Chapter 330 Without Butcher Zhang, we can’t eat pigs with hair
Since 2000, the Lunar New Year period has always been the most popular period in the Chinese film market. At that time, many high-grossing blockbusters chose to be released in this period, including those in the past [Thailand], the Chinese-language film that ranks number one at the box office, achieved super high box office results during this period.
Gu Wei's first film "Detective Chinatown 1" and Feng Xiaogang's film "Private Customization" were also competing in the Lunar New Year festival.
In the end, they all achieved good box office results.
However, in recent years, with the expansion of the domestic film market, especially the increasing convenience of online ticket purchase, young people have become more and more enthusiastic about watching movies.
The rise of summer and Spring Festival stalls has caused the Lunar New Year stall to relinquish its once most popular spot and gradually take a back seat.
However, it cannot be denied that there is still a large group of moviegoers during this period, and it is relatively easy to have a box office hit.
Gu Wei, who returned to the company from Zeng Li early in the morning, was sitting in the office drinking coffee and looking at the list of movies to be released this month handed over by his assistant.
After filming the movie in Thailand for more than two months, although the filming and training were very hard, Gu Wei still accumulated a lot of energy.
Now after a night of cultivation, I have reached a state of physical and mental comfort.
The temperament that had become a bit sharp due to the long period of filming has also returned to being as gentle as jade.
It was just a little hard for Sister Li. She was still sleeping soundly in bed when Gu Wei left.
After all, Gu Wei's physique is different from that of ordinary people. In addition, he held it in for too long. Even though he tried his best to be gentle, Sister Li was still exhausted and fell into a coma.
But in the morning, Gu Wei saw her sleeping soundly, with a rosy complexion, smooth skin, and an expression like a baby. He thought that if she had fun once in a while, Sister Li would also like it.
The Hollywood science fiction blockbuster [The Martian], which was released in mainland China at the end of November, has exhausted its box office potential after three weeks of screening.
Although this movie has a Douban score of 8.5 and a very high online reputation, its box office did not reach the level of [Fast 7] and [Avengers 2] in the first half of the year, only a little over 500 million.
Originally, domestic filmmakers were already prepared to be swept away by this science fiction masterpiece. From the end of November to the beginning of December, no big-budget domestic films were released, just to avoid it.
I didn’t expect [The Martian] to be a hit but not a hit.
Although the box office of more than 500 million is considered a big hit for most movies, the investment cost of this science fiction masterpiece alone is more than 100 million US dollars, making it a true Hollywood A-level production.
This result is really disappointing for the illustrious reputation it has achieved.
[The Martian] was released in North America two months earlier than in China. At that time, it topped the North American box office for three consecutive weeks and sold US$290 million in the North American market.
Before it was released in the mainland, the film’s global box office had already reached nearly 600 million US dollars, and it was also nominated for the American TV Movie Golden Globe Award and the Oscar Award.
That’s why domestic filmmakers are so wary of it, thinking it is a blockbuster movie on the same level as [Fast and Furious 7] in the first half of the year.
Unexpectedly, [The Martian] was a bit acclimated after entering the domestic market and did not really become popular.
The weak performance of Hollywood blockbusters has also made the overall domestic box office performance in the early Lunar New Year period unsatisfactory. However, starting next week, large-scale domestic movies will be released one after another.
"Searching for the Dragon" and "Unexpectedly" will be released on December 18th, "Lao Pao'er" and "Villain Angel" will be released on December 24th, and Gu Wei's "Xiu Chun Dao 2" will be released on the last day of the month on the 31st. ], in just half a month, several big-budget movies by famous directors have been released one after another. It can be said that starting from mid-December, the real battle for the Lunar New Year period will begin.
However, Gu Wei is not worried about this situation at all. In his opinion, the only threatening film "Searching for the Dragon" is released too early. When "Embroidered Spring Knife 2" is released, its box office potential will be reduced. Almost consumed.
As for the other movies, [Villain Angel] and [Unexpectedly] have a bad reputation. [Old Paoer] has a good box office but the themes are too different, and it has no impact on [Xiu Chun Dao 2]. .
So what kind of results the movie can ultimately achieve depends on its own performance.
Take a sip of coffee, put down the movie schedule, picked up a white script from next to the desk and continued to read.
[Anle Pictures] just sent over the script of [Monster Hunt 2] in the past two days.
Gu Wei has read it from beginning to end.
It was different from the plot of the second part in his memory. The sequel given by [Anle] still has "Song Tianyin" played by Gu Wei and "Huo Xiaolan" played by Bai Baihe as the male and female protagonists.
