Chapter 498 Huayi’s Dilemma

In the circle, when the box office of "Lost in Thailand" exceeded 300 million.

"Special Identity", directed by Wu Ershan and starring Zhao Wenzhuo, Wu Jing, Jing Tian, ​​Zou Zhaolong, Yu Bo, Zhang Jin, Yang Junyi and others, announced that it has been completed.

Unfortunately, the entire film industry was focusing on Lost in Thailand at the time. Even though the media reporters gave it a lot of coverage, they still failed to attract the audience's attention.

Huairou Film and Television Base.

The crew of "Parasite".

Starting from the end of November, Zhang Yimou's filming progress slowed down.

This is not Zhang Yimou's own problem, because several actors in the crew took leave to participate in the promotion of his movie.

For example, Yuan Quan starred in the movie "Great Shanghai" invested by Bona, and needed to go to Singapore to attend the movie premiere.

Cheng Long also urged Liu Yifei to do publicity and promotion for "The Chinese Zodiac".

As for the TV series "Eternal Sword" starring Zhao Liying, the broadcast time agreed with various satellite TV stations is the 20th, and she needs to take time out to appear on talk shows to promote it well.

Zhang Yimou didn't have much of an opinion about people constantly leaving and rejoining the crew. After all, he had been in the entertainment industry for so many years and this kind of thing was very common.

You can't just put everyone under house arrest and cancel all announcements just for the sake of your movie.

.........

In a large conference room of Huayi Film Company.

Representatives from six film companies, including Huayi, China Film, Bigo, Ali, Weixiu and Anle, which produced "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", gathered together to discuss the promotion and marketing of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons".

As for "1942", it has basically been abandoned by Huayi Company. Unless a miracle happens, this movie is doomed to lose money.

As for "The Chinese Zodiac", when the release date was initially scheduled, Jackie Chan rejected Gu Wei's proposal and focused on the Lunar New Year schedule. Now, if he is asked to postpone the release date again, the other party will not be able to save face.

Moreover, Jackie Chan is also confident about his work. Even though "Lost in Thailand" crushed "1942" and "The Banquet", in terms of box office appeal, there is a gap between Liu Yifei and Jackie Chan in the entertainment industry.

Otherwise, Liu Yifei wouldn't have taken a week off and went on roadshows with Jackie Chan.

So far, the effect seems to be good, and the influence of the two together is quite similar to the momentum before the release of "2012".

On the other hand, upon hearing Wang Zhonglei's proposal, the representative of Bigo Group looked uneasy and spoke directly: "On behalf of Mr. Zhou Xingchi, I would like to reiterate that the release date of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was set on January 1th. It was agreed upon by everyone when we sat together. The purpose is naturally to occupy the two major schedules of the Lunar New Year and the Spring Festival, and to set a new domestic film box office record.

The promotional slogans have already been released, and you suddenly tell me that the release is going to be postponed?"

Wang Zhonglei suppressed his anger and said, "Yes, Mr. Yu, the previous schedule was discussed by everyone. But now the market situation has changed, and we must adapt to the new situation. We can't just see a wall in front of us and force ourselves to hit it."

Bigo Group's CEO Yu sneered, "The new situation, are you talking about the fact that Lost in Thailand has swept all the movies in the same period and dominated the Lunar New Year period?"

Wang Zhonglei shook his head and said, "Yes, what I want to say is that Xingchen Films' Lost in Thailand will most likely get a one-month extension key. We must avoid their attention and release it later."

Mr. Yu, the representative of Bigo, said with a smile: "When you say delayed release, do you mean postpone it for more than 20 days, so that Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons will be released in early February, before Chinese New Year's Eve?

Mr. Wang, have you considered the impact of the Spring Festival travel rush during this period of time? "

Mr. Wang was speechless. He just felt that "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" should not compete head-on with the popular "Lost in Thailand", and that releasing it 20 days later would also allow the release time of this movie to be completely staggered with that of "Chinese Zodiac".

Regarding the Spring Festival travel rush, I was really too hasty and careless.

Wang Zhongjun coughed and said, "We are all considering the box office prospects of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons. We can discuss it if there is anything!"

Representatives from several other companies also took the opportunity to say some nice things.

The representative of Bigo Company was not grateful and sneered, "Boss Wang, Huayi Company is the major investor in the movie Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, and you are also responsible for the distribution in the mainland. If you really want to change the release date, we can't stop you."

At this point, he changed his tone and continued, "However, if Huayi really wants to avoid a box office war with Xingchen Films and disregards the interests of other partners and insists on postponing the release date, if something unexpected happens in the middle, it will disappoint all of our partners!"

Several other companies expressed their opinions, saying that since the release date had already been announced, and it was only because of the excuse that "Lost in Thailand" might be postponed, it would not be a good idea to adjust the release date again, and the box office would definitely be affected during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Originally scheduled for January 1, it would be affected by the first half of the Spring Festival travel rush. If it is postponed, the release period of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" will cover the entire Spring Festival travel rush, which would have a huge impact on the box office.

Wang Zhonglei was speechless after being rebuked, and seeing this, President Wang didn't want to force the progress, so the meeting ended in a bad mood.

