Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 692 Summary of the Spring Festival Film Season
According to the production team, the total cost of production and marketing for "The Monkey King 3: Kingdom of Women" was 550 million yuan, and it needs 15 billion yuan in box office revenue to break even.

However, by the end of the Spring Festival season, "The Monkey King 3" had only grossed a little over 600 million yuan.

Looking back at the marketing efforts of the production team, it's safe to say that neither Zhao Liying nor the production team had a good outcome.

Zhao Liying wants to make a comeback in the film industry with a big-budget production based on a major IP. The production team doesn't consider the suitability of the role and is only focused on leveraging Zhao Liying's popularity to achieve box office success.

But if we really have to assign blame, the production team is more to blame. Zhao Liying is in a passive position in the film industry. She doesn't have the right to be picky when it comes to large production teams. It was the production team that had the crooked idea of ​​exploiting the popularity of the actress. Why didn't they just find an actress who was more suitable for the role of the Queen? Blockbuster movies sell their stories and visual effects. The "Journey to the West" series has already been made into two movies and has formed its own IP effect. They don't need to eat the cake of popularity.

Therefore, after work resumed after the Lunar New Year, a film and television media outlet published an article titled: "<The Monkey King 3> Box Office Performance Disappoints, Where Will Zhao Liying's Film Career Go?"

It wasn't exactly criticism; the article concluded by saying, "The box office failure of 'The Monkey King 3' won't ruin Zhao Liying's film career in the short term. As a top-tier celebrity with a large fan base and immense popularity, she will continue to receive numerous offers for low- to medium-budget films."

"It's just that the team was too eager for quick success and instant benefits, which wasted a great opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor and rise to a higher level. They need to learn a profound lesson and be wiser from this experience."

Why focus on a third-billed female lead? Because your production team didn't promote the first-billed actor Aaron Kwok and the second-billed actor Fung Siu-Fung, but instead promoted the third-billed female lead. Now that the show has flopped, do you want to avoid responsibility?

However, what they ultimately said was that the team was too eager for quick success and instant benefits. It was clear they were targeting Huang Bin.

Huang Bin is capable, resourceful, and has resources; he's a top agent in the industry, but his style of doing things is to take advantage of artists and leave them with nothing.

Huang Bin couldn't possibly be unaware that Zhao Liying was completely unsuitable for the role of the Queen of the Women's Kingdom, yet he still accepted the role.

It's hard to say that the extremely damaging marketing tactics employed by Empress Gong and Empress Ying were not his doing.

However, the film and television industry is results-oriented. If a film or television show flops, it flops. There's no need to assign blame, because it must be the fault of the production team behind the scenes, especially the directing team, as well as the actors in front of the camera.

However, Master Guo disagreed. He directly posted a Weibo post blaming the cinemas, saying that the cinemas were scheduling screenings of "The Nineteen Generations of Ancestors" at either 6 a.m. or midnight.

Then he subtly mocked the audience for not recognizing quality: "Those who have seen it all say it's good, while those who haven't seen it all criticize it."

He's a director, so it's normal for him to be stubborn and protective of his own.

Huayi Brothers bought "The Thousand Faces of Dunjia" from LeTV and, thanks to its strong marketing and distribution, managed to rake in over 3 million yuan during the Spring Festival holiday. However, Ye Ning bought the film from LeTV for a guaranteed price of 8 million yuan. Although Huayi Brothers still has a film in the Spring Festival lineup, it seems to be an invalid release this year.

Not only did I not make any money, I also got a lot of flak.

Regardless of the cost, the biggest winner of the Spring Festival film season is still Autumn Pictures, whose two films, "Detective Chinatown 2" and "Operation Red Sea," raked in a total of 31 billion yuan at the box office during the Spring Festival holiday.

What does it mean to be an industry leader?

The capital market also expects a substantial return from Autumn Pictures. After the Lunar New Year holiday, Autumn Pictures led the film and television sector, rising 7% in two days.

