“Moonfall” failed at the box office, where is the Sino-US co-production going?

The co-production road is obstructive and long.
“Moonfall” failed at the box office, where is the Sino-US co-production going?

Text | Poison Eyes, Author | Chen Bin, Editor | Zhang Youfa

In the first week of February, “Moonfall”, which Huayi Brothers participated in, was released in North America.

Although it cost over 100 million US dollars to build, the opening score of “Moonfall” was less than 10 million US dollars, and it became “cannon fodder” in the traditional off-season of movie viewing; and for Huayi Brothers, “Moonfall” failed to become its international The new opportunity for transformation reflects that the participation in Hollywood co-productions is not what it used to be.

The premiere of “Moonfall” failed, and the production process was twists and turns

According to IMDbPro statistics, “Moonfall” debuted in 3,446 theaters in North America, and earned a total of 9.87 million US dollars in the first weekend, losing to “Stupid Funny Forever” and finished runner-up. In fact, “Moonfall” is only $360,000 more than “Spider-Man: No Home”, which has been in theaters for more than a month, which has accumulated to $749 million after eight weeks of release, and the global box office is close to $1.8 billion.

In the sequence of director Roland Emmerich’s works, the premiere of “Moonfall” also fell downstream: In 2019, “Battle of Midway” earned $17.9 million in 3,242 theaters, and finally sold $56.85 million in North America. The end, let alone “Independence Day 2: Comeback” and “2012”, which have exceeded 100 million in total.

In addition to the bleak opening figures, the reputation of “Moonfall” is also “disastrous”. The freshness of Rotten Tomatoes, which is mainly based on media opinions, is only 40%. The CinemaScore, which represents the audience’s preference, is only C+, which is unfavorable Fear of dragging down its later trend.

Of course, the main box office market for “Moonfall” should be overseas (relative to North America). In Roland Emmerich’s previous work, “2012” accounted for 79% of the overseas box office, and “Independence Day 2: Comeback” also reached 73%. Another dimension of comparison is disaster films: in 2017, Dean Devlin, who had co-produced with Emmerich, launched “Global Storm”, which opened for only $13.71 million in North America, and finally accumulated to 3370 10,000 US dollars, but overseas earnings are as high as 188 million US dollars.

However, “Moonfall” also performed poorly in overseas markets where it has been released. According to comScore statistics, “Moonfall” won a total of 19.38 million US dollars in 46 countries and regions, ranking only 8th in the global box office. Among them, “Moonfall” earned $1.14 million in its first weekend in Mexico, beating “Jade Face Lover” to the top of the box office; 56,000 US dollars), etc., were in a downturn and failed to stand out in the market competition.

For Huayi Brothers who participated in the investment, the premiere results of “Moonfall” are obviously unsatisfactory. From the public information, the origin of the “Moonfall” project can be traced back to May 2019. The production cost announced at that time was 138 to 146 million US dollars, of which Huayi Brothers invested a total of 40 million US dollars, and Lionsgate provided the At $15 million, that makes “Moonfall” one of the most expensive independent films of all time. In November of that year, Lionsgate purchased the North American distribution rights for “Moonfall”, and the overseas rights fell into the hands of AGC International.

But the production process of “Moonfall” has been twists and turns: starting in May 2020, major actors such as Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, Charlie Plummer and others have been finalized; but due to Stanley Tucci’s constraints Due to travel restrictions, his role was replaced by Michael Pena. Yu Wenwen, who had starred in “Predecessor 3: Goodbye to Ex”, also joined the crew as a foreign exchange student.

“Moonfall” was originally scheduled to start in the spring, but filming didn’t begin in Montreal until October, lasting 61 days. In order to speed up the production progress, the film side also invested 5.6 million US dollars for “Moonfall”, which further pushed up the pressure to return the cost. In addition, the special effects shots of “Moonfall” reached 1,700, which were completed by 4 post-production companies.

It is worth mentioning that “Moonfall” was expected to land in theaters in October 2021, but the film’s Canadian distributor canceled the screening plan because theater operations in Ontario and Quebec had not yet returned to normal, so it was released in North America. The date has been pushed back to the beginning of the year. According to Deadline, Lionsgate spent a total of $35 million for the marketing campaign of “Moonfall”, including $12.2 million in TV commercials, but it did not greatly increase the appeal of the film, and the huge investment basically went to waste.

At present, the prospects of “Moonfall” in major overseas markets are worrisome, and the last hope lies in the introduction of Huayi’s operation. After all, “Global Storm” has swept more than 60 million US dollars in the mainland, and Emmerich’s more The previous works have also received good returns. However, considering that the budget of “Moonfall” is close to 150 million US dollars, it is unrealistic to expect to recover the investment on the theater side. In the future, the income of online video-on-demand and streaming media platforms will be the key.

