Chapter 594 A contest involving half of the entertainment industry!
Wang Zhongjun now feels more and more that things have not gone well in the past two years. Although "If You Are the One 2" was a flop the year before last, it still made hundreds of millions at the box office alone.
In addition, "Tangshan Earthquake" dominated the summer schedule that year, completely suppressing "Painted Skin 2", and Huayi still maintains its undoubted position as the leader in the film and television industry.
But from then on, everything took a turn for the worse.
The year before last, Huayi had only co-invested and released "New Shaolin Temple" which made a small profit, but none of the other films were profitable.
Not to mention the bumper harvest in the years before the Han and Tang Dynasties, Bernard alone had three movies, "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate", "Overheard 2" and "The God of Wealth Inn", that were very popular and brought in a lot of profits.
Even the profits from Guangxian, "Painting on the Wall" and "The Strongest Happy Event" have doubled the cost.
The market share of the year before last was not even among the top three. This year, I was trying my best to make a big splash, with several blockbusters in succession.
As a result, the "Tai Chi" and "Yang Family General" series hit the market, and "Reverse War" barely recovered its costs by relying on revenue from Southeast Asia and other regions.
"1942", which had high hopes, also failed miserably and the cost could not be recovered.
Four consecutive blockbusters hit Huayi hard.
Fortunately, the box office of "Twelve Zodiac Signs" successfully exceeded 1 billion, pushing Huayi's market value to a peak of 10.8 billion.
It turned out that some evil person was behind this and spread rumors about them to rob the box office.
Those media and major companies that are afraid of chaos in the world are also causing trouble.
Although it was contained under Huayi's comprehensive public relations, the stock price, which had been rising continuously, also stopped abruptly.
A bad year!
Fortunately, Feng Xiaogang was finally willing to give in and go back to his job to make a comedy film.
Coupled with Xu Ke's "Di Renjie: Dragon King of the Dragon King", this year should be fruitful.
But the most important thing right now is the movie "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons", which must be successful.
"囧" is currently one of the most popular series in China, and can only be compared to the "Ghost Blowing Lamp" series. Compared to "Journey to the West and Conquer the Demons" without Zhou Xingchi, it is not at a disadvantage.
The publicity and distribution capabilities of Huayi and Hantang are also 50-50 split. Even with the help of Ali and Wanda, Hantang still has four theaters distributed by Wuzhou.
This is a battle between opponents. Unless the quality of the two movies is too different, the battle will be on the ability to promote and distribute the films.
But now it is clear that "囧" has the upper hand. There are only two days left before its release. The pre-sale box office of Nuomi Movie alone has reached 50 million, of which nearly half of the first-day pre-sales have been made.
The pre-sales for "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" are only one-third of this amount.
There is nothing they can do about this situation. Meituan just followed Nuomi.com and spun off Meituan Movies a few days ago and renamed it Maoyan Movies.
Although websites such as Maoyan, Guevara, and Lashou.com also offer low-price tickets and group buying services, the share of both movies is the same, which does not benefit Huayi much at all.
Such a high pre-sale box office will inevitably cause theaters to focus on arranging films in the past few days.
There are only seven days of Spring Festival holiday in total, plus the New Year's Eve, the box office explodes during these eight days, and it is very critical to fall behind by one day.
Wang Zhongjun and everyone discussed it for a long time, but there was no effective way.
Finally, the director of the distribution department made a suggestion that was not very good.
"Director Wang, why don't we pay for it ourselves and at least stabilize the situation for the first two days?"
"no."
Wang Zhongjun shook his head without thinking, "Let's not talk about taking advantage of the Han and Tang Dynasties. Tickets for the two movies are paid for at the same time, and the platform is in the hands of the Han and Tang Dynasties. We can't take advantage of it no matter what."
Some people made a few suggestions, but they didn't have much effect.
Wang Zhonglei, who had been silent until now, spoke up, "The Han and Tang Dynasties gave profits to the audience, and we can give profits to the theaters. As long as there are enough profits, we will not lose to "囧" in the film schedule!"
this...
Everyone looked at each other. Generally, only some unpopular movies are facing blockbusters. In order to keep the film schedule, they will take the initiative to reduce the share and let the theaters and movies get more share.
But "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" is definitely a hit movie, and the revenue share has only been increased and never been reduced.
Wang Zhongjun ignored their discussion and quickly weighed it in his mind.
Nowadays, the distribution of movie accounts is becoming more and more flexible, and powerful distributors are competing with theaters.
The share of "1942" is a tiered distribution and accounting agreement. The distributor and the theater chain will share 43% and 57% of the box office within 300 million yuan. The box office of more than 300 million yuan will be divided according to 45% and 55%. The box office of more than 800 million yuan will be divided according to 45% and 55%.
