The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 595 Pan-Asian Plan

July 11, late.

Liang Jiahui took advantage of the night to visit the crew of "Partners".

"it is good."

"Pass!"

The temperature was low at night, and Lu Yuan finished his last scene of the day.

He took off his dizzy glasses, took the coat from Zheng Qian, put it on, and walked towards the surveillance camera.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar laugh coming from the front. I raised my eyes, looked carefully, and said in surprise: "Hey, Brother Jiahui, when did you come here?"

Immediately, he smiled and congratulated: "Cold War is selling well, congratulations."

In the past few years, there are only a few Hong Kong police and gangster films that have managed to achieve commercial and critical success, such as "Overheard" and "Go Go Squid!".

Although Hong Kong police and gangster movies have never faded from people's sight, they are becoming increasingly difficult to arouse the audience's attention.

But the release of the Hong Kong film "Cold War" on December 12 was an exception.

The box office in mainland China exceeded 1500 million yuan on the first day, and exceeded million yuan in five days, giving a shot in the arm to the bleak Hong Kong film industry.

The media are reporting that Hong Kong films will prosper again.

"Haha."

Liang Jiahui hugged him warmly, patted his back, and said with a smile: "I came here for a while, but I saw you were busy filming, so I didn't let anyone call you."

The two chatted for a while, and Lu Yuan asked: "Have you eaten it?"

"without!"

"Are you in a hurry? If not, there's a good restaurant nearby."

Seeing that Liang Jiahui did not refuse, Lu Yuan invited Chen Kexin: "Director Chen, would you like to join us?"

The Hong Kong circle is so small. Chen Kexin and Liang Jiahui have a good relationship. They collaborated on the movie "New Hard Times" in 1993. Chen Kexin particularly appreciates Liang Jiahui.

Chen Kexin rubbed his stomach and informed Zhang Chaoli.

"Who's driving?"

"I'll do it." Lu Yuan shook the key in his hand.

The three of them drove out of the East Courtyard and came to a Sichuan restaurant, where they ordered a few signature dishes.

"Come on, let's go."

The box was steaming hot and the three of them clinked glasses.

Lu Yuan took a sip and said to Liang Jiahui, "I watched Cold War in a Korean cinema when it was released. I was deeply impressed by the quarrel scene between you and Aaron Kwok."

2012年10月4日《寒战》作为釜山国际电影节的开幕影片全球首映，11月8日在中国大陆和香江同步上映。

"Really?" Liang Jiahui smiled.

"That was my first scene after joining the crew. I was transferred from the Tai Chi crew that day. I was not in good condition. Aaron Kwok also happened to have a toothache. Fortunately, the director had high requirements. We shot one scene at least 20 times, haha."

Chen Kexin asked, "I heard someone say that Lu Jianqing originally wanted Andy Lau to play the role in this film?"

With the release of "Cold War", new director Lu Jianqing also gained fame.

"Yes!" Liang Jiahui nodded.

"Andy Lau is particularly caring towards new directors, so Lu Jianqing sent him the script, thinking that as long as he starred in it, there would be no problem of no one investing.

But at that time, Andy was helping Ann Hui with the "A Simple Life" project and was too busy to spare time. He planned to invest in "Cold War" after finishing "A Simple Life", and was willing to personally serve as the producer and star.

It turned out that Andy was so busy filming "A Simple Life" that he forgot to give Luk Kin Ching a clear reply in time.

Lu Jianqing mistakenly thought that Andy Lau had no interest in Cold War, but was eventually snatched away by Anle boss Kong Chi Keung, who then found me and Aaron Kwok.

"Hiss, that's strong." Chen Kexin took a sip of wine with a grin.

"The release date of Cold War was well chosen this time, with few competitors. It took in 1500 million on the first day. If the trend continues, I estimate that the final box office will exceed million.

Together with "Infernal Affairs" and "Drug War", three police and gangster films have grossed over 100 million this year. Hong Kong media say that the situation of Hong Kong films is very good, but I am more pessimistic. The golden age of police and gangster films has finally become a thing of the past. "

Liang Jiahui agreed: "Yes, if police and gangster films do not seek change, it will be difficult to capture the audience as easily as before.

This is one of the reasons why Cold War abandoned the traditional police and gangster film formula and instead focused on office politics.”

Chen Kexin continued: "In fact, in my opinion, there is a gap in Hong Kong filmmakers, and the types of works are monotonous. The new generation of mainland Chinese films are emerging, and the marginalization of Hong Kong films is inevitable. No matter how hard they struggle, it will not help."

Liang Jiahui was silent, glanced at Lu Yuan, and said nothing.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit weird, Lu Yuan also glanced at Chen Kexin.

I sighed in my heart that Chen Kexin is indeed different from ordinary Hong Kong directors.

Strictly speaking, he can only be considered a "quasi-Hong Konger".

Although he was born in Hong Kong, he went to Thailand with his Thai Chinese father Chen Tongmin at the age of 8, went to the United States at the age of 18, and returned to Hong Kong at the age of 21.

From childhood to youth, he has been in a state of wandering and probably has no sense of belonging to Hong Kong.

