Four hundred and ninetieth chapters full of confidence
Now that the script is available and the director has been finalized, "A Tale of Two Donkeys" is finally ready for project approval.
However, before the project is approved, the studio naturally needs to inform its strategic partner Polybona. After all, it will still rely on the other party for film distribution in the future.
Yu Dong, who missed "Wulin Gaiden" last time, was regretting it when he heard that Xinhao Studio was preparing to start a new project. He was very interested in it at first, but after reading the script, he lost interest.
Regarding the theme of educated youth, Bona invested 8 million last time to make "Beauty Grass" with a similar theme. The domestic box office was 4 million. With overseas profits, it was able to make back the original investment and earned a reputation.
Moreover, Diao Yinan is not a great director, and his previous award-winning work "Uniform" is a niche work. And then it is just a small production with an investment of less than two million. Firstly, it is not worthy of attention, and secondly, it is unnecessary, so he only promised to guarantee the harvest despite droughts and floods.
agent issuance.
Poly Bona's key projects this year are the film "The City", co-produced with Media Asia Hong Kong, and "The Sun Also Rises", Jiang Wen's comeback after a five-year ban as a director. The former stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Kim Sung-wu, Shu Qi, Xu
Jing Lei is a commercial film joined by many big names; although the latter is a literary film, it is also backed by Jiang Wen, so it should not be underestimated. Without exception, these two films are blockbusters with large investment.
It is said that with the successive success of Guoshi's "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers", as well as the impression of Hollywood movies, the so-called "blockbuster fever" has already started in China, with tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars invested in large-scale productions.
Pauli Bona, who started out as a publisher and now wants to get a share of the production pie, is no exception.
Now that Diao Yinan has been chosen as the director, He Xin needs to say hello to Lu Yue. As for Lu Yue, to be honest, it was difficult to let go at first, and he is really busy. Besides, he has already filmed movies about educated youth.
One film, and now if he is asked to film another film, his interest is not too great. Now that He Xin has found a candidate, it couldn't be better.
Du Jie was a little disappointed when he heard that the director had changed. He originally wanted to learn from Lu Yue. However, the opportunity to shoot independently was extremely rare for him. Although he had previously participated as a photographer in "Green Grass" and "
The creation of "Stone", but mostly under the baton of Ning Hao. This time I can finally stand alone.
According to Diao Yinan's wishes, "A Tale of Two Donkeys" will start filming in October. As for the selection of actors and the assembly of the cast, the studio is responsible for recommending them, and Diao Yinan finally makes the final decision. However, there is no rush for this matter yet. Mr. Diao, who is a screenwriter
He has always adhered to the principle that the script is the basis of a play, and has very high requirements for the script. According to him, the current script is a bit rough due to the rush of time, and he still needs to polish it carefully.
As for the studio's upgrade to the company and Xiaodouding's shares, Ning Hao has no objection at all. He was originally the hands-off boss, but now that the studio has developed to this extent, he feels quite guilty. After all, "Wulin Gaiden" has made a lot of money.
It was He Xin and Xiao Douding who were busy at the beginning. Not only did he not contribute, but he was opposed to it in his heart, but he didn't say anything.
Moreover, Xiao Douding’s work ability is obvious to all. As the producer of two films, he has arranged all the work other than shooting in an orderly manner, allowing him to create without distraction.
So at the beginning, he insisted on dedicating five points from his 40% share as Xiaodouding's incentive shares. Of course, He Xin could not take advantage of this. After discussion, he decided to give He Xin three points based on the share ratio.
Ning Hao has two points.
At this point, Xinhao Studio was officially upgraded to Xinhao Media Co., Ltd. He Xin served as the legal representative and served as the company's chairman, while Ning Hao and Xiaoduding served as directors. In addition, Xiaoduding served as the company's general manager, and Ning Hao became the art director.
title.
…
"Hahaha!"
Polybona, today in the company's small screening room, there was a burst of laughter almost every three minutes, which lasted for a full 105 minutes.
In the end, Huang Bo was biting the bread and was chased by the shop owner on a scooter. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker sounded, and the last burst of laughter sounded in the screening room, and the film ended.
"Whoosh!"
In the screening room, except for the senior executives of PolyBona, including the three board members of Xinhao Media, everyone clapped their hands in unison.
Compared with the original tight investment of less than 3 million, the current investment of 5.5 million, picture quality, sound effects, sharp editing and unconventional music are enough to make the knowledgeable filmmakers present feel refreshed.
"Wonderful!"
Yu Dong rubbed his increasingly protruding belly. He laughed so much that his stomach hurt. While he was sighing, he looked at Ning Hao in shock.
He has done so many movies, and he still has some discerning ability. When he first read the script, he thought it was a comedy, but when he saw the finished film today, it didn't feel like a mainland Chinese movie at all.
