Chapter 64: Transformers Sell
April 1, 1982, this day is not only the time of the premiere of "Love Holiday", but also the date of the release of the first batch of Transformers by Wang Jie's Hasbro.
The comic series of "Transformers" has achieved average results, but the animated series based on the script given by Wang Jie has been a big hit in Japan and the United States, combining Japanese and American styles of Transformers characters, once it was screened on Disney's TV station, it was immediately loved by children across the United States.
However, among the Transformers merchandise, the animation is simply not worth mentioning. After the release of Paramount's first "Transformers" in 2007, the biggest and most lucrative income of "Transformers" is in its toy sales, which far exceed the profits brought by the box office of the movie.
Transformers toys have been popular for generations. At an autumn auction at Sothby's auction house, Wang Jie saw a 140-centimeter 1986 collector's edition Transformers sell for a whopping 1.48 million pounds
In the years when Wang was born, those old versions of Transformers produced in the 80s could easily sell for thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on Yibei!
The Rubik's Cube is now the flagship product of Wang Jie's Hasbro company, which can bring Wang Jie tens of millions or even more than 100 million US dollars in profits every year.
Barbie is very popular, and even after the original time and space 2020, it is the only pillar of Mattel, fighting against Hasbro's Transformers, Marvel heroes, Frozen, Dinis animated characters, etc.
In terms of price and profit alone, Barbie dolls are also much lower than Transformers, after all, Barbie dolls will not sell thousands, or even tens of thousands, of super expensive collector's edition toys. Lego toys are simpler than the two above, that is, plastic toys are put together into various shapes you like, but the concept of small profits and quick sales has always made its sales not inferior to Barbie dolls and Transformers. In 2016, Mattel and Hasbro were thinking about merging to resist the increasingly powerful Lego company, which shows how strong Lego is in the market.
Transformers' toy manufacturing actually has no technical content, basically similar to other plastic toys. The first is the structure of the body, which is generally understood, that is, the flexibility of simple joint twisting. Since the invention of plastic products in the sixties, which are extremely malleable and elastic, the structure of this body has become much simpler. The second is the design of the shape change of the toy from the robot to the car, which Wang Jie has given a solution in advance, but it still needs to be designed by Hasbro's professional toy developers. As long as these two aspects are done well, what is left is just a patchwork, and the parts are pieced together on the Transformers, and they become a whole. In terms of design, Wang Jie printed nearly 100 images of the Autobots and Decepticons from the supercomputer.
On the morning of April 1, the Transformers series of toys at Hasbro's sales outlets in the United States broke out as soon as they hit the shelves, and more than one million Transformers toys of all kinds were sold in just one day, which gave Hasbro a huge surprise and accelerated the laying of Hasbro's sales outlets in Europe and Asia.
At the same time as the toys were sold, the box office of "Love Holiday" also showed explosive growth, only the first week of the box office in Xiangjiang sold 9.2 million Hong Kong dollars, which also created a history, by mid-May, when the film was painted, the box office in Xiangjiang reached more than 32 million, Wang Jie gave Zheng Shaoqiu and Zhang Guorong 8 million Hong Kong dollars each, which not only made Zheng Shaoqiu and Zhang Guorong overjoyed, but also very moved, in the years to come, no matter what kind of temptation from the outside world, the two did not leave the DreamWorks Group throughout their lives.
Originally, when "Love Holiday" began to be released in other parts of Asia, Wang Jie did not think about taking this film to Europe and the United States, after all, the actors in the play are all Chinese, but the box office sales in Japan and South Korea and Bay Island and other places made the president of United Arts, Shirley Lansing, come to the door, so "Love Holiday" began to be released in the United States and Europe on May 20. The box office results were unexpectedly good, with a box office performance of $24.4 million in North America until June 11, and a box office of $18 million in the first month in Europe, which made Wang Jie give Zheng Shaoqiu and Zhang Guorong a red envelope of 2 million Hong Kong dollars one after another.
"Love Holiday" also has a good reputation in North America: taking the comedy route makes for a better holiday, and that's the gift we've already received. (Miami Herald review)
Other people's lives are always tempting on the surface and can be deceived, although generally not in Nancy Meyers comedy, fantasy cloak thin veneer, more fantasy. (Los Angeles Times)
The dialogue is lively and rich in life, Diaz is extraordinarily wonderful, and Meyers turns her into the best actor she can be. (Entertainment Weekly)
Despite the fact that almost all the feelings and thoughts that it doesn't think are right, its heart is in the right place, it has interesting and touching moments, and it ends up being quite pleasant. (Seattle Post Review)
A harmless and pleasant dessert. (New York Daily News)
This overproduced romantic comedy, which doesn't even qualify to be called a movie, is flat, featureless plastic. (HSD Post)
Film critics in Hong Kong even praised the movie: Yishu wrote "Love Holiday" in "Ming Pao" It is a film that you don't need to ponder whether such a story is real and credible, because what it wants to present to the audience is a love fairy tale that belongs to mature women like a dessert, not only is it impeccable in the costumes, but also the acting skills of Yu Anan and Huang Qiuyan are particularly outstanding in this movie。