On the day of the release of the "Opium War" movie, some evening newspapers in Hong Kong, or the morning newspaper issued the next day, were already filled with reviews and information about the blockbuster.

Nearly 80% of the distribution resources of about 150 cinemas in Hong Kong are allocated to "Opium War".

After all, the current influence of Hong Kong's entertainment industry is still too small, and the production costs of the movies released in Hong Kong throughout the year can probably be compared with the movie "Opium War". And the movies released at the same time, all the budgets combined, are less than a fraction of "Opium War".

A budget of 5 million is already a blockbuster era, and the investment scale of "Opium War" is 25 million US dollars, which is converted into more than 200 million Hong Kong dollars. So no matter how domineering the crew is, they will not be able to fight against this movie.

After the major Hong Kong film companies learned about the release schedule of "Opium War", they naturally retreated and postponed the release date of their films to avoid damage to the box office.

Of course, the box office on the premiere day of "Opium War" is also completely worthy of the schedule. The box office on the opening day set a new single-day box office record in Hong Kong, bringing in HK$3.29 million. At the same time, the total box office of other movies released in the same period was only 265,000, which is only a fraction of that of "Opium War". After such box office results, the entire industry was once again speechless.

This is not only because the opponents are too weak in the same period, but the film investors who have a certain amount of self-knowledge have staggered the release date, and the ones released in the same period are all made up. At the same time, this is also related to the increase in the price of movie tickets for "Opium Wars".

At present, the original ticket price of Hong Kong movies was about 10 Hong Kong dollars. Even for some of the biggest hits, ticket prices rarely exceed HK$15. For some unpopular schedules and movies, ticket prices will even be discounted to HK$5.

However, the average ticket price for "The Opium Wars" is HK$20. Some flagship theaters in prime locations are sold for HK$35.

Most of the films in Hong Kong are shoddy, so they naturally dare not raise ticket prices excessively, and generally take the route of small profits and quick turnover, hoping to attract audiences with lower ticket prices.

But such an exquisite masterpiece as "Opium Wars", even in the world, is rare.

Most of the films that have reached the level of "Opium War" are produced by Hollywood, but in this era of Hollywood, due to the immaturity of computer special effects technology and the fact that there are still certain obstacles in terms of language and culture, it has not formed an absolute crushing strength in the Asian market in this era.

However, "Opium War" has no language and cultural barriers, and its quality has reached the height that all Chinese films in this era cannot have. In terms of post-film special effects technology, it is even slightly higher than the current Hollywood.

Measured only by the standard of visual impact as a special effects blockbuster, "Opium War" is already an absolutely qualified special effects blockbuster.

Not long after the release of this movie, the entire industry was analyzing the secret of the popularity of "Opium War".

"Hong Kong films have gradually moved from cheap small productions to blockbuster era, which is the road to the future. "The Court of Avalon" produced by Felix Animation, a subsidiary of the New Entrepreneurship Department, and "Opium War" produced by New Venture Film and Television Company have proved that the film budget has reached more than 100 million yuan, and the technology and production techniques adopted have completely broken the current framework of Hong Kong film production, and have entered a more complex level of industrialization from handicrafts. Artistry and newness of thought may not be much improved, but in terms of technology and visual impact on the audience, it has been greatly improved. The comparison between the film production process of the new entrepreneurial department and the traditional Hong Kong film production process is even greater than the gap between the Qing army and the British army in the Opium War! What's more, the quality level of "Opium War" is not only an absolute leader in the Hong Kong market, but also because of its production level, it will break cultural barriers and enter the market of different language countries in the world. As for small-budget films, many international distributors are not even interested in watching them, so they flatly refuse to release low-budget films......" An article in the entertainment edition of "Ming Pao" clearly attributed the success of "Opium War" to the investment budget, of course, this is also the reason for most of the success. However, the author of this article did not get to visit the set and behind the scenes of "Opium War", otherwise, he would have realized that it is more important to be detailed and technical!

In terms of details, the degree of historical restoration of the film has surpassed that of the documentary. Technically, computer technology has penetrated almost everywhere in the crew, and it can be said that half of the people behind the scenes of the film are computer talents.

