Chapter 332: Give Hollywood a Shock with "Kung Fu" And "Panda"! First Day Box Office 250?

After flying from New York to Los Angeles, I was just in time to catch the premiere of "Kung Fu Panda."

A lot of media gathered on both sides of the red carpet early. The cameras extended from the starting point of the red carpet to the entrance of the venue. It was so crowded!

"Huh? So lively?"

In the waiting area, Chen Fei was very surprised when he saw the hot atmosphere!

When the premiere of "WALL-E" was held last year, there were not so many guests and audiences present. Most of the media also had a disapproving attitude and were not optimistic about Chen Fei making an animated feature film.

"Haha, it must be lively."

Bruce smiled happily. There were many female celebrities here today, and even many Victoria's Secret angels, which was too much for his liking.

Natasha was wearing a long white dress today, her seductive swan neck was slightly raised, and her face was full of pride.

"Fei, such specifications are normal. Our total box office performance last year was No. 1 in Hollywood, and our animated feature films have won the Golden Globe, Oscar, Annie Award, and Saturn Award. Best Animated Feature Film Award.

Such strength is already at the top level in Hollywood. No one can ignore our achievements, and no one dares to underestimate our new films! "

Chen Fei agreed very much with this.

When the premiere of "WALL-E" was held last year, no one came from Disney headquarters at all. Only John Lasseter, CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, came to attend.

But this year is different. Not only did John Lasseter come again, but even Disney's current CEO Bob Iger came to the scene, and he also led an animation production team, obviously for evaluation. Got it!

"Let's go, it's time for us to enter."

After taking a look at the time, Chen Fei led Natasha, Bruce and everyone in the animation studio slowly towards the venue.

"Crack!"

In an instant, dazzling flashlights lit up the entire red carpet, and the screams and cheers were extremely harsh, seeming to drown out all other sounds.

In the crowd, reporters from several portals and newspapers who came from China all looked proud!

"Look at Director Chen's cards, who else can compare?"

"Damn, this is really handsome!"

"I never dared to imagine that we Chinese could have such an outstanding director."

"I always thought that Wu Yu had achieved the highest achievement among Chinese directors, but I didn't expect that the waves behind the Yangtze River would push the waves ahead!"

"Hahaha, Qianlang was photographed directly on the beach. That movie "Red Cliff Part 1" made my scalp numb."

"Mengmeng? Stand up!"

"Damn it, why do you all only remember this line?"

Reporters from several foreign media stopped Chen Fei at the entrance of the venue and conducted a brief interview with him.

"Director Chen? Do you think this "Kung Fu Panda" can recreate the glory of the last animated film?"

Chen Fei was full of confidence, "What I want to do is not to reproduce, but to transcend!"

"Director Chen, did you have any predictions about the box office of this new movie before filming started?"

"It has to be at least $100 million more than WALL-E."

"Director Chen, I heard that you have recently made another movie in India that will compete for an Oscar. Is this true?"

"It's true."

"..."

"Swish, swish, swish!"

Several well-known media outlets in Los Angeles stared wide-eyed, and their pens quickly crossed over on their notepads.

[After Ang Lee won the Oscar for Best Director, Chinese film director, screenwriter, and producer Fei Chen will also launch a fierce attack on the Oscar! 】

~

Entering the main venue, Chen Fei sat in the middle between Lions Gate Production Manager Skinner Bolick and Kevin Feige, quietly waiting for the host on stage to make a pre-opening introduction.

Skinner Bolick asked curiously, "Fei? I know Kung Fu. This is a characteristic of your China. I also know the panda, which is your national treasure. But a panda that knows Kung Fu does exist." ?"

"Well…"

Chen Fei suddenly didn't know how to explain it to him. After thinking for a moment, he replied: "You will understand after watching the movie."

Let "Kung Fu Panda" become a beautiful misunderstanding!

At the invitation of the host, Chen Fei and the production team stepped onto the podium and talked about some interesting things and difficulties overcome in animation production.

Then, the premiere officially began!

The overall plot of "Kung Fu Panda" is actually very simple. It tells the story of the protagonist "Panda Po" who originally had no skills. After many days of hard work, he finally developed a skill and defeated the villain "Tai Lang", thereby protecting the entire world. Hollywood hero story.

This kind of story is extremely common in Hollywood, and most of the sci-fi masterpieces produced by Category A have this story structure.

Movies such as "Iron Man", "Batman", and "Superman" all use this type of story structure.

But unlike other "hero stories", "Kung Fu Panda" incorporates many Chinese cultural elements into a highly "Hollywood" commercial production system.

For example, the cute and naive national treasure giant panda, the flowing Chinese Kung Fu, and the landscape environment with the style of ink painting...

