Chapter 399 Box Office Share
In the office, Gu Wei sat on the sofa and drank a sip of tea. "Boss Ye, if you have something to say, just tell me!"

"Director Gu, you've heard about what happened recently with Zhang Weiping's new picture, right?" Upon hearing this, Wen Ming also spoke straight to the point.

"Yeah, I heard a little bit about it."

It's more than just hearsay. Zhang Weiping is simply shameless.

In the original time and space, this incident broke out in November, but now because "The Flowers of War" has changed its release date, the time has also changed, but it still happened.

This person first raised the ticket prices for "The Flowers of War", claiming that the price would have to be increased if more ingredients were added.

"'The Flowers of War' is the largest domestic film ever made. It is 2 hours and 25 minutes long, nearly an hour longer than the average domestic film. It is like a product with added ingredients. Of course, the price of a product with added ingredients will be increased."

This sudden move has made major cinema chains very uncomfortable. After all, the theaters have already started promotions and group buying activities for this movie. Now that the price has suddenly increased, the theaters' subsequent work has become very complicated.

Later, in order to increase the popularity of the movie, she wrote a script directly in the voice of the heroine: "I Acted in a Bed Scene with Bell."

This article went viral and topped the trending searches for a few days.

For this, Zhang Weiping is very proud. Who else but him could have used this publicity method? This one article saved a lot of publicity costs for "The Flowers of War".

But it was this person who only thought about himself that annoyed Zhang Yimou the most.

The sex scene between Christian Bale and Ni Ni in "The Flowers of War" was not in the script (Bale also said in an interview that he could not accept this sex scene), but Zhang Weiping insisted on filming it and also vigorously promoted this point in the publicity. The appearance of such an article has almost touched Zhang Yimou's bottom line.
Fortunately, Zhang Yimou made some amends later, otherwise Ni Ni would have become the first Zhang Yimou girl whose image collapsed before her movie was released.

Even so, netizens continued to criticize.

Jinling, what a serious and heavy topic. You, Zhang Weiping, actually brought up such a topic just for hype. And you are just a personal person?

Some netizens even concluded that the reason why "Curse of the Golden Flower" and "Three Guns" were so bad was entirely due to Zhang Weiping, who forced actors into the movie just to boost the box office. Now "The Flowers of War" is doing the same thing, and I'm afraid it will follow in the same footsteps.

Not only netizens, but also some directors and actors in the circle cursed him privately. It was only because Zhang Yimou had a big reputation that Zhang Weiping was afraid of the consequences, otherwise he would have been unable to survive in this circle long ago.

Then, Ye Ning's expression turned serious: "In fact, these publicity are just small matters. Now Zhang Weiping wants to increase the box office share from 43% to 45%.

Director Gu, we know that Xingchen Films is busy acquiring cinema chains recently and will definitely get involved in this field in the future, so we hope you can stay out of this matter this time."

"Mr. Ye, Xingchen Films is also a production company, and the next movie will have a huge investment..." Gu Wei didn't finish his words, as he believed that the other party would understand.

Of course Ye Ning also knew this, he was just afraid that Gu Wei was also standing behind the producer, and then the matter would be difficult to resolve.

After all, Wanda has also invested in Gu Wei's movies. Judging from the box office of "2012", the next movie is likely to achieve high box office.

High-grossing movies can make all the major domestic theater chains well-fed, and there is almost no resistance. If Gu Wei steps in, it will be difficult for the major theater chains to work together.

"Director Gu, Wanda and the other theater chains are of the same opinion this time. They will definitely not agree to the new image requirements. I hope you can give me some face."

"Mr. Ye, it's not that I don't give you face, but this matter is too big. I guess the General Administration will also get involved. We'll talk about it then." Gu Wei agreed to Ye Ning's request. He was not alone and needed to consider all aspects.

Furthermore, unlike Hollywood, domestic producers have almost no additional revenue other than box office revenue.

Even if there are in-film advertisements, it depends on the type of movie and the fame of the director. This time Zhang Weiping volunteered, and there are two distributors, China Film and Huaxia, behind him. If it really works, Gu Wei doesn't mind supporting the other party.

"Well, I guess it won't be long before the higher-ups hold a meeting to discuss this matter. We will never give in." Ye Ning was the first to express his attitude.

Hearing this, Gu Wei smiled and said nothing.

"Of course, no matter what the result is, the cooperation between Wanda and Xingchen Film and Television will not be affected. I hope Director Gu doesn't mind."

Seeing Director Gu's expression, Ye Ning didn't mention it anymore.

After chatting for a while, Gu Wei stood up and said goodbye.

...

As soon as Gu Wei came out of Wanda, his cell phone rang.

"Have you finished talking to Ye Ning?" Han Sanping's voice sounded on the phone.

"Mr. Han, you are not going to arrange someone to monitor me, are you? Wow, the timing is so accurate." Gu Wei made a joke.

