Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 426 Graduation Defense
After the Cannes Film Festival ended, there were suddenly a lot of reports about "The Banquet" in the domestic media. It can be seen that Huayi has taken action.

Zhang Chen could understand the other party's feelings and finally felt proud.

On TV, Feng Xiaogang was very proud of himself because the overseas copyright of his first blockbuster film he directed was sold. Of course, he was very proud.
“The craze for Chinese period blockbusters is indeed waning, but this does not affect the sales of The Banquet.

Film producers from all over the world have shown great interest in The Banquet, and the North American copyright was eventually acquired by Weinstein Films for $500 million. This was not only due to the good quality of the film itself, but also to the strong recommendation of Miss Zhang Ziyi. Thank you, Miss Ziyi~"

Harvey Weinstein was indeed introduced by Zhang Ziyi.

To be honest, Zhang Ziyi has been doing well in Hollywood in the past two years.

Hollywood needs an Asian face. Gong Li is getting old, so Zhang Ziyi is just the right person to fill the role.

Recently, Zhang Ziyi is negotiating cooperation with Weinstein Films. Weinstein Films has an Asian Film Fund plan, saying that it plans to remake "The 13 Eagles", "Drunken Master", "Seven Samurai" and so on, and Zhang Ziyi will be the heroine.

The two are in their sweet period, so if there is a good deal, Zhang Ziyi will of course introduce it to Harvey.

Zhang Chen was playing with the remote control in his hand, but he was thinking about something in his mind.

There is no doubt that Harvey is setting a trap for Huayi, and it is also Huayi's fault. With the precedent of "The Promise", they still dared to contact Weinstein Films.

Maybe Feng Xiaogang thinks "The Banquet" is better than "The Promise".

It is also possible that the Wang brothers feel that they are smarter than Brother Chen Kai.

How Weinstein Films cheated Huayi has nothing to do with Zhang Chen. What he is thinking about is how to benefit from this incident.

Even if "Night Banquet" was returned, it would not be of any benefit to him, but Zhang Chen thought that it would be a pity if such a good foresight advantage could not be realized.

But how to cash it out?
Zhang Chen thought about it for a long time, and wanted to learn how to draw circles like Ikkiu. Finally, he figured out a solution.

In the end, Weinstein Films will definitely rely on threatening to return the products to force Warner to sell the film to them at a low price, and Zhang Chen can completely take over that.

Of course, he would definitely let the white gloves come forward, such as Diane.

To acquire the North American rights to "The Banquet" in the name of Cube, the price does not need to be too high, as long as it is higher than that of Weinstein Films.

Even if they offer the same price as them, there is no choice. If they had a choice, the Wang brothers would definitely fight for their reputation.

As long as we get the North American copyright, we will make money.

He doesn't need to release the film, and he doesn't have the distribution capabilities, but he can sell the film to Blockbuster.

Blockbuster was the largest videotape rental company in North America. At its peak, it had 9000 stores across North America. It also rented and sold game cartridges. However, with the rise of streaming media, Blockbuster could not keep up and went bankrupt.

Chinese films have always performed very well in the North American videotape market, and North American audiences have always been curious about the mysterious East.

In particular, the East is rich in Kung Fu movies, which have always been a very popular subject in the videotape market.

"The Banquet" is not a kung fu film, but it has a sex scene, and just based on this, it can be sold for a good price.

A similar film, Memoirs of a Geisha, earned nearly $4200 million in North American video rental and sales.

Zhang Chen felt that "The Banquet" could be sold for a good price, but doing so was somewhat unethical.

Although the North American copyright has been sold, the box office has nothing to do with Huayi anymore, but if the film is not released, it will make the other party very upset.

Feng Xiaogang will definitely open fire when the time comes.

When "Hero" was suppressed by Miramax, Zhang Weiping was very upset.

But this is all a matter for the future, so let's take it one step at a time.

Zhang Chen went to China Film Corporation again to check out the post-production progress of "Painted Skin".

Then he chatted with Chen Xi about the progress of Golden Harvest's new movie. Wang Jing is indeed a quick shooter. "Extreme Job" has been completed more than half, and it is estimated that it will be wrapped up in ten days. This is also the fastest progress among the three movies.

Just after hanging up the phone with Chen Xi, Liu Daoqiang called again to report on the progress of the theme park.

The first phase of the Star Park is scheduled to be located in Changping. The construction has already started and is expected to open in half a year.

Speaking of it, I really spent money like water during this period.

The acquisition of Golden Harvest shares held by Li Chaoren and Chen Guoqiang, the construction of Star Home, and the publicity costs of "A Quiet Place" all add up to a considerable expense.

If he hadn’t sold the overseas copyright of “A Quiet Place” a few days ago and made some money back, he would have been in danger of having his funds drained out.

