"Hey, why did Teng Huatao ruin "Waiting for the Wind"!"
In the office of the general manager of Future Pictures, Xu Zheng chatted with Du Yang helplessly.
During the Lunar New Year, Mirae Pictures has only three films. Apart from the co-produced "Police Story 2013", the only ones left are "Waiting for the Wind" and "囧".
Originally, Xu Zheng was very confident in his second film, which he directed and starred in. After all, the previous film had sold 200 million yuan. At that time in 2010, 200 million yuan was already a huge hit.
In addition, "I'm Not the God of Medicine" swept all the major awards in the mainland, and Xu Zheng achieved a grand slam of the Golden Rooster, Hundred Flowers, and Huabiao Awards, and became one of the top Mesozoic actors in one fell swoop.
Needless to say, his own fame and reputation are also the basis for "The Lost Road". In "囧囧", not only he and Wang Baoqiang, but also Huang Bo joined in, and Xu Zheng had it before the filming started.
I have absolute confidence that a big hit is inevitable, and I even think about a box office of 1 billion occasionally.
Moreover, no movie from Future Pictures fails, and it has the blessing of the undefeated golden body.
However, just one month before it was released, Teng Huatao's "Waiting for the Wind" was a hit and failed to earn even 100 million at the box office.
The year before last, "Thirty-day Love" had sold over 600 million yuan, and only two years later, Teng Huatao's new film could not even break 100 million yuan.
It's a joke in the industry that Future Pictures' undefeated reputation has been shattered, and Li Qian also made mistakes sometimes.
Xu Zheng, who was originally full of confidence, could not help but feel his heart pounding at this moment.
"Thirty-day Love" has 600 million, and "Unfortunately" has 200 million. The audience reputation of both movies is about the same. If Teng Huatao can fail, then he doesn't seem to be that stable.
At first I was just a little worried, but the more I thought about it, the more something was wrong with me, and the more I thought about it, the less stable I felt.
I came to Future Pictures today and chatted with Du Yang about the promotion of the movie.
"囧囧" is the only movie produced by Future Pictures, and of course they have tried their best to promote it. Xu Zhengcai felt relieved when he heard Du Yang talk about the completed publicity and marketing plan, as well as the film schedule received from the theater chain.
However, he still couldn't help but want to complain about Teng Huatao. If he hadn't thrown himself into the street, Xu Zheng would never have had such thoughts.
"Director Xu, don't worry. Director Li valued your project very much at the beginning. You still don't believe in his vision." Du Yang said helplessly, "Don't worry about the promotion. It will be released on the 5th and 60% of the film schedule is
What I can guarantee is that there will be no other movies released at the beginning of the month except "Famous Man"."
"By the way, I have something to discuss with Director Xu. "囧囧" may start large-scale pre-sales one week in advance, and it will be exclusively pre-sold on the company's future movie ticketing APP. At that time, Xu may need to
The director can help spread the word."
"What?"
Xu Zheng was stunned. Although he had also used the APP to purchase tickets, he didn't react for a while.
After being stunned for a while, I realized what this meant, and my voice suddenly rose to a higher pitch.
"Mr. Du wants to use the ticket monopoly of "囧囧" to seize online ticket purchase users?"
There was some dissatisfaction in his tone, and Du Yang could hear it and understand it. He smiled and said, "Don't be angry, Director Xu. This is precisely because we have absolute confidence in "Thailand", even if other ticket purchase APP users cannot buy it.
If they get tickets, it won't affect the box office. They will eventually download future movies and buy tickets here."
He had absolute confidence in his movie, even though he said so, Xu Zheng still felt something was wrong.
However, he did not continue to pursue the matter with Du Yang, because he knew that it was not Du Yang's decision.
The only one who can make the decision is Li Qian.
After leaving Future Pictures, Xu Zheng took a flight and came to Shanghai, where he found Li Qian on the beach.
