When "Sweetheart" was officially released, and then Jessica celebrated her 21st birthday, and the time entered May, Wang Yang also devoted himself to the editing of "District 9", eating, drinking and sleeping almost in the editing room, so that editor Lee Smith joked that "we are quarantined". The rough cut version of "District 9" took more than 4 hours, and the current job is to cut it into a theatrical version of about 120 minutes in 4 hours and footage library.

From the arrival of an alien spaceship in Los Angeles, the change of human attitudes, to the whole story of demolition and transformation. More than 800 special effects shots will be evenly distributed to achieve an "enjoyable" effect.

The allocation of special effects shots is very important, and when creating a storyboard script, you need to think about why some big-budget special effects movies look bland, and it seems that so much money is spent, only one or two battles, and the rest is empty like a DV movie. It's its special effects shots that are not properly arranged and can't sustainably stimulate the audience's sensory nerves, while some small-budget productions can be very comfortable and memorable, that is, to integrate into the story, and use the money and special effects shots in the right place.

While Wang Yang worked day and night for the editing of "District 9", the first week of the 2002 summer vacation schedule on May 3-9 also ended, without any accidents, the first week of "Spider-Man" topped the box office with 151 million US dollars, like a depth charge detonating the calm sea of the summer vacation, and also refreshed a number of North American box office records, including the opening weekend box office of 110 million, the fastest to 100 million box office (3 days), the fastest to 150 million (7 days) and so on.

In second place on the weekly list is "Sweetheart", which was screened in the second week, and under the almost monopoly market of a giant like "Spider-Man", it collected another 20.58 million US dollars, and the total box office reached 50.22 million, which met the expectations of flame movies. The third place this week is "Scorpion King" with 8.79 million.

When the new week begins on May 10-16, there will be several large-scale openings and releases, such as "The Infidelity Temptation" in 2,617 theaters at Fox, "The Temptation for Infidelity" in Sony's 2,687 theaters starring Eliza Dushku and Zoe Deschanel, and "Ice Age", a home animation film in 3,012 theaters of Flame Films.

In September 1999, Flame Films acquired Blue Sky Studios for $100 million, and 65 million for the production of "Ice Age". At that time, the industry was in an uproar, and many media commented that "Magic Yang is crazy", the reason is very simple, Flame Movie does not say that it is a snake swallowing an elephant, it can also be said that it is not self-sufficient, CG animation movies are not played by anyone, first of all, the ultra-long production cycle requires a stable supply of funds, and CG animation films have a characteristic that once they lose money, they will be miserable and miserable, can a small independent company of Flame Films maintain blood supply?

There are many companies and studios that can produce CG animated films, because animators and technical engines are not difficult to find, but how many large companies have been disheartened and disheartened over the years? 20th Century Fox, which was the first to intend to acquire Blue Sky Studios, made its own 75 million cost "Frozen Planet", and finally only had 36 million box office worldwide.

This is because the market for CG animated films is elusive, everyone knows "family, children, comedy", but how to do it? What kind of story, what kind of characters, what kind of cartoon image? Maybe you grasp the market taste of 99, but after a long time of production, the release date has come to 02, that set of 99 children like, 02 years will be outdated, not prosperous, children see the head twisted to the side.

Capital, technology, story, accurate grasp of the market...... Now the only ones who can do all of this are Pixar (co-published by Disney's Broadway) and DreamWorks.

In May 2000, Disney's self-made "Dinosaur" at a cost of 127 million received 340 million worldwide, although it was a small profit, but it relied more on the effect of the "Disney" brand, "Dinosaur" was scolded by the audience, and Disney did not dare to act rashly, but instead concentrated on cooperating with Pixar. In December 01, "Genius Boy Jimmy", which was produced by DNA company and invested and distributed by Paramount, cost 30 million, currently has a global box office of more than 90 million US dollars, which seems to be a small profit, but if you count the cost of publicity, it is not difficult to understand why Paramount no longer cooperates with DNA companies.

In the past three years, the rampage of Flame Films has not only not fallen, but has not lost money and debts, but has been full of vigor, successively launching blockbuster films, investing heavily in the production of small-budget independent films, and faintly becoming the leader of independent film companies; and its blood supply to Blue Sky is naturally sufficient, and it has also established an I&B technology research and development company.

