The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 501 Chaos
"Uh"

Lu Yuan explained the words.

"Uncle, it's not a ban. You were misled by the media. It's the theaters that are against it. Currently, both parties are still in the negotiation stage."

"Gambling?" Father Liu sat on the sofa with his knees propped up, looking disappointed. "I was so happy for nothing. I thought it was a ban. This way, Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate would be the top box office hit this year without any pressure."

You really have confidence in me.

Lu Yuan muttered to himself, but with a smile on his face, he swallowed the last bite of persimmon cake and took out a tissue to wipe his hands.

"The root cause is the issue of profit distribution. Zhang Weiping, the producer of Flowers of War, challenged the cinema chains, demanding a 5-yuan increase in ticket prices and a rise in the producer's share of profits from 43% to 45%. As expected, this was opposed by the eight major domestic cinema chains."

Father Liu was surprised: "Let's not talk about the ticket price for now. Increasing the share ratio is a good thing. All filmmakers should support it. The more money they make from making movies, the more motivated they are. There will also be more funds to make high-quality films. When Out of Time is released, you will get more money."

The latter sentence is the key point.

Lu Yuan blinked, feeling that the words sounded familiar. When he was sending Thai specialties to his hometown in the morning, his father had mentioned something similar on the phone.

Oh, this is my future father-in-law, half dad.

Father Liu stretched out his index finger to stroke his stubble, thought for a moment, shook his head, and said suddenly: "No, I thought wrongly. When it comes to interests, everyone has their own little thoughts. It's not that easy to get everyone to work together and think and work together."

"That's the truth."

Lu Yuan expressed his approval, but he was not optimistic about this game either.

In 1995, the box office sharing rules for domestic films were officially established starting with "Red Cherry".

From that moment on, the producers, distributors and theaters have been competing to increase their respective share of the profits.

Because of Zhang Yimou, Zhang Weiping challenged the theaters and succeeded several times.

In 2002, "Hero" created a box office myth for domestic films, and Zhang Weiping also gained the right to speak that previous producers did not have.

He demanded that the producer's share of the profits be increased to 40%, and in the following years, he continued to clash with theaters.

In 04, when "House of Flying Daggers" was released, the film company's share of the box office was increased to 41%. In 06, when "Curse of the Golden Flower" was released, the figure rose to 42%.

At the end of 2009, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television proposed that producers’ share of the profits should be no less than 43%.

The time goes to 2011.

Currently, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television stipulates that the cinema’s share of the first-run film screenings should not exceed 50% in principle.

So Zhang Weiping wanted to go a step further and attempted to increase the share of the producer's profits from 43% to 45%.

Then the theaters exploded.

Damn it, you troublemaker, I gave you face, right? But you keep asking for more!

After having a delicious lunch at the home of his future father-in-law and mother-in-law, Lu Yuan went downstairs carrying a box of persimmon cakes.

"Wow, you haven't even gotten married yet, but you've already started taking things from your father-in-law's house." Lu Jia joked.

Lu Yuan was too lazy to pay attention to her. He slapped her on the back of her head and threw down a few persimmon cakes. He saw his nephew lying on the ground, playing with a toy train with his butt sticking out, making some humming sounds.

He couldn't help it and lightly poked it with his toes.

"Paji~"

Then he was kicked out by the furious old woman.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, he received a call from Xu Ke, and the crew gathered to start the publicity tour.

Different from the "hunger marketing" strategy of "The Flowers of War", "Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate" adopts an integrated marketing approach.

The director, actors, producers, cinemas and partners all mobilized to promote the film through a variety of platforms including television, magazines, outdoor, and new media.

Bona also leverages social marketing.

Jet Li's One Foundation and Li Yuchun's Chinese Red Cross Corn Charity Fund.
It aims to establish a positive image of the film and gain the attention and favor of the media and the audience.

It can be said to be a tremendous momentum.

The first stop for the promotion is Peking University.

Lu Yuan met Xu Ke and Jet Li again.

Xu Ke was still the same as before, with a cigar in his mouth, messy hair, and unkempt appearance.

Jet Li seemed to be in poor spirits. He looked exhausted in a black jacket and sunglasses.

After the release of "White Snake" in late September, many fans said that he had lost the spirit of his youth, and the righteousness of Fahai was no longer in him. Especially the old age shown in his profile gave him the feeling of a hero in his twilight years.

"Crack, click, click."

The three of them stood side by side, and the photographer snapped pictures.

Some reporters began to ask Jet Li how he felt about the poor box office performance of "Legend of White Snake" and the comments from netizens that this was a movie that damaged his reputation.

"White Snake" was invested with 1.8 million yuan, but the final box office was only 2.14 million yuan, and Juli Group suffered heavy losses.

Li Lian looked calm and waved his hand, saying that acting was just a hobby for him now and it was fun, and that a movie cannot be judged solely by box office revenue, but also by disc revenue.