Li Qian was filming, and Xu Zheng didn't say anything. He just stood behind Li Qian and looked at the monitor in front of him.
Xu Zheng has read the script of "The Return of Youth" and I was shocked when I first read it. It was even more shocking than the script of "The Truman Show".
A person who grew up in reverse, a fantasy journey, a love that spanned decades, and a history of the Republic standing at the top of the world, including life, love, family, country, family, friendship, philosophy, religion and many other aspects.
Moreover, the script is so interesting!
The perfect combination of art and business, even in terms of artistry, is much better than many literary films.
After reading the script, Xu Zheng naturally knew which scene he was filming, in which the male protagonist sent his dying father to the sea, and just watched the sunset, one behind the other, sitting quietly.
Xu Zheng still remembers a narration from the male protagonist in this scene: When things don't go your way, you can go crazy like a mad dog, you can yell and curse your fate, but in the end, you still have to let go.
There are so many classic lines like this in the script that Xu Zheng remembers them all clearly.
"Okay, pass!"
In front of the monitor, Li Qian held the talkback scene and announced that the shot was completed.
In fact, it is a scene where two people are sitting, and then each person is shot in a close-up.
Chen Kun's father hired Liu Yunlong as a guest star. He was from 1945, that is, from the Republic of China. Some actors in China have a typical Republic of China style.
For example, Zhao Wenxuan, such as Liu Yunlong.
This characteristic also implies a change of times. The people of the previous era have left and a new era has arrived.
Of course, the father is also a very important role. For the role that affects the male protagonist's life, he still needs to find an experienced actor.
At first, Li Qian was a little hard to understand why the male protagonist would leave his lover and daughter so early. Even if he wanted to give his daughter a normal life, he could have waited until she grew up.
Later, when I was writing the script, I realized that his father regarded him as a monster and felt that he would harm himself, so he also had this concept when facing the person he loved, even if the lover had previously expressed his willingness to be with him
After thinking about sharing the consequences, he still chose to get on his motorcycle and leave in the early morning.
If his father hadn't treated him like this, maybe he would have a completely different interpretation of love, but life is a river that never turns back, and what happens happens.
Of course, this is also based on the premise that the male protagonist is relieved by his father. As for why he is relieved, it is foreshadowed by the previous plot.
Every supporting role and every plot complements each other, so the supporting roles are particularly important.
After the scene was finished, Li Qian went to express his gratitude to Teacher Liu Yunlong, then told the crew to clean up, and he returned to the business car.
"Brother Zheng, why did you come to me all of a sudden? What happened?" Li Qian looked at Xu Zheng and asked with a smile, took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and handed it over.
Xu Zheng took the water, took a sip, and said with a smile, "It's nothing big. The promotion of the movie hasn't started yet, so I'm going back to Shanghai to spend time with my family, so I stopped by to take a look."
"Indeed, I won't be able to return home for more than a month." Li Qian nodded.
""Return to Youth" should be released next year. I can't wait to see this movie. I'm already fascinated by just reading the script." Xu Zheng asked again.
"It's hard to say, but if everything goes well, we should be able to catch up next year. There will still be time to watch it. There will be a lot of movies next year," Li Qian said.
"To be honest, when I read the script, there were so many classic lines, such as the narration of the scene just now. I felt that you were more of a writer than a director." Xu Zheng said with emotion.
Li Qian smiled and said, "If you become a writer, will you eventually return to the director's profession?"
"Ah this..."
Xu Zheng couldn't help but laugh out loud. The writer came back to be the director. Who did he think he was mocking?
Li Qian shook his head, "Actually, these lines all promote the plot. Like the monologue in the scene just now, it was said by the rude captain with an artistic dream at sea. The storm came, the ship capsized, and the captain was seriously injured.
Death, comforts the protagonist by saying that no matter what happens, you have to let go in the end and choose to accept it.
