While "Inception" continued to win the North American box office championship, its performance in the domestic film market has also killed a number of big directors.

The box office was 78 million on the first day of release, the single-day box office exceeded 100 million on the third day of release, the domestic box office exceeded 500 million on the sixth day of release, and the single-day box office on the ninth day of release was still as high as 54 million, and the total domestic box office at this time had reached 614 million.

On the 10th day of its release, Sunday, January 18, 2009, "Inception" had a single-day box office of 4,200 and a total domestic box office of 656 million.

On the same day, China Film Group and Chengtian Entertainment, the producers of "Red Cliff (II"), jointly announced that the film was temporarily rescheduled to be released on January 30.

This is the third time that the movie "Red Cliff (II)" has been rescheduled.

The first time was to change the file to January 5, forcing "If You Are Honest, Do Not Disturb" to have to be temporarily rescheduled.

Immediately, Li Mu's "Inception" was officially set for January 9, and director Wu Yusen just said that he would not change the file again, and then announced that it would be changed to January 20 - this is the second change of "Red Cliff (II)".

Then it was January 18th, when "Inception" had been released for the tenth day, but the single-day box office was still as high as 42 million!

What is the concept of 42 million?

"Red Cliff (I)" released last year created a box office miracle, with a total box office of 314 million, far higher than the 180 million of "The King of Kung Fu" starring Cheng Long and Li Lian, and the 202 million of "Yangtze River No. 7" starring Zhou Xingzhi, but what was the box office of "Red Cliff (I)" on the first day at that time?

27 million!

Now the box office of "Inception" was 54 million on the ninth day of release, 42 million on the tenth day, and the box office on the ninth day was even twice the box office of "Red Cliff (I)" that created a box office miracle last year!

Where does the producer of "Red Cliff" still have the courage to officially release it nationwide on January 20?

Not to mention that on January 22, the movie "People in Embarrassment", also written by Li Mu, will be released.

Who knows if this movie will work a miracle again?

It's very likely, after all, it is the work of Li Mu's screenwriter.

In this way, on January 20, not only did there be "Inception", which was released for 9 days, but the single-day box office was still twice as high as the first-day box office of "Red Cliff (I)", and then there was the threatening "People in Embarrassment".

At this time, what else can "Red Cliff (II)" do in addition to changing the file?

Wu Yusen is also a well-known director in the country, and he is one of the few international directors who has made a big career in Hollywood - "Broken Arrow", "Changing Face", "Mission Impossible 2", director Wu Yusen is definitely the most powerful Chinese director in terms of strength, achievements, and prestige.

But today, under the pressure of Li Mu's "Inception", he had to temporarily change the file twice, especially this second change, even because he didn't dare to compete with the movie that had been released for ten days!

The emergence of such a situation is really surprising and embarrassing.

In the face of "Inception", which has almost scared the entire film industry, together with Shen Junsheng, the director of "People in Embarrassment" produced by Li Mu's company, can't help but feel a little apprehensive.

"Mr. Li, or our "People in Embarrassment" will also announce a rescheduling."

Huashang Media Office.

Li Mu said while flipping through the script: "No, "People in Embarrassment" will be released normally on January 22. ”

"But......" Shen Junsheng stood in front of the desk and stopped talking.

Li Mu raised his head and smiled: "I have already watched the finished film of "People in Embarrassment", I know the quality of the movie, and since the schedule is confirmed, don't change it easily." ”

"Okay."

After Shen Junsheng left, Li Mu continued to read the script in his hand, this script is the script of the TV series "Myth" just handed over by the screenwriter Li Haishu, Cheng Long's meaning The TV series is jointly invested by him and Li Mu, and the script can only be approved by Li Mu's nod.

Now Brother Cheng Long has a lot of trust in Li Mu's level, and "Myth" is an obsession of his, so he must shoot it well, so Li Mu doesn't nod, he always feels unsteady.

……

On January 19, the domestic box office of "Inception" has reached 678 million.

On January 20, the domestic box office of "Inception" was 698 million.

On January 21, the domestic box office of "Inception" accumulated 716 million, and at the same time, the premiere of the movie "People in Embarrassment" was held in Beijing, and Li Mu and Liu Yifei were present to cheer.

On January 22, "Inception" accumulated a domestic box office of 732 million, and at the same time, the movie "People in Embarrassment" was officially released on a large scale across the country and achieved a first-day box office of 17 million.

