Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 500: Impact on Oscar

Such a strong reaction from netizens was completely beyond the expectations of all the companies.

They never expected that in this normal business competition, before the real owner of the business had even said anything, netizens had already gone crazy.

But this undoubtedly makes each company feel a little fortunate that QVOD now has such a great influence. If they had to wait a few more years, there would be no place for other video websites to survive.

Of course, this is what everyone thinks, but Gu Yongjiang and Yu Dong are not in such a good mood.

Although other companies were also criticized, they only suffered the aftermath and the firepower was dispersed, so it did not cause any major impact.

Which big company has not been criticized? They are used to it.

But things are not so good for Youku and Bona, which have been criticized by netizens.

Not only were the companies attacked by netizens, but the bosses of the two companies, Gu Yongjiang and Yu Dong, were also attacked, and many netizens even announced a "ban" on the two companies.

In other words, these two companies are listed in North America. If they were listed domestically, their stock prices would definitely fall due to such a shock.

But despite this, the two of them were still a little overwhelmed.

Both Youku and Bona went public not long ago, raised a lot of funds, and are ambitiously preparing to make a big move.

The plan has not even started yet, but it has been criticized by netizens.

The impact on Youku was the most obvious. After the incident, the website's traffic dropped significantly.

Bona is relatively better off as it currently has no films ready for release, but facing the overwhelming abuse and strong boycott from netizens, Yu Dong still feels a little overwhelmed.

So both of them cursed Liu Zhou dozens of times in their hearts, it was you who initiated this matter.

Now you are hiding behind the scenes and safe and sound, but you are being scolded like a dog by netizens, and even your company is affected.

But they couldn't vent their anger on Liu Zhou, because he didn't force them to do so at that time, but they all volunteered to take the lead in the work.

However, they didn't expect it to have such a big impact at the time. Who could have thought that netizens would have such a big reaction? But they think Liu Zhou must have expected it.

Because at this time they also realized that they had unconsciously taken on the leading work and were praised by Liu Zhouyi.

So now even if they are angry, they have no place to vent. Even if they accuse Liu Zhou, others will not believe it. Even if they do, others will not stand on their side.

After all, the two of them are competitors of other companies. It's useless to blame Liu and Zhou. Jiahe and Sina Video will not be affected in any way.

On the contrary, Youku and Bona have been greatly affected.

In fact, what they don’t know is that not only Liu Zhou, but other companies are also deliberately guiding and focusing most of their firepower on Bona and Youku.

Everyone has similar ideas to Liu Zhou. Now it is a business competition. Although they have just reached a short-term cooperation, it will not prevent them from stabbing you in the back.

With the tacit cooperation of other major companies, Youku and Bona have almost borne all the anger of netizens.

So these days, the two of them have been a little anxious.

This time at the celebration party for "Interstellar" breaking the box office record of "Avatar", Yu Dong met Liu Zhou again and couldn't help but question him.

However, the situation was just as he expected. Liu Zhou refused to admit it at all.

Seeing Liu Zhou's calm expression, Yu Dong secretly sighed in his heart. What would it matter even if he admitted it?
Things have already happened, and Bona’s situation will not get any better, and his relationship with Liu Zhou may even become strained again.

He is the richest man, and the market value of Golden Harvest is almost over 100 billion. Even if Bona goes public, there is still a huge gap between them. There is no benefit in having conflicts with them.

So Yu Dong had to suppress his anger, put on a smile again, and said:
"Forget it, let's not talk about these bad things. I haven't even congratulated Mr. Yu on his movie breaking the domestic box office record. Interstellar can be said to have won a lot of respect for our Chinese-language films."

Although he didn't know why Yu Dong suddenly changed his attitude, Liu Zhou smiled and replied:

"Thank you. This is all thanks to everyone's kindness and the convenience they have provided."

Afterwards, the two chatted briefly for a few more sentences, and Liu Zhou went to greet other people.

As the absolute protagonist of today, no matter how envious or jealous I feel, I will maintain a smile on my face and congratulate him.

Moreover, it is truly remarkable that "Interstellar" was able to break the record of "Avatar" this time. Even its competitors, no matter how complicated their feelings are, still have admiration for it.