The entire story line is similar to the first one. The little demon king "Huba" was hunted down again, and then Gu and Wei got the news and went to rescue them. After a difficult adventure, they defeated The evil villain wins in the end.
"Where is Liang Chaowei?"
Gu Wei rubbed his chin and thought, if this script is followed, then there will be no problem for [Monster Hunt 2] to continue the reputation of the first film, and it will have a higher box office breakthrough.
In fact, the reason why the original version of [Monster Hunt 2] changed the protagonist is very complicated.
First of all, in the first film, the protagonist of the movie was Bai Baihe instead of Jing Boran. After the success of "Monster Hunt 1", it was the female protagonist who gained more fame and other aspects.
Because Jing Bairan has not had any impressive achievements before and his national popularity is not high, everyone just thinks that he is lucky and happened to come across a hit movie. No one thinks that "Monster Hunt" has a high box office. He brought it.
Before the filming of the second part started, Bai Baihe was exposed to the "One Finger Zen" incident. [Anle] was afraid that her image would be damaged and it would have an impact on the box office, so they hired Liang Chaowei to be the male lead. , the two protagonists of the first film are supporting him, and I hope that Actor Liang can carry the box office of "Monster Hunt 2".
But now this version is completely different. Gu Wei is a real protagonist in both the content and promotion of the movie.
For the movie to achieve such high results, people inside and outside the circle believe that Gu Wei played a very important role in it.
So in the second part, unless [Anle] is stupid, it is impossible to leave Gu Wei, a popular top figure, and find a completely unrelated person to play the male lead.
Gu Wei looked at the script and thought for a while.
Yang Liwen knocked on the door and came in.
"Boss, are you looking for me?"
"Sister Yang, [Monster Hunt 2], what are the conditions offered by Anle?"
Gu Wei asked without raising his head.
Yang Liwen thought for a moment.
"[Anle] has offered you a salary of 50 million, which is already the highest among domestic actors. It is very sincere."
When Gu Wei took over the filming of "Operation Mekong", his salary was still 30 million. However, after "Monster Hunt" became a hit and hit the number one spot in film history, his external quotation increased.
Current domestic movie stars, Cheng Long and Zhou Runfa have the highest salary quotations of 80 million yuan, Gu Wei’s only salary is 40 to 50 million yuan, followed by Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, Deng Chao, Chen Kun, etc. These Mesozoic A-list stars basically have between 20 and 30 million.
If Gu Wei takes on "Monster Hunt 2", then his salary can be stabilized at 50 million, which is of great benefit to him.
Gu Wei held the script in one hand and tapped the table gently with the other.
In fact, for the movie "Monster Hunt 2", he was a little dissatisfied with the salary alone. It was not that Gu Wei was too greedy, but that there would be no harm without comparison.
Similarly, he held shares in the movies that outside companies approached him about, including "Operation Mekong" and "Wolf Warrior 2". After the movies were released, Gu Wei's income was in the hundreds of millions.
Although the box office of the "Monster Hunt" series is high, he now has more choices. He has this time to make a movie invested by his own company, and his income in all aspects far exceeds that of participating in "Monster Hunt". Note 2].
So if the salary is only 50 million, it would be a bit useless for him. "Sister Yang, please reply to [Anle] in a moment and say that I request to use the remuneration to invest in shares and then invest more, and I want to get 30% of the investment share in [Monster Hunt 2]."
Gu Wei remembers that after Wu Jinghong became a star, some of the main theme movies he starred in, [Dengfeng International Pictures] under his name, all invested 30% of the shares. With his current fame and box office appeal, he wants the same share. It shouldn't be too much.
Yang Liwen was stunned for a moment, hesitated to speak, and finally agreed.
“I’ll do it right away!”
Then he left the office.
After Yang Liwen left, Gu Wei thought about it for a while. The reason why he was paid to make a movie and invested in the group before was because the movie was not well received, and the producer hoped to use Gu Wei's fame to drive the box office.
Just like the earliest [Embroidered Spring Knife], the [Left Ear] shot last year, and even the just-concluded [Operation Mekong River].
The producers were not sure whether the movie would be profitable in the end, and "Xiu Chun Knife" couldn't even be made without Gu Wei's money, so the crew readily accepted Gu Wei's investment.
But the [Monster Hunt] series is different. When the first part ranked first in film history, the second part can achieve higher results even if the quality is average, and it is 100% profitable.
This situation can be referred to the "囧囧" series. Even if the reputation of the subsequent "囧囧" was not satisfactory, it still received a box office of 1.6 billion, surpassing the second "Thailand" which had a better reputation. .