When the Hong Kong market was not good, he went to Hollywood to make his living. When he couldn't make money in Hollywood, he came to the mainland to look for opportunities.

Rather than being a director, he is more like a businessman, which is something that Chen Kexin himself admits.

He changed the subject: "Director Chen, I heard you mention the Pan-Asian plan for 2000. Can you tell me more about it?"

"Of course." Chen Kexin put down his chopsticks.

"In 1991, I founded UFO Films in Hong Kong with others and produced "A Tale of Two Cities", "New Buddies" and "Comrades: Almost a Love Story"."

"But the good times didn't last long. Around 97, the Southeast Asian market that Hong Kong films relied on shrank drastically. The market share in Taiwan dropped from 40% to less than 1% in an instant. I realized that Hong Kong films were no longer strong, so I went to Hollywood."

"It ended in failure as expected."

“The mainland market was sluggish at the time, so I was thinking about how to capture Southeast Asian audiences again. So in 2000, I founded Applause Pictures and began to focus on pan-Asian films.

This was a new concept. At that time, Korean and Thai films were beginning to emerge, so I approached local directors from both countries to seek a new combination of Asian films.”

"There were some bumps in the road. We teamed up with a Korean film company to invest in "Spring Passes Away" and worked with Thailand to shoot "Jin Dan", but the response was mediocre until "Seeing the Ghost"."

Peter Chan paused for a moment and said, "I never thought I would make a ghost movie, but 'Seeing Ghosts' was a big hit in Hong Kong and even in Taiwan, breaking the box office record of Hong Kong films in Taiwan for many years, earning more than 46 million New Taiwan dollars and more than 80 million Thai baht in Thailand. Later, it also received good responses in Europe and the United States, and the copyright was bought by Hollywood."

“That’s when I realized that horror was one way to make a pan-Asian film.”

"Why didn't you continue?" Lu Yuan asked.

"Aren't Hong Kong filmmakers collectively heading north? Compared to the Southeast Asian market, the mainland has more prospects."

Chen Kexin said seriously: "But I think Pan-Asia will definitely be a major trend in the future."

"How do you mean?" Liang Jiahui also became interested.

Chen Kexin just admitted that after working hard for several years, the Pan-Asian project only succeeded in producing one movie, so how come it has become a major trend?

"Think about it." Chen Kexin explained: "When we make movies, the market is in chaos because of the revenue sharing issue. The producers are forced by the theaters to the point where they don't have enough room to survive. You can't blame the theaters, because the theaters will say that the cost is too high.

There are also reasons related to censorship. After the return of Hong Kong, horror films in Hong Kong also began to decline. In the past two years, Thailand has gradually taken over our previous horror film market and has gone further and further in horror films. However, streaming media can ignore all of the above. Domestic horror themes can be filmed in Southeast Asia. "

"Streaming media?" Lu Yuan put down his chopsticks, wondering what this person meant.

"Yes!" Chen Kexin's eyes flashed with excitement, and he said, "Netflix is ​​the medium. This year, the number of Netflix's paying users worldwide has reached 2500 million, and it will continue to conquer the world."

After talking for a long time, it turned out that it was Netflix's Lu Yuan who was muttering in his heart. Chen Kexin continued: "Take Korean dramas as an example. Korean dramas are popular in Asia. People in the East Asian cultural circle can watch Korean dramas, so why not watch Chinese dramas? In fact, the market for Korean dramas was won by Hong Kong films in the past. Why can't we take back the market for Korean dramas?"

“Streaming is the way forward!”

Lu Yuan blinked.

The profit-sharing dispute has been at a stalemate for some time.

The ultimatum from distributors such as China Film Group required theaters to sign before November 11, but none of the theaters signed on that day.

Because there was an event scheduled a few months ago from the 21st to the 23rd, hosted by Variety Daily and Beijing New Film Association Cinema Chain - the 2012 New Year's Day Cinema Film Viewing Seminar.

Most theaters hope that everyone can discuss it together after arriving in Beijing.

The five major companies also seemed to realize that the contract could not be signed on the 20th, and told theaters that the contract could be postponed to the 21st.

The time came to the evening of November 11st.

30 representatives from 61 cinema chains gathered at the "New Year's Eve" party.

All major participating film companies were invited to attend, including "The Grandmaster" and "New World", which were grandly introduced as the opening films of the conference.

Wu Lang attended the event on behalf of Yuanfang Media.

During the party, Song Dai, the boss of Silver Capital, the producer of "The Grandmaster", spoke in a friendly manner and expressed his full understanding of the cinema's position.

Such an attitude made the publishers present feel uneasy, and Han Sanping looked unhappy.

After Wu Lang came back, he repeated the relevant details to Lu Yuan.

Another incident that night really affected the course of events.

The release dates of Nineteen Forty-Two and The Feast of the Kings are approaching.

After discussions among several major cinema chains, Zhao Jun of Dadi Cinemas sent text messages to Wang Zhonglei and Qin Hong of Xingmei on behalf of the cinema chain.

