Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 477 First Day Box Office
North Beijing, Chaoyang Yu Building.

This is the headquarters building of Huayi Film and Television. The bright glass curtain wall outside shines brightly in the sun, seeming to highlight the glorious status of the "leader of private film and television". Only the corners are covered with dust and look a bit shabby, just like the company's current situation.

"How's the deposit situation going now?"

In the senior management office, Huayi CEO Wang Zhonglei looked at Liu Ge in front of him and asked.

As the general manager of Huayi Distribution, Liu Ge is responsible for the "deposit clause" of "The Eight Hundred" this time.

Hearing the question, he sighed and said, "According to our previous statistics, there are 200 theaters in the country with annual box office below 4132 million. Currently, there are about 1100 theaters that have paid deposits."

"That's not right. I looked at the statistics sent over yesterday and it said that half of them didn't submit. So where did the other 1000-plus cinemas go?" Wang Zhonglei asked with a serious face.

Liu Ge said in a low voice with a strange expression: "As for the other 1000, we only counted them in name because of the negotiations with the cinema chain."

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot."

Wang Zhonglei's expression froze for a moment, but it was gone in an instant. He pinched his brows, looked at the information in front of him, and let out a breath.

This time, "Eight Hundred" was released for the first time after the opening, and was called a "save the market" by the film market. However, only Huayi knew that they had to release the film as soon as possible to recover funds.

There is no other way. Currently, there is only a little over 200 million yuan left in the company's account. This amount of money is enough for an individual to spend for a lifetime, but for a large group company like Huayi, it is only enough to pay the loan interest.

For large companies, debts and losses are not a big deal, but the biggest fear is the break in the capital chain. Behind each company are complex debt relationships, and once there is a problem with the capital chain, it is easy to cause a chain of collapse.

It is precisely for this reason that Huayi would rather bet on the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies at this point in time and release "The Eight Hundred".

I don’t expect to make much money at the box office, after all, the funding cycle for movies is very long. For a movie released in the middle of the year, it’s lucky to get the first payment by the end of the year.

For veterans like Huayi who are involved in the "film and television capital" business, as long as the movie is released, they have plenty of ways to get the money out in advance. The "small theater deposit clause" this time is just one of them.

As an expert in "playing with box office" in the domestic entertainment film market, Huayi is not sure whether this method will work.

Not to mention whether those small cinemas have other options, even for Huayi itself, they do not want to really wipe out those cinemas that "steal box office revenue."

After all, if they really clean it up, who should they contact if they want to tamper with the box office data in the future?

Therefore, the so-called "resistance to small cinemas stealing box office revenue" is just a superficial excuse. Firstly, it is to have a legitimate reason, and secondly, it is to avoid being labeled as "illegal fund-raising".

Of course, this does not mean that this amount of margin is enough, but to use this money as a trigger to operate a larger capital pool.

Just like the common hand-pumped wells in rural areas, you first pour a bucket of water into it, and then you can draw out more water.

This "deposit" is the "scoop of water" at the beginning.

There are more than 4100 small cinemas, excluding those under powerful cinema chains, there are probably about 3000 of them. If each theater takes an average of yuan, that's million yuan.

Originally, Wang Zhonglei and his colleagues thought that this money should be easy to get. After all, the cinemas had been closed for more than half a year and were finally able to open. They were all waiting for a blockbuster movie to attract audiences and make some money back.

For most small cinemas, even if they know that Huayi’s terms are “unfair”, they will still grit their teeth and pay the money, because making money is the most important thing first.

However, what is unexpected is that half of the small cinemas did not pay. After excluding the part that was exempted from the theater chain, only a quarter of them were left.

This is far from what was initially expected.

"Hengten Network has a movie called 'Famous', which is released at the same time as ours. Many small cinemas have chosen to give all their screen time to them," Liu Ge explained.

Wang Zhonglei showed a puzzled expression: "Heng Teng Network? Which company is this?"

"It was the original Ruyi Films, which was acquired by Evergrande last year."

Wang Zhonglei suddenly realized: "Is it the company where Chen Zhixi works?"

Liu Ge nodded: "Yes, there is also Arclight Films."

"Arc Light Films..."

Wang Zhonglei sighed with regret. As a member of the same film and television company in Beijing North, he naturally knew a lot about this up-and-coming company which had grown rapidly in recent years.

