Chapter 383 Win 'Journey to the West and Conquer the Demons'
In the Wanda headquarters in Beijing, in the office of real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin.
Song Ge is persuading Wang Jianlin to release "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" through Wanda Pictures at a guaranteed minimum.
"Director Wang, even if "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" does not star Zhou Xingchi, it can make back its money as long as it reaches a box office of 300 million. It is almost impossible for this movie to be lower than this box office."
A month has passed. At first, Zhou Xingchi was anxious to use the money and gave him half a month.
But half a month passed and the procedure was still going through. Song Ge finally asked Zhou Xingchi to wait for another half month, but another half month passed.
It stands to reason that the process should be completed within a month, but Wanda's current cultural industry is mainly focusing on the acquisition of AMC. "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" has not yet been approved, and Song Ge is almost having trouble.
However, no matter how much he tried to persuade him, Wang Jianlin still didn't give him the answer he expected. He shook his head and said with a smile, "Old Song, the company has its own procedures. As a company, nothing can change the procedures. You still have to go on." Hold on."
This was the second time I came directly to Wang Jianlin for this matter, and just like last time, I left with disappointment.
After leaving Wanda headquarters, Song Ge directly boarded the plane and flew to Jiangning. He came to Li Qian's crew again and met Zhou Xingchi.
Still apologetically, he said to Zhou Xingchi, "I'm sorry, Director Zhou, the procedures at the headquarters are a bit troublesome. You may have to wait for a while."
Zhou Xingchi frowned, "How long do we have to wait? I've been waiting for a month."
Song Ge was unsure, "Maybe three to five days, or a week."
"I've been waiting for a month, and I'm still not sure of the specific time." Zhou Xingchi shook his head speechlessly. It's so troublesome for a big company to do things. "Mr. Song, I think it's better to forget it. I can't wait endlessly."
Song Ge opened his mouth, but he couldn't persuade him any more. It had been delayed for half a month, and he didn't know how many more days the process would take.
He sighed and said, "I'm really sorry for wasting Director Zhou's time."
Li Qianqi said at the side, "It's just a guaranteed issuance contract. Does it take a month to go through the process? Even in the government department, the process should be completed."
"I can't help it. The OA system at the headquarters needs a month to go through the process. I'm still busy with the acquisition of AMC theaters, which has delayed some time." Song Ge said helplessly, "If I had the final say, it would take a month. I signed the contract before."
The OA system is an automated office system. It is convenient, but it also has inconveniences. Nothing can be perfect.
Setting authority, each performing his or her duties, and standardizing the management and approval process resulted in Song Ge's incident, which was obviously almost risk-free. It was just a matter of one sentence, and it was delayed according to the prescribed process.
"Didn't you find Wang Jianlin? He didn't agree?" Li Qian asked curiously.
"Director Wang said, follow the procedures."
"" Li Qian smiled, "Then how was the 50 million approved before? There was no procedure. Speaking of which, Wang Jianlin still didn't take the film industry to heart."
Song Ge fell silent. Although he didn't want to admit it, it was true. Wang Jianlin didn't say anything. It wasn't because he didn't want to break the process. It was just a mere movie and it wasn't worth breaking the process. At least he didn't win "Pacific Rim" for others. The heroine is an important super-A-level production with an investment of 200 million.
What Wang Jianlin said at the beginning was that within 100 million, Song Ge would make the decision himself.
Li Qian also didn't want to criticize Song Ge in front of his big boss or say bad things about him behind his back.
He smiled and said, "Since Mr. Song has a problem on your side, how about I take over, okay?"
Song Ge's expression was stagnant. Good guy, the previous worries have really come true. Not only is Zhou Xingchi starring in Li Qian's movie, but now even the project that was originally his own has become Li Qian's.
The former Xu Ke and the current Zhou Xingchi have lost two great directors, and Song Ge's efforts for a year have been in vain.
So far, he has only won one Cheng Long, and even one Cheng Long is not as good as Xu Ke + Zhou Xingchi!
However, there was indeed a problem on his side. What else could Song Ge say? He couldn't stop Zhou Xingchi from not cooperating with Li Qian. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't influence Zhou Xingchi's thoughts.
"Director Li and Director Zhou, please discuss this matter," Song Ge said helplessly.
"There's no need to discuss it. Just follow your previous plan. I'll send someone over later to sign the contract tonight and pay tomorrow." Li Qian said with a smile.
"Okay, no problem." Zhou Xingchi has no objection. Li Qian's Future Pictures' distribution capabilities are second only to several major companies, and every movie is a hit, which makes it easier for theaters and theaters to give preferential treatment to movies released by Future Pictures.
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If a company's movies frequently sell well, it will naturally be easier for theaters to trust it.
This is similar to actors and directors. It is easier for an actor or director to star in a movie and the director's movies have been successful for many times to gain trust. However, the average audience only cares about the actor and director.
Song Ge came in a hurry and left in a hurry.
That night, Du Yang flew from Beijing with financial and legal affairs, and signed a guaranteed issuance contract with Zhou Xingchi.
Specifically, Future Pictures paid RMB 80 million to Bigo Group in exchange for 70% of the mainland box office revenue of "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons."
The investment in "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" itself is 113 million, and 80 million is almost 70%.
Then, after the box office exceeds 500 million, Bi Gao will pay a share of 1 million for every 10 million box office.
It seems less, but for every 10 million, you get 1 million in box office dividends, which is almost 25% more box office revenue sharing.
