The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 653 Broken Jade
Beijing, Faraway Media.

"Crack!"

Zhang Bowen tapped the space bar, and on the big screen in the conference room, "The Founding of a Republic" froze at a certain scene.

"Please look, everyone. Chiang Kai-shek's office in Shanghai is the former site of the Bank of Communications."

Wu Lang and others looked and saw that, yes, the logo of "Bank of Communications" was clearly visible in the movie.

“This is one of DMG’s operations. When Han Sanping was filming The Founding of a Republic, he had no shortage of investment, and he himself had no intention of letting DMG have a share.

With a sophisticated advertising placement strategy, Xiao Wen Ge got the investment ticket for "The Founding of a Republic".

Zhang Bowen stood in front of the screen, his lenses shining, and talked incessantly.

Cheng Er held the DMG-related information tightly in his hand and looked up at the screen from time to time.

"Border Storm" is about to be released, and he has been frequently appearing in the media these days with Deng Chao and other main creators.

He is well aware that among the films invested by Yuanfang Media, his own film currently has the lowest box office potential.

"Seattle", which was released at the beginning of the year, starred Tang Wei and was full of controversy. "See You Tomorrow", which was released in June, was directed by Han Han, who has a large number of book fans and has been arguing with Guo Jingming.

Only his movies have a cast that is not topical and he himself is not well-known enough.

Thanks to the investment gimmick of Yuanfang Media, "Border" is quite popular, but it is still a long way behind "Seattle".

Originally all the publicity was going on as planned, but unexpectedly negative public opinion about "Iron Man 3" suddenly erupted.

Publicity Director Zhang Bowen suddenly had an idea and quickly called everyone to the company to discuss new publicity ideas.

The information shows that there are three investors in "Iron Man 3", namely Walt Disney, Marvel Studios, and Chinese investor DMG Entertainment Media.

According to Zhang Bowen, DMG was initially a leader in the advertising and public relations industry.

Over the past decade, DMG has won all the major awards in the industry, including the American Summit Advertising Award, the Cannes Advertising Gold Award, and nominations for the London International Advertising Award.

Its customer base has also expanded from the initial Jialing Motorcycle to internationally renowned brands such as BMW, Audi, Nike, NBA, FAW-Volkswagen, and China Mobile.

When the number of movie screens in China exceeded 5000, DMG entered the film market, and "Founding of a Republic" was the first film they invested in.

Zhang Bowen continued, "According to my investigation, DMG was co-founded by Xiao Wen Ge, Dan Mitz, and Wu Bing. Dan Mitz officially announced that he was a director from Hollywood, and Wu Bing was a national gymnastics champion in the 1980s. After retiring, he rose and fell in Hong Kong."

He paused for a few seconds and clicked on the profile of one of them. "The person I want to focus on is Xiao Wenge. His background is a mystery. It is said that he comes from a military family and has worked in the government and the army. Such people usually represent energy and connections, but Xiao Wenge has a special hobby, he likes to go to Macau."

"Macau?" Wu Lang raised his eyebrows.

As Faraway Media's business continues to expand, he has met all kinds of people and is well aware of many unknown inside stories. If it comes to money transfer, Macau is undoubtedly an extremely special and sensitive place.

"Yes, I heard that this guy likes gambling and is a frequent visitor to Macau casinos." Zhang Bowen's expression was equally meaningful.

Cheng Er was a little anxious and said, "Boss Zhang, can you tell me about the specific promotion plan for Border?"

"Okay, Director Cheng can't wait." Zhang Bowen smiled and raised a finger: "We will keep the original ground promotion work unchanged, but in terms of online marketing, it will be closely centered around Iron Man 3."

Cheng Er straightened his back and listened carefully. The performance of "Border" was related to whether his next film could get investment.

Zhang Bowen gently pushed the frame of the camera and talked freely: "At first, Iron Man 3 was planned to be released in the mainland as a co-production, hoping to play tricks on the box office share. Through co-production, overseas film and television companies can enjoy the treatment of domestic films and obtain up to 43% of the box office share.

But last year, the General Administration issued a new policy on co-productions, requiring that the Chinese side must contribute no less than one-third of the capital, that Chinese actors must play the main roles, and that the filming must be done in China. This sudden change caught DMG off guard, and Iron Man 3 lost its qualification as a co-production and could only be changed to a mainland-exclusive film.

