"Low."

When this word was spoken, old Harry was a little helpless, Shao Yingying is an unknown young director or actor in the circle, in terms of the box office results on the first day, this must be a good box office, and even this kind of box office has the value of continuing to invest. But who are you Shao Yingxing? Since making a name for himself in Hollywood with "Source Code", it has been rising step by step, except for the first "Source Code" and the guest appearance of "The Expendables", the box office is almost around $500 million, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is one of the most expensive movie stars in Hollywood on average, so this box office is definitely not suitable for you.

Shao Yingying nodded and asked, "How much?" ”

"$6 million."

$6 million is only more than $2,000 for a theater to be played in a loop of 2,700 theaters, which does not match Shao Yingying's worth, Shao Yingying's worth in Hollywood is now as high as $18 million, approaching the $20 million mark, and it is not inferior to Nicolas Cage's worth If this "Twelve Years a Slave" is looking for him to star, his salary and box office share are likely to directly share a very conspicuous part of "Twelve Years a Slave...... In addition, since the emergence of "Avatar", a supercarrier-level box office money-absorbing machine, Hollywood filmmakers have also had new expectations for the box office, and the local box office performance is no longer more than 100 million.

"6 million?" Shao Yingying responded flatly, and Harry Sloan answered: "It's good enough to reach 15 million at the box office in the first week." The total box office forecast for the first week is around 30 million, and it is very likely that it will not even enter the North American box office charts. ”

After hearing this sentence, Shao Yingying knew what Harry Sloan was worried about, and the low-budget movie "12 Years a Slave" belonged to Shao Yingying's personal work. is not a collective work of Hollywood commercialization, if this kind of individual work becomes popular, it will make fans all over the world look forward to Shao Yingxing's entry into the Oscar hall, and this sense of expectation will invisibly turn into a driving force, even if Shao Yingxing does not win the award, he may also enter the Oscar nomination, which is a kind of victory.

Harry Sloan never thought that after a year of hard work, Shao Yingying would be sent to the world's highest award hall and take away the little golden man. His plan is to drag on such a year-by-year accumulation, accumulate Shao Yingying's prestige around the world to a fixed point, and finally settle the situation in one fell swoop through largesse. This is his plan, otherwise starting from the bottom to contact the Oscar judges, which is conducive to Shao Yingying, but has a particularly slow effect, is not suitable for the rush of awards.

"What about Cannes?" Shao Yingying asked again.

Harry Sloan sighed and said, "Now we can only see if there can be a miracle in Cannes, if it ......" He glanced at Shao Yingying and didn't say much. The worst plan for this matter is the outcome of not relying on both. Cannes continues to ignore the commercialized Shao Yingying in accordance with the character of its own art film festival; The Oscars didn't take Shao Yingxing as a garlic, MGM still lived his own little life in Hollywood, that's all, anyway, it is unlikely that this movie will lose money, at most it is just a film with a small income, no real value, and filling the library.

"Don't think so much, do everything we should do, and God will decide the rest." When Shao Yingying finished saying this, he looked at Harry Sloan and said.

Harry Sloan sensed something was wrong. suddenly smiled clearly: "You bastard, this sentence should be used by me to persuade you." You're still calm like you're a nobody. ”

"Hahahaha." Shao Yingying showed a heroic smile in the office, and when Harry Sloan saw that he was the emperor and was not in a hurry to die as a eunuch, he simply didn't pay so much attention to it, and got up and pulled Shao Yingying out to eat.

At this time, the first weekend box office results of "Twelve Years of Slavery" came out, from the premiere on Friday night to the early morning of Sunday night, this is called the first weekend results, and the first weekend results are generally the highest peak of a movie, but "Twelve Years of a Slave" only got 14.3 million in the first weekend of 2,700 theaters, so that only 15.7 million can reach 30 million in the rest of the time.

The opposite happened, God seemed to have forgotten Shao Yingying, so that the box office of "Twelve Years a Slave" in the first week would always be a little lower than the target at 27 million, which is equivalent to a theater only 10,000 US dollars, from the second week, many theaters chose to reduce the number of broadcasts, and even some small theaters outside the theater chain, specifically referring to the box office alive, chose to paint!