From January 23rd to January 25th, the domestic box office of "Inception" totaled 790 million, and "People in Embarrassment" won 18 million, 46 million, and 41 million box office respectively, with a cumulative box office of 122 million yuan in four days of release.

At the same time, according to the data given by China Film, the two movies "Inception" + "People in Embarrassment" accounted for more than 95% of the daily box office market in the country in the week before the Spring Festival.

According to China Film's forecast, the domestic box office of "Inception" is even expected to reach 900 million yuan, and the box office expectation of "People in Embarrassment" has also increased to 310 million yuan.

It can be said that the entire Spring Festival stalls in 2009 have completely become the stage of Li Mu's family.

In addition to marveling at the box office curve of "Inception", the outside world is also stunned by the huge success of "People in Embarrassment".

Almost everyone in the circle knows that the total investment of this movie is only 10 million, and there are no big actors, but the box office of such a small-budget comedy movie is already expected to reach 300 million!

The box office forecast is 30 times the amount invested!

Such an unnatural rate of return makes every filmmaker envious and jealous, and at the same time, they also feel a little bit of fear for Li Mu's strength.

Many filmmakers even walked into the cinema with a pilgrimage-like mentality to watch "People in Embarrassment", "Inception" can't be learned, but "People in Embarrassment" can.

And then such people are startled by the barely interrupted laughter in the theater.

However, although the laughter of the audience has not stopped, although the scene of Wang Baoqiang drinking milk almost made these professional filmmakers look stupid, although the plot of Shen Teng going to the wrong room made the audience burst into laughter, although the encounter between Shen Teng and Wang Baoqiang's living treasure along the way made the theater burst into collective laughter every few minutes, although this film is indeed very good, no matter how you watch it, it is a 100 million-level movie at most, right? !

But looking at the current box office trend, the final box office of this movie is clearly going for 300 million.

Why can a low-budget comedy movie like "People in Embarrassment" get such a high box office?

Just because its screenwriter is Li Mu?

To be honest, even Li Mu himself was amazed by the box office performance of "People in Embarrassment", although the box office performance of the original world "People in Embarrassment" was also good, it was far from reaching today's level.

He analyzed that there may be several reasons.

First, the release time is different. The release time of the original world "People in Embarrassment" is June, and the release time of Li Mu's version is December 27. As a Spring Festival-themed movie, it was released just in time for the Spring Festival, which may be more attractive to the audience.

Second, the audience base is different. The original world "People in Embarrassment" has a small investment, a small starring reputation, and a small scale of publicity, and it is indeed very good to achieve that result.

Later, "Thai Embarrassment" had the popularity foundation of the first part, wouldn't it go directly to the sky?

Although Li Mu's version of "People in Embarrassment" also does not have the popularity foundation of the previous work, "The Way to Steal the Key", which also starred Shen Teng, has achieved very good results, the two movies have similar themes and similar actors, and the audience is willing to believe that this is another excellent comedy movie similar to "The Way to Steal the Key", so as to enter the theater.

Third, "Li Mu's screenwriting works" have been labeled as a hit, classic, and worth watching in the hearts of countless audiences, so many viewers immediately decided to bring their whole family into the theater as soon as they saw that the screenwriter of the movie was Li Mu.

In short, the combination of various factors made Li Mu's investment in "People in Embarrassment" achieve box office results far beyond the original world.

January 26 is the Spring Festival, and Li Mu has returned to his hometown in Xijing ahead of schedule to accompany his parents for the New Year's Eve. He stayed at home for less than a week before flying back to Beijing.

At the same time, "Inception" also ushered in the third week after officially landing on the North American Film Market.

From January 30 to February 1, 2009, "Inception" topped the North American box office for the third consecutive week with a box office of $42 million.

As the runner-up of this week's box office list, "Department Store Men" only grossed $14 million over the weekend, and "Inception" opened its third week of release with $28 million.

At this time, the total box office of "Inception" in North America has reached $260 million.

From February 06 to February 09, 2009, "Inception" officially landed in North America for four weeks, and the box office was still as high as $31 million in three days over the weekend, and the total box office in North America was $301 million, winning the North American box office champion for the fourth consecutive week.

A new film this week, Warner Bros.'s "He Doesn't Like You That Much," earned $27 million at the box office and finished runner-up.

The third runner-up was Focus Company's film "Ghost Mother," which grossed $16 million in its opening weekend.

