On January 20, 1981, "The Wrong Ride", which was released in Taiwan for nearly two months, is still showing in major theaters in Taiwan. There are indeed no good films in Taiwan this year, and one film was screened in Taiwan twenty or thirty years ago.
An American movie that has been screened twice can be screened for five months in Taiwan for the third time. How can a good movie like "The Wrong Ride" that is close to Taiwanese people's lives be screened for five or six months?
As for "The Royal Sisters", the attendance rate in Japan and Hong Kong has dropped to a certain level, and Golden Princess and Shochiku Pictures are gradually reducing the number of screenings. So far, "The Royal Sisters" has received more than 19.3 million box office in Hong Kong, and
The box office in Japan was an astonishing 1.4 billion yen (equivalent to about 45 million Hong Kong dollars).
The box office situation in Japan was reported back to Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong film industry was in a frenzy. The highest number of Cheng Long's movies in Japan was less than 1.2 billion yen.
The terrifying box office performance of "The Royal Sisters" in Japan once again attracted many Hong Kong filmmakers to join Oriental DreamWorks, or independent directors came to DreamWorks with their scripts to attract investment.
"Original Scenery of My Hometown" also sold well in the United States, reaching sales of 200,000 copies in just half a month. Compared with other popular records, this number is only trivial. The top few in the U.S. record sales list are all
The sales volume is millions of copies. But "Original Scenery of Hometown" is a pure music album, and the sales volume of 200,000 copies is already a very good result.
Kang Jianfei, who was selling a lot of records, was sitting at Tang Shuxuan's house, playing with a Tao Xun and wondering whether to laugh or cry.
This pottery xun was bought from an American musical instrument store, and it also came with a record of "Original Scenery of My Hometown" and a simple pottery xun playing teaching material.
Tang Shuxuan brought a cup of coffee to Kang Jianfei and said: "The review of "The Royal Sister" has passed, and the film rating is R (recommended for those aged 17 and above to watch)."
Kang Jianfei laughed and said: "Haha, luckily it's not level 17 (NC-17, no one under 17 years old is allowed to watch)."
Tang Shuxuan flipped through Tao Xun's simple textbook boredly and asked, "Did you write this booklet?"
Kang Jianfei shook his head and smiled bitterly and said: "It was made up by a Yankee. I asked how Columbia Records spared no effort to help me promote my record. It turned out that it also sold musical instruments and teaching materials. The Tao Xun in my hand is an American factory that used to specialize in the production of ocarinas.
It is produced. It is estimated that before the record was released, they had thoroughly studied the structure of the pottery xun, mass-produced it using the method of making ocarinas, and then compiled basic usage teaching materials to sell together with the record."
Tang Shuxuan said: "Tao Xun is our Chinese musical instrument. It would be great if Americans can promote it."
Kang Jianfei sighed: "I heard that Columbia Company has just reached an agreement with several conservatories in the United States to supply pottery and records for music research and teaching. They sell these pottery and teaching materials. I don't have a penny.
You can’t even get it, you can only get a share if the records are sold.”
Kang Jianfei is really depressed. If Columbia Records can promote Tao Xun musical instruments in the United States, then selling musical instruments will make more money than selling records. But Kang Jianfei has no way. Even if he builds a Tao Xun factory now,
There is no way to compete with Colombia for business. Their sales channels in the United States are their trump card.
"Ding dong, ding dong..." the doorbell rang.
Tang Shuxuan stood up and opened the door. But Jiang Zhiqiang came.
After Jiang Zhiqiang sat down, Kang Jianfei quickly asked: "Brother Jiang, how is the matter of setting up a temporary theater chain?"
"There are some difficulties," Jiang Zhiqiang analyzed. "Nowadays, the total cost of showing a movie in large movie theaters in the United States is about US$500. Cinemas in Chinese communities have very low operating and management costs.
It's about between 50 and 200 US dollars. Based on a movie ticket price of 2 US dollars, an average movie requires 70 viewers to recover the cost. But these cinemas are too small. The largest one only has about 500 seats, and the smallest one only has about 500 seats.
200 seats. After deducting various taxes and expenses, based on a 500-seat theater, even if the audience is full, we can earn a maximum box office of US$500."
"How did you negotiate the rent for the theater?" Kang Jianfei asked.
Theater rent affects whether the temporary theater chain makes a profit or loses money. Because of the $500 box office, even if Kang Jianfei only gets 30% of the production share, there will only be $350 left. And in order to set up the temporary theater chain, they still have to pay
Pay rent to these theaters. After paying the rent, what is left is the money earned by theater chains and theaters.
Jiang Zhiqiang said: "The monthly rent for two months ranges from 60,000 to 100,000 US dollars per theater. For a 500-seat theater, the daily rent is more than 1,600 US dollars, with an income of 350 US dollars per show, and there are 5 shows a day.
Exactly 1,750 US dollars, just able to earn 150 yuan."
"Then we have to lose money?" Kang Jianfei said with a bitter smile.
It is said that each theater can earn 150 yuan per day, but it is actually calculated based on the fact that the theaters are full, and the theaters are full for two months.
is it possible?
Obviously impossible.