"Whether it is a co-production or a cooperative production, it is essentially a harvest of the mainland market by Western film and television companies and domestic capital. Fan Bingbing and Wang Xuexi probably know the inside story. After all, Liu Dehua was originally approached for this film, but Liu Dehua is more shrewd and not so obsessed with Hollywood. He proposed to read the script first, but was rejected, so he did not accept the invitation.

But this double standard behavior is undoubtedly a slap in the face of the Chinese people and is disrespectful to the Chinese people. Now that the mainland film market is booming, what the Chinese people care about most is face. This is a marketing backlash."

"Therefore, Director Cheng might as well establish himself as a patriotic director while maintaining his literary and artistic style. Young netizens are very sensitive to this aspect.

Moreover, "Lost in Thailand" and "New World" have successively broken the 1 billion box office mark, which has shattered the filter of Hollywood blockbusters. The status of Hollywood movies in the hearts of mainland movie fans has gradually declined, just like Hong Kong movies in the past.

At this moment, if Director Cheng steps forward, takes up the banner, and takes the lead in charging towards "Iron Man 3", "Border" will not be expensive, but it will not be afraid of the so-called Hollywood blockbusters. There is only one core, that is, Chinese moviegoers cannot be deceived. Our marketing team will fully cooperate in the rear. "

"Considering DMG Xiao Wen Ge's background, we should not confront him head-on for the time being, and instead target the two overseas companies."

Zhang Bowen looked around at everyone present, clenched his right hand into a fist, and swung it violently: "As long as this process is implemented properly, I think it is not a delusion for "Border" to achieve a box office of hundreds of millions."

His words were so passionate that Cheng Er's heart was filled with emotion.

The total investment of "Border" was less than 2000 million yuan, but it could recover its investment with 6000 million yuan and achieve hundreds of millions of yuan in box office revenue, which he had not dared to imagine before.

He deeply admired Zhang Bowen's marketing ability.

This person is very famous in the industry. From the popular "33 Days of Broken Love" in the early years to the many subsequent blockbuster movies invested by Yuanfang Media with small investments for big returns, he was behind the scenes in charge of the promotion.

Many film and television companies spared no expense or even offered him shares, but none of them succeeded in poaching him from their company.

Despite this, Cheng Er still had concerns: "Mr. Zhang, won't this be too obvious? Netizens can easily see our intentions. Will there really be no problem with public opinion?"

Zhang Wenbo smiled and asked, "Director Cheng, what do you think of the quality of Border? Can it be considered a decent film?"

Cheng Er is very confident: "Of course, after the film was edited, I consulted many people, including teachers from Beijing Film Academy, and everyone gave good feedback."

"In that case, what's wrong with reasonable marketing?"

Zhang Bowen said: "There is nothing wrong with marketing itself, what is wrong is the behavior of passing off inferior products as good ones and filling in the gaps. There is nothing wrong with playing the patriotism card, but what we should worry about is that under the guise of patriotism, people are deceived into believing in the goodwill of netizens, but in fact they are taking advantage of users. "Border" is of high quality, so it should be marketed vigorously. Otherwise, the recent "Drug War" is a living negative example."

The conference room fell into a brief silence.

"I agree!" Wu Lang took the lead in making the decision.

Chen Zhixi followed closely: "I agree too!"

"I agree." "I agree!"

"agree!"

Everyone agreed, and Cheng Er also nodded. For the sake of the box office, he decided to go all out!

He will be a patriotic literary and artistic director with a touch of anger.

Zhang Bowen smiled confidently, "The first step is that Director Cheng needs to post an article on Weibo to state his attitude and stance. I'll send the article to you later. The second step is to advance the release date of Border Storm."

"Advance the file?" Cheng Er was shocked.

"Yes." Zhang Bowen nodded.

"Since we are going to do it, we should do it thoroughly. We would rather die with honor than live in disgrace. We need to raise the banner and let everyone know that the low-budget domestic film "Border Storm" is going to snipe the Hollywood blockbuster "Iron Man 3"!"

May 5th was the fifth day since Iron Man 5 was released.

The unknown director Cheng Er published several articles on Weibo criticizing "Iron Man 3".

Among them, #Chinese audiences stand up# quickly attracted attention under the impetus of multiple forces.

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In the article, Cheng Er first pointed out the arrogant attitude of Marvel and Disney Studios towards the Chinese mainland film market.

It is believed that they are eyeing this huge market piece of cake while at the same time showing blatant contempt and disdain for Chinese moviegoers.

The mainland special edition of "Iron Man 3" is a direct reflection of this.

