Chapter 273 Roller Coaster

The summer of 2004 was a rollercoaster ride for Chinese fans. It's the same for Jack Cheng. However, the difference is that the fans' cars go up first and then get down, and Jack Cheng goes down first and then comes up.

During the entire summer vacation, "New Police Story" earned about 800 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office in Asia, although the box office share ratio of each country is not the same, but on average, 40% of the box office can fall into the hands of the producer, which is already 80% of the profit margin, not to mention the DVD release and other follow-up is a big profit, coupled with the fact that Europe and North America have not yet been released, Mr. Xiang and Yang Shoucheng, who have made a lot of money, have begun to look forward to the box office of the film in the United States.

However, in the box office of 800 million, the box office of Japan alone accounted for half, Hong Kong contributed 54 million yuan to the box office, and then the box office of the mainland converted into Hong Kong dollars reached 100 million yuan, which made everyone fully understand the growth of the mainland market. Other countries such as South Korea, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Singapore, and Malaysia combined to make up 800 million at the box office, and the Taiwanese distributor postponed the release after re-editing, and also achieved a good box office.

Jack Cheng finally felt the feeling of a roller coaster in a short period of time, and the $110 million investment in June's film "Around the World in 80 Days" only made a box office of more than 20 million in North America, and because of his extensive use of Hong Kong actors in the movie, his reputation in Hollywood also stinked because of it. Hollywood has reached a consensus that the control of the film cannot be handed over to Jack as an actor. Historically, because of the failure of this film, he could not receive an invitation from Hollywood's A-production zuò for a long time, so he had to live in Hong Kong.

However, in July, he made a comeback with "New Police Story", which grossed more than $100 million in all regions except Europe and North America. In his mind, this is a response to Hollywood's questioning of his voice. Because of Colombia's mixing, "New Police Story" has been quickly set to be released in North America around Christmas. Jack Cheng has some kind of ambition to get back to Hollywood. However, because of his adaptation of his acting style in "New Police Story", in a certain way, it has deepened Hollywood's consensus that Jack cannot be allowed to control the rhythm of the film. This film proves that Shen Zhenghui confirms this consensus, and expresses his success with Jack. Even if Jack Cheng has saved his reputation in Hollywood with this film, big companies are still full of worries about whether Jack Cheng will still be invited to star in the next big production.

However, the success of this film has brought Jack Cheng out of the low ebb of love, leaving him except for "Rush Hour 2". There's a new point of bragging. Because of such a result, the hearts of Yongsheng and Yinghuang are stirred again, the original investment of about 80 million Hong Kong dollars is a gamble between the two sides, and now it seems that not only successfully recovered the investment, but also made a lot of money, and after the release in the United States and Europe, DVD income and so on are even more trickle-downs, and both sides can't help but want to expand this achievement even more. So Mr. Xiang and Yang Shoucheng met again. Then he talked to Jack Cheng in detail, and the three of them talked about the sequel investment and follow-up shooting.

Hong Kong people want to talk about a result for themselves first, and then come to Shen Zhenghui to talk. The distribution of benefits is a very troublesome issue, and if it is not well discussed, there may be no possibility of a sequel to be filmed again. The situation is more complicated, the copyright of "New Police Story" is jointly owned by Yongsheng and Yinghuang, and Shen Zhenghui himself has a part of the right to benefit, according to his share of contribution. It's about 20%, and Yongsheng and Yinghuang are 40% each. But the copyright of the sequel shooting is in the hands of Shen Zhenghui instead. Yongsheng and Yinghuang want the copyright of the sequel shooting, if Shen Zhenghui is willing to continue filming in this mode, they also agree, and the specific allocation will be discussed by sitting down. But looking at Shen Zhenghui's resume, he doesn't seem to be too interested in shooting the sequel himself. The follow-up filming rights of "Hurricane Rescue" were sold to Colombia, so Yongsheng and Yinghuang both wanted to buy the follow-up rights. But Yinghuang said it more urgently. Because Jack Cheng is on their side, and this movie seems to be tailor-made for Jack Cheng, so Yang Shoucheng and Jack Cheng are a little more nervous about this copyright. Especially Jack Cheng, in a sense, the film reinvigorates his arrogant psychology. He was waiting for Shen Zhenghui to take over the directing job of the sequel if he didn't direct the sequel.

As a result, it is naturally impossible to talk about the results in a short period of time. The expectations of the two sides for the revenue of the film are quite different, and they are almost contradictory when negotiating, both hope that the other party will launch it, but they do not want to pay too much for it. The only favorable reason for Mr. Xiang is that this film will have such a high box office because it is directed by Shen Zhenghui, so if Shen Zhenghui no longer directs the sequel, it is likely to cause a decline in the box office of the sequel. Jack Cheng is ambitious and confident in his box office appeal. But "Around the World in Eighty Days" just slapped him in the face. The film's box office in Asia also shows that it is incomparably bad.