The simultaneous release of two films during this year's Spring Festival season, both of which were successful, fully demonstrates that Autumn Pictures has both the strength and wisdom to effectively promote and distribute two blockbusters at the same time. This ability is unique in China.

Two days later, Autumn Pictures issued an announcement stating that it would repurchase no less than 3 million yuan worth of shares for employee stock ownership plans and equity incentives. This move is conducive to motivating employees, enhancing company value, and stabilizing the company structure.

Some industry insiders speculate that the hasty start of employee incentives after the fall and the new year is likely to further bind the director, or more specifically, to Chen Sicheng.

Because some companies have already tried to poach Chen Sicheng.

Since signing the "Towering Tree Project," Chen Sicheng and Qiutian Pictures have a contract for five films, which they collaborate on through a joint venture, Chengya Films. Three films have already been completed. Qiutian understands that with Chen Sicheng's directing career at its current level, a mere contract is no longer of any use to him.

That's why Li Qiutang promised Chen Sicheng to issue him more shares before the new year, effectively binding him to the car in the autumn.

Chen Sicheng knew Li Qiutang's purpose, but he was indeed drawn to it. Of course, there were uncomfortable aspects to cooperating with Qiutang, but the resources Qiutang allocated to him made him extremely happy.

Although it is said that a tree dies when transplanted, but a person thrives, he already has the backing of the largest film and television company in China. If he moves again, he will have to start his own company.

But starting your own company requires finding investors, publishers, and partners with major companies, so it might be better to wait until autumn.

Autumn Pictures' equity incentive plan includes partly for internal employees and a large portion for partners.

Chen Sicheng naturally wanted a share, and a large share at that, but Wang Baoqiang didn't expect that he would also have a share.

Because Li Qiutang saw it very clearly: the core of the success of the "Detective Chinatown" series, besides director Chen Sicheng, was Tang Ren, played by Wang Baoqiang.

It wasn't Qin Feng.

The story would be just as good if Qin Feng were played by a different actor. Liu Haoran can be replaced, but Wang Baoqiang's Tang Ren is irreplaceable.

Because no one else in the Chinese entertainment industry can portray Tang Ren, this unreliable, greasy, mischievous, and lecherous man, in such a likable way.

The lessons learned from "Lost in Hong Kong" are still fresh in our minds.

It's fair to say that Wang Baoqiang is one of the few actors in the Chinese entertainment industry who has box office appeal, especially considering that he wasn't brought down by Ma Jinlian and her agent, which boosted his popularity among the public.

Currently, the actors with box office appeal can be roughly categorized as follows: Wu Jing, needless to say, is currently the most popular actor in the country; Shen Teng, who acts in comedies, can't handle other genres; Ma Li, who is tied to Shen Teng, can't carry a film on her own, but co-starring with Shen Teng creates a 1+1>2 effect; Xu Shanzheng, and he has to act in comedies; Wang Baoqiang, he can handle both comedies and action films; Huang Bo, he has to act in comedies, audiences wouldn't want to watch him act in other genres; and the last one is Liu Yifei, who can carry the entire crew in both romance and action films.

Have you noticed that, apart from Wu Jing, the only non-comedic actress in China who can guarantee box office success is Liu Yifei?

"Why can't I do comedy?" Liu Yifei protested. "I really want to do comedy, but nobody's offering me any roles!" Liu Yifei has always been upset that no one in the industry is offering her comedy roles.

"I'm such a fun person, I'm sure I'll be fun in comedy too."

"What do you call me? Don't you have two comedic scenes in your 'Mulan' movie? You can play those."

"I want to act in comedies that are funny from beginning to end."

"Then you just wait and see, wait for some director to have a change of heart and ask you to act in a comedy."

"You still dare to talk back." Liu Yifei pretended to hit her, and Li Qiutang quickly ran away.

"You're too beautiful. Comedians can't be too beautiful."

“Let’s try a different move. This one won’t work on me.” Liu Yifei raised an eyebrow.

(End of this chapter)