Huayu is free to do as you like

This year's Spring Festival, there were originally 9 movies scheduled to be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

[Lost in Russia], [Detective Chinatown 3], [Leading the World], and [Emergency Rescue] are considered to be the seed players in the first echelon of the box office, and [Lost in Russia] ranks third in the number of people who have marked the number of people who want to watch it on ticket purchasing apps such as Tao Piao Piao.

[Detective Chinatown 3] was originally the favorite to win the Spring Festival, and [Leading the World] was seen as the movie with the most hope of surpassing [Detective Chinatown 3] in box office, while [Lost in Russia], which has relatively low attention, is seen by many film critics in the industry as a potential dark horse, and it is predicted that it will achieve at least 2 billion in box office.

However, the pre-sale box office opened a week before the Spring Festival showed that [Detective Chinatown 3] was far ahead, occupying nearly 60% of the market share, and the other 8 movies shared the remaining 40% of the box office, while the pre-sale box office of [Lost in Russia], although ranked third, was only 46.42 million.

According to this situation, [Lost in Russia] is afraid that it will not be a dark horse, and the 2.4 billion bet agreement is even more difficult to complete.

Xu Zheng is under a lot of pressure. Last year, the bet on Crazy Alien was not completed. He was also one of the investors of that movie.

The Lost series has always been his trump card. The reputation of the third film, Hong Kong Lost, was not satisfactory. If Lost in Russia fails again, the Lost series will most likely end with this one.

A week before New Year's Eve, when various films were working hard to promote, Xu Zheng suddenly posted on Weibo announcing that Lost in Russia would be advanced by one day and would meet the national audience on New Year's Eve.

Then Boonie Bears and Winning the Championship followed the footsteps of Lost in Russia and announced that they would be advanced to New Year's Eve.

The remaining Detective Chinatown 3, Emergency Rescue, and Vanguard did not move, and they were still released on the first day of the Lunar New Year as originally planned.

The national audiences were quite supportive of the three films, led by Lost in Russia, being advanced by one day. After all, everyone had a holiday on New Year's Eve and had time to go to the cinema to watch movies.

However, the frontline staff of the cinema expressed dissatisfaction, because according to the rules of previous years, the movies of the Spring Festival are released on the first day of the new year, and they can get off work early to rest and reunite with their families on New Year's Eve.

Xu Zheng did this, and the cinema had to be open 24 hours a day on New Year's Eve, and the frontline staff naturally complained constantly.

Just as the storm of advancing the release date was still fermenting, some self-media people were taking advantage of the hot spots to criticize [Lost in Russia], and the impact of advancing the release date was gradually turning negative, the public opinion surged, and [Lost in Russia], which was the first to advance the release date, was "suddenly" withdrawn.

On January 23, after all the Spring Festival movies were withdrawn, everyone thought that there would be no new movies this year.

Unexpectedly, on the morning of January 24, the New Year's Eve, the official account of Toutiao first announced that [Lost in Russia] would be free to watch on the "Toutiao" APP, and this news shocked everyone.

An hour later, Xu Zheng sent a Weibo to confirm the online release.

Then the insider news that ByteDance "bid 630 million yuan to acquire the copyright of [Lost in Russia]" broke out on the Internet.

A single stone stirs up a thousand waves.

From Xu Zheng's perspective, at this critical moment, he sold the copyright of "Lost in Russia" to ByteDance in a package, eliminating the risk of delayed release. ByteDance's acquisition price of 630 million yuan is equivalent to nearly 2 billion box office revenue. It is a smart choice to avoid losses, recover the money in time, and make a lot of money.

For ByteDance, spending 600 million yuan to invite people across the country to watch "Lost in Russia" for free has gimmicks, popularity, and topics, attracting more new users, increasing the number of users in the sinking market, and increasing its market share.

For ordinary audiences, it enriches their lives during the Spring Festival holiday when they can't go out at home, and they can watch "Lost in Russia" for free.

It seems to be a win-win situation. The only unhappy one is the cinema.

Shortly after Toutiao officially announced that "Lost in Russia" will be broadcast online for free on the first day of the Lunar New Year, 23 theater companies jointly wrote a letter to try to stop the free Internet premiere of "Lost in Russia", including Wanda Film, Bona Film and other leading theater companies, which can be said to include half of the domestic theater companies.

The so-called stop will not succeed. Neither Huanxi Media, the producer of Lost in Russia, nor ByteDance, which bought the copyright, violated any laws and regulations, but just failed to abide by the unspoken rules of the film industry.

The reaction of the cinema was very intense, which was not surprising.

After all, Xu Zheng's behavior affected their fundamental interests.