So "Ice Age" was made in a stable and good environment, but what is the difference between Blue Sky and small companies such as DNA, and what is it capable of sharing the market share of CG animated films with Pixar and DreamWorks? Did Wonder Young and Fire Movies buy a toy for 100 million dollars? All the studios are paying attention to this cartoon.

20th Century Fox naturally hopes that it will be spurned by the audience, and even lose its underwear, just like "Frozen Planet"; Pixar and DreamWorks will not have any blessings, they don't want to emerge a new competitor; Paramount, Warner Bros. and other big studios are cold to watch, if "Ice Age" succeeds, it will open more roads to the success of CG animated films, and let people know more secrets; if it fails, it's good, welcome to join the camp of losers!

No matter what the outside world thinks, the flame movie and the blue sky have been going on silently, and the promotion of "Ice Age" has already begun. After a long period of negotiations, McDonald's still rejected various cooperation plans proposed by Flame Films, such as the "Ice Age Package" and the like, because McDonald's and Disney are marketing partners, and Disney, as the distributor of Pixar films, did not sit idly by.

But there is no McDonald's, a cartoon has all kinds of propaganda methods, and it is clear that Disney does not have the power to monopolize the whole of America.

In addition to the normal "poster + TV + event" promotional package, Flame Films simply looked for several different brands with a certain market share to cooperate with, such as potato chips, drinks, and dog food and cat food, and the packaging was printed with cartoon animals such as squirrels, mammoths, and saber-toothed tigers from "Ice Age", and held some lucky draws, ranging from a complete set of toy collector's editions, to digital cameras, laptops, and a sports car, and tickets to the premiere.

At the end of last year, he asked his Tinder Game Company to develop a casual mini-game called "Ice Age", which was also put on the Internet in early February this year, and users can download it for free on the official website. This simple but fun mini-game "Squirrel Collecting Fruits" with a fresh and beautiful interface, simple operation but full of fun has been praised by many netizens.

Now that everything has been done, when it is time to harvest the fruit, will this fruit be sweet or sour? On May 10, when night fell in North America, "Ice Age" fully landed in 3012 cinemas in cities of all sizes.

The dimly lit, 500-seat screening room was packed, and the audience burst into bursts of laughter from time to time, from the immaturity of children to the maturity of adults, many of whom were parents, bringing their children to the theater for a happy Friday night. And the prehistoric cartoon doesn't seem to disappoint them, and the tagline "the-coolest-event-in-16,000-years" isn't bragging.

The story is about a dangerous ice age, when a sudden, abandoned human baby, Manny, a kind and bitter mammoth, Sid, a vonoger, and Diego, a ferocious saber-toothed tiger, reluctantly walk together to return the baby to his father. But it's not so easy to be heroes, and they have to face all kinds of thrills and even conspiracies along the way.

On the big screen, a mammoth sucked a cute baby with its nose and put him on a high branch on the edge of the cliff. At this time, the picture changed, and a giant tree otter ran quickly, and when it saw the saber-toothed tiger in front of it, it hurriedly said, "Thank God, thank God! Oh no...... There's a tiger, a tiger!" it beckoned to the back for help, shouting, "Help, help—"

Listening to the ridiculous and exaggerated dubbing of the otter Sid, the audience immediately laughed again, and many children imitated Sid's action tone and laughed happily: "Help, help!"

"It seems that she is very happy to watch. In the audience, Joe Doggett looked at her 6-year-old daughter with a smile on her face, shaking her feet happily and following Sid's words. He couldn't help but give a thumbs up to his wife, who was sitting on the other side of his daughter, and said, "Good choice." His wife, Gillian, shrugged her shoulders with a smile, touched her daughter's blonde hair, and said, "It's your daughter's choice." ”

The film was advertised on the packaging of the potato chips that the family had been buying, and then their daughter Lorna was clamoring to see the prehistoric animals.

Watching Sid and Diego trick the two rhinos and the three animals about to set off again, Joe Doggett was also attracted by the funny and witty stories on the big screen, and praised in his heart: "I didn't expect the animation of the flame movie to be very good." And what's that company called? Blue Sky?"

The sound of joyful laughter resounded in the screening hall of the 3012 cinema, and both adults and children became more and more interested in watching it, and felt more fun and engaged. The theaters where the premieres are held are no exception, with ordinary audiences and discerning film critics who enjoy the film all smiles and look fascinated, as if they have returned to the prehistoric ice age.

