Chapter 600: Controversial Lunar New Year Film Festival Opens

After more than a month of post-production, “Green Book” was completely completed in mid-October.

After the film came out, senior executives from Warner and Summit Entertainment watched it as soon as possible.

Those who can become senior executives of large film companies must have a high level of appreciation for movies.

No one, including Kevin Channer, expected that Liu Zhou, a Chinese, could actually make such an American story.

Although Kevin Chandler has read the script, the script and the finished film are completely different things, and the impact they bring to people is also incomparable.

“Liu, this is amazing! If the movie is shown outside, the audience will definitely not think that the director is a Chinese.”

“Kevin, judging from your expression, the movie shouldn’t be a big problem, right?”

“Of course, but Don Shirley’s role in the movie is relatively small, and white people have become the protagonists. Perhaps some more radical black people may be dissatisfied with the movie.”

“This is a no-brainer. I can’t change the film beyond recognition just to please a small group of people.”

“It’s not a big problem actually. We at Warner will monitor public opinion, and what you said is right. At this point, white people and most black people should be able to see through it.

Although Green Book is an art film, I think it will do well at the box office.”

“When does Warner plan to release the movie?”

“When do you want it to be released?”

“Since we are participating in the Oscars next year, we must meet the audience in theaters before December.”

“So you want Green Book to follow the same route as Joker, with previews first and then a large-scale release after the Oscars?”

“No, there is no need for previews, it will be released directly on a large scale.”

When “Joker” was first released, it was because Liu Zhou was not famous enough in Hollywood at the time and needed an Oscar to increase his fame.

Moreover, he attached great importance to the Oscars at that time, and a small-scale release of the film could maintain a higher reputation for the film.

Now, through the movie “Joker”, Liu Zhou has not only become famous all over the world, but he has also gained considerable fame in the global film industry.

Especially in North America, his reputation is even greater.

He has also become less ambitious about winning an Oscar, so there is no need to be as cautious as he was with “Joker”. He can just release “Green Book” as an ordinary movie.

Kevin Qianer was a little surprised to hear Liu Zhou’s words, but then he thought about it and understood his thoughts.

Since Liu Zhou is so confident, Warner can certainly make the arrangements.

“No problem. It’s October 13th now. We’ll have 20 days for promotion and the movie will be officially released on November 3rd.”

“You are professionals in this area. I will follow your instructions.”

Seeing that Liu Zhou agreed to his plan, Kevin Channer immediately called the publicity and promotion department and asked them to develop a publicity plan and contact the theaters.

Then he went on to say to Liu Zhou:
“Liu, you may have to stay here for the time being to participate in the promotion. After all, you are the most famous person in this movie.”

“No problem, but try not to arrange too many promotional activities for me.”

“Don’t worry, the main thing is to arrange for you to appear on some of the more famous talk shows on the three major TV networks. We will communicate everything in advance.”

In the following half month, Liu Zhou participated in several talk shows arranged by Warner.

In North America, talk shows generally have high ratings and longevity, which places very high demands on the host’s professional ability.

Once a program is successful, the host can reap great rewards.

That’s why Oprah is so influential, not only among the ordinary housewives, but also in the field of television.

She even started her own TV station and produced her own programs. She became a famous female billionaire in the United States and one of the richest black people in the country.

Through this promotional tour, more audiences got to know that Liu Zhou is not only a great director, but also a wealthy man.

Even Summit Entertainment is his property.

Summit Entertainment has released two blockbuster film series, “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games”, and has become well-known among movie fans and is no longer an unknown company.

So many people did not expect that Summit Entertainment, a new Hollywood film company, actually belonged to Liu Zhou.

This has helped Liu Zhou become even more famous in North America.

In a place like the United States where the commercial society is highly developed, all people’s pursuit of money is open. They will not hide it, nor will they be ashamed to talk about money.

Therefore, in North America, the top ten or even top twenty billionaires on the Forbes Rich List are all quite well-known in North America.

Liu Zhou is not only a wealthy man now, but also has the image of a great director. He is also a Chinese, which makes him even more popular.

