Chapter 251 Strong Haunts in Heaven
Zhang Duo's choice has his own reasons. In his previous life, the version of Journey to the West, Moonlight Box was released on December 25, 1994, and Fairyland was selected on February 4, 1995. Unfortunately, the film was mediocre in Hong Kong, and it was regarded as a typical failure to release in the mainland.
At the end of 2006, a copy of "Journey to the West" was sent to the Beijing Film Academy, which won applause as soon as it was screened. The tour structure was interpreted as a character in the play with a rebellious character, an alternative love story, and the dialogue in Journey to the West was shocked.
No one can calculate when the reputation of Journey to the West began to spread throughout colleges and universities, but at the end of 2006, the high price of 30 yuan per pirated VCD did not scare the fans of Journey to the West. The real popularity was in 1997 and 1998, in the golden season of pirated VCDs, and the sales of "Journey to the West" also peaked, with some stalls selling hundreds of them in a day.
More people began to like "Journey to the West" because of CCTV's movie channel. During the 1997 Spring Festival, the movie channel broadcasted "Journey to the West" during non-prime time. The reason is that this film is lively enough to fit the atmosphere of the Spring Festival. As a result, the film, which was arranged in non-prime time, set a prime-time audience rating. It was also after that that "Journey to the West" officially entered the popular period, and there was a shadow of "Journey to the West" everywhere in campus, offices and online chat rooms.
However, the root cause of "Journey to the West" is inseparable from the campus, students and white-collar workers. This is the reason why Zhang Duo chose the premiere location at the Beijing Film Academy. January 12, 2003 is Sunday, and more importantly, major universities in China have basically begun to have holidays.
Zhang Duo lowered his head and whispered his reason. The main point was to target the group of Journey to the West.
Although Song Siwei and Jin Yutang will be skeptical, they don't have a good idea. In view of Zhang Duo's previous successful cases, let's believe him again.
Jin Yutang lowered his voice and said, "The release date can be 12th, but the premiere time must be advanced, and it is best to arrange it before the holiday of the Beijing Film Academy."
Zhang Duo said with a smile, "You have to do this!"
Jin Yutang smiled proudly and said, "It's on me. I hope the students of the Film Academy will be more receptive!"
After listening to this, Zhang Duo rolled his eyes and said that this was 2002. The mainland audience should be able to accept the nonsense!
Several people stopped talking, but when the lights in the screening hall dimmed, Song Siwei and Jin Yutang couldn't sit still. Although in Zhang Duo's view, the visual effect of this film is far worse than that of later 3D films. But at this time, the audience in the hall was shocked by various magnificent visual effects.
Jin Yutang looked at the screen and muttered, "I didn't expect that Dai Anmin really perfectly moved the story of the Monkey King to the big screen. It's amazing!"
Song Siwei looked at the screen, but the more he looked at it, the more shocked he became. Originally, he was still confident in Zhang Duo's suggestion of the student-oriented audience. But at this moment, his confidence has been lost little by little. The visual effects of the two films are too different. Compared with the Buddha's suppression of the Monkey King in "Wreak havoc in the Heavenly Palace", the Guanyin in "Journey to the West" is like a family. Not to mention the unrivaled battle between Erlang God and Sun Wukong.
"A Duo, or let's postpone it to the summer season, or March and April!" Song Siwei said anxiously.
Zhang Duo said calmly, "Brother Song, although the visual effect of this film is very good, haven't you found anything wrong with its storyline? We don't have a chance at all. Trust me once!"
There is a common problem with large-scale movies in China, that is, they can't tell bad stories. If the movie is compared to a building, the storyline of the movie is the structure of the building, and the rest are interior decoration. Wang Shuo said that Zhang Yimou is engaged in decoration because Zhang Yimou did not tell a good story and did not convey complete values. Zhang Yimou's film is gorgeous, but the storyline can't stand up to scrutiny.
In theory, the script compiled by Wang Cheng is unlikely to make mistakes in the storyline. But everything has a focus. In a movie, the picture is too gorgeous, and it is easy to dominate and affect the narrative of the story. Just like a novel, if the author spends a lot of energy on the description of scenes and characters, it will definitely affect the fluency of the storyline.
At this moment, the guests in the screening hall are also talking about it. To sum up, the picture is dazzling and the plot is slightly flawed, but it does not hide the flaws, which can be said to be comparable to the level of Hollywood blockbusters. If there is no opponent, then January will definitely be the world of Haunting the Heavenly Palace.
The next day, major domestic media reported on the premiere of The Haunted Heavenly Palace, praising its amazing visual effect, which can be regarded as the best domestic film and comparable to Hollywood blockbusters. The score on Pea.com also reached 8.2, which received high praise.
As for the provocation of Chu Guoliang, it was also exposed by the media. And claimed that Wanbang Film and Television was afraid of being crushed by the new film, so that the release time has not been set. According to reliable sources, Wanbang plans to postpone the release of the film until the summer vacation.
As soon as such news came out, the employees of Wanbang Film and Television, and the crew members of "Journey to the West" were all worried. Ning Daier, who is far away in Xixia City, is even more worried. She is afraid that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Liu Xiaobei, her class, was proud and sneered after hearing such news.
