Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 177 Brothers compete and win awards at the same time

At night, the group drove back to the capital, with the trunk filled with Pinggu's specialty - peach juice.

The purpose of today’s visit was achieved.

The crew members of "Wulin Waijia" became visibly excited after learning that their drama had a bright future, and they all drank a lot more.

At the same time, it also gave Zhang Chen an intuitive understanding of the drinking capacity of the people in the Military Art Academy.

Soldiers can really drink. Even if they are arts soldiers, they are still soldiers.

In the car, Dong Jianqiang suddenly said: "Zhang Chen, I want to be a distributor~"

"Ok?"

Thinking that Zhang Chen didn't hear clearly, Dong Jianqiang said again: "I said I want to do distribution."

"I heard that. I was asking why you suddenly want to publish it?"

Hearing this, Dong Jianqiang looked outside the car and smiled: "You know, when I was in Guangguang, I was in charge of distribution, and this is what I am most familiar with.

When I first came to Star Entertainment, it was a production company and a new company, so it didn’t matter whether it was involved in distribution or not.

But it's different now.

You are a billionaire director, and every film produced by your company is a big hit, but it hurts to see that 15% of the distribution fee is taken away by others every time."

When saying this, Dong Jianqiang had a painful expression on his face, and Zhang Chen also laughed.

"Just do it if you want to. I have no problem with that."

Zhang Chen also believes that a good company must walk on two legs, production and distribution are both important.

Dong Jianqiang was right. Although his Star Entertainment is small, every movie it produces is a huge hit. With this confidence alone, it would be a piece of cake to incubate a distribution company.

Of course, we have to take it slow, as building a distribution network is not that easy.

However, we can co-distribute with giants such as China Film. After a few films, we will have both experience and manpower, and then we can try independent distribution.

In fact, if possible, he would even like to do it in theaters.

There is no anti-monopoly law in China, so it is entirely possible to walk on three legs or even more legs. Wanda and Star Media did this in their previous life.

However, cinema chains are capital-intensive and not something he can get involved in at this stage.

……

The next day, Zhang Chen and Ning Hao met at the airport, and they were about to go to Portugal.

The Porto International Fantastic Film Festival is about to open, and he has received an invitation.

The Porto International Fantastic Film Festival is the largest film festival in Portugal and one of the three largest fantasy film festivals in the world. It is highly recognized in the industry.

Of course, its fame is definitely not as good as the Oscars and the Big Three.

Zhang Chen came here this time because his film "The Shallows" was nominated for Best Picture, and "Eden" was nominated for Best Director. Moreover, "The Shallows" was also the opening film of the film festival. Ning Hao was nominated for Best Picture for "The Dark Side of the Galaxy Vol. 2".

"Brother, I hope your Dark Invasion 2 can win an award..."

Zhang Chen has always been very practical, and he wins awards basically for the box office.

"Black 2" is now in theaters. If it wins an award, it will definitely have a positive effect on the box office.

Didn’t you watch Peacock because its box office skyrocketed after it won the Silver Bear?

If "The Shallows" wins an award, it will at most have some impact on the overseas box office.

But the overseas copyright had long been sold to Columbia, so even if the box office was high, it would only bring him fame but no profit.

Maybe, but indirectly.

……

In China, Dong Jianqiang came to the company early as usual.

He has been thinking about it ever since he told Zhang Chen yesterday about his plan to form a distribution team.

He actually wanted to arm wrestle with Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao used some means to force him out of TVB, so it is impossible to say that he has no grudges in his heart.

But the two parties are in a cooperative relationship now, so it is not easy for him to do it openly.

You are the publisher, can I also be a publisher?
As far as he knew, the distribution model that Zhang Zhao was using was different from previous ones. It was called ground network distribution.

To put it bluntly, it is a man-to-man tactic.

This method is actually quite backward.

A large number of personnel need to be recruited and stationed throughout the country.

But there are also benefits to doing so. People are all made of flesh and blood. If you see someone every day and call him/her brother every day, if something really happens to him/her, no one will turn against him/her.

The core of ground network issuance is this, the binding of personal relationships.

Dong Jianqiang also discussed this form with Zhang Chen, but Zhang Chen clearly refused.

Ground network issuance is very useful at the current stage, but in a few years, ticket purchasing software will come out, and once the ticket purchasing software appears, it will be equivalent to the Achilles' heel of ground network issuance.

In the years when Tao Piaopiao and Maoyan came out, no one had heard of offline network distribution. They directly snatched away 80% of the offline ticket purchasing business.

Dong Jianqiang entered the company and got the breakfast for himself from the front desk.

This has been a long-standing custom.

I walked into my office with breakfast, which had already been cleaned.

The ashtray was overturned and the day's newspapers were neatly arranged.

It is his habit to read the newspaper every day, especially the entertainment section.

Although there is a lot of fake news in it, you can always see some clues.

Today, he was still reading the newspaper while eating breakfast, but as he flipped through the pages, Dong Jianqiang's movements slowed down.