Not like Hong Kong movies.
The French New Wave, Italian New Realism and Quentin's black humor are all reflected in this movie. More importantly, this is not a hodgepodge movie. Ning Hao's grasp of humorous elements and his excellent control ability make him
He even felt that he surpassed Feng Xiaogang.
Today's screening can be regarded as the investors' acceptance of the film. Although the film's investment exceeded the original plan by 500,000, no one mentioned the overrun at this time. Everyone's laughter just now was enough to reflect the value of the film.
Not only Yu Dong, but also the senior management of Poly Bona present here looked sideways at the young director who looked like a big-headed doll who was not yet thirty. If we talk about the previous "Green Grass", he proved himself in the field of literary films.
, then today's "Stone" is undoubtedly an excellent commercial film.
Ning Hao, with a shy smile, put his hands together and bowed to everyone, his posture was very low and humble.
"Issuance department, what do you mean?" Yu Dong turned to ask the head of the company's distribution department.
Obviously, there is no need to say anything about the comments. Let’s jump directly to the next step, which is the release of the movie.
The head of the distribution department also looked surprised and said hurriedly: "According to the plan at the beginning of the year, this film should be scheduled to be released in early August. Now that the film has been completed ahead of schedule and the quality of the film is obvious to all, I think it is necessary to release it in early July.
…”
As he spoke, he opened his notepad and checked the date, and said: "The best date is June 30, which happens to be Friday. And at this time, most students have already gone on vacation, and the summer vacation has just begun. This can also be staggered by seven days.
The company is preparing to release the Hong Kong movie "Dragon and Tiger Gate" at the end of the month."
"Xiao He, Director Ning, Mr. Hu, what do you think?"
"Where are the publicity expenses?" He Xin asked the question he was most concerned about.
To be honest, when the original version of "Stone" was released, it was very shabby. Apart from the banner of Andy Lau's investment, there was no publicity at all. It relied more on word of mouth. However, when most viewers knew about this movie, the film on the market
Piracy is everywhere. Even He Xin watched this movie in his previous life and heard that it was good, so he bought a CD for five yuan from a street stall.
There is no way to avoid piracy these days. If you want better box office results, the only thing you can do is to increase publicity and get as much box office revenue as possible before piracy comes out.
And compared with the original version which only relied on the signature of the investor Liu Dehua, the current "Stone" has the blessing of him, a popular star, and he and Cheng Hao, a famous couple in the industry, appear in the same film at the same time.
A promotional point to attract the audience.
"Well, according to the plan drawn up by the company at the beginning of the year, the distribution fee for "Crazy Stone" is five hundred thousand." The head of the distribution department turned over the small book in his hand and said with a guilty conscience.
At the same time, his eyes were still peeking toward Yu Dong.
"Five million?"
He Xin was completely speechless. This was not a publicity fee, but a distribution fee. This is equivalent to including the money for movie copies. One copy costs eight to nine thousand, which is only enough for fifty movie copies. In other words, Polybo
Na didn't pay much attention to the movie "The Stone" from the beginning, and even saved the publicity expenses.
The scene was a little awkward for a moment, and even Yu Dong's expression turned sly. He pondered for a moment and said: "The distribution fee can be increased by three million, and the publicity work must be started in advance..."
But before he finished speaking, He Xin interrupted: "Our company can invest another two million in publicity expenses."
"Well……"
Yu Dong looked at him in surprise, and after being stunned for a long time, he said: "You are so optimistic about this movie?"
Although "Crazy Stone" has brought great surprises to everyone, the movie box office market these days is really confusing. For example, the Hong Kong film "Sanchakou" released by their company last year brought together Aaron Kwok and Wu Yanzu.
, Cheng Yijian, Luo Jialiang, Li Xinjie and other big stars in Hong Kong, but the mainland box office is only over one thousand. Poly Bona, which has a guaranteed release of 30 million, has lost money to grandma's house.
And from the beginning of this year to now, there has only been one "Fearless" starring Li Lianjie and Sun Li that was released during the Spring Festival. In addition to the box office reaching 105 million, a large number of domestic movies, including "Fragrance" starring Fan Wei and Zhang Jingchu
"Journey"; the highly talked-about couple Xia Yu and Yuan Quan's "Shanghai Lemba" starring; and "The Two of Us" which was a hit at the Tokyo Film Festival last year. None of these movies has a box office of more than 10 million.
of.
The production cost of "Crazy Stone" is 5.5 million, plus the 3 million distribution fee that Yu Dong gritted his teeth. If you add the 2 million from Xinhao Media, the total cost exceeds 10 million, which is equivalent to
Only if the box office reaches 30 million can the company maintain its capital.
Yu Dong didn't know where He Xin got such confidence. Anyway, he felt very unsure.