Strange things happened at this time, when Shao Yingying's film encountered Waterloo in the box office market, film critics and media throughout Hollywood and even around the world began to tout endlessly, Shao Yingying was also named an actor-level performance in the scene where a slave girl was abused and did bad things, saying that this is the real strength of the Berlin actor, this is a super infectious movie.

When all kinds of things that are inconsistent with common sense appeared, Shao Yingying suddenly remembered a news he had read on the computer, that is, "Taiping Wheel", a movie with an investment of more than 300 million and nearly 400 million, took 17 million to return to the box office of 170 million in 17 days, but the media also regarded everything in this movie as a classic.

There seems to be a kind of reincarnation on Shao Yingying's head, so that you really can't do anything except a helpless smile.

This is similar to the 2014-2015 Chinese film market, many exquisite movies do not get a good box office, Hollywood popcorn blockbusters always occupy the box office charts on the screen, and some people boast that everything in Hollywood is good, saying that domestic movies are not worth spending money to enter the theater...... Even many domestic boutiques can't get into their eyes, just like watching domestic movies represents low-level fun.

In the hot summer, Shao Yingying put down the cold beer he had just drunk, and when he watched the sunset in Hollywood and Wang Qianyuan in the hotel discuss the current form of the film market, Wang Qianyuan's complaints completely exploded after two cans of beer. He said almost hysterically: "Boss Shao, you are not bad." When I made the movie "Piano of Steel", the director begged my grandfather to tell my grandmother that he was looking for investment from the beginning of the script. After three years, the investment was in place before the filming began, and in this way, there was a shortage of funds in the middle, which was the money that Qin Hailu gave him. We have been working hard for the ideals in our hearts, always thinking about not being sorry for other investors, don't be sorry for the director's hard work, and every shot is filtered in detail in the shortest time. Until everyone is satisfied......"

Wang Qianyuan said with some sadness: "But when the box office came out, we were all stupid, with a total box office of more than 3 million and an actual box office of 2.7 million." Feng Xiaogang played and filmed "If You Are Honest, Do Not Disturb" and wiped us out without a trace in two hours, if this is on the battlefield, Feng Xiaogang is the general who charges into battle, us. It's just a cannonball hitting the bottom of your foot. Not to mention being blown up to the sky, there was not even a bit of scum left when I came down. What is the world? ”

Thinking about it, Shao Yingying thinks that "Twelve Years a Slave" and "The Piano of Steel" are really similar, both have a good reputation, and the box office is not very good.

"Boss Shao. What kind of mentality do you say this is? Wang Qianyuan asked puzzled.

Shao Yingying pondered for a moment and replied: "I can really explain it, but I don't know if my explanation is right." ”

"When I was in school. There are two girls in the Beijing Film Academy, one of the two girls is a rich second generation, and the other is a girl who is professional and good-looking, the two girls are good friends, but these two people watch movies in a completely two ways. This rich second generation likes movies like "Happy Spring" and "Gone with the Wind", and what he yearns for the most is to go to a square in Paris, France one day and be kept by a handsome sailor he doesn't know; In addition, the girl with an average family is a fan of Feng Xiaogang, Feng Xiaogang was not popular at that time, she was just famous, she was a ...... to watch"

Wang Qianyuan asked, "What happened later?" ”

"Don't worry, listen to me slowly." Shao Yingying continued: "There is actually not much difference between these two girls, the girl who has no money does not like to watch art movies, the way she watches art movies is to buy pirated disks, thinking that this kind of temperamental thing is suitable for enjoying alone at home; Rich girls don't hate Feng Xiaogang either, they just think that this kind of movie without depth shouldn't go into theaters. You can't tell who is right and who is wrong between these two ideas, but the audience completely separates the box office. ”

