Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 115: Bona poaches talent, Guangguang protects food

But she didn't feel proud for long, because Zhang Chen's greeting completely ruined her good mood.

"Ms. Zhang Ziyi~"

The person walking towards him was Zhang Ziyi, followed by a woman.

"Hello Director Zhang, I'm Ziyi's agent Ji Lingling."

"Hello, Ms. Ji."

After shaking hands with the two of them, Dong Jianqiang, who had been paying attention to this side, also came over.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Ziyi. I've always wanted to meet you, but I've been really busy recently..."

Dong Jianqiang apologized. After Zhang Ziyi agreed to star in "Eden Lake", the two parties agreed to meet and discuss in detail and sign the contract.

Then came the promotion of "The Shallows", and he and Zhang Chen were busy every day, so the meeting was put on hold.

"Sorry, sorry. Once I'm done with this busy period, we can sign the contract right away. By the way, Ms. Zhang can reveal this matter during the interview, and we will announce it to the public later."

It is a big taboo to keep dragging on signing the contract, as it will make the actors feel that the producers are playing tricks on them.

Therefore, Dong Jianqiang specifically stated that Zhang Ziyi's side could announce it in advance, and they would cooperate and acknowledge it, just to reassure Zhang Ziyi.

Sure enough, Zhang Ziyi and Ji Lingling were very happy when Xingchen Entertainment said this.

They did have concerns about this before. After all, they had never worked together before and had no idea what the other party was like.

Then, a middle-aged man with a fat face came over.

Fan Jiuyi quickly reminded: "This is Yu Dong from Bona."

Before Zhang Chen had a chance to speak, Yu Dong spoke first enthusiastically: "Hello, Director Zhang, I'm Yu Dong from Bona, and I've wanted to meet you for a long time..."

Zhang Chen quickly extended his hand: "Mr. Yu, you are too polite. Even if you don't want to know me, I still want to know you. Bona Film Group is an unavoidable presence in our film industry."

"Hahaha, Director Zhang, you're too polite..."

Yu Dong smiled and looked very friendly.

Zhang Chen was also puzzled. Among these CEOs of private film and television companies, only Mr. Wang from Huayi seemed more like a businessman.

As for the rest, Wang Changtian looked like an elegant scholar no matter how you looked at him, and Yu Dong in front of him was even more so. He didn't look like a successful person at all, but more like an uncle next door.

Bona is one of the only three companies that make money in the entertainment industry today, the other two being Huayi and New Picture.

Both Huayi and New Picture can maintain profitability by tying up with big directors, one is tied to Feng Xiaogang and the other is tied to Zhang Yimou.

What about Bona? He is tied to the entire Hong Kong circle.

He was the first to think of binding with the Hong Kong circle. In the early 2000s, the agency distribution rights of most Hong Kong films in the mainland belonged to Bona.

In order to have a good relationship with those Hong Kong filmmakers, Yu Dong even offered the condition of guaranteed release before the film was even finished.

Therefore, Hong Kong films are willing to be distributed by Bona, and Bona is usually the first stop for Hong Kong filmmakers when they go north.

Later, Guangguang learned the strategy of distributing Hong Kong films from Bona, but now it has teamed up with Zhang Chen by accident and is no longer walking on one leg.

Yu Dong came here this time, on the one hand because he was invited, and on the other hand because he heard about the distribution of "The Shallows". Xingchen Entertainment approached China Film, Huayi and Guangguang to jointly distribute the film, but left out Bona, which made Bona a little unhappy.

At this stage, when it comes to movie distribution, Bona is the big brother and Guangguang can only be considered a younger brother.

But now the younger brother can eat meat, but the older brother can’t even drink the soup. How can this be possible?

However, he also understood that Guangguang was able to join the game entirely because Zhang Chen remembered the friendship from their previous collaboration on "Dark Invasion".

This made Yu Dong more determined to establish a good relationship with Zhang Chen.

To be honest, in recent years he has been making a lot of money by relying on the monopoly of Hong Kong films.

But starting this year, he suddenly felt a sense of crisis.

Although Cheng Long still got the blockbuster "New Police Story" which he collaborated with Emperor Entertainment Group, Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu" was taken over by Huayi at the end of the year.

This is a very bad sign.

He knows too well the greed of those people in Hong Kong.

People are saying that he has a close relationship with Hong Kong filmmakers, but in fact, only he himself knows that there is no such friendship.

The people in Hong Kong are very practical.

Setting the conditions for a guaranteed issuance myself is equivalent to taking all the risks on myself. The Hong Kong team is guaranteed to make a profit, so they are willing to cooperate with me.

But once "Kung Fu" becomes a big hit at the end of the year and those greedy guys see that there is even greater room for profit, they will definitely throw themselves into the arms of Huayi without hesitation.

By then, Huayi will have the two major resources of Feng Xiaogang and the Hong Kong circle, while Bona will be like having both hands broken.

That's why Yu Dong planned ahead and wanted to establish good relations with Xingchen Film and Television in advance.

After all, Xingchen Films has creative capabilities but lacks distribution capabilities, which just complements Bona.

However, just as Yu Dong appeared, Wang Changtian also appeared.

"Director Zhang, I've been looking for you for a long time. Turns out you're here, and Jianqiang is here too."

