The Best Director

Chapter 157: The Big Three Will Soon Be

When “Sweetheart” was officially released, followed by Jessica’s 21st birthday celebrations in May, Wang Yang immersed himself in the editing work for “District 9”. He spent most of his time eating, drinking, and sleeping in the editing studio, prompting editor Lee Smith to joke, “We’ve been quarantined.

The rough cut of “District 9” spanned over 4 hours, and the current task was to trim it down to a theatrical version of about 120 minutes from the 4-hour footage and the footage library.

From the landing of the alien spacecraft in Los Angeles to the transformation of human attitudes, to the story of relocation and transformation. Over 800 special effects shots would be evenly distributed, striving for an effect that’s “satisfying” for the audience.

The allocation of special effects shots is crucial. It’s something to consider when creating the storyboard. Why do some big-budget special effects films feel lackluster? It seems as if a lot of money is spent, but there are only one or two battle scenes, while the rest are as hollow as a DV movie. It’s because the special effects shots are not arranged reasonably, failing to continuously stimulate the audience’s sensory nerves; whereas some low-budget productions can be quite comfortable and memorable because they seamlessly integrate the story, spending money and special effects shots in the right places.

While Wang Yang was working tirelessly on the editing of “District 9”, the first week of the 2002 summer box office season, May 3rd to May 9th, also came to an end. Without any surprises, “Spider-Man”, which opened in the first week, dominated the box office with $151 million, like a depth charge exploding the calm sea of summer, breaking several North American box office records, including $110 million opening weekend, fastest to $100 million (3 days), and fastest to $150 million (7 days).

Ranked second on the weekly chart was “Sweetheart” in its second week of release, taking in another $20.58 million under the near-monopolistic market presence of the juggernaut “Spider-Man”, with a total box office of $50.22 million, meeting Flame Film’s expectations. Taking third place that week was “The Scorpion King” with $8.79 million.

As the new week of May 10th to May 16th began, several films had major openings, including Fox Company’s “Unfaithful” in 2617 theaters, Sony’s “The New Guy”, a high school comedy starring Eliza Dushku and Zoe Deschanel in 2687 theaters, and Flame Film’s “Ice Age”, a family animation film in 3012 theaters.

In September 1999, Flame Film acquired Blue Sky Studios for $100 million, with $65 million being used for the production of “Ice Age”. The deal caused uproar in the industry with many media commenting “Magical Yang has gone crazy”. The reason was simple: Flame Film’s acquisition was not rehearsed, even if it wasn’t biting off more than it could chew. CG animated films are not everyone’s game, with their exceedingly long production cycles demanding stable financial support. A characteristic of CG animated films is that they can incur heavy losses, and could a small independent company like Flame Film maintain the financial bloodstream?

There are many companies and studios capable of producing CG animated films, as animators and technology engines are not difficult to find. But in recent years, how many big companies have become discouraged and heartbroken in this field? Initially, 20th Century Fox, which intended to acquire Blue Sky Studios, made the $75 million “Frozen Planet” on its own, which ended up with a global box office of only $36 million. After this disastrous loss, Fox promptly dissolved its animation department and has not planned any new animated films since.

That’s because the market for CG animated films is unpredictable. Everyone knows the formula “family, children, comedy”, but the execution is key—what kind of story, characters, and cartoon imagery? Maybe you grasp the market’s taste in ’99, but by the time of release in ’02, what was popular with kids in ’99 might be outdated and unappealing, making them turn their heads away.

Capital, technology, story, and accurate market insight… Currently, only Pixar (distributed by Disney’s Buena Vista) and DreamWorks excel in all these areas.

In May 2000, Disney self-produced “Dinosaur” with a budget of $127 million and grossed $340 million worldwide; while profitable, it was mostly thanks to the “Disney” brand effect. “Dinosaur” was criticized by audiences, making Disney cautious about further ventures and focusing instead on collaborations with Pixar. In December 2001, the film “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius”, produced by DNA with an investment and distribution by Paramount for $30 million, had grossed over $90 million globally. It seemed profitable, but after including promotional costs, it’s not hard to see why Paramount discontinued its partnership with DNA.

So how was Blue Sky Studios faring? Over the last three years, the exuberant Flame Film, far from failing or incurring losses and debt, robustly produced one box-office hit after another, invested heavily in producing low-budget independent films, and was becoming a leading independent film studio. Its support for Blue Sky was naturally sufficient, and it even established the I&B Technology Research and Development Company.