Gu Wei could imagine that for Jiang Zhiqiang of [Anle Pictures], his request was no different than cutting off his flesh.
“Forget it, don’t think too much, we’ve done everything, let’s see what Jiang Zhiqiang decides!”
Gu Wei muttered, stopped thinking about it, threw aside the script of "Monster Hunt 2" and started busying himself with other things.
He went out to film for more than two months. There were a lot of things that he needed to deal with in the company. Gu Wei had to go on a road show with the crew of "Xiu Chun Dao 2" in a few days, so he left He doesn't have much time.
I have been busy in the office all morning. I took a simple bite of my work meal and asked my assistant to clean up the leftovers. I was just about to pick up the unapproved documents in the morning and continue reading. The phone rang.
Looking at the caller number, Gu Wei curled his lips. He could already imagine what the call would be about.
“Hello, Mr. Jiang?
No worries, I just had lunch.
I know that there is no way but it is the company’s decision after research, and I can’t refute it.
This is not something I can change casually. I especially hope to continue to cooperate with Mr. Jiang and Director Xu, but there is no way I can do it because of the requirements set by the company.
Well, okay, then I’ll ask the agent to wait for your reply!
Happy cooperation! ”
After hanging up the phone, Gu Wei shrugged. He had said everything he needed to say. It was impossible to change the conditions. It was entirely up to Jiang Zhiqiang whether he could continue to cooperate in the future.
Throwing the phone aside, Gu Wei did not think about it again and continued his morning work.
At the same time, the president's office of [Anle Pictures].
Jiang Zhiqiang, who put down the phone, had a smile on his face one second, and a clouded look on his face the next. The rapid change of his face was the essence of face-changing in Sichuan Opera.
He frowned and said nothing.
"How's it going? What did Gu Wei say?"
Xu Chengyi, who was sitting on the sofa at the side of the office, leaned forward and asked anxiously.
“Bang~”
The iPhone in Jiang Zhiqiang’s hand hit the desk in front of him heavily.
“Gu Wei is so greedy!”
"You won't give in at all?"
Xu Chengyi asked again.
“They have been talking to me in a bureaucratic manner, talking about the company’s decisions. [Wei Mingxia] Gu Wei is the only boss, and he alone has the final say.
He just saw that the first one was a hit, so he asked him to star in the second one.
I also thought about bargaining with him and letting him become a shareholder in terms of salary, but I couldn’t give him that much in terms of share. Unexpectedly, he killed 30% of them.”
After hearing Jiang Zhiqiang's words, Xu Chengyi also frowned.
As the director and the soul of the "Monster Hunt" series, Jiang Zhiqiang promised him 10% of the proceeds from the second film as director's remuneration.
In his opinion, Gu Wei is a little too greedy, asking for 30% all at once, three times as much as he, the director.
"Old Xu, do you think we can rewrite the script and change the protagonist in the second part?"
Jiang Zhiqiang suddenly raised his head and asked.
Director Xu lowered his head and thought for a while.
“It’s not impossible. Originally, I expected that the real soul character of the [Monster Hunt] series would be the little demon king ‘Huba’, and other actors, including the male and female protagonists, are all replaceable.
As long as the background of the story remains unchanged, it’s okay for a different group of people to continue the adventure with "Huba"."
"Okay, if you find someone to rewrite the script now, I won’t believe it. , Without Butcher Zhang, we can’t eat pigs with hair.
Without him, Gu Wei, our movie will be a hit. He takes himself too seriously!”
Gu Wei's request was absolutely unacceptable to Jiang Zhiqiang.
In his expectation, the box office of "Monster Hunt 2" will definitely exceed that of the first one, and a 30% share would be hundreds of millions in profit, which is very different from the 50 million he gave for the film. many.
And he also believes that the main reason for the success of "Monster Hunt" lies in its novel format and realistic special effects, in which Gu Wei played a limited role.
It can also be seen from this aspect that interests are really the most fundamental reason for partners to part ways.
As early as the filming of the first film, Gu Wei came to the rescue and used his fame to help the movie to make "Monster Hunt" a hit.
At that time, Jiang Zhiqiang believed that Gu Wei's participation in bringing the movie back to life was an absolute credit.
After the success now, he thought that the other party was just the icing on the cake and the effect was not as great as imagined.
"Understood, give me some time to communicate with several screenwriters in the company, I believe there will be no problem."
Xu Chengyi turned around and left the office after accepting the task.
(End of this chapter)