Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 489 Coming soon
"Moon" was taken off the screen with a final box office of 1.4 million yuan.

Xingchen Entertainment did not hold a celebration banquet.

It's just over 100 million, what's there to celebrate?
These are Zhang Chen’s original words during the interview.

Netizens generally believe that he is getting carried away.

But I don’t think there’s anything wrong.

If you can shoot a space sci-fi movie in 20 days and make over million, you can also be proud of it~
The industry has a very special attitude towards "Moon".

I admire her, but also feel a little jealous.

Before this, no one had ever thought that a space-themed movie could be shot like this~
When it comes to space themes, the first reaction of normal people is that it must be extremely expensive.

Then Zhang Chen personally demonstrated to them how to shoot a space science fiction film with little cost.

And it doesn't stop there.

The most amazing thing about "Moon" is not how low its cost is or how high its returns are, but that its appearance fills the gap in domestic film space themes.

Before this, no one in China had ever thought of shooting a space-themed film.

It's very strange. China is a major space power, but there are very few movies about the sky.

……

In the office, Zhang Chen was talking on the phone.

"Edland, you must keep a close eye on the special effects for me. During my absence, report to me on the progress every three days..."

"Okay, Boss, don't worry. I swear on my faith that I will never let those bitches take advantage of us..."

Edland is the special effects supervisor of "Pacific Rim", and the post-production stage of the film is his busiest time.

Don't think that if you pay the money, those foreign special effects companies will deliver the work to you with guaranteed quality and quantity. That is a dream.

If there is no expert watching over them, they will still play all kinds of tricks.

Isn't it "Nezha"?
At the beginning, we looked for a well-known foreign company to help with the production of dumplings, but since we were a Chinese project, they just did a sloppy job.

Jiaozi had no choice but to turn to domestic competitors.

There are many similar things happening in this era.

Bill, something happened in China.

At that time, Trade, Industry and Technology wanted to build a system and found Bill China.

The system is not complicated. Bill China quoted a price of several hundred thousand yuan, which is about two to three times that of other domestic software manufacturers.

Trade, Industry and Technology thought that Bill was a large company and agreed.

Then after a while, senior executives from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Technology went to visit Bill China and saw a girl writing code, so they went up to talk to her.

After asking, I found out that the program she was writing was exactly the system of Trade, Industry and Technology.

The top management was delighted and asked further questions.

“How many of you developed this system?”

"Only me."

"You can develop an entire system by yourself? You must be a technical expert, then?"

Unexpectedly, the girl said: "No, I'm an intern, and this system is my job to become a regular employee."

The top trade, industry and technology executives were shocked.

That was how foreign companies made money in China back then, so don’t think they are so noble.

……

The more Zhang Chen talked with Edlan, the more he felt that money was not money.

Special effects are really expensive.

The special effects of "Pacific Rim" cost about $40 per day on average, and it hurts just thinking about it.

But the money has to be spent.

Hollywood has the technology, so you have to give them whatever they want.

This is the disadvantage of being controlled by others.

It will take at least another ten years to significantly reduce the cost of special effects. Once domestic special effects technology is developed, the price will be very low.

It’s too early to say these things now. The special effects that Zhang Chen submitted to the domestic market this time are all the most basic. He can’t do anything a little more difficult at all.

Not to mention in China, even if it is a cube, what we get are actually scraps.

The real big bosses are all at Industrial Light & Magic.

Zhang Chen hung up the phone, logged into his email, and was about to deal with work emails when he found an email from CJ Entertainment.

The email was sent by Zheng Changsheng, and the general content was that "New World" had a very good reputation in South Korea and had already registered for this year's Busan International Film Festival.

Zheng Changsheng is very confident that he can win some important awards, and hopes that Zhang Chen can witness this great moment together.

To put it bluntly, it means inviting him to participate in this year's Busan International Film Festival.

Speaking of the Busan International Film Festival, Zhang Chen has a deep impression.

This film festival is mainly aimed at the Asian market, and it was really popular in later generations!
Before Zhang Chen was reborn, the Busan International Film Festival had already become a huge market with an annual value of US$1.5 billion. It had gained considerable popularity and everyone was willing to come.

But in fact, this film festival is very young, and it was first held in 99.

This is better than those domestic film festivals.

The Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards and the like were established a long time ago and have been developing behind closed doors in the country.

The Shanghai International Film Festival is quite generous.

It has been international from the beginning.