Especially the young boss of Arclight, who can often be seen at various official meetings. However, the two sides are not in the same circle, so there is no deep friendship between them.

I thought the two sides should have no intersection, but I didn't expect that this time the plan failed because of the other party.

But then again, although Arclight is gaining popularity, it is in the field of film and television dramas after all. It is still a newcomer to the film market.

As for Heng Teng, or Ruyi, it is the same, they are both "newcomers" that have only been in business for a few years.

What Wang Zhonglei is really worried about is Chen Zhixi, who is in charge of the film industry. One has to admit that this woman is quite something. Starting with Lost in Thailand, almost every movie she has worked on has been a hit, and some of them have even become annual box office champions.

In addition, with the support of Evergrande and Tencent's financial channels, it is even more powerful.

If Huayi wanted to deal with her, there was really no good way.

Seeing his second boss lost in thought, Liu Ge thought for a moment and said, "Boss Wang, those small cinemas are very resistant to the 'deposit clause'. Some even put up banners saying they want to boycott our movies. There is also a lot of noise online. What do you think we should do next?"

Wang Zhonglei came back to his senses. He knew that what his subordinate wanted to ask was not just "how to deal with the follow-up", but more importantly, whether those small cinemas that did not pay the deposit would really not be given the keys.

After a few seconds of silence, he shook his head and said, "Although the individual box office of these small theaters is small, there are many of them, and when combined, they account for a large portion of the box office. If we really give them up like this, it will have a huge impact on the box office of "Eight Hundred."

At this point, he whispered, "Well, you guys can talk to those theater chains and privately provide keys for the first three days of the weekend to those small theaters that haven't paid."

The core box office time for a movie is the first few days after its release, especially the first three days of the weekend.

If it were another movie, it might have to wait for word of mouth to ferment. But "Eight Hundred" has already completed this step in advance through a week-long large-scale preview, and it started to make money right after its release.

but……

"If those cinemas that have paid deposits find out about this, will it cause new conflicts?" Liu Ge asked with a frown.

"So we ask you to discuss it privately and you have to talk to the theater chain. If anyone has any questions, just push them to the theater chain."

Wang Zhonglei thought for a moment, and then continued, "On the surface, we still have to continue to strengthen the purpose of our new clauses to 'resist box office theft'. Well... when necessary, we can try to drag Ruyi into the water and divert attention." He half-squinted his eyes and said with a smile, "As seniors, we have to let these newcomers understand the world of the film industry, right?"
-
A week passed in a flash, and both "The Eight Hundred" and "Famous" ended their respective previews.

Although both films are previewed, the planning of the two films is still different.

"The Eight Hundred" was screened on a large scale. By the last day, the number of screenings per day had increased to more than 40,000.

In comparison, "Fame and Fame" was screened on a small scale, with the number of screenings per day remaining below 10,000.

The difference is mainly related to the subject matter of the two films. "Eight Hundred" is a historical war film. Many viewers can know the general plot through history books, and they mainly watch the grand battle scenes and the actors' performances.

On the contrary, "Famous" is a suspenseful mystery, and the plot twist itself is the biggest attraction. So if there is a large-scale preview, the core plot will be easily leaked.

Especially if you know several key plot twists in advance, the excitement of the movie will be greatly reduced.

However, as a result, there was a big gap between the preview box office of the two films.

The preview box office of "Eight Hundred" reached 200 million, surpassing "Journey to the West: The Women Kingdom" and setting a new preview box office record for domestic films.

The box office of "Fame and Fame" just exceeded 100 million, but compared with the production cost of the film itself, this is still a very outstanding result.

Based on the film's 5000 million production cost plus the publicity and promotion costs, a million box office can basically break even. In other words, as long as it takes another million box office after the official release, it will be pure profit.

Judging from the current reputation and reviews of the film, this is not a difficult thing to accomplish.

The only risk is the flu situation that may recur at any time. However, there is nothing that can be done if such force majeure really happens. Meng Bai and Chen Zhixi were mentally prepared when they decided to release the film.

August 8, the second day of the movie’s release.

"Good morning, Sister Xi."

Meng Bai sat down on the sofa and said casually, "I found that I have seen you more often than my girlfriend recently."

"Is it possible that you have too many girlfriends, so you have less time to spend with each of them?" Chen Zhixi said without raising his head.