Thus, “Ice Age” was produced in a stable and favorable environment. But what sets Blue Sky apart from smaller companies like DNA? What strengths does it have to share the CG animated film market with giants like Pixar and DreamWorks? Did Magical Yang and Flame Film spend $100 million on a toy? All movie companies were watching this animated film closely.

20th Century Fox naturally hoped that it would be collectively scorned by audiences and lose even its underwear, just like “Frozen Planet”; Pixar and DreamWorks would not offer any blessings either, as they didn’t want to see a new competitor emerge; Paramount, Warner Brothers, and other major studios watched with indifference—if “Ice Age” succeeded, it would open many more paths to successful CG animated movies and reveal more secrets to success; if it failed, well, welcome to the camp of failures!

Regardless of how the outside world viewed it, Fireworks Pictures and Blue Sky Studios had been quietly working away, and the promotion of “Ice Age” had already begun. After a long period of negotiation, McDonald’s still rejected the various collaborative proposals put forth by Fireworks Pictures, such as the “Ice Age Combo,” because McDonald’s was a marketing partner with Disney, which, as the distributor of Pixar films, was not going to stand idly by.

However, without McDonald’s, an animated film still had a variety of promotion methods, and obviously, Disney did not have the power to monopolize the entire United States.

Besides the standard promotional package of “posters + TV + events, Fireworks Pictures simply sought collaboration with several brands that held significant market shares, such as potato chips, beverages, and even dog and cat food, all of which featured packaging with “Ice Age” characters like the squirrel, the woolly mammoth, and the saber-tooth tiger, and organized various raffle events with prizes ranging from a complete set of toy collectibles, to digital cameras, laptops, and even a sports car; plus premiere tickets.

Wang Yang did not give up on the “crown jewel” of viral marketing—by the end of last year, he had his Fire Seed Game Company develop a casual “Ice Age” game, which was launched on the Internet at the beginning of February this year. Users could download it for free from the official website. This game, “Squirrel Collects Fruit,” with its clean, beautiful interface and simple yet fun gameplay, immediately received praise from many netizens as soon as it went live.

Now that all the work was done, it was time to reap the fruits. Would they be sweet or sour? On May 10th, as night fell over North America, “Ice Age” landed in a comprehensive rollout across 3,012 cinemas in cities large and small.

The dimly lit theater with a capacity of 500 people was packed, and bursts of laughter rang out from time to time from the audience—a mix of children’s innocence and adults’ maturity. Many viewers were parents who brought their kids to the cinema to spend a joyful Friday evening. And it seemed this prehistoric animation did not disappoint them, living up to its slogan “The- Coolest-Event-In-i6,ooo-Years.”

The story mainly revolved around the dangerous Ice Age and an unexpectedly abandoned human baby, which brought together Manny, the kind yet sarcastic woolly mammoth, Sid the gluttonous ground sloth, and Diego, the ferocious saber-tooth tiger. The trio very reluctantly joined forces to return the infant to his father. But aspiring to be heroes was not so easy; along the way, they confronted numerous risks and even conspiracies.

On the big screen, a woolly mammoth used its trunk to lift a cute little baby onto a high branch on the edge of a cliff. The baby laughed with joy and playfulness, and the mammoth said, “The owls are going to eat you! Hmm, you’re quite brave for a little rascal.” At that moment, the scene switched, and a giant ground sloth scampered in. Upon seeing a saber-tooth tiger ahead, it quickly exclaimed, “Thank heaven, thank heaven! Oh no… a tiger, a tiger!” It waved backwards, pleading for help, and shouted, “Help, help—”

Hearing Sid’s comically exaggerated voice acting, the entire audience burst into laughter once again, with many children imitating Sid’s movements and tones, laughing merrily, “Help, help!”

It looks like she’s having a lot of fun.” In one of the seats, Joe Dougert looked at his 6-year-old daughter, whose little face was filled with smiles as she joyfully kicked her legs, mimicking Sid’s words. He couldn’t help but give a thumbs up to his wife sitting on the other side of his daughter, saying, “Good choice.” His wife, Gillian, shrugged with a smile, touching their daughter’s blonde hair, saying, “It was your daughter’s choice.”

The movie’s advertisement was on the packaging of the potato chips they always bought, and then their daughter Lorna began clamoring to see these prehistoric animals.

Watching Sid and Diego trick two rhinoceroses and the three animals set off on their journey again, Joe Dougert was also captivated by the fun and witty story on the big screen, thinking to himself, “I didn’t expect Fireworks Pictures’ animations to be pretty good too. And what was that company’s name? Blue Sky?”

