Chapter 796 Cinema Movies
When Chinese moviegoers think of Lunar New Year films, the first thing they think of is Feng Xiaogang's films. But this is not accurate. It should be called "Feng Xiaogang + Wang Shuo" films. Rather than saying Feng Xiaogang's films are "Beijing-flavored," it is better to say they are "Wang Shuo-flavored."
Before Wang Shuoer, there were writers in the Chinese literary world with a strong "Beijing flavor", such as Mr. Lao She, whose works have a much stronger Beijing accent and rhyme than Wang Shuo's.
The most outstanding part of Wang Shuo's novel is that he brings to life a group of marginalized and down-and-out people in the city of Yanjing, who are the most restless class in this society.
They are eager to improve their situation, but due to their inadequate education, narrow vision, various difficulties in survival and development, and the influence of secular society, they can only become cynical and carefree people who are closed-minded and deaf-eyed, and they are euphemistically called "stubborn people" and "old guns".
In Wang Shuo's novels, there are parents with rigid thinking, hypocritical moralists and writers, neighbors who are good at snooping and interfering with other people's privacy, deceitful businessmen, stubborn and ignorant fanatics, and vulgar and complacent petty citizens. These various characters make up the lowest level ecology of the city of Yanjing.
Wang Shuo uses words to depict these images, revealing their vulgar, ugly and embarrassing faces one by one, which can be called a complete collection of social ugliness. This is also the most important part of the literary and ideological aspects of Wang Shuo's works.
But after adapting it into a movie, Feng Xiaogang and Wang Shuo adopted a gentler approach in handling it, using soft light to process the "evil" to make them appear somewhat cute and humorous.
This is certainly a pleasing approach, and judging by the results, it is also in line with the laws of modern business operations.
Feng Xiaogang became famous because of this, and Wang Shuo gained great fame in drama creation after encountering difficulties in his literary career. They became a golden pair and brought fresh vitality to the development of the Chinese film industry.
On the night of the premiere of "Party A and Party B", there would be laughter every two minutes in the screening room of the Capital Cinema. In a sense, the audience's laughter laid the foundation for the success of the film.
The movie was only 87 minutes long, and when the credits rolled, the lights in the theater came on and there was thunderous applause.
Feng Xiaogang, who had just walked onto the stage, was filled with emotion and bowed repeatedly towards the audience.
At that time, he was not yet the movie fanatic who said, "If I don't make movies, what will Chinese audiences watch?" He was flattered and touched that the movie premiere achieved such good "laughing effect".
"Party A and Party B" is certainly not a masterpiece in film history. Many people present even felt that this movie was not a movie at all, but should be called a collection of sketches.
But the biggest advantage of this movie is that it allows the audience to laugh unrestrainedly in the cinema.
For a commercial film, this is already a huge success.
On December 24, 1995, "Party A and Party B" was officially released in major theaters across the country.
Of course, this "nationwide" is very watery.
Since the film reform in 1993, Chinese films have been experiencing growing pains. One of the most obvious characteristics is that local film distribution companies are fighting each other, the national cinema chains are in disarray, and the film market is a mixed bag.
Lin Weimin proposed the promotional concept of "Lunar New Year period" and "Lunar New Year film". He is a leader and can just talk, but it is impossible for the people below to do so without running around.
Since Yu Dong joined Wenhua Film and Television, the company's staff has rapidly expanded to 12 people, and all of the extra people are responsible for publicity and distribution.
These people were all people Yu Dong met during his more than one year of work, dealing with distribution companies and cinema chains in various places. The fact that he was able to win over so many people at once also made several veterans of Wenhua look at the new general manager with admiration.
Being able to code people is also a kind of ability.
From the film's release date to its promotion and then to its release, Yu Dong traveled to major cities across the country with several distribution staff over a period of one and a half months.
When I was at Yanying Studio, their distribution business was selling copies, one copy for each glass of wine, and how many copies they could sell depended entirely on the distributor’s alcohol tolerance.
