China Entertainment 1997

"Yesterday was a good day. Everything you want can come true. Today is another good day. Sing a song to express your mood. Hey, hey, hey..."

Cao Xuan hummed a little tune and came to the office to review various materials for the annual meeting and the casting matters for "The Legend of Zhen Huan".

After the male protagonist Jiao Enjun hid, the company also looked for several alternatives. Either the conditions were not suitable, or they found excuses not to accept the job.

It seems that all the preliminary preparations for the TV series are almost the same, and the schedules of many actors have been adjusted. It will be ready to start filming in February, but the delay has caused all kinds of troubles.

In desperation, Cao Xuan could only ask the East and West Palaces to withdraw from the crew of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", thus avoiding the conflict between the two Palaces.

In this way, although the ladies in the crew are still troublesome, at least they do not interfere with Cao Xuan's family affairs, and the troublesomeness has been reduced by several levels.

As for the roles vacated by the two, they are also particularly easy to solve.

The queen was played by Yu Feihong. Needless to say, this person's appearance and temperament can easily be interpreted as a deep and sophisticated queen.

Speaking of which, although this person has a great reputation, his reputation and resources are really not that good. Many of the roles he plays are considered supporting roles.

"The Legend of Zhen Huan" is Fanxing's major star project after all, and the queen is considered the second female lead, ahead of Fan Xiaopang, so it's not a shame.

As for Concubine Duan, let the original queen Cai Shaofen play the role.

It is worth mentioning that the original author of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is a big fan of Cai Shaofen. It is said that the character of Zhen Huan was written based on Cai Shaofen's young appearance.

When setting up the project to film the drama, she herself had always recommended Cai Shaofen to play the role of Zhen Huan, but she was not suitable in terms of both her position and her image.

However, in order to respect the author of the original work, Fanxing still invited her to play a role.

This TVB actress was a popular actress back then, but her career development is not that good now. No matter whether it is the Mainland or Hong Kong, she can't attract new talent. The resources in the past two years have been terrible, but she is still very easy to hire.

Taking advantage of the annual meeting, Cao Xuan planned to trick Lao Jiao back and finalize the role directly.

If he dared to play chat with him, he wouldn't change him if he could. He had to let these girls torment him for once.

As for the heroine Zhen Huan, neither Damimi nor Liu Tianxian can hold the show.

Cao Xuan simply invited Wang Zha, Mr. Zhou.

The other party is planning to terminate the contract with Huayi and set up a personal studio, and will inevitably use some of Fanxing's resources in the future.

Hu Jing even personally invested in her studio. To a certain extent, she was considered half of her own.

Because of this, letting Mr. Zhou act in "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is not considered a bargain for an outsider. In addition, considering that he has joined Fanxing, Mr. Zhou is also willing to "come to earth" once.

She is not averse to acting in TV series. In 2014, Yuan Shikong also acted in "Red Sorghum", and she also acted in many TV series later.

Although she was suspected of declining resources at the time, compared to other big flowers, it was easier for her to give up her figure.

Fanxing didn't treat her badly either. She and Fan Xiaopang co-starred in Mr. Xu's next movie "Women Are Not Bad", which was considered as compensation for the two of them.

Fanxing's resources will also be selectively opened to her in the future, unlike before where she was worried about being an outsider.

All in all, including "The Wind", she and Fan Xiaopang have acted in three movies in a row, and they can form a tall, white, fat and short and thin couple.

Needless to say, Mr. Zhou's acting skills are extremely wonderful in "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace". Eight years in advance, his appearance is still at its peak, so there is no need to worry about not being able to play the role of a girl.

The only shortcoming may be the cigarette voice. Cao Xuan plans to use dubbing. Isn't the voice of the original Sun Niangniang also Ji Guanlin.

With Mr. Zhou on top, the star aura of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is not bad either.

As for Liu Tianxian and Damimi, they will also be coaxed with some other resources.

Speaking of which, Cao Xuan herself was annoyed. Whenever the two of them wanted to argue with each other, she would still go to Mr. Zhou in a roundabout way.