So far, "Inception" has been the box office champion in North America for four consecutive weeks, and the total box office in the North American market has successfully exceeded the $300 million mark!

It wasn't until the fifth week that "Inception" was ousted to the next week's champion by Warner's new film "Black Friday", and at this time, Li Mu was close to becoming a god in the hearts of fans all over the world, especially in the hearts of Chinese fans.

Let's take a look at the brilliant results achieved by the movie "Inception" around the world:

The domestic box office is about 890 million yuan, which is about 130 million US dollars after conversion.

The overseas box office is divided into two parts, one is North America, and the other is the overseas box office outside North America.

As the film nears its release, "Inception" has grossed $321 million in North America, while outside of North America, "Inception" has swept $501 million.

That's right, Inception has grossed much more overseas outside of North America than it has done in North America. This is true of the original plane, and the same is true of this plane.

In the original time and space, although the total box office of "Inception" was much lower than that of "Batman: The Dark Knight" directed by Nolan, its overseas box office was in turn 70 million dollars higher than that of "The Dark Knight".

So far, the global box office of "Inception" has reached a terrifying $952 million, which is even higher than the version made by director Nolan of the original space.

In fact, there is not much difference between the overseas box office of the two versions, and the extra box office of Li Mu's version is mainly concentrated in the Chinese film market.

What is the concept of $952 million?

A Chinese reporter went to the global box office list after seeing the relevant box office figures:

First place, Titanic, $1.842 billion.

Second place, "The Lord of the Rings 3: The Invincible King", $1.119 billion.

Third place, "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Gathering Soul Coffin", $1.066 billion.

Fourth place, "Batman Begins 2: The Dark Knight", $1.001 billion.

Fifth place, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", $974 million.

Sixth place, Pirates of the Caribbean 3: The End of the World, $961 million.

No. 7, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", $938 million.

Seeing this, the reporter suddenly stopped, and then his gaze returned to the seventh line.

"No. 7, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, $938 million?"

"What about Inception?"

Let's go back and look at the box office figures for "Inception" - $952 million.

"This is, the seventh in global film history?"

"Whew!" The Chinese reporter took a deep breath, and then the whole person suddenly became as excited as if he had hit the adrenal glands.

"Chinese movies have entered the top ten in global film history, and they are also seventh, awesome, amazing!"

He was just about to write a press release, but suddenly he thought: "Is this "Inception" a Chinese movie?" There is indeed Chinese in it, but this proportion - forget it, it was filmed by a Chinese director, starring Li Mu, Liu Yifei, and Hong Jinbao, why is it not a Chinese movie? ”

"The global box office is 952 million US dollars, the seventh in global film history, the freshness of Rotten Tomatoes is 92%, and the IMDB score of 9.3 temporarily ranks fourth in global film history - Director Li Mu This time, even if it is placed on a global scale, this can be regarded as a direct god, right?"

"Netizens have been saying that Li Mu can be compared to Spielberg, and they are saying that Li Mu can be compared to James Cameron, which used to be a joke, but now this is obviously becoming more and more a fact, maybe Li Mu's current background is still a little worse, but you must know that he has just turned 25 years old this year!"

……

At the same time, Han Sanping called Li Mu to Zhongying with a phone call.

"Li Mu, come, sit!"

"Okay."

"Brother Huang, you're also here." Li Mu greeted Huang Jianxin, who was also in the office.

Many of Li Mu's movies since his debut have been produced by Huang Jianxin, and the relationship between the two is good.

"Well, Mr. Han called me over to discuss something."

Huang Jianxin shook hands with Li Mu as he spoke, then patted him on the shoulder and said, "Amazing!" $950 million at the global box office, I was shocked when I first saw this number, it was too exaggerated, and it was too scary! ”

"This time the luck is really good." Li Mu said.

"Good luck? One luck and two luck, how can there be a lot of luck? Let's not play modesty. ”

"Hey......

Han Sanping's face was also happy after seeing Li Mu, and he talked about the grand occasion of "Inception" sweeping the global film market, and at the same time praised Li Mu himself.

According to what he said, Li Mu is now registered with several high-level leaders above, and recently it has even reached the point where he will inevitably mention it whenever he talks about culture, movies, and foreign exchanges.

"How many places are you in the global rankings now?" Han Sanping sat opposite Li Mu and Huang Jianxin and asked Li Mudao with a smile.

