Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 168 Records are meant to be broken.

"Is Bona Film Group getting so few screenings?"

Chen Shouzhe saw the information sent back by the three distribution companies in his office. He could see the data of each cinema, such as the time, the schedule, and the number of screens.

The data is all available. The issuing company gives Chen Shouzhe the issuance data, and Chen Shouzhe calculates the issuance situation of several companies.

He has a lot of work to do every day, especially the distribution and screening schedule before the movie is released, he has to make sure there are enough screenings.

As for siphoning, that depends on the market performance after the movie's release.

If a movie performs well, theaters will consider increasing its screenings, and then screenings will be concentrated on top-rated films—this is the siphon effect.

The film market will weed out those mediocre movies and concentrate the remaining screenings on profitable films.

Unexpectedly, Bona Film Group's screening allocation was so low, only 20%. According to Bona, one film had a screening allocation as high as 49%, which was invested in by their own company.

Chen Shouzhe wasn't the type to stay silent, so he picked up his phone, found the number, and made a call.

"Hey, Director Chen, what brings you to call me?" Yu Dong was surprised, and even a little happy, when he received Chen Shouzhe's call.

"We're all acquaintances, Mr. Yu, so I won't beat around the bush. What's the situation with Bona's screenings? Why are they only giving me 20%?" Chen Shou asked.

“20%, that’s quite a lot,” Yu Dong said after a moment of surprise.

Chen Shouzhe understood that Yu Dong himself was well aware of this, and it was even possible that he was the one who arranged the screenings.

“According to our agreement, my film’s base screening share is 30%. I looked at Bona’s cinema schedule, and Bona’s own films get 49%, right?” Chen Shou said.

"Director Chen, this is a film produced by Bona Film Group itself, so we definitely have to give it more screenings. It's within the rules, and Bona has no choice. If you suddenly join the Spring Festival season, we can't adjust, so we can only allocate 20% of our screenings," Yu Dong said with a smile.

"Okay, 20% it is." Chen Shou nodded and hung up the phone.

Yu Dong's expression was somewhat unpleasant. He knew that doing this would definitely offend Chen Shouzhe, but he couldn't care less now. He had to prioritize increasing the screenings of his own film, and he couldn't reduce them. He would then increase the screenings of Chen Shouzhe's film based on the film's performance.

"We can permanently exclude Bona Film Group. The investment in cinemas is too large. Let's wait for now. It's good to have our own cinema chain." Chen Shou looked at the phone with a not-so-good expression.

On Lunar New Year's Eve, the whole family was together happily. The weather in the north was too cold, so we could only play indoors.

There was nothing else to do besides watch the Spring Festival Gala. Although it was terrible, he still had to keep watching. Chen Shou drank quite a bit and played with his daughter for a long time before finally going to sleep, satisfied.

The cinemas opened right after midnight on Lunar New Year's Eve.

Many moviegoers went to the cinema to enjoy the newly released films as soon as they were released.

Several blockbuster movies were showing, and even though it was past midnight and everyone was on holiday, there were still many people coming and going in the cinema.

Chen Shou woke up around noon, feeling sticky on his face, when he saw a smiling face patting his face.

"Daddy, get up! Slap! Daddy, get up! Slap!" She slapped him every time she shouted. At first, Chen Shouzhe found it amusing, until she picked up the silver bracelet from her wrist and hit him on the bridge of his nose. Only then did Chen Shouzhe come to his senses, howling in pain as he picked up his daughter.

"What's wrong? Why are you acting like you're being slaughtered?" the master's wife asked, peeking into the kitchen.

"Caiyu hit my nose with her bracelet," Chen Shou said, rubbing his nose while holding his daughter.

"Serves you right, I've been calling you for ages since you woke up at this hour," his mother, Zhang Fengjiao, said, glaring at him before taking her granddaughter in her arms.

Yang Mi arrived shortly after. As soon as she arrived, her daughter clung to him, saying she was taking the child home today, as had been arranged long ago. She would bring her back on the third day of the Lunar New Year, since she was her daughter and her parents had also come to see her.

Chen Shouzhe couldn't go, so he went to the movie theater today to see how full it was.

The film's pre-sales have reached 170 million yuan, which means that the box office on the first day will definitely exceed 170 million yuan. When this box office figure came out, many people in the film industry could not accept it. The film's opening day box office is going to reach 200 million yuan.

Chen went to several cinemas and found that they were all full, with families bringing their children to watch movies.

The 3D experience at Wanda is better; young parents bring their children to experience it together.

Chen Shouzhe found a coffee shop in a movie theater, ordered a coffee, and sat down. He first checked the online reviews.

"I went to see it in the early hours of last night. I have to say, Chen Shouzhe is Chen Shouzhe. His movies never disappoint his fans. I just couldn't hold back anymore. I'm going back to sleep now. I really cried during the movie. It was so moving. I'll continue writing tomorrow..."

