Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 317 The Fault in Our Stars: Promotional and Screening Pressures for the Release of the Film

"Director Zheng, you can't say that!"

Awards, in the grand scheme of things, can't compare to the popularity of the general public.

Gu Bei waved his hand with a smile and said with some emotion, "Your TV series 'Kyoto People in New York' was a phenomenal success. If my mother hadn't watched it, I might still be studying at a university in China!"

After a pause, Gu Bei continued, "Linlang Entertainment definitely won't sell the copyright to 'The Legend of Zhen Huan,' but we can collaborate on its development."

Zheng Xiaolong hesitated for a moment before not immediately accepting Gu Bei's invitation.

Do you perhaps think that Linlang Entertainment is not qualified enough?

Gu Bei was slightly puzzled when he saw that Zheng Xiaolong did not agree immediately.

Although Linlang Entertainment has been established for less than a year,
However, during this year, they also made a name for themselves within the Chinese entertainment industry.

In the realm of television dramas, there are *Chinese Paladin 3* and *Scarlet Heart*.

In the film sector, the main projects invested in include "The Message," "Sophie's Revenge," "Bodyguards and Assassins," and "Let the Bullets Fly."

Even the film "The Founding of a Republic" had a 10% investment share in Linlang Entertainment.

After throwing money around,
Three or four hundred million yuan in funding
It involves the Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong metropolitan areas.

Although none of these projects have been released to the public, the entertainment industry is driven by funding, so surely Zheng Xiaolong wouldn't look down on Linlang Entertainment's capabilities?

Seeing that Zheng Xiaolong didn't speak, he...
So he turned his gaze to Zheng Xiaolong's wife beside him.

Wang Xiaoping is also one of the screenwriters of the original "Empresses in the Palace".

The reason why "one of" is in quotation marks is that although the original author was also one of the screenwriters, the extent of his influence on the project has always been a mystery.

The original author insisted that it was her role, but she later collaborated with Zhou Xun and produced a larger version of Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace.

Zheng Xiaolong, Wang Xiaoping, and Sun Li collaborated on "The Legend of Mi Yue".

Comparing the two, it's quite obvious which one is more like "Empresses in the Palace".

"Director Gu, what we, Lao Zheng, are really worried about is the creative aspect. If your Linlang Entertainment has suitable actors, we hope to be able to use them."

Wang Xiaoping spoke for Zheng Xiaolong, saying what he couldn't say, "But if it's really not suitable..."

Gu Bei immediately understood.

Linlang Entertainment gave both of its films and TV series to Shu Chang.
Zheng Xiaolong is afraid that he might put Shu Chang in the role of Zhen Huan!
If Shu Chang were to play Zhen Huan, Gu Bei wasn't sure what the Legend of Zhen Huan would become, but it would most likely not reach the same level as the original.

After all, Shu Chang's acting skills are quite good, in contrast to the younger actresses who have popularity but lack acting skills.

If Shu Chang were to face off against Sun Li, who played Zhen Huan,

That's really not enough.

Gu Bei smiled and said, "Director Zheng doesn't need to worry about that at all. Linlang Entertainment is very determined to create works, and we will not arbitrarily destroy the integrity of the works for the sake of our artists."

"Our company, Linlang Entertainment, only has Shu Chang and Zhu Yilong. Director Zheng will assign them to whichever role he deems suitable, without considering the amount of screen time."

"Thank you, Director Gu!"

Zheng Xiaolong revealed a relieved smile.

As a renowned director in the television drama field, he actually has no shortage of projects.

Even when The Legend of Zhen Huan was first published in 2007, Wang Xiaoping noticed the novel and recommended the project to him.

At that time, Zheng Xiaolong was quite busy. After watching it, he thought it was good and went to buy the copyright, but he had already fallen behind Gu Bei's assistant, Li Wanyun.

Currently, six out of the seven books in "The Legend of Zhen Huan" have been published.

This story certainly suits Zheng Xiaolong's taste.

That's why he had no choice but to come to them to buy the copyright.

Before coming here, Zheng Xiaolong had considered whether to cooperate. At that time, his only concern was the choice of actors.

Now that the problem has been solved, Zheng Xiaolong naturally has no more worries.

"Mr. Gu, our company actually has three signed artists," assistant Li Wanyun reminded Gu Bei from the side.

"three people?"

Gu Bei himself was somewhat puzzled.