Barely fooled the reporters.

The three of them walked towards the Centennial Lecture Hall, which was the venue for today's meeting.

Xu Ke said as he walked: "The play "White Snake" is indeed..."

Jet Li then sighed and told the truth: "I was fooled by Baozhu. I was told that I would only be a guest star for ten days, which would be a special performance at most. But during the filming, my role exceeded a little, and then I realized that I was cast as the lead actor."

Cui Baozhu is the housekeeper of Zhengdong Company. When Jet Li's agent was shot, it was Cui Baozhu who helped him out of the predicament during the difficult times.

Later, the two of them partnered to establish Zhengdong Company and subsequently filmed many famous works, such as "Fist of Fury", "Fang Shiyu", "Zhang Sanfeng", etc.

He can be considered as Jet Li's benefactor.

Lu Yuan listened silently. The guest appearance was fake, but the real purpose was to repay the favor. After working in the industry for decades, how could he be tricked?

After chatting for a while, the topic turned to him. Jet Li patted his shoulder and said self-deprecatingly: "The box office of this movie will depend on you. I'm old."

"Brother Jie, please don't say that. If it gets out, I won't be able to stay in this industry anymore." Lu Yuan waved his hands quickly.

In recent years, the appeal of many older generation superstars has begun to decline year by year.

This is the decline of genre films, the choice of the market and the times, and is also affected by many factors such as their own physical decline. However, without the predecessors planting trees, there will be no future generations to enjoy the shade.

"You haven't watched the finished film yet, right?" Jet Li paused and asked.

"No, I just came back from Thailand."

"You'll know after the film is released." Jet Li smiled.

He has seen the final cut of the movie. The character of Yu Huatian, played by Lu Yuan, is extremely charming. He can move freely between masculinity and femininity, and it is quite difficult for him to suppress the other person.

The three of them stepped into the Centennial Lecture Hall.

This time when he came to Peking University, Xu Ke's slogan was that martial arts was declining, and he hoped to sow the seeds of martial arts among the younger generation, waiting for their rebirth.

Therefore, at the beginning of the event, a lot of things were said about martial arts, reviewing the history of martial arts and discussing how to regain the lost ground of martial arts.

However, the students below were drowsy from listening, and only the reporters pricked up their ears, clapping and taking notes from time to time.

Lu Yuan saw clearly that martial arts might really be gone in the short term. Maybe it would have to change to a different form and combine other elements.

"The movie is like Inception. Everyone has a martial arts dream in their heart. I am just like everyone else, with many dreams."

"In fact, there are many types of martial arts, such as real kung fu and fantasy. We often emphasize its sense of space and three-dimensionality, and 3D movies can show these very well."

"."

Entering the free question session, the reporter first looked at Xu Ke: "Director Xu, Dragon Gate and Flowers of War are currently competing head-on. What do you think about this?"

Xu Ke narrowed his eyes and said calmly, "The competition between Flying Swords of Dragon Gate and Flowers of War is like the competition between Avatar and Schindler's List. I hope both movies can win, with the box office starting at 6 million, and preferably 10 billion."

The reporter looked at Lu Yuan with ill intent.

Lu Yuan had a plan in mind and said calmly: "Director Zhang Yimou is like the Chinese Spielberg, and Director Xu Ke is like the Chinese James Cameron. The former is a master, and the latter is a martial arts genius.

The two films belong to different genres, and the word "tit-for-tat" is too exaggerated. In my opinion, the simultaneous release of the two films will give the audience more choices, and the audience can watch what they want. "

The Sina reporter rolled his eyes silently and said, damn it, I shouldn’t have asked this question. It’s such a waste of time.

But who can blame him for being so popular? There's nothing we can do about it. He's a big shot and we have to coax him.

He then asked, "Director Xu, why did you choose Lu Yuan for the role of Yuhuatian?"

Xu Ke recalled: "I happened to notice Lu Yuan's look during the filming of Love Is Not Blind at that time. I liked him right away and thought he was the best candidate to play Yu Huatian."

"Then how would you rate Lu Yuan's role as Yu Huatian?"

"I don't give a score." Xu Ke smiled mysteriously. When everyone was confused, he pointed at Lu Yuan and said, "In my opinion, Yu Huatian played by Lu Yuan will become a screen classic like Dongfang Bubai played by Lin Qingxia."

"Wow!" The scene was boiling, this evaluation was very high.

In Xu Ke's version of "Swordsman", Dongfang Bubai's brilliance overshadows all other characters.

The sight of Brigitte Lin in a red dress drinking proudly in the water not only created a new peak in her personal acting career, but also made her a favorite in the hearts of countless fans.

So Lu Yuan’s role this time is so great?
Many reporters have already thought about how to write the headlines when they return.

"Crack, click, click."

Lu Yuan was speechless. He held the microphone in front of him and begged for mercy: "Director Xu, we can understand that we are a little exaggerated for publicity, but you can't put me on the fire."

