China Entertainment Times

Chapter 723 Three Former Directors

At night, after the premiere, Tang An held a banquet in the hotel next door to the Olympic Sports Center to entertain the guests present.

"Congratulations, Director Tang, the premiere was a success, and breaking the record this time is definitely no problem."

"Tang Dong's film really won't disappoint people. I was a little moved after watching it."

"It seems that there is no suspense for this year's box office champion. It depends on how high the record can be hit."

Several executives watched the movie carefully. From a professional’s point of view, the movie has no problems in terms of persuasion, plot, and rhythm. It can show that at least the audience is satisfied.

Even if most of the audience who came to the premiere were senior movie fans and movie lovers, they were basically fans of Tang An, and they would be a little biased towards Tang An.

Just like at the premiere of "Personal Customization", the response was good, but the reputation was rotten.

But this time the audience's reaction was much stronger, just like Tang An's previous movies.

With a good reputation, comedy and inspirational themes have a wide enough audience, coupled with Tang An's appeal, a big hit is inevitable.

The bosses all sighed inwardly. "Transformers 4" was finally going to hit 20 billion at the box office. There was some hope of breaking Tang An's monopoly, but now the hope is getting smaller and smaller.

Tang An looked at everyone congratulating each other, and probably could guess their thoughts.

I had a drink with them, and said with a smile, "Thank you, but it's still too early, at least we have to wait until the data on the first working day comes out."

"Hehe, Dong Dong is being modest, now the pre-sale will be 5000 million tomorrow." Yu Dong said.

Tang Andao, "More than 4000 million, not bad, the box office on the first day should be decent."

The pre-sale of more than 4000 million yuan turned out to be passable.

Everyone watched Tang An pretending to be coercive as if nothing had happened, and they were filled with slander.

Let alone 4000 million pre-sales, even movies that can reach 4000 million box office on the first day will not be released in a year.

Wang Changtian analyzed, "Judging from this pre-sale, the first day is likely to approach [-] million."

Tang An said, "2 million is too difficult. Tomorrow is not a rest day, and the ticket price of [-]D movies is a disadvantage."

Nowadays, the box office is about four or five times that of the pre-sale box office, but it also depends on the type. After all, different types of movies have different audiences and have different ticket buying habits.

Moreover, "Transformers 4" won nearly 3 million box office in three hours, and it was only because of the high ticket price of 70D and more than [-]% of the film schedule.

At the same time, there were new films released. "Mystery Superstar" only has 40% of the film schedule, and there is no 3D version, which is a disadvantage.

Wang Zhongjun said with a smile, "The summer schedule this time is probably about the same as last year. I'm a little lucky that Huayi doesn't have a movie released."

Tang An waved his hand and said, "Wang Dong was joking, "Taiping Wheel" directed by Wu Yusen will be released in the New Year's Eve. This is a big production known as the Oriental Titanic. The New Year's Eve must have a lot of achievements, and the collaboration between Director Wang and Yao Lai's "Heavenly Army" "is also a big costume production, with Cheng Long starring, and the Spring Festival file is also very competitive."

"Let's borrow Tang Dongji's words. If the combined box office of these two films can catch up with this "Mysterious Superstar", I will be very satisfied." Wang Zhongjun laughed.

This year, Huayi has been quiet, but in the second half of the year, four or five films will be released one after another.

In addition to the two romance films, "One Man's Martial Arts" may be affected by "Frozen: The Gate of Rebirth". In addition, Ning Hao's "Heart Flower Road" was originally released on the National Day file. up.

However, Huayi's real focus is still on the side of "Taipinglun" and "Heavenly Heroes". The former is a joint release, while the latter is controlled by Huayi.

Nowadays, there are not many big-name stars who really have box office appeal, and Cheng Long is definitely one of them.

"Zodiac" broke one billion, and "Police Story 2013" has a gap with Cheng Long's previous style, but it also took [-] million.

Wang Zhongjun has so many events in the second half of the year, and this "Mystery Superstar" looks like it will explode again. It is estimated that "Transformers 4" will still be unable to escape the same result as the first two films, being overwhelmed.