In addition, the film crew is quite cheap and efficient, and most of the budget is spent on production. Some of the budget, and even the film and television city paid for it, which saved the crew's money.

There is also the dedication and dedication of a large number of staff, who isolated everyone in an environment far from Hong Kong and focused on filming for a year and a half. This kind of focus is also very rare in the current impetuous industry.

……

"As a historical war movie, "Opium War" originally invited the author to watch it by friends in the circle, but the author refused. After all, life is already heavy enough, and the author does not plan to watch some heavy movies again. However, a friend specially bought a movie ticket to invite him, and the author had to respond.

As soon as the film was screened, I felt a little different. First of all, the clarity of the movie picture is different from that of previous movies. In terms of details, just the colors and lenses make people feel that this is an artistic enjoyment. Even, there is no need to understand the plot, every minute and second is pleasing to the eye, making this movie full of real blockbuster temperament. The trajectory of bullets on the battlefield, the explosion of artillery shells, the continuous destruction of the human body in modern wars, the collision and shaking of various wills, this cruel aesthetics of war, almost makes people feel that the spirit is constantly mobilized, excited, fearful, happy, sighing, obviously some short pictures of characters who don't even have names, but also enough to mobilize people's hearts.

And there is not much content of character interaction and dialogue in the play, most of which is filled with war scenes. However, it is only those short-term literary dramas during the interval, and I also feel that everyone is an actor, and it is almost impossible to find actors with poor skills.

Finally, the author suggests that you should go to the cinema when you have time. Whether it's learning about the history or simply enjoying the visual impact of a blockbuster, you should check it out. is definitely worthy of the blockbuster ticket price, the most classic of the "Opium War" theme, I think even in the future, there are few similar themes that can surpass or reach such a level!" Wang Qinian, an unpopular film critic, commented, in fact, the invitation of a friend was fake, he didn't have any friends who were willing to invite him to watch a movie, purely to make some money for the manuscript, and he went to watch it alone at his own expense of 35 Hong Kong dollars.

……

As the highest-cost blockbuster in the history of Hong Kong films, it is also a very rare war film in the history of Hong Kong films. "Opium War" can be said to be a successful mess, with a box office of more than HK$20 million in the first week of its release in Hong Kong. Although the Hong Kong market is not large, some film critics predict that it will once again set a new record at the Hong Kong box office, with a conservative estimate of 40 million, and even hopefully 50 million.

Of course, whether it is 40 million or 50 million yuan, compared to its expensive production cost, it is just a drop in the bucket.

Even if the number of copies sold in China exceeds 500, at 20,000 yuan per copy, this is not enough to recover the cost.

Therefore, the return of "Opium War" mainly depends on the international market, as well as the income of VCD, TV copyright, etc.

Among them, the Japanese box office market has become the most critical market, because of the cultural barrier in the European and American markets, and it is not uncommon for films to be shot in line, and Europe and the United States are not interested in modern Chinese history at this stage, so it is expected that "Opium War" will not have too good performance in Europe and the United States.

Japan is different, because Japan knows Chinese history very well, and its interest in Chinese history is second only to that of the Chinese. For example, John Woo later lost a lot when he directed "The Wind Whisperer" in Hollywood, and as a Chinese director, he basically ended up failing once in Hollywood. Therefore, John Woo had to return to the Chinese film industry, and later relied on his qualifications to raise funds to shoot "Red Cliff", because it was too long, the film was divided into two parts, and the total number of domestic films was 80 million US dollars, but in the Japanese market, the two "Red Cliffs" combined won more than 100 million US dollars at the box office. It is precisely because the Japanese box office market is too hot that "Red Cliff" not only did not let John Woo launch the film industry, but also returned to the top and became an international director again.

"The Opium War" may not be as good as "Three Kingdoms" in terms of theme, but Japan's modern history was forcibly opened by Western powers and the people began the process of modernization. This is very similar to modern Chinese history, so before it was released in Japan, there was already a lot of discussion about the film in the history and cultural circles.

When the Chinese version of the Opium War movie was completed, in fact, Japanese subtitles and dubbing were already ready. All, 10 days after the release in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Japan also began screenings......