Chapter 760: Cancellation and Suspension

This year's Spring Festival, 9 movies were originally scheduled to be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

"Lost in Russia", "Detective Chinatown 3", "Leaving the World Behind" and "The Rescue" are considered to be the seed players in the first tier of the box office, and "Lost in Russia" ranked third in the number of people who marked their desire to watch it on ticket purchasing apps such as Tao Piaopiao.

"Detective Chinatown 3" was originally the favorite to win the Spring Festival box office, and "Win the Championship" was seen as the film with the greatest hope of surpassing "Detective Chinatown 3" at the box office. However, "Lost in Russia", which received relatively less attention, was seen by many film critics in the industry as a potential dark horse, and was predicted to achieve a box office of at least 2 billion yuan.

However, the pre-sale box office opened a week before the Spring Festival release showed that "Detective Chinatown 3" was far ahead, occupying nearly 60% of the market share, and the other 8 movies shared the remaining 40% of the box office. Although the pre-sale box office of "Lost in Russia" ranked third, it was only 46.42 million.

Judging from the current situation, it is unlikely that "Lost in Russia" will become the dark horse, and the 2.4 billion bet agreement will be even more difficult to complete.

Xu Zheng was under a lot of pressure because the bet on "Crazy Alien" last year was not completed. He was also one of the investors of that movie.

The "Lost in Hong Kong" series has always been his trump card. The reputation of the third film, "Lost in Hong Kong", was not satisfactory. If "Lost in Russia" fails again, the "Lost in Hong Kong" series will most likely end with this one.

A week before Chinese New Year's Eve, when various film companies were working hard to promote their films, Xu Zheng suddenly posted on Weibo announcing that the release date of "Lost in Russia" would be advanced by one day and would meet audiences across the country on New Year's Eve.

Subsequently, "Boonie Bears" and "Leaving the World Behind" also followed in the footsteps of "Lost in Russia" and announced that they would be released on New Year's Eve.

As for the remaining films, "Detective Chinatown 3", "The Rescue" and "The Vanguard", there is no action and they will be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year as originally planned.

Audiences across the country are generally supportive of the fact that the release dates of three films, led by "Lost in Russia," were advanced by one day. After all, everyone has a holiday on New Year's Eve and has time to go to the cinema to watch movies.

However, front-line cinema staff expressed dissatisfaction because according to the rules of previous years, Spring Festival movies are released on the first day of the new year, so they can leave work early on New Year's Eve to reunite with their families.

As a result of Xu Zheng's actions, the cinema had to be open 24 hours a day on New Year's Eve, and the front-line staff naturally complained constantly.

Just as the controversy over the advance release date was still fermenting, some self-media people were taking advantage of the hot topic to criticize "Lost in Russia", and the impact of the advance release date was gradually turning negative, the public opinion surged, and "Lost in Russia", which had been advanced first, was "suddenly" withdrawn.

On January 23, after all the Spring Festival movies were withdrawn, everyone thought that there would be no new movies to see during this year's Spring Festival.

Unexpectedly, on the morning of January 24, New Year's Eve, the official account of Toutiao first announced that "Lost in Russia" would be available for free viewing on the "Toutiao" APP. This news shocked everyone.

An hour later, Xu Zheng posted on Weibo to confirm the online release.

Later, inside information broke out on the Internet that ByteDance "bid 630 million yuan to acquire the copyright of "Lost in Russia"."

One stone can cause a thousand ripples.

From Xu Zheng's perspective, at this critical moment, he sold the copyright of "Lost in Russia" to ByteDance in a package, eliminating the risk of delayed release. ByteDance's acquisition price of 630 million yuan is equivalent to nearly 2 billion yuan in box office revenue. Avoiding losses, recovering funds in time, and making a huge profit is a smart choice.

For ByteDance, spending 600 million yuan to invite people across the country to watch "Lost in Russia" for free has gimmicks, popularity, and topics, which will attract more new users, increase the number of users in the sinking market, and improve its market share.

For ordinary audiences, it enriches their lives during the Spring Festival holiday when they cannot go out, and they can also watch "Lost in Russia" for free.

It seems to be a win-win situation, the only one who is unhappy is the cinema.

Shortly after Toutiao officially announced that "Lost in Russia" would be broadcast online for free on the first day of the Lunar New Year, 23 cinema chains jointly wrote a letter trying to stop the free premiere of "Lost in Russia" on the Internet. These included leading cinema chains such as Wanda Film and Bona Film, which can be said to include half of the domestic cinema chains.

The so-called halt will definitely not succeed. Neither Huanxi Media, the producer of "Lost in Russia", nor ByteDance, which bought the copyright, have violated any laws and regulations. They just failed to abide by the unspoken rules of the film industry.

The reaction from theaters was strong, which was not surprising.