Many media even said that the richest man in Hollywood has changed hands, and George Lucas’s net worth of more than 6 billion US dollars is far less than Liu Zhou’s more than 10 billion US dollars.

Liu Zhoucai is the richest man in Hollywood.

However, Liu Zhou didn’t take this kind of gossip to heart.

His mind is focused on the upcoming release of “Green Book”.

As time came to November 3rd, the film held a grand premiere at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

Thanks to Liu Zhou’s connections with Warner, many Hollywood stars and directors were invited, and the red carpet in front of the theater was star-studded.

The next day, the film was officially screened on nearly 3,000 screens in 2,300 cinemas.

Thanks to the large-scale publicity in the early stage and the fame Liu Zhou accumulated from “Joker”, “Green Book” still attracted the attention of many audiences.

On the first day of its release, the film grossed $32 million, becoming the highest-grossing film of the day.

Over the next two days of the weekend, the film grossed another $786 million.

In its first three days, “Green Book” earned $1.08 million, becoming the weekly box office champion.

The box office exceeded 100 million yuan in the first week, which is undoubtedly an outstanding result, especially since it is an art film.

Liu Zhou undoubtedly consolidated his position again.

With the large-scale release of the film, word of mouth began to ferment.

The Rotten Tomatoes index was rated 8.2% fresh by more than people, and IBMD gave it a high score of .

Most media and film critics gave positive reviews.

“There are two sections in the film that impressed me deeply. One section is when Don and Tony are having a great time in a black bar.

It was the first time that Tang felt the warmth of the black community. He was so kind that he said he would “perform for free once a month”. However, he found two black thugs stealing their car.

Another scene is when Don and Tony were stopped by a police car on a snowy night. They thought they had encountered a racist white policeman again, but they found that the other party kindly reminded them that their car tire was flat.

In addition to being politically correct, this film also tells you that there are hooligans in black bars and white policemen are kind-hearted. To sum up: reject discrimination and prejudice, but don’t go too far.”

“Movies with black protagonists and reflecting racial issues are a common genre in Hollywood movies.

If a movie can be made to make people laugh and feel heartwarming, and finally touch upon ethnic issues, that is the best that this type of movie can achieve.

Green Book is undoubtedly the benchmark for this type of film. What is even more incredible is that the director of this film is actually a Chinese director.”

“The contradictions between the lower class and the elite, and between whites and blacks, are probably the most acute contradictions in the United States.

But Green Book is so exquisite that it makes two people with these two contradictions become close friends in life, which is quite like a “great love story”. “

“Green Book is more like a utopia, or a mouthful of nutritious chicken soup in a turbid world. In real life, there are probably very few blacks and whites, elites and the lower classes, gays and straights who can really “blend together” like Dr. Tang and Tony.”

“The best movie of the year, the plot is very smooth, there are no messy long shots and unnecessary sex scenes, there are funny moments and tearful moments, both are arranged just right and touching.”

“I really like the structure of Green Book. It not only talks about the old-fashioned issue of racial discrimination, but also goes deeper to reveal the plight of marginalized identities and explore the way out for marginalized identities.

At the same time, it tells us that changing people’s perceptions requires not only talent but also courage, which is still applicable everywhere nowadays.”

Although the film received many positive reviews, some media and film critics also gave more critical reviews.

“Putting aside racial discrimination, from a purely artistic perspective, Green Book seems to be too functional, wishing that every plot carries a thematic function.

Compared to The Intouchables, Green Book lacks a sense of naturalness.”

Putting aside these objective evaluations of the film itself, as Kevin Channer said, some radical black people do have a lot of hostility towards “Green Book”.

“‘Green Book’? I think it’s more like a ‘White’ Book. ‘Crash’ is witnessing ‘Green Book’ replacing it as the worst art film.” Ira, a famous black screenwriter in Hollywood, publicly complained.

“Director Liu Zhou is disappointing. He is a yellow man who doesn’t understand black people at all. Instead, he takes the perspective of white people.