“Before, Longkui couldn’t find an actress, so Supervisor Liu and the director went to various colleges to hold auditions. In the end, they found someone from the Beijing Dance Academy and signed them,” Li Wanyun explained.

Longkui, Beiwu?
Why does this sound so familiar?
"Who is it? What's their name?" Gu Bei asked, puzzled.

"Li Yitong," Li Wanyun replied, "Should we call her over?"

That’s okay!

Gu Bei breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Yitong was someone he recognized; he had met her in the movie "Wild Wind".

He didn't know her well, but she shouldn't be the kind of person who likes to cause trouble, otherwise he should have heard her name when he was listening to gossip.

He waved his hand: "No need, just give the materials to Director Zheng at the same time."

Zheng Xiaolong, who was on the other end of the line, heard Gu Bei and Li Wanyun's conversation and felt a sense of joy.

The fact that Gu Bei doesn't even recognize his own artists shows that, as he said, he is indeed more concerned with content creation, and artist management is just a part that he does along with everyone else.

Since the boss doesn't care about this sector, it naturally won't affect his right to choose roles.

This completely dispelled Zheng Xiaolong's last remaining doubts!
As for the three people from Linlang Entertainment,
Zheng Xiaolong certainly wouldn't, and wouldn't, just randomly give out a minor role.
Linlang Entertainment provided funding and copyright, which was enough to get someone from the other company to play a suitable and likable role in "The Legend of Zhen Huan." This was too easy for "The Legend of Zhen Huan," whose script hadn't even started being written yet.

Gu Bei stayed in Kyoto for a few days.
Then he flew to New York with Liu Yifei.

The movie "The Wrong Star" is about to be released.
Corresponding promotional activities were launched globally.

Compared to the lukewarm reception of Twilight last year, this film, with a budget of only $1500 million, has attracted considerable attention from the media and television programs.

on the one hand,

This movie is so similar to Twilight.

These are all movies adapted from fictional novels for teenagers.

Moreover, all the novels are written from the first-person perspective of a young girl.

Most importantly, the wrong release date for Starship Troubles is the second week of April, which is exactly the same release date as Twilight last year.

Many Hollywood film data analysts are speculating that Rose Pictures and Summit Entertainment are trying to completely replicate the success of last year's Twilight.

on the other hand,

The Fault in Our Stars is a novel that appeals to a mainstream audience, and its themes are slightly better than Twilight.
Regardless of gender, from a ninety-year-old grandmother to a ten-year-old child, everyone can understand the eternal theme of life and death within the errors of astrology.

Moreover, the book "Mistakes in Astrology" sold 600 million copies in North America and 900 million copies worldwide.

With a total sales volume of 1500 million copies, it accounts for half of Gu Bei's book sales and is also the highest-selling single book among all his works to date. However, its release date in April this year...

Compared to the April release window when Twilight was released last year,

They're not even in the same league!

"Our situation is extremely dangerous!"

At the distribution conference, Summit Entertainment President Eric said earnestly, "In April of this year, from the first week to the fourth week, all six major studios participated in the competition for this release slot."

Especially in the three weeks before and after our release, we had competitors everywhere.

Even many film themes overlap significantly with our own.

Liu Yifei sat down and asked curiously, "Is this situation very serious?"

Compared to the fiercely competitive North American film market,

Liu Yifei is more familiar with the Chinese film market.

There, major film companies tacitly avoid competing with each other on blockbusters; the biggest competition is actually how to attract audiences to the cinema.

"Fortunately, the North American film market can definitely accommodate our films."

Holding the report, Gu Bei said calmly, "The problem is whether our story is engaging, and whether we can let people who like our story know that the movie is about to be released."

Eric sat down and said helplessly, "Bruce, I'm very sorry, we only managed to secure 3622 theaters, which is more than 400 fewer than last year's Twilight."

Gu Bei did not ask for the specific reason.

The real culprits in the Starry Night are Rose Pictures and Summit Entertainment, the absolute highlight of April.

Summit Entertainment invested $2000 million in global marketing and distribution for the film, which was even higher than the film's $1500 million production cost.

Summit Entertainment also invested $300 million in production costs, accounting for 20% of the total investment.

For Summit Entertainment, they are on the same side as Starship Entertainment.

The main reason,
It seems that theaters don't have high hopes for The Wrong Star at the box office.

