Chapter 477 First Day Box Office
Chaoyang Yu Building, North Beijing.
This is the headquarters building of Huayi Film and Television. The bright glass curtain wall outside shines brightly in the sun, as if to highlight the glorious status of the "leader of private film and television". Only the corners are covered with dust and are vaguely shabby, just like the company's current situation.
"How is the deposit now?"
In the high-level office, Huayi CEO Wang Zhonglei looked at Liu Ge in front of him and asked.
As the general manager of Huayi Distribution, Liu Ge is responsible for the "deposit clause" of "Eight Hundred" this time.
Hearing the inquiry, he sighed and said: "According to our previous statistics, there are a total of 4,132 theaters with an annual box office of less than 2 million in the country. At present, there are about 1,100 theaters that have paid the deposit."
"That's not right. I saw the statistics sent yesterday. Didn't it say that half of them didn't pay? Where did the other 1,000 theaters go?" Wang Zhonglei asked with a sullen face.
Liu Ge said in a low voice with a strange expression: "The other 1,000, because of the negotiations with the theaters, we only counted them in name in the end."
"Oh, yes, I almost forgot."
Wang Zhonglei's face froze for a moment, but it was gone in a flash. He pinched his eyebrows, looked at the information in front of him and exhaled.
This time, "Eight Hundred" was released for the first time after the opening, and was called a "rescue work" by the film market. However, only Huayi knew that they had to release the movie as soon as possible to get back the funds.
There is no way, at present, there are only more than 200 million yuan left in the company's account. This money is enough for an individual to spend a lifetime, but for a large group company like Huayi, it is only enough to pay the loan interest and so on.
For large companies, it doesn't matter if they have debts, and it's not a big problem to have losses, but the most feared thing is the break of the capital chain. Behind each company is a complex debt relationship. Once there is a mistake in the capital chain, it is easy to cause a chain of thunderstorms across the board.
It is for this reason that Huayi would rather gamble on the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies at this point in time and release "Eight Hundred".
It's not that they expect to make much money at the box office, after all, the funding cycle of movies is very long. For movies released in the middle of the year, it is lucky to get the first payment by the end of the year.
For veterans like Huayi who play "film and television capital", as long as the movie is released, they have a lot of means to operate and get the money out in advance. Like this "small theater deposit clause", it's just one of them.
As an expert in "playing with the box office" in the domestic entertainment film market, Huayi is not sure whether this method is useful.
Not to mention whether those small theaters have other ways, even for Huayi themselves, they don't want to really kill all the theaters that "steal box office". After all,
if they really clean them up, who should they go to if they want to "tamper" with the box office data in the future.
So the so-called "resistance to small cinemas stealing box office" is just a superficial excuse. First, it is to have a legitimate reason, and second, it is to prevent being labeled as "illegal fund-raising".
Of course, it does not mean that this deposit is enough, but to use this money as a primer to operate a larger fund.
Just like the common hand-operated wells in rural areas, you first pour a bucket of water in, and then you can draw more water out.
This "deposit" is the "bucket of water" at the beginning.
There are more than 4,100 small cinemas, and there are probably 3,000 of them, excluding those under the strong cinema chains. According to the average of 50,000 yuan per theater, this is 150 million yuan.
Originally, Wang Zhonglei and others thought that this money should be easy to get. After all, the theaters have been closed for more than half a year. It is not easy to open the door, and they are waiting for a blockbuster to attract audiences to make money.
For most small theaters, even if they know that Huayi is a "tyrannical clause", they will bite their teeth and pay the money. Making money first is the main thing.
However, what is unexpected is that half of the small theaters did not pay. After excluding the part that was exempted for the cinema chain, only one-fourth was left.
This is a huge difference from the initial estimate.
"Heng Teng Network has a movie called "Famous", which was released at the same time as ours. Many small cinemas chose to give them all the screen time." Liu Ge explained.
Wang Zhonglei showed a puzzled expression: "Heng Teng Network? Which company is this?"
"It's the original Ruyi Film, which was acquired by Evergrande last year." Wang
Zhonglei suddenly realized: "Is it the company where Chen Zhixi works?"
Liu Ge nodded: "Yes, there is also Arc Light Film and Television."
"Arch Light Film and Television..."
Wang Zhonglei sighed with a sense of loss. As a film and television company in the same circle of Jingbei, he naturally knows a lot about this rising star that has grown rapidly in recent years.
