China Entertainment Mythology 2004

Chapter 264 Li Mu VS Zhou Xingchi, two strong duel
Both "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" and "Monster Hunt" are about 45% of the film schedule, and the two films add up to 90%, almost covering the film schedule for the Spring Festival.

The schedule of the two films is the same, but it does not mean that the theaters have the same evaluation of the two films. In fact, most theaters and theater managers are more optimistic about Zhou Xingchi's "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons".

First of all, "Journey to the West" is a well-known big IP, and "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" is naturally easier to attract audiences than other films.

Secondly, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" is Zhou Xingchi's five-year-long work. The market is already very hungry for Xingye's latest comedy movie.

Finally, the cast lineup of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" will undoubtedly be stronger-director Zhou Xingchi, starring Wen Zhang, Shu Qi, Huang Bo, and Li Mu, this is simply a fairy lineup.

Although Zhou Xingchi did not personally star this time, "Xingye Movie" is a gold-lettered signboard; Wen Zhang is a popular niche, and is currently on fire; Huang Bo in this time and space is much better than the original world, starring in many Huashang movies His experience has made him extremely popular at the box office; finally there is Shu Qi, who is also very popular; even Li Mu also participated in the performance.

In contrast, the most popular actor in "Monster Hunt" is only Zhou Xun. Of course, Chen Xiao is also good, but the combination of the two, in the case that the director is not Li Mu, the cast lineup is indeed inferior to "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" ".

The industry generally predicts that the box office of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" is likely to exceed 15 billion yuan, while "Monster Hunt" may hardly break through the 10 billion mark.

At this stage, a box office of 7 million is considered a big hit, and more than 10 billion is already a phenomenon, and only Li Mu has achieved more than 20 billion.

Liu Siying and Chen Zhixi are optimistic enough about "Monster Hunt", and their evaluations are around 3 billion yuan.

But even though the entire industry is more optimistic about Zhou Xingchi's "Journey to the West", "Monster Hunt" can still keep pace with "Journey to the West".

In many cases, how to arrange films is not only about how optimistic you are about a film, but also the way of the world!

The simplest reason is that Huashang Media releases seven or eight films a year, and all of them are hits, and Zhou Xingchi has released this "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" five years since "Yangtze River No. 08" in [-]. ".

Not to mention that Zhou Xingchi's movies have long been unable to beat Li Mu's movies, even if they are still able to beat, Hua Shang, who makes seven or eight blockbuster movies a year, vs. Xingye, who makes a movie every five years, should be compared with Whoever maintains a good relationship, I believe that every theater chain and every theater can know it well.

"Sister Liu, people in the theaters are asking Mr. Li's opinion on the box office of "Monster Hunt", why don't we give Mr. Li a call?" said Chen Zhixi, producer of "Monster Hunt" in the conference room of Huashang Media. Ask Vice President Liu Siying.

Liu Siying replied: "What is there to ask, our own movie, can our own boss still say bad things about it? Besides, if Mr. Li comes back, yes, "Monster Hunt" will definitely be a hit at the box office. To break the 10 billion, 15 billion, or even 20 billion mark, and then? Can the theaters continue to increase the number of films for our "Monster Hunt"?"

Chen Zhixi nodded with a serious expression: "Yes, the directors of the eight theaters and several acquaintances told me in private, saying that as long as Mr. Li dares to pat his chest today and guarantee that our new film will be a hit, then they will immediately Continue to improve the scheduling of our films."

Good guy, can you still play like this?
Liu Siying paused for a moment, looked at the time again, and then made a direct phone call to the United States.

"Mr. Li, what do you think of the box office performance of "Monster Hunt"?"

"Very good, what's the matter?"

"Very optimistic, how optimistic is it? 7 million? 10 billion? Or 15 billion? Or break 20 billion?"

There was also a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, and then he said, "Let's say 20 billion. To be honest, I am very optimistic about this movie. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if it managed to become the number one movie in China."

Liu Siying was obviously taken aback when she heard the words.

She has always known that Mr. Li is very optimistic about this "Monster Hunt", but she never imagined that Mr. Li is so optimistic about it!
20 billion box office?
There are only two films of this level in China, and all of them are directed by President Li himself without exception. The question is, how can "Monster Hunt" be done?
Liu Siying has watched "Monster Hunt" many times. The movie is really good, Huba is very cute, but in terms of the level of humor, she still prefers Zhou Xingchi's comedies.

"By the way, why are you asking this?" Li Mu asked on the other end of the phone.

Liu Siying replied: "The theater has said that as long as Mr. Li dares to pat your chest and say that you are optimistic about our "Monster Hunt", he will continue to improve our film schedule."

Li Mu: "Crazy, our own movie, I don't pat my chest and say I like it, do I still point my nose and scold trash?"

After speaking, Li Mu hung up the phone.

Liu Siying told Chen Zhixi about the content of the phone call, but Chen Zhixi was in trouble instead.

