"Zhou Xingchi angrily accused Huayi of not abiding by the contract and refusing to pay 70 million in share!"
"According to the reporter's understanding, the contract signed by Huayi Brothers and Zhou Xingchi has an additional agreement. The agreement stipulates that if the movie's box office revenue exceeds 500 million, a certain share will be paid to Zhou Xingchi in proportion to the contract.
At present, the total box office of "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" has reached 1.018 billion. According to the contract details, Huayi will pay Zhou Xingchi about 70 million for his share. However, the two parties confirmed the contract in an email and did not finally sign it.
Wang Zhonglei, president of Huayi Brothers, told reporters that the box office revenue in the contract between the two parties refers to the box office revenue divided by theater lines after excluding taxes. The revenue from the 1.018 billion box office is less than 500 million, which does not meet the contract requirements!"
"Zhou Xingchi was defrauded of 70 million in dividends, Huayi was criticized by the entire audience, and the stock price plummeted 7% at the opening!"
Just after the Spring Festival, Hua Yi and Zhou Xingchi had such an incident, which made the film market that had just been silent for a while stir up trouble again.
Huayi is a domestic film and television giant, Zhou Xingchi is a top director, and "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" has just become the sixth Chinese-language film in China with a box office of over 1 billion.
Both parties were in the limelight during the just-concluded Spring Festival, and now the disagreement over box office sharing has become a hot topic.
Everyone thought this was just media hype at first, but Zhou Xingchi did not deny it in the interview, and Huayi's No. 2 figure Wang Zhonglei also responded positively when interviewed.
Things do exist!
This is the real deal. Through speculation and information collection from all parties, as well as screenshots of emails released by the Bigo Group, we can basically determine what happened.
Roughly speaking, the email exchange between Zhou Xingchi and Hua Yi started on July 9, 2012, and "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" was released on February 9, 2013. It can be seen that Zhou Xingchi did not ask for it because he saw "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" at the box office.
Dividend paying.
Hua Yi and Zhou Xingchi had a dispute about the concept of 500 million box office for a long time, and exchanged more than ten emails. However, before the movie was released on January 19, 2013, they had reached an agreement on the "box office revenue of theater distribution".
Before "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" was released on January 21, 2013, the Huayi brothers sent an email saying, "We basically have no problem with the contract. You can sign it at any time."
Before the release of "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" on February 6, 2013, Huayi Brothers sent another email saying, "At nearly noon today, I just learned that this morning is Mr. Wang's last working day, so I am very sorry that there is no way to provide Huayi's signature before the Lunar New Year.
The contract is completed. After coordination, the signing and approval procedures of other leaders will be completed before the Lunar New Year."
On February 9, 2013, "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" was released and became a hit at the box office. After that, there was no reply from Zhou Xingchi to sign the contract.
Judging from the emails disclosed by Bigo Group, this is basically the case.
Obviously, everyone has understood that the contract has been delayed for a long time without being signed.
Wang Zhonglei insisted again that the box office revenue in the contract refers to the share data received by the publisher, not the box office data.
In just one or two days, Huayi suddenly became the target of public criticism. The stock price fell by 7% on the first day. Despite crisis public relations, the stock price still fell by 5%.
Zhou Xingchi did not invite trolls. The media and netizens who criticized Huayi on the Internet were completely spontaneous. Zhou Xingchi's personality charm and appeal were undoubtedly revealed.
Of course, most of those media outlets just wanted to make the matter bigger, so they all stood against Huayi.
On the official Weibo of Huayi Brothers and the Weibo of Wang Brothers, a large number of netizens left messages claiming that they would not watch any movie invested by Huayi in the future.
Others clamored for Huayi to refund their money, claiming that their movie tickets were for Mr. Xing, not Huayi.
Of course, major companies are happy to hear about Huayi's incident, and they wish Wang Zhongjun would be miserable.
Bernard Film Group, Yu Dong almost laughed out loud.
"God is really helping us. Originally, I was thinking about how to persuade Wang Zhongjun to cooperate with the three parties to make a sequel to "Now You See Me", but I didn't expect that this would happen now."
Bernard COO Chen Yongxiong opposite also smiled and nodded, "Now Huayi's stock price has been greatly affected, and public opinion is on Zhou Xingchi's side. They urgently need a big news to divert the public's attention. Huayi should not refuse at this time.
."
In the entertainment industry, if you want to cover up a piece of news, the best way is to create a bigger piece of news that can divert everyone's attention.
"Now You See Me" is a classic movie from Tang An's early years. Although making a sequel will not completely cover up this matter, it can play a certain role.
"In this case, sooner rather than later, Lao Chen, please personally make a plan for me. I will meet Wang Zhongjun in the next two days." Yu Dong made a decision immediately.
"Okay, I have a rough idea. I should be able to come up with a simple plan before tomorrow afternoon."
Chen Yongxiong nodded and prepared to leave.
But Yu Dong stopped him again.
"By the way, Lao Chen, are you familiar with Zhou Xingchi?"
Zhou Xingchi?
Chen Yongxiong worked as a program director at ATV, and Zhou Xingchi came from TVB.
He also worked as the general manager of Huanya Holdings, but it was Huanyu that invested in "Shaolin Soccer", not a company.
With Zhou Xingchi's character, he doesn't have many friends in Xiangjiang. Most of them are people he has acquaintance with at work. Chen Yongxiong is really unfamiliar with him.