Faced with the possibility that the sequel would not be lower than the box office of the first part, both sides refused to budge. So what the result was not discussed, so the dispute could only be put aside for the time being, and the only consensus reached was to try to strive for Shen Zhenghui to continue directing the sequel, and the two sides could continue to negotiate with each other, if Shen Zhenghui did not direct the sequel, Mr. Xiang agreed to help Yinghuang fight for the filming rights of the sequel, and at the same time retain the right to invest in the sequel, but the investment amount will not exceed 40%. This is just a principled opinion, although both parties are anxious, but they also know that the sequel will be at least a year later. Until then, try to be happy with the box office.

This time the box office results once again deepened the impression of the bigwigs, as the world's second largest economy, how huge the box office of Japan, 400 million Hong Kong dollars is dazzling, in the case of Hollywood is difficult to break into, the neighboring Japanese film market seems to be a good choice. But the quality of Hong Kong films has declined too much, and it has long been no longer the level of the golden age of films in the 80s, Mr. Xiang has been paying attention to the distribution of Hong Kong films in Japan over the years, and the Hong Kong films that bought out the copyright in the spring have not had good results in Japan, and many films rely on the star halo to get some box office, but these box offices have far exceeded the box office in Hong Kong. Mr. Xiang has been worrying about how his film empire should develop. In the past, it seemed that there was only one way to go north, but now even if he has the intention to enter the East, it seems that the cards in his hand are not enough.

Hong Kong is a small place after all. Can't cultivate too many top stars. The top star of the Hong Kong film industry, Jack Cheng is already Yinghuang's partner, and Jet Lee jumped out of the Hong Kong film circle. Even if you come back, you will return to the mainland; Brother Xiao Ma will definitely not return to the small waterhole of Hong Kong, but will only go to the mainland; Not to mention Zhou Xingxing, among the four people, he is the best and most promising, there is still a lot of room for improvement, and the quality of his works is also the most guaranteed. After "Shaolin Football", with the help of Haruhi, he has completely embarked on the road of globalization, and he has long been his own boss, and the possibility of cooperation is still pitiful. Not to mention the cards in your own hand.

Mr. Xiang counted and found that he didn't have a useful card in his hand except Zhang Zhizhi, and even Yang Shoucheng couldn't compare. The other party has focused on supporting young male and female stars over the years, and has almost monopolized the resources of the new generation, although these people have no acting skills and level, but they are well-known as idols and can brush their faces. By this time. It seems that it is too late to go back and regret the development strategy of your company. However, Mr. Xiang already has a preliminary idea in his mind, that is, to continue to work hard to enter the mainland market. If there is no manpower, use capital to fight for cooperative status.

At the same time, Shen Zhenghui also completed his own movie promotion, and under the guidance of his father, he worshiped the mountains one by one.

The release of "New Police Story" in China was not promoted by Shen Zhenghui, but as the director of this film, he sometimes has to admit his feelings. After all, I can't tell what the next film will be. Shen Xingguo is now in Pingjing all the year round, and according to him, there are many officials from the Film Bureau who visited him during this time. The banners are all about chatting with Shen Zhenghui.

So Shen Zhenghui had to follow his father to visit these bigwigs one by one.

In fact, it's not a big deal, it's nothing more than this: a new government has officially come to power, and this government has opened this card, trying to be more liberal in form than the previous government, which is reflected in the field of film. is the issue of lifting the ban on a group of sixth-generation directors who were banned in 94. When these young people began to direct, they were just in time for the great changes in the national system, the film market had undergone a huge turn, and the national power to support the development of films began to decline, so they had to use their own strength to shoot their own films in the tide of marketization, rather than being able to realize their artistic ideals within the system like the previous directors. Therefore, what this generation of directors expressed and recorded was the true, ugly, and shocking side they saw in the historical transition of this country, and in this period of historical transition, the confusion of artistic thought and political thought made their expression deeply taboo by those in power. This real, ugly, and concussive expression has gained international recognition in the name of art, and the sixth generation of directors has also acquired the skill of raising money from outside the system to make films and distribute them outside the country, so they have been outright banned by the government's film management department.

In 2003, the government changed, the leaders made an enlightened posture, at the same time, the signing of the WTO treaty, the opening of the film market has become a hanging sword of Damocles, after several years of observation, China's commercial films have no resistance in the face of foreign blockbusters is almost a fact, so several reasons combined, so that the decision to recruit the sixth generation of Zhao'an was made.

This was originally irrelevant to Shen Zhenghui. But in the past few years, Shen Zhenghui's films have been impressive in the Chinese film market, so even if a group of underground film directors are recruited, Chinese films still have to face such a situation: how should commercial films develop? In this regard, Shen Zhenghui made an atypical demonstration. Commercially, he even beat director Zhang, the national teacher, and his films are incomparably spectacular, and he has also achieved amazing results among the film's overseas distributors, especially the last point. has gained influence overseas, which means that the influence of Chinese culture has gone out, and from this point of view, Shen Zhenghui cannot but be regarded as a representative of Chinese cinema in any case. Especially at the previous two sessions, he submitted a proposal on the development of Chinese films. After a year or two of observation, his many astonishing prophecies became more and more profound.

