Because the status of Korean Phantom in the Korean film industry is increasing, it was Lee Dong-rae's turn to release the documentary, which easily captured more than half of the market share. In addition to the lack of influence of other films in the same period, the grand premiere of Lee Dong-rae's documentary was only possible.
But after all, it relies on fans¡¯ votes. If you want to achieve greater box office, you also need word of mouth. Only by attracting non-fans to watch in theaters. This can only rely on publicity.
In addition to Lee Dong-rae¡¯s documentary, Korean Phantom released two movies in the first half of the year, continuing the brand effect of ¡°Phantom¡¯s products must be high-quality products.¡± Since signing with Phantom, Kim Soo-hyun has vaguely become a leading actor and the most profitable artist of Korean Phantom.
So Ahn Suk-jin struck while the iron was hot and continued to arrange the movie "The Great and Secret" starring him. It tells the story of North Korean spy Won Yoo-hwan (played by Kim Soo-hyun) who accepted the stealth mission code-named "Chibihua" and sneaked into Moon Village in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do. The villagers mingled together and secretly collected the political and military tendencies and ideas of the South Korean people and reported them to North Korea.
The biggest reason why Won Ryuhwan acted as a spy was not only his loyalty to the motherland, but also to protect the safety of his mother in the motherland. Due to his long life in South Korea and his kind and enthusiastic neighbors, he gradually began to question his beliefs.
Won Ryu-hwan, Lee Hae-jin (played by Park Ki-woong), the third-generation leader of the Black Dragon Group who turned into a guitarist and became an idol singer trainee, and Lee Hae-jin (Lee Hyun-woo), the fourth-generation leader of the Five-Star Group, are the three handsome boys in the film. Spy, and he is the leader of the trio.
The film mainly tells the story of the trio of southern spies headed by Won Liu-hwan and their experiences in South Korea, as well as a series of stories that happened after they were abandoned by North Korea. There is not much to tell about the story. Typical Korean imagination, nothing more.
But the replacement speed of Hallyu stars is second to none in the world, and the attractiveness of handsome boys is particularly powerful in this country.
This time the Phantom also stars Kim Soo Hyun. It has a box office of 6.95 million people, which is pretty good.
Compared with this idol movie, another movie "The Gift of Room No. 7" performed much better.
In recent years, South Korea has been churning out "magic movies" one after another. The actors in "The Gift of Room 7" are not well-known, and the story told is also very ordinary. It's just a story about father's love and family love. A mentally retarded person enters Room 7 of the training center, where gang bosses, fraudsters and other prisoners who entered the training center for various crimes are detained. The addition of a mentally retarded person has become an exception. The prisoners in Room 7 have to help him bring his daughter into a training center that is prohibited from outsiders.
The actors in the film are over 200 years old in total, but they are full of fatherly love due to the addition of their lovely daughter Ge Suyuan.
This is a pure comedy. However, the number of movie viewers reached 12.81 million, surpassing the record of "Speed ??Scandal", becoming the highest-grossing comedy in Korean history, and ranking in the top 3 of the Korean film history box office list.
When it was released. Even Phantom himself didn't expect it to be so popular.
Other companies didn¡¯t think of it either. show wave
There is a possibility of coincidence once, and it is a very coincidental second time, but in succession it is an absolute manifestation of strength. This kind of box office achieved through fair and honest competition without relying on conspiracy or vicious hype is really unacceptable.
This kind of achievement. Even if South Korean officials saw it, they had nothing to say.
certainly. This is also related to Li Donglai's always adhering to the strategy of high-quality movies. As long as there is a steady stream of good and high-quality movies, there will be good box office.
Korean movies continue the "era of 100 million viewers" that started last year. In the first half of 2013, Korean movies set a record of more than 80 million viewers. It is expected that the whole year will break last year's record of over 100 million viewers, once again setting a new record in the history of Korean movies. A new chapter.
And other Phantom movies, which have been attracting much attention, will also be released soon. The most anticipated one is, of course, "Snowpiercer," which has been waiting for two years. In addition, movies such as "The View," "Berlin," "Hide and Seek," and "Horror Live" will also be released in the second half of the year.
Li Donglai held a few simple meetings in the company and decided on the shooting plan for the second half of the year.
"Many directors are now asking if they can develop Sino-Korean co-productions. Because our company at Phantom is also very strong in China, it is most convenient to find us." An Shuzhen said.
Li Donglai asked, "Are there many directors who have this idea?"
