Huayu: Starting with Hijacking from "The Story of a Noble Family"

Chapter 63 Han Sanping Feels Like He's Being Mocked

In Xu Heng's view, if Yang Guo were just Yang Kang's son, Guo Jing would most likely treat him the same as his own son.

But Yang Guo is also Mu Nianci's son, and Guo Jing even refused to marry Mu Nianci.

Adding to Mu Nianci's later experiences, as well as Yang Guo's childhood experiences, Guo Jing felt so guilty towards Yang Guo.

In Xu Heng's view, Yang Guo must have played a part in Yelü Qi's successful return to Mongolia to replace his "elder brother" Yelü Zhu.

Otherwise, Guo Jing would never have let Yelü Qi leave, since Yelü Qi knew too much about Xiangyang.

But if Yelü Qi doesn't disappear, how can Yang Guo openly marry his beloved Fu Mei?

But they couldn't just kill Yelü Qi, even though Yang Guo definitely had that idea!

But Yelü Qi was, after all, Fu Mei’s nominal husband, and he absolutely did not want to become Fu Mei’s enemy who killed her husband, adding another obstacle between him and Fu Mei!

After marrying Fu Mei, Yang Guo devised the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber plan and took Fu Mei to carry it out in the martial arts world, clearly indicating that he did not want his Fu Mei to continue guarding Xiangyang!

Later, upon learning that the Mongols were about to attack Xiangyang again, he immediately took Fumei to Kunlun Mountain, because he didn't want Fumei to know about the situation in Xiangyang at the first opportunity.

Upon learning of the fall of Xiangyang and the deaths of Guo Jing, Huang Rong, and Guo Polu, he immediately took Fu Mei and fled to the Western Regions, fearing that Fu Mei would seek revenge for her parents and brother if she found out.

This is Yang Guo, whose heart is only for his sister Fu, and who only thinks about having children with her. He doesn't care about anything else.

Just like when Kim Yong didn't want to go to the front line, he dropped out of military school and later went to Hong Kong.

Jin Yong also explicitly wrote in the novel that others called Yang Guo "The Condor Hero," but Yang Guo did not acknowledge it and only recognized the title "The Condor Hero."

However, the topic of "Guo Fu's love" is not that popular now, so Xu Heng certainly wouldn't want to cause trouble for himself.

They wouldn't tell Liu Yifei either, so as not to affect her when she plays Xiaolongnu in the future.

The next day, October 9th, Xu Heng returned to the Beijing Film Academy.

The results of the 26th Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Films were announced in the evening, but the awards ceremony will not be held until the 1st of next month.

Ultimately, "Out of the Amazon," "Hero," and "The Architect" shared the Best Feature Film award.

Lu Qi, the male lead in "The Chief Designer," won the Best Actor award at this year's Hundred Flowers Awards after winning the Huabiao Award for Outstanding Actor.

Xu Jinglei, who won the Huabiao Award for Best New Actress for her role in the film "I Love You", won the Best Actress Award at this year's Hundred Flowers Awards for her role in "Spring Subway".

Wang Zhiwen won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in "Together".

Yuan Quan won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in "Beautiful Big Feet".

A few days later, on Monday, October 13th, in the office of Han Sanping, Vice Chairman and General Manager of China Film Group.

While his secretary was pouring tea, Han Sanping couldn't help but scrutinize the young man in front of him.

Strictly speaking, this young man in front of me is not yet 20 years old, but he has already played the male lead in two TV series and directed and starred in a movie.

And his first TV series became a hit after it aired, and now he is a popular leading man.

Most importantly, this young man seems to have no background or benefactors to support him; he has relied entirely on himself.

The young man who came to him today was seeking distribution for the film he directed and starred in.

As for this young man, he was naturally Xu Heng.

"Mr. Han, I wonder if China Film Group would be willing to distribute my film?"

After the secretary left, Xu Heng, who was sitting sideways, looked at Han Sanping, who was sitting next to him on a single sofa, less than a meter away.

Since Beijing Film Studio and Qingdao Film Studio lacked the capacity for large-scale film distribution, he had to find other distributors.

Currently, the most powerful film distributor in China is undoubtedly China Film Group Corporation.

Through his connections with the Beijing Film Academy, he easily got in touch with the Central Motion Picture Corporation (CMP). However, whether he could reach an agreement and what distribution terms he could obtain were still matters for him to negotiate with CMP himself.

So he returned to Beijing and rested for a weekend before coming to China Film Group.

Han Sanping was clearly interested in his film, or perhaps in him as a person, which is why he met with him personally.

Han Sanping is not yet the chairman of China Film Group Corporation, but as the vice chairman and having just been promoted from deputy general manager to general manager at the beginning of this year, he has a lot of influence at China Film Group Corporation and is a very important figure in the domestic entertainment industry.

"Issuance is no problem, but how large an issuance scale do you want?"

Han Sanping pondered for a moment, but he was actually observing Xu Heng more.

At this moment, Xu Heng didn't seem like a young man who was not even 20 years old at all in his eyes.

As for distribution, that's definitely not a problem.

Currently, about half of the films shown in China, including imported films, are distributed by China Film Group.

