Chapter 40 Zhang Chen Becomes Famous
Chapter 40 Zhang Chen Becomes Famous
This is my first time writing about Chinese entertainment, and I’m groping along. I seem to have hit a toxic point in the last chapter, and I’ve revised it. Now I seem to have a better idea of how to write it.
……
The next morning, Zhang Chen went to see Dong Jianqiang as usual. He and Dong Jianqiang were truly in love recently, and they met more frequently than Dong Jianqiang and his wife.
When we arrived at the agreed coffee shop, Dong Jianqiang was already there. As soon as we met, he handed him a form.
"what is this?"
"The box office trend of "The Dark Invasion" this week. After investing so many resources, it finally has some effect. Our conservative estimate of this week's box office is more than 2400 million..."
Looking at the red numbers on the chart, Zhang Chen understood that the other party was trying to take credit for it and told him that Guangguang had put a lot of effort into promoting the film.
But Zhang Chen came here today not only to see this, he had other things to do.
"Can you please discuss with your CEO Wang and let me settle the bill first after the movie is off the shelves?"
"What's wrong? Are you in urgent need of money?"
"Not really, I just want to hurry up and start the next one."
"Have you thought of the next one? What's the subject matter?"
"It's still the same type, so it can be considered a sequel."
"A series? Okay, I'll mention it to Mr. Wang, it should be no problem."
Zhang Chen hoped that Guangxian could advance his share of the box office revenue. Dong Jianqiang felt that according to Wang Changtian's idea of making friends with Zhang Chen, this small favor should be no problem.
Theoretically, the cinema will settle with the distribution company one month after the film is released, and then the distribution company will settle with the producer. But this is not absolute, the cinema often delays, sometimes even for half a year.
Zhang Chen can't wait that long. All he wants is to get the money as soon as possible and start his second movie.
……
Since the broadcast of "Super Interview" on Wednesday, the box office of "Dark Invasion" has risen again, reaching its peak over the three days of the weekend.
In the second week and seven days, "The Dark Knight" grossed a total of 2600 million, 200 million more than expected. Combined with the 1980 million from the first weekend, the total box office has reached an astonishing 4280 million in ten days of release so far.
It's a big hit, a huge hit for sure. Guangxian has announced that it will hold a celebration party on Tuesday and will invite media outlets with good relations to attend.
In the distribution department of Enlight Pictures, Dong Jianqiang's team finally got some pride.
The two managers usually fought overtly and covertly for the vacant position of director. Strictly speaking, Dong Jianqiang and his team were always at a disadvantage.
Unexpectedly, they were so successful this time, and made a low-budget movie into a benchmark, which was equivalent to directly pinning the other group to the ground.
Everyone in the group is very happy. The box office of "The Dark Knight" has reached 4280 million and it hasn't been taken off the screen yet. The final box office is expected to be between 5500 and 6000 million. Even if they do nothing in the second half of the year, they will still receive a bonus.
The happiest person was Dong Jianqiang. President Wang made it clear that he was the main contributor to the success of "The Dark Invasion" and the personnel appointment would be announced after the celebration banquet.
By that time, when people see him, they will no longer call him Manager Dong, but Director Dong.
But they don't have much time left, as "House of Flying Daggers" will be released next Friday, and they only have five days left.
In fact, "The Darkness" is already invincible. With 4280 million box office, it may not be among the top five of the year, but it will definitely be in the top ten. But who would complain about making too much money?
Although the next five days are not weekends, it is summer vacation now. With proper publicity, it should be no problem to get a box office of more than 10 million.
So Guangxian announced that it would hold a celebration banquet on Tuesday.
What is a celebration banquet? It is actually a disguised form of publicity.
In an office, Zhang Weiping was watching the replay of "Super Interview" on TV with a grim face.
In the past two days, he has a new nickname - the man behind Zhang Yimou.
Make him a laughing stock in the circle.
He has never cared much about his face, but that doesn't mean he would allow a newcomer to ridicule him like this.
In the past few days, I don’t know how many reporters have contacted him, wanting to interview him.
If it were any other time, he would have been overjoyed, as this would be equivalent to giving "House of Flying Daggers" free publicity.
But this time he rejected them all.
Because he knew that during the interview, the reporter would ask him how he was going to respond. How would he respond? He couldn't respond.
Although Zhang Chen mocked him to the utmost, every point he made hit his vital points.
The man behind Zhang Yimou? He couldn't defend himself, because his past had already been exposed by those who were curious about it.
After losing money on the investment in "If You Are the One", Zhang Yimou chose to continue working with him out of guilt, which led to the New Picture Company's current status.
It can be said that the reason he dared to speak so loudly was all because of Zhang Yimou. What else could the man behind Zhang Yimou be called if not Zhang Yimou?
As for the 2.8 million investment and Andy Lau's 1000 million US dollars salary, this matter does not stand up to scrutiny.
It's just bragging and publicity, no one takes it seriously, everyone does it this way.
But Zhang Chen suddenly appeared and kept making a fuss about this point, and Zhang Weiping really didn't know how to respond.
Unable to do anything on a personal level, Zhang Weiping prepared to attack the opponent in the movie.
It is unlikely that the release date of "House of Flying Daggers" will be advanced, but the premiere can be moved forward. Since Guangguang announced that it will hold a celebration banquet on Tuesday, Zhang Weiping also chose Tuesday. Let's see who will have more exposure.
You want to promote it, right? I just want to suppress the enthusiasm of your promotion.
……
"Brother Zhang..."
"Hello, Senior Brother..."
When Zhang Chen walks around campus now, he is often greeted by his younger classmates.
These two days, he felt like he had become a hot commodity.
All the teachers and students in the school know that Zhang Chen, a sophomore directing student, has become famous. He became famous not because he made a hit movie, but because such things happen too often in Beijing Film Academy and are not considered news at all.
He became famous because of the golden sentences he said to Zhang Weiping in "Super Interview".
Be more confident and remove the "as if"...
Zhang Yimou is the best fighter in the circle...
With a plan in hand, the world is mine...
The courage Liang Jingru gave him...
I really don't know how this guy came up with this.
The school leaders also met with him one by one, including the department head, grade director, vice-president, and principal...
The school leaders even acted as lobbyists, responsible for mediating the conflict between him and Zhang Yimou. After all, they were both from Beijing Film Academy.
Zhang Chen quickly said, I really have no opinion on Director Amou, what I can't stand is the guy named Zhang Weiping behind him.
The school leaders burst into laughter.
The school wants him to give a speech because Zhang Chen is very famous now due to the broadcast of "Super Interview".
But Zhang Chen did not agree. He was not yet arrogant. How could he dare to give a speech at the Beijing Film Academy? He only agreed to hold a Q&A session within the directing department to help his classmates answer some problems encountered in the actual process of directing movies.
The most frequently asked question by students at the Q&A session was actually how to attract investment. It seems that everyone’s pain points are the same as Zhang Chen’s back then.
But he really couldn't give much advice in this regard, and could only praise the coal boss a lot.
"If you are short of investment, you can find coal bosses. They are the best investors, generous and never interfere with film and television creation. Apart from having some ideas about actresses, they have no other requirements."
"Why don't you interfere with film and television production? Because people working in coal mines generally have a strong sense of safety. They believe that professional matters should be left to professionals. If you give orders recklessly, people will die..."
Zhang Chen swore that he was just saying it casually, but he didn't expect that the words would spread out.
The next day, someone compiled Zhang Chen's answers and posted them on the campus forum, which caused a sensation.
Many students in the directing department took Zhang Chen’s words as their guiding principle, and invisibly helped promote the new company of Mr. Li.
(End of this chapter)