Chapter 381: Pitfall 1
Chapter 381: Killing a Large Number of People
The bosses of various pirated copycat dens all know that it is easy to make money from the film and television works created by Fan Wumian.
Paramount underestimated his fame and actually placed the order in the mainland. This is like putting fish among a group of wild cats and expecting them not to steal the food.
The income from smuggling a DVD is equivalent to working on the assembly line for several years. There is always a brave man under a big reward. As soon as the sample was sent to the factory, it was copied and taken out within a few days.
These copycat dens may look down on Schwarzenegger's new movie, but they will not miss any opportunity to make money from Fan Wumian.
Even Jane Zhang's album "Yu Xi Tan" was strictly guarded. Fan Wumian had indeed blocked the financial path of too many people. Every time after he had finished eating the meat, he would only let them drink the leftover soup.
Over time, it is inevitable that people will hold a grudge against you.
Because of the mistake made by Paramount this time, countless shady production lines across the country were working at full capacity to burn "The Man from Earth", and even sold out the packaging boxes and blank CDs in many coastal markets.
If someone could do a rough calculation, they would find that they could burn millions of copies in just one day, and they were scrambling to supply them.
Many street stalls and audio-visual stores have already started putting "This Man From Earth" on the shelves in advance and selling it at high prices.
Worried that buyers didn’t know about this new movie, some counterfeit dens even paid out of their own pockets to make exquisite posters with words like “Fan Wumian’s blockbuster new film! The best Hollywood science fiction movie of 2006!” written on them.
Most DVD buyers don’t ask questions and really think they are paying for genuine products, or they think the movie has already been released to the public.
In many counterfeit dens, these two days are almost like the Chinese New Year, with truckloads of DVDs of "This Man From Earth" being shipped out.
Seeing that it sells particularly well, even though the prices of raw materials in the market have skyrocketed, many bosses are still busy increasing their inventory.
Some automated assembly lines imported from abroad can produce 30,000 to 40,000 copies a day, and all of the production capacity is allocated to the new works of Fan Wumian's company.
Anyone who knows a little about economics will find that there are considerable risks involved.
Unfortunately, they do not exchange what they have with each other, and wholesalers call everywhere to ask where the goods are, which makes many owners of counterfeit dens have the illusion that "as long as the products are processed, there will be no problem selling them."
In addition, most of the bosses of these dens only know how to focus on production, and do not know how to appreciate film and television works or evaluate their market prospects. After being blinded by the idea that Fan Wumian's new movie can make money, they are all busy joining the "money-grabbing competition."
If you have experienced the wave of mask production, you will find that those who sell machines make money, those who sell raw materials make money, and the terminal retail links also make a lot of money. However, many small workshops that process masks have suffered heavy losses.
Because they were unaware and were hiding from the regulatory authorities and playing guerrilla warfare, there was a lack of official organization and management. As a result, in just two days, these copycat dens scattered across the country produced a total of two to three million DVDs of "This Man From Earth". This number is still increasing crazily with every minute and every second.
In the following days, the total output exceeded 10 million, and the wholesale price plummeted.
Fochuan, Guangdong Province.
A small boss named Bao Dehui opened an audio-visual product processing factory in the village. On the surface, it seemed fine, but in fact, it could not receive any regular orders at all, and only processed counterfeit DVDs, albums, etc. in a low-key manner.
Many workers have no awareness of copyright at all. As long as the boss pays their wages on time, who cares whether the products are genuine or not? The village chief is Bao Dehui's father-in-law, and he praises his son-in-law for his ability to everyone he meets.
some days ago.
Bao Dehui heard from a friend that a new movie from Fan Wumian's company had been leaked, and it was a blockbuster co-produced with Hollywood, which had not yet been released in theaters.
He instantly smelled a business opportunity and contacted the wholesalers first. When he learned that they were looking for goods everywhere, Bao Dehui felt relieved.
