Chapter 36 Huayi Xiao Wang
Chapter 36 Huayi Xiao Wang
"It seems that you have doubts about the figure of 2.8 million. Can you be more specific?"
"It's very simple. The cost is 2.8 million. According to our current market situation, the producer can get about 35% of the total box office, so the total box office must reach at least 8 million to break even. Does China have a movie with a box office of 8 million now?"
"The current domestic box office record is 2.5 million for Hero. Zhang Weiping is not stupid. Would he waste 2.8 million? In my opinion, the cost is at most million. It depends on whether there are big scenes. If there are no big scenes, there may be something fishy even if there is million."
"Also, Andy Lau's salary is said to be 1000 million US dollars. Please, use your brain when you brag. Do you really think you are a 'big liar' and the people of the country are just 'taking two steps'?
Jet Li's previous salary for "Hero" was only $800 million. He is Jet Li, a truly international action star. In the field of kung fu movies, he has real international appeal. But he only got $800 million. Andy Lau and others have a little influence in Southeast Asia at most. How dare they get paid more than Jet Li?"
Zhang Chen kept revealing information, leaving Dai Jun and Li Jing dumbfounded.
This Zhang Chen is really bold!
At the same time, I am also very glad that today's episode was recorded correctly, and the ratings will definitely increase significantly.
In front of the TV, Dong Jianqiang was about to faint after seeing Zhang Chen's slip of the tongue. He called Zhang Chen, but found that the other party's phone had been turned off.
Coincidentally, Zhang Chen mentioned him in the show at this time:
“In fact, before I came on the show, Dong Jianqiang, the manager of Guangguang Media who was in charge of distribution, told me to avoid the topic of conflict with House of Flying Daggers as much as possible, because it might be considered as disrespectful to my predecessors.
I must emphasize here, Manager Dong, I always keep your instructions in mind. From the beginning to the end, I did not disrespect Director Yimou in any way. I was against Zhang Weiping..."
Seeing this scene, the two hosts were amused again, but Dong Jianqiang was almost furious.
Are you playing word games with me?
But it's too late to say anything now. "Super Interview" is a recorded broadcast. If it had been discovered earlier, it could still be remedied. But now it has already been aired and it's too late.
……
Imperial TV Station, technical department backstage
Li Jing and Dai Jun, along with the technical staff, looked at the real-time ratings data of the program:
"Director Zhang, the current ratings are 0.3..."
Ten minutes later, “It’s going up, it’s going up, it’s 0.5…”
“Ah, it’s 0.6 now.”
"0.7"
"0.8"
"0.9"
"1.0"
"1.1"
The staff could not hide their excitement in their voices. Li Jing and Dai Jun could not suppress the ecstasy on their faces. They had expected that the ratings of this episode would skyrocket, so they came to the TV station specifically to see the first-hand data.
It’s true, this Zhang Chen is really their lucky star.
The peak viewership rating was 1.1, and the average was 0.9, which is the best result since the launch of "Super Interview".
At this time, Li Jing, the producer of the program, was very glad that the decision to let them cut in line was the right one. She even secretly vowed that Zhang Chen would be the VIP guest of their "Super Interview" in the future, and he could cut in line anytime he wanted to be on the show.
……
On the other side, Dong Jianqiang was logging into the Internet to see if there was any impact.
Sure enough, someone has already posted on Mop.
'Hahahaha, this is so funny. Did you watch the "Super Interview" tonight? The director of "Dark Invasion" is such a wonderful person, with many golden sentences...
The most capable fighter in the entertainment industry...
With a plan in hand, the world is mine...
Be more confident and remove the "as if"...
The courage Liang Jingru gave you...
The man behind Zhang Yimou...
Hahaha, this guy is so funny, what should I do, I thought "Darkness Invasion" might be a bad movie, but now I'm suddenly curious and want to go and watch it...'
There are many such speeches. People are discussing this on Tianya, Mop, Baidu Tieba and other active websites.
Dong Jianqiang watched and suddenly realized that maybe this was not a bad thing, and it might turn out to be a good thing. He immediately called his subordinate and said, "Xiao Deng, after Zhang Chen appeared on Super Interview, the online discussion was very intense. Please guide it and try to make it more favorable to us. Maybe it will help the box office."
