"On March 20th, 'Battle of Vulcan' will be released, and on April 9th, 'Legend of the Holy Land' will be released …"
In the conference room of Chenfei Media, a closed-door meeting of the company's executives was being held. Wan Xiaoquan spoke into the microphone with a serious expression, "These two Hollywood special effects blockbusters are our biggest opponents. Unless we delay 'A Chinese Ghost Story' to be released in May, we can't avoid them!"
Wan Xiaoquan returned to the capital from Hong Kong three days ago. The day before he returned, "A Chinese Ghost Story", which had exhausted its box office potential, ended perfectly in the major cinemas in Hong Kong. The cumulative box office earnings were 105 million yuan, ranking in the top 20 in Hong Kong's history.
If Hollywood blockbusters were excluded, "A Chinese Ghost Story" was ranked seventh among the Hong Kong and Sino-Hong Kong co-productions, and this did not include the 42 million + peripheral sales.
As the actual director of the movie, Wan Xiaoquan's contribution could not be ignored. In addition to the generous rewards, he also received half a month of long-term leave.
However, Wan Xiaoquan did not choose to go on a vacation. Instead, he immediately returned to China to help Lu Chen with the publicity for "A Chinese Ghost Story" in China.
He had quite a lot of experience in this regard.
Others might not understand, but Wan Xiaoquan's name was not on "A Chinese Ghost Story". Not only was he not disappointed or resentful, but he also racked his brains to come up with ideas for Chenfei Media. It was a little unbelievable.
However, Wan Xiaoquan's gratitude to Lu Chen had always been buried in his heart. He was not very good at expressing his feelings, so he used his actions to repay Lu Chen's kindness.
Lu Chen had helped Wan Xiaoquan when he was at his lowest and gave him precious trust. He allowed him to make a comeback in Hong Kong and gave him a work that was destined to become a classic.
It really did not matter if it had a name or not.
What mattered was that if his name was in the subtitles of the movie, it would not pass the review of the SARFT.
Moreover, Wan Xiaoquan sincerely admired Lu Chen. The script of "A Chinese Ghost Story" was written by Lu Chen, and many of the scenes were drawn by Lu Chen. Coupled with the excellent soundtrack, it would not be a problem for another director.
With all these reasons, Wan Xiaoquan needed to prove his ability even more. How could he have the leisure to go on a vacation!
Recently, "A Chinese Ghost Story" had been released in China, but the situation was not optimistic. "Showdown on Vulcan" was a sci-fi blockbuster that Superstar Pictures had invested 170 million US dollars in. It had already earned 270 million US dollars in the box office in America, and it was aggressively moving to China. The publicity was even more fanfare.
The CEO of Superstar Pictures, Douglas, was extremely confident that he would be able to obtain over 1 billion yuan in the domestic box office.
In comparison, Lion Pictures' fantasy blockbuster "Legend of the Holy Land" had a weaker reputation, but the investment for this movie was not much worse than "Battle of Vulcan". It had reached 150 million USD and was about to be released in the United States.
If "A Chinese Ghost Story" were to be released at this time, it would have to face the attacks of two Hollywood blockbusters. It would undoubtedly be quite difficult to achieve Lu Chen's goal of 500 million box office.
However, it would be even worse if it was delayed until May.
At present, there were already pirated versions of "A Chinese Ghost Story" on the Internet. However, they were all CAM and TS versions, which were the so-called gun versions and quasi-gun versions. The quality was very poor and was not enough to threaten the box office.
Now, the country still attached great importance to the copyright protection of domestically-produced films, including Hong Kong films. If a high-definition version was released during the screening period, it would definitely be severely attacked. After it was taken off the schedule, the impact would be much smaller.
As the impact of the CAM and TS versions was very small, the producers turned a blind eye to it. It was fine if "A Chinese Ghost Story" was released recently, but if it was delayed for too long, it would be very difficult to control the high-definition version.
At that time, the impact on the box office would be even greater!
"'A Chinese Ghost Story' will not be delayed …"
Lu Chen said decisively, "Even if it's May, there will still be Hollywood blockbusters competing. We can't avoid it. We might as well fight with them. It doesn't matter even if we lose!"
"What's more, we might not lose!"
The cost of "A Chinese Ghost Story" had long been recovered, and the extra profits were more than enough to be used for domestic publicity. No matter how much they earned in the box office, it was still a profit. If they were still afraid of competition, then they might as well not make a movie.
Many domestic filmmakers had a "phobia of beauty". The box office failure of a film was often blamed on the Hollywood blockbusters competing at the same time. They lamented that they were inferior in terms of technical strength and complained about the country's openness to the film market.
As a result, the "Protection Month for Domestic Films" in July and August became a hot commodity. All the film companies were sharpening their heads to drill into it, fighting for a slot.
In recent years, domestic films had relied on youth films, idol films, and big IP films to recover some of their decline. The situation had finally improved a lot.
"A Chinese Ghost Story" was not related to these three genres, but Lu Chen was not afraid of Hollywood blockbusters. This was because he had never thought of making a profit in the domestic film market. His goal was long-term. Building a high-standard indoor studio and setting up a special effects production team were all around this goal.
Lu Chen's confidence and courage to face the challenge infected everyone present. Wan Xiaoquan smiled and said, "Then we have to increase our publicity efforts and formulate a targeted publicity strategy. Boss, you and the lady boss should show off your love on the blog more. The effect will definitely be good and it will save money."
Everyone could not help but laugh. They did not expect Wan Xiaoquan, who had always been serious, to also joke.
Lu Chen smiled bitterly. "I … will try my best."
Although Wan Xiaoquan was joking, what he said was very reasonable. As far as the movie "A Chinese Ghost Story" was concerned, the tens of millions of fans of Lu Chen and Chen Fei 'er were undoubtedly the biggest ticket bank.
The two of them increased their interaction on the blog and revealed some small information. It was all side publicity for "A Chinese Ghost Story".
The meeting ended after two hours. It was worth mentioning that "The Painted Skin", which had already been released, was not included in the discussion.
Because no one regarded "The Painted Skin", a loser, as an opponent, there was naturally no value in discussing it.
The head of Huaguan Pictures, Cui Xingxian, would probably vomit three mouthfuls of blood if he knew about it.
After the meeting, Lu Chen had just returned to his office when Lu Xi's assistant, Chen Xin, came over.
His sister had something important to talk to him about.
Lu Chen felt a little strange, so he immediately rushed to Lu Xi's general manager's office.
"What's wrong?"
Lu Xi did not answer directly. Instead, she turned the computer screen on the table 180 degrees for him to see.
The web page opened on the screen was the entertainment section of a large domestic website. The bold and black title on it was very eye-catching, causing Lu Chen's eyelids to twitch!
"The Golden Luan Awards nominations are leaked. The popular drama" Full of Romance "is not on the list!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
