Chapter 287 Unexpected Box Office Data

On December 22, "Yulinling" was released simultaneously in the United States.

But Hardison and Jessica searched several video stores and couldn't find the album.

Although the United States is also on the first release list, there is little publicity and limited distribution. It is indeed not that easy to buy. Many stores did not get the goods at the first time.

But the hard work paid off, and they finally bought the new album in a store.

It is a video store located in Hollywood. It mainly sells some classical music CDs. The store area is not large, only thirty to fifty square meters, and there is only one owner looking after the store.

Initially, the two of them didn't have high hopes seeing that the store was small, but they didn't expect to actually buy it.

What made them even more unexpected was that this store actually sold twenty copies of "Yulin Ring" that could not be purchased in other video stores.

After chatting for a while, the two of them realized that the boss was a loyal fan of Y, so before the album was released, he started to pay attention to the purchase of the album.

"In addition to Y's albums released in the United States, I also have his other CDs and videos."

Hearing that Jessica and Hardison were also fans of Zhou Yan's music, the boss was very happy and started to share it with the two of them, with a bit of show off in his tone.

He found a stack of CDs and tapes from the cabinet and introduced them one by one, "This is the live video tape of "Yanjing Silence". I specially asked someone to buy it for me from China. And this one is from Y in Neon Open The live video of the concert, next to it, is a documentary produced by TV Asahi, which is related to the movie "Tree Hole."

"Tree hole?" Jessica asked curiously.

The boss smiled and said, "It's normal that you don't know. "Tree Hole" is a novel written by Y. It was later adapted into a movie by a Chinese director. The movie also won an award at the Berlin Film Festival. ”

"Did he score this movie?" Hardison asked.

The boss shook his head, "No, the soundtrack for this movie was composed by Zhao. It is said that Zhao is a good friend of Y and an alumnus. I also have the video tape of this movie, but I don't put it here."

"Is the movie good?" Jessica asked.

"It's a very interesting movie. After all, it won an award at the Berlin Film Festival. It must be unique. My friend said that the novel is better. The documentary I told you just now was recorded live when Y visited the crew. There are songs he performed live in it, and "Borrow a Cucumber" was composed live."

"Borrow a cucumber?" Jessica asked again.

"Well, this song is not included in the album, but it can be heard in the concert video, and the same is true for "Distant Journey"."

Jessica's eyes widened when she heard what the boss said. She claimed to be a loyal fan of Y, but now she found that she didn't know enough about Y at all.

There are so many songs that she has not heard.

Seeing Jessica's eyes, the boss also smiled and said, "I definitely can't give these collections to you, but I can show them to you."

"Really?" Jessica said in surprise.

j "Of course, there is a TV and VCR in the store."

The boss did what he said, led Jessica and the others to the TV, and then put the videotape into the VCR.

The first thing he played was the "Distant Journey" video.

This video was produced by TV Asahi. It was only in neon language and Chinese. Of course Jessica and the others couldn't understand it, but the boss acted as a translator.

"This host is introducing the Central Conservatory of Music, because Y graduated from this school and is now teaching at this school. Look at this gate, which is the door of the Central Conservatory of Music. Isn't it very historical?"

Jessica and the others were very surprised when they heard the boss translate.

"Boss, you actually know neon language?"

The boss shook his head and said, "I don't know Neon, but I've watched this video many times and asked Neon's friends, so I know what they are talking about."

"So that's it."

Jessica nodded, but she was not less surprised at all. How much does this boss like Y to do such a thing.

Thinking about it from another perspective, Jessica didn't think she could do this. The most she could do was pay attention to the music that appeared in it.

With the boss's explanation, the two of them finished the previous interview smoothly. Although they didn't hear the music, Jessica found it quite interesting.

Learning about the deeds of celebrities is inherently interesting. After watching the interview, Jessica also understood better why Zhou Yan's creative styles are so diverse.

Zhou Yan started playing bamboo flute in elementary school, piano in middle school, and later started studying violin in college, truly getting in touch with Western music.

When I was in college, I came into contact with movies again, and my style was influenced by movies.

When the interview ended, the screen changed, showing a mountain and three silhouettes.

The boss immediately introduced, "Next to Y are two very famous writers in China, both of whom are his good friends."

After a brief introduction, the boss stopped talking. He didn't want to delay Jessica and the others from listening to music.

The more Jessica listened to the two songs in a row, the brighter her eyes became.

This was not the first time she saw Zhou Yan playing the flute, but this documentary made her feel the most. The bamboo flute, the mountain scenery, and the people who stopped working in the distance formed a beautiful picture, which made her very happy. Feeling.

The song "Borrowing Cucumber" also gave her a new understanding of Zhou Yan's improvisational ability.

After listening to the two songs, the boss excitedly explained, "Do you know why this song is called Borrowing Cucumbers? It is said to be because..."

