When the CCTV reporter interview team arrived, it was the afternoon time in the United States, "Painted Skin" was released yesterday, and 3,022 theaters in the United States won a total of $7.5 million at the box office, ranking third in the North American weekend box office from May 5th to 7th, and this is only the data of one day of release.

"Mission Impossible 3" topped this week's box office with $48 million, and "Rest Mission", which was released for two weeks, won the weekly championship the week before, and ranked second this week with $11 million, followed by "Painted Skin" with $7.5 million, and the supernatural film "American Strange Tales" released this week ranked fourth with 6.38 million in three days, and three days are not as good as "Painted Skin" for one day.

The excellent box office of "Painted Skin" and the good reputation made the distributor Miramax Pictures deeply satisfied, and Yang Hongtao and others are ready to take another public relations boost, strive to expand the theater chain, and be able to stand at the same starting point and compete with the 4,000 theaters of "Mission Impossible 3".

The American film industry's expectation for "Mission Impossible 3" is $60 million at the box office in the first week, but the scene looks very hot, but it only won 48 million, which is disappointing, and what is even more disappointing is that the movie's score is only 7.0 points, far lower than the 7.9 points of "Painted Skin".

This made Yang Hongtao and others more confident, ready to increase publicity and fight with "Mission Impossible 3".

In short, the form of "Painted Skin" is very good.

In the evening, Gao Zhisheng went to the airport to pick up the plane and brought the CCTV interview team to Santa Monica, where Shao Shuaijun lived. There are only three people in the interview team, one is the hostess Shen Bing, a photographer and an assistant. It was already evening, and Shao Shuaijun simply said hello to the three of them. I took everyone to a Western restaurant for dinner.

After eating, we basically got familiar with the chat, and officially started the interview.

The photographer set up the camera, the assistant took out a note, and Shen Bing coughed lightly: "Everyone has always thought that you are an ideological director, and recently you can see that you are very involved in commercial work, from student to director, from director to boss, do you feel a little change in this role?" ”

"How can I say it? There is definitely a change. Before, you were a student, carefree, and you could do things as you liked. When you become a director, you can't be so casual. You have to think about everything before you make a decision. Then he became his own boss. Maybe you can get in touch with the real scene by looking at the problem. ”

Shao Shuaijun replied very relaxedly. It was originally a propaganda interview, and some questions that were talked about too deeply would be subtracted after returning home.

"So for the idea of how the film works commercially. Can Director Shao talk to us? ”

"Oh, actually, I don't have much to say, I don't bother with publicity. Hehe. Shao Shuaijun twisted his body and changed to a comfortable position, "But mortals greet and say that they need you to come forward, where they need you to sit, I'll go, they put me there anyway, let me stay there, just build momentum." ”

"We know that the investment in Painted Skin is very large, and there are six companies that share it, but what kind of thinking is this? On the set, are you also like other directors, who are concerned about finances? ”

"Well, what I hate the most as a director is that I have no money for investment. The biggest difference between me and the five and six generations of famous directors is that we live in different eras, I was born in 86, and my family has been able to live a good life, I have a vague concept of thrift. That's why I rarely let people interfere with my films, and when you say you have to measure how much film you're going to use to shoot a shot, isn't that too much trouble. ”

"What do you mean?"

"I don't like to be calculated. Nowadays, when making movies in China, this financing is like this: take the script, take the budget, take all the contracts of the actor, and then find an internationally famous insurance company, and the insurance company will review all parts of you. After it is approved, it makes a guarantee from an insurance company, and with all these qualified procedures, it goes to the bank for a loan. Because movies are risky, you can't just toss around the investment money, so as not to affect the returns. I'm not used to it, anyway, I've always been working alone, or someone else has invested money, don't ask anything. ”

"Where's the painted skin?"

This brings us to why "Painted Skin" is one of the six investors. In the past, director Zhang Yimou made an analogy, the director grows turnips, investors buy turnips, and the director's responsibility is to plant radishes well, regardless of how to sell them. If the cost of giving is more, you will plant it according to your own ideas, and if the cost of giving is less, you will plant it according to the meaning of selling radish. I'm afraid that others will set a box for me, so I must plant according to my own ideas, and then I need money. ”

"So you found six investors to come up with this money?"

"That's right, the more money I have, the more I can make movies on my own terms. However, when selling turnips, it is inevitable that you will have to make some efforts. ”

"What kind of effort, do you feel quite painful sometimes?"

Shao Shuaijun nodded: "Of course there is, cutting out 25 minutes is really heart-wrenching for me, even more than others, probably the biggest pain in selling turnips." ”

"What's the deal with the 25-minute cut?" Shen Bing was very surprised and said, in fact, this was all said before, and Shen Bing would extend to this topic and bring out today's topic.

"I cut all my films myself, and I first cut the 145-minute version, which is also the version released in the mainland. But the filmmakers on the American side, they asked not to be too long, and in the end they cut out a 120-minute version, which was 25 minutes less. Later, I said, if you are reluctant to cut, you will be cut by someone else, my heart is horizontal, cut it, the pain is painful, it is better than others to cut it. ”

"So, it's kind of a compromise to balance art and business."

Shao Shuaijun nodded a little calmly: "Yes, I made a concession." Of course, I can insist on not cutting, and I said I just don't cut. ”

"Then why not insist?"

"You can't say that I'm an artist who insists on individuality, and I ignore you, that's not good. On the U.S. side, of course, I can insist on not cutting, Mira doesn't want it, and Lionsgate also rushes to ask for it. But the market in the United States is not suitable for a long movie, so I didn't insist on it for the sake of business. This is a word of mouth, you insist on art to make others lose money, how will you release movies in the future? ”

After talking about the topic of commercial films, the topic soon turned to piracy, Shen Bing said: "There is a saying that people in our country spend 10 times more money on piracy than the box office revenue. ”

"I can't see more than 10 times."

"We know that the "Piracy" of Painted Skin has come out, how much impact does it have on "Painted Skin"?"

"The box office has dropped dramatically."

"How much will it fall?"

"I can't be sure now, but based on the box office of "Painted Skin" on the first day, the total box office in the mainland should not be less than 300 million, and if this number is used as the standard, it will fall by at least 30% of the box office, at least 100 million."

100 million, maybe it's an exaggeration, but the impact of pirated videos is absolutely huge. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you Emmafay, pretend to be very stuck for the reward, thank you to the gods are also crazy, Liu Jun's 5663843, and Akasura for the monthly pass!