"I can't say many, but I have come into contact with quite a few directors with ideas." An Shuzhen said: "There have been many eye-catching "China-Korea cooperation" movies in recent years, directed by "August Photo Studio" director Xu Qinhao and starring Yan Geling The screenwriter's "Dangerous Liaisons" can be regarded as the "most dynamic one" among them."Big". The film was fully funded by the Chinese company and claimed to have a production cost of over 100 million. Three big-name stars, Zhang Dongjian, Zhang Ziyi and Zhang Baizhi, were invited to join the film. The luxurious lineup attracted much attention. Although it was huge, the film's box office was also low in mainland China. It has only sold over 60 million, and its reputation is not ideal. Most of the investment was wasted, which is a major blow to both creators."
"The worst one is probably "Scent", starring Korean star Park Shi Hoo and Chinese actress Chen Ran, telling the story of a transnational love affair. As Park Si Hoo's first comeback film after the 'rape scandal', the film was released on the first day in mainland China Less than 3% of the films were scheduled, and it was canceled within a few days, with a box office of only a few million."
"To say that the only one that really made a lot of money was "The Breakup Contract". It was a fresh romance film starring Chinese actors Peng Yuyan and Bai Baihe. With an investment of 20 million yuan, it finally achieved a box office of 190 million yuan, with a return on investment. The rate is more than 200%! And although the thriller "Pen" series directed by South Korean director Ahn Byeong-ki has been filmed for three parts, it is basically to protect capital and make a small profit."
An Shuzhen¡¯s analysis was very detailed. Li Donglai asked: ¡°Are there any movements from other Korean companies?¡±
"Yes!" It was the director of the planning department who spoke up, "The production cost of "The Great Ming Ape", jointly produced by ShowBox Company and China Huayi, is said to be as high as 20 million U.S. dollars. It is obviously going to be a big one. .¡±
Li Donglai looked through the information and knew that this was an unavoidable question.
As we all know, the Chinese film market is growing. Even the United States is beginning to shift its center of gravity. As Asians, we have many of the same customs and the same yellow skin. South Korea is naturally more eager to explore the Chinese market.
"One slap can't make a difference. The in-depth cooperation between Chinese and Korean filmmakers comes from the "mutual needs" of both parties. As the saying goes, one is willing to fight and the other is willing to suffer.
Let¡¯s talk about Korea first. Almost all film directors know a common concern. That is, South Korea¡¯s local film market is too small and it urgently needs to expand outwards. In China, which is only across the sea, its annual box office output of 21.5 billion ranks second in the world. It arouses covetous attention. After all, the box office revenue of Korean movies is only over 500 million people, just tens of millions of people. But this number of moviegoers is nothing at all in China. Any blockbuster movie can reach this number. "Because your total audience is more than 1 billion, and others are 50 million, which is not the same magnitude at all.
??For filmmakers, it is the common dream of almost every Korean filmmaker to have their works seen by more audiences, and they can also make money to support their families.
Unlike the cultural differences in the European and American markets and the national antagonism in the Japanese market, the Chinese market has obviously become the best place for Korean filmmakers to go abroad. Not only does it have a similar geographical culture. There is also room for collaboration that is beyond imagination.
In addition to directors, screenwriters and actors, a large number of special effects production staff, lighting, art, costumes, production have all found job opportunities in China.
Li Dong came to see a report. This is also reported by Sun Changxuan, the executive producer of "The Great Ming Dynasty". He once said, "When I first came to China, I was in charge of the special effects shooting of Feng Xiaogang's "Assembly". Later, I successively took over the filming of "Tangshan Earthquake" and "One Day". He has watched many Chinese and Korean movies such as "942", "The Great Ming Dynasty" and "The Day We Landed", and has developed a pure Mandarin, and the capital has become his second home. "For those who make movies, China It is an emerging market with countless opportunities. He said with some emotion, "This is something we didn't expect before." "
This is an unavoidable question. Someone will always make money. Even if the Koreans don¡¯t come, others will come. The current situation in the Chinese market is that there is no shortage of money, but talent. Those Chinese tycoons are quite powerful. They can spend a lot of money and hire Koreans to film movies.
??And South Korea happens to have no shortage of technology and stories, so it just clicked.
As for China, in the past 10 years, although a large number of Korean filmmakers have come to China to develop, there are actually very few real "co-productions" between the two countries. There are actually only two true Sino-Korean co-productions, one is "Flying Dance" in 2000, and the other is "The Great Ming Dynasty" in 2013.