This is an animated film that combines comedy elements and kung fu elements that audiences love to see. It also incorporates a heroic growth story into it, forming a style that many people love.

During the movie, Chen Fei paid special attention to the performance of the people on the scene.

When the tiger fist, snake fist, monkey fist, crane fist, mantis fist and other moves were vividly performed by the animals, cheers rang out on the scene!

The audience invited to watch the movie waved their fists and learned the moves in the movie, and each of them learned very seriously.

In order to better reflect the core story of "Kung Fu Panda", in the post-production, Chen Fei specially invited famous Hollywood composers Hans Zimmer and John Powell and several domestic masters of national style to compose the music for the film.

In the film's soundtrack, they combined Western symphony with Chinese folk music to create music with Chinese cultural characteristics for the film!

The film uses a large number of Chinese folk instruments, such as erhu, flute, guzheng, pipa and other string instruments and drums, gongs and other percussion instruments. The music is composed using the pentatonic mode unique to Chinese folk music, integrating the rhythmic materials of Chinese local music, closely connected with the Chinese cultural elements shown in the film, and showing a kung fu story with a strong Chinese flavor.

In this regard, several famous domestic musicians have made great efforts.

There are 17 pieces of music in the film, which can be roughly divided into two parts. One is the music that evolved from the theme song "Hero" and plays a narrative and emotional role in the film, such as "Turtle Climbing" and "Wisdom Peach Tree".

The other part is the soundtrack that sets the atmosphere when the film shows major scenes and key events, such as "Bridge" and "The Wolf Escapes".

Musicians at home and abroad have done their best to show the results of in-depth research and analysis of Chinese music, and have made an excellent combination of Chinese music elements and movies!

What is even more shocking is that in order to create an authentic "Kung Fu martial arts world", Chen Fei deliberately incorporated many Chinese ancient buildings, paintings, sculptures, Kung Fu and other visual elements related to Chinese culture into the film.

With the blessing of various elements, a movie with both Hollywood-style heroic stories and traditional Chinese cultural elements was born.

During the 92-minute film, no one on the scene had any intention of leaving midway, and they paid close attention to the whole process!

When the credits at the end of the film appeared, the entire venue suddenly burst into continuous and deafening applause!

"Oh! Yes! This is simply the best animated film I have ever seen!"

Skin Bolick shouted exaggeratedly, his eyes full of expectations.

When will Lionsgate be able to make such a movie?

At the same time, less than two meters away from Chen Fei, Disney CEO Bob Iger's eyes were extremely complicated.

He never thought that just now, he actually saw a very excellent and flawless animated feature film!

In fact, from the moment the title of "Kung Fu Panda" appeared on the big screen, he vaguely realized that this would be another excellent top production.

The title of the movie boldly used hand-painted animation, integrating the style elements of shadow play, and then quickly turned into a brighter and more colorful computer animation, using natural beauty such as blue sky, valley, sunset, etc. to describe the beautiful environment of China.

In the ending just passed, figure paintings and still life paintings were also used, which was refreshing!

Obviously, this is another excellent masterpiece that is not inferior to "Wall-E"!

After thinking for a moment, he subconsciously turned his head to look at John Lasseter beside him, and asked uncertainly: "Can we still win?"

"Bolt", "The Princess and the Frog", "Up", these three animated feature films are the favorable "weapons" that Disney is preparing to launch to deal with "Kung Fu Panda".

However, after watching this movie today, Bob Iger felt very powerless.

And John Lasseter, who was sitting next to him, was the same at the same time!

From the scenes that just flashed by, he could see the intentions of the production team.

Every animated character on the big screen strictly follows the body structure of animals to design the character's every move and appearance. The fine hair is so real that he can't help but want to touch it!

This is what "Up" failed to do. "Bolt" and "The Princess and the Frog" also failed to handle these details.

After thinking for a moment, John Lasseter sighed helplessly, "I think "The Princess and the Frog" and "Up" should be released next year. We are too rushed, and some details are handled too roughly. It is impossible for this panda who can only do kung fu to be the opponent."

Bob Eagle fell silent immediately.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, the quality of "Kung Fu Panda" is indeed incomparable to them. Whether it is the story or the picture, the three animated films they are about to launch are too bad.

If they are rushed out, not only will there be no effect, but it will only bring shame upon themselves!

"Alas!"

Sighing, Bob Iger had already made a decision in his mind, "Except for Bolt, postpone the other two movies."

~

Accompanied by warm applause, at the invitation of the host, Chen Fei and the main creative members of the animation studio returned to the stage.

The next step was the guest commentary session.

DreamWorks' current CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg became the first person to be invited.

The moment he stood up, Katzenberg looked at the young face on the stage with a somewhat complicated look in his eyes.

