During my years at China Entertainment

Chapter 524: The Terror of the Fan Film

The General Administration truly adheres to the principle that the strong will always be stronger, and the application for postponement of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" was approved as expected.

"The movie Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons has been extended to the end of March, and its release date has been extended by 3 days!"

When the news came out, people in the industry were not surprised. After all, "Journey to the West" was performing so well that it would be a shame to not postpone the release date for the more than one billion box office.

On the other hand, the movies that are about to be released in March are a bit uncomfortable, and they all look as if they are facing a great enemy.

After all, the schedule was not very popular to begin with, and the market potential is limited. If one more company comes to grab the market, the pressure will be too great.

Therefore, many movies have begun intensive promotion.

"The Left Ear", produced by Shanhe Media, will be released in a few days.

Even though they have been promoting the film since late February and are already very tired, everyone from director Lin Yufen to every actor are working very hard and don't want to stop.

For Lin Yufen, this is her first movie since she transitioned from the television industry, and it is also an adaptation of a best-selling book. If the results are not good, she may never have the opportunity to direct a movie again.

For Jiang Shuying, film works are her biggest weakness. Otherwise, with the huge popularity of "Run", she should have been selected as one of the four young actresses this time.

For Ma Sichun, it was also her first step into the film industry. Although she was not the leading actress, it was also her starting point.

Others such as Li Xian, Zhu Yilong and others are also looking forward to entering the big screen through this drama.

Especially for Li Xian, this is the first time that he has played the leading male role in a movie since joining the company.

Although the company has abundant resources, there are also many male actors of the same age competing with him, so he must seize every opportunity!
The hastily-produced "The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel" will be released at the end of the month and has already started preheating, hyping up the gimmick of the three best-selling emperors.

Of course, the most core propaganda force is still Huang Bai.

There is no way. At this stage, in the entire film and television industry, there is no male actor more successful than Huang Bai.

There are only seven Chinese-language films with a box office of over 7 billion yuan, and he has starred in two of them. It is rare for him to have both awards and the ability to carry the box office.

Even for the final exam of the Beijing Film Academy, Huang Bo was called back to the stage temporarily. The atmosphere was very hot, and nine out of ten art exam candidates asked for photos and autographs.

From this, we can see how popular Huang Bo is, and the producers will certainly not miss it.

The promotion of "The Witch", which is also scheduled to be released at the end of the month, has also begun.

Liu Shishi, who just won the title of one of the Four Little Flowers, also cooperated with the announcement of Golden Harvest and promoted her first movie "The Witch" as the female lead on Weibo.

Although she has not yet proven herself in commercial films, Liu Shishi has accumulated a lot of fans over the years. Her appeal is still as strong as ever, and there is a lot of expectation under her Weibo posts.

Other domestic films such as "The Kung Fu Comedy" directed by Wang Pangzi and starring Wang Zulan and Sandra Ng; "God of Love" starring Zhong Hanliang, have also entered the final promotion stage.

Back in North America, with Liu Yan sleeping with him, Wei Jin felt quite relaxed and the filming went very smoothly these days.

There are many location shoots for "Nomadland", and the third very important location shoot is currently underway. Wei Jin expects it to be completed in a few days.

The remaining exterior scenes are relatively scattered, so Wei Jin doesn't need to worry too much. Even some small landscape scenes can be directly arranged for the assistant director to shoot. He only needs to control the quality at the last minute.

After a day's filming, Wei Jin and Liu Yan had just returned to the hotel to take a bath to relieve their fatigue when they received a call from Hunter.

While enjoying the gentle service of his assistant, Wei Jin listened to Hunter's work report.

James Wan was very efficient and completed the filming of Annabell in just one month.

This drama continues the signature style of "The Conjuring" and there will be no problem in making a lot of money, but it may not achieve the same good reputation as the former.

Afterwards, Hunter reported on other work.

Since last year, Summit Entertainment has been seeking external investment, and that’s how “Silver Linings Playbook” came about.

Although the box office performance of this movie was not very good, it produced the youngest Oscar-winning actress, the copyright price is good, and the subsequent profits will not be small.

Therefore, Hunter, who was not very active before, will now take the initiative to seek projects.

After hearing several project names in a row, one finally caught Wei Jin's eye.

"Boss, do you really want to invest in this "Dallas Buyers Club"? "

"What's wrong? Is there something I don't know about?"

