Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 568 New Year's Film Season, Comparison and Demotion
"Thank you all for your hard work these past few days!"

Zhang Chen brought Ning Hao and Fan Xiaopang to the 'Weibo Era' and distributed the snacks he brought to everyone.

The launch of Weibo recently has been a huge headache for the developers.

With a tight deadline and heavy workload, Zhang Chen often had to add features on short notice, such as a voting widget...

But programmers are easy to please. Zhang Chen and Ning Hao, those two stinky men, are one thing, but when the beautiful Fan Xiaopang personally distributes the food, their eyes light up.

Yeah, that's why they say programmers are so naive; one motivational speaker and they're all excitedly cheering...

After calming the group down, Cao Guowei led everyone to the data center.

"This is the user activity curve after the product launch, it's very good, all thanks to your traffic generation!"

Cao Guowei expressed his approval of this collaboration with Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen wasn't bragging; he said he could bring traffic to Weibo using his influence, and he really could.

Fan Xiaopang looked around curiously. She couldn't understand most of the icons on the big screen, but there was one she could understand: the leaderboard.

She's ranked first, Da Meiyuan is second, and Li Meiqi is third.
Looking down the rankings, Shu Qi is fourth, Jing Tian is fifth, Yang Xiaomi is ninth...

Looking at the male leads, Liu Ye is first, Chen Kun is second, and Huang Xiaoming is third...

"Hey, that Mark Chao guy is nowhere to be found~"

These past two days, she's also been following the rankings, especially Zhao Youting, whom she's only heard of but never seen.

"That was manipulated. We have special measures in place to deal with ranking manipulation, so it was naturally removed..."

"Oh~"

Zhang Chen then turned his head and asked, "Can anti-ranking manipulation be 100% effective?"

Cao Guowei: "It's impossible to do that, but we can filter out most of it. The current result basically reflects the true public opinion."

"Shu Qi got so many votes?"

Fan Xiaopang was surprised; how could a Taiwanese female celebrity have such strong popularity?

Zhang Chen revealed the deeper reason: "Because of 'If You Are the One,' which is Huayi Brothers' year-end blockbuster, the publicity is everywhere. Shu Qi is the female lead in 'If You Are the One,' so of course her popularity is high..."

"Oh~"

When the topic of film casting came up, Cao Guowei also revealed his gossipy side: "Can you reveal whether you really cast actors based on the voting results?"

"We will take it into consideration, but it doesn't mean that the first place winner will definitely be selected."

Fan Xiaopang seemed to be deep in thought as he watched Cao Guowei and Zhang Chen chatting on the side.

At first, he thought Zhang Chen was helping to promote Weibo because of Sina, since he was a leading figure on Sina Blog.

But looking at Cao Guowei's attitude towards Zhang Chen today, she felt that things might not be so simple, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong.

As soon as he left the company, he was surrounded by reporters.

"Director Zhang, what brings you here?"

"Director Zhang, could you reveal the real cast for 'Ghost Blows Out the Light'?"

"Some people say the voting is just a gimmick, and that Fan Binbin will definitely be the female lead. Is that really true?"

Zhang Chen gestured for everyone to be quiet by pressing his hands together, and then said, "We came to Weibo headquarters to verify the authenticity of the data, and Mr. Cao Guowei from Sina just assured me that Weibo's voting data is absolutely real..."

As for the rumor that this is just a gimmick, of course not. In fact, the company had a plan in place regarding the initial casting for "Ghost Blows Out the Light".

Initially, considering box office appeal, the pairing of Zhang Jin and Fan Binbin was tentatively chosen.

Both actors have a certain box office appeal worldwide, and "Ghost Blows Out the Light" is destined to be a movie that uses a lot of special effects, so the pressure to recoup costs will be very high. Casting these two actors in the lead roles will help the movie break even.

However, considering the suitability of the roles, director Ning Hao ultimately did not agree to this plan, which led to the online vote to select the audience's ideal Hu Bayi and Shirley Yang..."

The media listened with great excitement as Zhang Chen spoke eloquently.

Ning Hao's face darkened.

I didn't go against the majority opinion at all; wasn't all of this your doing?

But when interviewed by reporters, he had to maintain a straight face while spouting nonsense: "Yes, first and foremost, this is a film made for book fans. Secondly, it's a Chinese film, and our primary consideration is the acceptance level of Chinese audiences. We can't abandon domestic audiences to cater to the international market. Star Entertainment won't do something so short-sighted. Just like Director Zhang said, the domestic market is our foundation, and serving domestic audiences well is our top priority..."

Ning Hao's answer immediately won a round of applause.