Partially proceed according to 47% vs. 53%.
This is because Huayi has absolute confidence and is strong enough to sign such a favorable contract.
result...
"Zodiac" also has the same ratio, but in order to break through 1 billion, it took the initiative to reduce the subsequent share one month after its release.
Many movies that encounter such hot movies at the same time will adopt a stepped sharing method. For example, the studio will share 43% of the revenue in the first week, 41% in the second week, and 39% in the next week until the next film.
There are tiered divisions based on box office, and there are tiered divisions based on share ratios.
After careful consideration, Wang Zhongjun could only give up part of his benefits to the theater chain for the sake of the overall situation.
He gritted his teeth and said to everyone, "That's it, the distribution department will sign a new contract with the theater chain, and the original range will be reduced by 1% week by week!"
From an increase of 2% to a decrease of 1%, Wang Zhongjun also lost a lot of money in order to win the Spring Festival stalls.
...
On New Year's Day, there are still two days left before the Spring Festival, and the promotion competition between "囧" and "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" has reached a fierce stage.
Originally, Ahli had a joint publishing name, and its media outlets also contributed a lot, so it stands to reason that it would have an advantage in publicity.
However, "囧" has the advantage of being a series and has a pre-sale box office of over 50 million.
The two sides were considered a draw.
The promotion of "囧 in Hong Kong" focuses on the "囧" series, the super combination of Xu Zheng, Wang Baoqiang and Tang Yan.
The main theme of "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" is Zhou Xingchi's feelings. The male and female protagonists in various news combined are not as much as Zhou Xingchi.
Moreover, some media even used the brand "Westward Journey 3" when promoting it.
In addition, Shu Qi's cover of the classic song "The Love of My Life" has also become a hit song.
More than ten years ago, "The Love of My Life" by Lu Guanting in "Journey to the West" was quite a classic.
This cover is a Mandarin version, and the singing is definitely far worse than the original.
Later, the song was also covered in the web drama "Westward Journey" and Han Geng's version of the movie.
It's just that Shu Qi didn't learn the pinyin, so she sang "she cai" in color, which was ridiculed by netizens.
The promotion of the song is also the focus of the other party. This time "The Love of Life" adds an extra sentence: From the past until now, love is still there.
Attentive viewers can guess from this small change that this time it may be a complete story.
In the interview, Zhou Xingchi also admitted that this was the change he requested.
As for why Shu Qi, a non-professional actor, was asked to sing the theme song instead of Lu Guanting like in "Journey to the West", Zhou Xingchi also said that this was to match the artistic conception of the movie, and you will understand after watching the movie.
Both sides use all kinds of propaganda methods, and of course they are indispensable for spreading scandals.
Hua Yi did not break his hands for publicity, and Tang An was disgusted when he saw it.
"The scandal between Wen Zhang and Shu Qi, the scandal between Wen Zhang and Zhou Xiuna, the scandal between Shu Qi and Luo Zixiang, tsk tsk..."
Tang An shook his head, put down the newspaper, and continued to listen to reports from several department managers under the circulation department and publicity and marketing department.
The manager in charge of Weibo public relations, who is in charge of nearly a hundred marketing accounts, suggested.
"Chairman, although not many people take the other party's scandal seriously, it is still very popular. Do you think we should also speculate on the scandal?"
Of course, no one believed it. Wen Zhang, Luo Zixiang and Shu Qi mostly regarded it as a joke, but they couldn't help but get excited.
Tang An shook his head, "Who are you going to fire? Director Xu and Tang Yan? One is 41 years old and the other is less than 30. Director Xu and Qin Hairu? Do you believe it?"
"Or Wang Baoqiang? Once it goes too far, his character will collapse."
Everyone also felt that it was not reliable, and then the person in charge of terrestrial distribution said, "Chairman, Huayi has re-signed the tiered sharing contract with the theater chains and given up part of the benefits. Most theater chains are adjusting their film schedules.
It’s not good for us.”
Tang An thought about it, named a few managers who were responsible for marketing in various sectors on the Internet, and ordered, "In this way, you guys will speculate on this matter, focusing on "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", which would rather give profits to the cinema than let the audience take advantage, and highlight the "Hong Kong"
"囧" gave up tens of millions of profits just so that audiences could buy cheap movie tickets."
One gives profits to the cinema, and the other gives profits to the audience. It is obvious to the audience which one is better and which one is worse.
After adding some promotional details, everyone went about their business.
On New Year's Day, there is still one day left before the movie is released, and both parties have used all their resources for promotion.
Due to Huayi's hierarchical split with theater chains, the film schedule has already surpassed that of "囧 in Hong Kong".
On the first day of release, the film schedule of "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" reached 52%.
"囧" has only 42%, a 10% difference between the two, leaving only 6% for other movies to be scheduled.
