In Beijing, where most of the domestic entertainment industry has gathered together, the Great Wall Club is a rather special existence.
This club is one of the earliest private clubs in China, but it is basically not open to the public. It adopts an invitation membership system. Only those who are invited are eligible to become members, and most of the people they invite are for entertainment.
The media, the upper class in the literary and art circles, and celebrities.
For the prominent people in Beijing's entertainment circle, membership in the Great Wall Club is proof of identity, and the Great Wall Club is also an excellent place for them to socialize and socialize.
And the topics these people talk about are inseparable from the current film and television entertainment.
"49.2 million..."
In a private room of the Great Wall Hall, a group of people were drinking tea and chatting. Someone quickly mentioned the first episode of "The Swordsman" which was just released yesterday. Its first-day box office results inevitably aroused everyone's interest.
This group of people includes heads of film companies, managing directors of entertainment agencies, popular film and television stars, well-known freelance writers, and even executives in the IT industry.
Lu Shengda, the general manager of Marriott Pictures, was one of them. When he heard the other party talking about the first-day box office of "The Swordsman", he couldn't help but raise his thick eyebrows, and a hint of gloom flashed in his eyes.
As an insider and a high-ranking person, Lu Shengda certainly knew that "Swordsman" was officially released yesterday, but he didn't want to pay attention to this movie.
Because as a martial arts film, "The Swordsman" too easily reminded him of his major failure a few months ago.
Lu Shengda's "Youth Adventure" project was fully promoted. It was the first martial arts blockbuster in China. The production cost and publicity investment were nearly 300 million. The final box office barely exceeded 400 million. There was basically no hope of recouping the money, which made him in the industry.
A great loss of face.
Although relying on Marriott Cinemas, the loss of "The Young Man" is not much. Compared with the two later films of the same type, "The New Magnificent Seven" and "The Hustler", the situation is much better, but still
This poured cold water on the ambitious Lu Shengda.
The failure of this movie caused his authority in Marriott Pictures to drop a lot, and he has not fully recovered to this day. It is also a scar in his heart that cannot be touched.
However, no matter how reluctant Lu Shengda is, he can't stop others from discussing it. After all, when it comes to current movies, "The Swordsman" is definitely unavoidable. I don't know how many people in the industry are watching.
"Not even 50 million?"
The young man sitting next to Lu Shengda sneered: "It would be great if Chenfei Media can recover the cost. If I were Lu Chen, I would interrupt the filming of the next two parts, otherwise the more I film, the more I will lose!"
"
This young man is the CEO of a new media company. He and Lu Shengda are family friends. They have a deep cooperative relationship. He knows very well what Lu Shengda is thinking at this moment.
For a domestic film, the box office of nearly 50 million on the first day is considered very good, but "The Swordsman" invested hundreds of millions, spent tens of millions on publicity, and received calls from many superstars such as Lu Chen
It is not an exaggeration to say that such an achievement is a failure.
The first-day box office of "The Young Man" was over 100 million, but it subsequently declined like a cliff. "The Swordsman" is not even half as good as "The Young Man". It's really weird that it was successful!
Lu Shengda suddenly felt a lot more at ease. He thought what the other party said was very reasonable. They were all martial arts films. There was an example of "The Young Man". How could "The Swordsman" reverse the market?
The first-day box office of 49.2 million is the best proof!
Someone immediately echoed: "Yes, the opponent of "The Swordsman" is an action blockbuster from Superstar Pictures. I think Lu Chen is going to make a big mistake this time. I heard that he made a plan for the filming of the "Swordsman" trilogy.
The total budget is 500 million, and most of the funds come from Chenfei Media."
The people present here are basically insiders and well-informed people. They have a good understanding of the situation of "The Swordsman", so they can naturally speak fluently.
Lu Shengda sighed: "The martial arts genre is really not good. Even I was fooled. Now that I think about it, I was so impulsive. I thought I could create a new type of domestic film. How can innovation be so simple..."
He kind of exposed his own ugliness, but with the backing of "The Swordsman", he didn't have much pressure to laugh at himself, and he was even a little lucky that at least "The Young Man" didn't lose too much.
"Yeah yeah…"
Everyone nodded. Speaking of domestic films now, there are three main popular types: youth idol films, comedies and IP derivative films.
Martial arts films can also be classified as IP derivative films. Several of the films released are adapted from popular martial arts novels, but they are definitely new genres and are relatively risky.
The road to innovation is never easy. Even Hollywood will never try new types of themes easily, especially blockbusters with high investment.
For example, the just-released action blockbuster "Kingsman" is completely a product of Hollywood's entertainment assembly line. It is the most typical popcorn movie and easily beat "The Swordsman" at the box office.
"The Swordsman" was released on the National Day holiday when competition is relatively less fierce, so it was still unable to avoid the impact of Hollywood movies, and its failure was almost foreseeable.
"No one can succeed forever..."
The young CEO of New Media Company said: "It's time for Lu Chen's undefeated myth to be exposed. I just hope he doesn't lose too badly this time. After all, his talent is still outstanding."
Anyone can hear the gloating in his tone, and people who know the inside story know that this new media company once wanted to cooperate with Chenfei Media, but was rejected by the latter, so... everyone knows.
But he also expressed what many people were thinking, and some of them showed knowing smiles.
Yes, no one can succeed forever, and Lu Chen is no exception!
At this time, someone asked: "Speaking of which, has anyone here seen this movie?"
There was a sudden silence in the private room, and everyone looked at each other in shock.
There are many small circles in the entertainment industry. Their circles are different from the one Chenfei Media is in, so no one attended the premiere of "The Swordsman" and they didn't go to the cinema to watch it yesterday.
This was somewhat embarrassing, but someone quickly changed the topic and the atmosphere became lively again.
In fact, it doesn’t matter whether you watch it or not. Could this movie be a game-changer?
Lu Shengda didn’t believe it, and neither did everyone. ——