I really thought it would be easy to make "gods descend to earth". Mr. Zhou's role in "The Legend of Zhen Huan" was almost 60 episodes, and the film salary was probably more than 25 million, which works out to more than 400,000 per episode.

In the current TV drama market, it is definitely at the top of the wave. There are few that surpass it. They are all TV dramas carried by one person alone or with a small number of episodes and a high unit price.

For example, Fan Xiaopang's salary was about the same as Zhou Gongzi's, but due to the small number of roles, the unit price per episode was slightly raised, and he finally received nearly 15 million.

If Liu Tianxian and Damimi were to play the role, the former might be about the same, while the latter is estimated to be worth 300,000 per episode.

The key is that part of the remuneration they receive will go back to the company, but Mr. Zhou will all go into her pocket.

And it's not just about money, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" has greatly benefited their careers.

You know, Sun Niangniang has become one of the top TV dramas with this drama, and it has been popular for many years. This is a good opportunity that no amount of money can buy.

But...

This also made Cao Xuan more determined to train Guo Zhenni and Zhao Xiaodao, who at least have a wider acting potential than the first two.

Moreover, Fanxing has four popular female stars, so there is more room for choice in everything.

After Guo Zhenni finished filming "The Legend of Zhen Huan", she started the second season of "Cannon Fodder".

Zhao Xiaodao is preparing to play the heroine for the first time. The company has won the copyrights of many female video novels, and "Chef Fang" will be her first hit.

………

Cao Xuan became discouraged when he thought of Yang and Liu, and his good mood disappeared a lot.

However, the two protagonists did not put so much thought into it. They may be a little disappointed that they did not win "The Legend of Zhen Huan", but they are not short of resources. As long as the other party does not benefit, their mentality is much more balanced.

After Liu Tianxian finished filming "Three Kingdoms·Guandu", he took his time and repeatedly approached the project, but the progress was not smooth.

Seeing this, Fanxing launched the third part of [Cao Xuan Music Universe IP] - "The Girl We Chased Together in Those Years".

Prior to this, [Cao Xuan Music Universe IP] has released two movies, one is "Fairy Tale" starring Qiao Zhenyu and Gao Yuanyuan, and the other is "Long Time No See" starring Pan Yueming and Dong Xuan.

The box office of "Fairy Tale" was 23 million. Considering that it was only 2005, the box office was generally not high, so it was barely satisfactory.

As for "Long Time No See", which was released in 2007, it invited Pan and Dong, who had already become A-list stars, with an investment cost of more than 20 million yuan and even publicized their romance as promotional materials.

But the final box office was only over 43 million yuan, and with other income, it barely managed to make back its original investment.

The dilemma of "Long Time No See" caused [Cao Xuan Music Universe IP] to stagnate for three years. It was not until last year that the film and television version of "Those Years" was launched.

Based on the song MV, it was also adapted from the novel Nine Knives.

The novel "Nine Knives" was inspired by Cao Xuan's "Those Years" MV. It can be said that the song and the novel are in the same line, but the story of the novel is definitely more detailed and full, so it was adapted into the script, and the movie title also uses the same name from the novel.

The script is currently in the final stages of being adapted and sorted out, and the background of the story has been moved from Taiwan, where the novel is set, to the mainland.

There is no doubt that Liu Tianxian will play the heroine Shen Jia. After "Hello, Time", she will once again play the role of the goddess of first love.

The male lead has not been decided yet. The company belongs to Hu Ge, but Hu Ge doesn’t really want to play the role, so he will probably choose Chen Yao for the role.

He is the second male lead in "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and the male lead in a movie with Liu Tianxian. As a newcomer, his luck is extremely good.

Damimi has also begun to enter the film industry. She does not have the Buddhist background of Liu Tianxian, so she takes roles slowly. Although she is not taboo on meat and vegetables, she is not so selective.

There are currently three confirmed projects: a movie version of "Wulin Gaiden" produced by Fanxing, in which she plays Xiao Guo, "Laughing in the River" starring Xiao Shen Yang, in which she plays the heroine, and Guolan and Yinghuang In the movie "God of Wealth Inn" they collaborated with, she played the leading role of the heroine in yellow.

It can be seen that although the film projects that Damimi is currently involved in all have female protagonists, they are basically comedies, and the film resources are far inferior to Liu Tianxian.