Back in the chairman's office, Wang Zhonglei just sat down on the sofa and said angrily: "None of these guys can understand our difficulties!"

Wang Zhongjun sat down opposite him and said while brewing Kung Fu tea: "I can understand, but the standpoints are different. For them, it's just about the release date of the film they invested in. How can they consider it from our standpoint?

But for Huayi, it needs to rely on the two films "Chinese Zodiac" and "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" to save its life. There is no need to worry about "Chinese Zodiac". With Cheng Long and Liu Yifei supporting it, the box office will definitely not be too bad. "

Wang Zhonglei thought for a moment and said, “But if the release date of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is not postponed, once Lost in Thailand is successfully postponed, with the momentum of the Lunar New Year holiday and the two films by Bona, the box office performance will be unpredictable!”

Although many viewers online are now looking forward to the release of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", there are many fans shouting that they owe Stephen Chow a movie ticket, but before the box office results come out, who can guarantee that the fans are not just talking nonsense?
Wang Zhongjun frowned slightly, "But if we postpone the release of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, we still have to keep a certain time difference with Chinese Zodiac, so it has to cover the Spring Festival travel period.

It is scheduled to be released on January 1th. Although it is the tail end of the Lunar New Year period, it is possible to dominate the entire Spring Festival period and achieve a good box office, but it will also face the possibility of delaying the release of Lost in Thailand. "

Wang Zhonglei was shocked and sighed, "It's difficult, too difficult. There's the Spring Festival travel rush in between, so it's not cost-effective no matter which choice we make."

Wang Zhonglei's expression suddenly changed, and he said in a deep voice: "Since we can consider the issue of postponement, Bona will not ignore it.

In order to keep a time gap with Lost in Thailand and avoid the first half of the Spring Festival travel rush, Yu Dong’s two films might also be postponed and released during the Spring Festival!"

……

On the other hand, Bona Film Group also held a special meeting on the release date of "Great Shanghai", and the topic of discussion was whether to postpone it or not.

Before the box office war, no one expected that a low-cost comedy movie could instantly destroy the epic blockbuster "1942". As for "The Banquet", let's not talk about it, it is simply a bad movie.

Vice President Bo Na said, "In China, the only films that can be called box office-appealing are Zhou Xingchi, Cheng Long, and Liu Yifei. Chow Yun-fat and Huang Xiaoming are also influential. If we postpone the release date, wouldn't that be a direct signal to the outside world that Bo Na's films can't even compare to Xu Zheng's?"

At this time, the head of the publicity department said, "And I heard that Huayi is also holding a meeting to discuss the postponement of the release of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons. If we change the release date, it won't conflict with this movie, right?"

At this point, the head of the Propaganda Department glanced at Yu Dong, thought about it and decided not to mention the incident of "Legend of Tianmai" so as not to cause trouble for his boss.

After a long silence, Yu Dong said helplessly, "Director Zhou Xingchi's works are generally not too bad in terms of quality. In addition, this is a special effects blockbuster based on the theme of Journey to the West, so it will have strong market appeal."

Just like that, after a meeting, Bona decided to release the film as scheduled. Yu Dong was obviously very confident in Chow Yun-fat. He felt that "The Great Shanghai" was well made, the cast was also OK, and the box office performance might not be comparable to "Lost in Thailand", but at least it wouldn't be bad.

Everyone had their own ideas about this, but no one responded. After all, the boss was the one who made the decision, and if it succeeded, everyone would celebrate together. If it failed, it was the boss's own decision, so there would be no room for criticism.

……

From the second week onwards, the average daily box office of Lost in Thailand has remained stable at around 60 million, crushing the competition with ease.

The second round of blockbusters will be released after the 20th.

This means that "Lost in Thailand" will have no competitors in the first twenty days and will almost have the entire schedule to itself.

Gu Wei didn't care about these things at the moment. The young lady had been running around for announcements and roadshows for a week and was now acting coquettishly in his arms.

The two of them were walking one in front and one behind. Gu Wei was massaging the young lady's shoulders. She was exhausted from running around for announcements for several days in a row.

"I kind of regret starring in 'The Chinese Zodiac'. The promotion took up too much time." After pressing for a while, the young lady lying on Gu Wei's thigh said with a pout.

"?"

Good man, it was you who insisted on going in the first place, and now the movie is about to be released, can you still regret it?

"Why?" In order to avoid the young lady from getting upset, Gu Wei asked honestly.

"It will delay the filming of Parasite. Compared with the Oscar campaign, I think other things should be put aside."

Hearing this, Gu Wei smiled helplessly. It seemed that this year's Oscar news made the young lady feel pressured.

The top nine finalists for this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film have been announced. Although the five finalists have not yet been finalized, three Chinese-language films from mainland China, Hong Kong Island and Taiwan Province were all eliminated.

This result naturally disappointed domestic netizens.

On the other hand, several of the films nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars this year are of considerable pedigree.

The Austrian film "Amour", the French film "The Untouchables" and the Danish film "Royal Romance" have long been considered by various North American film critics associations to be the favorites for the Oscar's best foreign language film.

Among them, "Love" has won multiple Best Foreign Language Film Awards during the awards season, and seems to be replicating the Iranian film "A Separation"'s journey to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

.........

(End of this chapter)