China Entertainment started from Nortel 96

Chapter 174 Suggestions for commercial blockbusters

Author: Knight Confused 2023

Chapter 174 Suggestions for commercial blockbusters

Since agreeing to film "My Father and Mother" by Lao Mouzi, Qi Wei has contacted Lao Mouzi on the phone from time to time.

Sometimes we also talk about the story "Man Jiang Hong".

After several contacts, Lao Mouzi had already heard a rough idea of ​​the story and was indeed very interested.

But now Lao Mouzi is a rare commodity, and Zhang Weiping is infinitely tolerant of him.

This is also the reason why Zhang Weiping found Qi Wei.

"I think your story is very exciting. It is indeed a very novel idea to use a comedy to film a tragic story. Let's find two jailors to do cross talk. We can contact Zhao Benshan and Pan Gazi to star in it.

I heard that you invested in Zhou Xingxing's new drama "The King of Comedy" and have obtained his mainland distribution rights. You must have a good relationship with him. Maybe we can contact him and make this movie a co-production.

I think you are very suitable for that protagonist."

Zhang Weiping kept talking about the feasibility of this project, and Qi Wei on the side was stunned by what he said.

Compared with the later version, let yourself play the role of the four-character prince in later generations.

I am about 1.8 meters tall and tall. As long as I put on a little makeup and improve my figure, I really fit the image of the young general in the movie.

At least it won't make others think that I'm playing a pirate king.

According to Zhang Weiping, let Zhou Xingxing play the role of Shen Xiaocao in later generations, and then let Zhao Benshan or Fatty replace the role of Fatty Yue.

This way of looking at it is indeed more interesting than the later version.

It was said that even Qi and Wei were somewhat interested.

But fortunately Qi Wei is not so easily deceived.

After thinking for a moment, Qi Wei almost understood why Zhang Weiping and Lao Mouzi were so keen on his story.

Because they want to try to create a commercial blockbuster.

The collaboration between Zhang Weiping and Lao Mouzi began with the film "If You Have Something to Say".

This movie allowed Zhang Weiping to successfully obtain admission tickets. Later, he became his own film and television company, and successively invested in Lao Mouzi's "No One Less" and the current film "My Father and Mother."

But whether it's "No One Less" or "My Father and Mother," the investment is around 10 million.

Although there is a lot of investment, in this era, it is not a big investment movie.

You must know that the investment in the first movie "Let's Talk" between the two of them was close to 30 million.

Although Zhang Weiping suffered an investment loss of 18 million in "Speak Well", this was because Zhang Weiping sold the distribution rights of the film at a cabbage price in order to obtain admission tickets.

In fact, the film is a profitable project.

Since it is a profitable project, it means that this business attempt of Lao Mouzi is successful. Logically speaking, if Lao Mouzi plans a good project, it should be easy to attract no less investment than this time.

But the investment in the next two projects is so small, it is obvious that the investment has been downgraded.

The reason does not lie with Lao Mouzi, but actually with Zhang Weiping.

When Zhang Weiping first established his film and television company, the company's distribution channels had not yet been established, so it was not suitable for making any blockbusters.

For a movie, the importance of distribution channels is self-evident. Without good distribution channels, no matter how good your movie is and how popular it is, it will be difficult to realize its potential.

This is also the reason why Zhang Weiping asked Lao Mouzi to make two "low-budget" movies.

After more than a year of work, Zhang Weiping's distribution channels have finally been perfected, and now the time has come to help Lao Mouzi produce commercial blockbusters.

Commercial blockbusters, like Director Chen's "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin", require an investment of over 70 million. Lao Mouzi is a director at the same level as Director Chen, and Zhang Weiping helps him with commercial blockbusters, so the investment cannot be lower than this amount.

Taking inflation into account, the investment may even exceed 100 million if it is a gimmick.

At this time, the domestic film market situation is such that the box office of domestic films, including imported Hong Kong films, is difficult to exceed 100 million.

One billion yuan is a threshold.

Based on three times the box office return, if the investment exceeds 40 million, the cost cannot be recovered through the domestic box office.

But there are films with domestic investment exceeding 40 million. The investment in "Song of Qin" starring Jiang Wen and Ge You in 1996 exceeded 40 million, and "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin", which is still in theaters, has reached 70 million.

Such a high investment cannot be recouped through domestic box office, so why would anyone invest in it?

The fundamental reason is that when preparing these movies, they did not consider the domestic box office, but the overseas performance.

Most of the investment in the movie "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin" came from Xiaobenzi. Although this movie did not do well at the box office in the mainland, the movie achieved very good results in Xiaobenzi and some countries.

Coupled with the disc and some copyright income, Xiaobenzi's investment in "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin" actually made a profit.

Zhang Weiping, who had become an insider, knew the news.

Profitable projects will naturally attract investment, which means that commercial blockbusters have a head start.

This is the fundamental reason why Zhang Weiping and Lao Mouzi are eager to try.

What type of commercial blockbuster is suitable?

To consider overseas box office results, it must satisfy the Chinese curiosity of overseas audiences.