"I went with my girlfriend, and she cried watching the love story between the two robots. Luckily, I didn't bring any tissues, so she wiped them all on my clothes (smile). If you're going to see this with your girlfriend, remember to bring tissues." "Animation, sci-fi, educational, romance, comedy—you can find all these elements in this animated film. Everyone can find something they're looking for. For me, it was worth it. It was definitely worth the ticket price. I believe the $100 million budget is no exaggeration."

"I never thought we would be able to see a domestically produced animated feature film that is completely comparable to Hollywood productions. Domestic animated feature films are finally about to rise."

"What does 'family-friendly' mean? This is a family-friendly movie! I brought my mom, dad, and grandparents to see it. My grandparents all said it was great. The movie promoted environmental protection and the importance of loving one's hometown. But I felt there was one bad thing: after watching the movie, my grandparents missed home even more. They've already packed their things and are ready to go home tomorrow. They said there's no festive atmosphere in the city, and they want to go back to their hometown to grow their potted plants and do their part for the environment (laughs and cries)!!!"

"Humans have destroyed the environment and handed everything over to robots, resulting in a large number of obese people, and even being controlled by robots. We should cherish our environment and the people around us more. The story of the two robots brought tears to my eyes."

"The story of the poor boy and the rich girl is very interesting, just like a fairy tale. I took my two children to see it, and they both liked WALL-E very much. Even the cockroaches became cute. Now they want to raise cockroaches (helplessly)."

The online reviews are all very good; you can hardly find anything negative about it, and even professional film critics can't find anything to criticize.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Shou woke up to a phone call from Zhong Lifan.

"Sister Zhong, how much?" Chen Shou asked, taking a deep breath.

"Director Chen, the film's box office on the opening day reached 2.56 million yuan," Zhong Lifan exclaimed excitedly.

"A record has been broken?"

"You've broken the record for the first day! The previous record was also yours, 1.7 million for The Martian," Zhong Lifan exclaimed excitedly.

The Martian ultimately grossed 42 billion yuan, with 1.7 million yuan on its opening day. WALL-E grossed 2.56 million yuan on its opening day. Moreover, these were during the Spring Festival season and were domestic animated feature films, meaning there was a possibility of delays.

On this day, countless people in the film and television industry were shocked to see the news, and they were all incredulous.

Chen and the graphic designers worked overtime to create the first poster.

WALL-E grinned and raised his hands, holding a tablet computer that displayed the opening day box office figures: 2.56 million. WALL-E thanked everyone for coming to visit them, and another robot was also poised to join the fray behind him.

WALL-E in Good News is dirty, but his smile is so healing that many people immediately expressed their love for him.

"2.56 million, damn it, this guy has been breaking records ever since he debuted. I thought he was going to fail this time, but it seems like he'll break even." Wang Zonglei gritted his teeth in anger. He had already arrived at the company on the second day of the Lunar New Year. Their company also had a movie showing, but it was completely annihilated.

Bona Film Group's investment in that movie also grossed over 100 million yuan, but it was met with a barrage of criticism online. Compared to the previous two films, this one, despite its star-studded cast, turned out to be a complete mess and was universally panned, with everyone from the director to the actors being criticized.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Shouzhe went to pay New Year's visits to several elders' homes, including his advisor Shi Fukuan. The Shi family had already made preparations for Chen Shouzhe's visit with Guo Qilin, Feng Chaoyang, and others, and almost the entire family, including relatives, came.

After all, this is Chen Shouzhe, currently the highest-earning director in China.

Chen Shou was dragged to eat two meals at Shijia's house. One was at noon, after which they played cards. The other was at night. After eating, Chen Shou couldn't take it anymore and made an excuse to go home, otherwise he would have been dragged to spend the night.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, we were going to visit Guo Degang's family to offer New Year's greetings, and at the same time, the box office figures for the second day were released.

3.17 million.

A number that left the film industry in despair and stunned. No one expected the box office to explode the next day, breaking the record once again for the highest single-day box office for a single film.

An animated film grossed over 300 million yuan in a single day.

Other companies are overjoyed when a movie only makes tens of millions, but they never dreamed of making 300 million in a single day.

Chen Shouzhe started making phone calls. Although many people called him, he used other numbers to call some people. His own cell phone, which he used to communicate with others, was switched off.

"Mr. Liu, how's the scheduling going?" Chen Shou asked with a smile.

"Director Chen, no problem. It's all arranged for you. 45% is the highest we can go, at least enough to leave room for other films," Liu Xiaobing said on the other end of the phone.

Liu Xiaobing is the one who will replace Ye Ning. Chen Shou will just need to coordinate with him.

"Thank you, Mr. Liu," Chen Shou said with a smile.

“Director Chen, if you have a project like this next time, even if it’s a billion-dollar production, Wanda will be involved,” Liu Xiaobing said with a smile. If Wanda could get a share in this movie, it would be a great start to the year for him.

After taking over Wanda, everyone from the big bosses to the board of directors had only one requirement: to continue and protect the partnership with the film company.

Chen Shou believes this movie will definitely make money, but it's unclear how much, given the immense pressure to break even—it took 1.8 billion to recoup the investment.

(End of this chapter)