Zhou Fangyuan's visit to the United States has two main purposes.

One is to read the film, "Hulk" and "Iron Man 2" have completed filming, Zhou Fangyuan came over, is to review the final film, and put forward his own opinions, if you think everything is OK, the movie will start to be finalized as appropriate.

As the name suggests, it is to choose the release time for the movie, because the time is different, and the box office will also be affected after the release, so for these different stages, each country has different schedules.

Taking rice country as an example, there are almost five major schedules for rice movies, which are winter, spring, summer, autumn and year-end.

Among them, the winter schedule is generally from the first Friday of the new year to before the spring break, the spring schedule is from the beginning of spring break to the Memorial Day weekend, and the summer schedule is from late May to September 4 every year.

The fall schedule runs from September 5 until Thanksgiving, and its target audience is mostly women. The year-end holiday schedule runs from the weekend before Thanksgiving to the New Year, although it is not as long as the summer file, but because this file spans the two major festivals of Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is also a must-compete schedule for film companies. In addition, there are New Year's Day, Easter in March, Memorial Day in May, Independence Day in July, Labor Day in September, Columbus Discovery of the New World Day in October, Thanksgiving Day in November, Christmas in December, etc., which can be included in the five major schedules, and those that cannot be included are drawn out separately.

It can be said that the summer file in the United States is created by film marketers through various means. Their behavior of adopting a variety of marketing methods for different schedules to warm up the film market in advance, expand the scale of the target group, stimulate people's desire to watch movies, and carry out film consumption activities is very worthy of consideration and reference by Chinese filmmakers.

So in China, it is almost the same as painting a scoop with a gourd, and it has also made its own movie schedule. Of course, there is no time at this point in time, and the domestic film market has just risen, but at the time before Zhou Fangyuan's rebirth, the film schedule has spread all over the year.

Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, May Day, National Day...... According to incomplete statistics, the schedules of various names in the mainland have been distributed in 12 months of the year, with a total of about 256 days, which is already the status quo of monthly schedules. There are various schedules in the solar calendar, and there are also many schedules in the lunar calendar, each with a different number of days, as short as one day and as long as four months.

Unlike the practice of overseas imported films being determined by China Film and Huaxia, the schedule of domestic films is basically determined by the filmmaker. Usually a film has to consider the schedule when it is prepared, when the film is completed, the official schedule is determined, at this time, the film party will first release the schedule in the form of a press release, and at the same time, it will also notify the theater, and then there will be posters and other promotional materials to the theater, and wait until about a week before the release, the digital hard disk copy of the movie will be sent to the theater, which is the process before and after a movie is finalized.

Under normal circumstances, before a movie is filmed, it needs to go through the review of the script, and after passing, you will get the **** shooting permit, and after completing the pre-production and post-production of the film, the film copy will be sent for review. When the film is confirmed to be reviewed, it will get a release permit, that is, at the beginning of each step of the film, the dragon-shaped logo that appears at the beginning of the film, and the schedule of the film can be announced to the outside world. But not all domestic films will wait until the filming and production is completed to announce the schedule, and some will not even get the release license yet, and they will be in a hurry to announce the schedule.

These films are mainly concentrated in high-cost commercial blockbusters, such as "The Lion of the Heavenly General" starring Uncle Long, which was announced on the day of the press conference for the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2015.

Further afield, there is "Journey to the West: Monkey King Three Fights White Bone Spirit", the movie has not yet started filming, but it has been announced that it will be set for the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2016. The production of these films can be called heavyweights, and there are not too many sensitive points in the subject matter, and the filmmakers can not only ensure that the production is completed on time, but also have the confidence to pass the review, so the filmmakers are willing to announce the schedule as early as possible to occupy a good position, and also allow the audience to notice this movie early. On the whole, most of the schedules of domestic films are determined by the producers and distributors, and commercial blockbusters will set the schedule early to inform the world in order to ensure that the box office revenue is strong, and invest in small and medium-sized films, because the market competitiveness is limited, so they will generally consider how to set the file according to the production cycle, review time and schedule merits.

When the domestic market is the largest, how many schedules are there?