After hearing the story about "borrowing" cucumbers from her boss, Jessica also found it interesting that the life of an artist can be so interesting.

After watching this video tape, the boss took them to watch the video tape of "Oriental Legacy" Tokyo Station. Jessica heard a new song in it, which was "Ye Ming" played by Zhou Yan on the "Shakuhachi".

After watching the video of the concert, it was getting late and the boss was going home from get off work, so he made an appointment with Jessica and the others to come back tomorrow.

Only then did Jessica remember that after buying "Yulin Ring", she didn't even listen to it.

The two of them were not in a hurry, took the album back home, and listened to it at home.

Jessica has heard most of the songs in this album. It must be good to listen to, but it does have fewer surprises.

But at the end of this album, she still got some surprises.

Finally, there is a violin concerto. For more than half a minute at the beginning of the piece, it shows a kind of night-like tranquility.

Over the next twenty seconds, the pitch gradually became higher, the mood progressed, and the tune was mixed with some uneasiness and melancholy.

After that, the sadness became more and more intense, and finally broke out suddenly.

In fact, the melody of this song is relatively simple, and the arrangement is nothing special, but it just sounds good.

Jessica looked through the catalog, and the last song was called "Moon", a very simple name.

From a musical point of view, this piece is definitely not as good as "Drinking the Yangtze River Water Together". Whether it is the arrangement technology or the overall narrative, "Drinking the Yangtze River Water Together" is better.

But Jessica knows that on the contrary, this song "Moon" may be more popular with ordinary listeners because of its simple melody and strong explosion in the middle, which can be remembered by listeners.

To confirm her idea, Jessica asked Hardison, "Which piece of music impressed you the most?"

"Of course it's "young and beautiful"."

"Besides this?"

"Except for this..." Hardison frowned and thought for a while before finally confirming, "That should be the last song."

As expected, Jessica nodded.

…

"Is there any story behind this song "Guanghan Palace"?"

The day after the premiere of "Cowherder's Spring", Zhou Yan accepted an exclusive interview with TV Asahi. Reporter Horikita Takashi asked Zhou Yan such a question.

"Guanghan Palace" is the name of East Asia and other countries and regions. In the album released in the United States, it is called "Moon".

Because this song was introduced to the world for the first time, and the melody was also called "Guanghan Palace", Horikita Takashi specifically asked this question.

Zhou Yan explained with a smile, "The song "Guanghan Palace" is based on the traditional Chinese mythology of Chang'e flying to the moon."

Jue Beilong knew that Chang'e flew to the moon, so he nodded and said, "So, "Guanghan Palace" expresses the love tragedy between Chang'e and Hou Yi?"

"It's not just love. The perspective of this song is Chang'e. I think that for Chang'e, what she doesn't want to leave is definitely not just her lover Hou Yi. In addition to Hou Yi, she is full of love for many things in the world. Nostalgia. I think the emotion it expresses may be a little more complicated than love." At this point, Zhou Yan smiled, "Of course, after a song is released, the definition I give it is no longer important. It’s what the audience can feel from it. If the audience can feel love, it’s love, if it’s family affection, it’s family affection.”

"I understand. You said before that the emotional expression of music is intuitive, but it is also free. Giving too many definitions is a kind of imprisonment."

Zhou Yan nodded, picked up the tea cup and took a sip of water.

The song "Guanghan Palace" is adapted from a song by Neon called "Night of Confession".

It is said that the creation of "The Night of Confession" was inspired by a neon literary work "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter". The story is about a bamboo cutter who found a girl inside a bamboo and took her home for adoption.

And this girl was the princess from the moon. In the end, she could only bid farewell to her adoptive parents with tears and fly away.

Zhou Yan directly changed the background story to Chang'e flying to the moon.

Horikita looked at the small book and asked the last question, "When will the movie "Spring of the Cowherd Class" be released on Neon?"

Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, "It won't be long, probably in March. The specific time will be announced soon."

In fact, if it hadn't been for participating in the Berlin Film Festival, Neon would have been released in China this time.

The film festival requires that films participating in the film festival cannot be screened outside the production area.

Hearing that the movie will be released in Neon in March, Takashi Horikita was very happy, "I believe that Neon fans will definitely like this movie very much. When I go back, I will announce the good news as soon as possible." I hope that Mr. Zhou Yan can hold a concert in Neon again as soon as possible. The grand scene of "Oriental Legacy" is still fresh in my memory."

"Well, we are already talking about the concert, and it should be soon. In addition, I will hold a concert in Neon next year, and I will lead two orchestras."

"Two bands?"

Horikita was surprised by Zhou Yan's sudden revelation, "Besides the Piano Boys Orchestra, do you have any other orchestras in your studio? Is it No. 43 Baojia Street?"

Hori Kitaro had also done his homework and knew that Zhou Yan's studio also had a band called Baojia Street No. 43. When Shizuka Kudo came to Yanjing for a concert, this band also performed as a guest.