After the film was shot, it was released in the cinema, and the producer and the cinema shared the money. This is a long-standing "rule" in the film industry. Now Lost in Russia has broken this "rule". It is a small matter that a movie cannot make money. I am afraid that this is the beginning. In the future, more movies will not be played in the cinema but on streaming media.

"Director Xu is really bold and daring. He is challenging the bottom line of the cinema."

Starting from the first day of the new year, the crew of Zhou Chu started shooting as usual. During the lunch break, Wen Mu also chatted with Gu Wei about the recent series of operations of Lost in Russia.

"Lost in Russia" is not very good. Fortunately, ByteDance, a rich man, helped Xu Zheng. Otherwise, if it is really released, I doubt whether the box office of this movie can exceed 1 billion."

Gu Wei is not optimistic about Lost in Russia.

At its core, this movie is still a road comedy like the "囧" series, but this time Xu Zheng made a different attempt, talking about the reconciliation of parent-child relationships in a Chinese family, trying to use the mother-child relationship to create a series of laughs.

In terms of depth of expression, "囧Mom" surpasses "Thailand" and "Hong Kong囧", but as a movie in the "囧" series, it has one biggest shortcoming, that is, it is not funny enough.

A comedy movie would be too funny if it wasn't funny.

The "囧" series started with "囧囧" and reached the pinnacle of comedy in the second part "囧囧". The story seems nonsensical, but it is full of jokes from beginning to end. The collision of Xu Zheng, Wang Baoqiang and Huang Bo makes Countless audiences laughed non-stop in the cinema.

By the time of [囧 in Hong Kong], Xu Zheng began to suffer from youthful illness and wanted to explore the ideals and realities of middle-aged men, the white moonlight of the past and the reality of his wife and family.

Coupled with the selection of two actors, Bao Beier and Zhao Wei, who are not very popular with the audience, the reputation of "囧" failed miserably.

[囧Mom] explores more profound themes, but this is a comedy, not an art film.

Moreover, there is no actor like Huang Bo or Wang Baoqiang who collides with Xu Zheng in the movie, and a lot of baggage is not funny.

The movie had no hits and was relatively mediocre. In the most competitive time of the year, such as the Spring Festival, mediocrity means failure.

"I feel like he is a little too eager for quick success and quick success. There are so many movies during the Spring Festival. Although it is difficult, it is the same for everyone.

In doing so, he broke the rules of the industry and completely offended the theater."

From a director's perspective, Wen Mu could understand Xu Zheng's behavior, but he also knew what the consequences would be.

"I have worked with Xu Zheng. He is a typical Shanghai man, greedy, money-loving, literary, and a sophisticated egoist.

When I filmed "囧囧", I didn't have the copyright, so I was sued by Wuhan Huaqi Film and Television, the copyright owner of "囧囧路", and paid 5 million yuan in compensation.

Later, when we were preparing for [囧 in Hong Kong], we had a falling out with Bao Qiang, and caused Bao Bei Er to ruin the reputation of the series.

Xu Zheng is very talented, there is no doubt about it, but he loves money too much, works alone, and is unwilling to share the benefits.

Couldn't he see the disadvantages of selling movies to streaming media? It's just that compared with the money, some resistance from the same industry is nothing."

It turns out that when filming "Cohabitation in Time and Space", Gu Wei had been in contact with Xu Zheng for a while and had a certain understanding of him.

“However, he probably didn’t expect the reaction from theaters to be so intense.

Looking at the current situation, the movies he will star in in the future will definitely have an impact on the release schedule."

If you watch "Myth of Love" and "Retrograde Life" starring Xu Zheng in the future, you will know that theaters are vindictive, and they do not want to avenge the time has not come.

"Mr. Gu, do you think it is possible for streaming media to replace theaters in the future?"

"How is that possible!

If nothing else, there is a big gap between streaming media and cinema viewing experience.

Moreover, this year is a special time. ByteDance spent so much money to buy the copyright of [囧Mom] in order to attract users. This is an exception.

If you look at Netflix’s current position in the American film industry, you will know that in the future streaming media will only become a supplement to movie broadcast channels and will never replace movie theaters. "

Gu Wei is a shareholder of Byte and has maintained good cooperative relations with several major video platforms. He feels that he has a thorough understanding.

Wen Mu also nodded, agreeing with this point of view.

Going to the cinema to watch movies is not only a habit, but also an audio-visual enjoyment that cannot be achieved on a mobile phone or computer.

"However, although streaming media is not currently available, if a certain technology makes a breakthrough and matures, it will only take a matter of minutes to replace movie theaters."

"What is Mr. Gu referring to?" Wen Mu also looked curious after hearing this.

