Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 374 A Brand New Model of Co-productions: The Ultimate Showdown of the Lunar New Year Film Season Has Been Decided
What does "prestige" mean?
This is what you call the prestige of a national advisor!
Three Gun is Zhang Yimou's first film after a three-year hiatus from the film industry. Everyone knows exactly what Zhang Yimou has been busy with during these three years, and this news is the greatest support for him.

Taking advantage of this favorable wind,
She immediately responded to Gu Bei on Weibo:
"Some directors spread rumors without any bottom line for the sake of their own company's movies. Three Guns has received countless positive reviews since its preview screenings. It is the audience who chose Three Guns!"
In addition, the theme song for "Three Guns," titled "I'm Just a Legend," is now available online. The lyrics were written by Zhang Yimou, and the song is sung by Zhang Yimou and Xiao Fengtian!

Zhang Weiping originally thought that this was how things would happen to him.

I'm sure there will be many fans of Three Guns who will support me.

But as a result, his comment section was soon flooded with comments.

"The most regrettable movie I've ever seen in my life. I went to the cinema because of director Zhang Yimou, but you showed me a two-person comedy show, and then there was this inexplicable dance at the end. Are you crazy?!"

"The movie 'Three Guns' is beyond bad; it's downright unpleasant to watch. How could China's top director be dragged into making such a film by an uncultured producer like you!"

"You can say that 'A Simple Noodle Story' is bad, but it's definitely not the worst movie of the Lunar New Year season, because there's also 'The Treasure Hunter,' which is the worst movie of the 2009 Lunar New Year season!"

Zhang Weiping was somewhat bewildered after seeing these comments.

According to the Three Guns roadshow in Kyoto, the public's reaction to Three Guns was quite enthusiastic, and the number of positive reviews was genuine, not something he made up.

At last,
Zhang Weiping came to a conclusion: "Gu Bei must have done it!"

This conclusion comes entirely from Zhang Weiping's perspective-taking.

If he had a platform like Weibo, he would definitely use it to suppress his opponents and increase his popularity in the public eye.

right now,

The difference between reality and the internet is so huge.
Then it must have been Gu Bei who did it, trying to use Weibo to belittle Three Guns and boost the box office of Siege of October, which will be released next week.

This idea of ​​Zhang Weiping was further reinforced when the box office results for the opening weekend of "Three Guns" came out.

Breaking 100 million in three and a half days
Second only to The Founding of a Republic, which also broke 100 million in three and a half days,
But it is also the highest-grossing film on its opening day in Chinese cinema history, and the second fastest film to break 100 million yuan!
However, Zhang Weiping did not notice the difference in box office revenue between the north and south of "A Simple Noodle Story," with the box office share of "A Simple Noodle Story" decreasing the further south one went.

In particular, in Shenzhen, Three Guns' box office on Sunday was even lower than Storm Riders 2 and The Treasure Hunter. Despite occupying nearly 70% of the screenings in theaters, it only ranked third in box office.

"That's practically suicide!"

Gu Bei also noticed Zhang Weiping's Weibo post at this moment, but he completely ignored it.

The movie "Three Guns"

It's actually quite similar to Zhang Yimou's later work, "Man Jiang Hong".
"Three Guns" is like a curry-flavored version of "Manjianghong" (a type of Chinese liquor), and "Manjianghong" is a simplified version of "Three Guns".

Neither of these films can be considered absolutely bad.

But if you go to the cinema expecting to see a Zhang Yimou film, you'll definitely criticize both movies harshly after you leave!
But if you go to the cinema with the intention of just having some fun, then there's really nothing wrong with enjoying the lively atmosphere of the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival films.

In real life, the latter is actually quite common.
But most of what's on the internet is the former.
Gu Bei's rebuttal to Zhang Weiping's argument about "Zhang Weiping interfering with Three Guns" is so brilliant because it perfectly matches the former's imagination.

Moreover, the more you are a fan of Zhang Yimou, the more likely you are to agree with this point.

Because the Zhang Yimou they admire is the one who has broken free from the influence of "A Simple Noodle Story," even though the colors and cinematography of "A Simple Noodle Story" reveal Zhang Yimou's shadow everywhere.

The reason Gu Bei said Zhang Weiping was courting death was...

It's because the theme song MV he admires is a miniature version of "Three Guns".
Any fan of Zhang Yimou who has seen this music video would absolutely never buy a ticket to go to the cinema!
The result was just as Gu Bei had predicted.
After three and a half days of positive word-of-mouth,
The general public also has a general idea of ​​what kind of movie "A Simple Noodle Story" is.

As the biggest star in China in 2009, Xiao Fengtian's fans would still go to the cinema, and some would even really like the movie "A Simple Noodle Story".

But those who like Zhang Yimou are another matter.

