Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 150 Profits, Steamed Bun Murder Case

On December 28, 2005, the capital city was freezing cold in winter, but Yijin Garden was bustling with activity.

The celebration banquet for "Crazy Stone" was held as scheduled.

The movie will be taken off the screen in two days, and the daily box office has dropped to a few thousand yuan, but no one minds.

Because this dark horse movie that started out as a promotion in an Internet cafe has already secured its place in the year-end Lunar New Year box office with a "60 million box office", becoming the movie with the highest return rate in the Lunar New Year box office.

In the center of the hall's stage, a huge, glittering ice block captured everyone's attention. Inside, a striking golden plaque read "6000 million"—a chilling sight that also emanated a uniquely triumphant aura.

There were not many media outlets at the scene, only five or six, but they still set up cameras to film the scene.

Not far away, Ning Hao and Wu Chen were discussing in a low voice:

"The box office for 'The Promise' started to plummet in its second week, and now it looks like it's doomed. It's definitely not going to break 200 million, even with affordable tickets targeting third- and fourth-tier cities."

Wu Chen couldn't help but laugh. "Don't tell me that when President Han comes over. He's been really worried about trying to get 200 million yuan for The Promise lately. Overseas sales are a mess too. The only good thing is that the movie recouped over 300 million yuan in costs and even made a profit."

Huang Bo, Guo Tao, Liu Hua and others were chatting and laughing around the dining table.

Wu Chen patted Ning Hao and said, "Come on, let's go to the next table and join in the fun. Mr. Han probably won't be here for a few minutes."

After a while, just when Wu Chen and others were chatting happily, there was a noise at the door.

Han Sanping waved and greeted the media reporters with a smile while walking towards them with big strides.

"Mr. Han, if you don't come soon, we won't be able to hold our chopsticks." Wu Chen stood up and said with a smile.

"Oh, I was delayed by a document when I left just now. Otherwise, you would definitely not be faster than me." Han Sanping laughed and waved, "Come on, come on stage and knock on the ice bricks!"

The main creators came on stage. Ning Hao, Guo Tao, Liu Hua, Zhuang Bo, and Xu Zheng took turns tapping the ice bricks with wooden hammers. Ice chips flew everywhere, and the words "6000 million" became clearer and clearer. Wu Chen and Han Sanping stood on each side and applauded them.

The applause of the audience was thunderous.

The camera freezes this scene.

"Director Ning, the movie has surpassed 60 million at the box office. Do you have any thoughts on making a sequel?"

"A sequel? I'm not sure about it for now. I'll take a break for a while and write the script next year to see." Ning Hao happily responded to media inquiries while holding the microphone.

"Will you continue to collaborate with China Film Group and Star Films on future films?"

"Cooperation, that's for sure. As long as Director Wu and President Han don't mind, I will definitely send my script to them as soon as possible."

"."

The media immediately turned to Han Sanping and Wu Chen.

"The door of Xingchen Pictures is always open to Director Ning!"

"The same goes for China Film Group!"

"."

At the "Stone" celebration party, Ning Hao spoke openly about plans for the sequel: "First, rest and then create." China Film Group and Star Star remain his preferred partners!

The doors of Xingchen and China Film Group are always open! Wu Chen and Han San expressed their support for Ning Hao's new film at the celebration party for "Stone"!

When the news of the celebration banquet came out the next day, some producers with different thoughts immediately stopped their activities.

Ning Hao, China Film Group and Star Film have all expressed their views, so it is difficult for them to snatch people away from China Film Group and Star Film.

Nowadays, many directors and producers have strong ties. Unless you spend a lot of money, it is difficult to get a director to change jobs. Moreover, it is not certain whether you can win the bid, but you will definitely offend China Film and Xingchen, which is not worth the loss.

At this time, Wu Chen and Ning Hao both received invitations to appear in a short advertising film.