The film's budget was only $1500 million, significantly less than the $5000 million claimed by Twilight.

Also, the stars in the movie are not very famous.
Neither Liu Yifei nor Jesse Eisenberg are particularly well-known in North America.
Kristen Stewart debuted at the age of nine last year, and Robert Pattinson also played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; both are much more famous.

Finally, the film's pacing was too disorganized, which dissatisfied theater managers, who then chose not to release a copy of the film.

Gu Bei was aware of these shortcomings.
These were things we knew before filming began.

If all of these things were to be changed, then the movie wouldn't be the one with the problem in Starship Troubles.

Gu Bei put down the report in his hand and said calmly, "Eric, actually my thoughts are the opposite of yours. It seems like there are a lot of competitors in April, but we are not under much competitive pressure."

"You can share your thoughts!"

Eric crossed his arms, his expression showing slight resistance.

"The week before us was Universal's Fast & Furious 4, which is an A-rated sequel to an IP. It will definitely have a high box office in its opening week, but for us in the second week, the impact will be much smaller."

As for the other movie, Adventureland... it's not worth worrying about!

When Gu Bei saw the report, he was speechless. The male lead of Starship and the female lead of Twilight were going to fight against the wrong one in Starship. Wasn't this just an internal conflict within Rose Pictures?

After a pause,

Gu Bei continued, "Actually, our biggest competitor is Hannah Montana, which was released on the same day as ours."
The movie version of this classic Disney sitcom has an audience profile that's remarkably similar to ours!
And next week we have Warner Bros.' 17 Again, another teen comedy, still targeting our audience.

But the difference between us and them is that they are comedy, while we are tragedy.

We must intensify our efforts to promote emotional impact!

"That's a great idea!"

Eric nodded upon hearing this. "However, I have an even better publicity point, and that is you!"

"I?"

Gu Bei was puzzled.

However, he quickly realized that as the original author and director of The Fault in Our Stars, he was indeed a major factor in attracting audiences to the theater.

Especially in the last two years, the sales of books about the wrong stars in the stars have increased.
This is largely due to his success as a director.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the film to sell 1500 million copies before its release. This is not simply due to the quality of the story, but rather one of the benefits brought by the greater influence of the film industry.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "I will continue to promote the wrong Facebook account in the Star Horoscope and keep it active."

This Facebook account has been running since he started writing the book, and it's been more than two years now. The fans and group members are all potential viewers of the film.

"Bruce, I think you should also appear on Conan Tonight next week."

That's a show with 900 million viewers; we need its exposure!

Eric emphasized this to Gu Bei.

Gu Bei glanced at Liu Yifei beside him.
Originally, the show was supposed to feature Liu Yifei and Jesse.
However, The Wrong Star is currently facing significant promotional pressure, with fewer theaters showing than expected and competitors offering similar themes.
Gu Bei's appearance is indeed needed to attract greater exposure!

"Row!"

Gu Bei and Liu Yifei exchanged a glance and then nodded.

Liu Yifei smiled slightly.

Originally, appearing on the Tonight Show with Detective Conan was a job.
But if Gu Bei joins in, then it can't really be considered work!
Entering April,

The errors in the stars are being publicized intensively.

On April 3rd,

The most anticipated film, Fast & Furious 4, was released during April, traditionally a slow season for movies.

When the tiger is away, the monkey becomes king.

An $8500 million production budget isn't enough for a summer blockbuster.

However, it is already the most important film in the April release window.

It grossed over $3000 million on its opening day, making it the highest-grossing opening day film in the series, more than three times the opening day gross of the previous film, Fast & Furious 3, which was a flop!
It grossed $7095 million at the box office in its opening weekend.
By the time Gu Bei and his two companions appeared on the show, the box office had already exceeded $8000 million in five days, just one step away from the production cost of $8500 million.

This year's Fast & Furious 4 fell a little short compared to last year's Twilight, which grossed over 100 million in its opening weekend.

But this also drew the attention of major film studios to the April release window.
It doesn't seem to be as niche as they used to think.

The popularity of Fast & Furious 4
The pressure is even greater for the film "The Wrong Person in Our Stars," which is released this week.
This result indicates that Fast & Furious 4 needs to increase its screenings and the number of theaters.

The film with the most screenings next week is "The Wrong Star," so theaters will naturally be the first to target it.

(End of this chapter)