Four days in the afternoon, a relatively hastily prepared press conference was held at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Although it is a temporary preparation, the scale is not small at all.
The three giants Hantang Media, Huayi Brothers, and Bernard Films jointly held the conference.
Nearly a hundred reporters were present, including all media outlets with branches in the capital.
As for the things needed for the press conference, such as posters and concept drawings, there are none.
There is only a temporary poster of Deng Chao, Tang Yan, Zheng Kai, and Liu Ye. Their costumes are somewhat different from the first one.
The real opening picture is one, and the rest is all made up.
As for the background?
pitch black
Because there is nothing about the plot of the sequel, and the poster has no idea. Anyway, the magician is very mysterious, and the dark background is pretty much it.
Of course, Liu Ye may not participate this time. After all, given his status, it is impossible for him to play a supporting role for Deng Chao unless he is the male lead.
Specifically, Liu Ye will make a cameo and someone else will come in. Or increase Liu Ye's role and change it to two male protagonists. We will talk about the details later.
This sequel is led by Huayi, after all, they hold 70% of the sequel copyright.
The share is 4:4:2, and Bernard gets 20% of the share.
However, the most important person in the entire press conference was Tang An, and it was he who attracted the most attention from the media.
The lights on the emergency stage were turned on, and Tang An took the stage.
"Good afternoon, friends from the media, welcome to the press conference of the movie "Now You See Me 2""
After an opening remarks, some highlights from the first part began to play on the big screen behind.
For about two minutes, the wonderful shots flashed by and finally settled on a poster.
"Kacha!"
"Click, click, click, click."
Everyone took pictures one after another.
It's just a bit crude. In addition to the four leading actors hidden in the darkness, there are only a few big words "Now You See Me 2" on the entire poster, as well as the names of three famous producers.
Of course, Tang An has the title of producer.
The reporters in the audience were whispering.
"The posters are already there, I guess it has been planned for a long time."
"This poster is a bit crude. There is no information at all."
"I think it's pretty good. It has a mysterious feeling. I was attracted to it at first glance."
"I feel the same way, but it just feels too simple and something is wrong."
“I don’t know who I will find to take the photo.”
"God knows, Han and Tang director Xu Zheng is about to shoot Ning Hao's "No Man's Land", and "Tang Detective 2" has also been approved. There is also Wu Ershan who has been silent. I don't know if the third part of "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" is in the works.
Prepare."
"Wu Ershan probably can't. Although he is suitable, he won't be filming a sequel for others."
"Bernard owns Chen Kexin, so he probably won't come either."
"That's Huayi's director. Isn't there a lot of directors in Huayi's H plan?"
We discussed in a low voice, but no explanation was given.
The press conference did not have too many steps. Tang An just accepted questions from reporters, mainly why he made a sequel, who is the director of the sequel, whether the actors have changed, and what is the plot.
Tang An also answered one by one, "Actually, there are still many things to dig into in "Now You See Me", such as the identities and backgrounds of the other three magicians, the ending of the insurance tycoon, etc. We are filming a sequel again after five years.
It’s time to explain some things clearly.”
"As for the director, we are still looking for the right person. We will try our best to match the mysterious sci-fi style of the movie and not disappoint the audience. In terms of actors, several leading actors will basically appear."
After answering some questions, Tang An handed the stage to Wang Zhonglei.
Wang Zhonglei started working, bragging about how good this sequel would be, how much investment it would take, and how much investment it would take to assemble a golden team, a top-notch special effects production team, and 3D real-life shooting.
Anyway, it’s just to brag to death and build momentum.
The press conference lasted for two hours and ended in the evening.
It happened to be getting late, so we settled down for dinner at the hotel and held a banquet.
"Director Wang, Director Yu, do you have a suitable director?"
Although he handed over the project to them, Tang An had to ensure the quality, otherwise he would be the one being scolded.
"Now You See Me" looks like a standard commercial movie model, with nothing outstanding except for its rare subject matter.
But the more it goes like this, the more difficult it becomes. Apart from magic and special effects to attract the audience, it doesn't have many other features, so it requires more work on the rhythm.
It needs to be as suspenseful as a spy movie, but not too complicated.
And the pace must be fast, leaving no extra time for the actors to slowly develop their acting skills.
There is no suitable candidate for Wang Zhongjun. There is no shortage of opportunities in Huayi, but there is a shortage of capable directors, but there are not many good directors in Huayi.
"Director Tang knows movies best, who do you think is more suitable?" Wang Zhongjun asked rhetorically.
Tang An pondered for a moment, running through the directors he had an impression of in his mind, and finally settled on a short, fat middle-aged man.
"How about Director Gao Yushu? His previous films and TV dramas have all drawn on the aesthetic characteristics of films since the New Hollywood Movement, and he is very good at shaping characters and rhythm. It doesn't matter that the former has a foundation in the first film, but rhythm is very important.
Moreover, he is famous for his dramas involving cases and has deep knowledge in creating atmosphere." Tang An gave a suggestion.
