Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 724: Box Office of Despicable Me 3
In the private room.

Yang Shoucheng, wearing glasses and looking elegant, sat next to Gu Wei, and the two of them talked and laughed.

Zhou Xun was chatting about gossip with Liu Yifei, while Sun Honglei acted as a waiter, pouring tea and water for everyone.

Even so, most people can't do this job. After all, without a certain status, you can't even attend dinner parties.

After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.

Yang Shoucheng was a little drunk, and asked casually, "Director Gu, was the phone call just now about The Great Wall?"

After saying that, he quickly laughed and said, "I'm just asking casually. If it's not convenient for Director Gu, just pretend I didn't ask."

Looking at everyone's expectant eyes, Gu Wei felt that China Film Group should have received the notice by now. According to La Peikang's attention, there will definitely be big moves tomorrow.

Moreover, Emperor Entertainment Group cannot participate this time, and most of the people present are actors, so there is no need to worry that he will leak the news in advance.

After taking a bite of food, Gu Wei spoke up, "Well, Legendary and Universal have decided to invite Zhang Yimou to direct this movie."

In an instant, various expressions appeared on everyone's face.

Surprised, shocked, excited...

"Director Gu, aren't there rumors that you might be the director?" Jing Tian asked hurriedly. After Lu Zheng knew that Gu Wei was coming to visit the set of "Lost in Hong Kong", he asked her to find a chance to ask him for specific information, so she wanted to confirm it.

"They came to me, but I pushed them away," Gu Wei continued.

"Oh." Jingtian responded, with a hint of disappointment in his tone.

Liu Yifei glanced at her, then at Gu Wei, and exerted force with her little hands underneath.

Yang Shoucheng was an experienced person, and he immediately noticed something unusual. He smiled unconsciously, "What about the investment in The Great Wall?"

Gu Wei waved his hand and said jokingly, "Xingchen Films has nothing to do with it. Director La is watching it more closely than anyone else, haha."

"Haha." Everyone laughed, except Gu Wei. No one else dared to tease the boss in private.

Yang Shoucheng also stopped there and found an excuse to say, "Haha, I wish Director Gu's Despicable Me 3 a big hit at the domestic box office!"

After dinner, Yang Shoucheng found a chance and asked Gu Wei if he could help Emperor Entertainment Group get involved in the investment.

"Emperor Group can pay a 50% premium, and only needs a 10% share."

Gu Wei refused without even thinking. He didn't want to continue trying to persuade Legendary and Universal. It would be easier if he wanted to invest, but asking for a share on behalf of Emperor Entertainment Group would be too much trouble, and the other party would definitely not agree.

As for Liu Dehua and others, Gu Wei privately agreed to recommend them to China Film Group, and also invited Tony Leung and Jackie Chan to star in his next movie.

The two of them agreed naturally without even asking how many roles they would have.

On the other hand, Jing Tian called Lu Zheng immediately.

"Okay, Director Gu personally said it was Director Zhang?" Lu Zheng confirmed.

"Yeah, I asked again." Jingtian nodded.

"Okay, this news is very important. Even if we know it one night in advance, we can still do a lot." While Lu Zheng was talking, he was already thinking about what to do. Then he continued to ask, "Tiantian, you don't have much more to do in the show, right?"

"There is still a small half." Jingtian answered honestly.

"Okay, you may need to come back later. I will arrange it in advance."

.........

The next day, there was indeed movement from China Film Corporation.

"It is reported that the Sino-US co-production "The Great Wall", jointly produced by China Film, Legendary, Universal and LeTV, with an investment of up to 1.5 million US dollars, will invite Zhang Yimou, the Oscar-winning director of the Best Foreign Language Film, to direct..."

"Legendary Pictures said that Gu Wei, the Golden Globe Best Screenwriter and Oscar Best Director, may be involved in the script revision later..."

The reason why LeTV was able to participate this time was naturally because the other party had assumed part of China Film's investment in the film "The Crossing".

In addition, LeTV only obtained a 10% share and invested at a premium, so the other party became the only lucky one in the country.

Even so, when LeTV's general manager Zhang Zhao announced this information to the public, many film and television company bosses in the industry still secretly cursed him for being unlucky.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this movie is destined to be a hit, and being able to get on board will mean big profits.

At the same time, Despicable Me 3 was released.

Sina Entertainment reported: "It is reported that the third film in the Despicable Me series, Despicable Me 3, jointly produced by Tomorrow Star Pictures and DreamWorks, grossed 1.19 million yuan on the first day..."

Souhu Entertainment reported: "The Hollywood animated film "Despicable Me 3" grossed over million yuan on its first day, becoming the third film this year to gross over million yuan in a single day..."

Penguin Entertainment reported: "Hollywood blockbuster "Despicable Me 3" is not afraid of "Wolf Warrior", with a box office of over 35 million yuan on the first day and a screening rate of up to %..."

...

If most media reports were normal, then the UC Shock Department shocked netizens again.

"Shocked! An internationally renowned director would actually do such a thing..." "Shocked! A Hollywood blockbuster is coming, and it can be played like this..."

"Shocked! Gru and the Minions actually did this..."