There was also the death of an old man in a nursing home before, and the protagonist was very sad. The old man who taught the protagonist piano comforted him and said that we are destined to lose the one we love, otherwise how would we know how important he is in our lives.
These lines affected the protagonist, so he chose to accept what had happened, move forward, and accept his father. After accepting it, he was also affected by his father. The father abandoned him as a weirdo, and he, a weirdo, could be normal for his daughter.
Grow up and choose to leave.”
"It actually has this kind of effect? I didn't notice it when I read the script." Xu Zheng was a little surprised, and then sighed, "I said before that I thought the movie span was too long and the plot was a bit fragmented. It turns out that everything is connected.
Yes, it is connected through lines and does not take up space. This design is so exquisite."
As we chatted, I felt more and more how powerful Li Qian was. This movie was much more exciting than I thought before.
After chatting for a while, Xu Zheng got down to business.
"Director Li, would you like to reconsider the fact that Future Movie APP is the exclusive agent for online ticket sales of "囧囧"?"
Li Qian also knew what Xu Zhenglai wanted to say. He had received a call from Du Yang before. He smiled and said, "Brother Zheng thinks he will lose the box office of Meituan and other users of Grava?"
Xu Zheng said directly, "'Lost in Thailand' is not irreplaceable, nor is it indispensable. 'Private Customization' is also a comedy, and online ticket purchasing is not the only way to purchase tickets. I am a little bit
I’m worried that not only will this fail to attract users of other software, but it will force users who bought tickets online back to the cinema.”
"Brother Zheng, what you said is wrong."
Li Qian smiled and shook his head, "In my opinion, viewers who have become accustomed to buying tickets online will no longer buy tickets offline. For this group of people, buying tickets online is the only option.
Moreover, for the Lunar New Year movie, "囧" is also irreplaceable. The audience may not watch "Private Order" or "Police Story 2013", but they will definitely watch "囧". I have this confidence.
.”
"..."
What else could Xu Zheng say? Could it be that he lacked confidence and was giving in?
"There is nothing to worry about in the film "Private Customization". Ma's comedy has not kept up with the times and is destined to be eliminated by the times." Li Qian added.
"How do you say that?" Xu Zheng's focus was suddenly drawn away. For a comedian and director, Ma's comedy cannot be avoided. It is the benchmark for domestic comedy in the past ten years.
Li Qian spread his hands, "Obviously, although this film satirizes the crow-like black officials in the world, Fan Weiyi's bossy look makes people see the arrogance of a villain who succeeds.
In this drama, Ma Xiaogang does not sympathize with anyone. In his eyes, the upper and lower classes of society, apart from the differences in class that lead to different positions, are actually colluding and completely dirty. This leads to the fact that no one will see this New Year's Eve movie.
Find comfort in comedy.
Unlike "Party A and Party B", it has social satire and sarcasm, but overall it still maintains a cunning and kind-hearted citizen mentality, which is more tender. "Private Customization" did not achieve this, I guess.
It was the failure of "1942" that made him feel resentful.
Comedies don't just have to be funny, they are the lowest form of comedy. They can't even be called comedies, they can only be called funny films.
"囧囧" is different, it takes two paths of emotion and comedy. Husband and wife, father and daughter, friends, business rivals, all have emotional lines, which gives the movie a more tender side. In addition to being funny, it is also touching.
, this kind of movie is a killer, with a box office of at least one billion."
One billion bottom line?
Xu Zheng was still thinking about the difference between "Private Customization" and "Party A and Party B". Huayang had already done a small-scale screening. He knew the general content of the movie and had long known that movies help others realize their dreams.
However, in the end, all thoughts were tied up by Li Qian's words about a billion box office.
There was even more excitement and uncertainty in Li Qian's eyes, "Can "囧囧" really reach one billion?"
If it had been anyone else, Xu Zheng would have just said good things, but Xu Zheng believed what Li Qian said.
"Of course, "Lost in Thailand" will have no rival at the box office." Li Qian said very confidently.
