Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 678 Bragging (33)

"Monkey King: Hero Is Back" is scheduled for release on July 10th...

But Shen Yan felt it wasn't appropriate...

Why not release it earlier?
On July 9th, "Tiny Times 4" was released; on July 10th, "Forever Young" was released; on July 16th, "Monster Hunt"...

Too dense!

Yes, "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" successfully achieved a box office of 10 billion yuan by leveraging its positive word-of-mouth and the slogan of the rise of Chinese animation...

But let's try a different approach—like "Dying to Survive": screen it at the Shanghai International Film Festival, then have small-scale previews, then large-scale previews, and finally... release it directly!
This approach is more suitable.

As for the timing, it will have preview screenings starting on June 20th, and then the official release on June 25th…

This is definitely not targeting "Hollywood Adventures," which will be released on June 26th. After all, the film is a comedy produced by Enlight Media with a large budget—directed by Justin Lin, and two films have been confirmed: "Hollywood Adventures" and "Europa Adventures"...

It's definitely aiming for a billion-dollar box office!

"Monkey King: Hero Is Back" is just an animated film.

……

This year's Shanghai International Film Festival still attracted a large number of stars...

According to the press release, more than 400 filmmakers from home and abroad gathered together, creating a star-studded event.

Jackie Chan, Zhang Ziyi, Fan Xiaopang, Aaron Kwok, Liu Ye, Yang Mi…

Foreign filmmakers were also present, including Sophie Marceau and Song Seung-heon, the latter of whom brought the film "The Third Way of Love" with Liu Yifei.

In short, the production company behind "The Third Way of Love" is CTS Pictures.

CTS (China Television System) started out in advertising, including outdoor digital mobile TV advertising networks—subway and bus ads…

In 13, they made a name for themselves with "So Young," then got carried away by big data and announced a 50 billion yuan investment to film "Douluo Continent," "Dragon Raja," and "Shanghai Fortress"...

That's right, the main production company behind "Shanghai Fortress"!
As for "The Third Way of Love," it was a work riding the wave of popularity—a Sino-Korean co-production, after all, and director Lee Jae-han's representative work was "A Moment to Remember"...

"A Moment to Remember," a classic South Korean romance film.

Song Seung-heon...although he's past his prime in South Korea, he's still very popular in China, thanks to "Autumn in My Heart"...

Song Seung-heon's fan club has 48 followers, while Choi Siwon of Super Junior, who is extremely popular in China, recently formed a couple with Liu Wen, but only has 33 followers.

So don't think Song Seung-heon is a has-been actor, he's quite popular!
I just never expected... they would actually announce their relationship...

Is it really necessary to go to such lengths just to promote a movie?
Oh, Shen Yan walked the red carpet with the cast and crew of "Monkey King: Hero Is Back"...

"I think 'Monkey King: Hero Is Back' can also be considered a fan film. After all, when it comes to the number of fans, no one can surpass Sun Wukong! I am a super fan of the Monkey King!"

In the interview area, Shen Yan was talking nonsense with a straight face...

"I wrote 'Wukong,' which was also created for the Great Sage... The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong, has a body like black iron, fiery eyes, is immortal, and has seventy-two transformations. In one somersault, he can travel 108,000 li... This is considered the first superhero that our generation, including the previous generation, came into contact with..."

"The title 'Monkey King: Hero Is Back' is so great... It reminds me of 'Havoc in Heaven' from half a century ago. You can imagine that half a century ago, children of the same age would, like the kids in the movie theater today, crane their necks and watch the curtains part to reveal a monkey, accompanied by the clanging of gongs and drums..."

Now, in a different setting, with different equipment, different artisans, different voices, and a different audience.

But it's about the same monkey... It felt so romantic, so when director Tian Xiaopeng approached me, I immediately agreed to invest!

"What money? I don't care about money... Besides, how much does an animated movie cost?" Uh, bragging, Yan Ge is still very professional!
Why invest in "Monkey King: Hero Is Back"?
The reason is simple: to make money!

In the original timeline, "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" grossed 9.85 million yuan, almost breaking the 1 billion yuan mark!