But she doesn't have to be discouraged, Cao Xuan's next Hollywood movie has been decided, and she will have a role as Damimi.

Damimi has been coveting Liu Tianxian's "international halo" for a long time, and now she finally has a chance.

Damimi is temporarily lagging behind in the development of movies, but when it comes to the development of TV series, Damimi is the leader.

In January this year, her starring role in "The Temptation of Going Home" premiered on the CCTV TV drama channel. It was also the opening drama of CCTV's eight series in 2010.

The highest ratings reached 4.6% at the beginning of the broadcast. It ranked first in the same period for three consecutive days, with an average ratings of 3.7%.

Not only did it easily crush all the major TV stations, but it also caught the attention of CCTV's new-year drama "The Founder," which was aired in the same period.

And from the plot point of view, this drama is far from reaching its climax. The heroine's return later for revenge is the biggest highlight of the entire drama.

Fanxing is ready to pool resources to help Damimi achieve TV honors.

The Feitian Award is the main theme and has nothing to do with her. The threshold for the Magnolia Award has not been low in the past two years, and Da Mimi still has a lot to do.

However, the Golden Eagle Award can still be planned. On the one hand, there is a popularity bonus, and there is no restriction on the subject matter. TV series that are more entertaining can win the award.

The most important thing is that the Golden Eagle Awards are awarded in large numbers, once every two years, with an average of 4 to 5 winners per session.

Like Rouba, there are only two queens in total. She suppressed Yin Zhao, Yuan Quan, Sun Niangniang and others to take the position. In addition, the work is not eye-catching, so it is strange not to be called Shui Cai.

But with 4 to 5 Best Actors awarded this year, coupled with the good results of "The Temptation of Going Home", the controversy over Damimi winning the award will be greatly weakened.

After all, she is also the little flower that the new generation of Fanxing strongly supports, and she cannot be without the embellishment of honor.

Other authoritative awards are difficult to conquer, and even if they are conquered, they can easily cause controversy.

In contrast, the Golden Eagle and Hundred Flowers awards are the easiest for them to win and will not cause too much controversy. Under the right circumstances, it is impossible for Fanxing not to recommend them to the top.

As for other authoritative awards, Fanxing will cultivate good talents such as Guo Zhenni and add to the company's hall of honor.

………

After handling official duties at the company for a long time, Cao Xuan started to fish, turning on the computer to play "Crossfire", and when he got tired of playing, he went online to eat.

The hottest movies right now are none other than International Chapter's "Triple Door" and the just-released "Avatar."

The former caused the international chapter to suffer a heavy blow and its career was hit hard. Even the originally planned "Snowflake and Secret Fan" was kicked out because of this incident.

Wendi Deng originally wanted to cast Fan Xiaopang, but Fan's team was not optimistic about the script and did not want to get too involved with this actress. She heard that the Empress of the East Palace was particularly annoyed by this international socialite.

After "Taken 2", Fanxing opened up the situation, and will start to increase cooperation with Hollywood in the future. As the first sister of Fanxing, I dare not say that there will be more opportunities to appear.

Fan Xiaopang is the most shrewd. He knows what is important and what is important. He will not pick up sesame seeds and lose the watermelon.

There was no other way, so Wendi Deng could only activate the alternatives, and turned around and brought in another "good friend" Li Bingbing to take over.

Fan Xiaopang has the right to look down on "Snowflake and the Secret Fan", but Li Bingbing doesn't mind. She worked hard to make friends with Wendi Deng, not just because she hopes to use her connections to expand overseas.

If the International Chapter fails this time, everyone will be happy, but the happiest person is undoubtedly Li Bingbing.

As for "Avatar", it is not only a hot news in China, but also an international headline.

After its release, it took the world by storm, earning US$500 million in box office in North America in less than a month, breaking numerous records.

The overseas box office has strongly exceeded 1 billion U.S. dollars. According to this trend, it is even expected to hit the super record of 2 billion U.S. dollars in box office for a single movie.

In the mainland market, "Avatar" had a box office of 2.87 in its first week, with a single-day box office peak of 58.7 million. It only took ten days to exceed 400 million, breaking a series of records.