Finally, he used two packs of cigarettes and 5000 yuan in cash to get the resources from his friend, and then he arranged for workers to start burning in three shifts.
Having suffered from the information gap, Bao Dehui thought he was quicker this time and he sold 7500 counterfeit DVDs the next day, earning a total gross profit of almost 9000 yuan.
He sold the goods to a wholesaler, and another old friend complained angrily, saying that if he had called and asked him a few questions, the profit on each order would have been 20 to 30 cents higher, and he could have taken whatever he wanted.
After hearing this, Bao Dehui felt itchy and without saying a word, he started production and stockpiled more than 60,000 tickets.
At this time, the outside world had already discovered that "The Man from Earth" was not that popular.
The mainstream media praised it crazily, saying that some judges of the Cannes Film Festival were obsessed with the film, saying that it "deliberately and boldly chose new actors and only shot the same scene indoors, allowing the audience to focus on the content of the conversation itself", "it is thought-provoking after watching it", etc.
The online reviews were extremely polarized, and even Fan Wumian's die-hard fans left comments saying
——"What the hell? I thought it was a sci-fi movie, with an old monster that lived for ten thousand years. I was excited for a moment, but then I was stunned."
Some people also wrote
——"The appraisal is complete. I advise you not to waste your time. This is completely different from the alien theme you imagined."
——"I finally know why it can't be released. Fan Wumian's box office miracle has come to an end."
——"Sorry for wasting my time, give me back the 20 yuan I spent on the disc!"
"."
Most people don't think it's a good idea.
There are also kind-hearted people in the fan base "Fan Wumian Bar" who advise the young ladies not to have high expectations, speculating that investing in such a movie is just for the purpose of winning awards, just like many mainland movies that are clearly out of touch with current reality.
Even on Tudou.com, a well-known UP host said that it "is tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away."
In the past, word of mouth drove sales, but this time, it was countless fans of Fan Wumian who kept persuading people around them not to watch the film, expressing their disappointment with "This Man From Earth."
His fans are generally young and cannot appreciate the charm of this new movie.
Fan Wumian, who had long seen through this, did not want to make money by cutting off fans, so he gave up on releasing the film to the public.
There are quite a few viewers who like this new movie, but compared with the number of viewers who don't like it, it seems a bit insignificant.
Under the influence of the wave of criticism against "This Man From Earth" in the mainland, it is no surprise that the DVDs that were just widely distributed are not selling well. At this moment.
Bao Dehui lived in the village and had not heard the news yet, so he called the wholesaler and asked:
"Brother Wei, I have made more than 6 copies of "This Man Came from Earth". What price can you offer? Otherwise, I will send someone to transport it away today. I have deposited more than yuan and need to pay others."
The man known as Wei Ge was surprised when he heard this: "You made more than 6 photos. Are you crazy?"
Bao Dehui was a little confused and asked, "Didn't you say last time that they are very easy to sell and you would take as many as you could get?"
".The market was like that at the time. Now everyone has enough goods and the prices are cheap. Let me tell you, I heard that the results of the Cannes Film Festival will be announced soon. If this movie wins an award, the situation may turn around, and then the goods you have will be valuable again."
Wei Ge knew that he had said the wrong thing a few days ago and was using the tactic of procrastination.
Bao Dehui's heart skipped a beat. He was a little suspicious of this old customer who was deliberately looking for an excuse to lower his price. He frowned and said:
"We are old acquaintances, so I'll give you a discount. My warehouse is almost full, and I can't get new materials in."
Wei Ge laughed awkwardly:
"It's not about the price. A big factory contacted me this morning. They have 44 copies in stock, all of which are from this movie. No one wants them now. Retailers say they can't sell them. It seems like Fan Wumian is not doing well. People online think it's not good."
".If you can't do it, what will I do with my hundreds of thousands of dollars? I've spent nearly 20 on the materials I bought at a higher price!"
".I can't do anything about it. I bought a large batch of them and they are all stuck with me. Don't worry. The film festival judges are very optimistic about this film, so it should be salvageable."