Especially the young boss of Arc Light, who can often be seen at various official meetings. It's just that the two sides are not in the same circle, so there is no deep friendship.
I thought the two sides should have no intersection, but I didn't expect that this time the plan failed because of the other party.
But then again, although Arclight is in the limelight, that is in the field of film and television after all. For the film market, it is still a newcomer.
As for Hengten, or Ruyi, it is the same, they are all "newcomers" who have only been in business for a few years.
What Wang Zhonglei is really worried about is Chen Zhixi, who is in charge of the film. I have to admit that this woman is still quite something. Since "Lost in Thailand", almost every movie she has handled has been a hit, and there are even some annual box office champions.
In addition, now with the financial support of Evergrande and Tencent, it is even more powerful.
If Huayi wants to deal with her, there is really no good way.
Seeing his second boss lost in thought, Liu Ge thought for a moment and said, "Boss Wang, those small cinemas are very resistant to the 'deposit clause'. Some even put up banners saying they want to boycott our movies. There's also a lot of noise online. What do you think we should do next?"
Wang Zhonglei came back to his senses. He knew that what his subordinate wanted to ask was not just "how to deal with the follow-up", but more importantly, whether those small cinemas that did not pay the deposit would really not be given the keys.
After a few seconds of silence, he shook his head and said, "Although these small cinemas have a small individual box office, they are numerous and together they account for a large portion of the box office. If they are just given up, it will have a huge impact on the box office of "Eight Hundred."
At this point, he whispered, "So, you can communicate with those theaters and privately provide the keys for the first three days of the weekend to these small theaters that have not paid."
The core box office time of a movie is the first few days after it is released, especially the first three days of the weekend.
For other movies, you may have to wait for word of mouth to ferment. But "Eight Hundred" has already completed this step in advance through a week-long large-scale preview, and it started to make money directly after it was released.
However...
"If those theaters that paid the deposit know about it, will it cause new conflicts?" Liu Ge asked with a frown.
"So I asked you to discuss it privately and you have to make it clear with the theater chain. If anyone has any questions, just push them onto the theater chain."
Wang Zhonglei thought for a moment and continued, "On the surface, we still have to continue to reinforce that the purpose of our new terms is to 'resist box office theft.' Well... when necessary, we can try to drag Ruyi into this and divert attention."
He half-squinted his eyes and said with a smile: "As a senior, you have to let these newcomers know something about the rivers and lakes of the film industry, right?"
-
A week passed in a flash, and both "Eight Hundred" and "Famous in the World" ended their respective previews.
Although they are both previews, the planning of the two films is still different.
"Eight Hundred" took the path of large-scale previews. By the last day, the number of single-day screenings had increased to more than 40,000.
In comparison, "Famous in the World" took the path of small-scale previews, and the number of single-day screenings has remained below 10,000.
This difference is mainly related to the subject matter of the two films. "Eight Hundred" is a historical war film. Many viewers can know the general plot through history books, and they mainly watch the grand battle scenes and the actors' performances.
On the contrary, "Famous in the World" is a suspenseful reasoning theme, and the reversal of the plot itself is the biggest attraction. Therefore, if a large-scale preview is held, the core plot will be easily leaked.
In particular, if the reversal of several key plots is known in advance, the excitement of watching the movie will be greatly reduced.
However, in this way, the preview box office of the two films has also opened up a big gap.
The preview box office of "Eight Hundred" reached 200 million, surpassing "Journey to the West: The Women Kingdom", setting a new preview box office record for domestic films.
The box office of "Famous" barely exceeded 100 million, but compared with the production cost of the film itself, this is also a very outstanding result.
According to the production cost of 50 million plus the publicity and distribution costs of the film, the box office of 200 million can basically break even. In other words, as long as it takes another 100 million box office after the official release, it will be pure profit.
Judging from the current reputation and evaluation of the film, this is not a difficult thing to accomplish.
The only risk is the flu situation that may recur at any time. However, there is no way to deal with this kind of force majeure factor. Meng Bai and Chen Zhixi were mentally prepared when they decided to release it.
August 22, the second day of the movie's release.
"Good morning, Sister Xi."
Meng Bai sat on the sofa and said casually, "I found that I have seen you more often than my girlfriend recently."
