Chapter 428 Avatar Storm and Influence
The 160-minute movie ends with a happy ending. Jack finally leads the Pandorans to defeat the earthlings and lives a shameless and happy life with the princess.

The cliché story and the cliché protagonist name are perfect with the wonderful special effects.

Many viewers were still savoring the experience until the end of the movie.

After a moment's silence, this huge screening room that could accommodate more than 500 people erupted in the warmest applause.

“Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa.”

Liu Zhou felt that he could not hear any other sound, as if countless pairs of hands were clapping in his ears.

Although Liu Zhou was shocked again, he did not react so strongly. He looked around and found that many celebrities and even several film and television company CEOs were clapping their hands vigorously like ordinary audiences.

The applause lasted for more than a minute, and when the show ended, all the fans' faces were still full of excitement, and they were chattering with their familiar friends.

"It's amazing. The scenery on Pandora is so beautiful. I feel like there's no place on Earth that can compare to it!"

"Cameron is so awesome. The 3D effect is more realistic than Journey to the Center of the Earth and Ice Age 2. It is worthy of being a masterpiece that took eight years to prepare."

"Fuck, I was so focused on the special effects that now I can't remember what the movie was about."

"Me too, I can only remember the general idea, I can't remember the specific details."

"I want to watch it again. It's so stunning. Even the 120 yuan ticket price is worth it."

"Let's go for the second swipe!"

……

This is not an isolated case, most people want to watch it a second time.

If you follow the audience leaving, you will find that most of them did not leave the cinema, but went to the ticket office to buy tickets for the first show at midnight.

After the premiere, "Avatar" will be released in all major theaters in mainland China at midnight tonight.

At this time, there were many fans in the cinema who were attracted by James Cameron's fame and the promotion of "Avatar", but they were not lucky enough to attend the movie premiere.

At this time, they looked at the audiences coming out of the screening room with excited faces discussing excitedly, and couldn't help but ask curiously.

This immediately filled the hearts of those viewers who had seen the movie in advance with a sense of superiority, and they began to talk excitedly about it to those who had not seen it.

But the story of "Avatar" is as old-fashioned as "Titanic", and the essence is all in the special effects, which their limited vocabulary cannot describe at all.

So they could only express it in a simple and crude way using a lot of words like awesome and shocking, which made the fans a little confused, but also made them more excited.

Apart from anything else, just looking at the excited stories told by those who have watched the movie is very contagious, not to mention that many people lined up to buy tickets for the first show.

A movie that so many people watch twice must be good.

At the same time, in the screening room, executives from major companies had not yet left and were still discussing the film.

Such realistic 3D effects and the audience's reactions were so shocking that even those who don't easily express their emotions were shocked. Even a fool would know that "Avatar" is bound to be a big hit.

Companies that have movies currently being released or about to be released are a little worried, while others are more concerned about whether their own company can also make a 3D movie.

Han Shanping walked to Liu Zhou again and said:

"how do you feel?"

"It's quite shocking. James Cameron is really amazing."

"Then how long do you think it will take us in the mainland to make a movie like this?"

"I don't know, but I think it will take at least ten years."

"Does it take that long even for you?"

“Boss Han, you think too highly of me. Although I know a little bit about movie special effects, neither The Martian nor Edge of Tomorrow can be compared with Avatar.

Even "Interstellar", which has already been completed, cannot be compared with "Avatar".

The movie "Avatar" can be said to be a concentrated reflection of the strength of the Hollywood film industry. It also represents the most advanced special effects technology level in the world. It is not just a movie.

Not to mention that our domestic special effects technology is far from reaching that level, we haven’t even established a basic film industry. I would say that ten years is still conservative.

In fact, let alone in mainland China, even in Hollywood, no one will be able to make a movie of the same level as Avatar in the next ten years.”

Hearing Liu Zhou's words, Han Shanping couldn't help but sigh.

In fact, he also knows that with the current level of special effects in mainland China, it is difficult to make a movie like "Avatar", but Liu Zhou always manages to bring surprises.