Huayi enters overseas co-production, and Wanda’s “Hollywood Dream” collapses

“Moonfall” is not the first co-production that Huayi Brothers participated in, but the road to this co-production does not seem to be smooth.

The animated film “Rock Tibetan Mastiff” was once regarded as a fist project by Huayi Brothers: in addition to hiring Ash Brannon to helm the director, the behind-the-scenes dubbing also included a bilingual lineup such as Guo Qilin, Yu Qian, J.K. Simmons, etc. At the beginning, it implied the ambition to go overseas.

In July 2016, “Rock and Roll Tibetan Mastiff” was the first to debut in mainland China, earning $6 million; in February of the following year, “Rock and Roll Tibetan Mastiff” was released in North America and earned $3.7 million in the first weekend, with a cumulative total of $9.42 million. Among other overseas markets, “Rock and Roll Tibetan Mastiff” has only exceeded one million dollars in Korea and Russia. In the end, the global box office of “Rock Tibetan Mastiff” ended at $24.15 million, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the high cost of $60 million.

In addition to participating in independent film investments, Huayi Brothers also participates in co-production projects in a more systematic way. In April 2015, Huayi Brothers signed a three-year cooperation agreement with STX Entertainment, with plans to shoot and release 12 to 15 films per year. According to the agreement between the two parties, Huayi Brothers has the right to invest in STX’s film list and obtain corresponding returns, and enjoy the priority of distribution after the introduction.

Subsequently, STX launched works such as “Mysterious Eyes”, “Jones’s Free State”, “Growing Edge” and “The Den of Thieves”. Among them, “Bad Mom” ​​returned a box office of 180 million US dollars with a budget of 20 million US dollars. The highest-grossing film during this collaboration. However, due to the subject matter and other factors, with the exception of cases such as “Puppet Contract”, “Back to Mars” and “Super Size Beauty”, most of the STX films that Huayi participated in were not introduced.

In 2018, although Huayi Brothers released their willingness to extend their cooperation with STX, the two parties did not announce the news of the renewal of the agreement. Despite the difficulties such as resignation and equity sale, the short honeymoon period between the two parties seems to be unsustainable.

Behind the co-production is the ambition of domestic private film companies to actively explore their way to the sea at one stage.

Like Huayi Brothers, as a representative of private film companies, Wanda was once the main force in overseas investment. Relying on its strong financial strength, Wanda once adopted a strategy of holding high and playing overseas. In the early years, it successively acquired the world’s largest theater chain AMC, the Hollywood Golden Globe Awards production company Dick Clark, etc., and sold Legendary Films at a high price of 3.5 billion US dollars. Industry was brought under his command.

During this process, Wanda was able to deeply intervene in major productions such as “Warcraft”, “King Kong: Skull Island” and “Pacific Rim: Rising of Thunder”.

But Wanda’s Hollywood “golden years” didn’t last long. Soon after, Wanda’s large-scale outward investment slowed down significantly; and “The Great Wall” directed by Zhang Yimou suffered a fiasco at the box office, which also became the trigger for the turmoil at the top of Legendary Pictures. can work.

Last year, Wanda sold its majority stake in AMC and ceded its majority shareholder seat, and cultural and tourism assets, including the Oriental Movie Metropolis, have already been transferred to Sunac. At present, Wanda has also shown a shrinking trend in the film and television field. The ambitions of a “cultural empire” are already looking a little too late.

In addition, Tencent Pictures has also been in a leading position on the road to Hollywood, participating in well-known IP projects such as “Venom: Deadly Guardian”, “Men in Black: Global Hunt” and “Terminator: Dark Fate”, and also acquired “Terminator”. Producer” production company Skydance Media nearly 10% stake.

Among the above-mentioned projects, “Venom: Deadly Guardian” was a big hit at the box office, “Men in Black: Global Pursuit” and “Terminator: Dark Fate” were regrettably only collected at $250 million worldwide, and the latter’s failure made Tencent even more. Plans for a new Terminator trilogy are overshadowed.

At the beginning of 2020, the global film market has experienced huge shocks that have continued to this day, and many projects invested by Tencent Pictures have not been able to land in theaters as scheduled. However, “Top Gun 2: The Lone Ranger”, which debuted in May this year, may have the opportunity to become a new film. touchstone.

In addition, TVB Media reached a US$1.5 billion cooperation agreement with Lionsgate in 2015, and Fosun International also invested in Studio8, a company founded by former Warner Bros. president Jeff Robinoff. No further progress has been disclosed.

Once upon a time, private film companies were the vanguard of co-productions, sounding the clarion call to enter Hollywood in the turbulent market. However, with the continuous pressure of overseas investment and the profound changes in the international situation in recent years, projects like “Moonfall” may become more and more unique in the future