"Well, the filming of this drama just started last month. After the investors hired a professional consulting company to analyze the film, they felt that it was not going to be a good success and directly withdrew their investment. Now the producers are desperately trying all possible methods, including the six major and independent film companies. They have almost run around everywhere."

Hunter tactfully expressed that he was not optimistic.

"Hunter, what is the approximate funding gap?"

Wei Jin felt the warmth from his assistant and asked casually.

"Five million dollars."

"Then invest. You can't lose money with this little cost."

As if infected by Wei Jin's confident voice, Hunter did not continue to persuade him, but nodded and said, "Okay, boss, I'll contact them right away."

After hanging up the phone, Wei Jin was in a good mood. This movie not only made no loss, but it also made at least two or three times the profit with a cost of five million US dollars. Wouldn't that pay back the public relations expenses for the Oscars?
Thinking of this, Wei Jin felt that it was necessary to celebrate, and immediately reached out and patted the assistant who was working hard beneath him.

"Little White Tiger, are you hungry?"

Liu Yan slowly let go of Wei Jin, and then used her innate magic weapon to wrap the man up, with a hint of seduction on her face: "Boss, what do you think?"

Even though he had been eating meat these days, how could he have too much of this stuff? Without waiting for Wei Jin's instructions, Liu Yan got up from the water and sat on the card table.

Suddenly, the sound of applause filled the hotel bathroom.
In just 20 days, "Seattle" broke the record of "Love Is Not Blind" and grossed 33 million.

With two consecutive hit commercial films, Xue Xiaolu has firmly secured his position as a 5 million yuan director.

As she is a full-time professor at Beijing Film Academy, the school's official website also made a great effort to put her resume on the top of the homepage again, and vigorously promote and praise her.

After all, they are the face of the school's teaching staff, and they have once again proved one thing to the industry - it is no exaggeration to say that Beijing Film Academy produces directors.

Especially as it coincided with the final exam of the art examination, this piece of news surpassed other art schools such as the Central Academy of Drama and the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and attracted a lot of attention and topics for the Beijing Film Academy.

Yang Mi is also very proud these days. Although "Seattle" did not get the extension key, according to the current trend of the film, it is not a problem to break 6 million. Although the chance of breaking the box office record of "6 Again" and "Girl in the Bottom" is not great, being listed as a million heroine with Jing Tian and Liu Yifei, isn't this a kind of progress?

As for comparing box office with Zeng Li, Yang Mi is still very clear-headed. A science fiction script like "Gravity" with a female lead, and a blockbuster released worldwide, is a once-in-a-millennium opportunity.

Zeng Li’s current status in China can no longer be described as a big star; she is in a unique league.

Yang Mi felt that there was no need to make things difficult for himself as everyone was not on the same track.

On Women's Day, several domestic films were released at the same time, but the one that attracted the most attention in the circle was undoubtedly "Left Ear" produced by Shanhe Media.

Although this is a transitional work of a TV drama director, the original author, Rao Xueman, is a master of youth pain literature and has many fans.

The original novel was published in 06 and still has many loyal readers and fans.

Everyone in the industry knows the charm of fan movies, and theater chains are also aware of it, so they give it a high screening schedule, averaging 22%.

This is already very impressive for a small or medium-budget movie.

However, the performance of the movie did not disappoint the theater chain. It grossed 3640 million on the first day, directly crushing "The Kung Fu Panda" and "Eros" which were released on the same day.

The former closed at 900 million, and the latter was less than 400 million, not even as good as the taillights of "The Left Ear".

Perhaps the early audience were all fans of the original novel. On the day of its release, "Left Ear" received surprisingly good word of mouth online, with its Impression.com score remaining at around 7 points.

But as a director, Lin Yufen clearly remembered Wei Jin's original evaluation and knew that it was just an illusion. As the audience group expanded, word of mouth would inevitably be affected.

So he immediately took the crew members on a crazy roadshow, visiting four or five theaters almost every day, vowing to get higher box office in the early stage of the film's release.

The main creators had no complaints about this, and they didn't even need Lin Yufen to encourage them. They were all ready to go, waiting to become a hit.

Wei Jin, who is in North America, did not pay too much attention to the performance of "Left Ear". In any case, it is certain that this movie will make money.

After finishing the filming, he took some time to call Liu Shishi, because today was the little girl's birthday.

As expected, Liu Shishi was very happy when she received Wei Jin's call. They talked a lot about his recent work and life on the phone.

