I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 144 The midnight show and first day box office of "The Hawthorn Tree"!

"Yes!"

Chen Jin waved his arms excitedly, and Zhu Yanmanzi next to him also stretched out his hand and high-fived Chen Jin.

Zhang Yimou may not care about winning any award, but Chen Jin and Zhu Yanmanzi are still very happy.

Because this is the first movie that the two of them participated in, a true debut.

And many people’s first work is not famous at all.

The two of them had a great start.

Not only is it Zhang Yimou's art film, but it was also shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival; now, it even won an award. Such a height is simply reached step by step.

"Under the Hawthorn Tree" can definitely become a representative work of both people's acting career.

Moreover, this is only the first work of the two.

"Okay, okay, it could be a consolation prize!"

“It’s hard to say…”

Zhang Yimou has encountered this kind of embarrassment before. "Hero" was originally nominated for the main competition unit of the Berlin Film Festival.

All over the world, not just domestic media were reporting on this incident.

Everyone thought that this movie could win many awards internationally, not to mention that it has Zhang Yimou's signature brand. Time magazine even rated it as one of the top ten best films of all time.

But I didn't expect that when the whole world, film critics, trade publications, etc. were all extremely optimistic about it and it was a super hot favorite, Berlin would have a huge disaster.

Only one consolation award was given - the Alfred Bauer Silver Bear Award!
On the contrary, another Chinese-language film nominated, "Blind Shaft", which was not well received and no one reported at the time, won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution, which is awarded to screenwriters and directors and is second only to the Best Award and the Jury Prize.

This made Zhang Yimou very embarrassed at the time, and he didn't go to the Berlin concert for several years.

It was not until this year that Berlin called him many times and extended a cordial invitation. Finally, he entered the main competition with "Three Guns" and was nominated for the Golden Bear in the main competition unit of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival.

Well, this time it was Zhang Yimou's turn to take a big one.

Treat others as you would like to be treated, and now no one owes anyone anything.

The fact that this film was shortlisted for the three major film festivals is more or less a backdoor decision.

If it can still win an award, it would be outrageous enough to open the door to outrageousness, it's outrageous to the extreme; the Berlin jury still has some appreciation ability.

“Hey, it’s 3 o’clock!”

"The box office statistics for the midnight show should be out!"

In the early morning of the capital time, the audience who wanted to watch the midnight show had of course already bought their tickets and entered the venue.

Zhang Yimou was waiting for the message from Pang Liwei.

"How is it, Director Zhang?"

Chen Jin was still very concerned about the box office performance of her first debut film. Zhu Yanmanzi next to her also came over and leaned against Chen Jin.

"It's OK, just average, 141 million!"

"It's already a great achievement for an art film to have this midnight show!"

Zhang Yimou smiled there, and it was obvious that he was quite satisfied with this midnight show.

Chen Jin had no idea and couldn't help asking, "Director Zhang, which movie is the most popular at midnight?"

"Are you asking whether it is domestically produced or imported?"

“These two statistics are different!”

Zhang Yimou was running and had nothing to do, so he took the opportunity to chat with Chen Jin.

“Is domestically produced goods worse than imported ones?”

These days, Hollywood blockbusters are all the rage and are popular all over the world, and China is no exception.

"Titanic" set a domestic box office record of 98 million yuan when it was released in 3.6, accounting for one-third of the domestic box office of all films released that year. It was so strong that the higher-ups directly implemented distribution reforms.

We have to reform!

This box office tells a lot of stories.

First, there is no shortage of audiences willing to buy tickets to watch movies in China; second, there is a very good market environment and the public is still very receptive to watching movies; and third...if this continues, domestic films will be beaten by Hollywood and no one will even recognize them.

So, 10 years!

It took Huaxia 10 years to prepare for the film, and only last year, "Founding of a Republic" took in 4.2 million yuan at the box office, breaking the record that had stood for 10 years.

Of course, the box office of "Founding of a Republic" was very poor, and there were many political factors involved.

The actual box office may be just over 3 million!

But given the box office results, there are not many domestic films that can achieve this. It’s not that the country doesn’t support it, but that it doesn’t have the strength.

Despite such a huge publicity campaign, "Red Cliff" only grossed over 3 million yuan in the end.

However, this domestic film box office record of 4.2 million is still very embarrassing.

Because "Transformers 2" was released before "Founding of a Republic" and earned 4.55 million yuan. It makes no sense to destroy the big ship from 10 years ago; and then less than 2 months later, "2012" came again.

