China Entertainment’s rescue plan is hard to come by

Chapter 731 Capital Entry and Future Strategy

After returning to Beijing, Sun Yi only took a day's shameless rest and then returned to work.

I have to recover, half a year has passed in a flash.

In their industry, on average the second half of the year until the end of the year is a very busy time.

First, Sun Yi convened the management staff of Starry Sky Image for a small meeting, which served as a mid-year summary and also to set the tone for the work in the second half of the year.

The first one is about the production funding of “The Return of the Great Sage”.

"Sister Lan, please approve another 2000 million for the animation workers. I think their funding is almost used up."

The day before yesterday, when inspecting "Sissi's Dream Garden", although Tian Xiaopeng did not mention the word funding at all, he talked about modifying the original design for the 11th time, optimizing the battle scene between the Monkey King and the final boss, and preparing to improve the 3D character modeling to a higher level than before.

All these are optimizations for the film. There is no mention of money at all, but every word is about money.

"Another 2000 million? Didn't we just approve 2000 million for them three months ago? And it's all gone already?"

Gao Xilan didn't understand.

How come a small animation studio spends money faster than it burns it?
It would be fine if it was a project from big boss Sun Yi.

Not to mention 2000 million, even if it was 2 million or 20 billion, she wouldn't say a word.

Of course, you need 20 billion in advance.

Sun Yi gritted his teeth. Even though he was prepared for the huge amount of money spent on animated films, he was still shocked by the speed at which the money was spent.

But there is no way, once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back.

Now that this matter has started, it is not his style to back down.

Except for special sports
Sun Yi frowned slightly, a wry smile appeared on his face, and he sighed:
"There's no other way. Making 3D animation is so expensive. If we don't want to give up all our efforts, we have to invest without hesitation. Besides, judging from what Old Tian is saying, another 2000 million probably won't be enough."

"In this case, let's give him in stages, 1000 million at a time. He doesn't have enough experience in making movies, and if we give him too much at once, he might get carried away."

Since Sun Yi said so, what else could Gao Xilan do?

Even if you are not very willing, you have to obey.

In fact, it’s not Gao Xilan’s fault for saying that.

After all, he is the financial manager of Starry Sky, and he has to strictly control every expenditure.

Although she came from a film and television company and is very familiar with the domestic film and television industry, she doesn't know much about animated films.

As for the reason, it is simple.

Never had any contact.
There is no such environment in China. It is considered good if two out of ten film and television companies can make animations.

At most, these two companies produce animated feature films, the kind that are broadcast on TV children's channels.

Animated films, but no one has made one in many years.

Gao Xilan nodded, wrote this down in her notebook, and then said:

"Boss Sun, I can approve the money, but you must not use it indiscriminately. The animation studio has just been established, and the personnel composition is relatively mixed. The financial affairs must be very chaotic. I will transfer a financial team from the head office to be responsible for approving all their expenditures."

The money was given, but the financial manager of Star Sky still made his voice heard.

"No problem, this is as it should be."

Sun Yi agreed with Gao Xilan's approach.

Although he never thinks the worst of others, he still needs to make necessary preparations.

Without rules, there will be no order.

"Mr. Sun, is our investment in the animated film a bit too much?"

Guo Ming tentatively expressed his views.

Sun Yi was silent for a while.

Most of the time, he is respectful of management's opinions.

Especially Guo Ming, who is rigorous and has a long-term vision. It is possible to keep up with his pace of thinking. Now that he has made suggestions, they must be well-targeted.

Sun Yi also wanted to listen.

"Tell me what you think."

Guo Ming was indeed well prepared. He took out a USB drive and plugged it into his laptop, then projected the screen.

It is a PPT, and its content is the market analysis of Chinese animated films.

"Mr. Sun, everyone, first of all, I support the company's development in animated films."

As soon as Guo Ming came up, he set the tone for himself, that is, Mr. Sun's decision was wise.

Absolute political correctness.

"As we all know, in a mature film market, such as Hollywood, the production rate of animated films in the overall market each year accounts for more than 30%."

"And the box office revenue is even higher, usually up to 40 percent, and in some years there are even blockbusters that account for more than 60 percent of the total market."

"From this perspective, animated films are indeed a sweet and delicious cake."

"However, there is a prerequisite, which is a mature commercial market like Hollywood. China is still in the process of development and improvement. Animation films have their potential volume, but I personally think that the pool is not very large. Films with too high costs will find it difficult to recoup their costs."

Having said that, Guo Ming glanced at Sun Yi.

The latter nodded slightly, indicating that he had no problem and continued.

Guo Ming spoke again: "I have researched several sets of data here."

"First of all, our country's animation films have been developing slowly since the millennium, when the film market was adjusted."

"In the first five years, there were no decent animated films. It wasn't until 5 that a film called "Wind and Cloud" was released, which broke the box office record of 2008 million for domestic animated films set by "The Lotus Lantern" in 3000 with a box office of 1999 million."