But in the end, Liu Shishi talked to Wei Jin about the recent troubles of the sugar man.

The lawsuit between Tangren and Lin Gengxin has been decided. The result of the first trial was somewhat unexpected. As a well-known local film and television company in Shanghai, Tangren actually lost the case.

According to Lin Gengxin's request, Tangren must pay him 150 million yuan in film remuneration that has been owed for several years and confirm that the contract between the two parties has ended.

Once the judgment comes into effect, it will be tantamount to a slap in the face of the sugar man. Ms. Cai certainly won't accept it and immediately applied for an appeal.

However, the result of the first instance showed that Tangren was at an absolute disadvantage in this brokerage contract dispute. It is estimated that the court's further judgment would hardly change the fact that the two parties had terminated the contract. At most, it would depend on whether some liquidated damages could be collected.

"So Mr. Cai is in a bad mood and gave you a cold look?"

"No, it's just that I went to the theatre to recruit people these days, and it seems that things are not going well. I complained about it in private."

Wei Jin nodded. Miss Cai had not lost her mind at least. However, for a woman in her forties, the menopausal problems might be more serious.

"Shishi, don't worry about the sugar man. Take a rest for a few days. The promotion of "Witch" will start in a week, and you will be busy then."

"Well, brother, I know, but can you come back to attend the premiere?"

Hearing the longing in the little girl's soft voice, Wei Jin felt warm in his heart, but after a pause he shook his head and refused.

"Shishi, my filming here is not over yet, and there are still many things to do later, so I may not be able to make it back."

It’s not that Wei Jin is stingy and doesn’t want to spare even a day or two, but Da Meiyuan’s due date is at the end of March or the beginning of April, and he really doesn’t have time to spare.

"That's it"

Wei Jin could feel the little girl's disappointment even through the phone, but she was very sensible and quickly adjusted her mood, saying softly, "It's okay, brother. Your business is more important."

"Shishi, I promise you, when I finish what I have to do, I will take some time to spend time with you, okay?"

"Okay, let's make a deal, liars are puppies."

Wei Jin thought of the past in the West Hill Villa, and said jokingly: "Shishi, I'm afraid that I will become a puppy, and some people can't stand it."

Liu Shishi obviously also remembered the tenderness between the man's lips and teeth. Her delicate body, which had been empty for more than two months, instantly became warm. Her legs unconsciously came together, and a blush appeared on her pretty face:
"Hate."

As we head into the weekend, the horror of fan films is evident.

On the second day of the release of "Left Ear", the box office soared to 4860 million.
On the third day, it set a new high, closing at 5180 million.

In the first three days of the weekend, "Left Ear" directly ripped off 1.37 million yuan from domestic blockbusters such as "Journey to the West" and "Seattle", as well as imported films such as "The Hobbit", which is simply amazing!

Even including the publicity and promotion costs, the total investment of "Left Ear" would not exceed 4000 million. After this weekend, not only did it recover the costs directly, but it also made a profit, which really made companies in the industry envious.

However, as everyone had worried before, March itself is not a popular period. If one family is well fed, the rest of the people will inevitably go hungry.

Because of the different tracks, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" was not particularly affected. The single-day box office dropped from around 12.33 million to or million, and the current box office has reached billion.

Taking into account the postponement, "Journey to the West" still has more than 20 days of release time, and it is almost certain that the box office will exceed 13 billion.

As for whether it can catch up with the 13.87 billion of "Thieves Alliance", the industry generally believes that it is very unlikely.

The movie that was most affected was "Seattle", which saw its daily box office cut from 5.72 million to or million. The current box office has reached million.

With less than a week left before Seattle closes its theaters, it remains to be seen whether it can break 6 million.

At this moment, Yang Mi began to get anxious and sent out three Weibo posts a day, calling on his fans to go to the cinema to show their support.

After all, 6 million and 5 million are really different concepts.

It’s true that although Yang Mi is extremely ambitious, he is really good to his fans.

Not only does he frequently interact with fans on Weibo, he also holds fan raffles during festivals and holidays, and the feedback he gives each time is quite generous.

There are actually quite a few movie fans who hope that she can take the position of the 6 million-dollar heroine. They responded to the call and started to book out the movie theaters.

For a while, it helped Seattle, which had been on the verge of collapse, to recover, and also made the final result even more confusing.
(End of this chapter)