Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 422 Targeting Cinemas First
……

On set in Hangzhou.

"The number of screenings is still too low. If theaters want copies of the major production, they must guarantee us at least 60% of the screenings in the first two weeks!"

Gu Bei looked at the data in his hand and shook his head in dissatisfaction.

"A little difficult."

Huang Bin said with some difficulty, "Director Chen's recent films have not performed as well as expected at the box office, so the cinemas are not particularly confident that this film, Earthquake, will bring any surprises. They are just telling us to wait until before the release date and see if they can increase the number of screenings."

Gu Bei looked up at Huang Bin. If things didn't meet expectations, he'd probably flop.
Chen Kaige's last two films were *The Promise* and *Forever Enthralled*.
Both films actually had decent box office returns, so they didn't cause much financial loss for the cinemas.

However, compared to the hype surrounding these two films before their release, they were definitely a flop.

Although The Promise was the box office champion that year, the story of a steamed bun is a classic in Chinese film history. To this day, no one can fully understand The Promise, not even Gu Bei.

If it is the latter,
Before its release, they reheated the old "Farewell My Concubine" drama.

They even invested an unprecedented and massive marketing budget on CCTV.

In the end, the box office barely exceeded 100 million yuan. This was only because Liu Yifei's participation made the "death separation" chapter of the movie perfect, which allowed it to surpass the original version's box office of over 100 million yuan.

The box office performance of these two films was almost identical.

Before its release, the director had high expectations, and the box office was decent in the first week. However, after word-of-mouth spread, the box office began to plummet, and the long-tail effect of the box office was weak and the film ended in a dismal failure.

"Then let's just guarantee a minimum number of screenings in the first week, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Gu Bei frowned, accepting the reality with resignation. "Director Chen's reputation is quite high in China. It's impossible that cinemas wouldn't even give him screenings in the first week, right?"

"Yes, I can give it to you!"

Huang Bin nodded.

But he then added, "At most, I'll give them a verbal agreement; they can't draft a formal agreement for me unless we're willing to buy screen time."

Buying screening slots means paying cinemas to schedule screenings, while the box office revenue is still split among the cinemas.

Unlike renting out an entire theater, this is cheaper, but if no one buys tickets, the theater makes money for nothing.

Are domestic cinemas really this domineering?

Gu Bei frowned.

Film companies and cinemas have a mutually beneficial and mutually restraining relationship.

Hollywood's status is very low because the six major studios have almost achieved a monopoly, and the power of theater chains has been suppressed in every way.

However, at the very beginning of the streaming era,
The six major cinema chains are still making great efforts to save theaters.
Only after realizing that the situation was beyond saving did the six major studios abandon theaters and fully embrace streaming media.

However, this is clearly not the case in China. Judging from Huang Bin's tone, the domestic cinema chains have far more power than film companies.

"Director Gu, you only have one Chinese-language film at the moment, so you may not be very clear about the status of domestic cinemas."

Huang Bin glanced up at Gu Bei, and seeing that Gu Bei wasn't angry, he continued, "There are reasons why the domestic cinema industry is like this now. First of all, of course, it's because the level of cinema chain integration in China is relatively low. After all, the policy that cinemas must join cinema chains has only been in effect for a few years."

Secondly, most of the mainstream cinema chains in China are still reformed from state-owned enterprises.

For them, returns may not be the only consideration; risk is also an important factor.

Furthermore, the distribution of cinemas in China is not so even; many cities only have one cinema, so they are certainly not afraid that we will not provide them with copies.

Finally, Chinese-language films weren't that strong before. High-grossing films in China were often imported films, and when China Film Group distributed imported films, they didn't go through the same meticulous process as we do.

After a pause,

Huang Bin added, "Of course, with your reputation, Director Gu, there definitely wouldn't have been these problems when Gravity was released!"

Do theaters trust me?

Gu Bei asked curiously.

"That's for sure!"

Huang Bin immediately became excited, "Even before the Message, apart from 500 Days of Summer, the movies you made, such as Whiplash, The Artist and The Fault in Our Stars, plus the Twilight series you wrote, all grossed over $100 million."

So when "The Message" was released, the theaters didn't even give Huayi Brothers any face, giving you the second-highest number of screenings after "Back to 1942."

Aside from Whiplash, Gu Bei hadn't paid much attention to domestic box office figures. He never expected that all three of his feature films would gross over 100 million yuan in China. No wonder he didn't have all these troubles when The Message was released.