It was probably 95 years, Uncle Long's movie "Red Fan District" was released in the mainland, and the audience gradually had the concept of the Chinese New Year file, which was the earlier schedule in the mainland. Later, the concept of film schedules gradually derived from statutory holidays, as well as Christmas and Valentine's Day in the West, is mainly a propaganda offensive by film producers and theaters hoping that the audience will enter the theater.

Especially in the years before Zhou Fangyuan's rebirth, what "Singles' Day file" and "Qixi Festival" have formed the concept of the number of schedules, and there has also been fierce schedule competition.

The domestic film schedule is particularly densely distributed.

The first is the Chinese New Year stall, which has nearly 100 days. From the end of November to mid-to-late February of the following year, the end day is the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, which is considered to be the end of the New Year. This 100-day New Year's stall is a big stall, and there are many small stalls in it, such as the New Year's Day stall, which is only 1 day, that is, January 1 every year. Another example is the Spring Festival, a total of 7 days, the statutory holiday from the first day of the Lunar New Year to the seventh day of the Lunar New Year every year. Valentine's Day file 1 day, every year on February 14, Western Valentine's Day, sometimes because of the lunar calendar, will also be included in the New Year file.

After the Chinese New Year, there is a Women's Day file, 1 day, which is a relatively fresh schedule gimmick that Zhou Fangyuan just came into contact with before his rebirth, on March 8 every year.

The Qingming Festival is 3 days, and this schedule is just to catch up with the statutory three-day holiday, a gimmick created by the film company, and the time is around the beginning of April every year.

Labor Day stalls, which used to be 7 days, and later 3 days, were born due to statutory holidays. From May 1 to May 3 or 7 every year, this should follow the direction of the policy.

Then there is the Dragon Boat Festival, about 3 days. Sometimes it will be closed on weekends, as long as it is a famous festival, it will be made into a schedule concept in the future, which is around June every year, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

Children's Day file 1 day, this schedule in the future is more worthy of the name, there will be a number of animated movies released on the same day, in response to the occasion.

The next thing is more powerful, summer file!

About 123 days!

From the beginning of May to the end of August, it is the summer season, which is synchronized with North America, because the volume of films and box sales of each month are the top priorities of the year.

The summer season is followed by the Mid-Autumn Festival, which lasts for 3 days. It is both a traditional festival and a statutory holiday, so there will be some movies that will be released in accordance with the occasion. Every year in September, on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. After that, the National Day file, 7 days. It is an important schedule that is almost on par with the Spring Festival, and the number of heavyweight movies released every year continues unabated. Singles' Day, about 1 day, November 11 every year, sometimes on weekends may be extended to 3 days. This is also a new concept of scheduling, but it does make the market useful. Christmas stalls, 2 days. Including Christmas Eve and Christmas, the ticket sales on these two days are also very high, but there are no holidays on these two days.

According to incomplete statistics, the total number of schedules in the mainland is about 256 days, which is only a relatively conservative statistic. In the future, with the emergence of various new holidays and festivals, there will be more and more new schedules, and there will be more than 300 days in a year.

Although the schedule of domestic films seems to be a free decision on the surface, as far as the market is concerned, domestic filmmakers almost have to consider whether there are Hollywood movies released in the same schedule. At present, the mainland is qualified to introduce Hollywood blockbusters with China Film Group and Huaxia Film Company, so whenever it comes to a critical time such as the summer season, many domestic filmmakers are paying close attention to how China Film and Huaxia arrange a super-heavyweight Hollywood movie schedule. The current mainland schedule is still relatively chaotic, and most domestic films can only be set 1 to 2 months in advance, which is too far from Hollywood's standard practice of determining the schedule two years in advance. The main reason is that many domestic films do not want to collide head-on with Hollywood blockbusters.

Objectively, this practice has led to the emergence of "Hollywood Blockbuster Protection Month", which is like a Hollywood blockbuster every weekend, and domestic films will not work in this month. And as long as you pay a little attention, you will find that in the months when heavyweight domestic commercial blockbusters such as "The Year in a Hurry", "Let the Bullets Fly", and "Outwitting Tiger Mountain", there are no Hollywood blockbusters to compete with. In addition, sometimes there are very few new Hollywood blockbusters released in July and August, and this kind of protection of domestic films is of course also a matter of opinion, but one thing is certain, this does ensure the box office output value of some domestic films.

