From 1995 into the era of the introduction of blockbusters, the mainland only allowed ten foreign language films "in line with China's national conditions and market demand" to enter the domestic screening, by 2001, the domestic film industry was still relatively fragile, but because of the WTO, China must make an open attitude, after multi-party negotiations, the number of imported films increased from 10 to 20, and promised to increase the number of imported films to 50 in the next three years, of which 20 were account-sharing films, and the other 30 were buyout batches.

In this way, the pressure on domestic films is greater, but it also requires that the box office of domestic films must account for more than half of the total annual box office, so in 04, the Film Bureau issued a document stipulating that American films in the 20 part of the account blockbusters shall not exceed 70%, at this time, foreign films are Hollywood blockbusters, and this regulation protects domestic films to a certain extent.

That is, since 04, several major Hollywood film companies have been fighting for 14 part of the account slots, and there have even been news of bribing the leaders of China Film, and many excellent films, such as "Robot Wall-E" and the recent "Batman Prequel 2" have not had the opportunity to meet mainland audiences because of limited places.

Jeff's dissatisfaction represents the psychology of most Hollywood studios, who want the Chinese market to be more open and inclusive, with only 14 films occupied by blockbusters and big companies, and independent studios like Lionsgate and Miramax are almost impossible to get a piece of the pie.

So in 07, the U.S. side once again repeated the old tune, hoping that China would expand the number of Hollywood films introduced, and this matter is still in the process of negotiations. China's concessions are certain, but how much and when will they start to concede. This is important.

After the development of Chinese films in the past few years, there has been a lot of progress in the exploration of commercialization, and I also understand the truth that increasing investment and publicity by big names equals high box office, but because it is in the exploration stage, it is still very rusty about the shooting of blockbusters. Therefore, there is generally no good reputation, and coupled with the limited market capacity, it is not easy for blockbusters to rely on the mainland box office alone. Other sales channels, derivatives development and overseas market expansion are all essential, otherwise there is no hope of recovering the cost.

In view of this immaturity, Chinese films still need a period of policy protection, and He Mu only hopes that this negotiation will last longer. Let Chinese movies be more prepared. Then energetically meet the impact of Hollywood movies, this impact is always coming, and who can become the dominant player in the market depends on who the audience likes.

In the face of Jeff's complaints, He Mu asked him whether the United States was open enough to foreign films.

"Of course, nearly half of the films released in the United States are foreign, which is much more open than yours." Jeff said triumphantly. Even with so many foreign-language films, Hollywood films still account for more than 80% of the total domestic box office. So there's a lot of fart.

He Mu really doesn't know about this situation, it turns out that there are so many foreign language films entering the American market, so how are these movies treated when they are released in the United States? He Mu asked Jeff.

Jeff didn't hide this question, and answered truthfully: "The treatment of foreign language films naturally can't be compared with Hollywood movies, generally the people who distribute these movies are small companies, even large companies will not work hard to talk about film scheduling, because the attraction is insufficient, unless the movie starring Cheng Long , Li Lianjie and other international stars, otherwise it is the amount of dozens of screens, and it is good if it can exceed 100." ”

There are a total of 30,000 screens in the United States, of which 14,000 belong to major mainstream cinemas, such as general cinemas, joint arts cinemas, AMC cinemas, etc., these cinemas are located in the main business districts of big cities, and are the main force of the box office, accounting for more than 80% of the total box office, and the remaining 16,000 basically belong to individual and small cinemas. This more than 50% of the screen contributes to the box office and accounts for the remaining less than 20%.

Generally, the special effects blockbusters of several major film companies can have more than 3,000 screens, more than 4,000, or even 5,000, and ordinary new Hollywood films also have about 2,000, depending on the influence of the leading actor and the publicity has increased slightly, but foreign language films generally only have dozens of screens when they are first released, and there are hundreds of more, and if the reputation is good, it will be added.

Like Zhang Yimou's "Hero" and Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu" had more than 1,000 screens at the beginning, in addition to the strong support of Chinese theaters, these two people have a high international reputation, and "Hero" has the support of Miramax, and "Kung Fu" has Colombian investment, these are relatively special examples, more are a large number of Chinese films into the American film market, but only in Chinatown, not into the mainstream market at all, It's ridiculous that some domestic film companies still use this to boast about the simultaneous release of the world.

He Mu continued to ask Jeff for advice on the performance of Chinese films in the United States in recent years.

