Chapter 489 Split up
Since the first half of this year, three film and television companies, namely, Star Pictures, Wanda Pictures and Light Media, and Disney have established a new animation film company.

Gu Wei made the decision to produce the company's first domestic animated film, "Devouring the Starry Sky", which was adapted from an online novel.

Gu Wei did not have any artistic pursuits for this animated film. He just wanted to entertain the public and make a name for domestic animated films.

Therefore, the Xingchen Film and Television version of "Devouring the Stars" has inherited some of the advantages of the original work very well, and the story content has hardly changed much. The male characters are handsome and the female characters are beautiful and attractive.

In terms of image quality, the goal is naturally to match the standards of Europe and the United States. As long as you are willing to spend money, animation production is not a technically difficult area.

The motion capture shooting of 3D animation is similar to that of special effects blockbusters.

The motion capture actor also wears a matte motion capture suit and has reflective spots attached to the joints according to the action requirements. The camera captures the movement trajectory of the light spots and transmits it to the computer software.

The software calculates the motion trajectory of the light spot, records it in the form of a point source, and then matches it to the corresponding skeleton model. Finally, the skeleton drives the model to move. At this time, the model and the motion capture actor can move synchronously. After the movement of the model is recorded, 3D animation can be produced after point source repair, animation interlacing repair, etc.

Therefore, in the entire animation production process, the work of the model group, animation group, and post-synthesis group is relatively boring, only the motion capture group is somewhat interesting.

.........

As the Lunar New Year holiday draws closer, there is still a fierce argument outside over the issue of profit sharing ratio.

After the first meeting organized by the General Administration broke down, 13 theater chains led by Wanda and New Film Association once again issued a joint statement: If the distributor insists on increasing the profit sharing ratio, these nine films will definitely not be released in major mainland theaters as scheduled.

The six major distribution and production companies also did not back down: if they did not agree, they would not supply the film.

Seeing this, the Film Bureau once again stepped forward and called on both sides to sit down and negotiate a solution. As a result, both sides simultaneously stated that they would not accept the negotiation.

The filmmakers, directors, and actors in the industry were all dumbfounded.

Oh my goodness! This is the first time that the Film Bureau’s proposal was rejected and didn’t work.

This year's event is many times bigger than last year's!

Because this means that the mid- and upstream parts of the film industry are simultaneously attacking the downstream theater chains.

Perhaps it was the repeated provocations that made him angry.

Originally everyone thought that the theater chain would continue to compromise just like it had done with Zhang Weiping, but this time everyone guessed wrong.

This time, the cinema chain took a very tough stance and firmly rejected the distributor's notice.

All major media outlets are paying close attention, and everyone in the industry is concerned.

For cinema chains, not all movies can make the whole pie bigger and achieve a win-win situation like Gu Wei's movies.

When it comes to splitting the profits of most movies, if you take one more bite, I take one less bite.

In order to facilitate the profit-sharing ratio, perhaps it is a plan to save it for the future.

Led by Feng Xiaogang of Huayi Company, and led by more than a dozen directors including Chen Kexin, Wang Jing, Lu Chuan, and Xu Ke, directors and producers in the industry have spoken out one after another, hoping that theaters will make concessions to ease the pressure brought about by the ever-increasing production costs.

The result is that everyone is ignored and gets no response, because the status is completely unequal, so what is there to respond to?
"What do these people think of us? Do they really think they can make us surrender by making a few remarks?"

Looking at the reports in the online news media, Ye Ning said with disdain.

"Fortunately, Director Gu did not participate. Otherwise, with the addition of those commercial directors from Xingchen Film and Television, the theaters below might really have surrendered." The person in charge of the New Film Association said thankfully, while at the same time wondering whether his previous persuasion had worked.

Hearing this, Ye Ning remained silent, thinking about the time when he and Lu Zheng discussed the new movie with Gu Wei some time ago.

After the filming of "The Wandering Earth" was successfully completed, Gu Wei naturally remembered what he had promised Lu Zheng.

So he brought in Ye Ning, Cheng Long and others to prepare to make a new movie together. The script of the movie was also an old wine in a new bottle, and the name was "New Police Story 2013".

The movie is derived from Jackie Chan's Police Story series of films, but the story background has been changed from Hong Kong Island to the Mainland. Judging from the content and ending of the movie, it has a bit of the meaning of a mainstream movie.

The talks between the three parties went very smoothly. Gu Wei planned to have Lu Yang direct this film, and the domestic Golden Shield Group was also included as an investor. This could be seen as a prelude to the Star Film and Television Company's future main theme films.

