I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 377 Harvey, I still prefer your rebellious side...

"The Flowers of War" wins the Golden Lion at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival!

After 24 years, renowned director Zhang Yimou wins the Golden Lion again!

Chen Jin delivered the acceptance speech on behalf of Chen Jin, and the speech repeatedly mentioned the Nanjing Massacre!

"A Strong Statement! Chen Jin's Powerful Voice on the Holocaust at the Berlin Awards Ceremony!"

"White Deer Plain Wins Outstanding Art Award!"

……

Early in the morning, news of the Berlin Film Festival's grand opening had already appeared on Chinese websites and Weibo.

Of course, besides Jinling winning the highest Golden Lion, the most widely circulated thing was Chen Jin's incredibly popular acceptance speech!

The popularity of the film "Nanjing" had already stirred up anti-Japanese sentiment among many people in China, and Chen Jin's remarks only fueled that resentment towards Japan.

Such remarks have further boosted Chen Jin's popularity, and regardless of his number of fans, many people genuinely feel that he is a real man.

Many netizens who were previously indifferent to him have now unanimously given him a thumbs up.

The number of fans gained in this wave is absolutely astonishing.

The awards and public discussion surrounding "Jinling" have brought the film, which was previously on a downward trend, back into the spotlight.

Award-winning films can significantly boost a movie's box office, especially those that win the Golden Lion.

Originally, the daily box office of "Jinling" was already hovering around several million, leading the current domestic box office alongside "Mission: Impossible 4".

Because "Mission: Impossible 4" was released five days later, it consistently outperformed "Nanjing" in daily box office revenue.

But just this morning, "Jinling" had already surpassed "Mission: Impossible 4" in daily box office revenue.

Cinemas have also made corresponding screening strategies, and have begun to increase the number of theaters showing "Jinling" during prime time and evening slots as much as possible.

No one would have thought that a film that had been showing for almost 25 days could have a second spring because of winning an award at Berlin, and even attract many fans to watch it a second time.

It's worth noting that "The Flowers of War" is nearing the end of its box office run, having just surpassed 15.5 billion yuan a few days ago. Industry predictions for the film also stopped short of 16 billion yuan.

To many, this is nothing short of a miracle.

The best proof of the strong performance of the Spring Festival film season.

Mission: Impossible 4 only grossed 9.28 million, and it looks like it might not even reach 10 billion.

This already ranks 6th in the history of Chinese-language films.

Therefore, many people have seen the huge potential of the Spring Festival film season, but now that "Jinling" is making another move, many industry insiders are obviously getting restless.

For example, the two kings of Huayi.

The two bought a lot of articles to smear Chen Jin, but unexpectedly, yesterday's awards ceremony not only reversed all previous public opinion, but also gained a new batch of fans, especially die-hard fans.

How can this be explained away?!
The two of them felt worse than if they had eaten shit when they saw "Jinling" win the Golden Lion Award.

How did "Jinling" win the Golden Lion?

"Back then, The Diary of John Rabe couldn't even get nominated!"

Wang Zhonglei gets a real headache whenever this is mentioned.

You have to understand that when it comes to the people who benefit from the history of suffering, Huayi Brothers is second to none.

"Aftershock", "1942", "Assembly"... even "John Rabe" which Wang Zhonglei mentioned, those were all ideas that Huayi Brothers came up with.

Especially "John Rabe"!
After the huge success of "The Forbidden Kingdom," a Sino-US collaboration between Huayi Brothers and Relativity, which became a global hit, Huayi Brothers decided to hire a Hollywood team to make a film about internationalization.

"Rabe" is such a project.

Hollywood directors and actors, as well as well-known Japanese movie stars joined the project, and Huayi Brothers was the sole investor... In the end, this whole thing flopped without a trace.

No awards won, but box office numbers are a complete flop.