So he couldn't help but want to see if Liu Zhou could shoot it, but it was obvious that Liu Zhou was not omnipotent. After getting a negative answer, he was no longer interested in this matter.

"By the way, can "Interstellar" be converted into 3D?" Han Shanping asked.

"Mr. Han, although the 3D effect of Avatar is very good, it is not suitable for all movies. In fact, before filming began, I discussed with the people at Golden Harvest Special Effects Studio whether to use 3D in Interstellar.

Finally, I decided not to use 3D and use 70mm film IMAX to shoot. The final effect will also be very shocking.

Moreover, "Interstellar" has been announced to be released during the Lunar New Year holiday this year, which is only one year away, so there is not enough time to convert to 3D.

It took eight years from the preparation to the completion of Avatar, but we only had one year. Even if Cameron and the Avatar team spent one year, it would be impossible. "

Liu Zhou could understand Han Shanping's thoughts.

After the release of "Avatar", there was a 3D craze in mainland China, and it seemed that it was very cool if a movie was labeled 3D.

At that time, many movies were converted to 3D or heavily advertised as being shot in 3D, but many of them were just fake 3D.

However, even such pseudo-3D movies have attracted a large number of audiences.

I have to say that sometimes the audience is still a little blind, or naive, and they buy tickets excitedly to watch a movie as soon as they hear about 3D.

In fact, the main reason why those film and television companies are keen on 3D movies is the audience's great enthusiasm for 3D movies because of "Avatar".

However, as more and more people were deceived, the audience was not so easily fooled, and then mainland filmmakers also found that not all movies were suitable for 3D. The 3D craze in the mainland gradually faded.

To be honest, the first real 3D special effects blockbuster in the mainland is Xu Ke's "Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate".

But it's funny that after "Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate", no other movie in mainland China can match the level of 3D special effects.

However, "Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate" is just a martial arts film and is not very suitable for 3D.

Xu Ke also came to attend the premiere of "Avatar" today. I think he should have been inspired to shoot a 3D special effects blockbuster.

Xu Ke is the one who has the best understanding and pursuit of special effects not only among the older generation of directors, but also among all domestic directors.

He started studying and using special effects in the 1980s, and is still fascinated by them today.

"Okay, since you've considered it, I won't say anything more. I was just shocked by the 3D effects of Avatar and couldn't help asking."

"Mr. Han, I think a lot of people have similar ideas to you. Although 3D is good, not many people in China understand it. It will be easy to get cheated when making 3D movies."

Afterwards, many domestic directors were indeed cheated by special effects companies because they did not know the business. They paid 100 million yuan but the effect achieved was equivalent to that which could have been achieved with only 600 to 700 million yuan or even less.

The price difference of thirty or forty million in 2009 would be worth at least one hundred million ten years later. This amount of money was enough to rent first-class equipment for 3D shooting.

But now it is a bit helpless that even if you have money, you can’t rent equipment.

After chatting with Han Shanping for a few words, Liu Zhou left.

At this time, everyone else also left one after another, and then looked forward to the release of the first day box office of "Avatar".

In the early morning of the 20th, the first day box office of "Avatar" was finally released.

3800 million!
Although this is already the best first-day result this year, it did not meet everyone's expectations. After all, they have seen first-day box office results of 40 million or even 50 million before.

All major companies have given up the idea of ​​making 3D blockbusters. If the box office does not increase significantly, they will not take the risk of increasing investment.

However, the next day, after Friday's box office figures came out, everyone's dormant interests became active again.

4500 million, second only to the million of "The Martian", and almost broke the single-day box office record in film history created by it.

On the third day, Saturday, the single-day box office reached a new level, reaching a terrifying 5200 million!
You know, the box office of "刺陵" is less than 5200 million now.

The box office revenue in one day is equal to the box office revenue of other movies in a month!
In 2009, there were only more than 5000 movies with a total box office of over million, including imported films!

The single-day box office was over 5000 million. Although "The Martian" had achieved this before, it was still hard for people to believe that it happened again.

On the fourth day, Sunday, it again earned 5000 million at the box office. The total box office in the first four days of its release was 1.85 million, an average of more than 4500 million per day.

