In December, the curtain of the Chinese New Year stalls opened.

The new film "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" by the National Teacher, and "Dragon Gate Flying Armor" with Tsui Hark and Li Lianjie combined swords, although the news that Li Qian announced that the new film was named "Truman's World" overshadowed the limelight, but the two sides immediately increased their publicity efforts.

Just kidding, the new films of the two big directors are released, if they are pressed under someone else's title, then everyone should stop playing and go home to farm.

Under the new picture and Bernard's reckless publicity, "Truman's World" was finally put down.

Before the blockbuster was released, some small-budget films were also released.

Well, it's some.

The domestic market is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more movies released on popular schedules every year, investors from all walks of life want to get a piece of the pie.

Among these low-budget movies, the most famous is "Happy Magic" starring Gu Tianle, and you can know that it is a funny film by Chargil when you look at the fame.

It is probably a story of a villain magician who wants to collect the five elements of magic and use it to travel back to the past through time and space, so he constantly challenges various magics and finally fights with various magicians.

This kind of plot is made up by elementary school students who watch a few more starting Chinese networks.

What's even more interesting is that probably in keeping with the identity of the magician, the character's name is also stranger than the other.

The water magician played by Huang Baiming is called Kang Sengui, the turtle?

The wood magician played by Gu Tianle is called Gu Xinyue, a dignified man with such a healthy complexion, and he even has a feminine name.

The villain is called Takeshi Bino, is Mr. Bi and Takeshi Kitano combined?

What's even more bizarre is that this is still directed by Ye Weixin.

A director who has made wonderful movies such as "Slaying the Wolf", "Fuse", and "Ip Man" can make this kind of sand sculpture movie.

It is no wonder that more and more people on the Internet say that making movies launder money, and the suspicion is not unreasonable.

These movies on a three-day tour of the theater have no impact at all except for making the audience scold a few sentences.

Now the most lively is "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling", which has been boiling with ticket prices before, and finally came to an end.

At the beginning, the distribution company of the new picture sent notices to all major theater chains, requiring movie theaters across the country to sell tickets at the price of one and a half films.

According to their rules, the lowest price in the four Class A cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen is 40, the lowest price of more than a dozen Class B cities is 35, and the lowest price of other Class C cities is 30.

One and a half, that is, the minimum of 60 yuan in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and the minimum of 45 yuan in small cities.

Not only that, but it also requires the share to be increased from 43% to 45%.

Zhang Weiping's reason is that the cost of "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" is as high as 600 million, and the duration has also reached 145 minutes.

This angered the movie theater, and the major theater chains threatened to ban Zhang Weiping.

There was also a lot of scolding on the Internet, saying that Zhang Weiping was crazy about money in order to achieve a billion box office.

However, in the end, under the mediation of China Film, the box office was not increased by half, the lowest price was increased by five yuan, and the share was also mentioned by 45%.

At the meeting, Zhang Hao, the director of distribution, also proposed to follow up.

"Director Li, do you think we should also discuss it with the theater, anyway, it is Zhang Weiping who bears the anger of the theater. ”

"No, Zhang Weiping is just drinking to quench his thirst, he can increase the share of two points, and those movie theaters dare to deduct an extra amount of money, which is not of much use. ”

Li Qian shook his head, the supervision is not strict enough, the theater wants to vote too simply, some small local cinemas are bolder, handwritten tickets are not even lazy to do handwritten tickets, pay money to go in and watch casually, it is common in various small counties.

Last year, there were almost hundreds of movie theaters with an annual box office of less than 100,000, and the most outrageous one, a county movie theater, had a box office of 20,000 a year.

What is the concept of 20,000 box office, even if it is 20 yuan a ticket, it means that the number of moviegoers is only 2,000.

Two months of summer vacation, two months of Chinese New Year, one month of Spring Festival, and other National Day, May Day, and Dragon Boat Festival add up to one month, and there are six months a year that can sell box office.

During these six months, 330 moviegoers per month, 50 viewers per month, and 17 viewers per day.

During the peak holiday season, a movie theater has 17 viewers a day, even in the county seat, it is too miserable.

I really don't know how they haven't closed down for a few years, the boss is really a big philanthropist, after all, there are at least ten employees in a movie theater, and the box office is 30,000 yuan a year, and even the salary is not enough to pay.

It is so difficult to have a cinema in a small county, but the cinemas in the county and small cities are also the most diligent, and they are all scrambling to open a cinema in a small place.

It's nothing more than a lack of supervision in small places, stealing to their heart's content.

There are also many big cities, and there are few franchised theaters that do not steal the box office, and there are various ways.

So, if you want to occupy the benefits of the theater, don't think about it.