As soon as Wang Changtian appeared, he showed his familiarity with Zhang Chen and Dong Jianqiang, which was to remind Yu Dong not to think of cutting off the source of the problem.

Enlight Pictures was just established this year and is still very weak.

I finally found a good partner, how could I let Bona poach us?

So when Wang Changtian saw Yu Dong approaching from afar, he hurried over to protect the food.

"Hey, President Yu is here too. I haven't congratulated you on the 4300 million box office for New Police Story in mainland China yet..."

Zhang Chen thought it was a little ridiculous that Wang Changtian pretended to have just seen Yu Dong, but there was nothing he could do because he was the director and what he was best at was judging whether the acting was up to standard.

Wang Changtian's acting is very exaggerated, but Yu Dong next to him is quite talented in acting, and he was very calm when asking questions even though he knew the answer.

"I heard that the distributor of The Beach is China Film Group, which is co-distributing with Huayi Brothers and Guangguang?" Zhang Chen nodded, "Yes."

Yu Dong laughed loudly and said, "What a pity! It would be great if our Bona could also participate in this."

I have already seen the movie "The Shallows", and it is of very good quality.

I can’t say that the box office will exceed 100 million as Zhang Chen said, but it should be no problem to make tens of millions.

When Zhang Chen encountered Yu Dong like this, he didn't know how to answer. It was Dong Jianqiang next to him who took over the conversation: "Mr. Yu, forget it this time, but we still have a chance to cooperate next time."

Unexpectedly, Yu Dong immediately took advantage of the situation and said, "Then we have a deal. The Dark Raiders 2 must be distributed by Bona Films."

"?"

Agreed? Who made the agreement with you?

Yu Dong looks simple and honest, but unexpectedly he is quite cunning.

The party lasted until one o'clock in the morning and finally ended.

Zhang Chen was so tired that his face was almost stiff from smiling. He had to smile to everyone he met. After all, he was the host, so he had to behave properly. He also drank a lot of wine that night...

Now he just wanted to find a room to fall asleep, and Zhang Chen was impressed by the fact that Sister Jiuyi had sent him an artistic invitation.

Even if you are an iron lady, you are not a workaholic.

I refused decisively, then locked the door and went to sleep, not opening it no matter who called me.

He slept well and lasted until nine o'clock the next morning. If he hadn't been woken by the phone call, he would have slept further.

The call was from Dong Jianqiang. Hearing the energetic voice on the other end, Zhang Chen couldn't figure out who was the young man and who was the middle-aged man.

"I'm calling to remind you that there's an interview this afternoon, don't forget~"

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Chen couldn't sleep anymore, so he just surfed the Internet to browse related news.

The official release of "The Shallows" is on the 19th, and the premiere is held two days in advance in order to give it time to build word of mouth.

Tickets for the premiere are hard to get, and those ordinary audiences who attend the premiere will definitely not remain silent.

They will definitely brag to those who didn’t have the chance to attend the premiere about how great the movie was, how grand the premiere was, and which stars they met…

This is human nature.

These things will become the first word-of-mouth for "The Shallows". Coupled with the publicity from journalists, they will quickly become a hot topic within two days and also affect the box office in the first weekend.

……

[The Shallows premiered at the Beijing International Exhibition Center, with Feng Xiaogang’s on-site comments]

[The Shallows premiere, star-studded cast]

[Feng Xiaogang commented that "The Shallows" is a good movie]

[On the 19th, the first domestic movie with a female protagonist and a monster movie, "The Shallows," was released]

[The appearance ceiling in the eyes of emerging directors——Fan Binbin]

[China Film Group supports Zhang Chen in his trial and error work for domestic films]

[The Shallows, a horror monster movie that's better than The Darkness]

[The birth of China's first monster movie]

[A one-man show - The Shallows]

[What should you do when you encounter a shark while surfing? "The Shallows" tells you]

……

At this time, the Internet was flooded with reports about "The Shallows".

The top headlines of the three major entertainment sections, Sina Entertainment, Sohu Entertainment, and NetEase Entertainment, are all about "The Shallows".

The major forums were also in an uproar:

"After watching the trailer, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. After watching the premiere, I have to say to Zhang Chen, you really didn't disappoint me."

"The Saturn Award for Best Director is really amazing. He is worthy of being the director of "The Dark Invasion"..."

"It's not the sequel to "Dark Invasion". Bad review. I won't love it anymore."

"Fan Binbin is so beautiful, those two long legs..."

"I've decided. I want to go see The Shallows. Can anyone tell me when this movie will be released?"

"Upstairs, are you blind? The trailer clearly states that it will be officially released on November 11th."

"The one downstairs, I am blind, but I was blinded by those two long and cool legs."

"Ah, upstairs, fellow travelers, I just went blind too..."

……

The word-of-mouth of "The Shallows" is spreading to more and more places.

In November, which was originally a month with nothing going on, more and more people knew that a movie called "The Shallows" would be released this month.

China Film Group’s publicity strategy is truly brutal.

They actually thought of the promotion method of giving away eggs. The staff immediately grabbed a passerby and asked him what movies would be released on November 11th.

If the answer is "The Shallows", you will be given a plastic box with 6 eggs.

All of a sudden, even the retired old men and women knew that a monster movie called "The Shallows" would be released on the 19th. There was nothing they could do about it, as their refrigerators were almost full of eggs.

(End of this chapter)