The people have suffered under Qin for too long.
Films like *The Forbidden Kingdom* and *Red Cliff* sacrificed domestic audiences for the so-called international market, resulting in films that were neither truly Chinese nor truly Western. Star Entertainment, on the other hand, went against the grain, truly prioritizing domestic audiences, and naturally, it garnered applause…

……

Not long after, Feng Xiaogang saw the report.

He looked at Wang Zhonglei beside him: "Zhonglei, where is Shu Qi ranked now?"

"fourth!"

"Can't it be uploaded?"

Wang Zhonglei shook his head: "I contacted several teams, but they all shook their heads as soon as they heard it was about manipulating the rankings of 'Ghost Blows Out the Light.' Weibo has restrictions on ranking manipulation, so technical methods simply don't work. It can only be done manually..."

Feng Xiaogang didn't say anything more. Of course, boosting Shu Qi's popularity wasn't to actually cast her as Shirley Yang, but rather for the promotion of "If You Are the One".

Shu Qi is the female lead of "If You Are the One". As long as she gets into the top three, she will receive attention, and this attention can bring real benefits to "If You Are the One".

……

As December arrives, the Lunar New Year film season officially begins.

The film and television market in 08 was a chaotic mess.

Before November's "The Storm," "The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil," and "The Witness" had even finished their theatrical run, six other blockbuster films for the Lunar New Year season—"Hurricane 2," "If You Are the One," "All About Women," "Red Cliff II," "Forever Enthralled," and "CJ11"—were released.

Six films are battling it out, with premieres coming one after another!
"The Storm" and "The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil" were both films produced by Golden Harvest, while "The Witness" was produced by Eagle Entertainment. All three films achieved remarkable success.

Given its lineup, "The Storm" should have been competing for the Lunar New Year release. However, since there were already six blockbusters in the Lunar New Year lineup, all of which were directed by renowned directors, and there was also the similar film "Hurricane 2," "The Storm" was unlikely to gain an advantage. Therefore, Chen Xi decided to move it to November.

The highest-grossing film, "The Storm," was entirely due to its grand scale.

"Firestorm" features the biggest gunfight scene in Hong Kong films to date, with the entire Central district being blown up.

However, in terms of subject matter, the story of "Firestorm" is the most clichéd, a story of police and robbers that is very common in Hong Kong films.

Of course, minor innovations were also made.

The element of a corrupt police officer has been added.

Both "The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil" and "The Witness" have novel themes: one is about police and criminals cooperating to catch a murderer, while the other focuses on the story behind the confrontation between the police and criminals.

Zhang Chen casually posted a Weibo post:
This year's Hong Kong films have been a pleasant surprise.

In the past, Hong Kong films were prone to copying trends. When "Mr. Vampire" became a hit in 1985, ten zombie films suddenly appeared in 1986.

In 02, "Infernal Affairs" burst onto the scene, and since then, all police and gangster movies have been about catching the mole.

This year is different; "The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil" and "The Witness" showed me innovation.

Movies still need to focus on the subject matter and the story! Actually, Zhang Chen is just bragging; he provided the script for "The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil."

The decline of Hong Kong cinema is a foregone conclusion, but we should still praise it.

Promoting Weibo, huh?
The 120-character limit is a bit annoying.

After discussing it with Cao Guowei, the 120-character limit was removed for verified users.

This setting was actually learned from Twitter, and it has both advantages and disadvantages.

By the way, the director of "The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil" is Wang Jing.

There's a recent post on Zhihu:

Is Wong Jing's directing ability seriously overrated?

The person asking the question is probably a Gen Z. Any movie fan from the 80s or 90s who knows even a little about movies wouldn't ask this question.

You can say that Wang Jing's movies are all garbage, that they're all about scatological humor, but you can't say he has no talent.

Looking at the entire Hong Kong film industry, Wang Jing is probably the filmmaker with the best cost-performance ratio.

If someone tells you that you're going to make a movie, and the lead actor is Stephen Chow, and there's nothing else...

I don't know what the movie is about.
You handle everything: script, cinematography, supporting actors, extras, script supervisor, props, lighting, art direction, music, sound effects, choreography, and editing.
It's going to be released in two weeks, and it needs to make money. Can we manage that?
Ask 100 filmmakers, and none of them can figure it out, but Wang Jing can.

This movie is "Tricky Master," which pioneered the prank genre.

You think it's just good luck?
But this happened more than once. The second time, the boss told him that they were going to film the story of the Five Shaolin Ancestors, and they would cast Jet Li as the lead actor...