The key issue is that Huayi Brothers doesn't even know where the problem lies. They feel it might be that Hollywood stars aren't drawing enough attention, so they brought in an Oscar-winning cast and made another film, "Shanghai"... which flopped again.

So now that they see "Jinling" achieving such high box office numbers and even winning the Golden Bear at Berlin, the two brothers are truly overwhelmed.

That was a huge blow.

Why is it that others can achieve such success with the same subject matter, despite investing just as much and being from Hollywood, yet they end up in such a sorry state?
"Now that CETC has won the Golden Bear, the higher-ups will think even more highly of us!"

Huayi Brothers isn't afraid of Zhang Yimou or Chen Jin; what they're afraid of now is the rising star, Film Science.

It looks like they're launching an attack on what is arguably the number one private film company in the country.

Although CETC is not listed on the stock exchange, the Wang brothers were extremely panicked by this sense of being watched closely and in a precarious situation.

Moreover, just a few days ago, on Valentine's Day, February 14th, Huayi Brothers released a film called "Love," which was also impacted by "The Battle at Lake Changjin" and "Mission: Impossible 4," and has only grossed over 20 million yuan at the box office so far.

On Valentine's Day, many people actually went to see two other movies.

If you're not smart enough, watching popcorn movies is one thing, but what's so interesting about disaster movies?

This was the first clash between the two companies, and Huayi suffered a crushing defeat, failing to even beat a movie that had been in theaters for more than half a month.

"Painted Skin 2 should get a release date set, otherwise the hype for the first half of the year will be stolen by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation!"

Wang Zhongjun glanced at his younger brother, Wang Zhonglei, who immediately realized, "Right, release it before summer vacation and fill the entire release window!"

"What are CETC's plans for this summer vacation?"

"Probably not. I have people keeping an eye on them. Several of the movies they've invested in haven't even finished filming yet, and some have just been approved!"

"There will be fierce competition during the Lunar New Year film season, with several movies set to be released!"

Wang Zhonglei had already gotten up, preparing to go to the company to arrange the relevant publicity and distribution for "Painted Skin 2".

"The Lunar New Year film season..."

"This year, we've really run into it!"

This should be the first time that Huayi has directly competed with CETC on the same time slot.

"Oh, they're definitely going to release a movie on Singles' Day, and we also have a romance movie, so we'll clash with it too!"

However, Huayi Brothers is actually not sure about this release date.

This is the core business of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC). They built their business around this time slot, and they will absolutely protect it.

Most companies can't even get a slot, let alone try to take advantage of the situation; Huayi only managed to get a piece of the pie because of its industry experience and connections.

Whether or not a piece of meat can be extracted from the CETC depends on the quality of the film.

The two brothers chatted there, not daring to touch Chen Jin for the time being; before, he was just an actor and they could hire some online trolls to smear him, but after "Jinling" won the award, the significance was completely different.

The transformation of the company is intended to make it a model for higher authorities; this has always been the practice within the bureau.

As the founder of CETC, Chen Jin's role has changed from actress to film industry entrepreneur, making her a completely different persona.

If you continue to resort to underhanded tactics, the higher-ups might intervene.

Therefore, Huayi now has no choice but to go head-to-head with China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) and rely on its works and box office performance to speak for themselves.

The authorities, however, turned a blind eye to this.

***
Drop drop!
At noon on the second day in Berlin, Chen Jin had just woken up when she opened her phone to find countless message notifications.

"Wow, Jin-ge, you're awesome! You won the Golden Lion and gave a speech, anyone who didn't know better would think your film won the Berlin Film Festival Award, hahaha!"

Such a sarcastic remark must be from Guo Fan.

Since returning to China with Chen Jin before the Lunar New Year, he and Gong Ge'er have started preparing for the "Wandering Earth" project, and they have also brought in a new domestic special effects company - MOREVFX!

Its Chinese name is Mo Jing Tian He, and it is considered one of the top special effects films in China.