Li Mu replied with a smile: "It should be the eleventh, the tenth place is "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: The End of the World" released in 2007, which has a global box office of 963 million US dollars. Then there was also "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" released in 2007. ”

"The latter grossed $939.9 million worldwide, slightly lower than "Inception", and "Inception" is tentatively ranked between these two films, that is, No. 11."

Eleventh in global film history!

Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin glanced at each other, and both of them were full of emotion in their hearts.

Once upon a time, the 100 million yuan club was still a symbol of the top directors in China, but how many years has it been this time?

Our Chinese directors can also make billion-dollar movies?

What an exaggerated and incredible achievement!

After sighing with emotion, Han Sanping felt a little regretful.

"It's a pity that we still didn't make it into the top ten in film history in the end, if we can produce a movie in the top ten in global film history, what a beautiful scene it should be!"

Huang Jianxin also said: "It's really a pity, although the eleventh and tenth places are only one place apart, but the symbolic meaning is completely different." ”

Li Mu said with a smile: "'The way of heaven is to make up for the deficiency by losing more than it loses, so the void is better than the truth, and the lack is better than the surplus. On the contrary, I think the eleventh is good, and the tenth feels a little floating. ”

Han Sanping smiled: "Your mentality is not bad. ”

Li Mu smiled.

At this time, his mobile phone rang suddenly, and he picked it up and took a look, and saw that it was Liu Yifei calling.

"I'll go out and answer a call." After saying hello, he got up and walked to the door.

"Congratulations!" The other end of the phone grinned.

Li Mu asked, "Congratulations to me?" ”

"Play stupid!" Liu Yifei said with a smile, "Just now, a lot of friends and classmates called me to congratulate me." ”

"Congratulations on what?" Li Mu asked with a smile.

"Of course, congratulations to the boyfriend I found, whose movie has successfully entered the top ten in global film history, and is the seventh in global film history, they all say that you are already an international director who can compete with Spielberg and James Cameron, and you are also the youngest and most handsome international director."

Li Mu was stunned for a moment, the box office of "Inception" has basically been finalized, why did it suddenly become seventh in global film history? He obviously checked the relevant information just now, and there is still a distance between him and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: The End of the World", which is the tenth in film history, what's going on?

At this time, Liu Yifei on the other end of the phone said again: "Many news websites are already reporting, it shouldn't be wrong." ”

……

After hanging up the phone, Li Mu returned to the conference room with a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong?"

Huang Jianxin asked.

Li Mu's expression was a little stunned and said: "Just now, Yifei called and said that there was already news reporting, and "Inception" is the seventh in the world's film history!" But—no, I remember it was eleventh. ”

"Seventh in film history?"

Han Sanping stood up and walked to his desk and opened it, and soon a related report came into view.

[World War I, Chinese director Li Mu's latest sci-fi masterpiece "Inception" has reached a global box office of 952 million US dollars, temporarily ranking seventh in global film history! ] 】

At this time, Li Mu and Huang Jianxin also walked behind Han Sanping.

"$952 million, the number is correct, why is it suddenly seventh?"

Han Sanping opened the relevant news, and saw that the top ten detailed information in film history were also listed at the bottom of the article.

[First place, "Titanic", $1.842 billion.] 】

[Second place, "The Lord of the Rings 3: The Invincible", $1.119 billion.] 】

……

[Sixth place, "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: The End of the World", $961 million.] 】

"Titanic, $1.842 billion?"

But the information in Li Mu's mind is obviously:

[Titanic, 1997, $2,186.8 million]

At this time, Li Mu suddenly reacted.

Because of the existence of this golden finger that all the information that he has carefully read before crossing will be imprinted in his mind, this has led to Li Mu rarely using Baidu to check the information, and most of the information in his mind is there, so why bother to check the search engine?

But there is a bug here, which is that he sees that the data is likely to be from 2022, or even from 2025, which he traveled through time.

He had only excluded the films that had not yet been released in his mind in the film history rankings, but he had not excluded the re-release box office parts of these films that had already been released.

In the information in Li Mu's mind, the total box office of "Titanic" is 2.1868 billion US dollars, because the film has been re-screened many times after 09, and the information in Li Mu's mind contains the box office of these films later re-releases.

And if you remove the box office of the re-release after 09, isn't his Li Mu's "Inception" ranked seventh in global film history?