Jeff replied: "The performance is not good, in addition to the great success of "Hero" directed by Zhang Yimou, the box office of his subsequent works "Ambush on All Sides" and "The City Full of Golden Armor" is getting worse and worse, "Ambush on All Sides" still has more than 10 million, and by the time of "Golden Armor", there are only more than 6 million. The king of Chinese comedy, Stephen Chow's new film "Yangtze River No. 7", is also a childish and uninteresting story in our opinion, and the special effects are bad enough, and the film only has a box office of 200,000 in the United States, which is extremely bad. ”

"What about "Red Cliff" directed by Wu Yusen?" He Mu asked again.

Jeff shrugged, "Even your home fans don't recognize this movie, and they are completely attracted to the movie theater by the stars, do you think Americans will be attracted to Chinese stars?" Perhaps thinking that his words were a little arrogant, Jeff added, "Actually, this movie has not yet been determined when it will be released in the United States, Wu Yusen has broken Hollywood's heart, and he is largely responsible for MGM's bankruptcy, and now those big companies are reluctant to take over the North American distribution of this film, and small companies don't have that much appetite, so I'm not very optimistic about this movie." ”

From Jeff's mouth, He Mu learned that no Chinese film released in the United States this year has a box office of more than one million (US dollars), and "The King of Kung Fu" is a Hollywood movie starring Chinese, not a Chinese film.

This is not only because Chinese films have not appeared in excellent films that can conquer American audiences, but also because China has not appeared international stars for a long time after Cheng Long and Li Lianjie. The names of a group of handsome Indian guys such as Khan gradually came into the eyes of Americans.

As a classification of Chinese-language films, Hong Kong films used to get hundreds of millions or even billions of box office (yen) in Japan, and they have also ranked in the top ten box office lists in South Korea many times, but now it is different from the past, even Cheng Long and Li Lianjie's box office appeal in Asia is very limited, which is embarrassing.

Now the standard for measuring the success of a Chinese-language film is almost to look at its mainland box office, and only the high box office in the mainland can pay for those blockbusters with huge investments, and they can't sell elsewhere.

Changing this situation is not an overnight effort, now Bona has established an overseas distribution company, Huayi is also actively preparing, coupled with the traditional overseas distribution powerhouse Anle Pictures, the overseas distribution company established by the Film Bureau, Chinese films will have more and more channels to enter overseas, He Mu also believes that Chinese filmmakers will make more and more films that people all over the world like.

After chatting with Jeff for a long time, He Mu had a preliminary impression of the international film market, and also had a more accurate understanding of the situation of Chinese films in the world.

Seeing that the fourth aunt and uncle began to yawn when they heard the two of them, He Mu realized that it was a little late, and hurriedly got up to say goodbye, tomorrow he had to pass the torch, and in a few hours he would set off to prepare. The fourth aunt's family asked He Mu about the section of the road he was going to run, and said with a smile that he would definitely go to cheer him on tomorrow.

The torch relay on the second day was very smooth, and the onlookers were in good order, and He Mu saw the four aunts and their Jeff in the crowd and waved to them. After finishing his torch relay work, He Mu accepted an interview with Yanzhao Metropolis Daily, and then changed his clothes and left.

Although the fourth aunt tried their best to keep He Mu and Xiao Nan for lunch, He Mu was pressed for time and could only refuse, and before leaving, he told Jeff that he would help him think about the ticket, so that he could also worry about He Mu.

In fact, He Mu is not a big deal, he just wants Jeff to help ask them if their company is interested in the North American release of "One Shot 147", this month the film will participate in the Montreal Film Festival in Canada, if they are interested, they can go and see it.

The overseas promotion and distribution of "One Shot 147" is in charge of Anle, and the mainland distribution is entrusted to China Film, which has nothing to do with He Mu and Tiger Wolf, but Anle has deep resources in Europe and Asia, and it is relatively common in the United States, it happens that He Mu has a relationship with Jeff, and Jeff is mainly responsible for distribution in Lionsgate, under the premise of not violating the principle, Jeff is still willing to help with this, Jeff's original words are "If your film can win an award in Montreal, then I can decide directly." ”

That being said, it should be hard to win an award...... (To be continued......)

PS: [ps: 3/3, I found that the title of the book is wrong, this book should be called "The Great Era of Movies", rest assured, Lao Buddha will write a big era of movies with his heart, the more exciting it is to the back, ask for tickets and subscriptions~! ] 】