Good things don't necessarily sell, and broken things don't necessarily sell well.

This is said in the film industry, that is, a good movie does not mean a high box office, and a bad movie does not necessarily mean a bad box office. If you let the experts explain, I am afraid that it may not be clear for several hours, but in Wang Jing's words, it is very simple - whether the audience likes it or not. If the audience likes it, even if the film is bad, it can be frighteningly high at the box office; If the audience doesn't like it, you're going to win all the big prizes in the world, and you're still going to hit the streets.

What kind of movie can make the audience like it? Only God knows this, before the day of release, no matter how professional people are, there is a time when they will look away, so film companies like to make series the most. As long as one is popular, there will be a second and third part, until the audience doesn't like to watch it.

"Infernal Affairs" was applauded, 31.57 million in the first week, 27.08 million in the second week, and 50 million in ten days, and when the painting was made, the new box office record of 60.73 million set by Zhou Xingxing last year was rewritten to 62.81 million.

Thanks to the strong box office appeal of Sun Ziming and Fa Ge, the simultaneous release of the mainland market also broke the box office record of 381.34 million domestic films just set by "Hero" in the first half of the year with a total box office of 427.41 million; South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and other places are slightly worse, with a total box office equivalent to 510.78 million Hong Kong dollars. However, the English version of "Infernal Affairs", which was hoped by the American Light and Shadow Company, did not perform well in the North American market, with only 27.4 million at the box office in three weeks of release, and 18.21 million euros in Europe.

However, this result has made the whole Hong Kong Light and Shadow Company ecstatic, with a total global box office of 1.11248 billion Hong Kong dollars, which is an unprecedented box office miracle?

After the grand celebration banquet, Wang Fatzi also carried his briefcase and ran to his grandson Ming's house to revisit the old matter. Sun Ziming returned to Hong Kong to shoot "Infernal Affairs", which really made Wang Fatzi excited, and after getting the script, he organized people to make a sequel. By the time Sun Ziming was halfway through the shooting, there were already seven or eight versions of "Infernal Affairs 2" on the desk.

"How?"

Wang Fatzi sipped the coffee sent by the East Timorese, eagerly looked at the sad Sun Ziming, and was determined to make a sequel.

"Not good."

"Then you write!"

"When I wrote this script, I didn't think about making a sequel."

"That's not good, you finally came back to make a film, how can you not make a sequel?"

It's difficult, if Sun Ziming is just a director, he can refuse this kind of thing without hesitation, but he is the boss of the light and shadow company, so he must obey the interests of the company and squeeze the last trace of value of this film.

After frowning for a while, Sun Ziming had no choice but to smile bitterly: "Brother Jing, I really can't make it up." Let me tell you the truth, I'm like Liu Jianming in the film, who wants to be a good person, but he always does some bad things, so he wrote this book. If you're going to make me make it up, there's really nothing I can do. ”

Good? ?

Wang Fatzi looked at the coffee cup in his hand, tacitly no longer forced him to write a better book, and said the true purpose: "Then you let Fa Zai continue to play Liu Jianming, I can't get the vampires of UTA." ”

Sun Ziming smiled dumbly, he rarely suffers a loss, but he is always put on a show by this dead fat man.

'Dangdang', Wang Fatzi tapped the coffee cup in his hand with his fingernails and quipped: "You are a big man, and all you think about is coffee." Well, I've helped you sell millions of dollars of coffee, and you have to do a favor with this little thing, right? ”

"Foolish, huh? Even if the whole group doesn't drink coffee alone, it won't drink a million a year! ”

"Che, don't you know how many people are in the four major TV stations and four major film companies in Hong Kong?"

"You hang!"

Sun Ziming gave a thumbs up, for the sake of millions of yuan of coffee, he had to go to major TV stations and film companies to sell face, and he really couldn't open his mouth. Hey, no, it's okay to be courteous, it's either a traitor or a thief.

", you want to get cheap again?"

