound was constantly transmitted to the audience through the surround sound system, which aggravated the tense atmosphere.

There was no time for the audience to catch their breath, and a series of accidents happened continuously.

Space lost contact with the ground, and a large wave of satellite debris came quickly.

The debris rained down like an overwhelming oncoming, and both the survey telescope and the detached Shenzhou spacecraft seemed a little too fragile in front of these debris.

This was a disaster, a terrible disaster.

Countless fragments hit the space telescope and the Shenzhou spacecraft, smashing holes all over the two space creations and creating more fragments.

The unlucky Li Wei was thrown out of the survey telescope along with a mechanical arm under the impact of a piece of debris.

"Oh my God, oh my God...!"

"Fuck, it's so exciting!"

"My heart beats so fast, this scene is too exciting!"

The audience was completely shocked by the scene in front of them, and kept mumbling unconsciously.

Hou Shaobin was in a similar situation at this time. He had completely forgotten to eat the popcorn in his hand. He just half-opened his mouth and watched the unprecedented cosmic disaster with a shocked face.

The scene in front of him was undoubtedly very shocking.

Wu Yuan used the concept that there was no up, down, left, or right in space, and his camera movement was extremely imaginative.

Following Li Wei who was thrown out, with her as the central anchor, the camera rotated 360° continuously, taking the audience to appreciate the feeling of being dizzy and spinning after being "forced" in the weightless environment of space. It was suffocating and shocking, giving the audience a dizzy visual experience.

The soundtrack was also more urgent at this time. The rapid and exciting soundtrack, combined with the picture at this time, jointly constructed an audio-visual feast full of tension.

Every audience member at the scene was unconsciously leaning their bodies, as if they were experiencing the thrilling experience of the heroine Li Wei at this moment.

A living person rolled in the universe so quickly, gradually turned into a small white dot, and then disappeared while talking to Commander Li...

"What's going on?"

"The protagonist is dead?"

"Isn't Gong Li the most important heroine?"

Just when the audience was stunned, the camera quickly turned and it turned out that Li Wei did not really disappear in the universe. She was just carried by the huge impact and rolled out of Commander Li's sight.

In the first 15 minutes of the movie, Wu Yuan used three clever first-person perspectives to bring all the audience a roller coaster-like exciting audio-visual feast!