Take a look at the list of winners of last year's Shanghai Film Festival:

Best Film was Chris Kraus’ Four Minutes;
Best Actor: Olivier Gourmet, "Break It Up"
Best Actress, Else Dotmans, "Love Is Not Exclusive";
Never heard of any.

Just being international doesn't have any influence at all.

Of course Zhang Chen is willing to participate in the Busan International Film Festival.

But it wasn’t because of New World.

He is just the screenwriter of "New World", so even if it enters the competition unit, it has little to do with him.

The real reason is Pacific Rim.

The Busan Film Festival is held in October, and Pacific Rim should have been completed by then.

Such a large project must be promoted in advance, and major film festivals are the best channels.

Thinking of this, Zhang Chen suddenly had an idea.

Judging from Zheng Changsheng's tone, he seems determined to win the Busan Film Festival.

Considering the identity of the other party, Xijie Entertainment, maybe they can really operate behind the scenes.

Zhang Chen simply sent a reply email to the other party, asking if "Pacific Rim" could be made the opening film of the film festival.

"Pacific Rim" doesn't need to sell films, the only thing it needs is exposure.

What could be more eye-catching than the opening film?

Zhang Chen felt that with CJ Entertainment’s strength, there should be no problem.

It's not like they were trying to win the award behind closed doors, it's just the opening film.

Sure enough, the other party responded not long after.

But it was not an email, but a call from Zheng Changsheng himself.

"Zheng-san~"

Oh no, I'm wrong, the other person is Korean.

"Zheng Simida~"

Zheng Changsheng studied in China and speaks fluent Chinese.

"Director Zhang, if Pacific Rim wants to be the opening film for the film festival, I will take care of it. It shouldn't be a problem."

Zheng Changsheng took on everything as soon as he came on board.

"Thank you, General Manager Zheng."

"Then can the Korean distribution of Pacific Rim be handed over to CJ Entertainment?"

See the picture poorly.

"Of course, this is not a trade-off, it's just a wish of ours."

Zheng Changsheng also knows how to take care of Zhang Chen's feelings.

CJ Entertainment has analyzed this film co-produced by Zhang Chen and Warner Bros. and feels that it has very good prospects, so of course it wants to get it.

Zhang Chen hesitated for two seconds and said, "Manager Zheng, we have already handed over the global distribution of Pacific Rim to Warner Bros. As for the distribution rights for South Korea, I can recommend you to do it. As for whether it will work in the end, I can't guarantee it..."

He is telling the truth.

If Pacific Rim wants to be a global hit, it can only rely on the Big Six, which is why it sought cooperation with Warner in the first place.

Zhang Chen can only make decisions on the distribution of films in mainland China and Hong Kong. All other regions are within the purview of Warner, and Xingchen Entertainment only has the right to make suggestions.

"Okay, no problem, your recommendation is enough~"

Zheng Changsheng was not disappointed.

"I have another thing to say. CJ Entertainment wants to remake a movie by Director Zhang. I wonder if you can give it up?"

"Oh, which one?"

Zhang Chen originally thought that the other party was talking about "The Man from Lonely Place", after all, "The Man from Lonely Place" is a classic Korean film.

Unexpectedly, the name Zheng Changsheng reported was "Extreme Job".

It’s normal if you think about it.

Although "Extreme Job" is a comedy, it was the number one box office in Korean film history before Zhang Chen traveled through time.

It’s not the number one of the year, it’s the number one in box office history!

Similar to the status of "Titanic" in China.

It's hard to imagine that a comedy can reach this level.

"No problem at all."

Although Wang Jing's version of "Extreme Job" is funny, it cannot be called a classic.

It is far from the level of the original time and space.

It’s not a bad thing to be able to take it out and sell it again.

After saying a lot, CJ Entertainment only didn’t mention “The Man from Lone Star”.

Maybe it's because of the lack of trust in new directors.

If it was Zhang Chen's "Taken 2", they would probably have started clamoring to negotiate the agency rights by now.

But Lu Yang is only a new director who has made one movie, "The Man from Nowhere", which CJ Entertainment is not sure about the quality of.

Judging from the current situation, they must want to wait until the box office results in mainland China come out before making any plans.

Anyway, Zhang Chen has cooperated with them a lot, so it is unlikely that he would choose someone else instead of them.

Speaking of "The Man from Nowhere", Zhang Chen searched it online and more than a hundred links popped up.

Click on any of them and a movie trailer will pop up.

The one and a half minute trailer is pretty good.

The first ten seconds roughly explain the relationship between Abu and the little girl.

