Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 787 If you don’t make money, you’re a bastard

In early November.

The so-called "most crowded Spring Festival period in history" is still going on, but after more than a week of releases, it is hard to describe the domestic blockbusters, and they can even be called a "disaster."

Although among the 7 new films released on the first day of the Lunar New Year, 5 of them exceeded million yuan within the seven-day holiday.

The box office revenue for the week before the Spring Festival this year exceeded 17 billion yuan, surpassing the 2014 billion yuan for the 14.2 Spring Festival, becoming the highest-grossing seven-day box office in domestic history.

However, leaving aside the factors of market prosperity, a closer look at this fierce battle among the heroes will reveal many interesting phenomena.

Except for "Wolf Totem", the reputations of other films, including "Dad Blade", "From Vegas to Macau 2", "Dad's Holiday", "Where Are We Going, Dad 2", "Zhong Kui Conquers the Demons" and "Triumph in the Skies", have all been bad.

"Dragon Blade", which currently ranks first on the box office rankings, has successfully exceeded 3 million in box office revenue.

The second is "The Man from Macau 2", followed by "Wolf Totem", "Where Are We Going, Dad? 2", "Triumph in the Skies" and "Zhong Kui: The Legend of Zu".

However, the Douban score of "Dragon Blade" is only 6.0, which can be regarded as one of the worst movies made by Brother Cheng Long in recent years.

The most criticized among netizens is naturally Yanmen Pass. As far as the director and screenwriter have watched "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", they should know that Yanmen Pass is a border pass for defending against northern ethnic minorities. It is located in the northeast of Chang'an, the capital of the Han Dynasty, and has nothing to do with the Western Regions!
The Roman army of 100,000 marched through the Parthian Empire and the Middle East, then detoured through the Mongolian Plateau to attack Yanmen Pass?

Or did they come directly from Siberia?
Or have they already captured Chang'an and continued to march northeast to Yanmen Pass?

Moreover, it only takes one day to reach Loulan from Yanmen Pass, or are they Yanmen Pass and Yumen Pass and we can't tell them apart?
Anyone who has paid a little attention in history class should know where Yanmen Pass is, but the movie showed it that way. I really don’t know what the director was thinking.

The main storyline was also criticized by many viewers. This ancient version of the "Spring Festival Gala", anti-war, and ethnic group gathering, set in the context of the Han Dynasty, is really quite discordant for people with a good knowledge of history.

"The Man from Macau 2" has a Douban score of 5.8. It is a typical rehash of old stuff, with no nutrition but flavor.

If you go and watch it for fun without thinking, you won't be cheated.

The worst one is the so-called domestic special effects masterpiece "Zhong Kui Fu Mo", which has a low Douban score of only 4.7, a completely bad movie.

Not to mention the terrible special effects, the more important thing is that the story logic is not logical. There is only one immortal in the whole film, but he is the ultimate boss.

Why destroy the world?
Because although he is a deity, his promotion is too slow and he can't even enter the Lingxiao Palace. He is very angry! It is estimated that the director and screenwriter referred to "Havoc in Heaven" when writing the script.

Why did Sun Wukong rebel against the Heavenly Palace for the first time? Because he thought he was capable, but ended up being just a minor official who raised horses.

Zhong Kui does not have a high status in traditional Chinese mythology, and the villain in the film is even weaker. He is just a minor official who cannot enter the Lingxiao Palace and may even be inferior to Bimawen.

Coupled with the very unnatural-looking character special effects, such as the transformed Zhong Kui, the entire movie is very unwatchable.

Among the eight movies released during the Spring Festival, the reputation of "Zhong Kui Fu Mo" was only better than the two "Dad" series movies. It can be said that it was scolded like a dog.

...

At present, the box office of "Dragon Blade" is not too bad, with the cumulative box office exceeding 3 million.

But Wang Zhonglei was overwhelmed. After all, Huayi’s expectation for this movie was to reach 1 billion. If not 1 billion, it should be at least 800 million!

You should know that the investment in "Dragon Blade" was as high as 6500 million US dollars, which is 15 million RMB based on the exchange rate of 6.24 in 4.056!
If we only consider the box office in mainland China, the film would have to sell 12 billion yuan to break even.

The box office is only over 3 million now, which is bound to be a huge loss.

Huayi Company, in the conference room.

The Wang brothers and other senior executives of the company gathered together to discuss the box office performance and subsequent marketing issues of "Dragon Blade".

"Mr. Wang, the audience is very disgusted with director Li Rengang's flying saucer hat design, and the Internet is full of complaints!" The head of the department in charge of marketing directly reported the situation.

"Did someone else hire a group of internet trolls?" Perhaps Huayi was used to using this method, and this was Wang Zhonglei's first reaction at the moment.

"It's hard to say, it seems like it was spontaneously initiated by netizens!" After thinking for a moment, the executive decided to report the actual situation honestly. After all, if someone was found to be involved in Huayi, Mr. Wang would be dumbfounded if he asked who it was.

"Spontaneous?" Wang Zhonglei was a little unconvinced. At that time, there was no such thing as "tap water" in the Chinese-language film market.

"In Brother Cheng Long's movie, the flying saucer hat is not the focus. Why would the audience be so fixated on the flying saucer hat?" Wang Zhonglei still felt that there was something wrong.

Based on the principle that whoever benefits is the most suspicious, he is very suspicious that Xingchen Film and Television Company is causing trouble.