'Hey, hey, hey', Wang Fatzi picked up the cigarette thrown on the ground, took a puff of cigarette and sighed with the fire in Sun Ziming's hand: "Big guy, I can't help it." Your current market is 20 million US dollars plus 15% profit share, Ah Fa is 16 million US dollars plus 5% box office share, if you and Ah Fa took the initiative to reduce it to 10 million Hong Kong dollars, the company would not dare to shoot this film.

You've made enough money and don't care about the little money, but aren't they? Wei Zai turned down two film contracts for this film, and only took 3 million. Favors are favors, business is business, and the company has to save face when it's big, right? ”

"Flicker, you keep flickering."

The nonsense was exposed, and Wang Fatzi was not embarrassed at all, and said: "Lao Tzu is a businessman, no matter how good the film is, if it doesn't make money, it will be a loss-making business." If you don't shoot anymore, Fa Tsai definitely doesn't want to reduce the price of the film, according to his current market, the company can't even earn a hair! ”

It's not that you can't make a single hair, but you will definitely lose money!

Fa Ge's salary for filming "Pirates of the South Seas 2" has soared to 16 million US dollars, plus 5% of the box office share, although Hong Kong films can enter the whole Asian market except the Middle East, but they still can't afford the kind of salary of nearly 200 million Hong Kong dollars. Sun Ziming is the director, and the other directors have nothing to say, who made the two of them a golden partner, and he can make Fa Ge a world-class superstar? But if Sun Ziming stops directing, Fa Ge still gets a low salary, and a director asks him for a schedule in the future, how can he refuse?

If Fa Ge gets paid according to the market price, what will happen to others, I'm afraid that the salary of a single actor will exceed 300 million Hong Kong dollars. A film with a single salary of more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars, how much box office does it have to ensure that it does not lose money, and how much box office does it take to make a profit?

Favors are favors, business is business, if it is a literary film, zero remuneration is no problem. But this is a commercial film, as long as this low salary is opened, it will not be able to accept it in the future. Even if Wang Fatzi is so thick-skinned, he is embarrassed to ask his family to lower his salary, this is no longer a matter of money, but a question of how Fa Ge will behave in the future.

What's even more troublesome is that if Fa Ge gets a super high salary, other stars will also increase their salaries, which will inevitably trigger a new round of interest games between producers and stars.

The butt decides the head, if Sun Ziming and Wang Fatzi were just directors, they would be happy to see the game between producers and stars, but now they are not only producers but also theater operators, how can they be willing to see this kind of thing happen?

Don't shoot? Nonsense, they not only opened a film company, but also a brokerage company and a movie theater chain. In the entertainment industry, it is true that it is more realistic than the other, but it is also more sophisticated than other industries. Just like Wang Fatzi said, when the company is big, it must be face-saving, and in other words, it is necessary to have a sense of responsibility.

So many potential newcomers are vying to join Starlight Brokerage, isn't it just for the company's good reputation? Since they have joined, they must be responsible for others, so that the company can become stronger and stronger. "Infernal Affairs" has become popular, even if Sun Ziming doesn't want to shoot it, the company will change the director and screenwriter to make a sequel to the newcomer.

In a big way, if the films that have become popular do not continue to be filmed, how can they feed the thousands of movie theaters in the whole group? Tying the theater chain and the production company together can certainly make the greatest profit, but it also forces the production company to keep producing films, otherwise why would you build a theater?

It's difficult, Sun Ziming suddenly understood the difficulties of Uncle Shao Liu. Didn't he know that at that time, Shaw Brothers Pictures was losing one film, so it was better to stop filming? It's just that the family business is big, and each has its own difficulties!

After a headache for a while, Sun Zi Mingcai suddenly said: "No, isn't Fa Ge a shareholder of the company?" It is his duty to help the company make films, and Cheng Long helps Jiahe make films, doesn't he only get a salary of 20 million Hong Kong dollars? ”

"That's different, Ah Long is both a director and a boss himself, and he just asked Golden Harvest to invest some money to help him distribute it."

Sun Ziming has been in Hollywood for more than ten years and knows the crux of the problem, but it is still difficult to make up his mind to let him give up something.