China Entertainment started from Nortel 96

Chapter 175 "Hero" and Goodbye Zhang Ziyi

"Combined with martial arts?"

"Although Qin Shihuang's life was magnificent and there were many stories to tell, his stories are very familiar to the audience. Since the story of Qin Shihuang is chosen, since it is new wine in old bottles, it needs to be innovative and novel, so as to attract the audience. So I think it’s very good to combine it with martial arts.”

What Qi Wei said earlier makes sense, but it is combined with martial arts.
Zhang Weiping couldn't help looking at Lao Mouzi, and the two looked at each other.

Martial arts movies are a very popular theme in movies, but at this time, no one in the mainland dares to try.

One of the reasons is that mainland filmmakers have no advantage in making martial arts films. Martial arts films have flourished in Hong Kong, where filmmakers have rich experience in making martial arts films, and they are leading in terms of shooting technology and action creativity.

If you want to make a good martial arts film, you need to hire a film team from Hong Kong City.

Of course, this is not a problem in today's environment where Hong Kong filmmakers go north.

In fact, the most fundamental reason why I dare not try it is that I have no confidence in martial arts films.

In 94, after Wang Sunglasses filmed "Evil in the West" and suffered Waterloo at the box office, he directly made the investors want to cry without tears. Since then, martial arts movies have shown a trend of sunset.

Later, some film companies also tried martial arts movies, but the box office was not satisfactory, and they were basically losing money.

Naturally, no one does business at a loss, and no one is willing to invest, and there are fewer and fewer martial arts films.

But after sunset comes sunrise.

Martial arts films are popular for a period of time, and unpopular for a while. The popularity of martial arts has a cycle.

Qi Wei discovered this from studying the history of film development in Hong Kong.

The last round of martial arts craze started with Xu Ke's new martial arts movie, and it was also cold in the middle, and now it is a new cycle.

"This year, there is a movie "Fengyun" released in Hong Kong City. I don't know if you two have noticed. champion."

If the box office of 4000 million was the hottest period of Hong Kong movies in the past few years, it is very likely that it would not win the box office championship, but in the era when Hong Kong movies are starting to fade away, it basically becomes a small existence.

"But this is not a martial arts movie in the general sense." Zhang Weiping said.

"This should be considered a fantasy martial arts movie, but anyway, this movie proves that today's audience can accept martial arts movies."

Still waiting for the two replies, Qi Wei went on to say: "I don't know if you have noticed the TV drama market, my film and television company is in the TV drama industry, and I have done research on the TV drama market.

Nowadays, in the domestic TV drama market, martial arts dramas are the most popular subject matter. No matter how bad your filming is, there will always be audiences who will buy it, and the ratings will not be low.

My film and television company is also preparing a martial arts TV series.

My film and television company did a market survey and found a very interesting problem. Teenagers like me who grew up in the 70s or 80s will more or less come into contact with martial arts novels by Jin Yong, Gu Long and others during their growth. , This has long planted a seed in their hearts, and each of them has a martial arts dream in their hearts.

Now, they have grown up when they were young, and the seeds planted at the beginning have begun to bear fruit, and this will lead to a new round of martial arts dreams.

The martial arts fever is not only for TV series, they are also very eager for martial arts movies. "

In fact, from Shaw Brothers martial arts in the 70s and 90s to Xu Ke's new martial arts in the early 20s, this cycle lasted for more than [-] years.

However, from Xu Ke's new martial arts in the early 90s to the popularity of martial arts blockbusters in the early millennium, the cycle of this cycle was quickly shortened to within ten years.

One of the most important reasons for this is that the Chinese film market has begun to shift to the mainland, and it has begun to focus on the preferences of mainland audiences, which coincides with the popularity of martial arts in the mainland.

Qi Wei's words made the two of them fall into thinking, and Zhang Weiping soon agreed with Qi Wei's words, but he still had a problem.

"Your idea is very novel, but the problem is that if you make a martial arts blockbuster according to your idea, the investment may exceed [-] million yuan, and the mainland market will not be able to repay the cost."

Knowing the standard answer, Qi Wei raised the corners of his mouth, showing a confident smile, and then replied: "Martial arts movies are also a genre of Chinese movies that foreign audiences like, especially martial arts movies that are cloaked in history can arouse their interest. Mr. Zhang, if you do an investigation, you will be able to find this out."

These words caused Zhang Weiping to fall into silence. Interested, he prepared to go back and made an investigation to see the feasibility of this matter.

Qi Wei continued: "Of course, if this movie wants to sell well, it needs internationally renowned movie stars to participate in it. If the leading role can attract big brother Long or Li Lianjie, then the movie will be half successful."

"The salary of the two of them is not low. If they are invited to participate in the show, I'm afraid the investment of [-] million won't work."