In other words, both phenomena exist, but these two people represent two kinds of box office. One is the box office of popular movies, whether it is special effects movies, comedies, or action movies, as long as they are in the public category, they will definitely attract many people to watch, after all, the box office of movies is not smashed by local tyrants, but accumulated by movie tickets; The other is art films, art films are very strange, it can easily be praised by many media people, and popular movies are often mixed, but watching art films for that period and even the current society, it belongs to the field of people with a certain degree of cultivation and audience, if you ask a car mechanic, or the kind of beauty who has studied for a few years, whether it is in China or the United States, he will definitely choose "Avatar" in "Crash" and "Avatar" Some people don't need to think about time. ”

Wang Qianyuan looked at Shao Yingying in surprise, and said with a look of admiration: "Boss Shao, in the end, he is a rich man, I am still thinking about how to explain you, don't you see it, I understand." I see, rich girls represent the audience of art films, which is in the minority just like the rich people; The girl who has no money represents the audience of popular movies, this kind of person is the law of the market, I wouldn't have persuaded you if I knew it, anyway, losing this money with Boss Shao's worth is nothing to you at all, it's a big deal to make a new commercial film after filming "Twelve Years a Slave". ”

"Bullshit." Shao Yingying damaged Wang Qianyuan and said: "I have never made an art film. ”

This is Shao Yingying's heart, he has never regarded "Twelve Years as a Slave" as an art film, in fact, this is not an art film at all, but a drama. The praise of the media and the praise of film critics exaggerated the artistry of this non-movie, making many viewers think that this is an art film when they see the news about "Twelve Years a Slave". In Hollywood, the representatives of art films are dull, fancy, bold in language, illogical and unrealistic, that is to say, too far from life. Even if commercial movies are not close to life, they are good-looking shots, gradually warming up shots and traceable plots that look effortless at all, and I feel very cool after watching it.

The most able to shorten the distance between the audience and the movie is the feature film, but some feature films are often promoted as art films, "Crash" is an out-and-out drama, it is completely different from "Trainspotting", Shao Yingying feels that "Trainspotting" is also a drama, but it is closer to art films......

It can be said that Shao Yingying still doesn't understand what art films are and how to define art films, and the only acceptable explanation is that art films generally don't have a high box office.

Putting down the beer, Shao Yingying picked up a cigarette and lit it for himself, Wang Qianyuan saw that the atmosphere was a little down, and asked: "Boss Shao, this movie doesn't look very good at the box office, so do you still make this type of movie?" ”

"Shoot."

"Not afraid of losing money?" Wang Qianyuan asked again.

Shao Yingying put down the lighter and said, "Who is not afraid of losing money?" My next plan is to reopen a series of movies, this series of movies is going to the box office, and I may not be involved, and I can't stop making money. For the filming of films with this kind of plot, in addition to filling the film library, I also have the idea of rushing to the Oscars. ”

"What if, in the end, the Oscars are not touched, and the box office of this kind of movie is not high?"

"And what do you regret?" Shao Yingying said with great certainty: "Money, I earned it, reputation, I took it, and I worked hard at the Oscars, but I was not as lucky as those award-winning actors." ”

In Wang Qianyuan's view, such a light answer seems to be a kind of shirk, which does not match Shao Yingying's tough guy screen image. Where does he know what Shao Yingying has experienced in Hollywood, and where does he understand that Shao Yingying actually doesn't respect the Oscars as much as before, and he just fights for the expectant eyes behind him. is saying that there is a lifetime of tough guys, and how can there be a lifetime of angry youth, even the character of each period of a person's life is changing, where there are so many layers of unchanged.

"You rest first." Shao Yingying got up after speaking, and walked to the door of the room regardless of it.

Wang Qianyuan asked at this time: "Why are you going?" ”

"Exercise, I just drank some beer......"

Wang Qianyuan has never seen anyone who can control himself so much, after drinking beer should be the most lazy and relaxed state, who would want to exercise at this time, isn't it crazy.

Helpless, Wang Qianyuan could only follow, and the two of them who were tired from exercise were sweating before coming back to rest.

Their lives were spent without waves, and the Hollywood media sighed after the box office of "12 Years a Slave" came out, and some writers with strong personalities actually questioned the audience what was wrong with such a good movie, which could not attract them to the theater.

These film critics are also brainless, they didn't pay for movie tickets when they watched the test screening, and the audience really paid from their own pockets...... (To be continued......)