"Haha, Sister Xi, what you said is really interesting..."

This elder sister, she keeps bringing up things that are not relevant to the topic.

Chen Zhixi naturally didn't know that Meng Bai was secretly criticizing him in his heart. After reading the documents at hand, he looked up and said with a smile on his face, "What are you doing here today?"

"Look at the first day box office yesterday."

"Do you really need to trouble Mr. Meng to come here in person for such a small matter?"

"I just happened to be passing by, so I did this by the way." Meng Bai said, "Have the detailed analysis data come out?"

"You came just in time. It was just delivered and I hadn't had time to look at it yet."

The results of the preview show that "Famous" received 34% of the screenings on the first day of its release, which is a very high share. After all, it is a small production with few star casts. In a normal market before the flu, it is estimated that it would only get a dozen points at most.

"We didn't schedule any midnight shows, and yesterday's single-day total box office was 6480 million." Chen Zhixi said, "That's a pretty good result, and it should increase today and tomorrow. We should be able to make back our costs in the first three days of the weekend."

Hearing the first day's box office results, Meng Bai nodded slightly.

A box office of nearly 65 million is relatively average compared to those blockbusters, but it is a pretty good number for this low-budget movie without a star cast or luxurious scenes.

“By the way, the movie’s ratings are now available. The platform rating is 9.7, and the Douban rating is 8.0. The audience has given it very high praise,” Chen Zhixi continued.

"Ah, I saw this yesterday." Meng Bai said casually, "8.0 is considered a pass, but the plot still needs some improvement."

"..."

Chen Zhixi looked at Meng Bai speechlessly. He was tricked by him again without realizing it.

But then again, he is indeed qualified to say this. In recent years, all TV dramas and movies with the name "Arc Light Productions" have basically started with a score of 7, 8 is normal, and there are also many that have scored 9.

"What about "Eight Hundred"? How much was their first-day box office?" Meng Bai said: "I remember looking at the real-time statistics on the platform last night, it seems to have exceeded 100 million."

"Let me check... the first day's screening rate is 38%, and the single-day box office is 1.1 million, eh?"

Chen Zhixi looked at the numbers on the document, uttered a questioning exclamation, and then read it again carefully.

Seeing this, Meng Bai asked curiously, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the box office?"

"It's not the box office that's wrong, it's the screening schedule that's wrong."

Chen Zhixi frowned and said, "Although there is no internal data, according to a rough guess, at least half of the small theaters were rejected by the deposit clause. If this is the case, then "Eight Hundred" should not have such a high number of screenings."

Movie box office data is indeed quite shady, especially the statistics of cinema terminals, many of which are operated behind closed doors. But it is also quite fair, whether it is the ticket purchasing platforms such as Maoyan Lighthouse and Tao Piao Piao, or the theaters' own data, all are open to the public and can be checked at any time.

As a filmmaker with many years of experience, Chen Zhixi is very sensitive to these data, so he immediately noticed that there was a problem here.

"There is only one explanation, that is, Huayi's private actions are different from what it said publicly. It must be that they were reluctant to give up this part of the box office, so they compromised on some conditions."

The reason why I say "part" is that there are probably still many theaters that haven't shown this show yet. Otherwise, the screening of "Eight Hundred" should be more than 40%.

"I understand why they did this, but aren't they afraid that the theaters that paid the deposit will make a fuss?" Meng Bai wondered. "After all, we can all see it. It's impossible for the theater chains and theaters not to see it."

"There will definitely be excuses for shirking responsibility, as long as they are reasonable. After all, only a few theaters pay, and even fewer will make a fuss. Compared to the box office performance of the movie, it's worth the risk." Chen Zhixi said.

"Tsk, Huayi is also a veteran in the film industry, why does he always do things that are inconsistent with his words and deeds?"

"Haha, it's just a routine operation. Huayi has done a lot of things over the years, not just this one." Chen Zhixi snorted coldly: "Fortunately, it seems that only a small number of theaters have reached a deal privately, and it won't have much impact on us. Let them do what they want."

This kind of thing is a conflict between Huayi and the cinema. After all, they are in the same industry, and no one will take the initiative to expose it as long as it does not affect their own interests.

However, sometimes, even if you don’t actively seek trouble, trouble will come to you on its own.

(End of this chapter)