A series of changes occurred in DreamWorks a few days ago. The company's second largest shareholder actually transferred its equity to an investment company.

After some troubles, the second shareholder suddenly became active and gradually participated in the company's operations.

At the same time, the investment company is also constantly repurchasing the shares of other shareholders, which is a sign that DreamWorks will "change the government."

This made Katzenberg extremely confused. What on earth do these capitalists want to do?

Just yesterday, he received a shareholder meeting resolution, and several major shareholders unanimously decided to gradually separate from Paramount and instead cooperate with Waltons Pictures.

This was something only senior executives within the company knew about, and it was not spread out.

Katzenberg knows very well that now that this decision has been made, it has been finalized and will be implemented step by step.

Perhaps in the near future, he and Chen Fei will become partners instead of the current competitive relationship!

After a moment of silence, he took the microphone handed by the staff and expressed his thoughts: "First of all, I must admit that this is a very good animated movie.

Its story, plot, and images all shocked me, especially the images and colors, which are simply stunning!

Fei, I noticed that this movie uses a lot of color. Can you talk about the secret of this? "

color?

For a time, many directors and cameramen on the scene focused their attention on Chen Fei.

As Jeffrey Katzenberg said, the colors of "Kung Fu Panda" are indeed amazing. If you can learn some lessons, this trip will be worthwhile.

Chen Fei had no hidden thoughts. After thinking about it, he raised the microphone and said:

"Actually, I used a special trick here, using color to externalize the character's personality and image.

For example, in addition to the iconic white and black fur of the giant panda Po, yellow and purple pants make his image more naive, while Master Raccoon always wears brown clothes, which further deepens the calmness and seriousness of Master's character. .

In addition, the image design of each character in "The Furious Five" also takes into account the element of color. The colors on their bodies are more towards bright and vivid colors, outlining the passionate emotions of kung fu masters in the hearts of martial arts masters. and color of justice.

At the same time, in the depiction of scenes, the movie also uses more colors to enhance the atmosphere. "

Having said this, he thought for a moment and then continued:

"Let me give you a simple example. For example, in the passage about Po practicing Kung Fu hard, he first climbed the winding mountain road with his luggage on his back, practiced hard, corrected his attitude, and finally returned after learning. In fact, it only took a short time. A shot of less than five minutes is used to express it, and during this period, Abao's mental journey and his growth can be reflected in the changes in color.

For example, when I first started learning, most of the colors in the picture were blue and green. As time gradually passed and Po's kung fu improved, the red began to gradually increase. Finally, the mountains were red and the picture was filled with red. At this time, Po also ended his study. , successfully learned Kung Fu.

The use of this color can allow the audience to understand the development process of the event, and also mobilize the emotional changes of the audience layer by layer, so that they can become more immersed in watching and feel the progress of the picture and plot. This is why The reason why I use a lot of colors in my films. "

After the words fell, the scene fell into silence.

Looking around, there are many people who are thoughtful, but there are also many people who are confused and at a loss, and they cannot understand the specific meaning of Chen Fei's words.

A word called "comprehension" is involved here.

Top directors such as Spielberg all showed expressions of enlightenment at this time, and even began to think about how to use this learned experience.

And those directors who were not well-known and could only make some small-budget movies and TV series were looking left and right at this time, with uncontrollable doubts on their faces.

"Fei, thank you for your selfless sharing." Katzenberg expressed his sincere thanks.

"You are welcome."

Chen Fei responded with a smile, and his favorable impression of the DreamWorks CEO deepened a lot.

Maybe they can get along very well in cooperation in the near future.

…

The premiere was a success, at least when everyone left the show, everyone had an expression of surprise or amazement on their faces.

This is enough to prove the excellence of "Kung Fu Panda"!

Chen Fei did not choose to wait for the box office results on the first day in Los Angeles, but got on a plane overnight and rushed to China.

Zhang Yimou has been urging him many times, telling him to come back quickly and participate in the rehearsal.

At the same time, with the release of "Kung Fu Panda" in North America, the mainland also started a simultaneous release, but North America released it on August 1st, while the mainland missed that special day and chose August 2nd. Early morning.

When Chen Fei landed at the Capital Airport, Natasha's call came as promised.

""Kung Fu Panda" opened with a box office of US$32.588 in North America on its first day, which is 5 million more than Wall-E. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, as many as one hundred film critics participated in the rating, giving the film an 89 % freshness!”

$32.58 million?

Chen Fei was stunned for a moment, unable to react for a moment.

This is much higher than the box office performance of the original timeline, exceeding 10 million!

He was not in a hurry to leave the airport, but walked into the VIP terminal, turned on his computer and looked up the reviews of this animated film by foreign film critics and media.

