Chapter 411 Harsh Conditions

The first shot of the Spring Festival period started with the release of "Legend of the Hongmen Banquet".

Led by Wang Jinghua, many celebrity artists under the 18th Company are cheering for this movie.

As Tong Liya's first big-budget movie starring her, she posted several Weibo posts in one day to help promote the movie.

"The Banquet" has attracted much attention since the project was launched, and the cast is even more powerful. The first day of its release is the time to witness its achievements.

As an artist of his own company, Gu Wei also took time out to attend the premiere. Before the release, he posted a Weibo to promote Tong Liya.

With Gu Wei taking the lead, many celebrities in the industry also took action and promoted the campaign on their respective Weibo accounts.

The cinema chain also gave enough face. After all, it was the first blockbuster released during the Spring Festival, and the screening rate of nearly 30% on the first day was already very high.

As for the box office on the first day, we have to look at the data on the second day. As for the subsequent box office, that depends on the quality and reputation of the movie itself.

……

After several days of negotiations, Gu Wei, Durrant, Harvey and others also entered a stalemate stage.

The main reason was that Gu Wei proposed too many conditions, including premium investment, the requirement that the cooperating company help with promotion and distribution when Gu Wei's next domestic film was released in North America, an agreement to release the film in no less than 600 theaters, and even that Gu Wei planned to set up an animation film company in China, invite Disney and DreamWorks to join, and the two sides share animation film production technology, etc.

For the Big Six in Hollywood, who are used to taking advantage, any one of these conditions would be like cutting into their flesh, let alone all of them added together.

"Gu, the essence of cooperation is mutual benefit and win-win, but your conditions, let alone us, no Hollywood film company would agree to them.

To be honest, Gu, you are a little too greedy. "Darrant said this with gritted teeth.

Gu Wei sneered secretly and thought to himself, "These foreigners are really hypocritical. I don't believe you can give up the box office temptation brought by the Frozen series." But he said, "The first global box office of Frozen has exceeded 1 billion US dollars, and it has a very good reputation. I believe you have also done research in this regard.

In my expectation, the investment in the second part will reach 1.5 million US dollars, with Disney investing 30 million US dollars and obtaining a % share.

Even if the premium is 1500 million US dollars, Disney’s earnings after the film is released may be ten times that amount…”

As Gu Wei talked, Durrant's expression gradually became serious.

It is precisely because Disney has made predictions and inferences in this regard that the meeting between the two parties today took place. However, Durrant is a genuine businessman at heart, and striving for maximizing profits is one of the basic qualities of a successful businessman.

"Gu, even if Disney can accept a premium investment, it is impossible to sign a release agreement for your next film and share animation film production technology. The company's directors will not agree to it." At this moment, Darrant was already hesitant because of what Gu Wei said.

"How do you know it won't work if you don't try? If this contract can bring them tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, I think they will also consider these conditions carefully." Gu Wei continued to induce.

"Okay, I will report these conditions to the head office, and the final decision will be made by them. I am just an employee serving the boss."

Durrant spread his hands, smiled bitterly, and said self-deprecatingly.

"Haha, Durrant, whether it succeeds or not, stay in the capital for a few days. Reid will take you around."

Gu Wei laughed out loud, and Reid beside him echoed him.

After negotiating the conditions with Disney, Gu Wei did the same to the other two companies. Faced with such harsh conditions, Harvey couldn't help but back off. As for the representative of DreamWorks, his words were similar to those of Durrant, saying that he would report it to the president and let them decide.

In contrast, Gu Wei smiled slightly, not in a hurry at all.

In this year's North American film market, the annual box office champion is none other than the well-known "2012". Its cumulative box office has exceeded 8 billion US dollars and is still increasing, leaving the second place far behind.

The industry is mostly envious and jealous of the global box office success of "2012".

But movie fans, especially netizens, are extremely excited. According to the current box office growth rate of "2012" in the global market, it is very likely to break the record set by "Avatar".

Not only domestic netizens, but also Warner Bros. felt a surge of adrenaline when they thought of this. They mobilized the media and constantly recommended "2012" to people around them, wishing that everyone would check the box office results several times a day.

In this way, "2012" continued to reap box office revenue and break records in an overwhelming manner.

The fastest global revenue broke through 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, the fastest through 2 billion U.S. dollars, and the fastest through 2.1 billion U.S. dollars...!
What’s even more exciting is that every time “2012” achieves a certain achievement, Warner and Universal will update the poster!
The poster that broke 1.9 billion was Liu Yifei’s single poster, the 2 billion was Jackie Chan’s poster, the 2.1 billion was Nicole Kidman, and the 2.2 billion was Matt Damon.