After hanging up the phone, Dong Jianqiang called the person who caused all this again, but the phone was still turned off.
Dong Jianqiang put away the phone, but he was muttering in his heart: "Zhang Chen is such a monster. He is already very good at making movies, and he also has such a sensitive antennae in publicity and promotion. Could he be God's biological son?"
……
Imperial Capital
Feng Xiaogang and his wife are also watching "Super Interview" at their home in Bauhinia Garden. Feng Xiaogang himself is a joke teller, so he naturally pays attention to drawing inspiration from similar programs.
"This Zhang Chen is pretty good. He's really outspoken. What he said about Zhang Weiping was really refreshing."
The first to speak was Xu Fan. As Mrs. Feng, she knew her husband very well.
Although my husband usually looks like a "little steel cannon" and criticizes this and that, he is actually quite sensitive.
When "Cell Phone" was released last year, Zhang Weiping criticized Feng Xiaogang for his "distorted humanity" and "dark psychology", but Feng Xiaogang did not respond. Now, someone finally vented their anger.
Although Feng Xiaogang didn't say anything, he felt extremely happy in his heart.
Finally someone came out to criticize that mad dog Zhang Weiping. Zhang Chen also did what he always wanted to do but didn't do. It would be great if the box office of "The Darkness" could beat "House of Flying Daggers". Unfortunately, he knew that was impossible as the size of the two films was too different.
Thinking of this, he felt a sense of connection with Zhang Chen.
Before Zhang Yimou's "Hero" came out, he had always been the most successful Chinese-language filmmaker. The media's evaluation of him was "In terms of understanding the pulse of Chinese audiences, Feng Xiaogang is better than Zhang Yimou."
Then, "Hero" came out of nowhere and with a box office of 2.5 million, it was not only the champion of the year but also the record holder. The box office of all Feng Xiaogang's movies combined might be this number.
Last year's "Cell Phone" had the best box office, but it was only 5300 million, far from 2.5 million.
……
At this moment, our client Zhang Chen is still sleeping soundly on the plane from Dayuan to Qin City. The roadshow is really tiring. On average, they have to go to six cinemas every day and travel between two to three cities. They have to start work as soon as they land. They can only seize any opportunity to catch up on sleep.
As soon as he landed in Qin City, Zhang Chen received a call from Lao Cao.
"Chenzi, someone came to your dormitory to discuss purchasing the DVD copyright. What should you do?"
"You can give him my phone number, but I'm busy with promotions lately and my phone is often unavailable. Or you can wait until I get back on Friday to talk..."
Not long after, Zhang Chen received a call from the other party.
The other party was an audio-visual culture company in Guangzhou. The two sides had a brief discussion and felt that it was okay, so they made an appointment to discuss it in detail on Friday.
Just after hanging up the phone, another call came in. It was also an unfamiliar number, and the caller ID showed that it was from Beijing.
Zhang Chen guessed that it was a call from a reporter, as he had already received several calls like this.
Call connected
"Hello, I'm Zhang Chen."
"Hello, Zhang Chen, I'm Wang Zhonglei from Huayi Brothers."
"Ah? Mr. Wang?" Zhang Chen was a little surprised.
"Yes, it's me."
"Uh, Mr. Wang, you are looking for me..."
Zhang Chen didn't understand why Wang Zhonglei suddenly called him, and then he heard a chuckle from the other end: "Nothing, just congratulations to Director Zhang on his debut film. I saw Dark Invasion, it's a rare good movie, and it also fills the gap in our domestic monster movies."
"Thank you, thank you~"
"Also, I want to get to know Director Zhang. We are all in the same circle, and maybe there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future. Is Director Zhang free tonight? Let's have dinner together?"
"Uh... Sorry, Mr. Wang, I'm on a roadshow in another city right now and won't be back in Beijing until Friday."
"How about Friday night? I'll arrange a place. Director Zhang, tell me the location. I'll send a car to pick you up then."
"Well, thank you for your hard work, Mr. Wang."
"No, no, see you then. I hope The Dark Invasion will be a big hit."
"Thank you Mr. Wang for your kind words. See you on Friday."
(End of this chapter)