Chapter 241: Midnight box office

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With the arrival of twelve o'clock in the morning, "Rush Hour" was screened in 2,800 movie theaters in North America, and Chinese and Asians could be seen at the door of many movie theaters.

In a movie theater in the center of Los Angeles, a Chinese who looked very young asked, "Is there a screening of "Rush Hour?"

"Sorry, not at the moment." The conductor explained: "For the time being, this film is only shown in cinemas in Chinatown and Chinese residential areas."

"That is to say, for the time being, I can only watch this movie if I go to a movie theater in Chinatown or a Chinese residential area!" He asked a little disappointed.

The conductor's patience is good, "At least for the time being, unless the box office of this film's premiere can meet expectations, I am afraid that several theaters in the city center will not show this film."

"You can choose to watch The Deadman and The Wedding Singer, and Titanic."

"Sorry, I just want to watch "Rush Hour." After finishing speaking, he turned and walked out of the cinema.

What he wants to see is a Hollywood movie starring Chinese, not those traditional Hollywood movies.

"Hey, three "Desperate Assassins"."

The next person directly chose to buy three tickets for "Desperate Assassin", "It is said that this film is the continuation of "Desperate End of the World"!"

The conductor organized the language, "To be precise, it's a derivative film of "The Fugitive."

"What is a spin-off film!" he continued.

"Can you hurry up!" The people behind got impatient and shouted at the conductor, "Two tickets for "Titanic"."

Although the two films "Desperate Assassin" and "Rush Hour" were released on the same day.

But in fact, the two films did not have the expected fierce competition. On the contrary, the biggest competitor of "Desperate Assassin" is "Titanic", which has been released for a long time.

Many movie theaters located in the city center did not show "Rush Hour" at all.

The scene of the movie theater near Chinatown and the Chinese residential area is exactly the opposite of the scene of the movie theater in the city center.

Queues even lined up outside many movie theaters.

"Are there still tickets for Rush Hour at 12 o'clock!"

"Sorry, it's sold out."

"What about one o'clock?"

"It's also sold out."

"Isn't it? Even the tickets for one o'clock are sold out!"

"You can come over tomorrow morning."

"Is there any mistake! I have been in line for more than half an hour, you ask me to come over tomorrow!"

"Sorry, there are really no tickets for "Rush Hour". You can choose "Desperate Assassin", "Titanic", and "The Wedding Singer"." The conductor looked helpless, and no one thought of a film starring Chinese actors. The movie is so popular.

"Fuck your mother, let me watch ghost movies in the middle of the night!"

"Rush Hour" starring Jackie Chan, as another Chinese actor who has officially entered Hollywood after Bruce Lee, is also a medium-scale commercial film.

Not to mention those senior movie fans, even the Chinese who don't usually watch movies, all came to watch movies with curiosity and support at this time.

Ang Lee and his wife Lin Huijia had just parked their car, and they were deeply shocked when they saw the scene of queuing outside the cinema.

"So many people?" Lin Huijia was a little tongue-tied.

"Yes, and most of them are Chinese."

Ang Lee looked at the huge film promotion poster posted outside the cinema, "It seems that Orion Films has focused its film promotion on Chinatown."

As a Hollywood director, Ang Lee knows very well that it is almost impossible for a Chinese actor to develop in Hollywood.

If you want to be recognized by a number of Hollywood film companies, you must not only rely on the Chinese community, but also be recognized by mainstream American moviegoers.

Otherwise, the crew would rather choose a black, Latino, or even Japanese actor than a Chinese actor.

"Let's go, the movie is about to start."

Ang Lee checked the time, walked into the screening hall with his wife Lin Huijia, glanced around, and could hardly see any empty seats.

However, most of them are Chinese, and it is difficult to assess whether "Rush Hour" can be recognized by mainstream North American audiences.

To be honest, Ang Lee does not approve of Chinese actors going to Hollywood to develop. Even if one or two films barely enter the Hollywood market, it will be difficult to get the opportunity to appear in large-scale commercial films in the future. No commercial crew will invite a Chinese actor as a role. Film starring.

Except for Bruce Lee, of course.

However, for Jackie Chan's first film in Hollywood, Orion Pictures invested 35 million US dollars. Even though he was only one of the two leading actors in the film, Ang Lee was still very surprised.

"Perhaps, you can try to contact Orion Films." Li An thought to himself.

In 1994, when Ang Lee returned to Wanwan to film "Eating and Drinking Men and Women", he read Wang Dulu's original novel "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and was deeply attracted by the plot in it.

So I found someone to buy the copyright of the novel, and planned to make a Chinese-language film that the mainstream American audience could understand.

It's just that the budget for filming in this way must be frighteningly high. Given the conditions of the Xiangjiang and Wanwan film industries at that time, it was impossible to obtain enough investment.

Hollywood film companies will not spend tens of millions of dollars to invest in a Chinese film.

