Chapter 307 Source Code 3 breaks million box office record
Liu Hongmin didn't know much about artificial intelligence, so he had to buy a lot of books and learn various terms. He couldn't even understand the meaning of many terms in the books, so he had to consult professors in related fields at Hong Kong University. It took him a lot of time to prepare.
It can be said that The Matrix is the book that Liu Hongmin prepared most thoroughly. He typed out three books based on his notes alone, which is much more than the main text of The Matrix.
After spending a lot of time, Liu Hongmin finally started writing in December.
Liu Hongmin finished writing the first part of "Matrix World" in more than half a month. However, Liu Hongmin was not very satisfied with it and planned to overhaul it.
In recent years, he has basically completed his writing in one go, and even if he makes revisions, they are only minor revisions, and he hasn't made any major revisions for at least six or seven years. This shows how difficult it is to write "The Matrix World".
However, the time for overhaul needs to be put aside for now.
The annual Christmas season has arrived again. "Source Code 3" is about to be released, and Liu Hongmin is going to attend the screening.
After the success of the first two films, "Source Code 3" no longer needs much publicity from Tomorrow Films. The media in Hong Kong and even in various countries and regions in East Asia and Southeast Asia have spontaneously reported on this.
The Source Code series has become a symbol of Chinese-language films, and as long as the news of Source Code 3 appears in the newspaper, it will attract a lot of attention. Even if the media reports it, it must be placed on the first page, after all, this is news that can increase newspaper sales.
The spontaneous publicity by the media saved Tomorrow Films hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars in publicity fees. However, Wang Yaowei should have saved this money, but instead earned one million Hong Kong dollars by pushing the news to the United States and Europe.
After the success of the first two films, Wang Yaowei decided to promote Source Code 3 to the world. In the middle of the year, he advocated the introduction of MGM's $30 million investment, and then handed over all distribution rights except East Asia and Southeast Asia to MGM for operation. Among them, the North American box office was split, but other investors could only get % of the split.
This ratio seems high, but the box office revenue is only about 15%.
The cinema chain gets about 45%-50% of the North American box office, and the rest goes to the distribution company. The distribution company and the production company share the profits, which depends on the agreement between the two parties. If Hong Kong films want to share the box office profits in the North American market, they need a Hollywood giant to operate. Hollywood giants regard the North American market as a meal on the table, and will not easily let other companies get involved.
Therefore, any company that wants to share the profits in the North American market needs to pay a price. The cooperation between MGM and Tomorrow Films requires Tomorrow Films and other Hong Kong companies to give up most of their profits and only take about 15% of the box office share, which is at least 10% less than MGM's own investment and production. It was only for Liu Hongmin's sake that Andrew allowed Tomorrow Films to enter the North American market. If it weren't for Liu Hongmin, Tomorrow Films would never have the opportunity to share box office profits in the North American market in its lifetime.
The one million promotion fee was not taken for nothing. The news that Source Code 3 would be released in the North American market spread throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia immediately. This made people in East Asia, Southeast Asia and other regions look forward to Source Code 3 and want to see the movie in the cinema as soon as possible. The theater representatives in East Asia and Southeast Asia had to step up negotiations with Wang Yaowei. After losing the initiative, the copyright fees they paid increased. Tomorrow Film Company collected more than million Hong Kong dollars in copyright fees from East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Liu Hongmin didn't care about this, he was more concerned about the script of Source Code 4. The first three films shot almost all large transportation vehicles, such as trains, cruise ships, and airplanes. What should Source Code 4 shoot to achieve the same shocking effect?
Source Code 3 was filmed without any problems. Although it looks a bit repetitive with Source Code 2, there are still many differences. In particular, in the movie, it is not only the protagonist who enters reincarnation, but also the dead. This setting is very attractive, and everyone at the screening was surprised by it.
From the reactions of the filmmakers at the screening, it can be seen that Source Code 3 will definitely be good. While Liu Hongmin was relieved, he was again troubled by the script of Source Code 4.
The key point is that the overhaul of "The Matrix World" conflicts with the script of "Source Code 4", and Liu Hongmin does not want to write the script of "Source Code 4" now. He really has no inspiration!
So, while "Source Code 3" was being released, Liu Hongmin decided to put the script of "Source Code 4" on hold.
Xu Xiaoming was also relieved about this. The shooting schedule of "Source Code 2" and "Source Code 3" was too tight, leaving him with little rest in the past two years.
But people from other film companies were unhappy. Wasn’t it agreed that one “Source Code” would be released every year?
Liu Hongmin's answer was that Source Code 3 would be released in the North American market, and if it was successful, Source Code 4 would also be released in North America. North American audiences are very picky about science fiction movies, so the script of Source Code 4 must be carefully polished.
As soon as they thought about earning dollars, other film companies immediately fell silent. Assuming that Source Code 3 could earn 750 million dollars at the North American box office, all the film companies in Hong Kong could get million dollars, which is more than million Hong Kong dollars. If each company gets million or several million Hong Kong dollars, it would be more than their investment.
After Source Code 3 was released, it immediately caused a viewing craze in Hong Kong. The setting of the two reincarnations made the audience very excited and the viewing enthusiasm was high. In addition, the special effects produced by Mai Zishan and others are getting better and better. The production level of Source Code has caught up with the mid-level Hollywood science fiction movies, and it doesn't look out of place at all.
Thanks to its excellent production and trendy setting, Source Code 3 earned 400 million Hong Kong dollars in box office on the day of its release. In the following days, the box office was over 400 million Hong Kong dollars every day. From Christmas to New Year's Day, it earned 5200 million Hong Kong dollars in box office, which set off a huge market.
During the New Year's Day holiday, the box office of the domestic film "Source Code 3" plummeted, but it still relied on its advantage of dominating the market to break the box office record of 8100 million Hong Kong dollars before it was taken off the shelves, and earned a box office of more than million Hong Kong dollars.
Other regions were waiting for this news. The newspapers published the news the day before, and Source Code 3 was released in cinemas across the country the next day. Then, relying on this favorable news, a large number of moviegoers were attracted to the cinemas.
(End of this chapter)