Global box office records are constantly updated, and so are the posters.

At this moment, Warner Bros. regrets that there are too few protagonists in the movie, and even if they try to refresh the box office later, it won’t be enough.

"If a single person is not enough, we can use a combination. When the combination is used up, print Gu's photo on the poster." Mike made a suggestion at the Warner publicity meeting.

It’s true, this suggestion was unanimously approved by everyone.

Online, "2012" has received continuous positive reviews, but the movie's box office performance was refreshed too quickly, which made many netizens feel sorry for the film's art designers.

As time went by, the box office of "2012" in mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia soared to the point where even some foreigners were terrified.

As for Disney, seeing how popular "2012" was, they privately calculated how much profit Warner could make this time. They were shocked when they calculated.

No one can resist money. Seeing Warner making big bucks, Disney softened its attitude after discussion and could no longer maintain its high-handed attitude, so they started fighting openly and secretly.

.........

On the other hand, the first day box office of "The Legend of Hongmen Banquet" came out.

"The historical blockbuster "Legend of the Hongmen Feast" grossed 20 million yuan on the first day of the Spring Festival, making a great start!"

"The box office revenue on the first day exceeded 20 million, and the daily box office revenue of The Banquet is expected to continue to rise in the spring season."

Online, the media reported the story extensively. Sina, Penguin, Sohu, etc. were all optimistic about the box office of "The Legend of the Hongmen Feast". After all the hype, the director and producer also became arrogant.

"Legend of the Hongmen Feast" is in no way inferior to previous domestic blockbuster films. We are confident that it can compete with any other film released during the Spring Festival."

Unlike the media's optimism about the box office, the online reviews are a bit bad.

Qi Lingyun: "This movie is about the Hongmen Banquet. Do you know what the Hongmen Banquet is? The Hongmen Banquet is a meal eaten at Hongmen. If you don't know how to film the Hongmen Banquet, you must have seen the Night Banquet! It's a dinner party, and you have to eat. If you don't know how to film it, why don't you learn it! This outrageous drama has hit my fragile nerves hard. Who can tell me why the Hongmen Banquet not only had no wine and meat, but also had to be so literary (Zhang Liang and Fan Zeng played chess, and it was blind chess, and it was five games)? It would be fine if it was so literary, but why was it so bloody (there was blood everywhere at the Hongmen Banquet, I don't even want to say it)? Is this the fucking Hongmen Banquet?"

Min Minran was like everyone else: "This movie is so bad, they even designed a scene between Yu Ji and Liu Bang, which is hard to explain. What kind of fucking relationship is this?"

Xingchen Tianxuan: "I've heard that the Hongmen Banquet is full of gay love, and it seems to be a bit interesting. After all, there are more men in the film, and there are more gossips. But when you see Xiang Yu looking at Liu Bang with red eyes, do you hate him to the point of jealousy, or pity him to the point of wanting to cry?" Mrs. Crown: "The story and plot are a hodgepodge, a pot of stew. This is not a serious historical film, but an imaginary history. Has the director ever taken a history class?"

The points that netizens complained about the most are still those few.

Hong Kong directors have never gotten the costumes and props right when shooting historical themes, and they can never shoot large-scale war scenes well. Either they look like gang fights or they are extremely awkward.

The plot of "The Legend of the Hongmen Banquet" has a bad ending. In the second half, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang both became marginal figures.

Tong Liya couldn't hide her excitement when she learned about the first day's box office, but after she read the reviews of "The Banquet", her expression became more and more ugly.

"Yaya, don't be anxious. This is only the first day, and the box office is pretty good. These negative reviews could all be from competitors smearing us. Many of them are also groundless and unfounded."

When the young assistant saw Tong Liya's look, he couldn't help but comfort her.

"Alas, I didn't think there was a problem when I was filming it. Now that I've seen the comments, to be honest, there's nothing wrong with what netizens say!" Tong Liya was also extremely sober at this moment.

For an actor, it takes a long time to recover from making a bad movie. At this time, Tong Liya didn't know how to deal with it.

I picked up the phone and wanted to call Director Gu to ask him something, but when the words came to my lips, I didn't know how to start.

At the same time, Gu Wei made a dinner appointment with Hu Ge, who sent the invitation.

The location is a private restaurant not far from the Xingchen Film and Television Company. The food here is delicious and it is also Liu Yifei's favorite.

When we got there, we found that Hu Ge had brought someone with him.

"Director Gu, I'm sorry I didn't say hello to you beforehand.

