Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 66 was scheduled for release, but the release date has been changed.

Chen Shou was involved in the post-production of the film from start to finish. He had to work with the technical staff to bring the scenes he envisioned to life.

Putting everything else aside, even Chen Shou himself was dizzy from looking at the modeling. Without patience, it's impossible to do it well. No wonder a minute of special effects costs so much.

However, he received good news: the box office revenue share of Chen Shouzhe's movie "The Man from Earth" after its domestic release had been received.

Because it's a foreign language film, it was released overseas first, so the box office revenue share wasn't actually that much.

A portion is first distributed to domestic cinemas, then split with China Film Group, before finally ending up in the US-based BlueStar Company account and being transferred to his wallet.

They sold $350 million overseas and $400 million domestically, bringing in over $100 million, which is quite a lot. They used a portion of that to buy equipment back home.

Many people were embarrassed by his movie's box office success of 400 million yuan, but Chen Shouzhe was too lazy to mock them anymore.

Another piece of good news is that Stephen Chow's movie is also finished.

Preparations began in January, casting took place in February, filming was completed in May, production was finished in September, and the film was scheduled for release during the Lunar New Year holiday in December.

The posters are out, and the promotion has begun.

Many people have a natural fondness for Stephen Chow's movies, especially those with the title "Kung Fu".

Chan Shou-cheung produced and wrote the script; he initially achieved huge box office success with comedies.

The highest-grossing foreign film in China is currently the one with his script and participation.

"It's the Lunar New Year film season again. That lousy comedian insists on making the Lunar New Year film season his own."

Wang Zonglei was furious that "Kung Fu Hustle" was scheduled for release during the Lunar New Year holiday, because they also had a comedy planned for release during that period.

After the failure of Feng Xiaogang's comedy and disaster films, Huayi Brothers learned its lesson and the company's shares were affected.

Feng Xiaogang's willful behavior has ended, and he is now paying the price for it.

The film was originally intended to win awards, but it performed poorly at the box office and was also insulted in terms of awards.

This caused the stock price of Huayi, which was closely tied to him, to plummet, forcing him to continuously film comedy movies, which he was good at, to pay off his debts.

Last year, the film "2012" was completely overshadowed by the box office failures. We managed to save money by relying on our comedy films to achieve some box office revenue.

This year, another comedy film is in the works, which will now collide with "Kung Fu Hustle". Two years have passed, and Wang Zonglei has found that since Chen Shouzhe started filming "Goodbye Mr. Loser", the Lunar New Year film season that his company opened up has gradually become Chen Shouzhe's battlefield.

"Brother, how about we change the release date and go for the Spring Festival?" Wang Zonglei asked his brother Wang Zongjun.

"It doesn't matter. The film market is what it is now. Haven't you seen the news from the real estate sector? In the future, we'll move away from focusing solely on films and become a company like Disney. If they want the Lunar New Year film season, let them have it. Let's see how much they can take," Wang Zongjun said nonchalantly.

"Then let's change it to the Spring Festival release. Yu Dong has gone mad." Wang Zonglei shook his head with a wry smile.

Others are one thing, but Kungfu's investors include Bona Film Group.

Yu Dong invested 60 million yuan but only received a 30 million yuan share. For a film with an investment of 200 million yuan, he only received 15% but spent 30% of the money. If the film's box office did not reach 600 million yuan, he would lose money. Therefore, in order to prevent him from losing money, Bona Film Group took over the distribution in mainland China.

Bona is not afraid of Huayi Brothers. They are both listed companies. If you dare to mess with my movies, just wait and see if I don't mess with you.

A rat hiding in the shadows is afraid of a rabid dog; who knows if this dog will go mad and bite him to death?

Yu Dong has invested so much, he's bound to go crazy. Wang Zonglei didn't want to provoke him, and he didn't expect Chen Shouzhe to find such a mad dog to deal with him, which really made him afraid to take action.

If his subordinates were clean, he wouldn't be afraid. The problem is, where has Huayi been clean in all these years?

The news that "Kung Fu Hustle" is scheduled for release during the Spring Festival has reminded many people that this movie is coming in with great momentum.

"Director Chen, if you have time, you should also appear on a few shows."

Inside the small dream, the assistant held up a phone and looked for Chen Shouzhe. Chen Shouzhe glanced at it and had no choice but to answer. It was Yu Dong calling him.

“No problem, I’ll definitely be there for the promotion,” Chen Shouzhe said.

"Do you want to do the overseas promotions?" "I'll leave the overseas promotions to Columbia Pictures. Stephen Chow has a certain reputation in Europe and America, so it's fine for him to do it. Emperor Entertainment will handle the Southeast Asian distribution, right? I'll have to work hard for you guys then."