Tang An was not surprised by this ratio. Movie theaters are all about money, so the movie with the higher share will naturally be assigned more.
Originally, "A Feast for the King" was supposed to be released at the same time as "Pi" and "1942" at the end of last year. Even though it was at the bottom of the box office, the film schedule was only two or three points lower than "1942". That's because the distributor adopted
Step-by-step division, the division drops by two points every week, resulting in a larger number of films.
"The King's Feast" has such a low box office, let alone a movie like "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" which is a steady hit, every bit of it is worth a lot of money.
On the Huayi side, Wanda is completely biased toward "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons," and "囧" has only 20% of the film schedules in Wanda Cinemas.
If it is any less, Wanda will lose money and some customers.
However, "囧 in Hong Kong" is jointly released by Hantang Media and Wuzhou Publishing. The five major theater chains, Jiangzhe Times, Jinyi Zhujiang, Poly Wanhe, Hengdian, and Hantang Cinemas, also fully supported "囧 in Hong Kong" and also gave 80%
of film arrangement.
Bernard's 80 cinemas also gave some support.
Although Xingmei Cinemas is already controlled by China Film Group Corporation, it is still run by Qin Hong, who also arranges 60% of the films.
Western Sichuan Pacific Cinemas, in which China Film Group holds a 40% stake, is one of the top 15 cinemas in the country and is in opposition to Chongqing Poly Wanhe Cinemas.
The competition between the two sides is particularly fierce in Xichuan, Chongqing and surrounding areas.
Immediately afterwards, the biggest competitor of the Han and Tang Cinemas, Dadi Cinemas, which ranked among the top five in the country, also favored "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons", and both parties were competing for the market in third-tier cities and counties.
As the Han and Tang Cinemas began to absorb franchise cinemas, they accelerated their expansion in small cities and entered into the most direct competition and conflict with Dadi Cinemas.
These theater chains together account for 60% of the country's share. Among the top fifteen theater chains, in addition to the four Chinese film departments, New Film Alliance, Liaoshen Northern, China Film Digital, China Film Southern Shinkansen, and the Magic Film United Cinemas, The South Henan Oscar theater chain remained neutral, while other theater chains stood in two camps.
This neutrality is also relative. After all, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" has a higher share.
Tang An did not take the initiative to reduce the profit share. The consequences of a price war with Huayi would only be losses for both parties.
This time, two popular blockbusters have reduced their share of revenue. What happens next?
The competition for the Spring Festival stalls this time is so fierce that it is the most intense in recent years, and it also has the largest number of companies participating.
It’s even more intense than the Lunar New Year stalls in the past three years!
60% of the movie theaters participated, and Ali's media went all out to promote "Journey to the West and Conquer the Demons". Basically, every five reports about "Journey to the West and Conquer the Demons" will have one about "囧".
Tengxun and Baidu don't have any strong connections, and neither party wants to help.
However, on Weibo, “囧” has an absolute advantage.
Not to mention that Hantang Media is one of the shareholders of Weibo. Its celebrities also give face to various activities held by Weibo. As long as the quality is not too high-end, they will take the time to attend.
In addition, Tang An is the first to pay attention to self-media. The publicity and marketing department has hundreds of Weibo marketing accounts alone, and this does not include some who do not have many fans.
Starting from half a month ago, Tudou.com has arranged the most eye-catching recommendation position on the homepage for the promotional video of "囧囧". The app splash screen lasted for more than half a month. As soon as the Tudou app was opened, there would be a splash screen that lasted for three seconds. poster.
In uc browser, the promotion intensity of "囧 in Hong Kong" is also overwhelming that of "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons".
No matter how Yu Yongfu and Ah Li flirt with each other now, Hantang Media is still the second largest shareholder of UC, and harming the interests of shareholders is a taboo!
Since Guangxian Media received a share of "Detective Chinatown 2" and the title of co-publisher, it also provided certain support.
The intensity of the competition between "Embarrassed" and "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" is absolutely unprecedented, with both parties using all their resources.
It is no exaggeration to say that this Spring Festival, direct and indirect participants cover half of the entertainment industry, and the intensity of mobilization has reached an unprecedented level.
No matter it is Bernard, Guangxian, LeTV, Pony, even BAT alone cannot do it.
All talents in the industry truly realize that Huayi, an old private giant, was once the number one in the industry.
As well as Hantang Media, the largest film and television company in the entertainment industry, how much energy can be unleashed and how many companies can be affected if both parties go all out!
Yu Dong, Wang Changtian, Li Ming, Zhang Zhao, Ye Nian, Zhang Qiang... everyone is waiting to see who will win in this battle that affects half of the entertainment industry.
What changes will the final result bring to the film industry?
It can be said that the theater scale of both camps is close to half of that in the country.