Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 624 [Star River Paradise], Tickets Hard to Come By

"Congratulations!"

"Join us! Rejoice together!"

On August 30th, at the Xinghe Grand Theater, during the celebration party for "Wolf Warrior 3," a 6 billion yuan ice sculpture was smashed by Wu Jing, Xie Miao, and others. The crystal-clear ice fragments shimmered with iridescent light under the bright lights, and a chilling aura swirled around them like auspicious clouds.

Thanks to its solid reputation and sustained popularity, Wolf Warrior 3 has maintained a significant position in the August film market, attracting a steady stream of viewers.

Now, after more than a month of screenings, it has finally come to a perfect end with a total box office of 62 billion yuan.

Although this result only met market expectations, the box office of over 60 billion yuan was enough to make it stand out among many films in the 2018 summer season, making it the undisputed champion of that summer season.

Meanwhile, with a box office of over 60 billion yuan, it ranks second in the current Chinese film history, second only to Wang Hao's "The Three-Body Problem 1" which grossed over 80 billion yuan.

It can be said that the success of "Wolf Warrior 3" continued the box office legend of the "Wolf Warrior" series, wrote a perfect ending to the series, and also made the entire upstream and downstream of the Galaxy Group's industrial chain very profitable, further consolidating its position in the film industry.

In comparison, films released during the same period, such as "The Island" (13.55 billion yuan), "iPartment" (6.34 million yuan), "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (4.64 million yuan in its opening week), "Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings" (6.06 million yuan), "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" (16.96 billion yuan), and even "Dying to Survive" (31 billion yuan), all paled in comparison to the brilliance of "Wolf Warrior 3".

Wu Jing smiled broadly at the celebration party, her back teeth almost showing.

As the director and lead actor of this film, "Wolf Warrior 3" brought him both fame and fortune.

Needless to say, its position as the second highest-grossing film in Chinese box office history may not last long, given that two more blockbusters from the Galaxy Cinematic Universe are set to be released. However, Wolf Warrior 3 is likely to hold onto its place in the top five at the Chinese box office for at least a few years.

As for profit, given his leading role in the "Wolf Warrior" series and his importance within the "Galaxy Cinematic Universe," Wu Jing received a salary of 20 million yuan for his role in "Wolf Warrior 3."

In addition, Wu Jing, as the film's director and action choreographer, also received a director's fee of 1000 million yuan and a coaching fee of 500 million yuan.

Of course, a reward of 3500 million is below market level for Wu Jing now.

But the real bulk of his income from the movie "Wolf Warrior 3" came from the corresponding "profit-sharing clauses".

In Hollywood, actors' "backend points" (or profit participation) are additional compensation mechanisms based on the commercial performance of a film. They are usually linked to box office revenue, DVD sales, streaming revenue, etc., and are an important part of the salaries of top actors (especially core roles in series films).

In China, such "profit-sharing clauses" were not very common in the past.

Because the Chinese film industry mainly relies on box office revenue as its primary means of profit, without a complete industrial chain, subsequent peripheral development is also a false proposition.

In addition, film investment is full of uncertainty, so actors and directors prefer to make a one-off deal and get their salaries more secure.

In recent years, as Galaxy Group has pioneered the path of domestic commercial blockbusters and established a complete film peripheral industry chain, coupled with the salary cap for actors and artists, "profit-sharing clauses" have gradually become the norm.

The core logic of this "profit-sharing clause" is that it is directly linked to the film's revenue. In essence, it is a "performance-based bonus," meaning that in addition to a fixed basic salary, actors can receive a certain percentage of the film's net profit or total box office revenue.

Galaxy Pictures' profit-sharing plan for Wu Jing also falls under the category of "guaranteed minimum profit + tiered excess profit sharing".

As a key character in the Starship Cinematic Universe (SRCU) similar to Captain America, and also as the director, Wu Jing's profit-sharing terms are naturally more generous than those of other actors.

First, there's the guaranteed profit sharing. Regardless of whether the box office targets are met, Wu Jing will receive a fixed extra share, which is 2% of the net profit of the movie "Wolf Warrior 3".

Then there's the excess revenue sharing, which means that once the box office surpasses the preset threshold of 30 billion, the revenue sharing ratio may increase for each threshold crossed.

