Chapter 259: The Impact and Rhythm of Hollywood Blockbusters
July 10th, Star International Cinemas in World City.

As the first blockbuster of the summer season, the premiere of "Transformers" was quite grand.

I just don't know whether this was arranged by China Film or organized by the production company Paramount.

When Liu Zhou came over, he saw that the entire exterior wall of the cinema building was covered with Autobots posters and a large group of fanatical fans.

After a quick look, I saw that those holding Autobot toys included children aged seven or eight, as well as middle-aged people in their thirties and forties. Except for the older generation, people of basically all ages were included.

From this we can see that the Transformers IP has fully demonstrated the fan base accumulated over more than 20 years.

As soon as Liu Zhou arrived at the cinema entrance, a group of reporters surrounded him.

"Hello, Director Liu. Transformers is a huge hit at the North American box office. What kind of results do you think it will achieve in mainland China?"

"I haven't seen the movie yet so I can't make a prediction yet, but Transformers has a huge fan base, so it shouldn't be difficult to break 100 million."

"Director Liu, the Hollywood blockbuster Edge of Tomorrow directed by you will also be released. Are you confident that it will beat Transformers at the box office?"

"Of course!" Liu Zhou replied without hesitation.

Even if you don't have it, you have to have it. You can't lose the momentum before the battle.

"Then Director Liu, do you think Ning Hao's movie Crazy Racer can beat Transformers at the box office?"

"Of course, I have confidence in Ning Hao!"

After briefly answering a few questions, Liu Zhou got rid of the reporters and walked into the screening room.

There were already quite a few people inside, and Liu Zhou went straight to Han Shanping.

"Boss Han, why are you suddenly holding a premiere for a Hollywood blockbuster this time?"

"There's nothing we can do about it. This is a request from the producers. This situation may become the norm in the future."

After hearing Han Shanping's words, Liu Zhou immediately understood that this must be the pressure from Hollywood as a whole.

In the original time and space, it was also because of Hollywood's lobbying that the U.S. authorities put pressure on the mainland, and the mainland market became more and more open to Hollywood blockbusters.

Not only did the number of imported films increase, but the producers' share also increased from 13% at the beginning to 25%.

It now seems that because of the emergence of Liu Zhou in this life, the mainland film market has become more prosperous, and Hollywood has also accelerated its pace of entering the mainland market.

"No wonder, it seems that Hollywood is paying more and more attention to our market."

"Why, you don't have confidence, do you?"

"How is that possible? When have I ever been afraid of competition?"

Han Shanping sighed and said:
"You and I are definitely not worried, but market competition will definitely become more and more intense in the future. I just don't know if some other people can withstand it."

“Mr. Han, don’t worry too much. Although Hollywood blockbusters are more powerful, it is not a bad thing. At least it can stimulate the potential and progress of Chinese filmmakers.

If we continue to be complacent, the overall level of Chinese-language films may even decline.”

Liu Zhou knew that Han Shanping's worries were justified.

In the past, Chinese-language films were repeatedly criticized by Hollywood blockbusters, and finally they could not stand it anymore, so they created a domestic film protection month.

However, this domestic film protection month later caused considerable controversy.

Some people think this is a protection for Chinese-language films, but others say it will make Chinese-language films complacent and lose their competitiveness.

Judging from the results, the latter is undoubtedly correct.

Because Chinese-language films as a whole are in a state of decline.

Even though the box office of later movies often reaches tens of billions or even hundreds of billions, the types of movies are very single, either main theme movies or comedies.

Moreover, there is a serious lack of creativity and following trends, and adapting foreign films has become a trend.

But now and in the previous 10 to 20 years, although the box office of Chinese-language films is not high, there are many types, including art films, commercial films, feature films, and even horror films.

Not only that, Chinese-language filmmakers are also very creative, and excellent scripts emerge in an endless stream.

Liu and Zhou are unlikely to be able to stop the Domestic Film Protection Month, as this is a policy set directly by China Film Group Corporation.

But now that Liu Zhou has returned here and has some strength now, he has to do something to prevent Chinese-language films from going backwards.

"I hope so. By the way, will there be a premiere for your Edge of Tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure about this. Lionsgate is in charge of these things, but I don't think there's any need to hold a premiere. I'll talk to them about it later."

"Are you so confident in your appeal?" Han Shanping asked with a smile.

“It’s not that I have confidence in my appeal, but I feel the gains do not outweigh the losses.

"Edge of Tomorrow" only gets 13% of the box office share, and it would spend too much money on promotion in the mainland market."

"Haha, didn't Paramount invest two or three million dollars in publicity?"

"That's because they are rich and powerful. Lionsgate can't compare to them."

In fact, the reason why Hollywood accepted the 13% box office share was that they never thought about making money from the mainland market. The reason why they are still happy to import movies into the mainland is actually to cultivate the market.

