Chapter 166: Country

Chapter 166: Country

Chapter 166 Returning to China
Wang Hao received the first week box office results of "Wushuang" in North America via email when he arrived at Beijing Airport the next day after recording the interview program.

Because it was released on a Thursday, the 571 theaters that participated in the first week's screenings only contributed an average of $7100 per theater, with a total box office of $400 million.

However, the overall attendance rate of the movie reached 68%. Based on this result alone, it was enough to rank among the top in the North American box office rankings that week.

After all, the movies that ranked ahead of "Wushuang" in box office revenue had at least 1000 theaters showing them.

Therefore, when Wang Hao and Columbia saw this data, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

The production cost of "Wushuang" was mostly covered by the salaries of Aaron Kwok and Liam Neeson, plus various expenses and publicity and distribution costs. The total cost of 1 million Chinese yuan reported to the public was actually 8000 million, which is about 1000 million US dollars when converted into US dollars.

If the film simply wants to recoup its costs at the box office, the total box office must at least reach 4000 million US dollars, which is more than 3.2 million Chinese yuan.

Now, "Wushuang" has been showing in China for nearly a month, and the box office has reached 1.88 million yuan. China Film Corporation has decided to extend the screening time, making "Wushuang" the second Chinese-language film in the mainland to break the million box office.

In this way, as long as the overseas box office of "The Wandering Earth" exceeds 10 million US dollars, Columbia, Huaying and Huayi will make a profit on their investment.

Of course, this is just a rough estimate. After all, the North American film market is different from the Chinese film market.

There is a huge difference between the two in terms of the profit sharing ratio between producers and distributors.

The former is due to the particularity of cinema chains. Different cinema chains are in alliance with each other, and it is impossible for one cinema to release a film while another does not, so the producers and distributors are in a weak position.

It is different in Hollywood, where competition among major cinema chains is extremely fierce. In addition, due to the protection of copyright, different movies are treated differently. Major cinema chains are eager to screen good movies in order to attract audiences, and the box office sharing of movies is also tiered.

For example, some A-level productions stand tall in front of theaters and are able to negotiate terms with the other party.

What's more, in later comic-adapted blockbusters, such as Avengers 2, 3, and 4, the producers and distributors were able to negotiate box office sharing agreements with theaters for more than 60%, and the highest could even reach 65%.

Remember, here it's 6 producers and 4 theaters, not China's 6 theaters and 4 producers. The North American blockbuster producers can take away two-thirds of the box office, which is a good thing that people in mainland China can't even think about.

As for the future cinema companies being able to come up with scheduling fees, if you don’t pay, no matter how high the reputation and attendance of the movie are, you won’t be scheduled for the screening. This is unheard of and unseen in the North American film and television industry.

Perhaps such cinema companies have existed before, but in the context of market competition, they will definitely be eliminated.

Of course, having said so much, the Sino-US co-production "Wushuang" naturally cannot enjoy the preferential treatment of A-level big productions. Even in the profit-sharing ladder, it belongs to the lower level.

It is also for this reason that Columbia did not pursue a higher opening number from the beginning, in order to obtain the first week data of the film's release so that it can negotiate better conditions with other theaters.

So although 400 million is certainly still some distance away from 1000 million, the box office revenue in this first week was only received in 571 theaters. Judging from the attendance rate and audience response, it is certain that the film will continue to be released in more theaters.

Sure enough, after the first week box office and increasing attendance of "The Greatest Show" came out, many theaters with a keen sense of smell have begun to contact Columbia Pictures.

Columbia Pictures was naturally happy to see this happen and negotiated with these theater chains one by one.

Wang Hao naturally had no way of interfering in how Columbia in Hollywood handled the screening of "The Wandering Earth".

At this time, he had already returned to China and was busy with his own affairs.

After being out of the country for a week or two, he lost his backbone. There were indeed a lot of things that were piled up in the company, and many problems were waiting for him to make decisions. In addition, the release of "Wushuang" was coming to an end, and he, as the boss, also needed to communicate with Mr. Han Sanye and the Wang brothers about the follow-up matters.

However, things have their priorities. After landing, Wang Hao rested for a day and adjusted his biological clock. However, he did not immediately plunge into his busy work. Instead, he went to the Shaw Experimental Theater of the Central Academy of Drama to watch a drama - "The Wasteland and Man".

This is the most important drama that the National Theatre of China has put a lot of effort into producing this year, and it is also a famous work that has won many honors.

He bought a ticket for the last show of that night. After entering the theater, he sat down and watched the entire play quietly.

The story of the drama is not complicated. It mainly tells the tragic love story between a group of reclamation team members who dedicated their youth to the "Great Northern Wilderness".

In Wang Hao's opinion, the commercial nature of the story is a little lower, but the artistic content is still very high.

Most of the audience seemed to share the same idea as him and gave a lot of applause after the play ended, but the response was not very enthusiastic. Most of them left the theater as soon as the play ended and did not stay for long.

Wang Hao naturally would not leave so early, so he sat in the front row and waited for a while.

During this process, his behavior naturally attracted the attention of the drama actors backstage. A girl poked her head out from behind the curtain on the side of the stage and looked at Wang Hao in the audience for a long time.

After she retracted her head, a moment later, a lovely and heroic girl ran out from the back of the stage and quickly came to Wang Hao.

"Why are you here?"

This girl is Wan Qian, who also starred in "The Wasteland", playing a girl named "Xicao".

The reason why Wang Hao came to watch the drama was naturally for her.

"Come to see you, why, not welcome?"

Wang Hao answered her question with a smile. At the same time, he stood up, stretched out his hand, and naturally helped Wan Qian tidy up the messy hair at her temples.

This kind of intimate gesture made the girl's already rosy face even more beautiful.

But she reacted quickly, slapped Wang Hao's hand away, and then glared at him coquettishly.

"What are you doing? You're touching me right after we met, and there's someone else!"

"Oh, so you can do whatever you want when no one is watching, right?"

Wang Hao said something subconsciously, which naturally caused Wan Qian to slap him again.

"Virtue! Let's go. I'm hungry after a day of acting."

The two of them walked out of the theater with a smile, and got into the Toyota Prado under the gaze of everyone.

(End of this chapter)