"The only way to consider is to reduce costs and reduce the rent." Jiang Zhiqiang took out a small notebook and said, "I have repeatedly calculated that since we are a temporary operation, the cost of movie screening can be reduced by about 30%. Those in the Chinese community
The operating conditions of the theaters are also relatively poor. If we continue to negotiate, the rent should be reduced by ten thousand or twenty thousand. Calculated in this way, each theater can earn US$700 per day in the best case scenario, and it can earn US$300 in normal conditions.
Dollar."
Kang Jianfei took a look at the notebook in Jiang Zhiqiang's hand, and saw that various expenses were written on it, and he also used a red pen to indicate how to save expenses, etc. Looking at it, the semi-literate bitch Fei was confused.
, I couldn't help but sigh in my heart: Some things still have to be done by professionals. If he and Tang Shuxuan, two directors, were to run the theater chain, they would end up losing all their underwear.
Kang Jianfei asked: "How many cinemas have you contacted now?"
Jiang Zhiqiang said: "A total of 47 theaters were contacted, but after excluding some that were not conducive to establishing a theater chain or were bound to lose money, only 31 theaters were left."
With 31 theaters, assuming that each theater earns US$200 per day, the theater and theater chain revenue alone is 6,200 US dollars, which is a net profit of US$370,000 in two months.
Jiang Zhiqiang said: "Judging from the audience base of Chinese community theaters, I think it is best to maintain our temporary theater chain within a month. After one month, basically no one will watch the same movie. Two months of rent
It’s really a waste. In this way, the daily income will be greatly increased.”
"I only need 25% of the box office revenue." Kang Jianfei took the initiative to reduce his production share.
If a U.S. distribution company is asked to help distribute the film, the distribution company alone will have to take 30% of the box office. After factoring in the theater chain and cinema share and tax, the 17% it can get is considered a reasonable price.
Kang Jianfei has contacted some big companies in Hollywood in the past few days. Both 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. are willing to distribute "The Royal Sisters" as agents. But Kang Jianfei has no foundation at all in the American film industry. These grandsons are sure to eat Kang Jianfei, even the publicity fees
He has to pay for it. After deducting various expenses, he can get up to 10% of the box office.
Kang Jianfei didn't expect much box office revenue from the temporary theater chain he formed with Jiang Zhiqiang. He just wanted to use this to make "The Royal Sister" famous and let American distribution companies and theater companies take a look at the movie.
box office strength, and then negotiate with the other party based on this.
Kang Jianfei took the initiative to give up 5% of the box office share. Jiang Zhiqiang did not refuse, but said: "A Fei, I contacted Martin Theater Company and they are somewhat interested in your film."
"Is there a company called Martin Cinemas?" Kang Jianfei had never heard of it.
Jiang Zhiqiang said with a smile: "There are many movie theater chains in the United States. It's normal if you haven't heard of it. This Martin Theater Company is not an ordinary company. It has a total of 119 theaters and 233 canvases. Just in terms of the number of theaters.
, Martin Cinemas ranks seventh in the United States. However, most of its theaters are in small communities with less than 200,000 people, and their profits are very low, so they are generally not taken seriously."
Kang Jianfei did not know that Martin Theater Company at this time would be the predecessor of Carmichael Theater Company, the fourth largest theater chain company in the United States in the future.
Kang Jianfei asked: "What conditions are they willing to give?"
Jiang Zhiqiang said: "Fuqua Group, where Martin Cinemas is located, has its own film distribution company. If your movie is liked by them, then they are willing to give you 10% of the distribution fee. Roughly speaking, you can at least
It can share more than 25% of the box office revenue."
Kang Jianfei asked strangely: "This Martin Cinema Company and the Fuqua Group. Why are they giving me these discounts?"
Jiang Zhiqiang said with a smile: "Because their theaters are all in small communities, these communities don't have many choices if they want to watch movies. They can only go to theaters owned by Martin Cinemas, so they can save a lot of promotional expenses. Moreover, Martin
In order to survive and develop, theater chains have always adopted small profits but quick turnover. This is their corporate strategy."
When Kang Jianfei heard that there was such a good thing, he quickly asked: "Where is the headquarters of Martin Cinemas? I will go there with the film to find them right away."
Jiang Zhiqiang said: "In Georgia."
Kang Jianfei was thinking that with the temporary theater chain they set up to screen in Chinese communities, and the Martin Cinema chain screening in small communities, plus the quality of "The Royal Sister", they would be able to make a name for themselves. At that time, they would look for mainstream theaters.
If you talk about the second screening online, you should be able to take the opportunity to ask for more than 20% of the box office share.
Alas, it is really hard for small companies to distribute movies overseas. They have to worry about every little profit share. Some time ago, Kang Jianfei was dissatisfied with Lei Juekun, feeling that it took more than half a year for "Happy Ghost" to be sold in Japan.
After selling it, the talks collapsed several times. Only now did he realize Lei Juekun's difficulties. Overseas distribution is really not that easy.
——————
Lao Wang is not familiar with the American film industry, and he has no idea about the situation of the American film industry in the 1980s. The data in this chapter cannot be found online. Lao Wang is based on the current situation of various countries in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the United States.
This data is calculated based on the economic development of various countries in the past few decades. There are definitely discrepancies in the data, but it won’t be too outrageous. It’s about like that.
In this chapter, Lao Wang spent at least five hours searching for information... 8