So whether the Film Bureau is making a gesture or really preparing to brush up on him, the Film Bureau wants to get in touch with him. On the other hand, when recruiting the thorns, the leaders of the Film Bureau suffered hardship. Some of them sent their faces to the door and were beaten, but in the blink of an eye, they hoped to be able to save a game with Shen Zhenghui.

This time the symposium with Shen Zhenghui was also cleverly arranged, it was also the conference room of the Pingjing Film Academy, and the leaders of the Film Bureau came, and even notified a group of directors and bigwigs in the film industry. Many of the sixth-generation directors were invited to audit and participate in the discussion, and the most famous directors Zhang, Feng, and Chen also came, as well as many seniors in the industry, crowding a conference room.

Shen Zhenghui had already written a draft of his previous proposal and sent the draft to the leaders of the Film Bureau in advance, but these leaders still decided to hold such a meeting after receiving the draft. And the grand occasion of this meeting was something that Shen Zhenghui did not expect at all. Those present may want to discuss the skills and ideas of commercial films from Shen Zhenghui, or they may want to take this opportunity to criticize commercial films and stand up for art films, etc. When Shen Zhenghui and his father arrived at the place where the meeting was held, they were taken aback by this grand occasion. The film bureau said it would notify some directors. But what is unexpected is that there are so many "some" directors.

The official host's speech was unusually brief, nothing more than an explanation of Shen Zhenghui's achievements, which was simply shocking, and they even counted Shen Zhenghui's investment and Liu Xin's achievements in several cartoons to Shen Zhenghui's body, so many people who didn't know Shen Zhenghui heard that it was a box office priced in hundreds of millions, some of their eyes were red, and some of their faces were blue. Then the leader began to speak. To put it mildly, it is an honor to invite Asia's No. 1 commercial director to have a direct dialogue with the Film Bureau, and also to communicate with colleagues in the mainland. He also said that today everyone can speak freely, those who speak are not guilty, and those who hear are full of caution. The Film Bureau is faced with a new management task, the purpose of which is to better escort the development of Chinese films.

Shen Zhenghui really didn't expect that there were so many green eyes staring at him at the scene, and there were only a few big directors and bigwigs who looked at him normally, and some extreme film directors could kill people if their eyes could kill. I have already been pierced through my heart and lungs. So he took out the transcript, which was actually sent to the participants on the spot as meeting materials.

So someone immediately shouted, "Director Shen, we've all read what you wrote, can I ask you some questions directly?" ”

Standing up was the famous international Chinese director Jia Yuan. In terms of international prestige in the film industry, he completely exploded Shen Zhenghui, Shen Zhenghui was only known by others when he mentioned his works, and his award at the Venice Film Festival was regarded as a compromise of Venice for commercial films in order to maintain its influence, and no one took this award seriously, including Shen Zhenghui himself.

After seeing the leader's forehead, the host said with some remediation, "Please obey the order and raise your hand to signal to me during this exchange of speeches." Please also maintain good order and demeanor when discussing. ”

After Jia Yuan and the other hosts finished saying this, they couldn't wait to ask, "Director Shen, I have seen your analysis and prediction of the Chinese film market, and I also know your experience in filmmaking. Many people think that you know the Chinese film market very well and you know commercial films, but I think you don't actually know the history and current situation of Chinese filmmakers at all. He gushed endlessly, "Our generation is different from you who had sufficient funds to start from the beginning, when we came out to work, we didn't have the opportunity to make films, the organization didn't give them a chance, and there was no money, and after we finally raised the shooting funds ourselves, we didn't release them in China at all, and sent them to the international market to sell some money, and immediately the country banned making more films," he said with a kind of sneer, "In any case, film is a practical art, do you think that with the current production of films in China, How do you train directors? How can the director live? ”

The leader sitting at the main table patted the table with some annoyance, "Let's talk about the current situation and the future, don't talk about the past, it's not clear." ”

Jia Yuan twisted his neck and said, "How can you talk about the present without talking about the past?" Did the production increase overnight? Are directors trained overnight? If you can't keep up with the talent package or something, how can you increase the number of films? He shook his head as he spoke, "It's not easy to shoot and not be released, all the hard work of the past few years has been wasted, the director has to grow, and there is no chance to practice, if you want to talk about the status quo, isn't the status quo like this?" Can the leader give a solution? He swept around the leader and looked at Shen Zhenghui again, "Director Shen, do you have a solution?" ”

Shen Zhenghui was choked by the leader of the sixth generation of directors and was a little stunned. (To be continued......)