After several shocking things came out in succession, they were successfully criticized by netizens...

However, many domestic film and television companies were really shocked this time, and some people did some calculations.

The four or five Hollywood animated films invested by Gu Wei have cumulatively earned the other party tens of billions of RMB, which is higher than the total value of many domestic film and television companies.

Coupled with the huge success of "Devouring the Starry Sky" produced by Xingchen Film and Television Company, many people turned their attention to domestic animated films.

But they may not realize that the degree of chaos in the domestic animation film industry is even more exaggerated than that in the film industry.

...

Seeing the data sent by Song Ge, Gu Wei was also a little surprised. In the original time and space, "Despicable Me 3" was released in 17. The box office on the first day of its release was as high as 1.4 million, and it later became the box office champion of the series.

But that was three years later, when the mainland market was at its peak. Now, nearly three years ahead of schedule, we can still achieve this result.

This shows that the current domestic market is far ahead of the current time and space, and that Mingxing Chen Film and Television has completely become an industry benchmark. In other words, no matter what company produces what type of film, as long as the quality is not a problem, there is no need to worry about the box office.

"I didn't expect that. The original estimate was about 70 million, and the final box office might be 600 to 700 million. Now it seems that this number cannot be stopped. It is estimated that it will increase by 200 to 300 million, haha..."

Song Ge was naturally very happy. Every big hit of the movie he worked on represented bonuses and honors. The better the company developed, the more original shares Song Ge would be able to obtain before it went public in the future.

"That's good. I think the DreamWorks representatives must be very happy too." Gu Wei said with a smile.

"Yes, they called me early in the morning and were very satisfied with the first day's box office. They are even more eager to develop the subsequent 'Minions series'."

"The other party now agrees to hand over part of the content to domestic companies for production, and also said that they would consider adding Chinese elements to "Minions"..."

Hearing this, Gu Wei felt a little emotional. This is what capitalists are like. As long as they can make money, moral principles and the like don’t matter.

What’s more important is that if Despicable Me 3 can earn over 2 million U.S. dollars at the domestic box office, then this movie may win the North American animated film box office championship even before Frozen is released.

After Gu Wei and Song Ge chatted for a few sentences, Ye Ning called. The other party did not ask about "The Great Wall" but mentioned "Devouring the Star 2".

"I really can't believe that a family-friendly cartoon with a relatively unoriginal storyline can achieve such a good box office. To be honest, I now think that there is a lot of room for domestic animated films."

As the head of Wanda Pictures, Ye Ning naturally knew the attendance rate of Despicable Me 3. When he learned that the box office on the first day exceeded million yuan, he went to its cinemas to watch it again.

After watching it, Ye Ning felt that movies with this kind of story content and quality could sell well all over the world, and making animated movies might really be no worse than live-action movies.

“In fact, by the third film in the Despicable Me series, this storytelling routine has reached its limit.

Mr. Ye, as you said, if there is a fourth part, there will probably be some time between them."

"Director Gu, the formula isn't new, but the box office is so good, can you really put it aside and not shoot it?"

Although Ye Ning felt that the movie was just average, as a film businessman, he should still take advantage of the popularity and make a few more films to sell.

"Haha, there's no way I won't shoot it. I'm going to change the series..."

After Ye Ning hung up the phone, Wang Changtian followed closely. The other party was extremely envious of the box office of "Despicable Me 3" and the first thing he asked was whether "Devouring the Stars 2" would be released worldwide.

"Today I watched Despicable Me 3 and felt that the quality was average. If Devouring the Planet 2 could be released in North America, it would probably make these foreigners dumbfounded."

Gu Wei suddenly heard something wrong. Could it be that Lao Wang went to the cinema with Ye Ning to watch this movie?

Gu Wei asked with doubt in his mind, and sure enough, they went to see the movie together. Wow, two company bosses going to see a movie together, I couldn’t imagine that scene.

"It's not that the first-day box office was too amazing. If nothing goes wrong, this movie will definitely break the domestic animation movie box office record. Maybe the final box office will catch up with Transformers 4."

There is nothing wrong with what Wang Changtian said. Gu Wei also feels that before the two domestic animated films come out, "Despicable Me 3" will most likely become the box office champion of domestic animated films.

"I have already discussed it with DreamWorks, and Swallowed Star 2 will be released worldwide."

Looking at Big Wang's excitement, Gu Wei spoke directly.

"Haha, you still have a plan. If it can really sell for 10 or 800 million US dollars after it is released, we will have brought glory to our country."

Hearing this, Gu Wei was a little speechless. One billion or eight billion? Or US dollars? It's really a bold thought, but it might be possible. After all, in terms of excitement, "Swallowed Star 2" is definitely not inferior to any animation work.

However, for works that are more passionate and exciting, the audience will definitely be limited.

Throughout the morning, calls came in one after another, most of which were congratulations on the huge success of Despicable Me 3.

However, some people also asked whether there was a lack of funds for the follow-up of "Devouring the Starry Sky" and wanted to get involved.

Gu Wei rejected all these people. When he first set up the animation film company, he still remembered that many people ridiculed him.

.........

(End of this chapter)