Chen Yongxiong thought for a while and said, "I haven't had any dealings with you. What does Yu Dong mean?"
Yu Dong nodded and said, "With Zhou Xingchi's temper, if Wang Zhongjun really doesn't give him his share of the share, he will never want to cooperate in the future. If Zhou Xingchi's movies want to be distributed in the mainland, they will have to find new partners. After a while, I will
Get in touch with him."
It has a box office of one billion, and it is not a series. It is the only one in China besides Tang An.
If Wang Zhongjun was so short-sighted that he gave up his cooperation with Zhou Xingchi for the 70 million, then Yu Dong would have laughed to death.
Apart from Huayi, these are the only companies in China that can release billion-dollar blockbusters, and Yu Dong certainly doesn't want to miss them.
Like Yu Dong, Wang Changtian of Guangxian Media has the same plan.
Guangxian Media has been operating on a small scale in the past few years, investing in almost all small and medium-budget films, with almost no films costing more than 100 million.
It's not that Wang Changtian doesn't want to give up money, it's just that the risks of blockbusters are too great.
If Zhou Xingchi has a box office guarantee, let alone 100 million, he would dare to give it a try if it costs 200 million!
The same goes for Li Ming of Pony. His subsidiary Ning Hao became restless, and the studio was renamed Bad Monkey, and several shell companies were established.
Wu Yusen, another big-name director under the banner, will finally start a big-budget series after "Red Cliff", but who can have too many profitable movies?
LeTV Zhang Zhao, Wanda Ye Xiang, Ah Li Zhangqiang, and several major film and television companies in the mainland were all like fishy sharks, ready to take a bite of Zhou Xingchi's fat piece of meat.
Huayi Brothers Group, the party involved Wang Zhongjun is also worried about this matter.
70 million in cash is a huge amount for any film and television company, and he certainly doesn't want to just throw it away.
But he didn't expect that this incident had already caused a big impact. The stock price dropped by 5 points, and Huayi's brand also suffered a bad impact among netizens.
Although netizens are forgetful, big news will come out after a while, which will make them forget about it immediately.
But for a listed company, corporate image is still very important.
Wang Zhongjun was torn between wanting money and establishing a positive image.
"Brother, the impact has already been caused. Even if we give the 70 million to Zhou Xingchi at this time, the negative impact will still be there!" Wang Zhonglei advised.
"Don't worry, I know what's going on."
The thought of paying back the money just flashed through Wang Zhongjun's mind. He was determined not to let go before, but now he admits that he was wrong. Isn't this a slap in the face?
Although it is not a problem to slap yourself in the face, as long as the benefits are sufficient, let alone being slapped in the face, even kneeling down and calling daddy is not a problem.
Obviously, the current price is not enough for Wang Zhongjun to slap himself.
"Zhong Lei, we cannot stop the critical public relations. We must control the situation and prevent it from spreading further. We must announce to the outside world that everything will be done in accordance with the contract and let public opinion be on our side!" Wang Zhongjun said solemnly.
It's just a matter of stubbornness. The contract didn't specify it, so it's not his fault. Everything he said makes sense.
Even if the subsequent collaboration with Zhou Xingchi fails, it will only be a few years later.
If Zhou Xingchi's new film is released next year or during the Spring Festival, Wang Zhongjun will still weigh it.
But Zhou Xingchi has been sharpening his sword for several years now, and he doesn’t know when his next movie will be, so he just took the 70 million in his hands.
Tang An also didn't expect that the conflict between Zhou Xingchi and Hua Yi would be revealed to the public now.
But it will happen sooner or later, so there is nothing to be surprised about.
Wang Zhongjun's share of the box office revenue exceeding RMB 500 million was simply a swindle for Zhou Xingchi. When the box office didn't come out before, something happened every few days and he couldn't sign the contract.
As soon as the first-day box office came out, it was certain that it would exceed 500 million, so I stopped mentioning it, and I didn’t reply to the emails sent by Bigo Group.
The contract has not been signed yet, and the terms and conditions are also played with words. It is actually a normal thing to put it in a shopping mall.
This is not a scam, the shopping mall is much more complicated than this.
For several months, Bigao Group did not even sign the negotiated contract, and the terms were unclear and unspecified. A large part of the responsibility lies with the senior officials of Bigao Group who were responsible for signing the contract with Huayi.
To paraphrase a line from Zhou Xingchi in "Domestic Lingling Paint": I thought our relationship was based on feelings, but I didn't expect it to be a business.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Tang An left the company and came to a hotel in Xicheng District.
Everyone wants to work with Zhou Xingchi in the next movie, and Tang An is certainly no exception.
Even if his next movie has a three-year cycle, the box office of more than 3 billion is enough to make people excited.
Other companies were still thinking about the timing and how to contact Zhou Xingchi, but Tang An directly called Zhou Xingchi and made an appointment to talk.
Time waits for no one, who knows when it will be settled with others.
When you are deciding whether to eat twice-cooked pork or braised pork for dinner, someone else has already prepared an ordinary stir-fried pork with green pepper.
Some people, by the time you finish making the fried pork with green pepper, have already finished frying the egg fried rice and eaten it.
Or, some people can finish a bowl of noodles faster after soaking it in three minutes.
Some people even skip dinner altogether and work overtime to get the work done while you are eating.
This was the first time Tang An met Zhou Xingchi, and the first time Wang Bu Jian Wang met.