The shooting plan can only be shelved.

For a while, Ang Lee sat on the seat, staring at the big screen. "Rush Hour" is only 97 minutes long. , is very qualified.

To his surprise, the core of the whole film revolves around Jackie Chan. Another black actor is more like an important supporting role, responsible for making jokes and pleasing ordinary audiences.

After the screening of the film, Ang Lee and his wife Lin Huijia returned to the car.

"If I have time, I want to go to Orion Films." Li An said suddenly.

"Orion Films?"

Lin Huijia looked a little surprised, and then seemed to remember something, "The last time I went back, it seemed that someone had heard about the owner of this film company, who bought Golden Harvest."

"Recently, Golden Harvest has been acquiring theater chains in Nanyang, and has also established a branch company in the Mainland."

"Ryan-Gosling?" Ang Lee fell silent. Golden Harvest, which had been brilliant for a while, did not escape the end of being acquired in the end.

For him, this news is not a bad thing, but a good thing, at least it shows that the other party attaches great importance to the Chinese market.

"Rush Hour" was released on a large scale and caused quite a stir in North American Chinese circles. Apart from Bruce Lee, it is the second commercial film starring a Chinese. The theme is an action movie that the public likes. Naturally, it attracts a large number of Chinese to watch the movie. .

There is also a very strange phenomenon, whether it is the Chinese in Bay Bay, Singapore, Malaysia, or the Chinese groups on the other side of the Xiangjiang River and the Pacific Ocean, they all choose to go to the cinema.

In addition to the Chinese, some black, Japanese, Korean and other groups also have many people going to the cinema. On the contrary, whites, the mainstream movie-going group in North America, seem to be rarely seen.

The influence of Jackie Chan, the leading actor in the film, is not limited to Xiangjiang, Bay Bay and the other side of the Pacific Ocean, such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries, all of which have high box office appeal.

Many films starring Jackie Chan are often comparable to Hollywood films in these countries, and even surpass Hollywood films in box office.

It can be said that Jackie Chan's commercial value is by no means more than 3 million US dollars.

In the early hours of the morning, the lights inside Orion Films were still brightly lit, and most of the employees did not leave work.

Sofia Coppola sat quietly on the sofa, looking at her watch from time to time, not feeling sleepy at all, and looked faintly worried.

In contrast, Ryan has a relaxed face, holding a large cup of wolfberry tea, and bowing his head to take a sip from time to time, as if he doesn't care.

"The investment of 35 million U.S. dollars, plus the promotional expenses of the film, will exceed 50 million U.S. dollars, and the starring roles of the film are still a Chinese actor and a black actor, and they are not well-known in North America."

Sofia Coppola looked at the relaxed Ryan, and said angrily, "Aren't you afraid that the film will fail at the box office?"

"There's nothing to be afraid of!" Ryan lowered his head and took a sip of wolfberry tea, and said very easily, "I can still afford to lose an investment of tens of millions of dollars."

If it weren't for Sophia and a group of Orion Films staff, they chose to stay and wait for the midnight box office data of "Rush Hour".

He had already gone home to rest.

The corner of Sofia Coppola's mouth twitched. I'm afraid that any boss of a second-tier film company in Hollywood would not be able to say such a thing.

That's tens of millions of dollars.

Sofia Coppola took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down, "Although you don't lack funds, the risk of doing so~www.wuxiaspot.com~ is really too great."

Speaking of this, Sofia Coppola suddenly felt powerless, "I really don't understand you, first invest in "Rush Hour", a film made by Chinese, black people and an advertising director, and "Death Comes", A thriller horror film with oriental myths and legends as the core, and the planned "Tomb Raider", a film with a female as the absolute protagonist."

"The risks posed by these films are too great, you should choose something conventional, such as..."

Before she could finish speaking, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.

Ryan reached for the phone, "Well, I see, tell everyone to find a place to have a big meal later, and I will pay for all expenses."

"How much!" Sofia Coppola hurriedly asked.

Ryan glanced at her and said, "$3.05 million at the midnight show."

"Inform Jon and Michael that the film promotion budget can be appropriately increased."

"US$3.05 million!" Sofia Coppola couldn't believe it.

"That's right." Ryan got up and stretched, "I need to go back and get a good night's sleep."

After finishing speaking, Ryan walked out of the office directly, and greeted Daniel Green to go back to Bel Air's home.

"It's unbelievable," Sofia Coppola said to herself.

The midnight box office of 3.05 million US dollars is far inferior to the 8.15 million US dollars of "Terminator 3".

But for a film with an investment of only 35 million US dollars and starring a Chinese actor and a black actor, it is already very rare, even surpassing the midnight box office of many large Hollywood commercial films.

At the same time, it is certain that the North American box office of "Rush Hour" can definitely exceed the expectations of the media and evaluation agencies, and even far exceed.