The laughter continued to resonate in the theaters of all 3,012 cinemas, with both adults and children finding the film more and more interesting, enjoyable, and engaging as they watched. The theaters hosting premiers were no exception, as both regular movie-goers with an enjoyment mindset and critical reviewers with discerning tastes were amused to smiling faces, immersed in watching, as if they had been taken back to the prehistoric Ice Age.

In the front row, right in the middle of the audience, sat the creators of “Ice Age,” including Blue Sky CEO and Director Chris Wedge, Co-Director Carlos Saldanha; voice actors Ray Romano, Denis Leary, Jack Black, and others; and as stars invited to boost morale, as investors and popular idols, Wang Yang attended hand in hand with Jessica. Each person was smartly dressed in handsome tuxedos and beautiful evening gowns.

Hahaha.” Listening to the light laughter in the theater and looking at the adorable scenes on the big screen, Jessica remembered something and couldn’t help glancing at Wang Yang beside her. He had said, “This is a gift prepared for our daughter. The animations from Blue Sky Studios will accompany her as she grows, giving her a wonderful childhood.” If Juno had indeed come into this world, she would have been three years old by now, able to sit right between them, with the family watching and laughing together.

Imagining that beautiful scene, she suddenly smiled, looking at him with a happy face, wondering whether he would call their daughter “baby? Sweetheart? Or…” Noticing her odd expression, Wang Yang asked, “What’s wrong? Do I have something dirty on my face?” Jessica shook her head with a smile, her eyes returning to the silver screen, and laughed, “No, nothing.”

Wang Yang smiled, pleased to see the audience so engaged with “Ice Age.” The animation’s success was all but assured—a summer hit for Flame Films! He looked toward Chris Wedge next to him and quietly laughed, “Chris, maybe we should start thinking about Blue Sky Studio’s next step.”

Oh?” Chris Wedge was taken aback by the remark. The film had just been released, and it was too early to tell what its results would be. Although he was confident, he feared this could be a second “Frozen Planet.” Such an outcome could lead to mass layoffs at Flame Films, with Blue Sky regressing to a small studio producing TV commercials and animation effects…

That was certainly not what he wanted to see. Recently, he had been losing sleep and had even had the same nightmare several times, where the newspaper read, “Flame Films announces Blue Sky Studios up for sale at a low price.” But now, this young man was talking about the next plan!? And he didn’t seem to be joking. Chris Wedge was uncertain as he inquired, “You mean the next CG animated film?”

Of course! What else could Blue Sky be doing, catering?” Wang Yang laughed heartily, causing Jessica, Carlos Saldanha, and others nearby to look curiously in his direction. He apologized, “Sorry!” Lowering his voice, he added to Chris Wedge, “I think it’s time for Blue Sky to expand. 500 people are really too few because we’re going to produce two films at the same time.”

Chris Wedge was again startled. Two films? Even if “Ice Age” was a major hit, there was no guarantee that Blue Sky Studios wouldn’t mess up any film. No company dared make such a claim, so they were extremely cautious with every plan. Holding up two fingers, he asked, “Two films?”

Yes,” Wang Yang nodded. The way to rapidly grow Blue Sky Studios was to invest money. Whatever “Ice Age” made would be invested straight into Blue Sky’s account to initiate new projects. After some thought, he said, “We’ll make ‘Ice Age’ into a series, 2, 3, 4, 5… going on until it’s time to end. ‘Ice Age 2′ is one plan; as for the second plan, well, I don’t know, but we can all start thinking about it.”

Seeing his serious expression, Chris Wedge was finally convinced this was no joke. This young man never joked about such matters, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Two films? Two films!”

Taking a deep breath, he laughed and added, “Do you know why I didn’t go to Pixar, even though I could have become a partner? Because I don’t want CG animation monopolized by anyone. But that’s precisely what Pixar now wants to do…” He suddenly felt full of confidence for the future, declaring firmly, “Monopoly? No! Not by Pixar, not by DreamWorks, not by Blue Sky.”

That’s cool!” Wang Yang laughed and patted Wedge’s shoulder, gazing at the woolly mammoth and other animals on the big screen, and muttered, “Soon it will be a three-giant race.”

Jessica, who had heard their entire conversation, couldn’t help but smile sweetly. Would people still call him “crazy”?

When the 90 minutes of film finished playing, a thunderous wave of applause erupted from the audience of over a thousand guests in the theater, so loud that it drowned out the upbeat score. As the credits rolled on the screen, Wang Yang, Chris Wedge, and others all stood and clapped, turning to thank the film fans and audience. After the credits finished rolling, the screen displayed the logos of Flame Films and Blue Sky Studios, and under the beautiful pastoral scenery, moths and butterflies danced joyfully together, flying towards the blue sky.