With little hope of stopping Tang An, Wang Zhongjun already thought of stopping his preparations and concentrating on the marketing of five or six films to be released in the second half of the year.

However, Wang Zhongjun still holds a sliver of hope. In the past few years, it has been rare to get a 20 billion movie. He doesn't know when the next time will be. He is not willing to let Tang An occupy the annual box office champion.

Everyone else thought the same thing, if Tang An just broke the record, it would be fine, even if he doubled the box office record like Cameron did, it wouldn't matter.

However, the major companies cannot accept that someone has won the championship for several years in a row, and every year they break their own records, then the major companies have really become soy saucers.

There was still harmony at the banquet, and they were still talking and laughing on the surface until the result was not clear.

During the summer vacation, major companies have their films released. At the end of Bernard and the beginning of August, two films, "The Future Will Never Come" and "The White-haired Witch: Moon Heaven" will be released.

The former is directed by Han Han, Guo Jinming's film can be a big hit, and Yu Dong is not worried that "The Future Will Never End" will fail at the box office.

The theme of "White-haired Witch" is well-known. Although the two leading actors have always had a bad reputation in movies, it is produced by Xu Ke, who is best at martial arts films, and it is guaranteed.

There are quite a few films, including "Little Times 3", "Anti-Corruption Storm" and other films, but there is not a single blockbuster.

When gods fight, no one wants to be affected.

Tang An dealt with several major companies, and had a drink with the crew.

"Thank you everyone. The movie is finally released now. In the next month, I have to trouble everyone to make a few more trips and travel all over the country."

Everyone quickly toasted, "Director Tang, you are polite, we should do it."

"Let's all go back to rest early, gather on time tomorrow, and recharge your spirits."

After Tang An gave some instructions, he went to the director's side.

"Director Zhang, Director Feng. Thank you for your support. Everyone watched the movie, what do you think?"

What else can it do, a plain commercial film, the whole story is too idealistic and taken for granted.

Zhang Yimou made a comment in his heart, but he still said with a smile, "What can we think, Tang Dong's control of the plot rhythm is more perfect, and the character creation is also quite good."

Feng Xiaogang said with a smile, "I didn't expect Tang Dong's comedies to be so good. It looks like I can retire."

Tang An waved his hand and said, "Director Feng, you are being polite, you are an expert in comedy."

"Actually, I have a question. In the finale, many things were not explained, even whether the heroine became a big star or not. Why did Director Tang make such arrangements?" Feng Xiaogang asked again.

Inspirational Well, success is called inspirational.

In the end, the heroine was considered a success, but she only really stepped onto the national stage, and did not become a big star as expected.

And the role of the father did not give a result, the divorce agreement was not signed, and the mother just took it out to scare him.

Tang An said with a smile, "Family issues are a bit sensitive. There are parents and children in the audience, so the result was not given in the end. There is also the relationship between two young people. If it is really made into a romance film, the original intention of the film will be lost. As for the heroine not becoming a big star in the end, I think after this process, the applause of thousands of audiences at the final stage is enough."

Zhang Yimou shook his head secretly when he heard this. If it was him, either the family would let go of their suspicions and have a happy ending, or they would magnify domestic violence and make the social phenomenon of domestic violence one of the main threads, which would not only bring out the heroine's success It's not easy, but it can also make the movie more meaningful and sublimate the theme. He will most likely choose the latter.

Then Tang An chatted with them about their movie, and Feng Xiaogang's "Old Hooligan" is about to start.

The Sino-US co-production blockbuster "The Great Wall" directed by Zhang Yimou is also in preparation. The production cost is 1.5 million US dollars, which is a proper A-level production.

In contrast, Wu Yusen's "Taiping Wheel" is not enough in terms of cost.

The protagonist is basically set, but the heroine remains unchanged.

It is impossible for Leshi, a large-scale production of US$1.5 million, to come up with it. Leshi has just guaranteed the bottom line of "Taiping Wheel", and the film has not yet been released and has not yet recovered the cost.

The big head is from Legendary Pictures, while Lay's and China Film Group are small heads.