However, he felt that his guess was unreliable. How could Zhou Yan bring a rock band to perform in music?

Zhou Yan shook his head, "I won't tell you what band it is, just wait and see."

"Okay."

Hori Kitaro didn't ask any more questions. He was very satisfied to hear this news.

This time they came to Yanjing and gained a lot. In addition to Zhou Yan, he also interviewed many people, including directors such as Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, and writers such as Yu Hua.

Although these people are far less famous than Zhou Yan in Neon, they are by no means unknown, and they can be regarded as Zhou Yan's surroundings.

A careful study will reveal that these people have witnessed Zhou Yan's growth in all aspects along the way.

Zhou Yan first appeared in the movie "Raise the Red Lantern" in which he participated. The director of this movie was Zhang Yimou.

Later, he composed music for movies such as "Letter from Heaven" and "Farewell My Concubine". Then he became a director himself, made feature films, and released theme albums.

In just a few years, Zhou Yan has achieved unparalleled results. It seems that the time is short, but he has been very solid step by step.

When studying Zhou Yan, Hori Kitaro was also amazed. In five years, Zhou Yan wrote, directed, and composed three movies and released three theme music albums.

In addition, he also composed music for many movies and TV series.

After asking the questions, Hori Kitaro stood up and said goodbye, "Mr. Zhou Yan, thank you for taking the time to accept my interview today. I will not bother you any more."

Zhou Yan looked at the time and said with a smile, "Lunch time is almost up. Don't leave in a hurry. Stay and have lunch before leaving. Eat in the studio cafeteria."

Hori Kitaro smiled, "Does your studio cafeteria have noodles with soybean paste?"

"Well, sometimes there are."

"Ms. Kudo mentioned the noodles with soybean paste in your studio cafeteria more than once in an interview. She said that whenever she comes to Yanjing, she must come to your studio just to eat noodles with soybean paste. Now many Japanese people are very curious about how delicious your noodles with soybean paste are, including me."

Zhou Yan smiled. Shizuka, this clever little ghost, actually found an excuse for herself to come to the studio.

"If you're curious, ask the chef to make some for lunch. I haven't eaten for a long time."

"Then I'll obey your orders."

...

After the release of "The Chorus" in the mainland, it received a very good response, both in terms of market performance and word of mouth.

However, the specific box office data will not be available for a while, and Zhou Yan didn't pay much attention to it.

Because during this period, he still has a lot of things to do.

The rehearsal of the Spring Festival Gala will start in 20 days, and their rehearsal tasks have increased. However, most of the time they still rehearse in the concert hall of the folk music orchestra, because now the rehearsal is getting closer and closer, and the studio schedule is getting harder and harder to arrange, and other programs are competing for time.

Moreover, compared with those language and dance programs, Zhou Yan's program also has to give way. It's not that those programs are more important, but those programs do need to be rehearsed in the studio.

The movement and fixed point of those programs are particularly important, unlike their music performance, which actually has a similar place and can be adjusted roughly.

…

As soon as "The Chorus" was released, the box office performance was very good, and the reason why it had a good start was mainly because of the fame of Zhou Yan and Li Xuejian.

And because "The Sixth Sense" was a small hit in North America some time ago, the audience was very much looking forward to Zhou Yan's new movie.

This was within Zhou Yan's expectations, but he thought that "The Chorus" would not have much stamina, because now domestic audiences have begun to pursue blockbusters and are not very passionate about such warm movies.

But what Zhou Yan did not expect was that a week later, the box office data of "The Chorus" did not drop too obviously, and it was still very strong.

On January 15, 25 days after the movie was released in mainland China, the box office of "The Chorus" reached 48.5 million yuan.

When Zhou Yan heard this data, he was shocked, because it completely exceeded his expectations.

In fact, the statistics of the data are lagging, which means that the box office of "The Chorus" is likely to have exceeded 50 million, and the movie has not been taken off the screen, so there is still room for growth in the future.

The box office exceeded 50 million, which means that the box office of "The Chorus" exceeded "Sunny Days" and became the third in the mainland movie box office rankings in 1995.

And in front of it are "True Lies" with a box office of 103 million, and "Rumble in the Bronx" with a box office of 95 million.

Both of these are imported movies. If only non-imported movies are counted, "The Chorus" is the first.

At the end of last year, after "The Fugitive" was introduced, the effect was very good. This year, ten movies were introduced, and these ten imported blockbusters performed very well.

Originally, there were six imported blockbusters in the top ten, including "The Lion King", "Speed", "Bad Boys" and so on.

Because of the entry of "The Chorus", "Bad Boys" which was originally ranked 10th has moved to 11th place, becoming a close friend of "Forrest Gump" which was ranked 12th.

It is also because of the entry of "The Chorus" that the number of mainland movies and imported blockbusters in the top ten is evenly matched. (End of this chapter)