surging news reporter Cheng Xiaojun
produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and directed by Christopher Nolan (Christopher Nolan), the latest sci-fi giant "Creed" (Tenet), finally officially announced that mainland China will be scheduled for September 4th. What's interesting is that just a few days ago, Disney's live-action version of Mulan announced that it would open online pay-on-demand on September 4, but it still plans to enter theaters in some areas. It is not difficult to imagine that with most theaters in North America still uncertain about the reopening date, mainland China will be the largest ticket warehouse for these two Hollywood blockbusters. Now that "Creed" is the first to grab the September 4th schedule, what should "Mulan" do?
"Creed" finalized poster
"Creed" by John David Washington (John David Washington), Robert Pattinson (Robert Pattinson), Elizabeth Debicki (Elizabeth Debicki), Kenneth Branagh (Kenneth Branagh), Michael Caine (Michael Caine) and other co-stars. The film was shot in seven countries and the production cost was as high as 205 million US dollars. In addition to the sci-fi brain-burning elements Nolan is good at, the action scenes of the film are also a major attraction. Judging from the trailers that have been released, they include the detonation of a Boeing 747 aircraft, serial car crashes, hostage hijacking in concert halls, ocean breaking waves, etc. Drama.
"Creed" stills
Earlier when Warner decided to withdraw "Creed" from North American theaters, it has announced that the film will be released first outside the United States on August 26. The Chinese audience can be said to be lucky to see this movie on September 4. It is also the first Hollywood blockbuster to be screened globally since the mainland theaters reopened on July 20. Coupled with " Interstellar Interstellar " and "Inception" two old science fiction "warm up" of Nolan ("Interstellar" re-screening box office has exceeded 53 million yuan), the box office prospects are quite optimistic.
"Inception" "Interstellar" re-screening poster, the propaganda word also echoes the "creed" propaganda word.
Obviously, the producer also has great expectations for the Chinese market. In the trailer for mainland China, the director Christopher Nolan surprises the Chinese audience and greets the Chinese audience. It is reported that this is a message that Nolan recorded for the only specific region. . In the video, he bluntly stated that he is "the number one fan of movie theaters", "have been obsessed with the sense of ritual brought by movie theaters all his life, and what he loves most is escaping to another world through the power of movies." "A work tailored for the big screen", "make "Creed" into a legendary blockbuster as much as possible, presenting the most immersive action scenes on the big screen, and I am very excited to bring it to Chinese audiences."
01:35
Nolan greeted the Chinese audience in the preview of "Creed". (01:35)
On the other hand, although Disney has not officially announced that "Mulan" will be screened in theaters in mainland China, for this film based on Chinese folk tales, this is a solid matter. In addition, its online on-demand platform Disney+ has not landed in the mainland, and the ideal situation was originally to be simultaneously shown on September 4 in mainland cinemas. But now "Creed" has won the September 4th schedule, which is a bit embarrassing for Disney.
Even before the epidemic, two Hollywood blockbusters were released on the same day. Moreover, the number of audiences was limited to 30% of the maximum capacity of the theater, and the number of films in theaters should be reduced accordingly. The new normal for epidemic prevention Next, "Mulan" is bound to have to give up the best schedule on September 4. The original North American schedule of "Mulan" is one week later than "Creed", so it is not impossible to follow the domestic schedule.
only takes into account the impact of the film length of "Creed" (150 minutes in length, "intermission") on the number of films, the limited number of tickets available for each show, and the degree of hunger and thirst of the audience caused by the long absence of blockbusters. Judging from it, one week may not be able to digest the potential audience of "Creed" at all. Moreover, as far as the originality of the story is concerned, "Mulan" is obviously not the opponent of "Creed", it has to be said that it is in danger of becoming cannon fodder. So, for "Mulan", the best choice left is to grabIt was released before "Creed", and if it could be a week or even two weeks in advance, it could catch up with the end of the summer holiday. This is really important to whether this big production costing 200 million US dollars can return to its original cost. It depends on whether Disney will make corresponding actions in the next week.
"Mulan" poster
Not only did China's delayed schedule lead to missed opportunities, "Mulan" in the UK, Western Europe and other regions where theaters have reopened, choosing to pay directly online and on-demand also caused strong dissatisfaction with local theaters. .
Although in an explanatory letter sent to the British cinema industry, Disney repeatedly emphasized that the "difficult decision" was made in consideration of the underlying factors of the epidemic, but such remarks cannot be understood by British cinemas. Phil Clapp, Chairman of the CinemaUK Union (CinemaUK), said, “The practice of "Mulan" skipping the theaters really confuses us." The opening in the southeastern city of Akfield Kevin Markwick, the owner of a small theater, also reluctantly wrote on social media: "Thank our friends at Disney. We who have been living by drinking northwest wind these days will continue. Wait patiently for your return day. Please call when you are ready. If you can't find me at home, then I must be sleeping and eating at the bank door, soaking in my own urine stains."
and At the same time, the French cinema industry is also angry at Disney's approach. The French Twitter account @destinationcine posted a video on August 6, showing that a local movie theater manager in France angrily tore up a promotional poster for the movie "Mulan". The video quickly became popular and received a lot of likes. After searching by the media,
discovered that the owner was Gerard Lemoine and he had an independent cinema in Palaiseau, a southern suburb of Paris. Geral told the media that the reason he wanted to do this was to let the world know his disappointment. He and his large number of cinema chains have been working for several months to promote "Mulan". Although the movie schedule has been pushed back and forth, they always believe that as long as "Mulan" can be shown on the big screen, their Efforts will not be wasted.
"Under the current circumstances, it’s really not easy for us to keep these movie theaters open. We always think that in the next few weeks, there should be some major dramas that will be released one after another. It's getting better slowly. I didn't expect the result to be like this. The film company must understand that if more and more movies are like "Mulan" and choose to skip the movie theater and release directly online, then, like me This kind of small movie theater can't be supported for long. I have been doing this all my life, showing movies for the audience. I don't want it all to end!" Geral said. Editor in charge of
: Cheng Yu
Proofreading: Luan Meng