The temple in Hong Kong is too small to accommodate the Buddha. If the elder brother Long and Li Lianjie go to Hollywood to develop, as they become more and more successful, their net worth will also rise with the tide.

Now looking for big brother Long to make a movie requires at least tens of millions of dollars in salary, even if he makes a movie with his old club Golden Harvest, the investment will be hundreds of millions.

And Li Lianjie is a little inferior, but his filming in Hollywood costs several million dollars, and tens of millions in conversion, even if he makes a domestic film for a friendly price, it will not be less. How many.

After all, where the status is, at least tens of millions.

In later generations, when Lao Mouzi was preparing for "Hero", he spent more than 7000 million yuan on actors' remuneration alone, which also made the investment in the entire film reach a terrifying 2.6 million yuan.

2.6 million, at the beginning of the millennium when the investment of domestic commercial blockbusters was controlled within [-] million yuan, just think about how terrifying it is.

"If the investment of [-] million can't be done, then [-] million."

Qi Wei couldn't help looking at Lao Mouzi, "I believe in Director Zhang's ability to manage such a blockbuster, and he will definitely succeed."

Zhang Weiping thought that Lao Mouzi belonged to him, and Qi Wei trusted him so much, so he had no reason not to trust him. In addition, Qi Wei spoke clearly and honestly, so there was indeed a high possibility.

In addition, Zhang Weiping originally wanted to make a commercial blockbuster for Lao Mouzi, and to make a commercial blockbuster, naturally the bigger the gimmick, the better.

And a blockbuster film with an investment of more than [-] million yuan is the biggest gimmick.

This made Zhang Weiping a little eager to move, and began to have the idea of ​​​​be eager to try.

He also began to examine Qi Weilai again.

From the beginning I heard the story of "Manjianghong" from Lao Mouzi, and this story was heard from Qi Wei, and then this story led to a martial arts blockbuster.

Zhang Weiping has already suspected that Qi Wei himself is a drunkard who doesn't care about drinking. He has long wanted to make a martial arts blockbuster, and he deliberately lured himself into the bait.

If so, it would be a little scary.

"You want to make a blockbuster martial arts movie about Qin Shihuang, but do you have a complete story?" Zhang Weiping inquired.

"I don't have a complete story, but I already have a general idea. If Mr. Zhang is interested, after I finish filming "My Father and Mother", I will ask the company's team to write the first version of the script for this story. "

It will take about a month for Qi Wei to film "My Father and Mother", which is enough time for Zhang Weiping to do market research.

"At that time, I hope Mr. Zhang and Director Zhang can point out the shortcomings and improve the script."

"Wait, you two have talked so much, why don't you ask me for my opinion, why don't you ask me if I want to make this movie." At this moment, Lao Mouzi interjected.

"Because Mr. Zhang can definitely convince you."

Qi Weigang laughed after finishing speaking, and then said: "It's just a joke, I know that Director Zhang also has a martial arts dream in his heart, otherwise he wouldn't have acted in the movie "The Love of Terracotta Warriors Between Ancient and Modern Wars", I am here to help you A martial arts dream."

Finally, Qi Wei added with a serious face, "I also hope that Director Zhang can realize my martial arts dream."

Lao Mouzi smiled and replied, "Then I'm looking forward to your script."

"So you agree."

Lao Mouzi glanced at Zhang Weiping, then nodded.

Then Zhang Weiping asked Qi Wei: "I don't know what your martial arts story is called?"

""Hero"" Qi Wei replied very simply.

And this made Zhang Weiping really sure that Qi Wei came prepared, and he didn't dare to underestimate Qi Wei anymore.

But in fact, the project "Hero" is not what Zhang Weiping thought.

It should be said that this was a whim prepared by Qi Wei.

Because in later generations, Qi Wei once read a piece of news that Lao Mouzi started preparing for this project four years before "Heroes" started.

And "Hero" was launched in 2001, that is to say, at this time, there is probably already this script.

And "Hero" is another very successful film project.

Qi Wei's original idea was to successfully hook up with Lao Mouzi in the filming of "My Father and Mother", and then see if it is possible to invest in this movie to get a share.

But when Zhang Weiping and Qi Wei talked about wanting to make a commercial blockbuster for Lao Mouzi and use their own "Man Jianghong" story.

Only then did Qi Wei realize that he might be wrong, and the news that he saw at the beginning may not be true.

More likely, it was because of the great success of Li An's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" that they saw the huge potential of martial arts blockbusters, and "Hero" was a follow-up martial arts work.

Realizing this, Qi Wei instantly changed his mind.

According to the original idea, "Hero" is a project of Zhang Weiping's company, and if I want to invest in and get a share, I have to look at other people's faces and get their consent. .