4.6 billion!
Domestic films were hit again.

Then this year, the guy who dominated China's box office records for 10 years came back with a new work that swept the world.

"Avatar", with a domestic box office of over 13 billion, has driven all Chinese filmmakers into autism.

Even though domestic films are breaking records again and again, and "Aftershock" even raised the box office of domestic films to 6.65 million, it still doesn't help.

The number of 13 billion+ is too scary.

The industry even predicts that China will have to wait another 10 years to catch up, and it will take until 2020 to break the 13 billion record. But by that time, Hollywood will be able to raise the box office in mainland China to 20 billion or even 30 billion!

In this lifetime, domestic films will never catch up, as the technology is 100 years behind. It’s good enough to pick up some of the heat from behind.

Lu Chuan even felt ashamed for the people of the whole country. The Chinese people will never understand the feelings involved.

Many professionals have just said this not long ago. The sentiment of worshipping foreign things is particularly strong at this juncture in 2010.

Public intellectuals and big Vs are always touting how good foreign countries are, with the United States and Japan being the most mentioned.

As the first stop of cultural invasion, movies are of course particularly popular and sought after.

"Yes, it's a lot different!"

Zhang Yimou's expression didn't change as he said, "The record for imported movies is Avatar, which sold 452 million. As for domestic movies, didn't the news just report a few days ago that Aftershock broke many records, including this midnight show?"

302 million!
Chen Jin also saw this news.

However, there is definitely some water in the number. It is estimated that the actual number is only more than 200, which is less than half of "Avatar".

"Art films cannot be compared with commercial films, and many imported films have strong publicity. Many audiences will spontaneously think that Hollywood productions are high-quality!"

"..."

Zhang Yimou talked a lot with Chen Jin, and it can be seen that he also has many ideas about the current market.

He knows some of the inside information, so he is not worried about the future of Chinese films.

Chen Jin has even less to worry about.

Because the next few years will be the golden high-speed period for Chinese films, which will smack the faces of all the public intellectuals who are advocating for it.

Eventually this group also died out.

"I had someone customize two sets of clothes for both of you. I didn't expect to win a prize before I came here!"

“It’s not easy to find sponsors right now…”

Zhang Yimou suddenly said that the main reason was that he was not good at these things.

Chen Jin knew that there were many shops in Venice that rented luxury evening gowns, which were provided to many carpet stars and those who were unprepared.

……

The next morning, Chen Jin woke up to receive a lot of messages.

"The Hawthorn Tree" premiered today. Of course, Yang Zi, Zhang Yishan and other classmates who are candidates for the art exams went to watch it in a group.

There were also Chen Jin's parents. Su Wanyu invited her whole family and booked the theater; Chen Xianqi was also generous in a rare occasion, giving away tickets to the entire hospital. Of course, they couldn't all go to the theater together, and the hospital wouldn't allow it.

"Son, your acting was really great. How come my son is so great?"

"Your dad cried several times!"

"Mom is going to watch it for the second time today. I'm going to ask all my colleagues to go watch it. It's really good!"

"Xiao Zhu also acted very well. Mom likes her very much. How is your relationship with her?"

Su Wanyu knew that Chen Jin went to Venice. He told her about it on the phone when he went abroad.

Looking at the several messages sent by her mother, Chen Jin didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I guess I cried my eyes out while watching it, but I didn’t say anything, just like my mother.

The key point is that even in this situation, he still went to watch it again. He is very courageous.

This made Chen Jin doubt her motives. She just wanted to show off to her colleagues, which Chen Jin could understand.

I don’t know if you have any other thoughts, for example - cry, cry hard.

I can’t cry alone with my family.

"Ha ha!"

Chen Jin felt that he was a little evil.

Mainly, people of their age are more touched by this movie than young people.

It’s going to make you cry.

Chen Jin has this confidence.

What does this last one mean?
Do you still like it?

"Is the relationship okay? How about I get you an autograph or something?"

Chen Jin was joking there, probably because her mother was in class at the beginning of the school term and didn't reply immediately.

After washing up, Chen Jin took Zhu Yanmanzi downstairs to exercise.

There is basically nothing to do today, but in case there is an emergency, Chen Jin thinks it is better to finish it first.

After sending a message to Pu Lun to ask about the box office situation, Chen Jin opened Douban.

Zhu Yanmanzi was reading the film reviews on Time.net.