Tang Yan has been filming in the capital recently. After the crew finished filming, we were going to go back to Shanghai together. But before we left, I wanted to treat you to a meal, so I brought her along. " Seeing Gu Wei's puzzled look, Hu Ge immediately explained.

"It's okay." Gu Wei smiled and waved his hand to show that he didn't mind.

"Hello, Director Gu, I'm Tang Yan." Tang Yan on the side immediately stretched out his hand and shook hands with Gu Wei.

"Hello, I've seen the role you played in The Legend of Sword and Fairy. Your acting was pretty good."

"Really? Thank you Director Gu for the compliment." Tang Yan said happily after receiving the praise from the great director.

A few people ordered the restaurant's specialty dishes and started chatting while eating.

In the private room, Gu Wei watched Hu Ge talking and laughing, and making jokes from time to time, as if he had completely come out of the shadow of the car accident.

It was just a faint scar at the corner of his eye, and there was still a mark left, which looked somewhat obvious.

Most of the time, it was Gu Wei and Hu Ge who were talking, with Tang Yan occasionally interjecting.

As they were talking, Hu Ge mentioned some recent events that happened at Tangren Film and Television. Upon hearing this, Gu Wei knew that the sex scene was coming, but he just glanced at Tang Yan slightly, somewhat confused, thinking that this was a bit inappropriate for the occasion.

Seeing this, Hugo also reacted, "I talked to Tangtang about this. As a friend, she also supports my decision."

"Well, have you thought about it?" Gu Wei nodded without comment and asked directly.

"Well, thank you Director Gu for giving me this opportunity. After I go back this time, I will explain it clearly to President Cai..." It can be seen that Hu Ge seemed to have made an important decision. After he finished speaking, he relaxed completely.

"Don't worry about the penalty for breach of contract, I..." Gu Wei knew Cai Yinong's character, so he said some words in advance.

"Director Gu, you don't have to worry about the penalty for breach of contract. I will talk it over with President Cai." Hu Ge said in a serious tone.

"Haha, okay, feel free to contact me if you have any questions." Gu Wei knew that Hu Ge was Cai Yinong's darling. If he poached him directly this time, the other party would definitely react. However, he did not take Cai Yinong, or the entire Tangren Film and Television, seriously. After all, the two sides were not opponents of the same level.

Faintly, Gu Wei saw the envious look in Tang Yan's eyes, "Hu Ge's purpose of bringing her here, could it be that he wants to get Tang Yan to join Xingchen Film and Television together?" Gu Wei guessed secretly in his heart. He didn't dislike Tang Yan. In his impression, this person has always been the representative of silly and sweet. Maybe he has played too many roles of this type, and his image is a bit fixed.

Speculations are always just speculations. Even in front of Hu Ge, Gu Wei would not take the initiative to invite Tang Yan to join. After all, the relationship between the two parties has not reached that stage yet.

After the dinner, Hu Ge took Tang Yan away and returned directly to the Magic City, while Gu Wei would wait until the other party had resolved the matter before announcing the matter to the public.

...

As time goes by, new movies are constantly released in the circle.

On the 5th, the much-anticipated domestic blockbuster "The Flowers of War", which was said to be the largest investment, was released.

This benefited from the previous publicity, hype, and the reputation of the national master Zhang Yimou.

All major cinemas can be described as crowded, with more than 50% of the screenings scheduled for this movie, and the screening rate for some cinemas is even close to 70%.

The cinema was packed with people, it could only be described as packed.

The next day, production companies and filmmakers in the industry were paying attention to the film’s first-day box office.

"The Flowers of War won the box office championship on the first day, earning 3400 million yuan a day!"

The film industry breathed a sigh of relief after seeing these statistics, as these are the box office statistics that domestically released films should have.

Think about it, when "2012" was released, the daily box office exceeded million yuan for consecutive days, which was really scary. However, as a top domestic director, this work of Zhang Yimou is relatively normal.

“That’s right. No matter how strong you are, there has to be a limit. Otherwise, if one movie dominates the market, it won’t give other people a chance to compete.” A filmmaker in the industry said.

The next day, "The Flowers of War" earned 3450 million.

On the third day, it achieved a daily box office of 3550 million.

The continuous rise made Zhang Weiping feel a little relieved.

God knows how he felt when he saw these data on the first day. Considering that "The Flowers of War" had a guaranteed box office of 1 billion, these box office revenues were not enough at all.

You know, the scene of his disagreement with Zhang Yimou at the previous premiere has been widely reported by the media. He is now counting on this movie to make some money. If this movie fails at the box office, Zhang Weiping will lose everything.

(End of this chapter)