There were five production companies involved in "Kung Fu Hustle," but only four of them actually contributed money. Chen Shou, however, managed to get 24% of the profits without contributing any money, so naturally he wasn't interested.

Others put in real money, especially Stephen Chow, who included his own salary in the budget. He was more dedicated than others, and he only cared about how much he earned from the movies.

The three distributors are Bona Film Group in mainland China, Emperor Entertainment Group in Southeast Asia, and Columbia Pictures in Europe and America, achieving global distribution and promotion.

In terms of publicity, the three distribution companies naturally set their sights on Chen Shouzhe, since he was the screenwriter and, strictly speaking, the core of this film.

Chen Shou is no longer a director with no fame. He holds the current domestic box office record, and many viewers recognize his name and appreciate his comedies.

Secondly, there's Southeast Asia. Chen Shouzhe gained some fame because of "Painted Skin" and "2012," and many people came specifically for him.

When promoting "2012" at the beginning, they would mention "Painted Skin". Many viewers who had seen "Painted Skin" suddenly realized that it was written by the same screenwriter.

Chen Shouzhe and Stephen Chow have a built-in fan base in Southeast Asia, especially Stephen Chow, many of whom grew up watching his movies.

However, in the global film market, Chen Shouzhe is much more famous than Stephen Chow. The two films, "2012" and "The Man from Earth," established Chen Shouzhe's status as a commercial director. Many viewers have expressed interest in his new film, an action movie with mysterious Eastern kung fu.

Therefore, Columbia Pictures' main promotional material is not Stephen Chow, but rather the screenwriter Chan Sau-cheung.

"Director Chen, if you have time, we'll need you to do more promotion. By the way, I heard from Huayi Brothers that they're going to change the release date and move Feng Xiaogang's new movie to the Spring Festival slot." Yu Dong's laughter came through the phone.

"I thought we were going to have to fight head-on, but I didn't expect those two brothers to chicken out," Chen Shouzhe sneered upon hearing this.

They've already clashed several times, without openly breaking ties, but behind the scenes they've been ruthless. Chen Shou has already been tricked twice, and he's completely lost patience with those brothers. He'll try to trip them up whenever he gets the chance.

“They value their stock price highly right now, so rescheduling is the wisest course of action, unless they can beat us,” Yu Dong said confidently.

"That's impossible. We'll rely on Bona for publicity and distribution. I'll be there to support them if needed. Just let me know when the time comes. Guaranteed box office of 1 billion yuan is no problem. I won't let Chairman Yu suffer any losses," Chen Shou said.

"Okay, okay, I'll let Director Chen know when the time comes." Yu Dong became excited when he heard about the billion.

After hanging up the phone with Yu Dong, Chen Shou was surprised that Hua Yi had backed down. Sure enough, he checked the entertainment news on his phone and saw that there was indeed news about the rescheduling.

Many people are mocking Huayi, having long disliked them.

"Are you scared?"

"Yesterday Kung Fu announced it would be released during the Lunar New Year holiday, but today it's been changed to the Spring Festival holiday (smiley face)!"

"Here's a joke: Huayi Brothers pioneered the Lunar New Year film season."

"Director Chen Shou carried forward the tradition."

"Cowardly."

"They're all comedy movies, what's there to be afraid of? You've messed up Stephen Chow, don't you have the guts to confront him head-on?"

"Cowards! I thought I'd see a head-on clash, and this is it? They changed the release date?"

The comments section is full of mockery; the release date was set yesterday, and it's changed today.

Meanwhile, the movies originally scheduled for the Spring Festival were cursing and avoiding the New Year's season, just to avoid getting splattered with blood. Now look what's happened, two rivals who were not fighting each other are actually coming to compete with them. Can't they change their ways too?
The problem is that there are only a few good release dates. Either we release it earlier during the National Day holiday, or we have to compete head-on with other release dates.

The problem is that changing the release date also depends on the quality of the movie itself. If it's a small movie, the authorities won't let you change it even if you want to, otherwise everything will be in chaos.

You'll be given whatever slot they offer you, whether you're cannon fodder or you take a gamble. If you succeed, you can ride the coattails of a blockbuster to fame and fortune.

An unseen battle has begun to intensify with the announcement of the release date for "Kung Fu Hustle".

Just as Chen Shouzhe returned to the horse farm, someone came to the horse farm and called out to Chen Shouzhe from afar.

"Brother, I've come to have a drink with you."

(End of this chapter)