Chapter 82: The World's First IMAX Blockbuster (Seeking First Subscriptions)

Congratulations, Director Jiang, you've made another epoch-making work!

After the thunderous applause, Han Sanping spoke first, also feeling fortunate that China Film could participate in the investment.

Actually, Jiang Heng also has other partners besides China Film domestically.

The renowned Shanghai Film Group had repeatedly sent people to contact Jiang Heng, even proposing the idea of jointly building a film park.

The general idea was for Jiang Heng to provide IP and funds, while Shanghai Film Group would handle land and procedures, jointly developing and sharing profits.

These proposals made Jiang Heng very tempted.

Shanghai's land and amusement park will surely be a treasure trove and a money tree in the future.

It was only because the domestic consumer economy hasn't developed yet, and his own film and TV IPs aren't numerous enough, that he forcibly restrained his investment impulse.

It also gave Jiang Heng the idea of starting an animation company; as long as he could produce Kung Fu Panda, he would make a fortune.

But for now he's still in the accumulation and development stage, with too many things to handle, unable to clone himself, so he shelved Shanghai Film Group's proposal, though he didn't outright reject it.

Han Sanping knows this, and isn't easy to say anything; all he can do is expand cooperation further, making the two sides' relationship closer.

As for Pacific Rim, jointly produced by China Film, iQiyi, and Columbia, he naturally spared no effort to support and promote it widely.

In terms of approval, there were no obstacles whatsoever.

The only objection was that a reviewer felt the monsters ravaging Japan, destroying countless buildings in Tokyo and killing many people, might hurt Japanese sentiments.

Fortunately, most reviewers thought Japanese audiences already enjoy monster movies that devastate island nations; making the monsters so well might even excite them, and they'd thank him.

Thus Pacific Rim smoothly passed review and obtained the Dragon Standard. Global distribution plans were also formally put on the schedule.

In North America, distribution is naturally handled by Columbia, which also covers many South American countries.

In other regions, China Film and Bona take the lead, and the number of countries sharing box office revenue has been expanded.

Japan, which used a revenue-sharing model when Lion Camel Ridge was released, naturally does so again this time.

Moreover, as a mecha-versus-monsters film, several major Japanese distributors are very optimistic about Pacific Rim, competing with each other, and ultimately Toho Co., Ltd. secured the distribution rights.

In South Korea, this is the first time a revenue-sharing model is being used.

This country's film market was once dominated by Hong Kong films, but in recent years Hong Kong films have declined and been overtaken by Hollywood.

As for its rise, some trace it back to the 1999 film Life and Death Butterfly Transformation, while others point to the 2003 film Memories of Murder.

No matter how it's measured, it proves that South Korea's domestic film industry is extremely weak, unable to withstand even ordinary Hollywood blockbusters, let alone a heavyweight like Pacific Rim.

Likewise, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, and Australia all adopt revenue-sharing distribution.

Additionally, India and Mexico, due to special circumstances, still use the outright purchase model.

Although the former calls itself a unified nation, its film market is actually quite fragmented.

The reasons are many; for example, there are 22 official languages in language alone, each with its own cultural background and market positioning.

Therefore, Indian films in different regions use different languages for shooting and distribution to meet local viewing demands.

Relying on such an innate market "barrier," Hollywood films have never been able to capture the Indian market during their global expansion era, let alone Chinese-language films.

Yet this market still has a huge population that cannot be completely ignored.

All we can do is try to raise the outright purchase price to gain a bit more profit.

Another special case is Mexico, where the government is not the true sovereign of the state; can we really expect a unified film market there?

Still, it's a high-price outright purchase, allowing local Mexican distributors to handle their own release.

In all other countries and regions, outright purchase distribution is the norm.

Moreover, thanks to the fame earned by the first three films, this first global mecha special effects blockbuster also has the gimmick of mecha versus monsters.

Film companies from around the world gathered in Xianggang to buy the rights, and the final transaction price reached thirty million dollars, directly recouping one-third of the cost.

Including revenue-sharing distribution, Pacific Rim will be released in over one hundred twenty countries and regions worldwide, an unprecedented scale!

After the news spread, Hollywood's many distributors were also quite shocked.

Especially the Transformers production team, despite repeatedly trying to catch up, Paramount and DreamWorks found that there were too many problems to solve throughout the filming process.

Sometimes they even had to redo things halfway through.

For example, the exterior and transformation designs of the Autobot characters Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Megatron.

Although the earlier animated versions had rough sketches, they were too crude and simple to be used directly.

Just these effect shots and storyboard drawings consumed a lot of time from the preparation team.

Moreover, there were also the script, actors, and filming models; rushing or delaying, they only managed to get the crew to start shooting just before Pacific Rim's premiere.

Whether it's producer Steven Spielberg, director Michael Bay, or project initiator Don Murphy, they all can't understand how Jiang Heng could prepare so quickly, as if all the images were already in his mind.

The Transformers production team, with several producers discussing, considered sending people to attend Pacific Rim's mainland premiere; according to news from China, Jiang Heng will hold an advance screening after the premiere, and having successfully negotiated with IMAX, will temporarily erect an IMAX screen in a sports venue.

This will also become the world's first IMAX preview, a huge selling point.

Steven Spielberg wore a solemn expression, saying, "We should go take a look, to see his final effect; it's also an inspiration for us."

Plump Don Murphy chuckled, "I'm not that busy right now; perfect timing to go see. I never thought such backward China could actually shoot a high-tech film, using high-tech equipment. IMAX, the world's first, actually cooperating with Chinese people!"

Another producer, Bulai Si, said, "IMAX also wants to make a name for itself using Jiang Heng's film; if this succeeds, we might also go look for him to cooperate."

Yeah, being outpaced by a Chinese kid really leaves us unwilling!

Several foreigners gathered, complaining, but after discussion they still decided to go to China to see what charm this world's first IMAX commercial blockbuster holds!

(End of Chapter)