But since they don't have this project now, if they propose this project and become the initiator of this project, then they have the initiative. If this project can be as successful as later generations, not only will they earn more than their original idea If there are many, it can also make himself and his film and television company famous all over the world, and completely establish his position in the circle.

True fame and fortune.

Since Zhang Weiping and the others don't have this project yet, and this project can bring them both fame and fortune, why didn't Qi Wei start it himself, and persuade Zhang Weiping to cooperate together.

The reason is very simple, everyone contributes more firewood.

For the blockbuster "Hero" of later generations, from the preparation of the film to the selection of actors, the anti-theft work when the film was released, and the return of domestic and foreign funds at the end, it is the result of concerted efforts everywhere.

Without so many investors and producers working together, this film would not have achieved such high achievements.

Eating alone doesn't work.

Not only in the entertainment industry, but in all walks of life.

Let's make the cake bigger together, and just get a large piece of it.

That being the case, it is cooperation with whomever you cooperate with, so why seek Zhang Weiping?

It's simple, because he has an old schemer.

Movies are the art of directors, and the success of "Heroes" in later generations cannot be separated from Lao Mouzi.

Today, there are only a few mainland directors who are internationally influential, such as Chen Dadao and Lao Mouzi.

If movies want to sell at a high price abroad, they really need their influence.

Among these major directors, only a few have tried to make commercial films, and even fewer can manage such commercial blockbusters.

As for Director Chen, he just "screwed up" a commercial blockbuster. If he is allowed to direct this movie, with his current arbitrary style in the crew, it is very likely that "A Tragedy Caused by a Steamed Bun" will be staged in advance .

He has already started to let himself go when he filmed the TV series "Lu Bu and Diao Chan" at the beginning of the millennium.

No one can find him.

As for the others, they are not as reliable as Lao Mouzi.

Then why not expand the selection of directors to Hong Kong, Taiwan and even the world.

Because Qi Wei is worried about them, at this time the mainland capital is regarded as a winner by the Hong Kong and Taiwan film and television circles, Qi Wei does not want to be a big water pipe for them to deceive and abduct.

Or Lao Mouzi is the correct choice.

So it is more appropriate to cooperate with Zhang Weiping.

Seeing that Zhang and Zhang already had the idea of ​​cooperating, and now Qi Wei and their relationship is in the honeymoon period, Qi Wei suddenly thought of something.

Then he said: "I heard that Mr. Zhang's company has already established a distribution channel in Xiaobenzi. Is there such a thing?"

Zhang Weiping nodded and replied, "It's thanks to Lao Mouzi's reputation."

This is the embodiment of the reputation of an international director.

The investment of "My Father and Mother" that Lao Mouzi is currently making has exceeded tens of millions, and such a relatively literary film cannot recover this investment in China.

Even a director like Lao Mouzi can't do it, because the subject matter is not popular.

Zhang Weiping's investment in Lao Mouzi's film is more because he wants to sell the film internationally to recover the cost or even make a profit.

And Zhang Weiping also has a certain sensitivity to the market, and he also feels that this kind of family and love literary and artistic movies can be popular in Xiaobenzi.

He set up a distribution channel in Xiaobenzi to sell the movie to Xiaobenzi.

In fact, from the memory of later generations, Qi Wei knew that "My Father and Mother" had a good box office in the small book, and it was second only to Qi Wei's "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" in the small book.

"Mr. Zhang should know that before I joined the group, I filmed "The Mountain, That Man, That Dog" directed by Huo Jianqi. This is a movie invested and produced by our company. This movie may not be so popular in China, so I I want to sell it abroad through Mr. Zhang’s company channel.”

"This is no problem." Zhang Weiping agreed very readily.

"Then thank you, Mr. Zhang."

The reason why Zhang Weiping agreed so readily was because he had the idea of ​​co-developing the "Hero" project with Qi Wei.

Another reason is that Qi Wei has already sold him a good deal.

Through the box office performance of "Love in the Internet Age" exceeding [-] million, Qi Wei has proved his film market appeal.

Qi Wei's participation can make a movie more than a few million at the box office, and the 20 yuan that Lao Mouzi offered Qi Wei at the beginning is not appropriate.

Qi Wei hasn't joined the group yet, so he has the capital to renegotiate the treatment.

Raising prices from the ground may have an impact on the reputation of other actors, but this will not affect Qi Wei, who has become a capital.

It is not too much to ask for a salary of millions, because before the crew invited Qi Wei to make a movie and offered a higher salary.

But Qi Wei didn't do that.

We were almost done chatting with Zhang Weiping and the others, and a ghostly girl appeared out of nowhere.

"Qi Wei, you're here." She smiled happily and shouted to Qi Wei.

Qi Wei turned around and saw that it was Zhang Ziyi.

(End of this chapter)