Chapter 617 Increase the Stakes
New Line is really worthy of Golden Harvest, opening 2,280 theaters!
You know, when "Kung Fu" opened in 2,503 theaters, its first weekend box office revenue was US$6.7 million, directly setting a record for the lowest box office in 2,000+ theaters...
Then, Hollywood no longer trusts Chinese-language films...
The opening scale of "Fearless" is only 1806, which is already the largest opening of a Chinese-language movie!
"Taken 2" once again set a new opening scale. The most important thing is that the box office is very good, with a single box office of nearly 4,000 US dollars, and the reputation is also very good.
The final North American box office of the first part of "Taken" was 39 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office was 84 million U.S. dollars. It failed to beat "The Golden Jackpot" and "Glory of the Tang Dynasty", but it beat "Fearless" with a global box office of 70.69 million U.S. dollars. ...third place of the year!
And DVDs are selling very well, with total annual revenue in North America approaching US$36 million...
Well, not more than "Fearless" - last year, "Fearless" North American DVD rental revenue was US$9.39 million, and North American DVD sales revenue was US$31.12 million.
Last year, "Fearless" North American DVD revenue totaled US$40.51 million.
However, the TV rights of "Taken" were sold in large quantities, and they were half-sold, half-given, and sold at a low price - New Line's strategy.
That year, "Rush Hour" was released, and the box office in its first week was as high as 33 million. A large part of the reason was because "Who Am I" had already been broadcast on North American TV stations for several rounds!
——Zou Wenhuai, the boss of Jiahe, was caught in the Asian financial crisis while speculating in real estate and owed a lot of debt. He sold a batch of more than 160 movies produced by Jiahe to Warner Bros. in the United States.
Originally, with Jackie Chan's popularity in those years, "Who Am I" would definitely be released in North America, but Golden Harvest couldn't wait any longer and first sold the film's TV and audio-visual rights in North America, which meant that the film could not be released in North America. It will be released in theaters, otherwise with the quality of "Who Am I", there will be no problem with the North American box office exceeding 10 million.
But it's not entirely without merit. Before "Rush Hour" was released, "Who Am I" was broadcast three times in two weeks on American television, which played a very effective publicity role...
This time in "Rescue 2", New Line is taking this approach!
The effect... was good. "Taken 2" took in a box office of US$21.78 million in its first weekend. A large part of the reason was due to the promotional effect of "Taken"...
The key point is that the audience’s reputation is very good!
In terms of evaluation, 31,458 IMDb reviewers gave it a score of 8.0, 11 film critics from Yahoo gave it a C, and 2,076 movie fans gave it an A-1.
Let’s first look at the reviews from film critics and media. “It’s full of conspiracy and has bad cultural stereotypes about Europe.” “The plot of the film is so fragile that even if I walked out for a cup of coffee in the middle and asked for an hour to come back to watch the ending, it wouldn’t affect me. Understanding of this movie”…
Okay, the plot is indeed a bit simple...
After experiencing "Hurricane Rescue", Wu Jing began to teach his sister Kung Fu, but her sister experienced the incident in Thailand and was still frightened. Wu Jing simply asked for leave to take his sister to Europe to relax, and then... The Albanian gang behind the last incident kidnapping, so the agent brother went out again,
Using all the professional skills he has mastered, he started to save his sister, and saw people killing people and Buddhas killing Buddhas along the way...
Well, from start to finish!
North American audiences like this model: “Today’s people’s hearts are beating fast and their blood is pumping. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a gripping action movie.” “I’ve been looking forward to seeing it in the cinema for a long time, and I was not disappointed at all! "…
Well, the "Taken" series is probably going to follow the same old path: earning a lot of praise from the audience, but not very pleasing to the film critics and the media...
However, this did not affect the global sales of "Taken 2" - it was released simultaneously in more than 70 countries and regions around the world, excluding North America, and earned more than 18 million US dollars;
Among them, the mainland box office was 29 million yuan, and the Hong Kong box office was 2.2 million Hong Kong dollars;
It did not account for a large proportion, but the second-ranked South Korean box office: it mobilized 392,439 moviegoers in the first weekend and took in a box office of US$3 million;
The United Kingdom and France received US$2.7 million and US$2.4 million respectively...
Well... the Hong Kong film market has its own pride. Generally speaking, it is difficult for pure action films to achieve good results in the Hong Kong market...
At least that was the case until 2010!
After all, Chinese action films are the place to take the lead.
Later, whether it was the "Knight" series or the "John Wick" series, the box office in Hong Kong was very high, even surpassing the flagship local action film "Ip Man 4"...
Well, that's something to talk about later.
However, after "Taken 2" was released, it became a global hit - the news that the box office in the first week was US$40 million directly made the entire Hong Kong film and media circles excited!
What does this mean?
Action movies are making a comeback!
That’s it… The leading actor in “Rescue 2” is from the Mainland…
——The director of the second part has been changed to Lu Jianqing, and Zheng Baorui is the producer. He will direct "The Lonely Agent", starring Zhang Jing!
It's okay, the director and action director are from Hong Kong, so you can brag!
…
"Taken 2" is a global hit, and Chinese-language action movies hit new highs! ", "After Jackie Chan and Li Lianjie, another action star is born: Wu Jing! ", "Jiahe announced: "Hurricane Rescue 3" has been approved! 》
Mainland media also reported various reports on "Rescue 2"...
After all, it really sold well all over the world!
Shen Xudong is quite calm...
It is estimated that the global box office of "Taken 2" will exceed 100 million at most...
The box office of action movies declines very quickly, unless they are the ones with huge reputations.
I haven't seen "Rush Hour 3" and "Mission: Impossible 3", both of which opened at over US$5,000. The final box office was US$140 million for one and US$134 million for the other!
Jackie Chan's appeal is not enough, so "Rush Hour 3" has exceeded 300 million US dollars worldwide. In comparison, the star power of "Taken 2" is much worse...
Shen Xudong was walking in the park when he received a call from Zhong Lifang.
"I'm more concerned about Jiahe's current market value!"
"...the stock price has soared 270%, with a total market value of over 3 billion Hong Kong dollars, and it is still rising..."
Shen Xudong thought for a while and then added: "You inform New Line that the third part will sign a split contract. In addition, they have to pay the advance payment for "Rescue 3"..."
Zhong Lifang was stunned for a moment: "I can understand the advance payment... We have already signed the account sharing contract, why do we still need to pay the advance payment?"
"...If New Line is willing to pay the US$25 million advance payment for the third part in advance, we can hand over the overseas distribution of "Taken 3" to New Line, of course, under a split contract!"
"Wouldn't that be outrageous?"
"What's so outrageous? New Line bought out North American revenue for "Taken 2" for US$17 million. How much do you think they made? You told them that US$25 million was the cost of producing "Taken 3"..."
"Then what if they don't agree?"
"Don't agree? Then I'll go to Lionsgate or Fox... Don't worry, they will agree..."
Zhong Lifang asked again: "The production cost of the third part will rise to 25 million US dollars?"
"Isn't this nonsense? Wu Jing's salary should be increased to at least 8 million US dollars. As the salary increases, the production will have to be upgraded every year... I am worried that 25 million US dollars is not enough!"