In addition to RMB 80 million, Li Qian also has to pay RMB 40 million in publicity expenses and charge a 5% agency issuance fee.
Based on a box office of RMB 500 million, Li Qian will have a distribution income of RMB 23 million and a box office share of RMB 94 million after recovering the RMB 40 million advanced for promotion.
After deducting the 80 million guaranteed, I still made 14 million and 23 million, for a total of 37 million.
If the box office reaches 1 billion, it will earn a distribution fee of 46 million and a box office share of 166 million, minus the guaranteed fee of 80 million, resulting in a profit of 132 million.
Zhou Xingchi can receive 92 million in dividends and 50 million in dividends between 500 million and 1 billion, for a total of 142 million.
113 million investment, took 80 million from Li Qian, and invested 33 million himself. Subtracting this part, the profit is almost 110 million.
In general, Li Qian's profit from a billion box office is 142 million, and Zhou Xingchi's profit is almost 110 million.
It seems that Li Qian made more money, but Zhou Xingchi's total investment was only 33 million, and Li Qian invested 80 million guaranteed and 40 million in publicity fees, investing as much as 120 million.
Everyone was happy. Zhou Xingchi avoided risks, recovered the cost in advance, and used 80 million to buy a house. The increase after one year was considerable.
Li Qian also picked up a project for nothing. Without taking inflation into account, 300 million can be repaid. It is impossible that the box office will not reach this level.
Signing a guaranteed distribution contract did not delay Li Qian's work, and the filming of the movie continued.
With the addition of Zhou Xingchi and his training, Deng Chao also showed his considerable comedy talent.
However, Li Qian has always been in control and cannot go too far. Deng Chao is not suitable for that kind of nonsensical performance. It is too exaggerated and it is not good.
It is necessary to control the basics of the movie, which relies on the overall absurd story and appropriate weirdness to achieve the effect of black humor, rather than completing a comedy entirely through the performances of the actors.
A few days later, Li Qian took the crew to the beach at night.
Huazhong Film and Television Base is surrounded by lakes on three sides, so the seaside scenes were filmed here, and the beach was transported by freighter.
Although it cost a lot of money to transport sand to transform the shore into a seaside, the cost was not much more than the entire crew's chartered flight to the beach, the round-trip air tickets, plus the delays on the road, so we simply filmed here.
There were a lot of scenes at the beach. I stayed here for several nights in a row and finished filming one after another. The scene where Truman went on a business trip to another place at the beginning, but then retreated while looking at the sea water, and the scene where Zhang Wei and Zhang Wei drank and had a heart-to-heart talk at the beach.
Every time I drank Budweiser, I was given the most money, 13 million.
There are a lot of lenses. After all, it’s hard to change. You can’t change your favorite wine every time you drink. Today I like Budweiser, and tomorrow I like Bluebird.
There are many lenses, but they are not as important as the previous Nescafé, so the price is slightly lower.
Today is still the scene between Zhang Wei and Deng Chao, but after filming the heart-to-heart scene, it’s time for Teacher Li Baotian to appear again, and the scenes between father and son were filmed.
"Scene 57, one shot at a time!"
"start!"
When shooting with a digital camera, shoot first and then look for problems. Anyway, you don’t need to spend money on film.
Following an order from executive director Guo Fan, thick fog suddenly rose on the peninsula where the base is located and the bridge connecting the land next door.
You can vaguely see a figure in the heavy fog, walking slowly towards this side.
On the other end, Zhang Wei smiled and said, "Do you know why I asked you to drink? I found my uncle."
Deng Chao slowly stood up and looked ahead in disbelief.
"Go ahead, you guys must have a lot to talk about." Zhang Wei patted him sincerely.
The figure opposite is getting closer and closer.
Li Qian picked up the walkie-talkie and ordered, "Put less dry ice."
The fog was of course created using dry ice, which is a common method used on stage.
As less dry ice was put in, the fog gradually became lighter, and the figure in the fog could be clearly seen. It was Li Baotian.
"Follow the back with the rocker arm, wait at the feet and prepare for a close-up." Li Qian ordered again.
The two walked in slowly and stopped opposite each other.
The camera below Deng Chao's feet gave a close-up from bottom to top, making the character look particularly tall.
Most of the close-ups of Deng Chao are like this, while most of the group performances are from top-down overlooking shots, making them look much smaller.
The two hugged each other affectionately, and the close-up camera looked straight at him, with excited smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes.
"dad!"
"Click."
Li Qian picked up the walkie-talkie and said, "Brother Chao, be a little more excited. Think about it, Truman must have been panicked and frightened after discovering so many abnormalities around him. At this time, his father, who had been dead for 22 years because of him, reappeared.
, now that Truman has someone to rely on, it’s not just as simple as his father’s capture, he should be even more excited, with tears in his eyes.”
Deng Chao asked in confusion, "But now that things are like this, does Truman still believe in his father?"
"Don't forget, Truman was a relatively weak person before, with soft ears. Because of the words of his best friend, wife, and mother, he gave up the idea of leaving again and again.
Now that my father appears, maybe he is deceiving himself, or maybe he is still doubtful, but he doesn't want people to see the flaw, so he is pretending, no matter what, he has to show more excitement." Li Qian explained a few sentences.
Halfway through the filming of the movie, and Zhou Xingchi had joined the cast for more than a week, the news that Zhou Xingchi had joined "The Truman Show" was finally revealed by someone unknown.
The news that the two had joined forces once again aroused the emotions of the audience.