For example, if the box office of "Wolf Warrior 3" is less than 40 billion yuan, the revenue share will be increased by 1%; if it is less than 50 billion yuan, the revenue share will be increased by 2%; if it is less than 60 billion yuan, the revenue share will be increased by another 3%, and so on.

This design can both incentivize actors to cooperate with promotion and allow the production company to share profits with the core actors when the film is a box office hit.

The key point is that for the cinematic universe, this can bind the actors to the entire cinematic universe. In particular, the supplementary conditions of the "profit-sharing clause" mean that if the actor's character image is damaged due to personal issues, Galaxy Group can not only unilaterally terminate the distribution of other peripheral profits, but also hold the actor accountable and make him compensate.

This acts like a shackle, further ensuring that important actors in the cinematic universe do not suffer any major setbacks that could cause significant damage to the universe.

As a qualified actor, he has to be responsible for his own image.

Now that Wu Jing has signed this "profit-sharing clause" agreement, according to the "minimum guarantee + tiered excess profit sharing" model, the 3500 million yuan remuneration is the minimum guarantee. If the film's box office exceeds 60 billion yuan, he can also receive an additional 5% of the film's profits.

The revenue he earned from this one movie alone was enough to surpass that of many medium-sized companies.

Wu Jing's experiences have undoubtedly made many people envious, and while they flock to Xinghe Pictures' projects, they have also inspired many others.

For example, the film "Speed ​​Chase 2," which followed "Wolf Warrior 3," saw this situation and its director put 200% of his energy into the film's promotional activities, fiercely competing with another Hollywood film released at the same time, "Mission: Impossible – Fallout."

Meanwhile, several films currently in production by Galaxy Pictures, such as Dante Lam's "Operation Red Sea" and Li Kui's "Detective Chinatown 1900," are being filmed with great enthusiasm and the filming process is going very smoothly.

Because it's not just directors and lead actors like Wu Jing who have "profit-sharing" agreements; many behind-the-scenes crew members in the film also receive substantial "back-end income."

However, as September arrived, the hot summer movie season eventually came to a slump. Movies released after that experienced a box office slump, and most of the slightly better blockbusters chose to postpone their release until the National Day holiday in October.

Moreover, to be honest, people weren't really interested in movies this September.

The film enthusiasts, however, were more focused on another major event.

Did you manage to get that ticket?

Luo Wei, a new employee of an internet company in Beijing who had been there for less than six months, received a phone call from his girlfriend early in the morning.

"I got it! I got it!"

Luo Wei, who was still a little drowsy and not fully awake, instantly woke up when he heard the soft yet magnetic voice on the phone.

"Two regular tickets."

"Why is it only a regular ticket?!" the girl couldn't help but complain on the other end of the phone.

"These tickets are very hard to get; I had to use ticket-grabbing software."

"Is that a ticket for the park's opening day?"

"It's from the second day."

"How come it's only the second day? I heard that a lot of celebrities will be there on the opening day, and Yang Yang will be there too."

"Tickets for the first day..."

"Never mind, thank you anyway, you've worked hard. But yesterday a good friend of mine told me she also wants to go, are you still able to get tickets?"

"Ah, the tickets for the second day of the park's opening were sold out within minutes of being released."

"What can I do? They're my best friend, we've known each other since we were kids."

"How about I buy her another day's..."

"Forget it, forget it, let me think of another way."

"Hey, wait a minute, Qianqian, hey..."

A little while later, a WeChat message was sent to Luo Wei's phone.

"You go by yourself. My best friend managed to snag two tickets for the opening day. I'll go with her."

A single ticket has captivated countless people in Beijing and across the country.

What kind of ticket has such great magic?

The date was September 20, 2018.

Early in the morning, before the autumn mist had completely dissipated, Zhang Qian, dressed casually with light makeup and possessing an elegant and pure appearance, got into the BMW that her friend had specially come to pick her up. The two of them arrived early at the vicinity of Dagaolizhuang in the TZ District of Beijing.

Today is an important day for the official opening of Xinghe Paradise, a park under the Xinghe Group.