Ye Ning was naturally very happy that Wanda Pictures could participate, but at the same time he had some questions in his mind, so he asked them directly in front of everyone, "Director Gu, the issue of profit sharing has caused such a big stir. Now that our two companies are working together on a new movie, aren't you afraid that Chairman Han and the others will have objections?"

"Haha, differences are differences, cooperation is cooperation. We can't treat everyone like enemies just because of a little disagreement."

Facing Gu Wei's answer, Ye Ning was also secretly guessing that it seemed that Gu Wei was not very optimistic about the profit-sharing ratio, at least his attitude was not very tough.

……

In the circle, "Tiny Times", which has attracted the attention of a large number of netizens since the project was launched, has officially announced the start of filming.

It’s true, the film’s launch conference was of a very high standard. Although not many people from the industry participated, there were quite a few media representatives.

It's mainly the short "directors" who are very popular, and most of the topics are negative, such as plagiarism, showing off wealth, and having distorted values. There are countless examples. Many reporters come here with the mentality of collecting materials and topics.

Regardless of how the media reporters report and comment, people in the film industry are treating the upcoming "Tiny Times" movie as a joke.

"I think he is just pretending to be an elephant. If anyone can be a director, then what do we professional directors do?"

Jiang Wen's attitude remained tough. Even though he was busy with the script, he still responded with disdain.

Back to the start of filming, the publicity for this movie was quite high, but the level of the actors and artists invited was not high.

Among all the actors, Yang Mi was actually the biggest star. Some of the remaining actors were not famous at all. So all the media reporters turned their attention to Yang Mi.

"Mimi, you just left Star Media and took over the 'Tiny Times' series of movies. May I ask if Star Media negotiated for you to play the leading female role in this movie?" asked a reporter from Sina Entertainment.

Yang Mi smiled and responded, "Well, I am very grateful for the company's cultivation, but this movie is indeed not a resource provided by the company. It was Director Guo who first contacted me, and then I read the novel adapted into a movie and thought it was very good, so I finally decided to act in it."

Few other actors nearby paid attention to her, and the looks they gave Yang Mi were more or less filled with envy.

“As far as we know, before your contract with Star Media expired, Star Media revealed to the public that it wanted to renew the contract. But why did you suddenly choose to leave the company now?” the reporter from Sohu Entertainment asked immediately afterwards.

Upon hearing this question, the expressions on Yang Mi's and Zeng Jia's faces froze for a moment, but they then concealed it naturally.

"Well, leaving the film and television company and setting up personal studios is the choice of quite a number of people in the entertainment industry. We can only say that this is a major trend. I hope to cooperate more with major directors in the future. After all, I am the one who makes the decisions now." Yang Mi said with a smile. She and Zeng Jia had already discussed the words for these questions. They had to thank the company and emphasize that they were free now, so that the big directors in the industry would pay attention to them.

Afterwards, when the media continued to ask questions, Yang Mi just smiled and nodded, without saying anything else.

Seeing this, the reporters could not get any inside information, so they had to change the interviewer. Director Guo, who was both a director and a screenwriter, naturally became the focus of everyone at the scene. ………

Online, China Film Group released the latest news that this year's last imported co-production film, "Life of Pi," has been officially confirmed to be released during the Lunar New Year holiday and will compete with domestic blockbusters.

It has to be said that people are all realistic and selfish. When only rumors were circulating some time ago, Li An did not show up.

Now that things have been settled, Li An has come to the capital specifically to hold a film press conference.

Gu Wei and many big directors were invited to attend the event.

"I heard that the mainland producers and cinema chains are wrestling with each other. I wonder if there is any result?"

"They are both very tough and the situation is still at a stalemate. But Life of Pi is an imported film with a split revenue share, so we don't need to worry about these things."

Gu Wei said lightly, as the saying goes, good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles. Reid on the other side of the ocean called Gu Wei specifically to inquire about the news of the profit sharing.

This matter has spread to Hollywood and has been continuously reported by the media here. They all say that the Chinese are good at infighting.

Well, in addition to internal strife, there is xenophobia. Some media even criticized Han Sanping by name.

"My movie will be released on the 22nd, and there will be a premiere before the 20th. I hope Director Gu can spare some time to come and take a look and give me some guidance." Li An was very humble. After all, when he was filming in Hollywood, the name that the filmmakers there mentioned most was Gu Wei.

In other words, the box office of "2012" has already made the name Gu Wei completely recorded in film history, while Li An is still striving for this goal and is still a long way off.

This is also the fundamental reason why he maintains such a humble attitude in front of Gu Wei.