In the middle of the front row of the audience, sat the creators of "Ice Age", Chris Welch, CEO and director of Blue Sky, Carlos Sardanha, co-director, voice actors Ray Romano, Dennis Leary, Jack Black and others, as well as celebrities invited to help, as investors and popular idols, Wang Yang also attended with Jessica, everyone is a handsome and beautiful suit evening dress.

"Hahaha. Listening to these chuckles in the theater and looking at the lovely pictures on the big screen, Jessica remembered something, and couldn't help but glance at Wang Yang next to her, and said: "This is a gift for our daughter, and the animation of Blue Sky Studio will accompany her to grow up and let her have a good childhood." "If Juno really came into this world, she would be three years old now, just right to sit among them and watch and laugh together as a family.

Thinking of that beautiful picture, she suddenly laughed, and looked at him happily, will he call his daughter "Baby, sweetheart, or ......" Wang Yang noticed her weirdness and asked, "What's wrong? ”

Wang Yang smiled, he was very happy to see that "Ice Age" made the audience so engaged, this cartoon can be said to be a foregone conclusion, and the summer vacation schedule of the flame movie has been a success again! He looked at Chris Witch on the left and laughed softly: "Chris, maybe we should think about the next plan of Blue Sky Studio." ”

"Oh?" Chris Waiki was stunned when he heard this, now that the movie has just been released, the first show has not been released, and it is difficult to say what kind of results he can achieve, although he is confident, he is also worried that this will be the second "Frozen Planet". In that case, there is a high probability that Flame Films will undergo a major layoff, and Blue Sky will be reverted to a small studio that produces TV commercials and animation special effects...... That's really not what he wants to see, so recently, he can't sleep well at night, and he has had the same nightmare several times, the newspaper reads: "Fire Movies announced the sale of Blue Sky Studios at a low price." "But now the young man has said what's next!? And it doesn't look like a joke. Chris Witch wondered uncertainly, "You said the next CG animated movie?"

"Of course, is Blue Sky still in the catering business?" Wang Yang laughed, this laughter immediately aroused the curious eyes of Jessica, Carlos Saldanha and others around him, he said apologetically: "Sorry!" Suppressing his voice, he said to Chris Witch again: "I think it's time for Blue Sky to expand, 500 people is too little, because we are going to make two movies at the same time." ”

Even if "Ice Age" can be a big success, it doesn't mean that Blue Sky Studios will never mess up any movie from now on, and no company dares to say that, so every plan is cautious, and now ...... He held out two fingers and asked, "Two?"

"Well, yes. Wang Yang nodded, the way to want the rapid development of Blue Sky Studio is to throw money, and "Ice Age" will smash as much as it makes into Blue Sky's account to carry out new plans. He pondered for a moment and said, "Ice Age will be made into a series, 2345...... Ice Age 2 is one plan, and the second one, well, I don't know, but we can all start thinking about it. ”

Looking at his serious expression, Chris Witch was finally sure that this was not a joke, and this young man never joked about it, he couldn't help but let out a "wow", and a wave of excitement arose all over his body, and said, "Two, two!"

He exhaled a long breath and laughed again, "You know why I don't go to Pixar, even if I can be a partner, because I just don't want CG animation to be monopolized by anyone." But Pixar wants to do it now......" He suddenly became full of confidence in the future, and said firmly: "Monopoly? No, Pixar can't, DreamWorks can't, Blue Sky can't." ”

"This is cool!" Wang Yang smiled and patted Wei Qi on the shoulder, looked at the mammoths and other animals on the big screen, and muttered, "Soon it will be the Big Three." ”

Jessica, who was next to her, had been hearing their conversation all the time, and couldn't help but laugh sweetly, would everyone still call him "crazy"?

When all the 90 minutes of footage were screened, the theater, which was seated with more than 1,000 spectators, burst into thunderous applause, masking the brisk soundtrack. The credits scrolled on the screen, and Wang Yang, Chris Weiqi and others stood up with applause and turned to thank the fans and audiences. After the credits rolled, the big screen was filled with a picture of a fire movie and a blue sky, and moths and butterflies danced happily together in the beautiful pastoral scenery and flew towards the blue sky.