As the largest large-scale theme park project in China, the [Xinghe Paradise] project is jointly funded by China Xinghe Group, BTG Group, Wanda Group, OCT Group, Sony Pictures Entertainment, CJ Entertainment, and many other companies. The total investment in the first phase of the project is as high as RMB 10 billion.

The project started in 2014 and took four years to complete its first phase, giving Beijing a brand new urban cultural landmark.

The completion of Galaxy Park marks a new stage in China's cultural development, giving it the strength to compete with established Hollywood companies like Disney and Universal.

This marks a new milestone in the development of China's cultural endeavors.

Of course, for movie fans like Zhang Qian, the significance of [Galaxy Paradise] is not that important.

What they care more about is the actual condition of [Galaxy Paradise] and whether it can meet their expectations.

However, when Zhang Qian and her best friend arrived near [Star River Paradise], they were immediately taken aback.

Even though they were mentally prepared and had set off very early,

Upon arrival, however, a long queue of people stretched for several kilometers from the grand and classically styled entrance of [Galaxy Paradise].

"There are just too many people!"

Zhang Qian couldn't help but sigh.

According to online reports, Galaxy Park sold over 80,000 tickets today, and the current queue doesn't seem to have reached its peak length yet.

Fortunately, Zhang Qian's good friend was quite wealthy, and when she bought the tickets from the scalper, she directly asked for the highest-tier VIP tickets at 999 yuan each.

With their VIP ticket privileges, they didn't have to queue up here; they went straight to the VIP entrance.

However, since today is the park's opening day, the opening time has been adjusted to 10:1 AM, which is one hour later than the usual opening time. Therefore, the VIP entrance is also closed.

Just as Zhang Qian and her group were waiting at the VIP entrance, three children who looked like high school students—one boy and two girls—appeared behind them.

As expected of a prestigious city, these three students clearly bought VIP tickets.

"MaiMai, your company is so nice, they even give out VIP tickets for Galaxy Park directly."

The three children are two girls and one boy. The two girls are named Zhao Jinmai and Wang Yuwen, and the boy is named Guo Junchen.

They are both actors and are currently filming a TV series called "Growing Pain," which is how they became friends.

Zhao Jinmai is also a contracted artist of Xingdou Culture and belongs to the fifth batch of members of the "Spark" project. Not long ago, the company distributed opening tickets for Xinghe Paradise to its internal staff, asking them to use their influence to promote the park. She got three tickets and brought two of her friends to play together.

"Just kidding, our company is number one in the industry, so the benefits are naturally unbeatable."

While boasting exaggeratedly, Zhao Jinmai took out her phone, opened the Douyin app, and started a live stream.

As a child star, Zhao Jinmai debuted early and starred in the children's fantasy drama "Balala the Fairies". She also played a role in the urban family drama "A Little Reunion" released two years ago. Although she is not very famous, she has a certain number of fans on Douyin with her sweet and lovely appearance and cute image of a girl next door.

When she started her live stream, even though it was only a little past 9 a.m., dozens of people quickly joined the live stream.

"Hello, everyone!"

"Welcome, new friend."

"What do live streamers do? Live streamers are beauty streamers!"

"Where is this? You can guess, but you'll never guess."

Zhao Jinmai held up her phone, talking non-stop, as if she had channeled her character Lin Miaomiao from the TV series "Growing Pain".

Wang Yuwen and Guo Junchen waved to the viewers in her live stream. Their youthful and beautiful appearances were indeed eye-catching. However, most viewers who entered the live stream were attracted by the scene behind them, or rather, by the tall and retro main gate of [Star River Paradise].

"Hey streamer, are you at [Galaxy Paradise]?"

Similar comments kept appearing on Zhao Jinmai's phone, and everyone's attention was no longer focused on the little girl's face, but on what was behind her.

It was already 9:30, less than half an hour before the official opening of [Galaxy Park].

It wasn't just Zhao Jinmai in the VIP lane; next to her and in the regular tourist lane not far away, many people were also holding up their phones and live-streaming.

Meanwhile, a CCTV live broadcast van had already arrived near the gate of Xinghe Amusement Park. The CCTV-1 reporter inside had finished her makeup, glanced at her script, and then stepped out of the van. Under the camera's lens, she calmly walked to the entrance of Xinghe Amusement Park, waiting for the live broadcast from the "Morning News" station.

(End of this chapter)