However, only about 60 domestic films were released in China last year, and even if we include the 20 imported films, the business volume was not much.

Due to special circumstances this year, the situation is estimated to be not much better than last year.

Therefore, as long as a film obtains the Dragon Seal (a film distribution license), China Film Group will generally not refuse its request for distribution.

Issuance has costs, and they are not low.

As Xu Heng is still a new director, it is obviously impossible for China Film Group to advance this money for him.

"The larger the issuance size, the better!"

Xu Heng smiled and paused for a moment, "At least the major cities should be covered."

Currently, there are approximately 1000 cinemas in China that have joined a cinema chain, and if you include the smaller cinemas that have not joined a chain, the total number is about 4000.

The cinemas that have joined the film distribution network are mainly located in large and medium-sized cities, and are also the main source of box office revenue.

The remaining small cinemas scattered in small cities and counties, not to mention how much box office revenue they can contribute, may not even have such accurate and standardized box office statistics.

In other words, it's easy for box office revenue to be stolen, so it's fine as long as it can be shown in one of the approximately 1000 cinemas that have joined the theater chain.

Of course, it's impossible to show it in all 1000 cinemas, since the cost of developing and printing copies is quite high.

Last year, Zhang Yimou's "Hero" initially only had fewer than 200 copies printed, later increasing to 300, yet it still grossed 2.5 million yuan at the mainland box office. One wonders if that was inflated.

Han Sanping glanced at Xu with some surprise, wondering if Xu was really that confident or just a naive fool.

So he thought for a moment and asked directly, "How many copies do you plan to print?"

"What about the price?"

「价格是统一的，一部90分钟到100分钟的电影二代拷贝1万8一个，三代拷贝2万5一个，四代拷贝8500一个。」

The first-generation copy is the original film, while the second-generation copy is an optical reproduction based on the first-generation copy, which is equivalent to the master film.

The third-generation copy is an optical replication based on the second-generation copy. One second-generation copy can be copied up to 10 times.

Three generations of copies.

The fourth-generation copy is the copy used in cinemas. It is an optical copy based on the third-generation copy. One third-generation copy can be copied into 200 to 300 fourth-generation copies.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, one second-generation copy is enough, with at most one spare, and a third-generation copy depending on the need.

The third-generation copy is also the most expensive, otherwise it wouldn't be durable.

Furthermore, the second-generation print's image quality is roughly 85% of the original, the third-generation print's is roughly 85% of the second-generation print's, and the fourth-generation print's is roughly 70% of the third-generation print's. In other words, the fourth-generation print's image quality is roughly 50% of the original.

Then, just when he thought Xu would think it was too expensive or try to bargain, he found that Xu Heng's expression didn't change at all.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Heng said, "Then let's make 200 fourth-generation copies."

"200?"

Han Sanping almost spat out his tea!

200 fourth-generation copies cost more than 170 million. The key question is, does a movie with a production cost of only 300 million really need so many copies?

Generally, printing 50 copies of a movie with similar cost is already a lot!

Leaving aside last year's "Hero", even Feng Xiaogang's "Cell Phone", which is about to be released this year, only had more than 200 copies printed!

If Xu Heng weren't a top-tier leading man, and if he knew Xu Heng would never dare to do that, he would have thought Xu Heng was just there to make fun of him!

Are you sure?

"The price of 200 fourth-generation copies is 170 million, plus one second-generation copy and one third-generation copy, totaling 174.3 million. I can afford that!"

Xu Heng nodded, knowing that state-owned enterprises had no room for negotiation, at least not regarding copying costs.

He must have inquired about some things before coming to China Film Group.

Beijing Film Studio only has small-scale printing and copying capabilities; standard prints for theatrical release can only be obtained from professional companies.

"Okay!"

Han Sanping nodded as well.

Since Xu Heng was paying for it himself, he naturally didn't need to say anything more, and he could even earn a little more for printing fees.

"What about marketing and promotion? Our costs are usually around 30 yuan."

, 7

Han Sanping asked again.

The 30 yuan marketing and distribution cost includes the transportation of film copies, the placement of posters in cinemas, and basic media promotion.

If you want a larger-scale promotion, or have other requirements, you'll definitely need to pay extra.

"Let's round it up then. Add another 195.7 million, making it 225.7 million in total. Add the 174.3 million for copying costs, and it'll be exactly 400 million."

Ten thousand!"

Xu Heng silently did some calculations.

Han Sanping spat out another mouthful of tea.

Marketing and distribution costs 225 million?

Including copying costs, the total is 400 million?

The cost of copying and marketing is higher than the cost of making the film. Who would do that!

It's worth noting that last year's "Hero" had a total publicity cost of only 2500 million, including various roadshows and premieres, plus the cost of copies, and that was even exaggerated. However, the production cost was as high as 3000 million US dollars!

If we follow Xu's approach, wouldn't the cost of copying and marketing reach 4000 million US dollars, equivalent to more than 3 million?

What he didn't know was that in the future, there would be many films with marketing costs exceeding production costs, and many of them would be quite successful.

Not to mention that what they care about is box office revenue, and they don't care that much about costs, as long as they don't lose too much money.

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