Starting Monday, the box office was halved, leaving only a little over ten million, which is not the box office dominance that a blockbuster of this era should have.

Zhang Weiping started to panic.
But aside from urging cinemas to increase screenings, he seemed to have no other options.

His only hope was to see how the box office would perform this weekend, and whether the head-to-head competition between "A Simple Noodle Story" and "Bodyguards and Assassins" could withstand the drop in box office revenue caused by the release of the new film.

China Film Group.

"Da da da!"

Gu Bei knocked on Han Sanpin's office door.

"Please come in."

Han Sanpin looked up from the documents and glanced at Gu Bei, especially at Guo Fan behind Gu Bei, whom he scrutinized closely.

Gu Bei then began rummaging through Han Sanpin's tea canister: "Chairman Han, where's that Da Hong Pao tea you used to treasure?"

"I took it home a long time ago!"

Han Sanpin stood up and replied irritably.

"It's alright, it's alright, Mr. Han, you go ahead with your work, we can make do as we please," Gu Bei said without any politeness.

"When you offer to make me tea, it means you have something to ask of me, and I wouldn't accept it for nothing!"

Han Sanpin sat down opposite Gu Bei and teased him with a smile.

Before the Gravity project was officially launched, Gu Bei was incredibly proactive every time he came to his office. As a result, China Film Group invested money and built an underwater film studio for Gravity.

Once everything was in place, it was all gone, completely gone!

"Chairman Han, I don't like hearing that!" Gu Bei said, feigning anger.

Guo Fan watched in stunned silence.

Who is Han Sanpin?

The head of China Film Group, one of the most central figures in the entire Chinese film industry, is a big shot that all film and television companies have been avoiding in the last two years.

According to rumors from the outside world,
Han Sanpin is Gu Bei's backer.
Gu Bei is Han Sanpin's clerk.

But when he saw Gu Bei and Han Sanpin laughing and joking there...

Their relationship is nothing like what outsiders describe.

Instead, their friendship was more like that of friends despite their age difference, which made Guo Fan truly admire Gu Bei's courage.

When Gu Bei led him in and he realized that this not-so-large office belonged to Han Sanpin, his legs started to tremble. He hadn't even entered the film industry yet, but he had already come into contact with the top big shot in the industry.

"Is this the apprentice you took in?"

After drinking the tea that Gu Bei had personally brewed, Han Sanpin narrowed his eyes, gestured in Guo Fan's direction, and asked.

"I wouldn't call him an apprentice, and I don't have the time to teach people. He's just a new director that Linlang Entertainment is currently training." Gu Bei introduced Guo Fan to Han Sanpin, "This is Guo Fan, a freshman at the Beijing Film Academy, and also the director of the script I sent you."

"That Sino-US co-production? Are they really going to put such a big project in the hands of a new director like him?"

Han Sanpin frowned, feeling that this matter was somewhat unreliable.

Guo Fan felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this.

If even the bigwigs have rejected it, is there any chance this matter can still be resolved?
However, in his despair, he suddenly noticed that Han Sanpin was talking about a Sino-US co-production, while the Chinese version of Source Code that he was going to direct was not a Sino-US co-production. This gave Guo Fan a glimmer of hope.

"Chairman Han, I plan to do a completely new thing with this co-production."

The same script is filmed in North America and in China...

Gu Bei clapped his hands to boost his morale as he spoke, "...Isn't this also a Sino-US co-production?"

Gu Bei is planning to turn the source code into a co-production film.
Since the Chinese version of the source code is going to be imported by China Film Group anyway...
He has to make up for his losses elsewhere, so it would be good if the US version of Source Code could get a bigger share of the domestic box office.

After all, the current box office revenue share for imported films in China is only 13%, which is pitifully small.

"You're getting more and more cunning!"

Han Sanpin chuckled to himself.
I have no idea how Gu Bei came up with this idea!
If Gu Bei knew Han Sanpin's thoughts, he would probably criticize Han Sanpin, saying that the co-productions he leads in the future will be much lazier than this method.

Just like co-productions such as Iron Man 3 and Transformers 4, they use a few minutes of domestically produced footage to earn a high share of the co-production revenue.

Moreover, it was born under the circumstances that the Chinese film market had already exceeded 20 billion yuan and the policy on co-productions had begun to tighten.

In comparison, at least one version of the source code features purely Chinese characters, which is quite commendable.

After a pause,
Han Sanpin asked, "Can't it work like gravity?"

"The core of gravity lies within me!"

Gu Bei pointed to his face and said confidently, "None of my works in North America over the past two years have met the expectations of theater managers. Every single one of them has been a dark horse, breaking the established experience of theater managers."

That's why even a rumor could get it released in over 600 theaters in North America!

"I was negligent!"

Han Sanpin nodded upon hearing this.

