The film industry was a highly profitable industry. Take the current domestic film market for example. With so many film companies in it, the three major cinema chains and small and medium-sized cinema chains were desperately building cinemas all over the country. Of course, they wanted to take a bite out of this extremely tempting cake.
In the past decade, there was no lack of films with only an investment of 20 to 30 million yuan that became a huge success. In the end, they earned hundreds of millions or even more than a billion yuan at the box office. The profits were so high that it was enough to shame the traditional industry.
However, if one carefully analyzed these low-budget high-box office films, they would discover the secret behind them — they were either young idols or comedies. There were basically no exceptions.
Other high-box office films came from high investment. Investment of one to two hundred million yuan was common. Domestic blockbusters were trying their best to approach Hollywood in terms of special effects, which also led to the continuous increase in production costs.
As a domestically-produced film, "A Chinese Ghost Story" had not surpassed everyone at the box office. There were many domestically-produced films that had grossed more than 500 million yuan in the first week. There were seven or nine examples that could be casually mentioned.
However, "A Chinese Ghost Story" was a fantasy ghost film with a small investment. The 420 million yuan in the first week made it an extremely special example. It also seemed to have opened a door for its peers in the industry.
It turned out that this type of movie could be made like this!
"A Chinese Ghost Story" did not involve much computer special effects, and the production was rather sophisticated. Many scenes used props and traditional filming methods, but after editing and synthesis, the effect was very outstanding, especially the battle scenes, which could be said to be ingenious. It was much better than those colorful and flashy special effects.
And the reason for its success was not just that. The characters with distinct personalities, the poignant and moving love story, the main characters' looks, and the impeccable ancient soundtrack formed a classic!
That's right, it was a classic!
After watching "A Chinese Ghost Story", many people in the industry felt that this film was enough to lead the new trend of domestically-produced fantasy/ghost films. It was fully qualified to become a classic.
On the internet, "A Chinese Ghost Story" had a high reputation, and its overall rating had been maintained at A-grade. Many film critics strongly recommended it on their own blogs, and the entertainment media reported on it.
All these factors combined to create the high box office of "A Chinese Ghost Story", which had also suppressed its new and biggest competitor, "Legend of the Holy Land".
Compared to "A Chinese Ghost Story", "Legend of the Holy Land", which had just been released, had a much worse reputation. This Hollywood blockbuster's box office in North America was lackluster. It had originally wanted to recoup its capital in China, but the audience did not really like it.
On April 10th, the box office of "A Chinese Ghost Story" dropped slightly to 81 million yuan, taking another big step towards the 1 billion mark. On the other hand, "Legend of the Holy Land" dropped to 47 million yuan. Although the box office had exceeded 100 million yuan in two days, such a high drop clearly indicated a bleak future.
Interestingly, another domestically-produced film, "Our Youth Is Not Lonely", which was released at the same time as "A Chinese Ghost Story", rose by one or two million yuan against the market, highlighting the weakness of "Legend of the Holy Land".
Nowadays, domestic movie audiences had already experienced the baptism of Hollywood blockbusters. It was obvious that pure special effects and visual stimulation could no longer satisfy everyone's needs. Therefore, "Legend of the Holy Land", which focused on special effects and lacked in plot, was easily abandoned.
From a certain point of view, the days when any Hollywood blockbuster could sweep the domestic market were long gone!
However, many industry insiders believed that if there was no "A Chinese Ghost Story", or if "A Chinese Ghost Story" was replaced by "The Painted Skin", which had already been taken off the market, the box office of "Legend of the Holy Land" would not have fluctuated so much.
On the evening of April 12th, Chenfei Media held a celebration party for the box office of "A Chinese Ghost Story" to exceed 500 million yuan at the Mekadi Cultural and Arts Center in Beijing.
The threshold for movies was getting higher and higher. In the past, a box office of more than 100 million yuan was worth celebrating. Now, holding a celebration party with less than 500 million yuan would be laughed at. However, for "A Chinese Ghost Story", a box office of 200 to 300 million yuan was enough!
The box office earnings of the movie so far had already made the industry raise their eyebrows. Therefore, on the day of the celebration, all the media invited by Chenfei Media were present. There were also many uninvited reporters gathered outside the Arts Center, wanting to try their luck.
The celebration party for "A Chinese Ghost Story" was held in a grand manner. It had been organized a few days ago and all the original cast of Hong Kong had been invited, including Nie Mingzhu, who played the female lead, and Ma Rongzhen, who played the role of Yan Chixia.
The two of them also received a lot of attention from the media, especially Nie Mingzhu, who had already become popular in the mainland because of "A Chinese Ghost Story". She became the focus of the scene and there were countless flashes on her.
As usual, other than the media reporters and guests in the industry, there were also many lucky fans. They had all obtained the qualifications through a lucky draw on the blog.
These fans and guests got a beautiful gift as soon as they entered the venue. All of them were satisfied. They also made the atmosphere of the scene extremely lively and explosive. Especially when Lu Chen, Chen Fei 'er, Nie Mingzhu and Ma Rongzhen teamed up to open a huge bottle of champagne, the whole audience burst into thunderous cheers!
After that, Lu Chen accepted interviews from many media outlets. There were nearly 20 microphones with logos in front of him, and even more reporters surrounded him.
A reporter could not wait to ask, "Lu Chen, will you film the second installment of" A Chinese Ghost Story "?"
Lu Chen shook his head without hesitation. "No, but I've already sold the copyright of" A Chinese Ghost Story "to my partners, so it's possible to make a second or even a third installment, but I won't participate in it again."
If he wanted to make a movie, there were too many scripts to choose from. There was no need to rely on a sequel to rely on the original.
This surprised the reporters a little. After all, it was completely reasonable for a movie to have a sequel. Lu Chen was actually willing to give up this huge profit.
But then again, without him as the male lead, the sequel would lose a lot of its luster!
"Then what do you want to shoot for your second movie?"
Lu Chen smiled and said, "This is a secret for the time being. At present, I'm preparing to shoot my third TV series," You from the Star ". It's expected to start filming at the end of this month."
This was considered a piece of news that was neither big nor small. There would definitely be many TV fans of Lu Chen who would be interested in it.
However, the reporters were not satisfied. Someone asked, "Excuse me, why did this movie choose a newcomer as the female lead and Chen Fei 'er as the villain?"
The reporter's eyes lit up, obviously hoping to dig out some big information from Lu Chen's mouth.
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