"Brother, did you receive it?
"The 'Yahoo Star Search' campaign, a commercial shoot, cost 30 million RMB, and the directors got 40% of it. How generous!" Ning Hao sighed. "I just saw it and asked someone to check. It's run by Yahoo China, in partnership with Huayi Brothers, and they're also using a grassroots selection process. I suspect it'll be Huayi's artists who will be selected in the end, and if they can pick one or two grassroots artists, they'll be lucky."

Do you want to go?

Wu Chen smiled and said, "This thing is quite time-consuming, so I won't get involved."

"The requirements here are quite high. I guess they don't think highly of me. I'm just giving it a try with an invitation. If I fail, it will be very embarrassing.

If it's a simple one, I can still take a shot, but this kind of thing is too energy-consuming, so forget it."

Ning Hao chuckled and decided to lie down and rest for a while.

"alright."

Wu Chen could also understand. After all, Ning Hao earned more than one million from "Crazy Stone", so it was time for him to enjoy life.

The actual profit earned by Xingchen Pictures was only over 8 million, with a net profit of less than 6 million.

Even though the total box office revenue was as high as 60 million, after sharing the profits with the cinemas and deducting publicity and promotional expenses, distribution agency fees, etc., in fact, only 40% or even less of the box office revenue went to the producers.

Fortunately, after the box office success of "Stone", the copyright revenue will definitely not be low, and it has a good reputation. In the future, it will be able to achieve long-tail copyright revenue, with immediate wealth in the front and hidden wealth in the back.

"By the way, if you have time, you can watch an entertaining short film called 'A Murder Caused by a Bun'. It's quite interesting. I think Director Chen is going to get mad."

When Wu Chen heard Ning Hao say this, he showed a strange smile. He didn't expect that this steamed bun would come.

I immediately searched it on my computer and found that it had indeed spread widely, with many forums and even blogs offering online viewing and downloading.

The short film is about 20 minutes long and is basically edited clips from the movie "The Promise".

The short film begins with the subtitle "What you see below is purely for my own entertainment. The content is completely fictional and fabricated." It then unfolds the story in the format of CCTV's branded program "Legal System Online":

A bizarre murder occurred in a certain city. A masked man on horseback killed Mr. Wang, the general manager of the "Circle within Circle Entertainment City" in broad daylight and in full view of the public.

There happened to be a reporter present at the time and he took pictures of the scene.

Wang chases and hacks at Qingcheng, played by Zhang Baizhi, on the roof.
The woman in the picture is Manager Wang’s wife, Zhang Qingcheng. She is a famous fashion model in the “Ring Inside Ring Entertainment City”. Her daily job is to put on and take off clothes.
Wu Chen couldn't help laughing when he saw the weird scene of people taking off clothes.

"The Promise" became popular again, just two days after the beginning of 2006.

But this time it was not based on a sensational premiere or high box office, but on "A Murder Case Caused by a Bun."

At China Film Academy, Gao Chengsheng is holding the day's newspaper and reporting on the three North Korea-ROK discussions.

"How's Brother Chen Kai?"

"Director Chen was furious. If Chen Hong hadn't been there, he might have started swearing." Gao Chengsheng didn't know how to describe Brother Chen Kai's fury in the industry in the past two days.

But he could also understand it. After all, Brother Chen Kai spent several years writing the script himself, invested 300 million yuan in production funds, invited many big stars, and the crew often involved in tens of thousands of people. It was also carefully edited and beautified in the later stage before it was released. The cost was quite huge.

Which director can stand this kind of treatment?

Han Sanping was speechless for a moment.

Because of the news Gao Chengsheng passed on, the number of clicks and influence of "A Murder Case of a Bun" almost surpassed the movie "The Promise" itself.

This is so embarrassing.

"Director Chen said he wants to take 'The Promise' to Berlin, and he doesn't believe it can't find a distributor in North America."

"Then let him take it. He's not happy with Wu Chen's help. I'd like to see who he can find in Berlin."

Speaking of this, Han Sanping was also angry.
(End of this chapter)