After all, Xu Zheng's behavior affected their fundamental interests.

After a movie is made, it is released in theaters, and the producers and theaters share the profits. This is a long-standing "rule" in the film industry. Now "Lost in Russia" has broken this "rule". Not making money from a movie is a small matter. I am afraid that this is just the beginning. In the future, more movies will be played on streaming media instead of in theaters.

"Director Xu is truly bold and daring. He's challenging the bottom line of cinemas."

The crew of "Zhou Chu" started filming as usual on the first day of the new year. During the lunch break, Wen Mu also chatted with Gu Wei about the recent series of exciting operations of "Lost in Russia".

"[Lost in Russia] wasn't very good. Luckily, ByteDance, a wealthy company, helped Xu to compete with it. Otherwise, if it really came out, I doubt it would have made over 1 billion at the box office."

Gu Wei is not optimistic about "Lost in Russia" at all.

At its core, this movie is still a road comedy like the "囧" series, but this time Xu Zheng made a different attempt, talking about the reconciliation of parent-child relationships in Chinese families, trying to use the mother-child relationship to create a series of laughs.

In terms of depth of expression, "Lost in Lost" surpasses "Lost in Thailand" and "Lost in Hong Kong", but as a movie in the "Lost in Lost" series, it has one biggest shortcoming, which is that it is not funny enough.

If a comedy movie isn't funny, it's hilarious.

The "Lost on Journey" series started with "Lost on Journey" and reached its peak in comedy with the second film "Lost in Thailand". The story seems nonsensical, but it is full of jokes from beginning to end. The clash between Xu Zheng, Wang Baoqiang and Huang Bo made countless audiences laugh in the cinema.

By the time of Lost in Hong Kong, Xu Zheng started to suffer from a literary youth syndrome, wanting to explore the ideals and realities of middle-aged men, his former sweetheart and his current wife and family.

In addition, the film chose Bao Bei'er and Zhao Wei, two actors who were not very popular with the audience, and the reputation of "Lost in Hong Kong" was a complete failure.

The themes explored in Lost in Russia are more profound, but it is a comedy, not an art film.

Moreover, there is no actor like Huang Bo or Wang Baoqiang in the movie to clash with Xu Zheng, so many of the jokes are not funny.

The movie has no hit points and is relatively mediocre. In the Spring Festival period, which is the most competitive period of the year, mediocrity means failure.

"I feel like he's a bit too eager for quick success. There are so many movies during the Spring Festival period, and although it's difficult, it's the same for everyone.

By doing this, he not only broke the industry rules but also completely offended the cinema."

From a director's perspective, Wen Mu could understand Xu Zheng's behavior, but he also knew the consequences of his actions.

"I've worked with Xu Zheng before. He's a typical Shanghainese man: greedy, money-loving, a hipster, and a sophisticated egoist.

When "Lost in Thailand" was filmed, there was no copyright, so the copyright holder of "Lost on Journey", Wuhan Huaqi Film and Television, sued it and paid 5 million in compensation.

Later, when preparing for "Lost in Hong Kong", he had a falling out with Bao Qiang and made Bao Bei'er, which ruined the reputation of the series.

There is no doubt that Xu Zheng is very talented, but he loves money too much, acts very independently, and is unwilling to share profits.

Doesn't he see the downsides of selling movies to streaming services? Compared to the money, some resistance from the industry is nothing."

It turns out that when filming "Time Raiders", Gu Wei had contact with Xu Zheng for a period of time and had a certain understanding of him.

"However, he probably didn't expect the theaters' reaction to be so intense.

Looking at the current situation, it will definitely have an impact on the release schedule of the films he stars in in the future."

If you watch the future films starring Xu Zheng, such as "Love Myth" and "Reverse Life", you will know that theaters do hold grudges, it's not that they don't want to take revenge, it's just that the time has not come yet.

"Mr. Gu, do you think streaming media will replace theaters in the future?"

“How is that possible!

Apart from anything else, there is a huge gap between the viewing experience of streaming media and theaters.

Moreover, this year is a special time. ByteDance spent so much money to buy the copyright of "Lost in Russia" in order to attract users. This is an exception.

Just look at Netflix's current position in the American film industry and you'll know that in the future, streaming media will only be a supplement to movie broadcasting channels and will never replace movie theaters."

Gu Wei is a shareholder of ByteDance and has always maintained good cooperative relations with several major video platforms. He believes that he has a more thorough understanding of the situation.

Wen Mu also nodded, agreeing with this point of view.

Going to the cinema to watch a movie is not just a habit, but also an audio-visual enjoyment that cannot be achieved on a mobile phone or computer.

"However, although streaming media is not working at the moment, if a certain technology achieves a breakthrough and matures, it will only take a few minutes to replace movie theaters."

"What does Mr. Gu mean?" Wen Mu also looked curious after hearing this.