After accepting the congratulations, Liu Zhou's smile became a little stiff, and he came and sat down next to Han Shanping.

China Film Corporation is also one of the two major investors of "Interstellar". Han Shanping is also one of the hosts of this celebration banquet and he just greeted everyone.

The two looked at each other, couldn't help but take a deep breath, then looked at each other with smiles on their faces, everything was self-evident.

This time, both of them really put in a lot of effort for the success of "Interstellar", and this success was indeed hard-won.

Liu Zhou took a sip of water and asked:
"It is said that Xinghao Media in Hong Kong has found Mr. Han and is planning to remake a 3D version of Journey to the West with an investment of 5 million yuan. Is this news true?"

"Yes, but it hasn't been confirmed yet. Are you also interested in this project?"

"That's not the case. I'm just a little surprised by the 500 million investment. If you really count it, this is the movie with the highest investment in a single film in China. Even Red Cliff is not as good as it. Can it recover the cost?"

The total investment for "Red Cliff" was nearly 400 million yuan, but it was divided into two parts. On the other hand, blockbusters such as "Interstellar", "Aftershock" and "Curse of the Golden Flower" only had investments of 200 to 300 million yuan.

Even if the 1.5 million yuan spent on publicity and promotion is included, the total investment of "Interstellar" is still less than million yuan. So the investment of million yuan for a single movie now is indeed a bit scary.

“It should be no problem to recover the cost. With an investment of 2.5 million, Xinghao Media has already negotiated with North America and sold all North American copyrights of the film for million in exchange for the production costs of the film’s special effects.

Therefore, our total investment is only 2.5 million, and we plan to invite Chow Yun-fat, Gong Li and Aaron Kwok to play the leading roles.

With such a large investment and the appeal of these three actors, it should not be a loss.”

Liu Zhou also understood Han Shanping's considerations. For him, how much money a movie makes is not the most important thing; what is most important is its influence.

"Making blockbusters is a good thing. The Journey to the West theme has a wide audience, but the specific results depend on the director's ability."

That’s right, this movie is the original time and space-time “Havoc in Heaven” which is known as the best special effects production in China. “Havoc in Heaven” had already started preparations at this time, and the special effects were indeed quite good, but because the special effects team chose to build models and CG production, there were basically few real scenes, and all the special effects shots gave people a very fake feeling.

Moreover, it is said that the special effects fee was 2.5 million. Only God knows how much the special effects company spent. Director Zheng Baorui came from B-level films, so how could he understand special effects?

We were lucky that the North American special effects company had some conscience and didn't cheat us too much.

"Why, are you not optimistic about this project?" Han Shanping asked.

After such a long period of cooperation, Han Shanping now has complete faith in Liu Zhou's vision. If he is not optimistic, Han Shanping will immediately terminate the project.

Although China Film Group does not expect all the films it invests in to make huge profits, it does not want to make losses either, even for blockbusters.

Things are no longer like they were seven or eight years ago. Blockbusters are no longer a rare resource, and China Film Corporation no longer needs to support them with great effort. Moreover, China Film Corporation is now allowed to go public, so Han Shanping pays more attention to performance.

"That's not the case. I just think it's not worth it to entrust the special effects to a North American company. Don't you think that 2.5 million is too expensive?

You should also know that the level of Golden Harvest Special Effects Studio is not bad now, and it can fully undertake the special effects production of the movie, and the cost should be less than half."

"Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" certainly made money, but with such a huge investment, it certainly wasn't much. The domestic box office of this movie in the original time and space exceeded 1 billion, which was barely enough to break even.

The Asian box office and overseas copyrights are pure profits, but the profits from this part are not much.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Hearing Liu Zhou's words, Han Shanping was somewhat amused:

"After all this talk, it turns out you are trying to attract business for your company's special effects studio. As a boss like you, do you still need to go out and attract business yourself?"

"Isn't this a convenient thing to do? It's only you, Mr. Han. I would never ask this of anyone else. And you should know that it's difficult for a special effects company to make money. If you want to maintain your level, you must do more business." Liu Zhou replied with a smile.

“Maybe there’s no other way this time. In fact, I had proposed to hand over the special effects work to Golden Harvest, but Star Media felt that the investment in the film was too large, so they were a little worried and chose a North American special effects company.