Gu Wei smiled: "VR is virtual reality technology. Once this technology makes a breakthrough, it will be a dimensionality reduction blow to theaters.

Can you imagine that everyone can enter the world of movies by wearing a helmet and watch movies completely immersed, nothing like 3D or IMAX can compare with it.”

"Isn't that [The Matrix], the second world of virtual reality?" Wen Mu also smiled, not taking what Gu Wei said seriously.

Gu Wei shrugged: "It seems like science fiction, but the development of science and technology is rapid. Who would have thought that our country could develop to this level 20 years ago.

Smartphones, online shopping, electronic payments, new energy vehicles, aerospace and lunar exploration.

Perhaps we can really see the breakthrough and application of virtual reality technology in our lifetime, and by then the film and television industry and the game industry will undergo unprecedented changes.

As a relic of the old era, theaters will naturally die."

"Haha, I'm really looking forward to the day that Mr. Gu mentioned, I hope I can see it before I die.

The second world of [The Matrix] is too far away. If it can reach the level of [Out-of-control Player], it will be very powerful! "

Because of her love affair, Da MiMi, who originally said she was coming to visit the class, could not come.

".Is there no impact on your filming there?"

"No, there's nothing going on here in Wanwan. The government doesn't care too much. It just encourages everyone to wear masks and everyone should work."

"My movie "Thank You Doctor" stopped filming just over ten days after it started filming. Hengdian is now closed. I don't know when filming will resume."

"I remember last time you told me it was called [ICU 48 hours], right?"

"This is the name of the original novel, and the adapted version is called [Thank You Doctor]."

“It feels like it’s not as famous as it used to be.

Are you at home in Beijing now? "Gu Wei asked, looking at the background on Yang Mi's side.

"Yes, I can't do any work now, I can only wait for notification~"

Gu Wei smiled: "Don't worry, the first period is the most stringent, it won't be long before it gets better, at least the filming should be fine."

"I hope so, for me it's just a little more rest, but Hengdian is closed, and the daily expenses of the dozens of crews currently filming are astronomical.

I don't know how long it will take for the film and television industry to recover from this impact."

Yang Mi sighed on the other side of the camera, a little worried.

"With your fame and status, even this kind of force majeure will not have much impact on you.

In addition to the major film and television companies, the biggest impact this time should be the lowest-level actors and other staff in the circle, their job opportunities have been greatly reduced"

Yang Mi raised his eyebrows: "Is it okay for me to worry about Jiaxing's artists?"

"Okay, of course.

Everyone knows that Sister Mi, you are a very responsible boss!"

As the two chatted, Gu Wei received a WeChat message on his phone. He clicked it and pressed the nine-square grid to reply.

"What's wrong with you?" Yang Mi could also see Gu Wei's movements.

"There is a WeChat, reply."

"Okay, you go ahead and get busy, I'll talk to you when I have time~"

"Byebye~"

After hanging up the video, Gu Wei replied to Nazha's WeChat, and then the other side called again.

These days, Gu Wei was filming during the day and returned to his room at night, either chatting with this WeChat or receiving a call from that one.

The reality is that no one has a job, and they will naturally think of contacting him when they are free.

It's just that everyone knows that Gu Wei is filming in Taiwan and there is no daytime disturbance.

Zhao Liying is also filming in Hengdian, and like Yang Mi, she stopped working and took a break.

She was filming the martial arts drama [You Fei] that she talked to Gu Wei about last time.

Because of Gu Wei's words, Zhao Liying communicated with Huace to replace Wu Yifan, and the crew found Zhu Yilong to play the male lead.

Huace asked him to play the male lead, on the one hand because Zhu Yilong is more popular now, and on the other hand, it is probably because they think that the CP of the young master and Minglan is a big gimmick and has a certain amount of traffic.

"Are you still in Hengdian now?"

"Yes, although the filming is suspended, the entire crew is here.

On the one hand, it is quarantine, and on the other hand, it is waiting for news.

The crew said that filming will be gradually resumed in about half a month at most."

The crew is also suspended. Yang Mi has already gone home, while Zhao Liying is still waiting for the crew to resume. There is indeed a gap between the two in terms of work attitude.

"Just take this opportunity to rest for a while"

"Haha, I would rather not rest. There are more than 200 people in the crew and hundreds of thousands of expenses every day.

This drama has my investment, and I also have a part of the money spent every day."

Zhao Liying curled her lips and looked unhappy.

It is normal for her to get a share of the filming with her current status, because the salary limit makes it impossible to give too much to the actors. Big stars like Zhao Liying can only give investment shares.

"When will your drama be finished?"

"It will be almost finished at the end of this month.

I feel that when I go back, the situation in China should be much better"

"I hope so."