"Then how should we tell the people in the theaters? Let's say that Mr. Li is very, very optimistic about "Monster Hunt" and even thinks it can break the 20 billion mark? Or does Mr. Li think that our "Monster Hunt" has Chance to be number one in Chinese film history?"

After a moment of silence, Liu Siying said: "Just say the previous sentence: 'Mr. Li is very, very optimistic about this "Monster Hunt"'. As for the box office breaking 20 billion and wanting to be the champion, don't mention it. If it doesn’t make sense, Mr. Li is talking nonsense, if it makes sense, wouldn’t he really become a magician?”

Chen Zhixi nodded, Mr. Liu's thinking was exactly the same as hers.

In the next few days, the eight major theaters across the country heard about Mr. Li Muli's views on the box office prospects of "Monster Hunt".

"Very, very good!"

After that, several theaters sat down to discuss, and as a result, the film schedule of "Monster Hunt" was silently increased to about 49%, which was a full increase of 4 points compared to before.

Correspondingly, the film schedule of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" was silently reduced to about 42%.

Looking at the result, Liu Siying and Chen Zhixi felt that it was absurd even though their own film benefited.

Who has ever heard of theaters asking the boss of the film producer to evaluate the box office performance of the film?If you say that your film is going to be a hit, then people rush to improve the filming for you?

Is this really a joke?

What level of credibility is this?

But this thing really happened in reality. Not only did it happen, it was even spread out, but after it was spread out, no one believed it at all.

For example Zhou Xingchi.

"Why did the lineup of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" on Maoyan Movies drop? Didn't it still be 45% a few days ago? Why did it change to 42%? Where did the 3% go?"

"Where did it go? Added it to Huashang Media's new film "Monster Hunt"! Didn't you see that "Monster Hunt" has already increased to 49%?"

"Really! But why is that? Don't everyone on the Internet say that they are more optimistic about Master Xing's "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons"?"

"What's the use of being optimistic online? I heard that this time, Li Mu personally assured the eight theaters that "Monster Hunt" would be a hit at the box office, so the eight theaters joined forces to continue to improve "Monster Hunt" The lineup!"

"This news is true and false. People who believe it should have an IQ of no more than 18 years old. By boasting about your own films, you can improve your film schedule? Isn't this absurd?"

"How big is it going to be a hit? Is it possible to beat Xingye's "Journey to the West"? It is estimated that this market has an 10% chance of breaking the box office of 12 billion, a 4% chance of breaking the box office of 15 billion, and a 20% chance of breaking the box office of [-] billion." ! Watching "Monster Hunt" again, the big names are just a weekly newsletter. If it explodes again, where can it go? [-] billion? I really think that "Chinese business film" can be compared with "directed by Li Mu" number?

The spread of the news was so wide that even the leading actors of "Monster Hunt" couldn't sit still, and asked Chen Zhixi's producer whether it was true.Did Mr. Li really verbally say that he is very, very optimistic about the box office performance of "Monster Hunt"?Also, is it really because of this arrangement that the theaters improved the film?
"Producer Chen, Mr. Li really said that he is very, very optimistic about the box office of "Monster Hunt"?"

"Even if you say it, can you improve the film schedule with a casual sentence? It's too fake! I guess only Zhou Xingchi's fans will believe it and use it to blackmail our President Li."

"The key is that Mr. Li dares to believe those theaters! Could it be that the stakeholders just say a word and believe the theaters? Isn't this coaxing people like children?"

Although Zhou Xun didn't ask anything, her eyes had already betrayed her. It could be seen that she was also very interested in this topic.

However, Chen Zhixi said to everyone:
"Mr. Li is indeed very optimistic about our "Monster Hunt". To what extent is he so optimistic? We are so optimistic that Mr. Li thinks that the film's box office has a chance to exceed 20 billion."

"20?!"

There was an uproar at the scene.

Then Chen Zhixi continued: "Mr. Li even said that even if "Monster Hunt" can reach the top position in Chinese film history, he would not be surprised."

"Number one in Chinese movie history?"

The crew of "Monster Hunt" was in a state of disarray. Even Zhou Xun privately asked Chen Zhixi whether Li always said those words, and the answer she got was "It's absolutely true!".

……

Just as "Monster Hunt" was about to be released, several domestic video sites—Youku, Tencent Video, iQiyi Video, Leshi, etc. were eyeing the completed or completed movies in the hands of Huashang Media. The TV series that will soon be completed.

At present, Huashang Media has completed or is currently filming several TV dramas: "Obstetrician" starring Tong Liya, "A Thousand Bone Flowers" starring Zhao Liying, "The Legend of Chu Qiao" starring Bai Bing, and "The Legend of Chu Qiao" starring Song Yi. "Palace 2" and "The Legend of Zhen Huan" starring Sun Li and others.