On Rotten Tomatoes, many critics feel that "Kung Fu Panda" still uses a genre approach that everyone is familiar with, but the humor, agile martial arts action and colorful animation work together to make this entertaining movie a winner. !

"Times Business Daily" commented: Although the movie "Kung Fu Panda" is a Hollywood movie, the Chinese elements used in it fully demonstrate the uniqueness of Chinese culture, especially in the character design, making the already naive characters cute The national treasure panda is more comedic, and in terms of scene arrangement, whether it is the landscape or the pavilion, it is full of Chinese classical flavor. This is an animated film that vigorously promotes Chinese culture!

The New York Times commented: The production in this film can be regarded as exquisite visual art, and the plot design is enough to satisfy the audience's entertainment preferences.

CNN commented: The movie "Kung Fu Panda" is an interesting work in itself, with gorgeous and exquisite visual effects, but its story core and depth can only attract children...

Selectively ignoring the bad reviews, Chen Fei nodded with satisfaction.

Then you can wait and count the money!

~

Outside the airport, Ning Hao received Chen Fei and told him good news.

"You remember the movie "Nine Beauties", right? It was the movie about the two of us."

"Of course I remember. It was filmed by Wang Yuelun and Li Xiang from Mango Channel. What about it? Which movie has any problem?"

Ning Haole couldn't close his mouth, and laughed loudly: "The film was released yesterday. This morning China Film Group reported the box office situation. The box office on the first day was 2.5 million yuan."

"2.5 million?"

Chen Fei was immediately happy when he heard it, "I thought those two people looked like 250 before, but now it's better, they really are 250."

Ning Hao, "The comments from netizens are more interesting than the last. If you have time, you can check out the blog. Those articles are so apt."

Chen Fei didn't hesitate, took out his laptop on the spot and logged in to his blog account.

One of the most popular comments read: "The story of "Nine Beauties" is not careful enough. It seems that it has not been modified in any way. It just carries the story and spoofs to the end. There are not many laughs. The whole thing is artificial and extremely unsatisfactory. Smooth, let alone the so-called peak comedy. The film only has some creativity and highlights here and there, but it is still far from a true "comedy"!"

Many people have posted their own comments below.

"That's it? You still want to compete with rocks and racing cars? What do you think?"

"Pfft, I'm so happy that I've been criticized for being useless."

"To be honest, the movie is quite funny, but if compared with Director Chen's works, it is totally different!"

""Crazy Stone", "Crazy Racing", "On the Road", "On the Road to Thailand", Director Chen has used four films to establish his achievements and status in the field of comedy films. Is it you? Can a little bastard compare?"

"I first went to Douban to leave a negative review, and then I will express my opinion. What is this horse-riding film about? Is it just for the sake of being funny? What is the core of the story?"

No matter how redundant the comment was, Chen Fei didn't read it, because the numbers below were all "250", and the ridicule level was completely maxed out!

Even Li Yuchun, who sang the theme song, was pulled out and severely criticized. Fans expressed their confusion. Why would she sing the theme song for such a movie?

"Obviously they are all singers who came from the Mango Channel audition. Look at Chen Chusheng, the 2007 Fast Boy. Now he is doing soundtracks for Hollywood movies. Why are you singing more and more low?"

Comments like this are all over Li Yuchun's blog account.

At this time, in the Mango Stage, Wang Yuelun and Li Xiang had been sitting in the conference room all morning.

After the number "2.5 million" appeared, the couple felt a strong sense of unreality.

They originally thought that by riding on the popularity of Chen Fei and Ning Hao, they could break through at least 10 million, and at the worst, it would have to be about 8 million. After all, this is a movie that Bona is responsible for distributing, and the film schedule is still sufficient.

But I never expected that instead of catching on to this wave of heat, I actually fell into it!

Where can I go to reason with you?

However, just when the two people were in extremely complicated moods, a burst of warm cheers suddenly came from outside the conference room: "The ratings of "The Line of Life and Death" successfully exceeded 7 on the first day! It reached 7.5%! It successfully broke the ratings of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" ratings record..."

For a moment, the couple felt that their brains were blank, their eyes were in a trance, and their hearts were twitching suddenly.

Both of them knew very well that this TV series was also produced by Feiyue Film and Television.

But take a look at other people's ratings results, and then look at the box office of your own movies.

2.5 million…

Comparing people to each other can really make people mad!

~

Asking for monthly ticket

Let me explain the situation. The updates this month may not be stable. I hope you can forgive me because it is difficult to balance work and family, which leads to various conflicts. Then there are some physical problems, such as dermatitis, prostatitis, nasal mucosal ulceration, etc. All kinds of problems come one after another, but I will deal with them as soon as possible and resume the daily updates. I would also like to thank everyone for their support and follow-up reading. Thank you.