He didn't expect Gu Beilai to film the source code.

Even if Gu Bei wanted to film it, he would advise Gu Bei not to waste his time on such a B-grade production.

After all, Gu Bei currently holds the creative control over two super IPs, Spider-Man and Mission: Impossible. Filming Source Code would be a complete waste of time.
It would be better to focus more on these two series to ensure Gu Bei's commercial value in Hollywood.

"Actually, besides sci-fi blockbusters, medium-budget films like Source Code are also quite important!"

Gu Bei continued, "Source Code is just a high-concept genre film with simple explosion effects. If a movie like that can make money..."
I believe that given the level of competition among Chinese people, we will see a large production of similar high-concept genre films in the future.

"I will discuss this with everyone and try my best to secure this co-production opportunity for you!"

Han Sanpin hesitated for a moment, not saying a word, but his attitude was already full of meaning.

In fact, Han Sanpin was also very clear that Gu Bei's co-production model was a kind of skirting the line.

China Film Group only invests in the Chinese version of the source code and shares a portion of its profits, while allowing the American version of the source code to enjoy the same revenue sharing ratio as domestic films.

But what does it matter?

Just like in the two years of Red Cliff, Han Sanpin knew that the people of Xiangdu had taken a lot of benefits from it, and that Xiangdu was using this method to promote their people. However, the Chinese film market was indeed stimulated to grow.

The highest-grossing Chinese film before The Founding of a Republic and The Message was Red Cliff last year!
"Thank you, Chairman Han!"

Gu Bei was aware of this kind of skirting the line, and it was problematic that Han Sanpin readily agreed.

Turning the source code into a co-production film

This can be considered as filling in the gaps in the two-shot book.

Although Gu Bei bought the script for Source Code, if Ben Ripley, the screenwriter of Source Code, were to appeal to the Writers Guild for making two versions in such a short period of time, the Writers Guild might not necessarily support him.

But now the source code has become a co-production.
The revenue sharing of the source code in mainland China was 3.3 times the original amount.
According to the results of last year's major strike by the Writers Guild, Rose Pictures must give at least 0.3% of the box office revenue it receives to the screenwriters.

Ben Ripley received an extra income for no reason, so there was no need for him to appeal.

This is also why Gu Bei still wanted to film the American version of the source code after handing it over to Guo Fan.

If only the Chinese version of Source Code is filmed, Ben Ripley won't get a single penny of the screenwriter's share of the box office, DVD revenue, or subsequent copyright revenue, so he's definitely going to fight Gu Bei to the bitter end.

After meeting with Han Sanpin and completing the new co-production film, Gu Bei boarded a plane and headed to Los Angeles.

Despite the media referring to it as a showdown between "Three Guns" and "Bodyguards and Assassins,"

This will determine the champion of this year's Lunar New Year film season.
But Gu Bei knew all too well.

The little blue man, Avatar, will be released early next year.
They are undoubtedly the winners of this year's Lunar New Year film season.

Avatar was the first Chinese film to break the 1 billion yuan mark, ushering in a prosperous yet chaotic era for 3D films in China!

With the final showdown of the Lunar New Year film season imminent, Gu Bei has already headed to Hollywood—is it fear or confidence?

Gu Bei is scared!

After seeing the news, Zhang Weiping instinctively thought this.

The positive reception of "Three Guns" in the north gave him the greatest illusion that all of this was not a problem with the quality of the film.

Zhang Yimou had already figured it out, and in an interview with reporters, he began to defend himself: "If you watch this movie from the perspective of an ordinary viewer with a normal mindset, you will feel happy after watching it. You laughed in the theater, and laughed many times, and that is enough."

Judging from a viewer's perspective, I think "A Simple Noodle Story" is a qualified comedy!

quickly,

The opening weekend box office figures for "Bodyguards and Assassins" and the second weekend box office figures for "A Simple Noodle Story" are in.
With 80 million yuan in box office revenue over its opening weekend, "Bodyguards and Assassins" easily took the top spot at the box office this weekend. It will undoubtedly break 100 million yuan on Monday. It will break 100 million yuan in four days, just like "The Message" and "Sitting at the Table on Red Cliff".

As for "A Simple Noodle Story," it was released under intense pressure from "Bodyguards and Assassins" in terms of screen time.

The second weekend only grossed 40 million yuan, bringing the cumulative box office to 190 million yuan, still not breaking 200 million yuan, and the box office decline is already very obvious.

Zhang Weiping is no longer concerned with the competition for the box office champion during the Lunar New Year season.
He directly instructed New Pictures Film Studio to notify all cinemas nationwide that the lowest ticket price for Three Guns should be reduced from 25 yuan to 20 yuan. The price reduction was intended to achieve high sales volume with low profit margins, and to make as much money as possible!
(End of this chapter)