This film tells a story with a “white savior” core very naturally.

Historically, the “white savior” is a story setting commonly used in Hollywood, in which black people or any non-white ethnic group as supporting characters are saved by white people as protagonists.

The good impression I had of Liu Zhou after watching Joker was completely wiped out after watching Green Book. “

Spike Lee, a famous black director in Hollywood and a veteran New York Knicks fan, even blasted him in the New York Times:

“Liu Zhou doesn’t understand black people at all, and the movie he made called Green Book is just a piece of shit.

The plot of the movie does not match the real situation at all. In reality, the black pianist did not become friends with the white driver;

Moreover, the white male protagonist Tony has too many scenes, making the black character Don a supporting role. This is a typical example of using black movies to promote white people.

The movie only depicts the stereotyped image of black people and downplays the racial discrimination plot, which is to whitewash white racists.

I suspect Liu Zhou is a racist at heart and should be driven out of America.”

Faced with these radical comments, it is impossible to say that Liu Zhou felt no ripples in his heart.

He didn’t expect to provoke such a big reaction from some black people.

It seems that he had oversimplified the conflict between black and white Americans. This kind of subject matter is not something that an outsider like him can easily get involved in.

However, there are still only a few people who criticize the movie radically, and most people still like it.

In its second week, the film grossed another $11 million on Monday, a drop of more than 60 percent.

In the second week and seven days, “Green Book” took in a total of 64 million US dollars, once again winning the box office championship of the next week.

The movie grossed a total of $1.72 million in ten days after its release.

There should be no problem for the final North American box office to exceed 200 million.

At the same time, the film also began its overseas screening tour.

In its first week of overseas release, the film grossed $1.2 million.

Especially in Latin America, audiences showed great enthusiasm for watching the movie and loved it very much.

Latin America contributed nearly half of the film’s overseas box office of 1.2 million, which is more than Europe’s contribution.

This week, the movie only earned 36 million U.S. dollars in North America. Because there were no blockbusters released at this time, “Green Book” won the weekly box office championship for three consecutive times.

The film’s total box office in North America exceeded 2.08 million, reaching million US dollars.

So far, from a commercial perspective alone, “Green Book” has undoubtedly been a huge success.

The total investment in the film was only 50 million US dollars, but the North American box office has exceeded 200 million US dollars, and the overseas box office is guaranteed to be 200 million US dollars. The global total box office may exceed 500 million US dollars.

There is no doubt that Liu Zhou succeeded again.

Although there were some discordant voices, due to Warner’s control of comments, it did not cause much impact.

So overall, “Green Book” is still a highly praised and respected film.

First there was “Joker” and then there was “Green Book”. Both films were impeccable in terms of box office, word of mouth and even artistic quality.

If “Green Book” can win an Oscar next year, Liu Zhou’s influence will surely be further enhanced.

Of course, in addition to Liu Zhou, Kevin Channer also benefited a lot.

Not only did he catch the eye of Time Warner’s top management, but he also accidentally made the relationship between Warner and Summit Entertainment much closer.

The two companies collaborated on two films in a row, both of which were successful at the box office and well-received, which inevitably led to misunderstandings from the outside world.

Are the two companies about to merge?

While other companies are speculating, Lionsgate is a little worried.

The two companies have always cooperated closely and jointly fought against the suppression of the Big Seven in Hollywood.

Now that an important partner seems to be leaving, they can’t help but worry.

After all, Lionsgate has not yet completed the layout of global distribution channels, and it still needs Summit Entertainment to help resist the pressure.

If Summit Entertainment really reaches a cooperation with Warner, then Lionsgate’s life will become even more difficult.

So in order to prevent Summit Entertainment from completely changing its mind, Lionsgate has stopped some of its previous small moves, which is a pleasant surprise.

At this stage of the screening of “Green Book”, the final result has almost been determined, and Liu Zhou no longer needs to worry about it.

So at the end of November, Liu Zhou flew back to China.

At this time, the new year’s Lunar New Year movie season is about to begin in China.

(End of this chapter)