At this time, domestic filmmakers consider overseas success when making movies, and either make something that satisfies the inherent foreign impression of domestic ignorance and backwardness, or make something that does not have unique Chinese cultural characteristics abroad.

The former is obviously not suitable for commercial blockbusters and is easily banned.

Lao Mouzi's film "Alive" was banned, and it was also his only banned film.

If this way doesn't work, then there is only another way.

As for things that are unique to Chinese culture, the only ones left are historical dramas or martial arts films.

That is, a period film.

It seems that the story Qi Wei told is indeed very good.

But Qi Wei doesn't think so.

Without considering the later versions, the story itself will not be good, and copying it to this era will lead to incompatibility.

After reacting, Qi Wei quickly figured it out, and then said: "Mr. Zhang and Director Zhang, I think the story "Man Jiang Hong" is not suitable."

"Why do you think so?" Mr. Zhang asked in confusion, and then emphasized again: "We plan to let you be the protagonist of this project, and Lao Mouzi also thinks you are very suitable."

Lao Mouzi on the side hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

This allowed Qi Wei to see the difference between the two of them.

After Zhang Weiping established a film and television company, the movie "No One Less" produced by Lao Mouzi, although it won numerous awards, did not have a high box office. It was not until the entire movie was released that it barely achieved a "cost-profit balance".

And the current film "My Father and Mother" is more of a literary film, and it is also aiming to win awards.

In other words, the two movies Zhang Weiping invested in Lao Mouzi were all about burning himself to fulfill Lao Mouzi.

But you must know that Zhang Weiping invested in Lao Mouzi not for charity, but to make money.

He is more of a businessman than a filmmaker.

Therefore, he is more eager to make commercial blockbusters than Lao Mouzi.

Making a commercial blockbuster is like a big gamble. High investment means high risks.

Then you need to find ways to reduce the risk.

One of the ways to reduce risks is to find big-name actors, well-known actors, popular and popular actors to participate in the show.

At this time, the vast majority of mainland audiences did not go there for the movie story itself, but for the big-name actors.

If there are no big-name actors to star in the movie, just find a few unknown actors. No matter how good the story is, how sophisticated the production is, and how beautiful the filming is, it will be difficult to attract enough audiences.

It is wishful thinking to achieve high box office.

This is also the reason why Zhang Weiping wanted to invite Zhou Xingxing and Qi Wei for this drama.

Needless to say, Zhou Xingxing is the king of comedy.

As for Qi Wei, the great success of his two solo albums has promoted Qi Wei to the pop king of mainland China, and he has a certain influence in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia.

There is even news that Qi Wei is about to hold a concert at the Hung Hom Stadium in Hong Kong City.

Uh. This news was obviously released by PolyGram, and it was obviously to help warm up Qi Wei's concert.

Zheng Donghan is indeed helping Qi Wei to win the opportunity to have a concert in Hung Hom. It has basically been decided, it’s just a matter of how many concerts there will be.

And you must know that Ren Xianqi, who is now less famous than Qi Wei, has begun to play Linghu Chong and Yang Guo, not to mention Qi Wei.

In order to be more commercial, Zhang Weiping has a tradition of inserting popular celebrities into Lao Mouzi's movies.

Later, Fatty Zhou in "The City is Full of Golden Armor" and Little Shenyang in "Three Guns" were both forced in by Zhang Weiping while watching their traffic.

What's more, Qi Wei is different from ordinary traffic, and has proven his box office appeal in movies.

That is the movie "Love in the Internet Age".

Even though this movie has a low box office of more than 10 million yuan, at least 90% of the viewers who walk into this cinema are going to Qi Wei.

A small-budget movie with an investment of only 3 million yuan, because of Qi Wei's participation, would have made millions more at the box office. If it were a commercial blockbuster, it would have made tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.

Of course, it is possible that Qi Wei cannot support the box office of commercial blockbusters, but this does not prevent Zhang Weiping from starting to dream about time.

Moreover, Qi Wei is not an ordinary actor, he is also a capital.

He has enough funds to invest in this movie.

It is impossible for one person to invest in a commercial blockbuster, and you need to find someone to share the risk.

In Zhang Weiping's view, Qi Wei is a very suitable target.

Qi Wei opened a film and television company later than Zhang Weiping. Although he has made some achievements, the film and television industry is a place that requires experience and qualifications. Qi Wei is too young, which can easily cause others to look down upon him.

Qi Wei, who had capital, was naturally regarded by Zhang Weiping as a big water pipe that could collect wool.

And Zhang Weiping emphasized that Qi Wei should be the leading actor, which actually reminded Qi Wei that he was asking an international director like Lao Mouzi to create a commercial blockbuster specifically to praise him.

For ordinary actors, this is definitely a temptation that is hard to refuse.

Zhang Weiping thought that Qi Wei would definitely agree, and would even agree to some of his seemingly modest demands in order to get this film and television project approved as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, this wishful thinking was wrong.

People who can trap Lao Mouzi like Lu Buwei with rare goods must not be underestimated. Therefore, Qi Wei has always been wary of Zhang Weiping. If he speaks well, Qi Wei will always think deeply about whether Zhang Weiping will set a trap for him.

