During my years at China Entertainment

Chapter 506: After fighting for half your life, can’t you enjoy yourself?

"Lost in Thailand" grossed nearly 4000 million on the first day, which is good, but it is hard to say how the film's final box office performance will be.

Because the daily revenue of "Gravity" and "Chinese Zodiac" are still very stable, and "The Grandmaster" is about to be released, "Lost in Thailand" does not have a clear advantage.

Many people in the circle were laughing at Wei Jin, saying that he was too arrogant at the beginning and might be slapped in the face this time.

However, unexpectedly, after the word-of-mouth of "Lost in Thailand" spread, it began to perform well the next day, with the single-day box office soaring to 5880 million, directly snatching the single-day championship title of "Chinese Zodiac".

In the first two days of the weekend, "Lost in Thailand" raked in more than 1 million yuan at the box office, demonstrating its strong dominance.

As a result, the single-day box office of both "Gravity" and "Chinese Zodiac" inevitably dropped.

In comparison, "Gravity" is still doing relatively well. After all, it has reached the end of its release period. Even if its single-day box office dropped to around 2500 million, the New Year's Day holiday is approaching, so breaking the record will be easy.

On the contrary, the original rapid growth momentum of "Chinese Zodiac" was interrupted, and it plummeted from a high of more than 3500 million to around million.

At this moment, everyone in the circle feels sorry for Huayi.

Originally, relying on the strong performance of "The Chinese Zodiac" over the past week, Huayi's stock has risen a lot. Although it still failed to make up for the damage caused by "One Hundred and Forty-Two", it has at least made up for a lot.

As "Gravity" was coming to an end, "Chinese Zodiac" was about to continue its success, but it was unexpectedly suppressed by a low-budget comedy.

Now, not only is the 10 billion target hopeless, but the stock price is also unlikely to rise.

At this time, China Film, Wanda and Shanhe Media simultaneously released a document, adding fuel to the Lunar New Year box office.

"Gravity has been approved by the General Administration and has received a 30-day extension key!"

Looking at the document with a red seal on the official website of China Film Group Corporation, companies in the industry wailed.

"Fuck, one month, this is going to last until the Spring Festival, are you crazy?"

"Hey, the General Administration's current consideration is that the strong will always be strong, and the winner takes all."

"This is unfair, so unfair. They already have 47.5% and they want to dominate the market. This is too much."

The cinema chain has no objection to this.

Because no matter what, it is a win-win situation. In fact, the ticket prices for 3D and IMAX theaters are higher, so theaters make more money.

As for the audience and movie fans, almost all of them are supportive.

Wei Jin ignored the hustle and bustle outside. He was currently attending a seminar organized by the General Administration.

Two hours later, Wei Jin, with a look of despair on his face, followed Han Sanping into the office.

"Boss Han, can you please not ask me to help you with this kind of thing in the future? It really affects my mood."

Han Sanping sat in the boss chair with a big horse and a golden sword, and glanced at Wei Jin.

"What do you think? You, the director, screenwriter and producer, didn't even show up. How could that be reasonable? Why didn't you complain when Director Tong was here just now? I saw that you shared your thoughts quite well on stage."

With nothing to say, Wei Jin could only vent his anger on Han Sanping. He walked straight to the tea cabinet next to the office, opened the top drawer, and began to search.

Wei Jin is not interested in Western drinks such as coffee and milk tea, but because he spends a lot of time with Zeng Li, he prefers drinking tea.

As the head of a state-owned enterprise, Han Sanping has a lot of fine tea in his office that cannot be bought outside, and he certainly would not miss the opportunity.

"Hey, kid, just make it fit, leave some for me."

Wei Jin didn't say anything for a long time. Old Han lowered his head to deal with some documents. When he looked up, he saw his robber-like behavior and couldn't help twitching his mouth.

"Boss Han, don't be so stingy. Good things should be shared. Try this cup of tea I made. Is it more fragrant than the one you usually drink?"

Han Sanping shook his head and smiled, then took the teacup handed to him by Wei Jin. He smelled the tea first, then took a sip. After savoring it carefully, he jokingly said, "Well, the tea brewed by the rich man is really good, haha."

Faced with Old Han's rare humor, Wei Jin was a little overwhelmed and could only shake his head and smile bitterly.