This is a good movie for all ages, featuring a collection of adorable prehistoric animals that are a real eye-opener.” — The Washington Post; “If you always complain that the story is too thin, then you’re missing out on a movie that is very interesting, full of wisdom and happiness.” — Michael Dequina, Movie Threat; “It might not make your jaw drop in surprise, but it will warm your heart, and I strongly give it a thumbs-up!” — Richard Roeper, the famous movie review show Ebert & Roeper.

After the release of Ice Age, movie fans and critics alike rushed to share their impressions on the internet and through various media outlets. The IMDb user rating quickly rose to five digits, with an average score of 7.8, a grade worthy of being called a classic; Rotten Tomatoes collected over 160 reviews from the critical community, reaching a freshness of 80%, and there was nothing but praise all around.

Adorable, warm, touching, witty, humorous.” These five words from The New York Times encapsulate the key reasons many critics gave positive reviews. They generally agreed that although Ice Age’s techniques seemed rough and the story a bit cliched and weak, lacking profundity, overall it was “not in the same league as competitors like Pixar and DreamWorks.” However, they praised its endearing characters, entertaining dialogues, and voice acting, and it conveyed warmth, making “a pleasant and friendly family journey.”

The 20% of reviews that fell into the rotten category zoomed in on the technical and storytelling shortcomings.

Visually unappealing, the story is so dull it’s unbearable, with not the slightest bit of surprise and only a handful of cheap laughs.” — Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review; “I don’t want to say Ice Age lacks beautiful imagery, but the problem is, it has no story, it doesn’t truly tell about the life and story of Ice Age animals.” — Alex Sandler, The New Era; “It’s almost at the primitive stage of digital technology; is this really a CG movie? Prehistoric CG film?” — Jeffrey Lyons, Window on Movies.

It was common knowledge that Blue Sky Studios’ technology was rough, which explained why back then no one was interested in acquiring it, and why Flame Film was laughed at for investing one hundred million dollars thinking they’d found a treasure with stereotypes and warm humor to some, boring and dull to others… Looking only at that 20% of reviews, it would seem like Ice Age was doomed, worse off than Frozen Planet, just another film to be trashed immediately.

But what was the result? A 7.8 score and 80% freshness without any inflated numbers, all reflected at the box office. With these “primitive technologies” and “cheap laughs,” Ice Age madly hauled in 51 million US dollars in opening weekend box office! Ultimately, how much did Frozen Planet make globally? 36 million.

No matter what the critics said, the hearts of many movie company bosses and CEOs started to flutter; they now knew that Wang Yang and Flame Film “really did find a treasure!” Ice Age was yet another dark horse that would shine brilliantly.

When the week of May 10-16 came to an end, Ice Age indeed slapped those who had once sarcastically said “a hundred million for a toy” hard in the face, pulling in 62.73 million dollars in box office receipts in a week’s time, ranking second on the North American weekly box office chart. Continuing to take the champion position was Spider-Man, the superhero blockbuster this week sweeping 82 million dollars; and in third place was Star Wars: Episode ?– Attack of the Clones, having a limited premiere and earning 30.14 million dollars in box office receipts.

In its third week, Sweetheart brought in another 12.03 million dollars, reaching a total of 62.25 million; other films struggled a bit, with new releases Unfaithful and The New Guy collecting only 9-4 million and 5.08 million respectively, and those below sixth place were even more pitiful, mostly only earning a million or several hundred thousand dollars in box office receipts.

This isn’t surprising, as those wanting to see visual effects spectaculars chose Spider-Man, and Star Wars fans were practically ready to storm the movie theaters, pointing guns at the owners’ heads saying, “Show it today!”; families looking for a weekend treat had the best choice in Ice Age; young people wanting to watch a teen idol film bought tickets for Sweetheart. The New Guy? Does it have Wang Yang? No, but it does have the leading lady from Idle Hands, and one of the major supporting actors from High School Musical, Zoe Deschanel.

The performance of Ice Age naturally excited everyone at Flame Filin and Blue Sky Studios; it also highlighted the melancholy state of Fox Company in the field of CG animation films. Hardcore fans of Flame Film unearthed old news reports online, with Fox spokesperson James Finn saying, “It’s quite regrettable that Blue Sky didn’t join Fox, but we already have an excellent animation department, and Frozen Planet will be coming out next year…”

This fan named Minor commented, “If Fox had matched the one hundred million dollar deal back then, Blue Sky would have not chosen Flame Film; now all they can do is beat their chests in regret.”