Invite them to the party venue - Beijing Legend Cinema, to discuss the profit-sharing ratio with the theater representatives.

This is obviously a strategy of defeating the enemy one by one and dividing the alliance.

Moreover, similar operations have occurred more than once since the negotiations reached a stalemate.

Since the negotiations just broke down, you should have refused.

Qin Hong refused again without hesitation, but Wang Zhonglei hesitated. "1942" had a significant impact on Huayi's market value, so he chose to accept the appointment.

No one knows what happened that night.

However, the scene of Zhao Jun, Ye Ning and others sending Wang Zhonglei to the car was widely reported by the media.

There seem to be signs of the collapse of the "Avengers".

On November 11, the issuing company's counterattack came.

At the instruction of Han Sanping, China Film Digital released a rumor that 70% of cinema chains had signed agreements with it.

In fact, small and medium-sized cinema chains may have signed agreements with their own theaters of distribution companies such as China Film and Huayi, accounting for perhaps 70% of the total number.

But among the several cinema chains that have not signed contracts, Wanda has a market share of 17%, Shanghai United has 10%, China Film Southern Shinkansen has 8%, Dadi and Jinyi each have 7%.

Some of the theaters in these cinema chains have even signed individual contracts with China Digital.

Regardless of whether this move was a real threat or a deception, it actually aroused the fighting spirit of the theaters.

Throughout the day, theater representatives were nervously discussing the films released by the distributors and making suggestions on the marketing of the films, while secretly paying attention to which theaters the film producers had signed contracts with privately.

In addition, two other things happened that are worth mentioning.

The first thing is that the Film Finance Office released four new documents.

The document contains four new policies, providing funding for the upstream and downstream of the industry respectively.

即今年所有院线，将影院全年国产片票房达到票房总收入占比分为50%（含）以上、45%（含）-50%及不到45%三个档次，分别返还100%、80%和50%已上缴专项资金。

This coincides with the speculation of many industry insiders: at the critical moment, the Film Bureau will definitely step in to mediate.

But the theater chain didn't pay any attention at all. They just dragged their feet, thinking that imported films were just vegetarians.

The second thing is that the People's Daily published a film industry review titled "Who is the winner in the revenue-sharing war?"

The article explains the current situation from the perspective of the industry, taking the box office of "Cold War" as an example. The sentence at the end attracted great attention from the theaters: "Instead of staring at each other's revenue sharing ratio, it is better to think about how to win back the audience with better movies."

This sentence actually pointed the finger at the producers, and the article received high attention from theater representatives.

Zhao Jun even posted photos of everyone studying the People's Daily editorial on Weibo.

This caught Wang Zhonglei's attention.

He reposted this on Weibo and jokingly said: "It's a big deal, right?"

Zhao Jun was keenly aware that his opponent's confidence was wavering. He immediately seized the opportunity and said, "We would like to talk to you again."

Wang Zhonglei asked: "When?"

Zhao Jun replied: "24th."

On the afternoon of June 11th.

Cinema chains represented by Zhao Jun also began to fight back.

Representatives from several flagship cinema chains gave impassioned speeches at the conference.

First of all, we express dissatisfaction with China Film Group’s behavior of bypassing the theater chains and directly contacting cinemas.

Zhao Jun called on everyone to sign the "Cinema Declaration". Most cinema chain representatives supported it, and only a few cinema chains had concerns - some of them had already signed contracts with Zhongshu in advance.

Finally, under Zhao Jun's words, 27 cinema chains signed the "Cinema Chain Declaration" to express their stance, and even the representative of China Film Digital Cinema Chain signed it.

At the same time as the declaration was issued.

They announced to the media: Until a unanimous agreement is reached, the 27 cinema chains and their affiliated theaters will not accommodate any activities of "" and "The Banquet" from now on.

Wang Zhonglei and Qin Hong did not accept any interviews that day.

Han Sanping was betrayed, and the balance of victory began to tilt towards the theater chain.

On the evening of the 24th, Lu Yuan returned to the hotel after finishing filming.

I had just finished taking a shower and hadn’t had time to check the news of the day when I unexpectedly received a call from Wanda Cinemas Manager Ye Ning.

Ye Ning couldn't suppress a smile in his words: "Boss Lu, what are you busy with?"

"What else can I be busy with? I just finished work, so I'm just reading the script."

Ye Ning asked again: "I heard from Feng Xiaogang that you will attend the premiere of 1942 tomorrow."

Lu Yuan stood in front of the window, looking at the night, and said truthfully: "When I came back from Korea at the beginning of the month, I called Director Feng. Director Feng tried his best to invite me. I declined many times but to no avail, so I had to agree."

"Hahaha, come on, let me tell you a good news, we are going to win." Ye Ning's tone was firm.

"Won?" Lu Yuan was puzzled.

In the past few days, he has also been paying close attention to the issue of profit sharing, although the distributor is currently at a disadvantage.

But as long as Huayi and Xingmei, the two leading forces, don't lose their composure, wait, he asked, "Are you referring to Huayi or Xingmei?"

"You'll know when you return to Beijing tomorrow." Ye Ning kept it a secret.

(End of this chapter)