After Shanhe Cinemas went public, it was invincible, with an increase of more than 200% in the first week. Even with the limit on the increase and decrease in the second week, it still soared by more than 50%. The current market value has exceeded 500 billion.

During this period, all major financial media have been digging into Wei Jin's wealth, and his underwear was almost exposed, which goes against his usual style of not showing off his wealth.

Seeing that Wei Jin didn't respond, Han Sanping didn't want to talk more and changed the subject to other topics.

"By the way, you're going to North America in a few days, right?"

Wei Jin took a sip from his teacup and said, "Well, the Hollywood awards season has already begun. I have to go over there and show my face. Do you want to go with Mr. Han?"

"Forget it. I'm an old man, so I won't go. Let Vice President La go with you."

Hearing this name, Wei Jin remembered the middle-aged man he had met twice in Venice.

This person was originally the deputy general manager of China Film Import & Export Corporation, and later served as the deputy chairman of China Film Corporation. He was also in charge of overseas copyright matters and had some interactions with Shanhe Media.

As expected, this should be the person who took over from Han Sanping in the previous life. I wonder if Old Han can serve one more term in this life with my help.

"When do you plan to leave?"

"Go to the premiere of The Grandmaster"

At Cannes that year, the King of Sunglasses had a soft spot for Wei Jin, and it was difficult for him to refuse the invitation, but it would only take half a day, so there was no need to waste time.

In addition, Zeng Li was also invited by Zhang Ziyi to accompany Wei Jin.

But speaking of it, the King of Sunglasses is really popular in Europe. As a direct descendant of the Cannes Film Festival, he was actually invited by the Berlin Film Festival this year to serve as the chairman of the jury. "The Grandmaster" was also invited to be the opening film of this year's film festival, but it will not participate in the main competition unit.

Unfortunately, this year's Chinese-language films were in a miserable state, with only a few nominated and none shortlisted for the main competition unit.

Otherwise, Wei Jin would like to see whether the King of Sunglasses would do something fancy again, which would be really fun.

"Wei and Jin."

Han Sanping was drinking tea when he suddenly came up with an idea: "What do you think? Should we push the box office of Gravity up a bit?"

As soon as Wei Jin heard it, he knew that Han Sanping was still obsessed with the goal of 20 billion.

"Gravity" had a total box office of 2.37 million yuan in its fourth week, a drop of more than 50%, and the downward trend has already become apparent.

Even if the subsequent New Year's Day holiday and the one-month postponement are taken into account, the industry believes that the final box office of the film will probably be around 18 billion, because the market ultimately has a ceiling.

The box office reached 50 billion in later generations, but the economic environment and theater construction at that time had improved several times.

However, there are ways to push the box office of a movie that is recognized by the market to continue to rise. For example, the higher authorities can take the lead in organizing some government agencies and public institutions to watch the movie in the form of tasks, which will naturally increase the box office of the movie by a large margin.

"Forget it, Mr. Han."

Wei Jin smiled and shook his head: "It has already been postponed. It would be too embarrassing to rent out the theater again. Feng Dapao's "Earthquake" is still fresh in our memory. The film market is developing so well now. The box office will only get higher and higher in the future. There is no need to criticize it."

"Okay then, I'll just listen to you."

Although he felt a little regretful, Han Sanping finally nodded. After years of cooperation, he had enough confidence in Wei Jin.

That was the confidence brought by the Wei and Jin dynasties' repeated creation of miracles and breaking of records.

"Since the release of Big Shot, you've been resting for more than half a year, right? Apart from English-language films that are going to win awards, are you not considering Chinese-language films this year?"

"Yes, there is a romance film in the second half of the year."

When Han Sanping heard this, he knew that Wei Jin was going to praise a woman again, and he felt a little disappointed: "Why are you making a romance movie? You are still young, why don't you think more about your career?"

Wei Jin shook his head: "Boss Han, you are old, you don't understand the love affairs of young people. For me, I have to grasp both career and women with both hands, and both hands must be strong."

In the words of Emperor Liu, I have been fighting for half my life, so can't I enjoy myself?

Han Sanping: “0.0”

As the year was coming to an end, the company had a lot of things to do. After returning from China Film, Wei Jin called Chen Zhiming in, listened to a lot of work reports, and arranged a lot of things.

After all, before the big dollar is produced, he will most likely have to stay in North America for a long time.