Zhang Duo and others have no time to care about these. They are too busy preparing for the premiere and release. The Beijing Film and Television Academy will finish the exam on the 5th and have a holiday on the 6th. Therefore, Jin Yutang discussed with the leaders of the college to set the premiere on the evening of the 5th.
The leaders of the Beijing Film Academy were extremely happy that Wanbang Film and Television wanted to hold a premiere here, raising their hands to welcome it. Because Zhang Duo is now the most well-known director in China, "Dongcheng Xiji" and "East Evil West Poison" represent the peak of domestic commercial films and literary films respectively, and are also the key research topics of the college. Now Zhang Duo is willing to put his new work on the college to premiere, which can make their faces shine.
As for the students in the school, they are even more excited. Xingzai's movie premieres here, which is completely free to watch with their student ID cards. The only regret is that the auditorium of the school can only accommodate 1,000 people. Among the leaders and teachers in the school, there are only 600 or 700 students who can enter. I'm afraid some students will stand and watch.
The premiere of "Journey to the West" at the Beijing Film Academy spread in various colleges and universities in the capital, attracting countless envy. There are also Zhang Duo's super fans who secretly made fake student ID cards and are ready to sneak in and watch at that time.
Dai Anmin was surprised when he heard that Wan Bang had arranged the premiere of Journey to the West at the Beijing Film Academy.
"Wang Cheng, what do you think?" Dai Anmin was a little puzzled and asked his "military division".
Wang Cheng smiled and said, "Anmin, I want to say that Zhang Duo is targeting the audience of the new film on college students. They have novel ideas and strong spending power. If they can get their support, it won't be too ugly at the box office.
Dai Anmin frowned and snorted coldly, "College students, it seems that their films are innately flawed! Only the audience of the film can be fixed to a certain group of people!"
Wang Cheng smiled and said, "Of course, if you fix the group in a certain group of people, you will suffer losses at the box office. How can it be compared with family movies like us that are suitable for all ages? In addition, they actually divided the film into two parts, which can't be completed in one go, and the plot will be loose, so in my opinion, "Journey to the West" no longer deserves to be our opponent.
"So, how about delaying the release of "The Haunting the Heavenly Palace"? For example, delayed to the 12th? Dai Anmin smiled a little strangely.
Wang Cheng was shocked and even stammered, "Isn't this too naked? Breaking people's wealth is like killing parents. They have already avoided us. If they are so forced, this hatred will be big!"
Dai Anmin smiled and said, "I just said it casually. It's the original plan. There must be no accident in "Haunting the Heavenly Palace" this time!"
Zhang Duo and others didn't know that they almost suffered a strong squeeze. Fortunately, Dai Anmin is not crazy enough to oppress people.
On January 1, 2003, at 8 a.m., Beijing, Shengxinyuan Line Dongcheng Store, there was a long queue at the gate of the courtyard line, which was comparable to the Spring Festival travel rush. Make everyone who comes to buy tickets excited and sincerely admire,
Ordinary people will have the mentality of follow the crowd. You go to a restaurant for dinner. If the meal is full of friends, the voices are loud, and there is even a long queue at the door. Then ordinary people will think that this store is at least not bad. But if there is no one in the restaurant, there is no one at the time of dinner, then most people will think that there is something wrong with this store.
Now, the trailer of the film "Wreak havoc in the Heavenly Palace" is dazzling, the film reviews are not bad, and the investment is as high as 180 million, and many stars are gathered. There are long queues at the entrance of the cinema, making people subconsciously tend to watch this film.
"At nine o'clock, two pieces of "Haunting the Heavenly Palace!"
"80 yuan!"
"At nine o'clock, four pieces of "Haunting the Heavenly Palace"!"
"160 yuan!"
At this moment, almost all the windows of the cinemas of Sacred Heart Film and Television in Beijing have only this sound. In the whole country, almost all theaters have released "The Great Trouble in Heaven".
At 8:40, the Dongcheng store of the Sacred Heart Hospital line hung up a sold-out sign, and within half an hour, the cinemas in the capital sold out the movie tickets for "The Haunted Heavenly Palace" of the day. At the scalpers, a movie ticket was speculated to 100 yuan a piece, and some people were willing to pay for it.
Song Siwei and Jin Yutang were opposite the riverside store of the Shengxinyuan Line in Bincheng, looking at the turbulent crowd, they all had some lingering fear. The confidence, which was not very strong, was smashed by the fanatical crowd.
Song Siwei helped his golden glasses and sighed, "I read the copy again yesterday and found that Journey to the West is quite meaningful, but it's a pity that I met such a strong opponent, and it's not the right time!"
Jin Yutang's originally clean face has become very pale at this moment. I can't sleep these days. I watched "Journey to the West" at night. I have watched it for the third time. The first time I felt very noisy, the second time I watched it, I was silent, and the third time I cried. Maybe Zhang Duo is right, and this is a very classic film. But the question is, even we have to watch it several times before we can understand the quality of this film. Will the audience watch it more than once and think about it carefully?
After listening to this, Song Siwei was silent and didn't know what to say. The two looked at the crowd outside the door of the Sacred Heart Courtyard and worried about the performance of Journey to the West after its release.