The Japanese were still asking about the roles in Pacific Rim, so Zhang Chen immediately announced that he had already decided to cast Rinko Kikuchi in the film, which was considered to have silenced those small-time writers...

But the situation in South Korea is even worse.

Japan can do it, so why can't South Korea?

Zhang Chen was indeed thinking about this. Yes, if Japan can do it, why can't South Korea?

It is easy to add Korean actors and it is also easy to reflect Korean elements.

When foreign heads of state visit South Korea, the Republic of Korea likes to use girl groups to entertain foreign heads of state. Don't get the wrong idea, it's just a simple performance, hot dance or something~
This can be totally transplanted into the movie.

The Hong Kong Dome Base is on the front line facing sea monsters, so the people in the base feel very depressed every day.

The kind and friendly Republic of Korea regularly sends its own girl groups to the Dome to entertain the troops and perform for the soldiers and staff.

It not only reflects Korean culture, but also arranges Korean actors, a win-win situation~
When it comes to money, Zhang Chen thinks he still has to make foreign language films.

In terms of cost-effectiveness, foreign language films are more suitable than Chinese language films.

Fast shooting, fast release, fast cashing in~
And they all create great miracles with small costs.

Even if a movie only makes 20 million US dollars in profit, it would be over 100 million yuan in RMB.

His films are already top-tier in China. Even though the box office of "Taken" has exceeded 2.5 million, after deducting taxes, special film funds, theaters' share and distribution fees, the producer can only get about 33% of the total box office.

This 33% has to be shared with other investors.

It is impossible to enjoy the film industry alone; the benefits must be shared with others.

China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group both own cinema chains. Why would they support you? Isn’t it because they can make money by supporting you?

The box office share of "Taken" was more than 8000 million, and after it was finally divided according to the investment ratio, Xingchen Entertainment only got more than 3000 million.

Including the 1500 million from DVD copyright and the 500 million from movie channels, the total domestic profit was more than 4000 million.

More than 4000 million is only 500 million US dollars, which is only enough to make a low-budget movie.

Zhang Chen felt that he still had to open up as much resources as possible so that Cube could produce more movies and make money quickly.

Zhang Chen locked himself in the room and robbed the money, with too many scenarios about the future in his mind.

"Little Miss Sunshine" seems to be a good choice~
"Juno" can also be a box office killer.

"Twilight" and "The Hangover" can all be arranged~
Cube is a really good independent film company. Currently, no one in China knows the relationship between Zhang Chen and Cube.

……

Huayi
The Wang brothers and Feng Xiaogang were smoking in the office.

It was sold in North America for 500 million U.S. dollars, and everyone here was very satisfied with this price.

"The Banquet" cost $1500 million, and after all miscellaneous expenses, $800 million has been recovered, which means that it will break even if it makes another $700 million.

700 million US dollars is 5600 million RMB.

So far, "The Banquet" has sold 1500 million yuan in DVDs in China, plus 500 million yuan in revenue from movie channels and 1500 million yuan from pre-production advertising, for a total of 3500 million yuan.

There is only a difference of 2100 million left.

2100 million, according to the current distribution ratio, as long as the box office exceeds 7000 million, it will be fine. Is it difficult for Feng Xiaogang's movies to exceed 7000 million?

Of course it’s not difficult.

……

The interview with Zhang Chen on the movie channel was broadcast, and it was really not edited at all.

Zhang Chen's complaints about "The Promise" were broadcast word for word.

Sixth Princess, are you a little too naughty?
One can imagine the expressions on the faces of poet Chen and his wife when they saw him.

It just so happens that "The Promise" was released overseas these two days.

After Miramax returned the product, although China Film temporarily contacted Warner, Warner was just going through the motions.

Their release strategy is very cautious, cautious to the extreme.

Initially, the film was screened on a small scale in only 213 theaters across the United States.

To put it bluntly, I am not optimistic.

And "The Promise" did not disappoint everyone.

Chinese people don’t like to watch it, and foreigners don’t like to watch it either.

The box office of "The Promise" in ten days of small-scale screening was only 51 US dollars, which can be said to be a complete flop.
The second weekend was even worse, with only a pitiful $11.

What does this show? It shows that this film is not recognized by the audience.

Ultimately, the North American box office of "The Promise" settled at a shameful figure of 66 yuan.

The North American market has always been considered a bellwether for overseas markets.

If the North American market collapses, the overseas market will also collapse, and it will be impossible for any film producer to purchase the copyright.

……

Several major events happened in the Chinese entertainment industry in June:
"The Banquet" sold North American copyright ~
Zhang Chen criticizes "The Promise" again~
Xie Bi Wang and Cecilia Cheung reunited~
"Crocodile Storm" is about to start filming~
There is no absolute protagonist, each one is the leader for hundreds of years.