There has also been a saying in the industry before, one year when the summer season was approaching, China Film had not decided the schedule of many Hollywood blockbusters, and the heads of many domestic film companies went to inquire, hoping that China Film would determine the schedule of these imported blockbusters as soon as possible, otherwise other domestic films would not be able to set the schedule with peace of mind. Otherwise, if one is accidentally caught in the schedule of several Hollywood blockbusters, it will be tantamount to being assigned to the "death group". So after that, China Film and Huaxia Company focused on finalizing the mainland schedules of many Hollywood blockbusters, so that before Zhou Fangyuan's rebirth, the summer files for several consecutive years were done in this way, and it also allowed domestic fans to watch a number of visual kei productions in a certain month.

Although this practice is not advocated, it cannot be banned, in the final analysis, domestic filmmakers carefully handle the schedule of each film, just so that the film can have a high box office output. So, how much does the schedule have a direct impact on the box office?

The Chinese New Year file is one of the longest schedules in my country, and it is also a New Year's Eve schedule. It started at the end of November and lasted until the following year's Valentine's Day schedule, nearly three months, which also included the Spring Festival stalls. In the Lunar New Year stalls at the end of the year, the longest Lunar New Year stalls have created the strongest Lunar New Year stalls, and behind the Lunar New Year is the chaotic market layout. Relevant departments have repeatedly called for the "scientific layout" of the film market, but the filmmakers are interested in the audience's spending power in the festival, and each blockbuster has a certain "gambler's mentality", resulting in the market being either deserted or congested.

The folds after the release of "One Step Away" surprised the moviegoers, and "Outwitting the Tiger", which was released almost at the same time, extended the release period due to the explosive word-of-mouth, and finally pocketed 870 million.

When a suitable movie appears in the right schedule, box office success becomes predictable. On the contrary, if you die and die, no one can stand it, and this is not only the case in China, but also in the North American market? Looking at the North American film market in the previous life, when those super blockbusters were released, how many movies dared to be released together? Who dared to be released with them, and who was easy to follow? Blockbusters generally choose to be released in the summer, which is the best schedule of the year and the most profitable schedule, so that during this schedule, there are often blockbusters piled up and the strong are like clouds, and small movies don't dare to choose such a schedule at all, they will be squeezed to death.

Only blockbusters, only big manufacturers, can survive in such a schedule.

So is it possible to choose a lower schedule?

It's also okay, for example, the winter file is good, after all, there are Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the spring file is also a little bit to consider...... Let's put it this way, basically a good schedule is a blockbuster film, with little investment and small scale, so it's best not to go in and toss around. Unless you are extremely confident in yourself, you can pick some less important schedules so as not to be squeezed to death by the big guys.

This is the importance of schedule, for blockbusters, and for small films.

Now that "Iron Man 2" and "Hulk" have completed filming at the same time, it is time to start choosing a schedule.

According to the direction of the plot, not much to say, it must be "Iron Man 2" that will be released first. Because there are no easter eggs in the ending of "Iron Man 1", just the appearance and growth of Iron Man, as well as the last two identities. The plot of "Iron Man 2" is that Tony was poisoned by the leakage of elements in the reactor in his chest, which caused his body to deteriorate, and finally through his father's legacy, he invented new elements, which saved the mansion from collapse, and finally compromised with Egg Man and agreed to join the Avengers. This is a prerequisite, with Tony's consent, there is an easter egg at the end of "Hulk", Tony finds the door, and the relationship between before and after must be done.

After watching the finished film and making sure that there was no problem, Zhou Fangyuan discussed with the director and producer, and finally decided that "Iron Man 2" would be listed in the summer file, and "Hulk" would be in the winter file, as for "Thor", it can be placed in the spring file next year, and there is also "Alsace 2" on Blizzard's side, and a suitable schedule should also be chosen.