In fact, Huang Bin gave so many reasons.
The biggest reason,
The problem is that the box office share of Chinese-language films is not high enough.
Although it wasn't directly conquered by Hollywood like other regions,
However, prior to 2008, imported films accounted for over 60% of the annual box office revenue.

After Han Sanpin came to power, from 2008 to 2019, the box office of imported films was macro-controlled by China Film Group at around 40%, basically adding more water when there was too much water and more flour when there was too much flour.

With Chinese-language films contributing so much to the box office each year, cinemas naturally have a strong presence!
How did the three great directors of Chinese cinema come about?

In fact, they all relied on box office success to achieve their success.

Feng Xiaogang relies on his Feng-style comedies.

Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou rely on period dramas.

Huayi became the leading private film company because they had Feng Xiaogang under their wing, giving them more leverage in negotiations with cinemas.

Otherwise, in terms of box office alone, Bona, which often collaborates with Xiangdu, has outperformed Huayi in many years, but those directors are from Xiangdu, not Bona.

Zhang Weiping, on the other hand, is ruthlessly exploiting Zhang Yimou, but with such a rare resource as the "national director," he is the only film company that has forced cinemas to make constant concessions and make headlines.

Chen Kaige, one of the three, is falling behind a bit now.
Wuji and Mei Lanfang both fell in succession.
The cinemas no longer blindly trust Chen Kaige like they blindly trust the other two people.

Gu Bei sighed: "Fine, if that's the case, then I know this isn't your problem, but the problem of the entire industry."

"Director Gu, are you willing to compromise?"

Huang Bin breathed a sigh of relief.

He's not Zhang Weiping; going against cinema chains wouldn't be a good thing for him.

"Concessions? Why should we concede!" Gu Bei smiled faintly. "If we can't prevent a major earthquake, then we shouldn't even try to prevent gravity!"

"hiss!"

Huang Bin gasped.

He talked for so long, trying to persuade Gu Bei not to go head-to-head with the cinemas, but Gu Bei was not only not persuaded, but instead directly increased the stakes by making Gravity, which had just won a great victory in Cannes, a part of the bargaining chip.

"Let me say this first, and we'll see how many companies sign guaranteed screening contracts that we can get."

Gu Bei wasn't that stupid to directly confront the theater chains. "When it's almost time for the movie to be released, don't make things difficult for those theaters that only have one cinema in a city."

but……

In first- and second-tier cities,
"We have to find a few stubborn ones; since that's been said, there's bound to be some who suffer!"

Gu Bei learned this process from Chuanzi: apply extreme pressure, then reach a private agreement, and finally punish a few unlucky people to keep his promise.

This year, Linlang Entertainment has three heavyweight films in its hands: Tang City Earthquake, Gravity, and Let the Bullets Fly. If they don't give the theaters a good beating, Gu Bei might not be able to assemble such a good lineup next year.

Although Linlang Entertainment learned how to distribute films from Enlight Media, it couldn't possibly learn Enlight Media's cowardly practices of withdrawing and skipping releases.

"Director Gu..."

Huang Bin hesitated for a moment.

Although Chen Kaige was his mentor in entering the industry, it must be said that Chen Kaige's films have not been very popular with the public in the past two years.

He couldn't help but advise, "If you do this, and the box office for 'The Great Earthquake in Tang City' falls short of expectations, then Linlang Entertainment could very well become a laughing stock in the industry!"

"Don't worry, I know what's going on."

Gu Bei smiled faintly.

Just kidding, he's more confident about the Tang City earthquake than he is about his gravity experiment.

After all, the original version of Gravity only performed moderately at the box office in China, and even after rewriting the script, it still hadn't been market-tested. In contrast, Aftershock has been market-tested, yet it's the runner-up in the Chinese-language film box office this year.

Gravity is no match for Tang City; even a major earthquake couldn't stop it!
"I understand, Director Gu!"

Huang Bin reluctantly agreed.

I originally thought that being the distribution manager for the Tang City earthquake was a lucrative job.
He was able to secure this position thanks to his connections with director Chen Kaige and Linlang Entertainment.
Now it seems that this location is clearly a pit!

Gu Bei's Linlang Entertainment achieved such great success last year.

Clearly, this year is the time to start finding one's place in the Chinese entertainment industry.
The first to be cut was the cinema chain, and he himself became the knife in Gu Bei's hand.

at this time,

Gu Bei patted Huang Bin on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Don't worry, I won't let you take the blame. Just have someone imply that it was me who said it when you spread the word."