One Jet Li is at most one founder, where did the other four founders come from?
Moreover, Jet Li was the hottest star at the time. Where could you find four actors of equal stature to play the Fifth Ancestor? Even if you could find them, the production team would be in chaos and wouldn't be able to continue filming.

This is an impossible task for anyone else.

The chubby boy finished.

They actually managed to find five children to help Jet Li complete "The New Legend of Shaolin"—it was a stroke of genius!
People were amazed by the chubby boy's screenwriting ability; he could solve problems with a whimsical story at will.

But what lies behind this is actually strong management ability. Without anything else, a movie can be made in two weeks. Management ability is the most important thing.

……

Shen Nanpeng appeared at the premiere of "Hurricane 2".

Ordinary people don't know him very well, but he was recognized by the media.

After all, he's the head of Sequoia China and frequently appears on financial programs.

The next day, the entertainment headline was: "Taken 2 Premiere, Star-Studded!"
Because nobody knows Shen Nanpeng. The film industry is still a small pond, and only people in the investment circle consider big shots like Shen to be gods.

Financial headline: Shen Nanpeng appears at the premiere of Star Entertainment's film; Sequoia Capital may be planning to enter the film industry.

Even some people in the financial industry who don't usually pay much attention to movies have started to focus on whether there's any profit to be made.

However, Shen Nanpeng quickly clarified: "Filmmaking is not a good business. There are too many uncontrollable factors, and the success of a film depends too much on the creators themselves..."

In other words, this is not a profitable business.

Other investors also stated: "The film industry is a very complex industry. The investment process is complicated, the cycle is long, the risks are high, and the expectations are unpredictable. Investing in film and television is very difficult to operate..."

To put it simply, there are no templates that can be copied.

Zhang Chen was naturally eager for capital to enter the film industry later, and immediately posted an article stating that film is indeed not a good investment direction, as it is very much a gamble.

He's been posting on Weibo very frequently these past two days, averaging several posts a day.

I also posted another message recommending Maoyan Movies.

The promotion of Maoyan Movies has not been very successful, mainly in terms of pre-sales.

The collaboration with cinema chains is thanks to the backing of Star Entertainment, which has attracted the cooperation of several of the top cinema chains in China.

Isn't all you want to do is provide our film schedule?
for you!

The next step is to connect the ticketing systems of various cinema chains with Maoyan's ticket collection system, so that inventory can be shared.

As I said before, with Star Entertainment backing us up, although it's troublesome, things are progressing quite well.

The real problem is the pre-sale.

Because cinemas often adjust their screening schedule for the following day based on the attendance of the films on the previous day.

This means that even if Maoyan wanted to sell tickets for the next day, it couldn't.

Because the screening schedule information is not coming in a timely manner.

There's nothing we can do about that; everything is difficult at the beginning, so let's just work things out gradually.
……

Ever since Yang Xiaomi posted that Weibo post, everyone has unlocked the promotional function of Weibo.

However, there aren't many celebrities with verified identities on Weibo, but the Starry Sky Group has the most.

Star Entertainment has taught other companies a real lesson.

They organized celebrities to promote the movie and also organized people to write reviews after watching it.

Many celebrities have posted promotional material for "Hurricane 2".

Not only the main creators, but also their celebrity friends will post.

Ordinary viewers would post photos of themselves watching the film on Weibo, and some would even take photos with the film during the promotional tour.

It looks like a regular Weibo post, but it's actually a movie promotion.

After this series of combined attacks, other companies finally realized that movies could be promoted in this way.

Hehe, that's not all!

There are as many as six movies being released during the Lunar New Year season, and they will definitely be comparing and contrasting with each other.

In previous years, the comparisons and criticisms were mostly conducted on places like Tianya and Tieba, but this year there's another place: Weibo.

"Women Are Not Bad" and "Mei Lanfang" are not appealing in terms of subject matter and are no match for "Hurricane 2". The only films that can be called rivals are "If You Are the One", "CJ7" and "Red Cliff II".

As long as Xiao Gangpao doesn't do anything reckless, he still has a lot of appeal during the Lunar New Year film season. Plus, he's often paired with Ge You, so audiences generally approve of him.

As for "CJ7", it's actually a very ordinary movie.

It's not a bad movie, but it's definitely not great either.

It even has the suspicion of being deceptive.

The promotional materials all feature Stephen Chow, but it's actually not a Stephen Chow film.

Zhang Chen stated truthfully on Weibo that "CJ7" is not a Stephen Chow film, and then a bunch of people jumped out to criticize him, saying that he didn't know what he was talking about.

And here comes the opportunity to put each other down!

! ! ! !
I've been suddenly assigned to a business trip, so there might not be an update tomorrow. I'll try my best!
(End of this chapter)