Uncle Gaoyu?
Wang Zhongjun and Yu Dong thought about it for a while.
Uncle Gao Yu is a TV drama director. Although "China's Big Case" in 1996 became a hit and even reached the point of emptying out the streets in a certain province. In the month of the broadcast, the local Industrial Safety Department reported to the Ministry of Industrial Safety that
For a month, the crime rate in the provincial capital was 0 because everyone went home to watch TV at night.
Although it is a bit exaggerated, after this drama was broadcast, it set off a craze for dramas involving the case across the country.
The subsequent "Conquer" was also a hit, but in terms of movies, there were only a few movies such as "The Trial of the East", "West Wind", "Hunter Chang", etc., which won many awards, but did not make any achievements at the box office.
There is no good candidate for the time being, so I will temporarily include Uncle Gao Yu among the candidates, and then choose later.
Tang An definitely has to control the post-production of the entire film. As long as there is a director who can make good movies, if there is poor communication in post-editing, it still has to be handed over to the editor, not the director.
For now, decide on a candidate and discuss it slowly.
After getting down to business, we chatted a bit about the trends in the industry.
"Tang Dong's 700-million-guaranteed "Heart Blossoms on the Road" was such a big deal that it scared Dong Ping away." Yu Dong laughed and asked.
"The iron triangle of Ning Hao, Xu Zheng, and Wang Bo is worth the price." Tang An said.
"Is Mr. Tang so confident?"
With a guarantee of 700 million, this can rank in the top ten of the year.
Either way, the risks are too great.
You have to know how much Ning Hao's last movie cost. Although Xu Zheng's single film broke 1.2 billion, it was a series.
When "1942" was released, who would have thought that Feng Xiaogang would fail!
Tang An smiled and said, "Isn't guaranteed issuance just gambling? The greater the risk, the greater the reward. I believe in Ning Hao once. If it doesn't work, I will take it as a lesson."
Everyone was speechless and wanted to teach him a lesson.
The minimum guarantee is 700 million. If it really makes a box office of 200 to 300 million, it will have to lose at least 150 million.
At this price, Huayi, Guangxian and Bernard would not dare to pay it. The risk was too great and they could not take the risk.
Bernard Bernard's guaranteed "We Will See You Again" is only 400 million, and with Guo Jinming's "Little Times" taking the lead at 500 million, a writer of the same level as Han Han will not be far behind.
At this time, Ye Xian, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth, raised his eyes and smiled slightly.
"Of course Director Tang is willing to bet, "Beijing Love Story" can even offer a guarantee of 300 million."
What?
"Beijing Love Story" 300 million?
The news had obviously not spread yet, and everyone present looked stunned.
If the 700 million guarantee for "Love in the Heart" is a gamble, then the 300 million guarantee for "Beijing Love Story" is equivalent to a stud.
Seeing that Tang An did not deny it, everyone believed it.
I thought to myself just now that I thought Tang An was bold, but I didn't expect him to be so bold!
"Beautiful Heart" has a famous director and two first-line male stars with box office appeal, so it's pretty reliable.
But what does "Beijing Love Story" have?
A popular TV series?
If the fame of the TV series can really sell 300 million box office, then everyone might as well just adapt the TV series.
Something like "Bright Sword" was adapted from one or two battles, and "Xu Sanduo" was made into a series, from ordinary people to kings of soldiers.
There are also a lot of popular TV series such as "Latent", "The Legend of Zhen Huan", and "Shanghai Beach".
Maybe you can rely on the fame of the TV series to sell tens of millions or even more than 100 million, but 300 million is absolutely impossible.
What's more, director Chen Shicheng is still a newcomer who has never made a movie before.
Tang An could see the dissatisfaction in Ye Xuan's eyes through his glasses, and smiled and said, "Well, there are guarantees. Of course there will be risks. If you can bear the risks, why not give it a try? Maybe there will be unexpected surprises. It depends on Ye
I’m finally willing to accept it.”
A glimmer of light flashed through Ye Tian's eyes behind his glasses, and he said with a smile, "Since Director Tang is willing to bet, I will take it on behalf of other investors, with a minimum guarantee of 300 million."
"Then thank you, Mr. Ye."
Wanda has established Sihai Publishing, so the two parties are absolute rivals. Reasonable business competition is no big deal.
One has a guarantee of 700 million, and the other has a guarantee of 300 million, which adds up to exactly one billion. Everyone can't help but secretly admire Tang An's boldness.
Although they are companies with billions or even tens of billions, the initial guarantee fee of one billion is a huge sum, and it is not easy to come up with such a large amount of cash.
After the banquet, Tang An made all the arrangements for the company and set off for the United States with the three leading actors Liu Ye, Yang Mi and Wan Qian.
This Friday, "Interstellar" will be officially screened on a large scale in more than 70 overseas regions.
Perfectly avoiding the overseas summer schedule, there are almost no significant movies in August, and the giant ship "Interstellar" is launching an impact on the global market.