The situation is different now. What the company wants is a share of the box office revenue. The film reform was just implemented in the past two years, and the policy was favorable. The profit-sharing ratio was basically negotiated by the film company and the theater chain. A 6:4 ratio was the norm. The profit-sharing ratio for long-term films may be adjusted later.
However, after deciding to introduce 10 imported blockbusters in 1995, the revenue from these imported films was divided among the production, distribution and theater chains in the ratio of 35:17:48.
This year, domestic films such as "Red Cherry" also began to implement box office sharing according to the same ratio. The determination of this sharing ratio does not have much impact on film companies with distribution capabilities, but it has a great impact on some film companies that are purely engaged in production.
Although Wenhua Film and Television was established not long ago, it has a close relationship with Yanying Studio. The two industrial links of production and distribution are firmly in its own hands and do not affect the profits.
"Party A and Party B" is the first theatrical film controlled by Wenhua Film and Television, and it is also the first major test for Yu Dong after he became the general manager.
For more than a month, he and several employees traveled to 20 large and medium-sized cities in the country, almost drinking so much that his stomach bled. He signed contracts with multiple theaters in 20 provinces and cities, providing a broad stage for the screening of "Party A and Party B".
If this was a movie by Cheng Kaige or Zhang Yimou, there would not be so much trouble. Distribution companies and theaters from all over the country would be scrambling to sign contracts with Yu Dong.
On the day of the premiere of "Party A and Party B", Yu Dong was in Hunan. He had just finished a big drink with Mr. He from CS City Film Distribution Company and was reeking of alcohol. His subordinate Zhang Guiyou, who followed him, was not much better.
After seeing Mr. He off, Yu Dong and Zhang Guiyou stood on the roadside and hailed a taxi. They had just driven a short distance when the car stopped. Yu Dong staggered out of the car, squatted on the roadside and vomited non-stop.
The taxi was getting impatient, so Zhang Guiyou had to pay the taxi and let it leave.
He patted Yu Dong on the back, and waited until he had almost finished vomiting before helping him up.
"Mr. Yu, how do you feel?"
"No... I'm fine."
At the drinking party just now, Zhang Guiyou drank more than half a catty of liquor, and Yu Dong drank at least one and a half catties. It was not easy for him to still be able to speak.
He was afraid that he would get too drunk and make a fool of himself in front of his subordinates, so he said, "Lao Zhang, let's go for a walk."
"good."
The two were walking on the side of the road in Changsha, Yu Dong was swaying and Zhang Guiyou was supporting him.
"I drank too much today."
"You are just too honest. Look at that Mr. He, he looks like a sly guy. He drank with you for a whole night, but he probably didn't even drink a pound of liquor." Zhang Guiyou said.
Yu Dong smiled and said, "We are in the publishing business, they are the masters, we have to serve them, okay?"
He asked again: "How is it? Have you adapted to running with me for almost half a month?"
Zhang Guiyou is from Xi'an and is in his early thirties. He met Yu Dong, a distributor at Xi'an Film Studio, on a business trip. More than half a month ago, Yu Dong successfully lured him to Wenhua Film and Television by using the names of "Lin Weimin" and "Zhang Yimou", and he has been traveling all over the country since he arrived.
"What's there to be uncomfortable about? I've been working in distribution for more than ten years!"
"Thank you for your hard work." Yu Dong said.
"It's not hard, as long as the money is in place."
Zhang Guiyou worked at the Xi'an Film Studio before. The reason why he was willing to switch to Wenhua Film and Television was, on the one hand, because now film studios across the country are declining, and some studios have even responded to national policies by laying off employees, and on the other hand, it was also because of the salary promised by Yu Dong.
When Zhang Guiyou came to Wenhua, he was still engaged in distribution, but his salary was 150 yuan more than when he was at the Xi'an Film Studio. Not only that, he also received a subsidy of 20 yuan per day for business trips. If he was away all month, that would be 600 yuan, which was higher than his salary.