Huang Bin was not a member of Linlang Entertainment after all.

Making him play the bad cop wouldn't be something he did willingly, and it wouldn't carry enough weight either.

If Gu Bei wants to compete with the cinemas, only he himself has enough influence.

Huang Bin waved his hands repeatedly: "Director Gu, no, no!"

Having said that,
But Huang Bin didn't say a single unnecessary word.

They were clearly afraid that Gu Bei would go along with it and actually make him play the bad cop.

After the two finished talking,

Huang Xiaoming walked over from the side and said to the two of them with a smile, "Director Gu, I don't know if you know, but I have now set up a studio with Brother Huang."

How did these two end up together?

Gu Bei looked at Huang Bin and Huang Xiaoming with a hint of doubt.

Huang Bin was previously Chen Kaige's marketing director and also served as Liu Yifei's agent.
He saw that Huang Bin was so close to Linlang Entertainment because he planned to take a step further in the distribution field. He never expected that Huang Bin would actually abandon his original main business and develop his side business into his main business.

but,

Huang Bin's career development
For Gu Bei, it was just an interlude.
He smiled and said, "Then congratulations. Developing your own studio is indeed the mainstream in the future. For someone of your status, a talent agency is actually more of a hindrance than a help."

Huang Xiaoming replied with a smile, "Indeed, although things have gone quite well at Huayi this year, some of Huayi's practices still don't align with my philosophy. I plan to act in more movies in the future."

Gu Bei could tell.

Huang Xiaoming was subtly expressing his closeness to him.

After all, the conflict between Gu Bei and Huayi seems to be going on forever.

Although Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame was withdrawn from the National Day release schedule, it still chose to be released a week before the release of Aftershock during the summer season. It is clear that Huayi Brothers was impressed by Gu Bei, but not by Linlang Entertainment.

Under these circumstances, Huang Xiaoming also began to choose sides.

Although it hasn't completely severed ties with Huayi, with which it just peacefully parted ways, it has clearly shown its closeness to Linlang Entertainment and chosen to side with Linlang Entertainment.

"Actually, it's best not to miss any TV dramas either."

The process of adapting television series into films began with HBO's "The Sopranos" in North America.

In the future, even higher-quality dramas will be produced. In terms of both artistry and entertainment value, television dramas are no longer lagging behind films.

Gu Bei chose Huang Xiaoming as the male lead for their trip to Hangzhou.

Among mainland Chinese actors alone, Huang Xiaoming is practically the best choice.
However, since Huang Xiaoming expressed goodwill to Linlang Entertainment, he also took the opportunity to give Huang Xiaoming a hint about future trends. At least from the perspective of celebrities, the future prospects of TV dramas are not much worse than those of movies.

Television actors may currently be considered less famous than film actors.
This results in television actors receiving slightly fewer endorsement deals than film actors.
However, this trend has begun to shrink or even be overtaken in China, North America, and even South Korea.

Even in South Korea, where the hierarchy is most pronounced, Chungmuro ​​film actors used to have a clear advantage over television actors due to their star power. However, economic foundation determines the superstructure, and the balance between the two has begun to shift.

"I got it."

Huang Xiaoming nodded seriously.

Regardless of whether he actually listened or not, at least from the surface, the emotional value he provided was quite substantial.

"Let's get ready to start filming!"

Gu Bei told Huang Bin to leave first, and then followed Huang Xiaoming into the film set.

"Director Gu!"

A little girl rushed over and hugged Gu Bei's leg. "Aren't you going to get busy with other things soon? We'll have a very, very long vacation?"

Gu Bei looked down at the precocious Zhang Zifeng and couldn't help but smile: "Who told you that?"

Zhang Zifeng pointed to his mother not far away: "My mother said to let me bear with it a little longer, and I can rest in a couple of days!"

In the story of "Hangzhou Trip," Gu Bei spent a long time choosing the male lead's daughter, but in the end, he chose Zhang Zifeng, whom he was somewhat familiar with.

In fact, another woman of similar age, Zhao Jinmai, also made it to the final round of selecting a daughter.
But for children of this age, a one-year age difference can result in a significant difference in their appearance.
In the end, Gu Bei chose Zhang Zifeng, which was more in line with the script's setting.

He looked down and chuckled as he pinched Zhang Zifeng's cheek: "You can rest, but only for three days. I'll go to Tang City to attend the film opening ceremony and then come back."

"what!"

Disappointment immediately appeared on Zhang Zifeng's face.

(End of this chapter)