Now in late January, "Avatar" has broken the record of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff", with a total box office of 650 million, successfully ranking first in the mainland box office list, and it is still rising.

A certain bureau has issued instructions to extend the key. According to external estimates, the record for "Avatar" has exceeded the 1 billion mark.

This news caused the entire Chinese film industry to lose its voice.

Although the box office of the second part of last year's "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff" was great, it was still within everyone's understanding.

"Avatar" is expected to raise the mainland box office ceiling to ten digits in one go, almost doubling it. How can it not make everyone dumbfounded?

Coupled with last year's "Transformers" and "2012", special effects blockbusters have become the focus of heated discussions nowadays.

Audiences expect China to launch its own special effects blockbusters, and many film and television companies are also ready to take action.

Stars has naturally become the top priority of many people's attention. Mr. Han called to ask Cao Xuan about his new film plans, and even the head of Shanghai Film Studio did not hesitate to contact Cao Xuan.

Cao Xuan claimed to be still in the preparation stage, but in fact he already had a clue——

"Now You See Me"

A Sino-US co-production, in addition to the participation of New Line, there is also the parent company Warner behind it. The cast is Chinese + Hollywood, and the investment cost is approximately US$85 million, or RMB 560 million.

It is definitely the highest cost for a single movie since Fanxing was founded. The previous "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff" was strictly speaking two movies.

Fanxing won 60% of the film based on Cao Xuan's salary + US$35 million, while Warner Bros. and New Line shared the remaining 40%.

At the same time, production income and distribution dividends are separated. Fanxing still has the distribution rights in Asia, and Warner and New Line, which have global channels, are responsible for Europe, the United States, Australia and other places.

Of course, in addition to North America, Fanxing’s European, Australian and other market channels can also participate in the operation. If there is a channel conflict between the two, discuss and coordinate.

To put it bluntly, whichever channel has higher prices and earns more money will be used...

The success of "Taken 2" has made Hollywood pay more attention to Cao Xuan, and cooperation has become more standardized.

Warner's end was to prevent New Line from being led by Cao Xuan everywhere.

There is no doubt that the new contract is not as generous as before, but before Fanxing paid for production, and New Line was more responsible for distribution, the former will definitely get the lion's share.

Now, Warner and others have also invested a lot of money, and they must strive for more power.

And there are advantages to every disadvantage. Although Warner's demise will damage the interests of Fanxing, at the same time, as one of the six major Hollywood giants, Warner's channels and related monetization capabilities are stronger than those of its subsidiary New Line.

Fanxing cannot always grab a new line and must take this formal cooperation route sooner or later.

The sooner we establish a routine now, the better we can start working with Hollywood.

And having said that, the new cooperation will be distributed according to shares. Although Fanxing will give up a lot of distribution income in Europe and the United States, it will not necessarily suffer a loss if it retains the Asian region.

You may not be aware of it now, but in two years the mainland market will rise and it will have China and Japan, the second and third largest vote bases in the world.

As long as it works well, I dare not say that it will catch up with the North American market, but it will not be too far away...

"Now You See Me" is a group movie, so casting is more important.

First of all, I don’t need to say more. Domestic artists mainly focus on flattering others. For example, the female magician wanted to let Damimi give it a try.

As for Hollywood entertainers, the big names on the A-list are not enough. Cao Xuan only had 20% of the budget. The movie also required a lot of special effects, so the remaining funds were limited.

Therefore, the Hollywood artists that can be used can only be in the second or third tier or near the first tier. It is best to have golden supporting roles, high reputation and affordable pay.

Cao Xuan is even a little pity, Robert Downey Jr. is already popular, otherwise it would be nice to cut off his beard in advance.

You know, his salary for the first "Iron Man" was only $500,000.

In addition, there are rumors that his contract has some terms and he can probably earn around US$2 million.

But by the time "Iron Man 2" was released this year, his salary had risen to US$10 million, and there were some profit sharing clauses.

Unless there is an additional investment of $20 million, "Now You See Me" won't have the money to hire this guy.

However, Cao Xuan suddenly remembered that he couldn't afford Iron Man, but could he take advantage of "Thor" which had not yet been released?