The filming location for "Crocodile Storm" was chosen in a studio in Hengdian. Hengdian Group is so supportive that they gave two studios for free for "Pacific Rim", so Zhang Chen had to return the favor.

According to Zhang Chen's original idea, he was going to be a producer for a period of time.

It is to ensure that there are no problems with James Wan's filming, and to help the crew and the director to quickly integrate.

Unfortunately, I missed my graduation defense.

The title of the paper submitted by Zhang Chen was "Introduction to Thriller Film Creation", and the defense naturally revolved around this.

“How do you define a thriller?”

"Thriller is a genre of film that focuses on detective, mystery, crime, or the intricacies of psychopathology or schizophrenia.

It is similar to horror movies, but the difference is that thrillers not only rely on visual impact, but also use unpredictable plots and intricate narrative methods to please the audience..."

"What about the conflict setting?"

"In terms of conflict setting, there must be two types of conflict: external conflict and internal conflict. External conflict is the general environment, creating a tense atmosphere, while internal conflict highlights the complex relationships between characters and uses internal conflict to promote the development of the plot..."

As soon as Zhang Chen finished answering, a professor frowned and said, "Internal conflicts only serve to advance the plot? Why not try to extend it and discuss human nature or something deeper..."

Zhang Chen did not refute him, but replied: "It can be extended appropriately, so that the protagonist faces some choices and shows maternal love, but even so, these conflicts are still set up to advance the plot. If it destroys the rhythm of the whole drama, I would rather not..."

"Then tell me more about the rhythm problem you just mentioned..."

The professor obviously wanted to say something, but Tian Zhuangzhuang spoke first.

Tian Zhuangzhuang was the head of the department, and since he had spoken, the man had no choice but to give up.

Zhang Chen knew that the other party didn't want him to have a quarrel with the teacher.

Although he is a prominent figure in Beijing Film Academy, not all teachers stand on his side.

He had previously openly opposed art films and was dismissive of auteur films, which really offended a lot of people.

Facing Tian Zhuangzhuang's question, Zhang Chen thought for a moment and replied: "Rhythm should be the most important thing in a thriller.

For a thriller, the plot must move forward quickly, so fast that the audience has no time to think.

In fact, many plot settings are not impeccable. The audience can figure it out as long as they think about it a little bit, but as long as the plot advances fast enough, the audience will not have time to think carefully...

Let me give you the most obvious example. Have you seen the low-budget Hollywood movie "Silver Lining" in 2004?

Most people didn't react, but Tian Zhuangzhuang nodded, and many other students who were listening nearby also nodded. Zhang Chen just assumed that they had seen it.

“‘A Silver Lining’ relies entirely on its fast pace to win.

The kidnapped woman can contact a stranger through the repaired phone and ask the stranger to help her solve the crisis...

This setting is actually very good.

But under this setting, the audience can completely predict the next step.

The reason why the audience can still patiently watch the movie is simply because the plot of the movie progresses fast enough.

The audience may just be thinking about it, or just thinking about it, when the plot also happens. At this time, the audience has no first-mover advantage and can only follow the plot completely~"

After Zhang Chen finished speaking, he looked at the examiners' thoughtful expressions and continued, "In addition to rhythm, there is another very important point, which is imagination!
This is a test of the screenwriter's ability.

Sometimes, the success or failure of a movie is directly determined by whether its imagination is attractive or not.

You throw out a very attractive setting, and as long as the audience accepts it, the subsequent sense of immersion will be very strong.

Let me give you an example, "Black Hole Frequency", its setting is very attractive.

The protagonist can use an old radio to contact his father 30 years ago and change history...

Once the audience accepts this setting, they will continue to follow the movie and there is no possibility of leaving early."

Zhang Chen originally wanted to use "A Quiet Place" as an example, but the movie hasn't been released yet. If the plot is revealed rashly, it might affect the box office, so he temporarily changed it to "Black Hole Frequency".

"Black Hole Frequency" is a typical brain-opening movie.

It relies purely on novel settings to attract audiences.

The audience can't imagine where the plot will go next...

Unfortunately, it appeared in 2000 and there is no way to copy it.

However, Zhang Chen remembered that South Korea had also filmed a similar subject, called "The Phone", which was also very well filmed, so he could get it in advance.

Not only that, there is also the TV series "Signal", which has a similar setting, where modern people can communicate with people from decades ago and thus change history.

It also contains elements of suspense, making it fascinating.

“Are you considering this entirely from a market perspective?”

……

Dear parents, the amount of updates in the past two days is a bit disappointing for everyone's follow-up.

I've been busy with various things recently before the New Year, and I would like to write more, but this is all I can do.

I'll try my best~
(End of this chapter)