Upon hearing this, Chen Jin immediately instructed Guo Fan to keep an eye out and utilize his fundraising abilities. If he could be brought under the umbrella of the Electronics Technology Group, that would be even better.

It's important to understand that visual effects companies are a money-burning business. Currently, domestic blockbusters are not big enough to support these visual effects companies, so it's normal to spend money to maintain them every year. Therefore, bringing this company into the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) is actually quite easy.

All you have to do is keep throwing money at it.

Although China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) may not produce many films a year, in terms of working capital, it is definitely number one among all film companies in China!

The kind that's discontinued.

No financing is needed; they can be self-sufficient.

Moreover, this isn't exactly a secret; everyone knows it. Two films that grossed over 15 billion yuan are enough to prove it. Therefore, real strength is what creates a strong brand.

As the future leading visual effects company in China, it's quite worthwhile to court Mojing Tianhe.

In particular, the three founders, Xu Jian, Cai Meng, and Wei Ming, are all highly skilled: one is an artist, one is a special effects director, and the last is an animation master.

This is a rare talent.

Guo Fan is estimated to be compatible with these three!
……

After replying to a bunch of congratulatory messages from friends, Chen Jin looked at several missed calls and pondered.

They were all calls from film producers.

Needless to say, they're definitely after the North American and even domestic distribution rights for "The Flowers of War".

The European distribution rights had already been sold to MK2 at a low price. This collaboration with MK2 was a great success, and they made a fortune. Chen Jin also won the grand prize she wanted, making it a win-win situation.

As for the remaining regions, we'll have to negotiate properly, especially in North America.

Almost all of the six major companies extended olive branches to them.

Their desire to acquire Golden Lion was already strong when they didn't get it, but now that they've taken it over, a battle for control has clearly begun.

With Bale's starring role and the Golden Lion award, "The Battle of Jinling" has become a hot commodity in the North American market.

The Cannes Palme d'Or is the flagship of the three major film festivals, with films winning at least $2000 million, while those at Berlin and Venice are slightly less valuable, ranging from $1000 to $1500 million.

This is the lowest estimated value.

Just like the Oscars are worth 3000-5000 million, the three major awards still have a certain influence in North America.

The movie ticket will cost at least this much, and possibly less.

But "Jinling" is different.

$1500 million is roughly the amount of money needed for a film with no reputation, like Wang Quan'an's "Tuya's Marriage" a few years ago. The director wasn't very famous, let alone the lead actor, and the investment was only 10 RMB.

But in the end, it grossed more than $300 million at the North American box office alone.

The global revenue is exactly around ten million.

With Berlin's top prize at its helm, it attracts many people from across Europe.

But now, Jinling is no longer an unknown entity.

Starring Venice Film Festival Best Actor Chen Jin, Hollywood superstar Christian Bale, and Zhang Yimou... every single one of these points symbolizes three words—more money is needed.

So, is 3000 million too low?
It's not low at all.

Golden Lion: 1500 million; Zhang Yimou: 500 million; Chen Jin: 100 million; and Bale: 1000 million!
Chen Jin's calculations were absolutely correct.

Therefore, Chen Jin reiterated that if they wanted to buy, the price would be 3000 million, no bargaining.

Chen Jin was already very sincere; he didn't raise the price after getting the Golden Lion, except for that guy Weinstein, who directly gave him 3500 million.

Why did I add 500? To give you a shock so you can experience it for yourself.

Harvey called immediately.

"Hey Chan, isn't your offer a bit unfair?"

"We've already agreed on a price of 3000 million!"

Harvey, shamelessly, kept talking on the phone while Chen Jin, eating lunch, lazily replied, "No, no, no, the Golden Lion will have to raise the price!"

"shit!"

Harvey couldn't help but curse under his breath, but still said aloud, "3000 million, I'm coming to you right now!"

"I'm sorry, but the Fox Searchlights guys are coming right away, I have to—"

"Listen, buddy!"