But he didn't expect that when talking about the arrangements for the annual meeting, his two subsidiaries, Shanhe Technology and Shanhe Ink, actually gave him a big job.

"You're serious, is this really what they asked for?"

"Yes, there are several hundred people from both companies, and they all agree. They should have discussed it in advance. They hope to have a girl group perform at the company's annual meeting, haha."

Chen Zhiming held it in for a long time, but finally couldn't help laughing out loud.

"What about other departments? What are their requirements?"

"There are no specific requirements, but everyone hopes that the year-end bonus can be a little bigger."

"no problem."

Shanhe Media made a lot of money this year, so Wei Jin was naturally not stingy in this regard. He immediately waved his hand and said, "The year-end bonus will be calculated based on four months' salary. As for the lottery, increase it from 10 million to 20 million."

"What about the girl group?"

"Well did they say which girl group they wanted to join?"

Wei Jin thought about it and decided to satisfy the demands of these brothers who followed him to conquer the world. After all, what's wrong for a science and engineering geek to like girl groups?

"There is no consensus on this. There are many different opinions, such as Girls' Generation, f(x), KARA, T-ara from South Korea and AKB48 from Japan."

Wow, Wei Jin was stunned by what he heard. Sexy, charming, cute, two-dimensional, everything is available. Are they trying to catch them all in one fell swoop?

Don’t send a few of them away after the annual meeting, right?
"Mr. Wei?"

"Then pick one from Japan or Korea. Let the branch negotiate with Korea, and contact Toho for Japan. The price should be negotiable."

"Okay, I'll contact them right away. If the guys find out, they'll be so excited they won't be able to sleep for the next few days, haha."

The end of the world predicted by the Mayans was ultimately a hoax. The Earth, which had existed for billions of years, still welcomed the brand new year of 2013.

Every year’s New Year’s Day holiday is a big feast for the film market.

"Lost in Thailand" showed its strength as a dark horse, setting a new record on New Year's Day, raking in 6840 million in box office and occupying half of the market.

The movie grossed 2.25 million yuan in four days after its release, which was very impressive.

However, at this time, everyone's focus was not here, because the entertainment headlines of major portals were all about "Gravity".

"Gravity grossed 2860 million on New Year's Day. After 26 days of release, the cumulative box office revenue has reached 15.68 billion, breaking the domestic film record and topping the box office rankings!"

"A new movie box office record has been set, Gravity, 15.68 billion, and every day from now on will be a new record!"

"Director Wei Jin has once again broken the record for domestic films. Is the goal of $10 billion worldwide still far away?"

Although it was expected, the circle was still quite shocked.

There was no postponement, no theater booking, it was so clean and neat, it broke records during its release period with such unstoppable force, it was truly terrifying.

A large number of celebrities, artists, directors and producers in the circle sent their congratulations via Weibo, WeChat and phone calls. Even the mentor Tian Zhuangzhuang, who was filming "Outstanding Citizens" in Jilin Province, called.

In addition to congratulations, Tian Zhuangzhuang still advised Wei Jin to be low-key, calm and composed, and not to be blinded by the outside world's calls.

"Teacher, don't worry, I won't stop for this achievement."

Wei Jin's words were sincere and heartfelt. The current box office is just a drop in the bucket. If it makes 40 to 50 billion in a few years, he certainly won't be proud.

"Well, just keep it in mind. I'm calling you for something else."

"Teacher, please tell me."

“The school plans to hire some outstanding alumni to return to the school as guest lecturers and visiting professors.”

"Teacher, you must be joking. Didn't you reject The Martian? Didn't you support it at the time?"

"Back then I was a stay-at-home student, now I'm a guest student, it's different."

"So what do you mean, teacher?"

"Someone from the school will contact you later. My idea is that you are thirty years old this year. Although you are still a little young, it should be no problem for you to qualify as a visiting professor. With your current achievements, there will be no criticism.

Anyway, it's just a title. You just need to take some time out of the year to give a few classes. It will only benefit you, not harm you. The most important thing is that it will be much easier to do what you want to do with the support of the school."

Wei Jin had to admit that Tian Zhuangzhuang's suggestion was very reasonable.

It is not so easy to start a new film festival. It involves many aspects. With the support of the school, it can help solve some invisible obstacles. So he nodded and said:
"Teacher, I will think about it carefully."

(End of this chapter)