There is also "Captain America", which is not very expensive now. If two people package it, one million US dollars is enough.

This is not an exaggeration. In his impression, the salary for the first part of "Captain America" ​​seemed to be only 300,000 US dollars, and the salary for "Thor" was even worse, only 150,000 US dollars.

Of course, a large part of the reason why the pay is so low is that Marvel is famous and attracts actors. Moreover, it is a series of movies, and the actors have signed several film contracts.

But even so, with the addition of hundreds of thousands of dollars, there is hope that the two of them will be able to win, and one of them will be guaranteed.

Coupled with the fact that the original "Now You See Me" included Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Cao Xuan was able to assemble half of the Avengers a few years ahead of schedule.

Of course, the most important thing is that both "Thor" and "Captain America" ​​will be released next year, and "Now You See Me" can definitely take advantage of the popularity.

If we make another series appointment, the sequel can even ride on the popularity of "Avengers".

I don’t know if the roles in the two Marvel movies have been decided yet. Even if they are not decided, Cao Xuan will also help to talk about it.

After all, he can be considered the second shareholder of Marvel, and he still has some say.

………

On January 25, Cao Xuan participated in the fourth rehearsal of the Spring Festival Gala and officially announced his plan in a subsequent CCTV interview.

"This year should be my last Spring Festival Gala, and it is also my farewell performance on the Spring Festival Gala stage. Starting next year, I will no longer participate in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala."

Host: "What are your reasons for withdrawing from the Spring Festival Gala?"

"I just feel a little tired. The live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala is too exhausting, and the creative pressure is also very high every year. This year's work was delayed for many days.

I think it’s time to leave the stage to more newcomers, step back and spend the Spring Festival with my family. "

Host: "You are only 35 years old this year. Why do you feel so old-fashioned when speaking (laughing)."

"Perhaps I have experienced too many things and my mentality is getting older."

Host: "You have left many classic songs in the Spring Festival Gala. Which one is your personal favorite?"

"I actually like them all. If I had to choose one song, it would be "Gong Xi Fa Cai". It's festive and joyful and won't make people cry (laughs)."

Host: "This is the twelfth consecutive year that you have appeared in the Spring Festival Gala. What does this twelve-year Spring Festival Gala career mean to you."

Cao Xuan pondered for a moment, put away the smile on his face, and replied sincerely: "The twelve years of the Spring Festival Gala are a very important experience in my life. I am always grateful for the honor given to me by the Spring Festival Gala stage, and I am also grateful to the audience for their support. My tolerance and support turned me from a so-called pop star into a [people's singer] loved by the people."

After this interview was broadcast on CCTV, it was immediately reprinted by the Internet and various media, causing an uproar in an instant.

The sketch is Zhao Benshan, and the song is Cao Xuan.

It has long been a slogan recognized and talked about by countless people. Watching Zhao Benshan's sketch + listening to Cao Xuan's new song on New Year's Eve has become a must-have New Year's Eve dinner for many people.

Now that Cao Xuan has announced his withdrawal from the Spring Festival Gala, how could it not be shocking?

Related topics like [#Caoxuan, Spring Festival Gala#] directly dominated Weibo’s hot search list. Originally, Wang Banbi’s official announcement of a concert in April was knocked out of the top ten.

Wang Banbi: "..."

For some reason, he always felt an ominous premonition, as if some switch had been turned on.

Countless people are petitioning to persuade Cao Xuan to leave, and even launched related topic activities on Weibo.

Tianya officially opened a vote on whether Cao Xuan is willing to leave the Spring Festival Gala. The "Unwilling" column received 689,000 votes within 24 hours, and successfully exceeded one million within two days.

However, Cao Xuan has decided to leave and has not been influenced by the outside world. He only posted a Weibo post expressing the hope that everyone will respect his choice and promoted the Spring Festival Gala program.

"This song is my farewell to the Spring Festival Gala and everyone. All banquets in the world come to an end. After Cao Xuan leaves, new people will come in the future.

From 1999 to 2010, twelve years of ups and downs, everyone’s "chapter" about my Spring Festival Gala is about to be turned over..."