"I like to tell the truth." Xu Ke grinned.

He and Yu Dong have discussed four highlights of this play.

The first is the reputation he accumulated in his early years through a series of classic martial arts dramas and the gimmick of this 3D movie-watching; the second is the Kung Fu Emperor's martial arts scenes; the third is the mainland's new generation No. Lu Yuan; and the fourth is Zhou Xun and Li Yuchun.

The focus of the promotion of "Dragon Gate" will revolve around these four points.

Lu Yuan glanced at Jet Li and said, "If Brother Xun was at the scene and heard this, he would probably jump up and slap your knees. The role of Ling Yanqiu she played was no less impressive, not to mention Brother Jie."

Xu Ke and Li Lianjie laughed out loud.

After the laughter, the reporter asked Jet Li: "Brother Jie, you have worked in Hollywood before, what do you think of the recent proposal of "The Flowers of War" to increase the box office share?"

The three of them frowned at the same time, but it was inevitable that the interview would involve "The Flowers of War".

But who can blame the two films for being released in the same schedule? Yu Dong and Zhang Weiping have been harboring grudges for a long time.

Jet Li glanced upward and said, "The situation in China is different from that in foreign countries. In Hollywood, the revenue sharing ratio between producers and theaters is not as fixed as in China. Different film companies have different degrees of voice, and the specific agreements reached with theaters are also different.

Generally speaking, film companies and theaters adopt a tiered profit-sharing model, with the profit-sharing ratios between the film companies and theaters being different in the first, second, and third weeks of a blockbuster's release.

The film producers often receive a larger share of the revenue in the first week of a film’s release. The share of some blockbuster films is often as high as 80%, in order to ensure that they can recover their costs.

In North America, for blockbuster films with relatively high box office, the revenue earned by the film producers is often higher than that of the theaters. For films with poor box office performance, the revenue of the theaters will be given priority and a larger share of the revenue will be tilted towards them.

In general, the film studios get about 40-55% of the domestic box office of an American film, which is indeed higher than the 40-43% in China. "

He paused and added: "But national conditions and markets are different, so we can't generalize."

The reporter curled his lips, thinking that he didn't want to offend either side, and it was the same whether he said anything or not.

Why are all the leading actors in this drama the same?

At this moment, Xu Ke said in vain: "Dragon Gate Flying Daggers" promises that we will never raise prices, nor will we make any demands for increasing the share of the cinema chain."

"boom!"

"Crack, click, click."

The scene was boiling again and the reporters became agitated.

Lu Yuan frowned, Xu Ke was not very nice.

No matter how arrogant and domineering Zhang Weiping was, at least he made a great contribution to increasing the share of profits for producers. Some of his actions did break some unreasonable industry structures and he did what many filmmakers dream of.

Even though he may not have considered others at the time and only cared about his own interests.

Xu Ke's words were undoubtedly a betrayal. Zhang Weiping was fighting hard with the theaters under pressure, but someone stabbed him in the back from behind.

Of course, considering the feud between Yu Dong and Zhang Weiping, it is not difficult to understand that Bona is the producer of "Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate" and has its own cinema.

But no matter what, the words have been spoken, and today's public opinion is expected to explode.

"Xu Ke said that Lu Yuan's Yu Hua Tian is comparable to Lin Qingxia's Dongfang Bubai."

"Xu Ke said that the ticket price for Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate will not increase, and he did not mention the share of the theaters."

"Zhang Weiping said he felt betrayed, and that his colleagues' behavior of taking advantage of his misfortune made him feel chilled. He was fighting for the interests of the producers at the front, risking being killed, and he didn't expect anyone to help him, but there were despicable people behind him who took advantage of the situation."

"Zhang Weiping said that he would not provide copies of The Flowers of War to cinemas under Bona Film Group."

"."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a grand scene."

Ning Hao smacked his lips, looked at the news on his phone, and sighed: "Public opinion is in a mess right now. These two movies have turned the Lunar New Year season upside down."

Sitting opposite him was a long-faced man wearing black-framed glasses. Upon hearing this, he said depressedly, "I say, can you please focus a little? It has nothing to do with you even if they beat you to pieces. Your No Man's Land is still closed."

Ning Hao: "."

The long-faced man continued, "How about my script? You were the one who suggested it to me. Now that I have finished writing it, please give me your opinion."

Ning Hao rolled his eyes, put his phone down, stared at the script in front of him, and said irritably: "I've read it more than ten times, how can I give you advice?"

"So what's the next step?"

"What's the next step?" Ning Hao pretended to be confused.

"You and me." He was angry.

"Alright, alright." Ning Hao stopped teasing him and said, "The next step is to get investment."

"You want to introduce Galloping Pony to me?" Cheng Er stretched his neck and moved his upper body closer.

Ning Hao stepped back, shook his head, and shook his phone.

"Find him!"

(End of this chapter)