"Is it possible that because you have too many girlfriends, you have less time to spend with each of them?" Chen Zhixi said without raising his head.
"Haha, Sister Xi, what you said is really interesting..."
This elder sister, she is talking about things that are not related to her.
Chen Zhixi naturally didn't know that Meng Bai was secretly criticizing her in her heart. After reading the documents on hand, she looked up and said with a smile on her lips: "What are you doing here today?"
"To see the first day box office yesterday."
"Do you really need to trouble you, Mr. Meng, to come here in person for such a small matter?"
"I just happened to pass by, so it was just a by-the-way thing." Meng Bai said, "The detailed analysis data is out, right?"
"You came at the right time. It was just sent to me and I haven't had time to see it yet."
The results of the preview proved that "Famous" got 34% of the screenings on the first day of its release, which is also a very high share. After all, it is a small production with no star lineup. If it were a normal market before the flu, it would probably be worth at most a dozen points.
"We didn't arrange a midnight show. Yesterday's single-day total box office was 64.8 million." Chen Zhixi said, "Very good results. It should increase today and tomorrow. We should be able to make back the cost in the first three days of the weekend."
Hearing the box office results on the first day, Meng Bai also nodded slightly.
The result of nearly 65 million is relatively ordinary compared to those big movies, but for this small-budget movie with no star lineup and no luxurious scenes, it can be said to be a very good number.
"By the way, the movie's rating is also open. The platform rating is 9.7, and the Douban rating is 8.0. The audience's praise is very high." Chen Zhixi continued.
"Ah, I saw this yesterday." Meng Bai said casually, "8.0 points is considered a pass, and the plot still needs some improvement."
"..."
Chen Zhixi looked at Meng Bai speechlessly, and was fooled by him again without noticing.
But then again, he is indeed qualified to say this. In recent years, all TV dramas and movies with the name "Archlight Productions" have basically started with a score of 7 points, 8 points is normal, and there are also many with a score of 9 points.
"What about "Eight Hundred"? How much is their first-day box office?" Meng Bai said, "I remember looking at the real-time statistics on the platform last night, it seems to have exceeded 100 million."
"Let me see... 38% of the first-day screenings, 110 million single-day box office, eh?"
Chen Zhixi looked at the numbers on the data, exclaimed in confusion, and then looked at it again carefully.
Seeing this, Meng Bai asked curiously, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the box office?"
"It's not the box office that's wrong, it's the screening schedule
that's not right." Chen Zhixi frowned and said, "Although there is no internal data, according to a rough guess, at least half of the small theaters were excluded by the deposit clause. If this is the case, then "Eight Hundred" should not have such a high screening schedule."
The movie box office data is indeed quite dark, especially the statistics of theater terminals, many of which are operated behind the scenes. But it is quite clear, whether it is the ticket purchasing platforms such as Maoyan Lighthouse and Tao Piao Piao, or the theaters' own data, they are all open to the public and can be checked at any time.
As a filmmaker who has been immersed in the film industry for many years, Chen Zhixi is very sensitive to these data, so he found that there is a problem here at a glance.
"There is only one explanation, that is, Huayi's private practice is different from what it said publicly. It should be reluctant to give up this part of the box office, so it compromised on some conditions."
The reason why it is "part" is that there should still be many theaters that have not shown this session. Otherwise, the screening of "Eight Hundred" should be more than 40%.
"I can understand them doing this, but aren't they afraid that those theaters that have paid the deposit will make trouble?" Meng Bai wondered, "After all, we can all see it, and the theaters and theaters can't fail to see it."
"There will definitely be reasons for shirking responsibility, as long as it is reasonable. After all, there are only a few theaters that pay, and there are even fewer that will make trouble. Compared with the box office performance of the movie, it is worth the risk." Chen Zhixi said.
"Tsk, Huayi is also an old comrade in the film industry, why does he always do such things that are inconsistent with his heart."
"Haha, it's just routine operation. Huayi has caused so many troubles over the years, not just this one." Chen Zhixi snorted coldly: "Fortunately, it seems that only a part of the theaters have reached a deal privately, and it will not affect us much. Let them do it."
This kind of thing is a conflict between Huayi and the theaters. After all, they are in the same industry. As long as it does not affect their vital interests, no one will take the initiative to expose it.
However, sometimes, if you don't take the initiative to find trouble, things will find you by themselves.
(End of this chapter)
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