This does not include the two online dramas "The Princess" and "Soul Ferry" that have been signed in advance. This time Huashang Media is producing so many TV dramas at the same time, it should be enough, right?
Liu Siying asked Li Mu whether to sell more TV dramas this time, or to keep going one by one.

Of course Li Mu tends to come one by one.

For one thing, scarcity is the most precious thing, and the copyrights of many TV dramas were sold at one time, which inevitably made him feel like he was attacking himself.

Secondly, although the current domestic TV drama copyrights are already sky-high prices in everyone's minds, Li Mu knows that the current sky-high prices are just appetizers. The later the transaction, the crazier the market, the better the TV drama copyrights can be sold at a good price.

In the future, a drama can even be sold for a sky-high price of 1500 million an episode. With nearly 90 episodes, a TV series can be sold for an income of over 13 billion, and the male and female protagonists can earn more than 1 million yuan.

Therefore, selling one by one slowly is the only way to maximize your own interests, and the better the product, the later it will be released.

So Li Mu directly sorted several TV series that are being sold by himself on the phone.

"The weakest ratings performance should be "Obstetrician", let's sell this one first."

""The Legend of Chu Qiao" should be better than "Obstetrician". I'm talking about the ratings, and the word of mouth should not be as good as "Obstetrician."

"The word-of-mouth box office of "A Thousand Bone Flowers" should be good."

"The word-of-mouth of "Gong 2" is probably not as good as "A Thousand Bone Flowers", but the ratings should be better than "Thousand Bone Flowers". 2"."

"As for "The Legend of Zhen Huan", let's put this drama at the end."

So Liu Siying took Li Mu's instructions to negotiate with interested TV stations and video websites. During the contact process, almost all the relevant personnel of the TV stations and video websites came to make indirect comments about the TV series being sold in Huashang. It is mainly to insinuate Li Mu's own views on related TV dramas.

It is recognized in the circle that Li Mu's vision is too accurate, and he is willing to tell the truth in many cases.

I remember when Hua Shang was selling "You Who Came from the Stars", although everyone who watched the film in advance said it was good, but no one knew exactly how good you are and how popular you are.

Then Li Mu stood up, and he vowed to announce that "My Love from the Star" would be very, very popular, and it was the most important project of Huashang Media at that time, so the unit price must be very high.

Everyone also looked at Li Mu's confident appearance, well, choose to believe him!

Who made this kid not miss even one time in so many years?

Since Li Mu is so optimistic about "You Who Came from the Stars", what else is there to say?grab it!
In the end, before "You Who Came from the Stars" was released, when no one was sure whether it would be popular or not, Star You sold a sky-high price of 720 million episodes, shocking the entire industry.

The magic of Huashang Media is that you can directly ask Li Mu what he thinks of the new drama, and Li Mu is generally quite accurate in what he says, and he doesn't just praise blindly because it is his own work.

Therefore, when the TV station and the video website came to negotiate this time, it was very natural to inquire about Li Mu's evaluation.

""Obstetrician" is certainly not as good as "You Who Came from the Stars."

"Our President Li still likes the drama "Obstetrician" very much, but according to him, "Obstetrician" should be the weakest of the company's five recent dramas."

"Of course, even if "Obstetrician" may be relatively weak, it is probably no problem to win the national championship at the same time."

After introducing Mr. Li Muli's evaluation of related TV series, the next thing is the competition between several TV stations and video websites.

Although Huashang Media has made it clear that the weakest of the several dramas they show first, even if it is the weakest, it is still compared with other dramas of the Huashang series.

But what if it is compared with non-Hua Shang dramas?

So grab it, you don't want it, some people want it!
As a result, the first round of single episodes of "Obstetrician" were sold to Dongfang and Beijing's two major TV stations, each with 140 million episodes, and the first round hit 280 million episodes.

The second round was sold to ten terrestrial and satellite TV stations for a total price of 120 million per episode.

The online copyright was finally won by Tencent Video, and the price of a single episode was 260 million.

As a result, the total price of an episode of "Obstetrician" is 660 million yuan per episode, which is only 60 yuan lower than the single episode of "My Love from the Star", which is popular all over Asia.

And when it comes to the total contract price, even "You Who Came from the Star" will be inferior, because its total number of episodes is only 22.

And how many episodes of "Obstetrician" are there?

42 episodes!
The total price is 2.77 million yuan.

Representatives of some TV stations and video sites who participated in the negotiation with Huashang Media for the first time, this time it was an eye-opener.

It turns out that the price can still be negotiated like this? !

Whether the TV series is good or not, I directly asked the boss of the producer, and the boss of the producer said it was good. As a result, several companies started the competition mode of grabbing the drama very tacitly?

What do TV drama producers say?
Also, Huashang Media clearly admitted that the drama they are selling may be the worst one among several?
Then major TV stations and several video sites across the country directly raised the price of a single episode to 660 million per episode?
so magical!
　If I didn’t write it today, I will make it up tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)