He stopped eating, wiped his hands with a tissue, and quickly flipped through the pages. The rustling sound of newspapers flipping through the office was endless.

No, something is wrong~
Dong Jianqiang flipped through several newspapers in succession. He felt that there were a lot more negative reports about "Dark Raid 2" today.

Dong Jianqiang was afraid of making a mistake, so he looked through the newspapers he had read again, and finally confirmed that there were indeed a lot more negative reports.

Someone is organizing to smear "Black 2". This was the first thought that came to Dong Jianqiang's mind.

He subconsciously wanted to take out his phone to call Zhang Chen, but after dialing a few numbers, he remembered that Zhang Chen was on a plane at that time.

Even with China Mobile, the call couldn't be made.

After changing his mind, he called Zhang Zhao again.

Although the two of them don't get along, business is more important at this time.

As the main publisher of this release, Guangxian must be aware of the situation where they are being deliberately targeted.

It depends on how they plan to deal with it.

When Dong Jianqiang called, Zhang Zhao was with Wang Changtian. He also discovered it and was discussing countermeasures when the call from Xingchen Entertainment came.

"We must find out who is behind this..."

Wang Changtian did not dare to take this matter lightly at all.

This is the first time that Guangxian has taken the lead in distributing a movie, and it is Zhang Chen's movie.

If I fail this time, I might lose the opportunity to continue cooperating with Zhang Chen in the future.

……

At the film festival, the host announced in broken English: "The winner of the best film at this year's Porto International Fantastic Film Festival is "Darkness 2", congratulations~~"

As the host made the announcement, the spotlight fell near Ning Hao.

Ning Hao was extremely excited at this moment, he clenched his fists, showing his excitement.

"Brother, congratulations~"

Zhang Chen laughed at himself. Both "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Shallows" were nominated for Best Picture, but they didn't win in the end.

But he was just as happy that his good brother won the award, and he stood up and hugged Ning Hao.

After the hug, he found that the latter seemed to be still immersed in excitement, so he smiled and reminded: "Okay, brother, you have to go up~"

Ning Hao woke up as if from a dream, and was so excited that he even forgot to go on stage.

After straightening his clothes, Ning Hao quickly walked up to the podium and gave his acceptance speech.

When he came back with the trophy, Zhang Chen was about to play with it, but the boss announced again: "The winner of the Best Director of this Fantasy Film Festival is..."

This time he deliberately dragged out the tone to whet people's appetite.

Then the answer was finally announced: "Eden Lake, Steve Zhang~~"

Steve Zhang is Zhang Chen's English name.

Zhang Chen stood up with a smile, and Ning Hao next to him also put down the trophy and hugged his good brother.

"It's your turn now. That's great. Neither of us brothers is empty-handed..."

Amid Ning Hao's jokes, Zhang Chen walked onto the stage, took the trophy from the guest, and read out his speech.

At the same time, the news spread back to the country.

To be honest, the Porto International Fantastic Film Festival is not well-known in China, and it's the same for the three major fantasy film festivals.

In China, apart from the Oscars, only the three major ones are somewhat well-known. Even the others, such as the San Canto and Tokyo Film Festival, are not very famous.

As a result, there were very few reporters coming.

But just one is enough.

It is somewhat news that Zhang Chen and Ning Hao won the Best Director and Best Picture awards successively.

Online media is the fastest. Ten minutes later, the most eye-catching banner advertisement on Sina.com became Zhang Chen, Ning Hao, and Yang Wei of Portugal, who won the grand prize.

If you don’t know, you might think it’s the Olympics.

The next day, the media blocked Zhang Chen at the airport when he returned to Beijing.

Unfortunately, there is only Zhang Chen.

The reporters were a little confused, but they would not give up the opportunity: "Director Zhang Chen, the news said that you and Director Ning Hao won the Best Film and Best Director awards at the Portugal Fantastic Film Festival. What do you think?"

"Ah, I am very excited, and Director Ning Hao is also very excited."

"Where is Director Ning Hao?"

"Oh, he flew directly to Hong Kong. The distribution company there invited him to promote the movie. But he asked me to tell you that he is very excited and hopes that everyone will report more on The Darkness 2. It won the best film at the Porto International Fantastic Film Festival and beat The Shallows. Everyone should go and see it. It is a very good movie."

After saying that, Zhang Chen left quickly. This was not a good place to be interviewed. The security guards would come and chase him away soon.

No need to guess, the media reporters were able to block here accurately, how did they know his flight number?

It can only be Dong Jianqiang.

Dong Jianqiang loves to do this the most.

However, he did not waste the other party's kindness. At least he mentioned "Black 2", which can be regarded as his best effort in promoting the movie.

At this moment, a slippery scene appeared in the airport. Zhang Chen was running in front, and a group of media reporters were chasing him from behind with cameras, and behind him were the airport security guards.

……

At this time, Ning Hao had already landed in Hong Kong an hour ago, and he was not chased or intercepted here.

Although the paparazzi in Hong Kong are more powerful, they never expected that Ning Hao would come to Hong Kong at this time.

(End of this chapter)