Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 21: Fooling Warner Bros.
After Shi Lei handed the finished film to the staff, he had a commercial show of praise with Han Sanpin and other China Film Group leaders, which lasted until the film was played.

In addition to the regular opening, the movie also has an opening shot by Shi Lei at Taolin Film and Television Company. A pink peach forest, coupled with blue sky and white clouds, is also very eye-catching.

Soon the main film began, and the opening line "Kill one person every ten steps, and leave no trace in a thousand miles" set the tone for the entire film.

I don't know when the saying "The greatest heroes love their country and their people" came into being, but this film is all about the happy revenge of the underworld.

Such a theme is actually not in line with the current domestic mainstream martial arts market. It is okay to take revenge, but it must be for the country and the people, and his films are only about taking revenge.

If it were 20 years later, this movie would be very popular and mainstream.

But his target was not the domestic market.

The domestic market is currently in a downturn, and you can’t make much money relying solely on domestic box office.

So his goal is to take advantage of the popularity of "Hero" and make money from foreigners.

The movie begins with a fight on a rainy night. Blind Cheng wins money in a gambling house, and the people in the gambling house send people to attack him in the rainy night. Blind Cheng demonstrates his bone-breaking hand.

This beginning attracts the audience's interest in watching the movie, and then it jumps to a month ago and the story unfolds.

Since there is no concern for the country and the people, there is only one main plot throughout the story. On the night of Ni Yan's wedding, the Yuwen family killed all her family members and also defiled her body. Ni Yan asked Cheng the Blind for help, but was rejected by Cheng the Blind. However, Cheng helped her to report to the authorities. The local government found out that it was the Yuwen family who did it and backed off. Cheng the Blind took Ni Yan to complain, and Ni Yan was killed. Finally, for various reasons, Cheng the Blind decided to avenge Ni Yan and kill the Yuwen family.

The appearance of the iron flowers made the audience exclaim in surprise. The feeling of watching the iron flowers on the big screen and the small screen is really different.

The appearance of the fire knife once again made the audience admire it. Waving the fire knife was really handsome.

After the film ended, Han Sanpin looked excited. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and carefully recalled the plot. He turned to Shi Lei and said, "The fighting scenes in your film are very good, but the plot is a bit weak and too simple."

"If the plot is more complete and the scale is bigger, the box office may exceed 100 million yuan."

"I'll be satisfied as long as the domestic box office exceeds 60 million." Shi Lei said truthfully.

Of course this is a humble statement, his real thought is that there are over 100 million in China.

Han Sanpin asked, "When are you going to release the movie?" The release date is also very important. Due to the virus, domestic movie theaters are now deserted.

"I plan to release it after The Matrix 2." Shi Lei expressed his thoughts.

There are only two schedules in China now, the summer schedule with Hollywood, and the Lunar New Year schedule with Zhang Yimou and Feng Dapao. In 03, Zhang Yimou did not have any blockbusters released, and the Lunar New Year schedule should have been able to accommodate two blockbusters, but he wanted to take advantage of the popularity of "The Matrix 2", and that's why he asked Chou Zhaolong to act.

Han Sanpin thought for a moment and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, The Matrix 2 will be released on July 7th. When do you want it to be released?"

"In two weeks, it will be released on August 8nd."

"Okay, I'll have someone arrange the publicity."

"As for promotion, I have an idea, but I need to talk to Warner Bros., can Mr. Han help me arrange someone?"

"Sure, Warner Bros. has an office in Beijing. I'll call their manager over."

"Thank you, Mr. Han." Shi Lei said gratefully.

It is really different for China Film to ask him to come to them. The rights to import films are in the hands of China Film. Although the domestic film market is sluggish, Warner Bros. has not given up.

That afternoon, the manager of the Warner office arrived.

Han Sanpin introduced the two people to each other and then stood up and left.

"Let's talk after we finish watching the movie."

Two hours later, after the movie was over, Shi Lei got straight to the point: "Manager Wu Shili, I have an idea about the world of The Matrix."

"In The Matrix 2, there is only one savior, but he also needs people to assist him. If a savior does not have a helper in the final battle, it seems that humans are useless. So I have an idea to create some character biographies. For example, there is an independent ancient Dragon Kingdom area in the matrix. This area is popular with martial arts. Cheng Xiazi is a character in this area. He punishes evil and promotes good, and is finally recruited by the prophet to become a prophet guardian."

“We can add a prophet-recruiting segment at the end of ‘Defiant’.”

Manager Wu Shili thought for a moment and replied, "I think your idea is good, but you know, I am just a mouthpiece and I don't have any say within Warner Bros."

"But I can report your idea."

"This is what I want. Thank you, Manager Wu." Shi Lei said with a smile.

"You'd better not have too much hope." Wu Shili was not as optimistic as Shi Lei.

He often comes into contact with North Americans, who are all arrogant and look down on Chinese people. Shi Lei's suggestion sounds promising, but probably no one will listen.

"Just report it." Shi Lei was full of confidence. In North America, the six major film and television companies attach great importance to series. Now Warner Bros.' most successful series are "The Lord of the Rings" series and "The Matrix" series, but these two series were temporarily ended in 03. Warner Bros. needs a new series.

The 97 Superman movie failed and the DC Universe was temporarily sealed, but the "Matrix" universe he proposed is still worth a try.

The previous incarnation of The Hobbit was an attempt at The Lord of the Rings series, and Unspeakable was a low-cost attempt.

In addition, there is a clip in "The Matrix 2" where the Prophet Guardian fights with the savior Neo. The audience will be curious about the origin of the Prophet Guardian and how he can fight with the savior?

His "Arrogant" can serve as a supplement.

Warner Bros. spent tens of millions of dollars on publicity for the box office of "The Matrix 2" and "The Matrix 3", so spending a few million dollars to buy a movie is not a problem.

A few days later, Wu Shili called him and said that Warner Bros. headquarters would send someone to talk to him.

On April 4, in the China Film Theater, Mike, who came from Warner headquarters, did not talk to Shi Lei directly, but asked to watch the film first.

Two hours later, the film ended. To Mike's surprise, he understood the story of the film. Although it was an ancient martial arts film, such stories happen every day in North America, except that no blind men come to kill people.

In addition, the fighting scenes, which are the main selling point of the film, are also very good to watch.

The disadvantage is that this is a Mandarin film, and the leading actor, Chou Zhaolong, is not famous in North America. If it were an English film, and a somewhat famous North American actor was replaced and made into a modern film, it would be a good action film.

Fortunately, the cost of producing "No One" is not high, and as long as the copyright fees are suppressed, the film will not lose money.

(End of this chapter)