Just like what they did with Hong Kong films in the past, they relied on Hollywood's well-developed film industry and paved the way with one special effects blockbuster after another.

Then "Jurassic Park" directly stunned the Hong Kong filmmakers, and "Titanic" became the last straw that broke the camel's back for Hong Kong films.

In this way, Hollywood completely attracted Hong Kong movie fans with one movie after another.

They originally wanted to use the same method to gradually erode the mainland's film market.

But Hollywood had no idea how much importance the mainland would place on the film industry.

Movies are one of the important channels for public opinion propaganda. How could the mainland possibly let others take over the responsibility?
Therefore, we used administrative means to impose restrictions on Hollywood movies, which prevented them from succeeding.

The two didn't chat for long before the movie started.

There are quite a few patch ads at the beginning, and FAW's heavy trucks also join in the fun.

Although Liu Zhou had watched all the Transformers movies in his previous life, he really didn't remember much about the plot.

This kind of popcorn movie is something you forget once you watch it, and its main attraction is the sensory stimulation given by the big screen in the cinema.

"Transformers" is undoubtedly an excellent popcorn movie, and Explosive Bay fully demonstrates his strengths.

From the first climax, the dizzy raid on the US Air Force base, the whole process was boom-boom-boom. Bang-bang-bang. Da-da-da. Boom-bang-bang. Boom-boom-boom.
An hour passed, bang bang bang, boom boom boom, boom boom boom!!!

An hour and a half passed, bang bang bang, bang bang bang, boom boom boom!!!

From the beginning to the end, it was all boom, bang, bang, da, da, dong, dong, dong, and it never stopped for a moment.

But the audience in the audience was watching the show with great fascination, even exclaiming from time to time, without taking their eyes off the big screen for even a second. It was truly an entertaining show throughout.

There is no doubt that "Transformers" has once again given mainland audiences a new understanding of Hollywood blockbusters.

Not only the audience, but also some mainland filmmakers were shocked after watching the film, and then left the cinema with complicated expressions.

The next day, fans who had watched the movie shared the film on Douban, various movie forums, and even Penguin groups.

At the same time, the media also began to report extensively on "Transformers".

On July 12, "Transformers" was released nationwide. On the 13th, when the first day box office figures were released, it shocked the entire entertainment industry.

Twenty-nine million!
It almost broke the first-day box office record set by "Red Cliff".

But people in the industry know that the potential of "Transformers" is far more than that, because China Film only gave "Transformers" 500 copies, not one more.

For "Red Cliff", not only were there more copies, but China Film also provided greater support.

However, the outside world does not know this, but at least it still saves a bit of face for domestic films.

On July 16, "Transformers" had grossed over 100 million yuan in four days after its release, almost tying the record of "Red Cliff" which grossed over 100 million yuan in three days.

But this result is undoubtedly very dazzling.

The 500 copies distributed were almost sold out. Some theater companies called China Film Group, wanting to get more copies, but were all rejected by Han Shanping.

He has a scale in his heart. When comparing a small amount of box office revenue with the overall success of the film, it is obvious which is more important.

However, Han Shanping has only been able to secretly manipulate the box office of Hollywood blockbusters for the past two years. After signing a new agreement with Hollywood in 2009, he can no longer do so.

Ten days after its release, "Transformers" grossed over 200 million yuan, becoming the second Hollywood movie to do so in mainland China.

However, at this time, the box office of "Transformers" began to slow down, and pirates did not treat it any differently, and high-definition videotapes and discs began to appear on the market on a large scale.

At the beginning, everyone predicted that the box office of "Transformers" had a great chance of exceeding 300 million.

However, films imported from overseas cannot apply for an extension key, and on July 24, "Edge of Tomorrow" directed by Liu Zhou will be released.

Therefore, the media and some film critics have lowered their predictions.

Although "Transformers" had a strong start at the box office, Liu Zhou knew that it would never break 300 million.

In history, even without "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Crazy Racing", he would not have been able to break 300 million, let alone now.

However, with the huge success of "Transformers", "Edge of Tomorrow", which is also a highly anticipated movie in the summer, is inevitably compared.

Suddenly, there were many pessimistic comments about "Edge of Tomorrow", believing that this traditional Hollywood science fiction film could not withstand the impact of the Autobots with Liu Zhou's appeal alone.

There are many similar arguments on the Internet that praise "Transformers" while criticizing Liu Zhou and his "Edge of Tomorrow".

When Liu Zhou saw this, he keenly realized that someone was leading the trend.

But Liu Zhou was not angry, he just felt it was a little funny.

He didn't really care about the box office of "Edge of Tomorrow" in mainland China, and he only mentioned it briefly on his blog.

Unexpectedly, some people seem to equate "Edge of Tomorrow" with themselves, thinking that because "Edge of Tomorrow" lost to "Transformers", Liu Zhou lost.

It was obvious that this was the work of an amateur, and Liu Zhou was too lazy to pay attention to them.

(End of this chapter)