"It's a great movie for all ages, with a lot of cute prehistoric animals that make people shine. —The Washington Post; If you keep complaining about its thin story, then you're missing out on a movie that's very interesting, full of wisdom and joy. —Michael De Kuna, The Cinematic Menace; It won't surprise your jaw-dropping, but it will warm your heart, and I give a strong thumbs up!" Richard Roper, the famous film critic show "Ebert &Roeper"

After the release of "Ice Age", fans, fans and critics have come out to give their own evaluations on the Internet and in various media. IMDB's ratings have quickly risen to five figures, with an average score of 7.8, a classic score, while Rotten Tomatoes has included more than 160 reviews from the critics' circle, with an 80 percent freshness rating and praise in full swing.

"Lovely, warm, touching, funny and humorous. These five words typed by the New York Times are the key to the praise given by many film critics, who generally believe that although "Ice Age" seems rough in technology, the story is a bit old-fashioned and weak, and it lacks deep meaning, and in general, "it is not a league competitor to Pixar and DreamWorks", but the characters are cute, the dialogue and dubbing are funny and funny, and it brings warmth, "It is a pleasant and friendly family journey." ”

And the 20% of film reviews, which are classified as rotten, are amplified by grasping the shortcomings of technology and story.

"Visually unappealing, the story unbearably dull, no surprises, just a few cheap laughs. —Jim Rheinland, Sacramento News Review; I don't want to say that Ice Age doesn't have pretty pictures, but what's bad is that it doesn't have a story and doesn't really tell the life and story of the Ice Age animals. "Alexander, New Times;" It's almost in the primitive stages of digital technology, is this really a CG movie?" Jeffrey Jon, "Window to the Movie"

Blue Sky Studio's technical roughness is well known, which is why no one was interested in buying it back then, and why the flame movie was ridiculed for "thinking that it had found a treasure" when it was smashed for 100 million...... If you only look at the 20% of film reviews, it seems that "Ice Age" is dead, worse than "Frozen Planet", it is a movie that will be swept into the trash immediately.

But what about the result? 7.8 points and 80% freshness, there is no false moisture, everything is reflected at the box office, and "Ice Age" with these "original technology" and "cheap laughter" has frantically collected $51 million at the box office this opening weekend! What is the final global box office of "Frozen Planet"? 36 million.

No matter what the critics say, the hearts of the bosses and CEOs of many film companies are now twitching, and they now know that the magic Yang and the flame movie "really picked up the treasure!" "Ice Age" is another big dark horse that will be extremely dazzling.

When the week of May 10-16 came to an end, "Ice Age" really slapped those who once sarcastically said "100 million bought a toy", and received 62.73 million US dollars at the box office in one week! The top spot continues to be "Spider-Man," a superhero blockbuster that swept 82 million at the box office this week, and "Star Wars Prequel 2: Attack of the Clones," which had a small premiere, which grossed 30.14 million.

In the third week of screening, "Sweetheart" got another 12.03 million box office, with a total box office of 62.25 million; other movies suffered a little, the newly released "Infidelity Temptation" and "New Ding Arrived" only had a box office of 9.4 million and 5.08 million respectively, and the bottom of the sixth place was even more miserable, most of them only had a box office of one million or hundreds of thousands.

It's not surprising that people who watch VFX blockbusters choose "Spider-Man", Star Wars fans are eager to rush into the cinema with a gun, point to the boss's head and say "It's going to be screened today!"; families who want to spend the weekend also have "Ice Age" as the best choice; young people who want to watch youth idol films buy tickets to "Sweetheart", "The New Ding Arrives"? Is there a magical Young? No, but there is a heroine of "Idle Hand" and a supporting role of "Youth Musical" Zoe Deschanel.

The achievement of "Ice Age" naturally made the whole of Flame Films and Blue Sky Studios excited, and it also highlighted the bleakness of Fox in CG animated films, and there were die-hard fans of Flame Movies on the Internet who turned up the news report of the year, Fox spokesman James Finn said: "It's a pity that Blue Sky didn't join Fox, but we have an excellent animation department ourselves, and "Frozen Planet" will be launched in the market next year......

The fan named Minore commented: "If Fox had been priced at 100 million at that time, Blue Sky would not have chosen a flame movie, and now they can only beat their chests with regret." ”

(To be continued)