"Well, I will definitely come over when I have time, and then we can share our experience in Oscars public relations with each other."

Seeing Gu Wei's serious expression, Li An also agreed in a serious tone. After all, they both regarded the Oscars as a business.

.........

Although the distributors and cinema chains were arguing fiercely over the revenue sharing, the promotion of domestic films during the Lunar New Year holiday was still going on as usual, as if everyone had telepathy.

However, the uncompromising attitude of cinema giants such as Wanda, Jinhui, and New Film Association still makes people in the industry panic.

The situation this time seems to be somewhat different from last year, and it is not as simple as several issuing companies think.

At this point, simply maintaining a stalemate and uttering harsh words are obviously no longer enough.

So Ye Ning once again convened the theater representatives and held a meeting at Wanda Pictures.

"No matter what the final result is, we cannot back down this time. We are gathered here today to discuss how to make the producers give up on this idea."

As soon as he came up, Ye Ning set the tone for the meeting.

“In my opinion, in addition to our own cinemas, we should also bring in those small domestic cinema chains, and we should all sign a new agreement together to fight against the production companies.” The person in charge of Jinhui Cinemas suggested.

“It’s troublesome and time-consuming to negotiate with small cinema chains one by one. I think we should start with the film and television companies and create internal divisions among them.” The head of the New Film Association also proposed a solution.

"Why not agree to the tiered profit-sharing proposed by Huayi Company, but only limit it to a few domestic blockbusters, so as to avoid a big mess in the end."

"I think we should still distinguish between different people. For example, Director Gu's films are fine, but others need to be discussed. We can't just open this door directly."

In the conference room, many representatives brainstormed and put forward suggestions and opinions. Compared with the producers, they were truly united.

Seeing that no one could convince anyone else, everyone became a little excited and quarrels gradually broke out.

"Ahem, everyone be quiet." As soon as Ye Ning spoke, everyone couldn't help but look at him.

"Since everyone has their own ideas, let's split up. I will focus on Xingchen Film and Television Company, and the representatives of New Film Association will go and talk to Huayi Film Company. It would be best if we can reach an agreement privately. If the other party is willing to give up increasing the share of the profits, we can agree to compensate them in terms of the screening rate.

Representatives from Jinhui Cinemas focused on the remaining small cinema chains, and tried to bring them over to our side before China Film Corporation could react.

The remaining few companies continue to maintain a tough attitude toward the outside world.”

It must be said that Ye Ning's arrangements were well-organized. After everyone heard their tasks, they did not continue to gather together and chat, but got busy on their own.

.........

There has always been a coexistence of cooperation and competition among several major domestic film distribution companies. Even companies with good relationships like China Film Group and Bona Film Group have had box office battles.

For example, at the screening of "Legend of Tianmai" in 02, Yu Dong defeated a number of rivals including his old company China Film Group by guaranteeing the release of the film. As a result, China Film Group arranged for "Batman" to be released at the same time to snipe Bona.

Finally, Yu Dong had no choice but to go to the Film Bureau to coordinate, and finally China Film gave up a week of its schedule, allowing Bona to reclaim more than 2000 million in box office revenue.

However, that level of box office battle cannot be compared with this Lunar New Year box office.

One is a small-scale encounter, and the other is a protracted large-scale battle.

According to the prediction of Bona Film’s publicity and distribution department, this year’s Lunar New Year box office may become the most brutal Lunar New Year battle in history.

"Mr. Yu, according to our prediction, the competition time for this Lunar New Year period will most likely exceed 100 days, involving more than 30 production companies and dozens of films.

This has never happened in the entire history of Chinese-language films, and we should be prepared in advance." said the head of the publicity and distribution department.

"Well, tell me in detail about the situation of Huayi Company." Yu Dong was particularly concerned about his old rival.

"Huayi released three films during the Lunar New Year holiday, namely 11 on November 29, The Chinese Zodiac on December 12, and Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons on February 20.

"The Chinese Zodiac" is a film co-produced by Huayi and Xingchen Film and Television, and the other two are co-produced with China Film.

There are many companies involved in the investment and production of the film, including Shanghai Film Group and Ali Pictures, which have strong backgrounds.

After hearing the details, Yu Dong frowned, "It seems that the situation is not optimistic. Next, everyone should be prepared for a tough battle."

While Bona was discussing the Lunar New Year period, Huayi was also working with China Film Group on the publicity and promotion of 1942.

As for the Xingchen Film and Television Company, just like last time, they invited representatives from several TV stations to get together, and the product they promoted was naturally the long-completed "Eternal Sword".

.........

(End of this chapter)