Ever since Hollywood entered a mature period, Americans have tried every means to highlight Hollywood's dominant position in world cinema, so that the development of films in other countries is in a second-tier, third-tier, or even backward situation. 【Reading.com】

But this phenomenon was suddenly broken in 1972, after Wang Xiaohu and Bruce Lee broke into Hollywood with Chinese kung fu, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox once extended an olive branch to Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee chose to cooperate with Warner under the advice of Zou Wenhuai, but only filmed one "Enter the Dragon" and died.

In the eyes of their Warner and even more film company executives, the only thing that can attract them is fists and feet, and Orientals are only worthy of playing beggars, clowns, killers and other unpopular roles in American movies, except for showing off their fists and feet. This is also the main reason why Warner finally gave up on Wang Xiaohu and forced Wang Xiaohu to look for 20th Century Fox cooperation.

Subsequently, they launched "Rocky", which featured the American Dream brand, and Warner Bros. scoffed at it. When Concorde was filming Home Alone, Warner thought it didn't matter, because you were always promoting the American spirit.

Even the popularity of "Jaws" and "Contact of the Third Kind" did not make Warner determined to be an enemy of Concorde.

It wasn't until "Star Wars" set off a frenzy of Hollywood's high-tech special effects and "Second-hand Future" swept the North American box office at a rocket-like speed that Warner Bros. suddenly discovered that there was Oriental culture hidden in the coat of "Star Wars" science fiction, and this kind of cultural aggression was without the slightest warning, it was not very conspicuous, it was quietly, like a frog boiled in warm water, instilling culture from the East to American audiences little by little, little by little, from clothing, kung fu, weapons, etc., in "Star Wars" traces can be found in .

Since then, Warner Bros. has been eyeing Concord, so when Wang Xiaohu brought "Myth" to the United States and invited the eight major film companies to participate in the viewing party in advance, Warner Bros. began to think about what kind of reason to use to sabotage the release of "Myth".

Racial discrimination has been used as a means, it is impossible to use it again, even if it is used this means, there is no effect, the "racial discrimination" incident did not bring down Wang Xiaohu, and even made him a friend of black people, NBA star Abdul-Jabbar, boxing champion Ali, and music star Michael Jackson, these are all blacks with deep influence in the United States, and they are all friends of Wang Xiaohu.

After the consultation of Warner's senior management, they decided to invite several other representatives to come over after the viewing party organized by Concord to discuss how to resist Wang Xiaohu's development in the United States.

But obviously, Warner Bros.'s hard work was in vain, first of all, MGM, who has deep pockets, maintains a wait-and-see attitude, their boss is the American gambling king, and there is never a shortage of money for them, and they are the most typical representatives of capitalists.

Several other film companies are only MGM and MGM, Big Brother has spoken, Columbia, Paramount, and Disney have nothing to say, Warner Bros. is in a hurry!

At the end, Warner Bros. said a word that silenced these guys who were originally wavering.

"If we don't unite to fight against Concord, one day, we will be surpassed by Concord one by one, and the topic of cultural aggression aside, don't you think it's terrible that the dollar has been taken away by Concord?"

"Think about it, as long as we let Concord develop, this Oriental tiger's appetite will be even more inflated, he has dominated our box office for five years, I believe he still wants to almost dominate it, so that the American audience will only recognize the Concord brand, and we, the veterans, will be forgotten by the audience, and finally Concord eats steaks in large pieces, and we only have to drink beef soup"

If Wang Xiaohu's propaganda and cultural aggression pose a threat that cannot impress these tycoons, from the perspective of capitalists, Warner Bros.'s words have played a great role, just imagine that they are all old film companies that have developed in the 20s to the present, who wants to be reduced to the fate of working for the upstarts and relying on the relief of the upstarts?

The answer is that no one wants to!

MGM's representatives fell into deep thought, and the other three representatives also began to realize the seriousness of the problem, after all, Wang Xiaohu's development and expansion in Hollywood in the past few years is too surprising, so fast that it is dizzying, fortunately, this guy has only been crazy at the Oscars for a year, and then disappeared, otherwise the old guys from the academy will go crazy!

It was clear that several of the delegates were not representative of the company's decision, and they did not make any promises to Warner Bros. on the spot, but went back to their own companies to report to the executives

On May 20, 1980, "Myth" began to launch a week-long publicity plan, so to speak, in addition to the voluntary withdrawal of United American Pictures due to financial problems, Warner Bros. directly and publicly refused to screen "Myth", Universal, Paramount, Columbia, Disney, and even Universal, all chose to remain silent, they don't know what position they stand on "Myth" now, anyway, they will definitely not be as jealous and hateful as Warner Bros.