Wanda itself invests in movies with famous directors and superstars like Zhang Yimou and Cheng Long. If everyone knows that they will lose money like the previous "Warring States" movies, Wanda won't have to waste money.

The main investment in the films of "Warring States" came from a large cultural industry group under the Chang'an State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

For this eldest lady, 14 film and television companies were established in Beijing, Dongyang, and Xiangjiang, and several white gloves whose identities were unknown were pushed in front of the stage, and there were three of them surnamed Lu.

Wanda has cooperation with others, but the cooperation is based on mutual benefit. It is a trivial matter to spend [-] million yuan, but it is impossible to pay for it every year.

So at that time, Chang'an conquered a document to encourage the development of the film and television industry. Two-thirds of the investment in "Warring States" was paid by a company under the local state-owned capital Wei.

Of course, investment is risky, and state assets can be lost, and no one is required to take risks.

Wanda doesn’t need to pay for those movies that lose money, just resources are enough.

However, "Police Story 2013", "The Great Wall", "Bad Pacific 2", "King Kong: Skull Island" either have box office guarantees like Cheng Long and Zhang Yimou to join them, or the previous blockbuster films, Wanda will invest with its own money up.

It's not easy for Tang An to talk about this topic. Zhang Yimou must be unhappy. If it were ten years ago, his film would not lack investment at all. Even if the investor paid for it, he wouldn't be able to arrange for the main character to come in.

But now, it's not what it used to be, and these great directors no longer have the extraordinary status they had before.

"Which company is Director Zhang going to find for the special effects of "The Great Wall"? My digital domain and Tiangong Yicai have both been expanded, and I can help out if necessary."

"Thank you Tang Dong for your kindness. Legendary Pictures has contacted Weta Digital and Industrial Light & Magic, and it has been finalized." Zhang Yimou smiled apologetically.

"The Great Wall" is an Oscar-winning movie, and the special effects should be as good as possible to meet the aesthetics of Westerners. Moreover, even technically, Weta Digital and Industrial Light & Magic are better than Digital Domain and Tiangong Yicai.

Tang An didn't care either, Tiangong Yicai had no shortage of business, the "Fengshen" series was a big project, and there were a lot of Hollywood blockbusters.

Originally, the special effects of "The Great Wall" were also the top in the country, but unfortunately the plot was just an old-fashioned Hollywood story with a Huaguo style, and the degree of completion was too low.

Among the three directors, Brother Chen Kai also has a new film, "The Taoist Down the Mountain" has finished filming, and "Legend of the Demon Cat" is being prepared.

Although Tang An and him had an unpleasant fight at the Golden Rooster Awards and "The Orphan of Zhao" when they were released, but now they meet without any tension, and deal with it like a formula.

"Legend of the Demon Cat" is also a big production, but it doesn't need the help of Tiangong Yicai. It has Japanese and Korean investment, Japanese and Korean actors, and Japanese and Korean special effects. Most of Chen Kai's films are like this.

The special effects market is such a strange phenomenon now. Domestic film and television companies and directors who want to make big productions do not believe in the capabilities of domestic special effects companies, and spend a lot of money to find foreign special effects companies.

On the contrary, well-known Hollywood blockbusters such as "Iron Man", "Jurassic World", "Captain America", and "Pirates of the Caribbean" all have domestic special effects companies participating.

The three former top directors, directors who can be called masters, returned to the big screen after two years of silence. Each of them has two projects in their hands, and they are unwilling to be shot to death by the new generation of directors. on the beach.

Tang An and the others have nothing to say. After all, they became famous in 04, not a few years later than them.

But let’s not talk about Wu Ershan and Xu Zheng, just Wu Jing, Zhao Wei, Deng Chao, Guo Jinming, He Jiong, Han Han. These people are completely new directors, and they all come from across the border.

All of these people can succeed, so in the future, big stars like Fan Binbin, Zhang Ziyi, Huang Bo, and Chen Kun will become directors one by one. How could the three big directors be willing to let a group of laymen die on the beach?

Zhang Yimou and Chen Kai are still making big productions, investing more and more, and still superstitious about big productions, but Feng Xiaogang is showing his feelings.

(End of this chapter)