You know, the "Transformers 2", which was a hit during the summer season, only earned 5 million in the first five days of its release. Even though it was released one day longer, the box office was still more than 1.6 million less.

Such a crazy box office shocked the media, the audience, and all the film and television companies.

Major film and television companies no longer have any concerns and are preparing to launch 3D film projects. Some are even eager to take advantage of the popularity of "Avatar" and take the first bite of the delicious cake, and are considering switching to 3D.

Many domestic media outlets were reporting on this movie crazily, and audiences once again filled the cinemas, especially the IMAX theaters, where tickets were hard to come by.

Even though the ticket price doubled to two hundred yuan, it did not dampen everyone's enthusiasm, and many people went to watch it with their families.

The theater chain deliberately raised the price by two hundred yuan because the IMAX theaters are so popular. Although this caused crazy complaints and curses from netizens, the theater chain has remained unmoved.

Facing the overwhelming criticism from netizens, Wanda Cinemas, which owns 11 IMAX screens, took a firm stance:

"We are not afraid of boycotts. We would rather see the ticket prices adjusted even if the seats are not full."

Although netizens cursed, they were not slow at all in grabbing tickets. However, it is almost impossible to get a ticket now, which has led to a large number of scalpers reselling tickets.

On Taobao, tickets are priced at 500 or 600 yuan, and the sellers confidently say that "the supply of tickets is tight, so there is no need to worry about no one buying them."

This is the second time that scalpers have appeared on a large scale in major domestic cinemas since Zhang Yimou's "Hero" and Liu Zhou's "The Martian".

It is already January and the Spring Festival is approaching. Train tickets have become popular, but what is even more popular than train tickets are the "Avatar" IMAX movie tickets.

After major cinemas discovered this situation, they began to limit purchases, with each person not being allowed to buy more than four tickets at a time. As a result, scalper tickets became in short supply.

With the explosion of "Avatar", domestic online ticketing websites have also become popular.

The earliest domestic online movie ticketing website should be Wangpiao.com, which was launched in 05. Later, Dadi Cinemas established Hapiao.com, and in 08, Guevara was launched in Shanghai.

Liu Zhou certainly would not forget about ticket purchasing websites, which will be a powerful tool for future film promotion, so this year he specially asked Golden Harvest to set up a ticketing website called Maoyan.

That’s right, Liu Zhou put Maoyan under Golden Harvest instead of Sina. Although it is an Internet company, it is too closely related to movies, so there is no need to put it under Sina.

At first, Zhang Zhao couldn't understand why Liu Zhou wanted to set up such a website, because nowadays audiences almost all buy tickets offline in cinemas, and the online ticketing business has been developing slowly.

Relevant institutions have conducted surveys and found that in 2009, the proportion of domestic online ticket purchases was only 2%.

Therefore, Zhang Zhao felt that there was no need to set up such an online ticketing website. However, out of his consistent trust in Liu Zhou's vision, he still completed the work assigned by his boss without fail.

The Maoyan website was officially launched in May. After more than half a year of operation, it has become relatively complete and has been connected with all major domestic cinema chains.

"Avatar" is so popular now that tickets for the IMAX version are hard to come by. The original price of a 200 yuan movie ticket has been raised to five or six hundred yuan by scalpers. Many consumers have to line up at 3 a.m., which is very tiring.

At this time, many netizens discovered that buying tickets on Maoyan is not only the original price, there is no need to queue, and you can choose your seat online. After buying the ticket, you can go directly to the terminal in the cinema to pick up the ticket, which is very convenient.

With the popularity of "Avatar", Maoyan became popular overnight. In just a few days, the number of registered users increased by 200,000, all of whom came for "Avatar".

Zhang Zhao was stunned by this. Maoyan had been established for more than half a year, but its business development had always been slow. He didn't expect that it would become popular because of a movie.

Compared to Zhang Zhao's shock, Liu Zhou did not show any emotion at all.

This is just the beginning. In the era of mobile Internet, almost no one buys tickets offline.

So Liu Zhou thought that he could now let them develop a mobile APP for Maoyan.

(End of this chapter)