HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 265 [265] 519 million in sales on the first day in mainland China, shocking the industry!

Zhang Weiping invited Qi Yuan last year.

At the time, Qi Yuan didn't take it too seriously. At this stage, Zhang Weiping can't just arbitrarily insert actors into Zhang Yingmou's films.

Zhang Yingmou didn't make a decision, and Zhang Weiping's words were just empty boasting.

This time, Zhang Yingmou actually came to invite Qi Yuan in person.

Qi Yuan was genuinely surprised.

But on second thought, it makes sense.

Zhang Yingmou has not evolved into a national director; people's impression of him remains that of a past art-house film director, and he has not proven himself in the commercial film field.

"Hero" is Zhang Yingmou's first commercial film. As he ventured into this field for the first time, Zhang Yingmou was not very confident.

The initial plan was to cast Ken Takakura, a national treasure of Japanese cinema, as the character of Wuming.

As it turned out, Ken Takakura didn't even like it and rejected it outright.

When Zhang Yingmou invited Li Lianjie, he personally wrote two letters, one to Li Lianjie and the other to his wife, Li Zhi.

This is a self-contradictory act.

Several years ago, Zhang Yingmou publicly stated that Li Lianjie lacked a sense of vicissitude and that he would not consider casting Li Lianjie in his films.

If it were Zhang Yingmou, who later achieved great success and reached his peak, he certainly wouldn't do something that contradicts his own past.

It's perfectly reasonable for him to personally come and invite Qi Yuan.

Everyone was in Beijing. The premiere of "Infernal Affairs" invited New Pictures, and Zhang Yingmou just happened to be passing by to invite Qi Yuan.

Zhang Yingmou went to great lengths to invite Li Lianjie and Takakura Ken, with the aim of enhancing international influence and achieving great commercial success.

As Asia's new pop king, Qi Yuan has proven his extremely high commercial value twice, with "The Mission" and "Infernal Affairs".

Getting Qi Yuan to play Broken Sword will definitely increase the chances of "Hero" achieving commercial success.

“I won’t be filming this movie anytime soon, at least until July or August next year. You can take your time to consider it. This is the script for Broken Sword. I wrote it based on you. The way you look in the Wuliangye commercial is exactly how I envision Broken Sword.”

Zhang Yingmou spoke very sincerely, and not only gave me the script, but also several storyboard sketches.

Qi Yuan glanced at one of the manuscripts. It depicted a broken sword and a woman pointing their swords at each other, with a magnificent waterfall behind them. The hems of their clothes fluttered in the wind, creating a truly powerful atmosphere and imagery.

The Imperial Advisor is indeed the Imperial Advisor; the quality of his storyboard manuscripts is ridiculously high.

I wonder if some directors who like to draw stick figures will feel ashamed when they see this.

"Director Zhang, I'll go back and check before giving you an answer."

Qi Yuan did not agree immediately.

Firstly, it's to show off his status and let Zhang Yingmou know that he has no shortage of roles.

Secondly, agreeing to the proposal without even carefully reading the script also shows impatience.

Zhang Yingmou was very patient. He exchanged contact information with Qi Yuan and finally reminded him, "You must seriously consider this role. You won't be disappointed."

……

The Beijing premiere of "Infernal Affairs" has successfully concluded.

Many media reporters and hundreds of real audience members were present, and these people played a role in promoting the film.

Qi Yuan asked Liu Weiqiang if they wanted to increase the publicity budget.

Liu Weiqiang replied: "The money is enough for now. The 20 million for filming hasn't even been spent yet... Let's see how it goes. If it's not enough, I'll let you know."

The budget for "Infernal Affairs" was very low, with almost no large-scale scenes, and the 20 million yuan in cash was more than enough to cover the costs. Qi Yuan didn't take a salary, and the combined salaries of the actors, including Liang Jiahui, Huang Xiaoming, and Li Bingbing, were also very low, leaving the production team with a considerable amount of money for marketing and promotion.