But two days after "Myth" began to be promoted, the American media reported this: "The six major Hollywood film companies collectively protested against Concord, and the Oriental Tiger finally fell into an unprecedented predicament, according to the current survey, it seems that only 800 theaters in North America will release "Myth". ”

"Not 800! It's 900! Wang Xiaohu said with a smile after seeing the newspaper.

"What kind of theater is 100 more?"

Winterdur, Lucas, and Spielberg hurriedly asked, they didn't want Wang Xiaohu to be so calm, after all, at present, the six giants are clearly showing the back way to strangle Concord, and the two main theater chains cannot attract too much box office, and the 200 theaters in Concord are all low-end, not as luxurious as searchlights.

"Have you forgotten Lodge's hometown, Philadelphia?" Wang Xiaohu said with a smile: "It is undeniable that the non-cooperation of the six giants makes us passive for a while, but Philadelphia is our lucky city, I have contacted the theaters in Philadelphia last night, in addition to the theaters of the six giants, there are still 100 small and medium-sized theaters belonging to private organizations, so we are not alone now." ”

"100 is not enough!" Lucas, who is accustomed to thousands of theaters in the United States being released at the same time and creating a box office miracle since the establishment of Hollywood, said helplessly: "You must know that there are more than 3,000 large and small theaters in North America, and we only occupy one-fifteenth of the market, and the six major companies occupy 75% of the market.

"Hey!" Spielberg sighed, he punched the table and said angrily, "It's not fair! ”

"There's really no such thing as being fair or unfair." Wang Xiaohu still kept a smile and said: "The current situation is still relatively optimistic for us, as long as we can guarantee that the box office data of the six film companies will be handed over within a week, they will join us." ”

"But there are only 900 of them, and if you want to meet their standards, you can't do it unless it reaches at least $7 million a week!" Winterdur rolled his eyes and said, "God, 7 million, it's so hard!" ”

"Then it depends on the effect of our propaganda for the rest of today!" Wang Xiaohu told Winterdur: "The scope of posters should be expanded, not only in Chinatown, but also in places where black friends are posted." Urge George again to add two more time slots to the TV promo under Fox, and it's better to win the prime time, don't care about money at this time! ”

"Okay." Winterdur took a small notebook and recorded it, and then waited for Wang Xiaohu to continue to release the task.

"The trailer has undergone a second revision, and a key reminder has been added: the special effects of Mythology are the brains of the original Star Wars crew, and after conquering the vast universe, they will lead you into the mysterious western part of China and unravel a forgotten history."

In fact, Wang Xiaohu himself has a certain amount of pressure, but he firmly believes that "Myth" can succeed, and this success is not blind, but based on the popularity he has accumulated in Hollywood over the years, as well as the team.

Since "Warrior" successfully sparked a kung fu boom in North America, Concord's kung fu films will be released in North America every year, and the 200 theaters he acquired that year don't look at the fact that they occupy a small percentage of Hollywood, but they have also accumulated a considerable number of popularity and fans in the past few years.

And another staple element in "Mythology" is Chinese kung fu.

Industrial Light & Magic has successfully contributed two heavyweight sci-fi blockbusters to Hollywood over the years, "Contact of the 3rd Kind" and "Star Wars" have made Industrial Light & Magic famous in the Hollywood film industry, if it weren't for Lucas being caught by Wang Xiaohu to be busy with the behind-the-scenes production of "Myth", I believe that many Hollywood companies will choose to let Industrial Light & Magic do post-production special effects, at least Wang Xiaohu knew that last year's "Alien" considered Industrial Light & Magic, but Wang Xiaohu didn't know it at that time, and missed a very good movie series.

When it comes to special effects in Hollywood, only Industrial Light & Magic is the best, and many Star Wars fans cultivated by Industrial Light & Magic will definitely buy tickets to "Myth".

"Anything else?" After a quick note, Winterdur looked up and asked.

"Hey, how about a really interesting promotion?" An interesting plan suddenly flashed through Wang Xiaohu's mind.

"What?"

"It's an old routine, tell fans that we will select 10 lucky viewers and provide them with a chance to contact the Terracotta Warriors and Horses for free." The corners of Wang Xiaohu's mouth curled up, and he smiled brightly.

Winterdur blinked, thought for a long time, nodded and said, "Good attention."

(To be continued)