The three best Mesozoic comedians in Mainland China are funny enough, warm enough, and not out of date. In this Internet age, no one can beat them.
Taken together, "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" that Xu Zheng is preparing is probably not enough to beat "囧". The advantage of comedy is too great.
With a bottom line of one billion, Xu Zheng left with some excitement, and no longer worried about whether future movies monopolizing online ticketing would have an impact on the box office.
After Xu Zheng left, Li Qian called Du Yang and the plan remained as usual.
The development of the mobile Internet is in front of us. People will become more and more dependent on mobile phones. In the future, everything may be done through mobile phones.
Including everything like shopping, buying groceries, going to restaurants, going to work, studying, traveling, traveling, etc.
Buying tickets online is so convenient, and even if you don’t want to book tickets in advance, you have to do it.
Others have assigned good seats, but if you are late, you will have to sit in a corner.
This is just like QQ and WeChat. Even if you like to use MSN, you must not give up and use QQ and WeChat, because everyone is using them. If you want to communicate and contact them, you can only do this.
Online ticket purchasing will inevitably become mainstream. It has little to do with whether people want to use it or not. They have to use it even if they don’t want to use it.
If more than 80% of movie tickets are purchased through mobile apps, then the platform may be able to counteract movie theaters. This possible impact will undoubtedly be very important to film practitioners.
Therefore, Li Qian was very concerned about this. Once he discovered that Grava pursued experience and did not pay attention to market share, he immediately abandoned it and built an APP of his own.
To compete with Grava, Meituan, Dabao Movies, and QQ Movies, you definitely need to use some tricks. After all, you came late and don’t have regular users.
Therefore, it is still necessary to take advantage of the core competitiveness of the film itself.
To the audience, any ticket purchase APP is the same, so monopolizing movie tickets will not have any negative impact.
Of course, what’s more important is that “囧” itself is so good that it doesn’t have enough rivals in the Lunar New Year movie.
...
The Lunar New Year is approaching, and "囧囧", which is the first to debut, has already started promoting it.
The three great comedians Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, and Wang Baoqiang, who are famous for the previous film "On the Road", and Xu Zheng's "I'm Not the God of Medicine" gained a lot of favor, and it immediately became the most popular movie at the moment.
November has passed quickly, and Li Qian's filming is still in Shanghai, filming the scenes in the nursing home.
The movie itself is a bit boring, and the quality requirements are even higher, so Li Qian shot it very slowly. Even the elderly people in the nursing home are all guest stars from the Shanghai Theater Theater.
On Sunday, November 24th, ten days before the movie was released, the official Weibo of "囧囧" announced that it would launch a large-scale nationwide pre-sale on December 29th.
The Future Movies Weibo also announced that during these seven days, book tickets for the "囧囧" movie and enjoy certain discounts on a first-come, first-served basis. The quantity is limited.
Advance pre-sales and discounts can't help but make the industry think a lot.
"Is the quality of "囧囧" not good?"
Thinking of this, major companies couldn't help but get a little excited.
Otherwise, it would be too late to raise the price of a popular movie. Before watching Zhang Weiping, the price would rise at every turn.
Only products with poor quality will have their prices reduced. This is a consensus in any industry, and good products will always increase in price.
This move of "囧囧" is undoubtedly due to poor quality. Li Qian was worried that the box office would repeat the same mistake as "Waiting for the Wind", so he decided to lower the price to attract people to buy tickets.
After some analysis, the industry became more convinced of this idea and began to eagerly want to see the movie released. Then it would get bad reviews and a box office failure.
Just as people inside and outside the industry were anxiously waiting, the 29th arrived as promised, and the Future Movie APP started pre-sale on time, and the ticket price was indeed 10 yuan lower than normal.
However, when people opened other software such as Grava, Meituan, and QQ Movies, they found that these platforms did not sell tickets for "囧囧" at all.