The two of them are still very concerned about the reviews of the movie. As newcomers, they definitely want to know some feedback first.

This Douban has a very bad reputation in later generations, and is known as the Pi County of data female workers, but the current scoring mechanism is still okay and there are not many people who cheat.

As for the film reviews on Time.com, they are more professional.

Currently, there are only these two professional film review websites in China.

"After watching it, I only have one thought: the toothpaste advertisement should find a top scorer in the college entrance examination to endorse it!"

The first comment criticized Chen Jinlei.

Is this a win for Yunnan Baiyao without any effort?

But it is true that he won a lot. The endorsement fee of 100 million has now increased several times.

These days, the country has not yet started to suppress artistes' incomes, and various endorsement fees are ridiculously high. Chen Jin's is definitely considered cheap.

"It feels average. Apart from that special period, it's just an ordinary story of a man and a woman's first love, with a touch of Korean idol drama!"

"I've been tricked by Lao Mouzi again!"

"The heroine looks so pretty when she smiles, it makes my heart sweet!"

"To be honest, the top scorer in the college entrance examination has good acting skills. At least he passed my test!"

“The third one definitely performed the feeling of the original work!”

"It's meaningless. Seeing so many people crying, I wondered, am I out of touch with this world?"

"The plot is very stupid, Zhang Yimou is really no good!"

"..."

There are both good and bad reviews, and Zhang Yimou’s reputation is indeed not good.

As for him, there has been some reversal. Not many people are scolding him, and all are praising his acting skills.

You have to know that Douban's comments are very toxic. This is already a very high evaluation. In their eyes, the performance of the Venice Film Festival winner is sometimes just average, which is okay.

The biodiversity is on full display here.

And Time.com is obviously much better.

Praise when it is due and criticize when it is due.

The rating has also come out - 7.6.

“When does Douban usually start publishing?”

Zhu Yanmanzi suddenly asked.

"I don't know, there's no pattern, maybe it depends on the number of people or the number of comments..."

Chen Jin didn't quite understand it either, so the two of them spent a long time reading film reviews. When they saw the criticisms, they shared them with each other and were laughing happily.

Most of the comments are criticizing the movie and Zhang Yimou. What does it have to do with Chen Jin?

At this time, Pu Lun also sent Chen Jin the first day box office of "The Love under the Hawthorn Tree".

1681 million!
It's a mediocre result, certainly not comparable to the first-day box office of Zhang Yimou's commercial films, but as an art film, it has broken all records.

The main thing is that this schedule is pretty good, there is not much competition from domestic or foreign blockbusters at the same time, except for "Inception" which has been released for 10 days!
Currently, the screening schedules of the two films are similar, both around 30%.

This science fiction masterpiece by Nolan has already grossed nearly 2 million yuan in the domestic box office in recent times, with a very strong momentum.

And there is no sign of decline, with the daily box office remaining stable at around 1500 million.

"The Hawthorn Tree" was released today, and it finally surpassed it and took the first place in the daily box office.

As for the weekends tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, if nothing unexpected happens, "Under the Hawthorn Tree" will dominate the show. As for next week, it may be hard to say.

Zhang Yimou's box office appeal in the first weekend was based on his name. "Three Shots" took in 4 million in the first four days of the weekend; and the subsequent box office growth will depend on the word-of-mouth spread of the movie!

At present, "The Hawthorn Tree" is definitely much better than "Three Guns", but "Three Guns" is a commercial film, and art films are inherently at a disadvantage.

"If you look at it this way, our movie may not even make over 2 million!"

Art films do have some inherent limitations.

"Mr. Zhang's goal seems to be 2 million!"

"Well, it depends on the weekend tomorrow and the day after tomorrow!"

“Oh, and our awards are added to the mix!”

Chen Jin almost forgot about this. Currently, "The Hawthorn Tree" still has a biggest trump card, which is tomorrow's awards ceremony in Venice.

If you can win a big prize, it will have a certain effect on boosting the box office.

Not to mention an increase of hundreds of millions or something, there will definitely be tens of millions.

People are curious. National media are reporting that this movie won major awards overseas. Out of trust in the three major film festivals, many people will go to the cinema to watch it.

The then little-known "Peacock" earned 5000 million in box office revenue in one week just because of this kind of report.

Zhang Yimou, there must be more.

“I hope to win a big prize!”

"It all depends on tomorrow!"

Two people were waiting there.

The closing ceremony of the 67th Venice International Film Festival finally kicked off.

(End of this chapter)