Then there is the scene of the little girl immigrating to Istanbul with her mother.

In the next scene, Abu received a call, and when he rushed to Istanbul, he only saw the body of the little girl's mother.

The body was eviscerated.

Camera turns

Lao Chen reminded him that a former enemy was looking for him.
Abu tortures the traffickers
The scene of Andy On's character, the Butcher, arriving in Istanbul

Abu is about to find the little girl, but he meets Andy On in the corridor.

What follows is a series of quick cuts

The two men fought with hunting knives, and every blow was fatal.
Car chases, gunfights, grenade explosions, and rolling pickup trucks~
The flames shot up into the sky and the enemies were shot in the head one by one~
In the last scene, Abu raised his gun towards the camera and the screen went black. "The Man from Nowhere", see you on May 5st!

Zhang Chen was quite satisfied with this version of the trailer.

Looks very hot~
Andy On’s choice of villain was also very good.

Evil, crazy, high force value~
Only a powerful villain can highlight the power of the protagonist.

He is now a contracted actor of Golden Harvest, and Chen Xi plans to make him the number one villain in the country.

Sometimes it’s hard to explain something like audience appeal.

Andy On has a good image and high fighting ability.

But I don't know why, he is good at playing villains.

It’s a bit disappointing to play a good guy.

So he is destined not to be the protagonist.

The script of "The Man from Nowhere" was revised three times.

In the original version, there was no butcher line.

Basically follows the original work of "The Man from Nowhere".

The story also takes place in Asia.

But later, considering the international market, the location was changed to Türkiye so that European audiences would not feel too unfamiliar.

Then the villain was also upgraded, and the butcher line was added, which was a reference to "Deliver Me from Evil".

Originally, in "The Man from Nowhere", most of the fighting scenes were close combat, either bare-handed or with claws and knives.

In this version, an upgrade was made specifically.

Considering that the character of Abu in "Taken" is very familiar with firearms, a lot of gun battle scenes have been added to this version.

The reference is still "Extraction".

Most of the good action scenes in "Extraction" have been taken away.

But the effect is immediate.

The close combat was designed by Ruian, and the gunfight was done by Taran, completely continuing the style of the previous game.

Of course there is more than one version of the trailer.

Lu Yang edited three versions of the trailer in total, each of which is very exciting, and when you put them together you can basically understand the plot of the entire movie.

Abu's neighbor, a little girl, and her family immigrated to Türkiye but were kidnapped.

The girl’s mother was eviscerated and the girl’s whereabouts are unknown.

Abu rushed to Istanbul to look for someone, and coincidentally at this time, his former rival the butcher came to his door.

Abu was looking for someone while dealing with the butcher's pursuit.

For action movies like "The Man from Nowhere", the producers are not worried about the plot being leaked.

Because the real selling point is the action.

The story is just a carrier; the truly exciting part is the action scenes.

More than a year after the 2005 "Taken", the sequel is finally online.

Hurricane fans have been eagerly waiting to buy tickets on May Day to feast their eyes on the show.

The so-called promotional film, in essence, is to tell people that such a movie is about to be released.

How to tell people?

Of course it was all the media hype.

When going on shows, doing interviews, playing games, mention the name "The Man from Nowhere" as many times as possible.

Subways, buses, train platforms, the Internet, print media...

Comprehensively and to the greatest extent possible, let movies appear in people's lives.

Over time, people who don’t like movies will become curious and buy tickets to enter the cinema.

In this way, new customers are generated.

Old customers are the basic base.

"The Man from Nowhere", as the second installment in the Agent Universe, is the top priority for Star Entertainment this year, with a publicity budget of 2000 million.

The May Day period is a period of death. If you want to stand out during this period, you must promote your film vigorously.

There are 36 cinema chains across the country, and there are only so many movie screenings. If you show one more movie, your competitors will have one less movie.

So publicity and hype are essential.

Some people hate hype and think it is just for the sake of attracting attention.

But Zhang Chen did not reject it. He felt that movie promotion must be done with a big fanfare.

Of course, the movie itself has to be good and memorable.

Someone once asked a question: which one was a bigger failure, "House of Flying Daggers" or "The Warring States"?
Many people think it is "House of Flying Daggers".

But Zhang Chen thought it was "The Warring States".

"The Warring States" is a typical example of a movie that has no memorable moments.

It's a big production, but I can't remember anything after watching it.

No box office, no reputation, no famous scenes~
In comparison, "House of Flying Daggers" at least has a bad reputation.

……

(End of this chapter)