Chapter 75: The Tang Dynasty is a big hit
Patriotism is a sentiment that exists in every era. In 1981, Kyoto University was not short of patriotism.
The students who watched "The Great Tang" were so excited that they could not let it go for a long time. They walked out of the theater and were still discussing the plot of "The Great Tang" and the story between Guo Yuanzheng and Lu Shisi.
Liu Hongmin had not expected this to happen. He looked at Zou Shifang next to him and asked, "Is Tang Dynasty considered a hit?"
Zou Shifang nodded vigorously, "Of course, can't you see it?"
He could see that Liu Hongmin had a complicated expression, but he didn't expect it to be so hot.
He was just a student and didn't have a cinema. He felt very uncomfortable watching "Tang Dynasty" receiving rave reviews but he himself didn't get a penny.
How much does this cost?
Within two days, all the theaters in Beijing began to show "Tang Dynasty". Relying on the reputation of the original work, many audiences could not wait to enter the theater to see it.
However, after entering the theater, the audience almost couldn't leave. Except for those who were prejudiced against the film, every audience who watched it was impressed by the two veteran actors. They never thought that Cheng Qiang, who had a bad image, could die in the desert for the dream of others.
The despair shown in the film makes the audience feel the same, especially when Lu Shisi collapsed outside the city of Qiuci on the eve of success.
The emotions of grief and anger reached a peak, and many viewers felt difficult to accept.
The most unforgettable thing is the love that cannot be obtained.
This is how the audience reacted to "The Great Tang". The tragedy of Lu Shisi made many people indignant, and they even published commentary articles in newspapers to criticize the cruelty of Beijing Film Studio.
Regardless of the time of the audience, they all like to see a happy ending for the whole family. This era is the same. After going through a special period, people want to see harmony and beauty. The ending of "Tang Dynasty" is obviously against the audience, which will naturally anger some people.
These criticisms failed to improve the evaluation of "The Tang Dynasty", but instead put "The Tang Dynasty" in the limelight.
Controversial works will be more popular.
The controversial ending of "Da Tang" has been frequently reported in newspapers, triggering a wave of movie-watching enthusiasm among the audience. With the movie-watching enthusiasm, many people once again took out the original work of "Da Tang" to compare it with the movie.
So, a few months after the publication of "The Tang Dynasty", it once again became a popular novel for people to discuss.
Unfortunately, "The Tang Dynasty" is a short story and cannot be published as a single volume.
Peking University Press rose to the challenge and obtained the distribution rights from Liu Hongmin. Together with works such as Chen Jiangong's "The Disappearing Flower Scarf", it directly published a collection of "Peking University Short Stories".
An additional 100,000 copies were printed overnight, and thanks to the popularity of "The Tang Dynasty", they were quickly sold out.
The short story collection is also a collection of excellent works. Whether it is "Tang Dynasty" or "The Floating Flower Scarf", they are all very good works. Readers who buy this collection are equivalent to reading several excellent short stories. This is simply a benefit for literary young people.
As a result, Jingda Publishing House took advantage of the favorable situation and made a lot of money. Major movie theaters also made a lot of money. They bought a copy for 10,000 yuan and played it in three or four theaters. In less than two days, they earned back the cost, and the rest was pure profit.
There was no such thing as a release date at that time. As long as you bought a copy, the movie could be shown at any time. Even if your copy was not clear, as long as you wanted to show it, you could show it at any time.
So, movie theaters these days have super low costs, but they can make a lot of money, which makes Liu Hongmin envious.
After the release of Tang Dynasty, Liu Hongmin took the copy he bought back. The first novel to be adapted into a movie has such a great success, making this copy of the novel very valuable for collection. Even if he doesn't sell it, Liu Hongmin will keep it for life.
After watching "The Tang Dynasty", Liu Hongmin and others were immersed in it.
People with ideas were quietly writing their reviews and mailing them to major newspapers, hoping to make their ideas known to the public.
Liu Hongmin and Zou Shifang devoted themselves to creation and continued writing their novels.
Zou Shifang had already written the fifth story, but it was affected by the hit of "The Great Tang" and had many mistakes. Liu Hongmin had to treat Zou Shifang severely and asked him to start writing as soon as possible.
Liu Hongmin himself sped up the creation of "The Ming Dynasty 1566". He had already sorted out his creative ideas and wrote very quickly. If he had not helped Zou Shifang review the manuscript, the speed would have been even faster.
Amidst all the turmoil, April passed and May also passed.
Beijing Film Studio contacted China Film Group, and China Film Group contacted various cinemas. A rough calculation of the movie box office was done, which was about 800 to 900 million or 100 million.
In 1981, movie tickets generally cost cents, and the best theaters cost at most cents. The box office of "Da Tang" was around million yuan, and the number of moviegoers reached at least to million.
This result is very good, which shows that many people have watched "Tang Dynasty". However, this result is not outstanding. Last year's box office champion "405 Murder Case" took over million yuan, and there was no water in it.
Although "Da Tang" and "405 Murder Case" are two different types of movies and it is difficult to compare them together, but in terms of box office, "405 Murder Case" is indeed better.
This is mainly because the viewing threshold of "Tang Dynasty" is relatively high. After watching it, many students can't wait to join the army and go to the border to defend their country.
But "Murder Case 405" is different. It is adapted from real events and naturally has a curious nature.
Liu Hongmin is very happy that "Tang Dynasty" has achieved its current success.
What made Liu Hongmin even happier was that Huang Qiang came to Beijing again after hearing that "The Great Tang" was released. This time he came not to adapt the TV series, but for "The Great Tang".
Huang Qiang has been keeping an eye on the situation in the mainland since he left last time. After the release of "The Great Tang", he immediately collected information about "The Great Tang". Seeing that almost all media in the country gave good reviews, Huang Qiang could not sit still.
He bought a copy of the film from China Film and planned to broadcast it on RTV. Although there were no TV movies at that time, it did not prevent the film from being broadcast on TV.
Ten thousand yuan for a copy is like buying a treasure. Huang Qiang is very satisfied with this. Even if "Tang Dynasty" is not well received in Hong Kong, RTV will not lose anything. Ten thousand yuan is a big number for the mainland, but for RTV, it is nothing. It is not as much as the money spent on Liu Hongmin as a consultant for the TV adaptation.
(End of this chapter)