Outsiders think that Gu Wei's films have achieved amazing box office results time and time again thanks to their good special effects. But only industry insiders like Wang Zhonglei know that the publicity and promotion costs of each blockbuster produced by Xingchen Films Company are over 100 million yuan, and may even reach 200 million yuan.

Therefore, Xingchen Film and Television Company, which spends hundreds of millions of dollars on publicity and promotion every year, has long been regarded as the God of Wealth by major advertising and media companies.

In addition, Gu Wei is a major shareholder of Weibo, so it would be too easy for him to stir up trouble in the media!
Wang Zhonglei had said this, so naturally some senior executives agreed, "It must be some trolls, otherwise who would be so mean as to make up such words to slander Director Li?"

Then he read into his phone: "I love smoky eye makeup, I wear a flying saucer hat, my history teacher died early..."

“Alright, alright…” Before the executive finished reading, Wang Zhonglei waved his hands in annoyance and continued, “Contact the media that have a good relationship with us, and mobilize a wave of Internet trolls to write movie reviews.”

"Understood, Mr. Wang."

After the meeting, Wang Zhonglei did not directly make an appointment with the little celebrity to have fun, but went straight to Feng Xiaogang's residence.

After the two met, Wang Zhonglei went straight to the point, hoping that Feng Xiaogang would take action to trigger some discussion so that netizens could divert their attention, and then cooperate with the Internet water army to take the opportunity to reverse the box office trend of "Dragon Blade".

This is not the first time that Huayi has done this. Whenever Huayi has a big production released, Feng Xiaogang will always find the opportunity to make some "shocking remarks".

"That kid Li Rengang, history was taught by his fucking PE teacher, and he even gave it all back to his teacher's wife. Do you know the history of the Han Dynasty? He just followed that idiot and now he's done for!" Feng Xiaogang took a sip of tea and kept cursing.

Although this was not the first time he had done this, and he could get a lot of kickbacks every time he did it, he still felt a little uncomfortable doing this for a Hong Kong director.

Wang Zhonglei did not change the subject, but followed the other party's rhythm and complained: "Who said it wasn't true? It's fine if you say you can't beat the special effects blockbusters of Xingchen Films.

According to the current trend, the box office of "Dragon Blade" is about to be surpassed by "The Man from Macau 2". If it loses to Bona, Huayi will lose face. "

There are some things Wang Zhonglei didn't say explicitly, but Feng Xiaogang also understood the underlying meaning. Once Huayi loses face, it will affect the stock price.

Feng Xiaogang understood it clearly, so he nodded to show that he understood.

Seeing this, Wang Zhonglei breathed a sigh of relief and continued to curse: "Damn it, the film market is getting more and more chaotic now. Others spend five or six days to make a movie, but the box office is only slightly worse than ours that cost tens of millions of dollars. What kind of world is this?"

In an instant, Feng Xiaogang had an idea and suddenly thought of who to criticize. Moreover, if the matter became a big deal, he estimated that all the directors in the circle would support him.

"Okay, leave the rest to me, and the company's publicity and promotion department will cooperate when the time comes." Feng Xiaogang glanced at Wang Zhonglei, "You must have something else to do today, so tell me!"

"Haha, Ahri is still waiting for a reply, what do you think?"

"I haven't read the script, but the producer is still Wong Kar-wai. When I join the crew, who will I listen to? After thinking about it, I think it's better not to cause trouble." Feng Xiaogang held his posture, looking unwilling to get involved.

"Don't worry. Mr. Zhang said that since we invited you, we'll do as you wish, including script revision and filming. You'll be responsible for that, but we need to discuss the actors together."

As one of the major shareholders of Huayi Company, Taiji Ma has already discussed this matter with Wang Zhongjun, and the two brothers naturally want to promote this cooperation.

On the one hand, it can please Alibaba, and on the other hand, after "The Ferryman" is released, it can make a profit from the filming process and publicity and promotion costs, killing two birds with one stone.

In Wang Zhonglei's opinion, Ali has no idea what making a movie is. As long as Huayi can get involved and Feng Xiaogang cooperates, how can he not make money?
Thinking of this, Wang Zhonglei had no choice but to reveal his trump card, "Boss Zhang said that the director's salary is 3 million, plus a % share of the box office.

Ali has also been in frequent contact with major cinema chains during this period. There is no need to worry about the scheduling of the film after its release. It will definitely not be worse than Xingchen Films."

At this point, although Feng Xiaogang still had a blank expression on his face, he was a little shocked by Ali's generosity.

You should know that his director's salary is roughly between 3000 million and 5000 million RMB, and the specific amount may vary depending on the project.

Previously, the media had reported that Feng Xiaogang's salary for the movie "Youth" was as high as 1 million yuan, but he knew in his heart that this was all hype.

But Ali actually paid out real money this time, not to mention the box office share.

"Ahem, then bring the script over and take a look. Also, go say hello to Mr. Shuo and ask him to take a look as well. If the script is really bad, it will be useless no matter how much money you give me."

Feng Xiaogang's implication was that Wang Zhonglei should tell Ali that it would be best to spend a little more money to invite Wang Shuo as well so that they could make money together.

"Haha, don't worry, I'll take care of it."

Afterwards, the two looked at each other and smiled. They were disappointed with Ali's behavior as a nouveau riche who didn't know what to do. He was a bastard who didn't make money.

...

(End of this chapter)