"Although it took nearly a decade of development to increase the box office of animated films by 600 million yuan, this is a sign that my country's animated films have overcome their long-term downturn and are beginning to recover.

"In 2009, this record was further expanded, with the movie Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf raising the box office record by 1 million yuan."

"According to common sense, animation films should have ushered in a new era, but in fact, all this is still an illusion."

"In the past three years, the number of animated films on the market has indeed increased compared to the past, but the box office has not made any progress. Apart from the lone film "Pleasant Goat and Sunshine", there is no other film in the '100 million yuan club'."

"Therefore, this shows that our TV market's acceptance of animated films is not yet mature, and the market is currently unable to take on high-grossing animated films."

"The reason is very simple. Most movie fans cannot tell the difference between animated films and cartoons. They think animated films are just cartoons, and they are for children to watch. If they can watch them for free on TV, there is no need to buy tickets to the cinema."

"And this concept, in my opinion, cannot be broken in a short period of time."

"Of course, the concept of fans needs to be actively cultivated by film companies like us, but what I want to express is that in the current period of cultivating fans' habit of watching animated films, we should still strictly control the film costs and cultivate it bit by bit."

After Guo Ming finished speaking, Sun Yi also understood.

To sum it up, "If you take too big a step, you're more likely to get hurt."

Sun Yi agrees with Guo Ming's point of view, but he also has his considerations.

"Everyone knows Marvel, right? Have you all seen their superhero movies?"

Several people didn't know why Sun Yi suddenly mentioned Marvel, but they nodded anyway.

“Marvel is planning to create a superhero universe, integrating all of its comic book heroes into it, and then organically combining them to form a large IP that can be continued indefinitely.”

“It seems to me to be an extremely clever way of making a film.”

“Not only is it highly interactive, but it also has its own continuity, which is much better than making a trilogy or a sequel to a movie. It will also greatly increase the anticipation of movie fans.”

"I noticed it when Marvel started doing this. Even then, I was wondering if China could also create such a movie universe."

"After this year, I found that even if we put aside the technical and financial issues, it is still difficult."

“It’s not because we don’t have the cultural system to do that.”

"On the contrary, our system has too many problems."

"Chinese culture has a long history. It not only has historical culture, but also myths and legends. From the perspective of mythology alone, the more well-known ones include the Journey to the West system, the Conferred God system, and the ancient primitive system. It can be said that these systems can provide almost unlimited material for the Chinese film universe."

"Unlimited materials sounds exciting, but it is really difficult to operate."

"The three major mythological systems are independent of each other, but they are also intertwined. It is basically impossible to perfectly balance the relationships between the various characters. If that were the case, it would be no less than recreating the Chinese mythological system."

"I don't know whether others can do it, but I think I definitely can't do it myself." In fact, there is another point that Sun Yi didn't say, because the movie "Avengers" has not been released yet, so he can't reveal too many details.

The point is that the Chinese mythology system lacks a core character and a main clue.

For example, in Marvel's "Avengers", the core character is Tony Stark, also known as "Iron Man", and all of its plots and branches are unfolded from "Iron Man".

And the main clue is the Infinity Stones in the universe.

These two aspects do exist in traditional Chinese mythology, but it is difficult to find one that can convince the audience.

"So, I'm going to settle for the second best and not pursue the so-called balance. I'm going to just pick one and test the waters."

“And I chose the Journey to the West system that everyone is familiar with.”

Sun Yi's words made everyone present look at each other in surprise.

They never expected that Sun Yi also had ambitions to create a Chinese film universe.

However, come to think of it, Sun Yi should have had this idea since he started preparing for the industrialization of the film industry three years ago and launched a project to shoot science fiction blockbusters, thereby introducing Hollywood's special effects technology.

It's all just preparation.

At this time, Yang Fan asked a question on behalf of everyone, a question that they were all concerned about.

"So what about 'The Return of the Great Sage'? Is it the beginning of this plan?"

Sun Yi nodded, "Yes, I do have this idea."

"Then why?"

“Why an animated film instead of a live-action one, right?”

Sun Yi raised the issue on behalf of Yang Fan.

The other people also nodded, obviously they all had the same question in their hearts.

"This is still related to domestic movie fans. Journey to the West is very familiar to everyone. It's like 'Sun Wukong', which is defined in everyone's mind. If this situation is put into a live-action movie, there will be a problem of rescue.

"It is very difficult to choose the actors. The image of the actors may not be acceptable to the audience for a while."

"In animated films, there is no such problem, and we can be bold in secondary creation."

"Of course, another reason is that we are burdened by history and people are not willing to accept new definitions."

"For example, if Sun Wukong is the core character in the Journey to the West system and you want to create a new movie universe, shouldn't you keep up with the times? You can't let him hang out in the Water Curtain Cave forever, right?"

"In the minds of movie fans, he should fight all kinds of monsters, so can we expand our thinking and let him fight aliens or mutants?"

"Obviously, he can't. At least the audience won't accept it at the moment, because in everyone's opinion, a parody is not nonsense, and an adaptation is not random fabrication."

