After the release of "Hero", the box office and reputation were severely polarized.
The box office is rising steadily, with the box office exceeding 50 million in the first week, which is comparable to the entire box office of "Big Shot". Mainland film critics were shocked.
But the reputation is hard to describe. Many film critics commented that the story of "Hero" is too thin, relying entirely on big scenes and action scenes, and there are serious shortcomings in the writing and drama.
However, strangely enough, the worse the reputation, the more popular the movie was at the box office. In the end, it won a box office of 250 million yuan in one fell swoop, accounting for one-sixth of the total national movie box office in 2002.
Such achievements can be said to be extremely terrifying, making all colleagues envious and jealous.
The movie's popularity has also greatly benefited several leading actors. Starring Hu Jun, Wu Yue, Duan Yihong, and Chen Hao all successfully established themselves in the film industry with this film.
From then on, they could proudly declare themselves movie stars.
You know, there is an invisible gap between TV stars and movie stars. Movie stars have a slightly higher status than TV stars. This is true in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Hollywood.
Only outdated movie stars consider developing into the television industry. Popular TV stars are all proud of having made movies.
Previously, although Hu Jun, Wu Yue, Duan Yihong, Chen Hao and others were famous, they all focused on filming TV series. This "Hero" won the annual box office championship in one fell swoop, helping them officially gain a foothold in the film industry.
…
"Hero" was a box office hit, which put a lot of pressure on Feng Xiaogang.
Prior to this, the domestic film industry had always ranked him alongside Zhang Yimou, thinking that they were both top domestic directors. However, one is good at making commercial films and the other is good at making artistic films. One makes money and the other wins awards. They are evenly matched.
But in fact, Zhang Yimou's films have won many awards and box office. Because his films always win awards at international film festivals, and each award-winning film can sell for a good price in the international film market.
It's just that mainland audiences don't understand this. They only see the mainland box office, so they always think that Zhang Yimou is a loser.
Especially in the past two years, he filmed "Speak Well", "No One Less", and "My Father and Mother". The box office in the mainland was only a few hundred to more than 10 million, which is not high.
Feng Xiaogang is very grateful to the mainland audience for their misunderstanding. Otherwise, he, a director who has never won a major international award, would not be on an equal footing with Zhang Yimou.
But now, he really can't be treated as an equal.
Zhang Yimou's "Hero" can surpass the box office of all his previous movies. Moreover, those awards he won were something he would never get his hands on in his life, which made him collapse for a while.
…
"Master Cheng, please help me, I also want to make a blockbuster film." Feng Xiaogang approached Xiang Nan and said.
"Don't worry, I've already prepared it for you." Xiang Nan handed him a script.
Feng Xiaogang took it and took a look and saw four big words on the cover - "A World Without Thieves".
"This is..." He flipped through it curiously, then glanced at Xiang Nan, "Master Cheng, is this script really good?"
Zhang Yimou's "Heroes" has a large structure, talking about family, country and world, war and peace. This film, "A World Without Thieves", is about a few petty thieves who sublimate themselves to death and become nothing more than love and redemption, which is incomparable to Zhang Yimou's.
"If you don't want it, you can give it back to me." Xiang Nan stretched out his hand and said.
When Feng Xiaogang saw it, he quickly hugged the script and said, "Yes, I want, I cannot trust you. Who else can I trust in this world?"
"It's good that you know." Xiang Nan nodded and smiled, "Just be patient, I won't trick anyone else but myself."
"That's true." Feng Xiaogang nodded, "Okay, then I will accept this movie."
"Well, once again, the protagonist should use his own people as much as possible." Xiang Nan reminded.
The original version of "A World Without Thieves" used Andy Lau and Liu Ruoxiu, and even the four eyes were Lin Jiadong. Xiang Nan didn't like this. If you have a good role, you should still stick to your own people.
These big directors don't use their own people, so mainland artists never get the chance to rise to the top, and a bunch of Hong Kong and Taiwan artists dominate the mainland. This is not a good phenomenon.
Feng Xiaogang nodded after hearing this.
…
Subsequently, "A World Without Thieves" began casting, while Zhang Yimou was busy sending "Hero" to the Oscar.
"A World Without Thieves", the male leads Wang Bo and Feng Xiaogang are considered to be played by Huang Xiaoming, the female lead Wang Li is played by Qin Hailu, the supporting actress Ye Zi is played by Chen Hao, and Uncle Li is played by Ge You...
After Xiang Nan read the list, he made a decision without making any adjustments.
Because Qin Hailu has previously acted in the "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" series, "Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth Ji Xiaolan" series, "Oath to Silence", "Like Fog Like Rain and Like Wind", "Da Ranfang", etc., she is already a well-known name in the mainland TV drama industry. First sister, it’s time to take a step up and develop into the film industry.
Although Huang Xiaoxuan's acting skills are sometimes good and sometimes bad, he is one of the people with the most box office appeal in the Mesozoic world in the Mainland. "The Wind", "Chinese Partner", "Heroes of Fire", etc. are all very good.
Xiang Nan believes that if he doesn't go astray, polishes his acting skills carefully, carefully understands the characters, and chooses scripts carefully, he actually has a good chance of becoming a mainstream commercial film candidate like Andy Lau.
…
In the summer of 2002, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", which Disney spent two years creating with a total cost of US$130 million, was officially launched.
Fifteen years have passed since this book was released in 1987. Many readers have changed from teenagers to young and middle-aged people, and even children are watching this book.
Therefore, when it is officially put on the screen, it is a wonderful moment of dream come true for all Harry Potter fans. So when the movie was released, fans queued up overnight to buy tickets. It was hard to get tickets and it was extremely popular.
And Disney's production does live up to the audience's expectations.
The first "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was directed by Chris Columbus, who has directed "Gremlins", "The Goonies" and "Home Alone". He is best at directing children's dramas, so "Haha" "Libert and the Philosopher's Stone" was shot by him in an interesting and witty way, satisfying the appetite of all audiences.
Therefore, the audiences who have seen it are very satisfied, and word of mouth spreads, and the box office is naturally indispensable. In the end, the box office in North America alone was US$310 million, and the global box office was US$970 million, making it the global box office champion that year.
Disney made a lot of money, and Xiang Nan also made a fortune.
Especially his "Harry Potter" series, which was originally a bit outdated. Now as soon as the movie hits theaters, those movies immediately become popular again.
All major book sellers requested more copies, which also allowed Xiang Nanduo to earn tens of millions in royalties.