There definitely won't be enough money left to burn later, as advertising and promotion are very expensive.

That's not a problem. As long as the movie does well at the box office, we can earn more by increasing the marketing budget.

Many films only start to increase their marketing and distribution budgets after they become box office hits.

More than a decade later, it's not uncommon for post-production marketing costs to exceed production costs.

For example, the marketing and distribution costs for the book "The Diary of Weight Loss" exceeded two small goals.

Two days before the official release of "Infernal Affairs" in mainland China, Li Xue's actions made Qi Yuan look at her with new respect once again.

Li Xue was quite familiar with the situation in mainland China, and after Qi Yuan's reminder, she immediately noticed the internet as an important channel for publicity.

Qi Yuan became the "most beautiful woman on Tianya," and his name became synonymous with handsome. Besides the interesting and silly netizens, Li Xue also contributed a lot.

Li Xue, without any formal instruction, actually made further progress.

She used online forums such as Tianya, Xici Hutong, and Mop to promote her film, posing as a real audience member who attended the premiere to post recommendations, sparking discussions among netizens.

After QQ was launched, Li Xue was one of the first users of QQ.

Qi Yuan gave Li Xue and her sister, Fan Xiaopang, and others five-digit QQ accounts.

Li Xue had a sudden inspiration: since you can advertise on forums, can you advertise on QQ as well?
Li Xue hired people to infiltrate various QQ groups.

The advertising tactics were quite clever. First, they spent some time getting to know the group members, and then asked them what their hobbies were. After that, they talked about movies and raved about "Infernal Affairs".

These days, there is an overlap between internet users and moviegoers. Families who can surf the internet every day are generally well-off, and these people are potential movie consumers.

Qi Yuan read a post on Tianya by Li Xue looking for a ghostwriter, and it was quite well written.

"Do you believe in fate? People are powerless to resist fate! My name is Liu Jianming, and I'm a hoodlum. When I first entered the underworld, I was clueless... I just wanted to be a good person, but fate wouldn't allow it."

This article, totaling over a thousand words, analyzes how Liu Jianming made many mistakes during his ignorant youth, and how he later realized his mistakes and wanted to become a good person again, only to find it was too late.

The gunman hired by Li Xue was subtly helping Liu Jianming clear his name.

The article states that Lau Kin-ming had the cleanest background when he was with Han Chen, and had never done anything wrong in the underworld.

Arranged by Han Chen to join the police force, he was tasked with eliminating rivals and giving Han Chen's men preferential treatment. Han Chen, having discovered Liu Jianming's weaknesses, threatened him to remain a lackey, blah blah blah...

In short, the bad guys are Han Chen and fate, and Liu Jianming is a tragic figure.

"Great, great, we can get a raise this month."

Qi Yuan praised Li Xue highly, saying that she learns things very quickly and has even figured out how to play this advanced version.

……

At midnight on May 28, "Infernal Affairs" was officially released in mainland China.

Audiences in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing flocked to cinemas, eager to see just how good this film, hailed as a savior of Hong Kong's film industry, really was.

Qi Yuan's fans from mainland China also went to the cinema to support him.

Tickets for some large cinemas in Shanghai, Beijing, and other areas are in high demand and short supply.

At 9:5 AM on May 29th, the box office figures for the first day in mainland China were released. A media outlet obtained data from China Film Group Corporation: 519 million yuan!
Mainland China is Qi Yuan's home turf, and "Infernal Affairs" has also been shown in Hong Kong, so word-of-mouth has already spread.

Thanks to the promotion by Media Asia and China Film Group, mainland audiences who were interested in the film knew that it had a good reputation, so they rushed to the theater on the day of its release without hesitation.

A large number of casual viewers and Qi Yuan's fans combined to generate 519 million yuan in box office revenue on the first day, a figure that surpassed Feng Xiaogang's "Be There or Be Square" from last year.

Industry insiders were stunned by the numbers! Wow! This film is incredible!
(End of this chapter)