“Again, we need to guide the audience little by little.”

"Then, animated movies are a good introduction."

"Of course, there are two other aspects, namely the film censorship system and cost investment."

"The censorship of live-action films by the Radio, Film and Television Administration is relatively strict, but for animated films, they won't say, 'You've implied this, expressed that.'"

"At the same time, the iron rule that spirits are not allowed to be created after the founding of the People's Republic of China does not apply to animated films. But it is absolutely not allowed in live-action films."

"As for the investment cost, as the name suggests, although the investment in animated films is very high, if you shoot a real-life special effects blockbuster like this, the cost will be at least doubled, and the investment cost will be even higher, not as good as an animated film."

Sun Yi's explanation shocked everyone, but at the same time, they were overwhelmed with emotion.

There is a feeling of being part of something great.

"Mr. Sun, after hearing what you said, I finally understand the significance of this animated film to our Starry Sky. I was superficial."

Guo Ming apologized to Sun Yi very solemnly.

Sun Yi waved his hand and replied with a smile:
"It's not your fault. I just figured it out. This is all for the development of the company. Besides, I also need your help to find and fill in the gaps."

There is another point that Sun Yi did not say directly, which is that he wants to change the chaotic situation in the Chinese film market.

This idea is quite fantastic. Relying on the power of one person and one company to change the entire market is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

But he really wanted to try it.

It is now the second half of 11. With the entry of various investors, signs of chaos in the Chinese film market, where bad films dominate, have begun to emerge.

In April, a movie called "Warring States" was released, which is a typical example of the flood of capital.

With a Douban score of 3.9, it can be said to be among the worst-rated movies on the website. People can't understand why this movie with such a luxurious cast can be so bad.

So much so that the male lead publicly apologized and said he would return his film salary.

The film cost 1.5 million yuan to produce, and its main actors include not only Sun Honglei and Wu Zhenyu, but also Kim Hee Sun, Jiang Wu, and Nakai Takaichi, among other stars from across Asia.

It is said that Sun Honglei received 1500 million yuan in film remuneration, and the others must have received as well.

You know, even though Sun Honglei has developed well in recent years and produced many excellent personal works, considering his current status and the market price of the whole topic, 800 million is the best he can get.

King Liu only received a salary of over 10 million yuan for his role in "Gravity".

Whether in terms of popularity or qualifications, Sun Honglei is still not up to par compared to King Liu.

Of course, making money is not shameful!

But you guys did a great job making the movie.

It's really full of flaws, from the script, the shots, the props, to the scenes, everything is shoddy.

Sun Bin, a great military god, was actually a retard who would cry and wail over a woman.

Yes, Da Tiantian is at the peak of her beauty and is indeed beautiful, but not to this extent.

The armor and weapons looked like toys that children buy in the park, and they all felt plastic.

I really don't know how they spend their money.

In the end, the movie grossed 7500 million at the box office, which was a huge loss compared to the cost.

Normally, this data would not cause any discussion, but because the quality of the movie was so poor, it became so popular that it became the most popular movie in the first half of the year.

Da Tiantian also became famous with "Warring States".

The term "resource guy" was born.

There is also a movie called "Guan Yunchang".

It was a co-production between Hong Kong and the Mainland, and the male lead, Zhen Zidan, received a salary of over 2000 million.

It is even more ruthless than "Warring States". It is said that the cost is 2.5 million yuan, and most of the investment comes from the mainland.

2.5 million, not much different from Sun Yi’s original “Pacific Rim”.

But looking at these two movies, are there any comparisons at all?

To be honest, Sun Yi even suspected that this movie involved some behind-the-scenes manipulation.

After all, this scene and this picture would cost no less than 2.5 million yuan.

What? A set of prop armor worn by an extra costs 1? Is it DIY?
It’s bad enough that the cost is incomprehensible, but the plot line and character settings are also collapsed.

I had never seen Guan Erye so short and with such a mustache. It was also the first time I saw someone break Guan Erye's Green Dragon Crescent Blade with one kick.

Kong Xiu, the extra who was killed by Erye with a single blow in the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms, fought with Guan Yu for 300 rounds in the movie. Not only did he break the Green Dragon Crescent Blade with his kick, he also almost strangled Erye to death, and was finally killed by the plot.

Damn, Kong Xiu is so awesome, why didn’t Cao Cao let him kill Yan Liang back then?

There is also a rumor that Guan Yu had an affair with Liu Bei's concubine. What does that mean?
The gangster seduced my sister-in-law?

Sun Yi was too lazy to complain.

It is said that the Hong Kong director still worshipped Guan Erye before starting filming.

It’s a good thing that the Second Master didn’t show up, otherwise he would have killed them.

All these are the beginning of the chaos in the Chinese film market, and capital is behind it all fueling the flames.

Sometimes, I just can’t understand why they don’t care about the quality of the movies and keep making bad movies one after another even if it means losing money?
Does money come from the wind?
Or, the money is dirty and needs to be washed.

(End of this chapter)