The film is poorly made, and the three-minute advertisement at the end shows no sincerity to the audience, and only makes people see the word "profit".

This behavior is undoubtedly a great humiliation to Chinese audiences, and it is like a thorn in the throat that is difficult to swallow.

Cheng Er loudly called for Chinese moviegoers to stand up.

Domestic films have quietly risen.

In recent years, masterpieces such as "Lost in Thailand" and "New World" have broken the 1 billion box office mark with unstoppable momentum.

It fully demonstrates the strong vitality of domestic films.

Chinese people should tell their own stories and watch their own movies.

Instead of being fooled by those perfunctory, charity-like Hollywood blockbusters.

Cheng Er said that with the rapid expansion of the Chinese-speaking market and relying on my country's huge population base which is four times that of the North American market, China is destined to become the world's largest film market in the future.

In the future annual film rankings, Chinese-language films will dominate.

This is the best era for Chinese filmmakers so far.

Chinese audiences must have confidence, and Chinese filmmakers must stand up straight and dare to say NO!

I dare to say to any film and television company, whether domestic or foreign, that attempts to exploit the audience and ignore the needs of the Chinese audience: screw you.

At the end of the article, Cheng Er revealed in a tragic tone that although his debut film "Border Storm" had a low budget, he wanted to compete with this Hollywood blockbuster.

The original release date was May 5th, but it has been decided to move it up to May 15th!
The publication of the article added fuel to the fire of the special edition of "Iron Man 3". The writer hired by Zhang Bowen had strong writing skills and stirred emotions, which infected many netizens and made them excited.

Director Cheng Er and the film "Border Storm" also officially entered the public eye.

The spectators are divided into two groups.

There is support.

"Director Cheng, you are awesome, you have guts. When the movie "Border Storm" is released, I will definitely buy a ticket to support it!"

"Well said, the operation of Iron Man 3 this time is clearly a money-making operation. What era is it now, and some filial sons are still kneeling and refusing to stand up."

"Finally, a director has the courage to stand up and express his own views. Whether it is marketing or not, I support it. At least there is nothing wrong with what he said."

Some people were sarcastic.

"This is really ridiculous. Just because two movies have made over 1 billion, you dare to brag that domestic movies have risen. Director Cheng, please open your eyes and see that Hollywood movies easily make over 1 billion US dollars, which is equivalent to 50 to 60 billion RMB. Domestic movies, haha."

"Excuse me for being blunt, but many Chinese people have no taste. Do you think Hollywood is really willing to come in? How much money do you think imported films can make? I think it's a good idea to delete the movie. The last three minutes should also be deleted. Fan Bingbing and Wang Xuexi's faces are distracting. What a crap performance. It lowers the quality of the entire movie."

"Director Cheng, can you please have some shame and just ride on the popularity of Iron Man 3? This is the limit of domestic films."

Netizens were having a great time arguing, and the popularity of "Border Storm" skyrocketed.

When it comes to matters in the film industry, naturally people from the industry are involved.

2013年第66届戛纳国际电影节，于5月15日至26日在法国戛纳举行。

On April 4, Cannes officially announced the shortlisted films, with a total of 19 films shortlisted for the main competition unit.

Among them, the film "A Touch of Sin", directed by Jia Zhangke and starring Jiang Wu, Wang Baoqiang, Zhao Tao and Luo Lanshan, became the only Chinese-language film shortlisted for the main competition unit.

Jia Zhangke probably felt that he had a good chance of winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival, so in order to increase his chances of winning, improve his impression points, and let the other party see his attitude, he responded on Weibo.

"Director Cheng Er's thinking is too narrow. I think this special edition of Iron Man 3 is just an attempt. If all attempts are wrong, won't everyone be too harsh and too petty? How will foreign filmmakers view our market?
Does this mean that our cultural market cannot accept more diverse and international film and television products? If this is true, then China’s market credibility and cultural influence may gradually be lost.”

“As a market that embraces the world and different types of high-quality films, if in the future, as Director Cheng said, the annual film rankings are almost all Chinese-language films, and international films are shrinking, and finally people don’t even watch them, it would be a tragedy. Allowing more foreign films to enter China will actually enhance China’s cultural influence.”

Jia Zhangke gave a long speech, the gist of which was that there was nothing wrong with the special edition of "Iron Man 3", it was just an attempt.

We urge Chinese moviegoers not to be too sensitive, to reflect on themselves, and to learn to look at Hollywood blockbusters with a more diverse and open perspective.

(End of this chapter)