After listening.
Bao Dehui almost spat out a mouthful of blood, gritted his teeth and said with a dark face:
"Others said it was ugly, but the judges thought it was good. What's the point? How about I pack it all up for you at cost price?"
"It's a bit difficult. They've already lowered the price to 1 yuan per disc. No one wants to buy it even though it's a loss of 4 or cents. Hu Jian has a company that has millions of DVDs on hand. The loss is much greater than yours!"
Bao Dehui became even angrier after hearing this, and replied in a tough tone:
"Is it fun to compare misery? What's their strength? What's my strength? You are trying to kill me!!!"
"toot toot"
Before he could finish his words, Wei Ge hung up.
Everyone does business in a gray area, without signing a contract or paying a deposit, so if something goes wrong there is no one to look for.
In the past, when accepting orders, Bao Dehui would always collect a deposit.
The reason this time is an exception is that Fan Wumian's reputation is too stable. He has made several films in a row with box office revenues of over 100 million yuan in mainland China, which has led people to subconsciously believe in the quality of his works.
It’s not that “This Man From Earth” is a bad movie. The reason for the polarized reviews is mainly because it was not made for Asians at all.
The film explores religion, history, psychology, art, etc., briefly introducing an abridged version of the history of human civilization and testing the audience's ability to think through academic debates in the form of fireside chats.
The fact that the male protagonist claims that he is the historical "Jesus" is enough to attract countless European and American audiences to see what it is about.
I thought Fan Wumian was going to fail this time, but I didn't expect that I would be the first one to fail.
There are hundreds of "victims" with similar situations to Bao Dehui. Some wholesalers who have placed orders even chose to give up their deposits and run away in breach of contract, trying to stop losses in a timely manner.
In order to recover some of the losses, some counterfeit dens are desperately lowering their prices, while some bosses are unwilling to accept their fate and want to wait and see for a while.
at the same time.
With the slogan "The male protagonist claims to be Jesus", "This Man From Earth" was launched on Amazon's online shopping platform and sold tens of thousands of copies in just four or five days.
The Rotten Tomatoes rating has risen from the initial 72% to the latest 80%.
Many North American audiences commented that they were deeply inspired after watching the film, as if they were standing in the long river of time. It made them start to think about history and life, and shook their three views.
European and American audiences, especially Europeans, particularly like this, and it is no wonder that the judges of the Cannes Film Festival are particularly optimistic about it.
As for "Time Trap", it has a slightly stronger commercial nature, but it is still quite interesting under the skin of light science fiction.
Under Fan Wumian's guidance, they all modified some of the plots to make the whole story more exciting and complete.
The line in "This Man From Earth" - "I was once the leader of a primitive human tribe; I have also been to India and talked and laughed with the Buddha; I have traveled around the world with Columbus; I have sat and discussed philosophy with Van Gogh."
This classic line has been widely reported by European and American media.
Many times it is similar to "The Emperor's New Clothes". No matter whether some audiences can understand it or not, as long as the mainstream opinion outside praises it and says that it is profound and philosophical, people will naturally feel that not being able to understand it is actually their own problem and has nothing to do with the work.
The sudden rise to fame is, of course, inseparable from the help of Paramount's parent company, the world-class media oligarch Viacom Group. This company is very professional when it comes to marketing and promotion.
To be honest, Fan Wumian doesn’t really like “This Man From Earth” either.
I just remember that the peripheral copyrights were extremely profitable, and it was adapted based on the purchased copyrights of the original work. From writing the script to editing, he had no intention of getting involved in the whole process.
When a group of counterfeit den owners suffered a serious setback, Fan Wumian was in the Ritz Hotel in London, hugging Zuo Ziyan and chatting about some interesting things that had happened recently.
It's true that he's fickle, but he doesn't have any infatuation with anyone else. He's just more philanthropic.
The atmosphere is still very pleasant when getting along with Miss Zuo
(End of this chapter)