Gu Wei smiled and said, "VR stands for virtual reality technology. Once this technology makes a breakthrough, it will have a dimensionality-reducing impact on cinemas.

Can you imagine that everyone can enter the world of movies by wearing a helmet and watch movies in a completely immersive way, which is unmatched by 3D and IMAX?"

"Isn't that The Matrix, the second world of virtual reality." Wen Mu also laughed and didn't take what Gu Wei said seriously.

Gu Wei shrugged: "It looks very sci-fi, but the development of science and technology is rapid. Who would have thought 20 years ago that our country would be able to develop to this level today?

Smartphones, online shopping, electronic payments, new energy vehicles, and lunar exploration.

Perhaps we will really be able to see breakthroughs and applications of virtual reality technology in our lifetime, and then the film and television industry and the gaming industry will undergo unprecedented changes.

Cinemas, as a relic of the past, will naturally disappear.”

"Haha, I'm really looking forward to the day that Mr. Gu mentioned. I hope I can see it before I die.

The second world of [The Matrix] is too far away. If we can achieve the level of [Gamer], it would be amazing!"

Because of the epidemic, Da Mimi, who was originally planning to visit the set, is unable to come.

".Is your filming over there not affected?"

"No, there's nothing wrong here in Taiwan. The government isn't too concerned. They're just advocating for everyone to wear masks and go to work."

"My film 'Thank You Doctor' was stopped just over ten days after it started. Hengdian is now closed, and I don't know when it will resume."

"I remember you told me last time that it was called [ICU 48 hours], right?"

"The original novel is called this, and the adapted version is called 'Thank You Doctor'."

“It feels not as famous as the original.

Are you at home in the capital now?" Gu Wei asked, looking at Yang Mi's background.

"Yeah, I can't do any work now. I can only wait for notification~"

Gu Wei smiled and said, "Don't worry. The initial period is the strictest, but it will get better soon. At least the filming should be fine."

"I hope so. For me, it just means a little more rest. But with Hengdian closed, the daily expenses for the dozens of crews currently filming are astronomical.

I don’t know how long it will take for the film and television industry to recover from this impact.”

Yang Mi, who was on the other side of the camera, sighed and looked a little sad.

"With your fame and status, even this kind of force majeure won't have much of an impact on you, Sister Mi.

Apart from the major film and television companies, the biggest impact this time should be on the actors and other staff at the bottom of the industry, whose job opportunities have been greatly reduced."

Yang Mi raised an eyebrow: "Is it not okay for me to worry about Jiaxing's artists?"

"Yes, of course.

Everyone knows that you are a very responsible boss, Sister Mi!"

As the two were chatting, Gu Wei received a WeChat message on his phone. He clicked it and replied using the nine-square grid.

"Is there something wrong?" Yang Mi could also see Gu Wei's actions.

"There's WeChat, reply."

"Okay, go ahead and get busy. I'll talk to you later~"

"byebye~"

After hanging up the video, Gu Wei replied to Nazha’s WeChat, and then the other party made another video call.

These days, Gu Wei shoots during the day and returns to his room at night. He either chats with this person on WeChat or receives a call from that person.

The reality is that everyone is unemployed, so when they have free time, they will naturally think of contacting him.

But everyone knew that Gu Wei was filming in Taiwan and there was no need to disturb him during the day.

Zhao Liying is also filming in Hengdian and has taken a break like Yang Mi.

She was filming the martial arts drama "Legend of Fei" that I talked about with Gu Wei last time.

Because of Gu Wei's words, Zhao Liying communicated with Huace to replace Wu Yifan, and the crew found Zhu Yilong to play the male lead.

Huace asked him to play the male lead, on the one hand because Zhu Yilong is quite popular now, and on the other hand, they probably thought that the CP of the young master and Minglan is a big gimmick and will have a certain amount of traffic.

"Are you still in Hengdian?"

“Yes, although the filming is suspended, the entire crew is here.

On the one hand, it is isolation, and on the other hand, it is waiting for news.

The crew said that filming will gradually resume in about half a month at most."

The crew was also shut down, Yang Mi had already run back home, while Zhao Liying was still waiting to resume work on the crew. There was indeed a gap between the two in their work attitudes.

"I'll take this opportunity to rest for a while."

"Haha, I'd rather not rest. There are over 200 people in the crew, and the daily expenses are hundreds of thousands.

I invested in this drama, and I also spend a portion of the money I spend every day."

Zhao Liying curled her lips, looking unhappy.

It is normal for her to get a share of the profits from filming with her current status, because the salary cap makes it impossible to pay actors too much, and big stars like Zhao Liying can only get a share of the investment.

"When will you finish filming your scene?"

“It’s almost the end of this month.

I feel that when I return, the situation in China will be much better.”

“I hope so.”

(End of this chapter)