His thoughts on existence have already been clearly seen by Qi Wei.

What's more, Qi Wei himself was not interested in the project "Man Jiang Hong".

Qi Wei shook his head, looked at Lao Mouzi and said to him: "I wonder if Director Zhang has seen the movie "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin" directed by Chen Da. One of the important reasons for this movie's failure at the domestic box office is that it has

Failure in portraying important characters, take the Qin Shihuang played by Mr. Li Xuejian as an example. He did perform well, but it did not fit the image in the audience's mind. This is a challenge to the audience."

"challenge?"

"It's a challenge! In fact, my story is just a joke, just a casual talk. If it were to be made into a movie, it would be suspected of whitewashing Qin Hui. This is historical nihilism, and it is also a challenge to the audience.

If you challenge the audience, you won't get any good results, and it will end up like "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin", which will only fail at the box office."

Loyalty is loyalty, and traitor is traitor. At this time, the people think so straightforwardly in their hearts. There is no market for whitewashing traitorous ministers.

Therefore, if you move a movie from later generations to today, even if you have the same publicity and distribution methods as later generations, it is impossible for the market to achieve such a high box office.

Having said this, Qi Wei couldn't help but pause and glanced at Lao Mouzi.

Later, when Lao Mouzi made such a movie, many people said that he was coerced by capital and had to do it in order to make money for his children.

But Qi Wei does not completely agree with this view.

The great directors in these circles all regard themselves as cultural people, and movies represent their thoughts. If they want to show their own culture in movies and make them stand out, they will consider issues from different angles.

You won’t consider the issue from the audience’s point of view, which will bring in private goods.

This problem is likely to occur in the movie Lao Mouzi.

Of course, it may not be a problem in his eyes, but it may not be friendly to the audience.

Then this becomes a problem.

Therefore, what Qi Wei said cannot easily dispel Lao Mouzi's idea of ​​developing this project.

So Qi Wei said to Zhang Weiping: ""Man Jiang Hong" is the story of Yue Fei. Mr. Zhang, Yue Fei is our national hero. Do you think foreigners will like to read his story?"

Qi Wei's words awakened the dreamer.

Yue Fei is a national hero and a hero who fought against Jin. He fought against Jin foreigners, and foreigners were also foreigners.

This would be unfriendly to foreigners, and it would be difficult to sell films.

"This is indeed a problem." Zhang Weiping thought for a while and said.

The best way to dispel their thoughts is to come up with a project that can attract them.

Qi Wei couldn't help but think of another movie by Lao Mouzi, which was indeed quite suitable.

So Qi Wei said: "For example, "Song of Qin" directed by director Zhou Xiaowen and "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin" directed by Director Chen both tell the story of Qin Shihuang. When they make commercial blockbusters, they all consider Qin Shihuang's story.

Story, I wonder if you two have ever thought about why they are like this."

While waiting for Zhang Er's answer, Qi Wei explained: "Qin Shihuang had a magnificent life. He has many stories that can be unearthed and told in detail. In addition, Qin Shihuang destroyed the six kingdoms and unified the world. He was a very influential person at home and abroad.

Emperor, many foreigners are interested in his story. I think if Mr. Zhang wants to prepare a commercial blockbuster for Director Zhang, it is better to write the story of Qin Shihuang."

While waiting for Zhang Weiping's reply, Lao Mouzi said first: "The story of Qin Shihuang has been badly written, and "Song of Qin" and "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin" also prove that the subject of Qin Shihuang has no potential."

Indeed, as Lao Mouzi said, the movie "Song of Qin" was not only banned in China, but also had no success abroad. It was a film that made a total loss. As for "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin", at least the domestic box office was miserable.

It also shows that this is a failed work.

Qi Wei smiled and replied: "Director Zhang, you are not a director like Director Chen. Of course, I don't mean to belittle Director Chen. I just want to say that I prefer the movie scenes you shot, Director Zhang. Then

It is a kind of beauty and a visual feast. If Director Zhang shoots a commercial blockbuster, I believe the audience will also like it very much."

Qi Wei's words did not convince the two of them, so Qi Wei continued: "If Director Zhang is willing to make a commercial blockbuster about Qin Shihuang, I am willing to invest."

These words made Zhang Weiping interested.

This meeting, just a few simple words, had already refreshed his understanding of Qi Wei.

Although Qi Wei is young, he is a very thoughtful and independent person, and he also has maturity at different ages.

This also made Zhang Weiping not dare to look down on Qi Wei and started to take him seriously.

After thinking about it for a while, he felt that Qi Wei was not innocent and must have been well prepared.

So he asked: "It seems that you already have a good idea. I wonder if you can tell us about it."

Qi Wei wanted this sentence, so he replied with a smile: "I dare not say good ideas, but I do have an idea. I wonder if it will be possible to combine the story of the assassination of the First Emperor with martial arts..."

ps: The previous chapter was blocked. I have changed the application and still failed. I don’t drive.

I don’t know how many times I’ve read this book, so I had to ask the editor for help on Monday.

(End of chapter)