Although the special effects cannot be handed over to Golden Harvest, are you interested in investing in it?"

"Forget it. Jiahe has a lot of projects next year, and we may not have extra funds. I'll leave this project to you."

Although "Havoc in Heaven" can make money, Liu Zhou is not very interested in it.

Not only is the profit little, the investment is too high and the cycle is too long. In more than three years, the small profit is equivalent to a loss. It is better to invest in one's own projects.

"By the way, the filming of Aftershock has been completed. What are your plans for next year?"

"I don't know yet. After Aftershock is released, I might go to Hollywood. I have agreed to work with Warner on a movie before, but Aftershock has been delayed for more than a year."

"What kind of movie are you planning to make?"

"It's not confirmed yet, but I plan to try for an Oscar this time."

To be honest, although he didn't care about the previous heated debate on the Internet between Liu Zhou and Zhang Yimou for the title of China's top director, for him now, awards are indeed his weakness.

I have won many domestic awards, but for a big director, everyone is about the same.

As for overseas awards, especially the three most recognized European awards in China, the only one Liu Zhou can boast of is the Venice Golden Lion.

Compared with Zhang Yimou, the gap is indeed quite large, and he is even worse than Chen Shishi. After all, "Farewell My Concubine" won the only Palme d'Or in China. With this Palme d'Or, he can even be compared with Zhang Yimou.

Although people now think of Liu Zhou more as a wealthy man and an entrepreneur, the profession of director was his first job when he entered the society and it is also his favorite job.

Perhaps many people think that achievements as a director are just icing on the cake for Liu Zhou, or even insignificant, but for Liu Zhou, he still wants to achieve success as a director.

Moreover, although he and Zhang Yimou are both teachers and friends, he is still young and not as indifferent to fame and fortune as Zhang Yimou. He still has some ambition and aspirations for the title of the country's number one director.

The reason why people do not recognize Liu Zhou as the number one director in China now is that what people talk about most are his overseas awards and his experience as the chief director of world-class events such as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

He didn't have much to do about the latter, after all, it was something you could only encounter by chance, but he could still make up for the former.

However, Liu Zhou is too lazy to compete with Zhang Yimou in the number of the three major European awards. If he wants to win, he will just take one that Zhang Yimou doesn't have yet.

There are only three awards that Zhang Yimou has not won yet: the Palme d'Or, the Golden Globe and the Oscar.

For domestic filmmakers, these three Palme d'Ors may be the easiest, but for Liu Zhou, perhaps the latter two are easier.

He has no connection with Golden Harvest in Cannes, but has a deeper relationship with it in North America.

If we manage it well, we should have a better chance of winning a Golden Globe or even an Oscar.

Of course, the movie he collaborated with Warner this time was not prepared for this purpose. Liu Zhou just wanted to learn how to win awards through this movie.

If he really wants to surpass Zhang Yimou, the best result would be that he could make a Chinese-language film and win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It would be even better if he could win the Best Director award, or even better, the Best Picture award.

Best Picture is a little more difficult, but there's still hope that the first two will work.

There is no doubt that the Oscar is the world's number one award in the minds of Chinese people. More than ten years later in the original time and space, Yang Ziqiong won the Oscar for Best Actress and became very popular in China.

If she was not a Malaysian Chinese but was of Chinese descent, she would definitely be praised to the sky.

The status of the Oscars in China is now even higher. Not to mention the general public, even big directors like Zhang Yimou and Chen Shishi are still working tirelessly to win an Oscar.

Therefore, even if Liu Zhou can win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, it will completely make up for his shortcomings in awards.

"Aiming for an Oscar? That's a bit difficult." Han Shanping said with some surprise.

“It is a bit difficult, but this time we are working with Warner. As one of the seven major Hollywood studios, it should be easier for them to run the Oscars. I can also learn from them.

By then, I will prepare to enter Chinese-language films into the Oscars and see if we can win an award.”

Hearing Liu Zhou's words, Han Shanping's eyes lit up. He felt that Liu Zhou could always bring him surprises.

At present, the Oscar awards, especially the Best Foreign Language Film, are indeed the only awards missing for Chinese-language films.

(End of this chapter)