Harvey immediately interrupted Chen Jin: "I'm an independent film company in North America. Producing these independent films is our specialty. You can find those sons of bitches affiliated with the Big Six; they won't get the first theatrical release!"

“They’re not Fox, they’re not Disney, but I can assure you, if you sell to me, the premiere will be in no fewer than 1000 theaters!”

"I can include it in the contract!"

This is indeed Harvey's source of confidence.

"And also, the Golden Globe, the Oscars!"

"You should know that my previous collaborations with Wei Ping and the others all included these clauses. How many Golden Globe and Oscar nominations did Yi Mou get?"

"My acquisition price includes many supplementary terms; working with me will definitely be a great deal for you!"

Before Chen Jin could continue speaking, this guy launched into a long-winded explanation: "I think your next goal is definitely to open up the North American market. Cooperating with me is the wisest choice. I can get you involved in our North American variety shows!"

It has to be said, Harvey is indeed a master of rhetoric.

These private terms, Forbes Searchlight and such, are really impossible to give him.

Perhaps the independent film studios under the Big Six umbrella could offer a higher price, but Harvey also has a lot of underhanded tactics.

The premise is that he doesn't resort to any underhanded tactics.

In fact, for Harvey, a foreigner, it would be almost impossible not to use tricks.

Anyone can say nice things, but the reason why Zhang Yimou didn't win an Oscar or a Golden Globe is because of what happened next... he made that money back.

For example... public relations!
He could get "The Golden Globe" and even an Oscar nomination, but winning awards costs a lot of money, and we still need this bastard to smooth things over.

You're a Chinese person, you can't possibly beat this old guy.

If he dares to offer 3000 million now, he'll dare to ask you for 5000 million in public relations fees later!
Zhang Weiping was ripped off by Harvey before, but he is indeed stingy and would never pay that amount.

Now, it's clearly Chen Jin's turn.

"It's so beautiful, it really touched my heart!"

Chen Jin smiled and said, "But what you're saying isn't the most important thing to me!"

"With the initial theatrical release featuring the names of Bale and director Yi Mou, other film studios could probably achieve the same feat of releasing 1000 films in one theater, right?"

"Back then, 'Hero' and 'House of Flying Daggers' were shown simultaneously in thousands of theaters!"

"The most important thing is..."

Chen Jin shrugged and sighed, "There's still a year until the Golden Globes and Oscars, so the North American release of 'Jinling' is definitely a matter for the next few months..."

Winning the award won't benefit "Jinling" much; it just makes the achievement sound better, which is very useful to Zhang Yimou.

Unlike "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which was released during the North American awards season, this film's release date coincided with the awards season in North America.

So it benefited from the awards.

When "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won the Oscar, it was showing in North America and its box office performance exploded.

The box office jumped from over ten million US dollars to over 1 million US dollars in an instant.

Cinemas kept reopening, with the number of theaters showing the film simultaneously increasing from hundreds to thousands.

It's clear that "Jinling" won't be released until March or April of next year.

Moreover, in the original timeline, Zhang Weiping was actually following the same path as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"; he chose a global premiere in North America, then got nominated for a Golden Globe, thinking he could win a Golden Globe award and then get nominated for an Oscar.

This also boosts box office revenue due to the awards.

The idea was nice, but reality was cruel.

Chen Jin, being rational, would certainly not have so many fantasies.

Listening to Chen Jin's calm analysis, the old lecher Harvey felt for the first time how difficult this Chinese man was to deal with. He seemed to... understand his own personality very well.

"Let's meet and talk, Mr. Weinstein. I want to see your sincerity!"

"However, before that, I will accept offers from several other companies in North America!"

"All right……"

Harvey sighed, his previous flippant expression gone.

The guy on the other end of the phone didn't seem as easily fooled as the previous Chinese filmmakers...

Thousands of miles away, Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang couldn't help but sneeze loudly!
(End of this chapter)