So it¡¯s not so much a ¡°Korean Wave invasion¡± as it is a ¡°talent introduction.¡±
In the past, we had the impression that most of the films with the gimmick of "China-Korea co-production" were actually "pseudo-co-productions" that were fully funded by China and hired Korean directors and actors to shoot.
Zhang Xun, general manager of the China Film Group Co-production Company, once revealed in an interview with reporters that there are currently three basic standards for co-productions: 1. Both parties jointly create the script, and the story must be organically related to China. Of course, this means that it must be set in China. Scenery; 2. Chinese actors account for at least one-third of the starring roles; 3. Joint investment by both parties, sharing benefits and risks.
According to these three standards, various"The Myth", "Dangerous Liaisons", "Late Autumn", "Daisy", "The Day We Landed", "Break Up", "Pen" series and many other films, although they are all produced to a certain extent by filmmakers from the two countries They are jointly produced, but they are either domestic films or Korean films. Anyway, they are not "co-productions" in the true sense.
Director Jang Cheol-soo is the leading director in South Korea. His new film "Honeymoon Hotel" has just entered the preparation stage. When it comes to his mentality, he is walking on thin ice, "I am carefully trying to contact Chinese filmmakers. Here We have a lot of resources, a lot of information, and a lot of contacts.¡±
In order to film in China smoothly, Zhang Zhezhu specifically asked his seniors in the industry for advice on things to pay attention to when filming in China. "Although filming has not officially started yet, I have inquired with other directors about the situation. They said that Chinese actors have greater power." , some people will also bring their own screenwriters into the group. They can throw a heavily revised script directly to the director the next morning. This situation is beyond our expectation. In South Korea, no matter how big the actor is, You can¡¯t change the script yourself. If you are dissatisfied, you can negotiate with the director before filming starts, so that at least other staff members have time to prepare.¡±
What Jang Cheol-soo said naturally reminds people of "director Kwak Jae-yong's resignation from the crew of "Yang Guifei"".
"My Sassy Girl" directed by director Kwak Jae-yong was once popular throughout Asia, and even the United States wanted the rights to adapt it. Status and ability are of course nothing to say.
But in 2012, the movie "Yang Guifei", which was directed by Korean director Guo Zairong and starred Bing Bingfan, Zunlong, Wang Leehom, etc., with a total investment of 100 million yuan, was reported to have resigned soon after it started filming.
Some media broke the news that Fan Ye, one of the film's investors, was so powerful that on the fourth day after filming started, he asked the director to stop production on the grounds that the story was unsatisfactory, and asked the screenwriter to re-revise the script. Not only did he increase his own scenes a lot, he also deleted the scenes of other actors, including Japanese actor Shun Oguri, without authorization. As a result, Guo Zai couldn't tolerate it anymore and he withdrew the crew collectively with the Korean staff.
Of course, this is just gossip.
At that time, Guo Zaiyong was interviewed by Korean media after returning to South Korea. He said that the reason for leaving the crew was the constant changes in the script, but he denied that he resigned because of conflicts with Fan Bingbing.
Director Guo Zaiyong was of course very disappointed with China¡¯s film system at the time, but at that time, not to mention him, even China¡¯s own filmmakers were helpless against that system.
As the Chinese market grows larger, you must comply with China¡¯s rules. Just like other countries all yearn for Hollywood, Hollywood's rules are overbearing, even more overbearing, but stars from other countries will not reprimand them for being too overbearing and leave in anger.
This is where the market decides everything.
After Li Donglai thought twice, he said seriously: "Manager An."
"Yes." An Shuzhen listened carefully.
Li Donglai said: "I think the cooperative relationship between Korean Phantom and Chinese Phantom can be further strengthened. Someone will always make this money, and if we don't make it, it will be easier for others. But we must also distinguish the facts. When it comes to watching movies, China The Chinese audience is more innocent than the Korean audience, and they just regard movies as a kind of entertainment. The Korean audience is more realistic and serious, and pays more attention to the realistic meaning that the movie can reflect, so they don't like movies with strong fantasy colors."
¡°If there is a director in South Korea who has an idea, as long as the script is approved, we at Phantom can take it all.¡±
"You can let it out, it's not a pseudo-co-production model. As long as the movie is good, both parties can make money. I don't have regional narrow-mindedness just because I am Chinese."
"Really?" Everyone present was Korean. When the boss said this, everyone had a smile on their face and started talking about it.
"Quiet!" An Shuzhen knocked on the table, "I will be the president. This is also a major improvement for the development of the company."
Li Donglai nodded, "Of course, for Korean Phantoms, this is your foundation. You must not neglect it." (To be continued)