Concealing and stealing the box office, everyone in the industry here also knows that Zhang Hao turned to say, "The share can remain the same, what about the ticket price, more than five yuan a piece, and the final box office can even increase by 100 million." ”

It's not a hundred million, the average ticket price is about 30 or so, each ticket is five yuan more, and the original box office of 600 million has become 700 million.

"This is not necessary, the price of movie tickets is not low now, there have been two movies released in November before, and three more in December, there are very few audiences who can watch the three movies, most of them will watch it selectively, if "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" is more expensive than other movies, and the audience has a general reputation, then most of these audiences who are not rich in money and selectively watch movies will choose cheaper blockbusters.

Moreover, "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" is more expensive, which is not conducive to the theater selling drinks and snacks, the duration is longer, and we will also have an advantage in scheduling films, if we really raise the ticket price by five yuan, it is actually much more than the box office that does not increase, after all, the audience may decrease. ”

Zhang Weiping said that the share of domestic producers is lower than that of rice grains, which is correct.

However, Mi Lijian's theater has another major income, selling peripherals, which is even higher than the income of drinks and snacks, making up for the gap of low box office share.

Domestic theaters can't sell any peripherals, at most they put a claw machine.

Moreover, the domestic market is small, there are limited movies every year, and basically no one watches movies in the off-season, and the theater as a whole is losing money.

Of course, this is not a case of stealing the box office, at least one billion of the box office was stolen last year, counting these billion, the theater is profitable.

Zhang Weiping's operation, Li Qian did not follow, and the New Year file was carried out normally.

In terms of publicity, 500 million director Guo Fan, Liu Ye + Zhou Xun, the second best actor of the Mesozoic Generation, and the sci-fi theme are enough to attract the audience.

And in the trailer that was prepared, Li Xianji, played by Liu Ye, incarnated as a super soldier and bravely entered the Middle East, duel with the lantern, and single-handedly killed a small army.

In the Caribbean, he alone destroys a gang of pirates.

These big scenes, plus the two protagonists on the bench in the capital park, look back on history, the liberation of Beiping in the Pingjin Campaign, the bloody battle of Beiping by the 29th Army during the Anti-Japanese War, the burning of the Old Summer Palace at the entrance of the Eight Great Halls, and the occupation of the capital by Zhu Yuanzhang's Northern Expedition... Until the Western Zhou Dynasty Zhaogong Fengyan, and even hundreds of thousands of years ago the Peking Man, and even earlier the age of dinosaurs.

Anyway, it is a series of major events in the history of the capital that are quickly retrospective, and these are exciting enough as a preview.

However, the budget has also increased from 70 million to 110 million, breaking 100 million, but fortunately, the footage of each era is only a few seconds, and there are quick flashbacks one after another, and even some are taken from other film and television dramas and documentaries.

In itself, this shot is two people suffering from jet lag, looking back on the history of the place they are in from the perspective of a bystander, just like the vicissitudes of life.

The rest is easy to say, all kinds of film and television dramas, documentaries can find materials, just pay a copyright fee, the distant Zhaogong Fengyan and dinosaurs and the like, you have to come by yourself, the former is filmed, and the latter is made of special effects.

There are dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, but "The Adventures of Li Xianji" is a retrospective history, which must be in line with the characteristics of the times.

Li Qian then asked, "By the way, the navy you should find is still necessary, this is not November, the competition is fierce, and you can't take it lightly." ”

Saying this, everyone who was originally full of confidence couldn't help but put away some of their inflated thoughts.

Originally, "Thirty-three Days of Broken Love" swept November, with a box office of more than 600 million, so that Du Yang also has absolute confidence in the Chinese New Year stalls.

Guo Fan's last movie broke 500 million, this time the starring lineup is even stronger, and they have also watched the trailer, whether it is a duel to pull the lamp, or to look back on history, the big scenes must be vigorous, and the imagination must be imaginative, which can definitely arouse the audience's appetite.

However, there are also two opponents, "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" and "Dragon Gate Flying Armor", which are not ordinary movies, they are basically the seed players in the first gear at the box office except for "I Am Not the God of Medicine".

Du Yang said helplessly, "In the past year, with Director Li here, we really lack a sense of crisis, and everything is too smooth." ”

"Yes, the biggest crisis is just the cooperation of major companies in the summer file, and we couldn't do anything that time, mainly relying on the movie "I Am Not the God of Medicine" itself, as if we didn't seem important. Zhong Lifang smiled bitterly.

The whole company, although the scale is not small now, plus the publicity and distribution personnel of the ground network, is almost 300 employees.

Li Qian usually doesn't care about anything, but even so, the whole company relies on Li Qian, and their sense of existence is too low.