For those who are in charge of distribution, business trips are commonplace, but they cannot travel at any time. Their job is to pave the way for new films. If there are new films, they have the opportunity to travel. If there are no new films, they have no chance to travel even if they want to.
In general, Zhang Guiyou's job transfer from Xi'an Film Studio to Wenhua Film and Television doubled his overall income, even though he gave up the iron rice bowl of a state-owned enterprise. Moreover, he resigned on his own initiative, which was much more decent than his colleagues who were passively laid off.
"Haha, from now on don't call you Lao Zhang, just call you Lao Qian. You'll only care about money!" Yu Dong joked with a smile.
"You haven't started a family yet, so you don't understand the hardships of us middle-aged people." Zhang Guiyou sighed and said, "I really envy you. You became the general manager at such a young age."
"I also met a noble person."
"Why didn't others encounter this? If the leader didn't see your shining points, why would he entrust you with such an important task?"
Zhang Guiyou flattered him without any burden, and Yu Dong laughed, "Isn't it allowed that the leader could make mistakes?"
"Based on your alcohol tolerance, the leader didn't make a mistake in choosing you."
The two chatted and laughed as they walked. They were not far from the hotel they were staying at. Yu Dong said, "Let's just walk back."
"As you say."
"Alas, 'Party A and Party B' will be released today." Yu Dong suddenly sighed.
Zhang Guiyou felt the heavy pressure from his sigh and said, "We have completed the distribution task very well this time. The scale of the release is at least larger than that of most movies."
Yu Dong shook his head, "That's not what I'm worried about."
For a successful movie, production, promotion and distribution are all essential. No matter how good the promotion and distribution are, it will be in vain if the level of film production cannot keep up.
"Our film is of good quality, don't be so unconfident."
"It's not that I don't have confidence. I'm just looking forward to it..."
Zhang Guiyou understood what Yu Dong meant. Even though he became the general manager at a young age, how could he convince others without any outstanding achievements?
"Party A and Party B" is the first time that Yu Dong has taken the lead alone. For the promotion and distribution of this film, I don't know how much wine he drank and how many nights he stayed up. If the box office results are not ideal, it will definitely be a heavy blow to him.
"Don't think about it, it's useless. Do your best and leave the rest to fate." Zhang Guiyou advised.
Yu Dong nodded. He had done what he could and there was no point in thinking more.
When Yu Dong returned to Yanjing, three days had passed since the release of "Party A and Party B".
After returning to Yanjing, the first thing he was concerned about was, of course, the box office performance of "Party A and Party B" in the past few days.
There was no box office statistics system back then, and box office statistics relied entirely on information compiled by distribution companies from various places.
However, because the film has not been released for long, the information from distribution companies in various places has not yet been fed back to Wenhua.
Yu Dong wanted to inquire about the movie box office, but he could only find out the local box office results in Yanjing.
It was already afternoon when he returned to Yanjing. He went straight to the office without even going home. After making a few phone calls, he sat in the office waiting for a reply.
More than an hour later, the phone on the desk finally rang and he couldn't wait to pick it up.
"Manager Xu, how is it?"
The person on the other end of the line was Manager Xu from the Yanjing Film Distribution Company. "Haha, guess!"
"My brother, please don't make things difficult for me. Just tell me!" Yu Dong urged.
"Young people have no patience." Manager Xu said, paused for two seconds, and then said a number.
After hearing this, Yu Dong's expression and movements froze, and he asked in disbelief, "Are you sure?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think I am having fun with you?"
After being rebuked by Manager Xu, Yu Dong did not seem angry at all. Instead, he smiled and said, "Thank you, brother. I'll treat you to a meal in two days!"
"I'm sure you'll have to treat us to a meal. This celebratory banquet is essential." Manager Xu said with a smile.
Yu Dong chatted with him for a few more sentences. After hanging up the phone, Yu Dong couldn't help but laugh foolishly twice.
At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the office door.
(End of this chapter)
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