Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 558 Suggestions (15)

"The True Record of Swordplay in the Martial World"...

It initially received a 5.2 rating on Douban, which gradually rose to 6.8.

But it has a 9.3 rating on Bilibili!
That's normal, because at this point many viewers felt the film was rather rough...

And the jokes aren't fresh either!

Later, as people gradually came to terms with reality, and after words like "working class" and "working like cattle" flooded the internet, they realized that although the movie seemed rough, the dialogue was quite bold and sharp!
In fact, many seemingly rough domestic films from those years actually had a lot of substance, such as "The Second Best in the World" and "My Tang Dynasty Brothers"...

"The True Story of Swordplay in the Martial World" is a typical example!
That's normal. In those years, most of the things you could do with your heart weren't very profitable...

Even if you can find good actors, it's not enough if you can't attract investment!
Without money, you can't attract investment; without investment, the film will be rough...

Why is it rough?
Let's talk about hiring extras. In "The Legend of Swordsmanship," there's a martial arts examination scene. Normally, you should hire at least two hundred people, right?

But we can't afford to hire them; the production costs are what they are.

Less than 800 million RMB…

The film was made possible entirely by the fact that the lead actors took pay cuts to participate.

Moreover, there were virtually no marketing or promotional expenses!
Without any promotion or marketing, are they relying on word-of-mouth to drive box office success?
it's out of the question!

However, with Shen Yan involved, things are different!

"The main storyline should probably be revised..."

"...Should I change it?"

"The protagonist, who harbors grand dreams, chooses to retire to the countryside and live an ordinary life, which is in stark contrast to the enthusiasm at the beginning of the film. This is because the script fails to convincingly show the character's inner transformation and can only become a hodgepodge of internet jokes."

"Martial Arts Tournament": A young man graduates from a second-tier university and gets a job as an auxiliary police officer at a local police station through connections. After a while, he feels it's meaningless. He happens to run into his rich second-generation childhood friend showing off his power and decides to resign and go to the capital to take the civil service exam. As soon as he arrives in the capital, he witnesses a government official's son blowing up a car in the street. He pulls the man down and teaches him a lesson, and meets an obscure singer...

However, the final outcome was a return to reality…

It's too rough.

There's practically no plot!
Many of the jokes are purely satirical: nepotism (the unfairness of the martial arts examinations), a snobbish society (the Taoist priest who transmits his voice), the pitfalls of finance (the pitfalls of mutual funds), gender discrimination (Wang Cui disguised as a man), fabricated vanity projects, the various aspects of officialdom (spending government money to cultivate personal connections, lazy governance), etc…

The jokes are good, but they don't really relate to the movie itself!
"Then you still like it?"

"...The joke is good, but the main plot needs some revisions..."

Shi Shi was confused: "Modify...how do I modify it?"

Shen Yan casually said, "Make it flow more smoothly... Saving the princess is unrealistic and baseless..."

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Why not let Yan Fei and Peng Damo handle it..."

Shi Shi hesitated, "Oh? But I promised Professor Jiang Zhuoyuan that he would be directing this script!"

"Then why don't you get him involved..." Shen Yan waved his hand, "Tell him the idea for this script is great, I want it..."

Do you think it will sell well?

"...Two or three hundred million shouldn't be a problem..."

"Huh? Only 300 million... Didn't you really like this script?"

“Satirical comedies inevitably involve the government, and many jokes will have to be deleted or reduced in intensity…” Shen Yan explained, adding, “It would be good if it could gross 200 or 300 million at the box office… Many movies don’t even break 100 million!”

"How much should I invest?"

"You want to invest?"

"Correct!"

Zhao Liying, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up: "Can investing in movies make money?"

"Yes, I've wanted to ask you this for a long time: why is every movie of yours successful?"

Shen Yan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then said, "When I invest in movies, I usually look at the genre... then make a rough market forecast, and finally calculate the costs!"

"don't know…"

"Take 'The Swordsman' for example. It's a period comedy with a touch of slapstick. This type of movie used to be a Hong Kong comedy, which Wang Jing often made. His highest-grossing film was only a little over 100 million. If we use mainland actors and improve the script, and find a good release date, the potential should be two or three times higher..." "That complicated? It depends on the genre?"

"Investing in movies is largely a matter of luck. Besides the genre, the most important thing is the movie itself... If you're interested, you can invest a little, consider it a learning experience!"

"Then why did your movie become such a big hit?"

"I chose a good time slot..."

……

Shen Yan spoke the truth without hiding anything.

When predicting box office results, there are patterns to be found for both blockbusters and bad movies.

One approach is based on genre, referencing genre benchmarks. This is the most reliable. Currently, martial arts films, including those set in the Republican era, have reached a ceiling. Costume films, unless they are fantasy or magical, are unlikely to achieve high box office returns. These types of films, assuming they have stars to guarantee popularity, all aim for less than 500 million yuan. Arthouse films, which are niche but have core artists, have a baseline of around 100 million yuan.

These have all been tested by the market!
Then it's based on availability;
The timing of your schedule is like playing mahjong; how much you win depends not only on your skill but also on which table you're at.

Why is the prediction for "Duckweed" to be over 10 billion?
Because "Duckweed" is bound to be the top film of this year's Spring Festival season. Last year's top film, "American Dreams in China," already grossed 16.5 billion yuan. If "Duckweed" fails to reach 1 billion yuan at the box office, it will mean the failure of the Spring Festival season!

This signifies Shen Yan's personal failure...

In reality, while models can be used to predict movie box office revenue, they shouldn't be absolutely accurate. What truly influences box office performance is over 70% the film's overall appeal, comprised of word-of-mouth, release date, genre, and cast, and only 30% is marketing.

As the film market matures, this 30% marketing share will further decrease.

……

Hotel, room.

Shen Yan hadn't seen Shi Shi for a while.

The standard procedure, of course, is like autumn winds sweeping away fallen leaves and rain pounding banana leaves!

By the way, Shi Shi's "One Servant, Two Masters" has finished filming, and she's currently reading the script for "Legend of Fei"—after all, filming starts next month.

"Then where did this 'Martial Arts Tournament' come from?"

Shi Shi explained, "It was sent by Professor Jiang Zhuoyuan. He finished writing the script and wanted to film it himself, so he asked me to raise investment!"

"You have a good relationship with him?"

"Not really..." Shi Shi said casually, "The crew of 'Badges of Fury' is a bit complicated..."

"complex?"

"Let me put it this way, I usually make a few friends with every film I act in, but after filming 'Badges of Fury,' I didn't make a single friend!"

"...Where is Chen Yanxi?"

"I don't like her..."

"So, you have a good relationship with the screenwriter?"

"Hmm..." Shi Shi nodded: "I always need to talk to someone."

Shen Yan reached out and patted her head: "Poor thing! We won't take these kinds of roles anymore."

“When Enlight Media approached me, they mentioned Li Lianjie, so I agreed to take the role… Who would have thought that Li Lianjie would be a supporting actress?”

"Uh...you're right!"

Li Lianjie, apart from "The Cannonball 4", has never played a supporting role!

Even though it was a dual-male lead film with equal billing alongside Jackie Chan's "The Forbidden Kingdom"...

Shi Shi asked again, "Hey, you're really not going to act in this play?"

Shen Yan nodded: "...I won't act anymore. It's quite boring to always play supporting roles."

"If you don't act, things will be difficult with Sister Honey..."

"Why don't you talk to her yourself... If that doesn't work, try getting her to invest some money too..."

(End of this chapter)