Chapter 261: Introducing connections
Surprise, definitely a surprise!
In fact, before coming here, all theater managers had expectations for "Stones".
They all work in theaters, and the most important job every day is watching movies. They usually have an idea of the quality of a movie after just a few glances.
Zhang Chen boasted a lot before, saying that Ning Hao was a genius in the film industry, and how about "Stone", but everyone was a veteran and only regarded him as a publicity stunt.
But today's "Stone" really gave them a surprise.
There are not many multi-line narratives in the world so far. Why?
Because this type of movie not only has high requirements on the script, but also on the director.
Generally, movies have a main line, and the story takes place along the main line, with at most one auxiliary line added.
The reason why multi-line narrative is called multi-line narrative is because there are many clues running together and then converging into one point at a certain moment, which makes people feel amazing.
Many people watch "Two Smoking Barrels" and "The Stone" only because they think the scripts are clever, but they don't know that this type of movie also has extremely high requirements for directors.
The advancement of multiple main lines is actually divided into priorities. However, if one is not handled well, the film will appear logically confusing, and the entire film will be useless.
"Stone" has four clues, one is the security department headed by Bao Shihong, one is the Dao Brother trio, one is the international thief Mike, and the other is Xie Xiaomeng.
The four lines cross each other, resulting in various coincidences and errors.
Jokes arise from these intersections, giving people the illusion of being fooled by God.
At the beginning of the movie, a Coke can connects the three lines of the security department, the trio of Brother Dao and Xie Xiaomeng, which is amazing.
At the end of the movie, several clues also intersect.
Xie Xiaomeng replaced the real jadeite with a fake one, and then gave the real jadeite to Jingjing.
Jingjing’s affair was discovered. Brother Dao thought it was a fake jadeite and replaced it with the fake one.
Boss Feng discovered that the jadeite was fake, and Brother Dao knew that he had done something stupid.
Mike wanted to prove himself, but found that the person he killed was his employer.
Bao Shihong exchanged the fake jade he snatched back as real, but gave the real jade to his girlfriend as a fake.
One misunderstanding leads to another, with countless jokes interspersed in between.
It can be seen that the movie borrowed from "Two Smoking Barrels", but the borrowing was very successful and the concept was extremely clever.
The theater managers agreed that the movie was very good.
At this time, they looked at Ning Hao differently.
At the same time, he also took a high look at Xingchen Entertainment. From then on, this company not only had Zhang Chen, but also Ning Hao.
No wonder Zhang Chen would make a hard ring for him, no wonder Zhang Chen said Ning Hao is a genius!
Zhang Chen smiled and said at this time: "It seems that everyone is very satisfied with the quality of the film. I believe no one will think that I am talking nonsense now."
The theater managers laughed loudly Laugh, everyone knows what’s good.
In terms of script, there is no one like it in China, and in terms of brilliance, it is even better than "Manslaughter".
If "Infernal Affairs" is the beginning of Hong Kong films attaching importance to scripts, then they have a hunch that "Stone" may be the beginning of mainland films attaching importance to scripts.
“Congratulations to Director Zhang, congratulations to Manager Dong, your company has produced another masterpiece, and what’s even more gratifying is that we have such a powerful director.”
The theater managers expressed their gratitude. Congratulations, they are the group who are most happy to see the birth of masterpieces.
With good movies, people are more willing to go to movie theaters, and theater chains can make more profits.
At the same time, everyone has officially recognized Ning Hao's status as an excellent director.
If the previous film "Dark Invasion 2" still relied on the lingering shadow of the previous film, then in this "Stone", Ning Hao has completely proved his directorial skills.
Some people will definitely say that in "Stone", the script is more important than the director.
Hey, the script was also written by Ning Hao, but it was completed by three people, the other two being his wife and Yue Xiaojun.
"Manager Dong, has "Stone" been scheduled?"
The person asking the question was Gao Jun from the New Film Alliance.
Among the three major theater chains, New Film Alliance has the closest relationship with Xingchen Entertainment. Gao Jun is very optimistic about Zhang Chen. Every time Zhang Chen’s movie is released, New Film Alliance will give a large preference to the film schedule. .
Dong Jianqiang glanced at Zhang Chen: "July 15th."
"July?" The theater managers were a little surprised. They originally thought it would be August.
But immediately someone thought they figured out the key.
Xu Ke's "Seven Swords" is released on July 29, and "Stone" is half a month ahead of "Seven Swords". It seems that it is going to snipe "Seven Swords".
They all knew that Zhang Chen offended the Hong Kong circle for Ning Hao, so they naturally thought so.
But it doesn't matter to them.
"Seven Swords" was invested by a Hong Kong company, and mainland theaters did not participate in the investment, so whether it is right or not has little impact on them.
Several major theater chain managers exchanged glances with each other.
The whole process was watched by Zhang Chen, who paid special attention to Gao Jun.
In a previous life, "Stone" was released in 2006 with a cost of 3 million yuan and a box office of more than 20 million yuan. It was praised by the media as a dark horse at the box office. Ning Hao himself was also dubbed as a "genius director".
But at that time, Gao Jun was not interested in "Stone" and even opposed it.
He once publicly stated that the success of "Crazy Stone" just happened at the right time, and dialect comedy is not the right path for small-cost movies.
Then...
Then, Ning Hao's second film "Racing" directly entered the billion-dollar club.
In his previous life, Gao Jun had no pretense about "The Stone", but in this life, probably because of Xingchen Entertainment, Gao Jun admires "The Stone" and even Ning Hao very much.