"No need to guess, I know all of Ye Ning's thoughts. I won't say more. No matter what other production companies think, China Film Group will definitely support New Picture and stick with the theater chain to the end."

Han Sanping also expressed his attitude directly, and then mentioned "The Wandering Earth" intentionally or unintentionally, meaning that if it succeeds this time, you will also be a beneficiary, and maybe even the biggest beneficiary.

Anyway, Zhang Weiping is willing to be used as a gun, so it would be a waste if he is not used.

Both sides informed Gu Wei and their attitudes were very tough. It was obvious that neither of them would give in easily.

But Gu Wei knew that there was a general office above him, and no one could predict the final result. After hanging up the phone, Gu Wei did not go to the company, but went directly back to the villa. Going to the company was useless. Both sides had to form alliances, and it would take a few days for the trouble to break out. The good show had just begun.

After returning to the villa, the young lady was watching TV series, and Gu Wei talked to her about this.

"Are they really going to unite?"

Liu Yifei was very interested, but also found it a little unbelievable that there are more than 40 cinema chains in the country, which usually operate independently and each fights for its own business.

However, the cinema chains that Wanda has partnered with are all top-ranked companies, and their combined market share exceeds 60%.

“If the cinema chain is really successful, then wouldn’t “The Flowers of War” lose most of the domestic market?”

"Haha, Zhang Weiping is not a fool. On the contrary, he is smarter than a monkey. If he really wants to do something impossible, he will probably compromise. But the prerequisite is that he needs to bring up the matter in order to attract most of the firepower."

"Then we can use their proposal to make demands on the theater chain, right?"

Liu Yifei glanced at Gu Wei and said with a smile.

"Neither side will unite. Now that the truth has come out, it depends on which side can hold out to the end. But the producers cannot lose this time. If the eight major cinema chains succeed in banning The Flowers of War, mainland film production will suffer a huge blow."

To be honest, Gu Wei was not very satisfied with the domestic profit sharing ratio, as the producers did not get much.

From determining investment, establishing a project, shooting to releasing a movie, the producer is naturally the one who bears the greatest risk. The theater chain cannot be said to be just reaping the benefits, but it does not contribute much either.

Mainland box office revenue is also divided into several parts.

After the movie box office comes out, taxes must be paid first. The "tax" refers to the value-added tax, which is 3.3%, and the "fund" refers to the special fund for the film industry, which is 5%.

After deducting taxes, 91.7% of the box office revenue is the share of box office revenue that can be distributed among the parties, namely the share of box office revenue.

Although the subsequent publicity and promotion costs can be advanced by the distributor, the money will eventually be deducted from the box office.

Under normal circumstances, the film producer can only distribute between 30% and 40% of the box office revenue, and the cost can only be recovered if the total box office revenue reaches three times the production cost.

In Hollywood, producers can get 60% to 80% of the box office revenue. The problem can be seen from this ratio alone. For a movie, they can make a profit if the box office exceeds twice the cost, while in China, the minimum is three times.

Such a huge gap is also one of the reasons for the abnormal development of the mainland film industry.

……

On December 12, the box office of "7" finally fell below 2012 million yuan.

The box office exceeded 800 million in seven days, and the most important first week of the Lunar New Year holiday has ended. The box office results will definitely drop sharply in the following period, but this result has already made the media report it crazily.

In addition to the domestic market, box office in North America and other regions is also increasing rapidly. It has now exceeded one billion US dollars and is still rising wildly.

It may be a fluke that "Interstellar" broke the billion global box office, but together with "2012", the two films are enough to demonstrate the strength.

In terms of status and prestige, domestic media have reported that Gu Wei has surpassed Zhang Yimou and is now ranked number one director in China.

“In terms of awards, Yimou is the leader, and the others still need to catch up.”

Media reporters discovered that this time Zhang Weiping had actually changed his temperament. In the past, when someone reported similar incidents, they would inevitably be criticized by the other party.

But this time the tone was not so aggressive.

It's exciting to think that a movie has grossed over 1 billion US dollars at the global box office before it's even halfway through its release! Unfortunately, only China Film Group and Wanda can get a piece of the pie, which makes many filmmakers envious and jealous.

Gu Wei did not respond to the online media reports. No matter whether he is ranked first or second, it is never enough to just brag a few words and expect others to praise him.

In the end, it’s the work that speaks for itself.

In the next few days, Gu Wei kept an eye on the box office while attending two interviews with Liu Yifei, Cheng Long, Huang Xiaoming and others, and also accepted some interviews from media reporters.

However, what surprised the young lady was that neither the interviewer nor the reporters asked about the conflict between the producer and the theater chain.

"Is this matter going to end?"

"How is that possible? I guess they've been discussing it privately, but no one has revealed it yet."

According to the information he received, listed companies such as Huayi, Bona, and Guangxian will basically participate in this.

These companies also represent the vast majority of the production forces in the industry today. The rest are small and medium-sized companies that cannot play a decisive role.

(End of this chapter)