"I can't say that, the company was start-up, the first year was mainly stable, and now this situation has met my expectations, the ground network guarantees offline distribution, has the ability to distribute large-scale across the country, and the ability to publicize online is second only to a few major companies. Li Qian shook his head.

Although Li Qian said this, everyone understands that the offline distribution ability still depends on Li Qian, just like the new picture depends on Zhang Yimou, without Zhang Yimou, the theater will ignore him.

The five cinema lines under the four major optoelectronics will also cooperate because of Li Qian.

Equally, everything still depends on Li Qian.

Li Qian smiled, "After this year, there will be no films released after the Chinese New Year, and the company will also do more projects, whether it is a movie or a TV series, as long as it is not a big bad movie, it doesn't matter if you lose a little money, the number of projects every year must keep up." ”

To open a company, the output and turnover must go up, and you can't just have profits without volume, this is not okay, it's not a personal studio.

Sometimes volume is more important than profit.

In fact, Du Yang and they don't blame themselves much, who doesn't want to do the things that lie down to win, they can't wait to touch Li Qian's light, lie all the way to the first place in the industry, and don't have to bother to work hard.

However, there is still an attitude to be had, and after some self-criticism, I also cheered up.

"I'm talking to Xue Xiaolu about her next movie, although "Ocean Paradise" is not good at the box office, but the movie is still good, but it lacks commercial attributes, this time she plans to make a love movie, I guess she should be able to win it. Du Yang talked about a project he was talking about.

Several other people also talked about the progress of their respective work, and even Zhao Jun, who slaps sycophants every day, as a production director, is also in contact with other directors.

"Director Li, I have met Lu Yang, who won the Best New Director Award at the Golden Rooster Awards this year, twice, as if he is planning to make a martial arts film, I am going to wait for the release of "Dragon Gate Flying Armor" to see, if the martial arts film still has prospects and the cost is not high, it can still be invested. ”

That's right, what were you doing there just now?

Li Qian shook his head secretly and said with a smile, "If you win the Golden Rooster Best Newcomer Director, you also have a certain potential, as long as the investment is not too high, it doesn't matter, even if you lose, you should give him a long experience, if a potential newcomer can't do it, find a few more, one out of ten has the right eye, and they are all earned." ”

......

Time passed day by day, and with the official release of "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" on the 8th, it got a box office of 25 million on the first day, and the New Year file war officially began.

Li Qian also continued to be busy with his own affairs, and in the past few days, he has successively confirmed other actors.

Truman's mother is played by Teacher Pan Hong, who has always felt like a simple, generous, elegant, and quiet woman, and also a relatively perfect image of a mother and mother-in-law, which has always been this image before Truman knew the truth.

At the same time, he can also perform that kind of fake family affection, after all, Pan Hong herself often plays similar roles, and she can play both sides very well.

As for his father, Li Qian invited Mr. Li Baotian to make a cameo, and it was not difficult to play a father who was so fake that he hid Truman.

These two characters are both villains, and they may have family affection, after all, it has been thirty years, and even a dog has feelings.

However, the family relationship between them is maintained by the salary given by the program team, they are just playing such a role, and when feelings can be measured by money, they are not feelings.

Moreover, when Truman found out the clue, the first thing they thought about was not to tell the truth, but to continue to hide it for their own work.

The so-called family affection is just their work.

The other roles are basically confirmed, and the uncle who took a bath found Pan Lei to play it, and he is funny enough, so it's no problem to be funny.

The old couple found Wang Deshun and Qin Yi, two seniors, almost as long as they were old people with kind faces, they leaned on the sofa the whole time, and they didn't have to toss the two old people.

Although Mr. Wang's muscles are stronger than most young people, and his abdominal muscles have also played the role of a fierce god, but there is no problem.

The two security guards, one is Zhou Huade, who played the delivery man in "Sniper Phone Booth", and the other Lei Jiayin is a cameo, anyway, he is also old, and he is enough to be a dick.

There are more waiters and white-collar workers in the restaurant, so let's put it aside for the time being to see who is willing to make a cameo.

As for the actor, Li Qian actually has no choice, and there is no perfect actor.

Zhou Xingchi, who is in his thirties, is not perfect, the less free and easy, at that age, Zhou Xingchi was already a little depressed, and he wanted to perform Truman's enthusiasm and freedom without going through actions and lines, but he couldn't do it.

If you take a closer look at the comedy after he became famous, you can see that there was never that simple smile in his eyes, but loneliness, melancholy, and sadness.

Of course, even so, thirty-year-old Zhou Xingchi is also the best candidate.

Of course, there is no thirty-year-old Zhou Xingchi now, and there is only one Deng Dynasty that Li Qian can choose.