If he's truly willing to pay for other people's ideals, then...why not invest in "Kuiba"?

Of course, there's no need to publicize these things...

……

Shen Yan came to the Shanghai International Film Festival mainly because he was invited to attend the Golden Goblet Forum section.

The first forum was held in the Golden Hall of the Shanghai Silver Star Crown Hotel…

The venue could accommodate 300 people, mostly theater owners, managers, and media personnel.

The main stage had six seats, with the outermost seat naturally reserved for the host.

Then there's Yu Dong from Bona Film Group, Wang Changtian and Shen Yan from Enlight Media, Liu Chunming, president of Alibaba Digital Entertainment Group, and Ke Liming from Ruyi Media…

The theme is "Internet Plus: Upgrading Movies!"

Wang Changtian spoke first—Enlight Media accepted Alibaba's 24 billion yuan investment…

As an aside, in 2015, Alibaba significantly increased its stake in Enlight Media, becoming its second-largest shareholder with an 8.74% stake.

Then, at the end of 2024, just before the release of "Ne Zha 2," Alibaba sold off its shares in Enlight Media, reducing its stake from 8.78% to 4.7%...

Ali Pictures has heavily invested in "Fengshen 2" and has become one of the main producers of the film!

We have no idea what Alibaba's investment banking is thinking, how could their insight be so accurate?
Returning to Wang Changtian, he praised Ma Yun: "I met Ma Yun twice, and he invested 24 billion yuan in us. He said, 'Logically speaking, for investments under 3 billion yuan, I don't need to meet with the investee. Our decision-making committee decided that the reason I met with you was because I was interested in a certain matter—how to make Chinese films reach 300 billion yuan. I wasn't particularly interested in what your specific films would be about or how they would be made.'..."

Tsk tsk, no interest in investments under 30 billion...

He truly lives up to his reputation as the richest man!
Yu Dong didn't follow suit—Ma Yun also invested $8600 million in Bona Film Group, acquiring nearly 10% of the shares…

Unfortunately, Bona Film Group's market capitalization is less than nine hundred million US dollars!

Therefore, he didn't praise Ma Yun, but he did praise Bona's future plans: "Tonight at Bona Film Night, I will announce Bona's list of 26 films for the next year and a half, that is, from the second half of the year to 2016. I have already written the titles for them: Bona's new films aiming for 10 billion yuan in box office."

Why do I say this? I'm not listing IP names or book titles; I'm listing projects with teams, directors, production scale, and investment budgets—projects that are about to begin work.

“Tsk tsk, I’m shocked, a list of 26 films,” Ke Liming chuckled. “We at Ruyi are a small company, and we mainly make youth films right now… I hope we can make the Sino-US co-production ‘Journey to the West’ within the next three years!”

Oh, the Sino-US co-production of "Journey to the West" is the one Teacher Liu mentioned: "This year, the Sino-US co-production of 'Journey to the West' will officially begin filming in the second half of the year. I will continue to play the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. I will strive to create a positive image with the artistic portrayal of the Monkey King, promoting both literature and art, and carrying forward Chinese culture. I hope everyone will pay close attention."

Yes, "Where is the Road Ahead?"...

"Mr. Shen, after hearing all this, what are your thoughts?"

Shen Yan smiled and said, "I just finished post-production work on 'La La Land' yesterday. I also attended several meetings in between, and haven't had a proper rest for over twenty days... But I heard about the film slate... Our company mainly invests in no more than 10 films a year..."

Yu Dong interjected: "But you all have big investments, 'The Martian' cost 4.5 million!"

"There was no other way. We didn't have much experience the first time, so we relied entirely on spending money and time. Just to simulate Martian and space lighting, we used more than 3600 lights. We also contacted Roger Deakins, who directed the lighting diagrams for us for free... The photography equipment, the first Titan motion-controlled robotic arm in Asia designed by Mark Roberts Motion Control, and the setup of some large lighting arrays—all of these were acquired by spending a lot of money!"

After a pause, Shen Yan added, "Now that we have experience, the cost of the second hard science fiction film, 'The Wandering Earth,' was kept very stable. This time, it can be made for less than 4 million!"

(End of this chapter)