“Since everyone thinks the quality of the film is pretty good, I hope the managers will take more care of me in the next film arrangement~”
Zhang Chen stood up and said, Ning Hao is still a little transparent. At this time, Zhang Chen must support him.
The theater managers promised that the atmosphere was good.
Producers want to have a good relationship with theaters, and theaters also want to form long-term cooperation with powerful producers. As long as the movie is good enough, everyone's interests are the same.
"Then on behalf of Director Ning, I would like to thank you all in advance~" Zhang Chen smiled and bowed, "Okay, everyone must be hungry after watching the movie for such a long time. We have prepared a dinner, and Small gifts are given to you, please move forward..."
As the organizer, you must have basic etiquette - eat, drink and get a dragon. Although the status of the guests is not low, no one cares about these things, but I can not ask for it, but you cannot not give it.
Otherwise you are ignorant.
The dinner is a party in nature. This format has a relaxed atmosphere and space between each other, which is very conducive to interpersonal communication.
Today's movie viewing party is not just a movie viewing party, Zhang Chen also has the intention of pushing Ning Hao out.
At present, the quality of the video has been recognized by everyone. The next step is to introduce Ning Hao to various big shots at the party.
If "The Stone" had been released this time instead of "Taken", there would not have been this viewing party at all.
Zhang Chen is already a great director with two films worth 100 million yuan.
But Ning Hao needs it.
Although "Stone" is of excellent quality, film promotion cannot rely entirely on word of mouth.
Especially when it was first released and word-of-mouth had not yet risen, the attitude of the media is very important at this time.
Star Entertainment has many enemies now. When "Stone" is released, it goes without saying that it will definitely suffer a lot of criticism. This requires that the other party cannot gain the upper hand in terms of public opinion in the early stage.
This is what the well-known journalists and film critics invited do.
Well-known journalists have media resources, and well-known film critics usually have columns in major magazines, which is what "Stone" needs.
At the dinner, Zhang Chen and Ning Hao toasted to various big shots and introduced Ning Hao to them.
"Manager Zhang, this is Ning Hao, the director of "Stone", please take good care of him in the future~"
"Mr. Wang, thank you for your support of "Stone", this is Ning Hao , even if we get to know each other in the future, everyone will be friends~"
Zhang Chen spared no effort to expand the network of friends for his good brothers.
He is not afraid of Ning Hao's solo career. Ning Hao is his good brother. As long as he develops well, Zhang Chen will be happy even if he does not cooperate with him.
It can be seen that Ning Hao is not used to this kind of situation, so he just bites the bullet and follows Zhang Chen to socialize.
"Congratulations to Director Zhang, congratulations to Director Ning, for getting another masterpiece~"
Wanda Ye Ning came up to him with a smile.
“It all depends on Mr. Ye’s support, Haozi, this is Wanda’s Mr. Ye~”
Zhang Chen introduced to Ning Hao that even though Wanda only has four theaters now, Zhang Chen dare not underestimate them. In the future, the largest theater chain in China will cover the entire industry chain.
"Wanda must support a movie as good as "The Stone". We are looking forward to further cooperation with Director Zhang and Ning Hao..."
Last time we met Ye Ning had vaguely mentioned that he wanted to become a partner with Xingchen Entertainment.
Wanda is still the same as in its previous life. It is not satisfied with just being a theater chain and wants to get involved in all aspects of the film industry.
“It’s easy to say, there must be a chance.”
Of course, Zhang Chen is willing to make friends with such potential stocks. Making movies in China can never be separated from theaters. If a movie has the support of theaters, it is at least half the success.
During the whole dinner, Zhang Chen took Ning Hao to meet various big shots, and it was not until halfway through that he almost stopped.
The two found a corner, and when they saw that no one was paying attention to them anymore, Ning Hao took off his smile.
“Not used to it?”
Ning Hao nodded.
"I'm not used to it either. Usually, Manager Dong does this."
Zhang Chen is brave enough to be a good brother today.
"I...I'm a little worried..."
"What are you worried about?"
"Worried about the box office~"
Zhang Chen smiled brightly and patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, the box office of "The Stone" can't be far behind."
In a previous life, all "The Stone" actors were amateurs, and they could get more than 20 million at the box office.
In this life, the lineup of "Stone" has been greatly upgraded. Whether it is production or promotion, it is not comparable to before. If it can still hit the streets, Zhang Chen will have no shame to say that he is a reborn person.
The "Stone" in the previous life was really a search.
The only two familiar faces in the film are Liu Hua and Guo Tao.
These two people are just familiar, and the audience can't even name them.
Guo Tao is actually quite famous in the drama industry, and his acting skills are also very good, but this person seems to have a special physique and it is difficult to become popular.
Even in later generations, when talking about Guo Tao, people only have one impression of "Parental Love".
In "Stone", he is considered the protagonist, but he is not the one who is popular.
Huang Bo is popular, Liu Hua is popular, Wang Xun is also popular, but Guo Tao, who has the most roles, is not popular.
Huang Bo was really an amateur before "Stone". Although he filmed "Get in the Car and Let's Go", he was not popular.
It was a TV movie and had never been shown in theaters.
After "Stone", it soared into the sky and has been out of control ever since.
After "Racing", it was directly on the front line.
Others Yue Xiaojun and Wang Xun are also amateurs.
Yue Xiaojun's main business is not acting at all, but screenwriting.
Ning Hao has participated in a series of movies.
Wang Xunna is an amateur, a comedian in the Sichuan Opera Theatre. After "Stone", he jumped directly out of Sichuan Opera and entered the attention of people across the country, and his career increased exponentially.
Although it was embarrassing for a while later, with Huang Bo's help, I managed well.
Otherwise, why should he change his wife?
(End of this chapter)