Chapter 330: Without Butcher Zhang, we can’t eat the hairy pig
Since 2000, the Lunar New Year holiday has always been the hottest period in the Chinese film market. Many high-grossing blockbusters at the time chose to be released during this period, including "Lost in Thailand", which was once the number one Chinese-language film at the box office. Its super high box office results were born during this period.
Gu Wei's first film "Detective Chinatown 1" and Feng Xiaogang's film "Private Tailor" also competed in the Lunar New Year box office.
In the end, they all achieved good box office results.
However, in recent years, with the gradual expansion of the domestic film market, especially the increasing convenience of online ticket purchase, young people's enthusiasm for watching movies has increased.
The rise of the summer and Spring Festival blockbusters has caused the Lunar New Year blockbusters to give up their once hottest spot and gradually retreat to the second tier.
However, it cannot be denied that there is still a fairly large audience during this period, and it is more likely to see a big box office success.
Gu Wei, who had just returned to the company from Zeng Li's place early in the morning, was sitting in the office drinking coffee and looking at the list of movies that would be released this month handed to him by his assistant.
The film was shot in Thailand for more than two months. Although the shooting and training were very hard, Gu Wei still accumulated a lot of anger.
Now, after a night of rest, I have achieved a state of physical and mental comfort.
His temperament, which had become a little sharp due to long hours of filming action scenes, has returned to its gentle and jade-like state.
It’s just that Sister Li has had some hardship. 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 had been holding it in for too long. Although he tried to be as gentle as possible, it still caused Sister Li to be exhausted and fall asleep.
But in the morning, Gu Wei saw her sleeping soundly, with a rosy face, smooth skin, and a baby-like expression. He thought that if he could enjoy himself occasionally, Sister Li would definitely like it.
The Hollywood sci-fi 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 high Douban score of 8.5 and has received very good reviews online, its box office did not reach the level of "Furious 7" and "Avengers 2" in the first half of the year, only a little over 500 million.
Domestic filmmakers had already prepared for the market to be swept by this sci-fi masterpiece. From the end of November to the beginning of December, no big-budget domestic films were released in order to avoid it.
I didn’t expect that “The Martian” would be a critical success but not a box office success.
Although a box office of over 500 million is considered a big hit for most movies, the investment cost of this science fiction masterpiece alone is over 100 million US dollars, making it a true Hollywood A-level production.
This result really does not live up to the great reputation it has already achieved.
"The Martian" was released in North America two months earlier than in China. It won the North American box office championship for three consecutive weeks and sold $290 million in the North American market. It can be said that it was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, with both good reputation and box office success.
Before its release in mainland China, the film's global box office had already reached nearly $600 million, and it was also nominated for the American Television Film Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award.
This is 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, after entering the domestic market, "The Martian" had some difficulty adapting to the local environment and did not really become popular.
The poor performance of Hollywood blockbusters also made the total domestic box office results in the early stage of the Lunar New Year period less than ideal. However, starting from next week, big-budget domestic films will be released one after another.
"The Mojin" and "Never Let Me Go" were released on December 18th, "Old Cannon" and "Bad Guys" were released on the 24th, and Gu Wei's "Knife of the Assassin 2" was released on the last day of the month, the 31st. In just half a month, several big-budget movies by famous directors were released one after another. It can be said that the real battle for the Lunar New Year box office will begin from mid-December.
However, Gu Wei was not worried about this situation at all. In his opinion, the only threatening film, "The Ghouls", was released too early. By the time "The Blade Strikes Back 2" was released, the other party's box office potential would have been almost exhausted.
As for the other movies, "Bad Angels" and "Never Expected" have very bad reputations, "Old Boys" has good box office but the subject matter is too different and has no impact on "Knife of the Assassin 2".
Therefore, the ultimate success of the film depends on its own performance.
He took a sip of coffee, put down the movie schedule, picked up a white script from the desk and continued reading.
[Eden Films] just sent over the script for [Monster Hunt 2] these past two days.
Gu Wei has read it from beginning to end.
The plot of the second part is somewhat different from what he remembered. The sequel given by [Anle] still stars "Song Tianyin" played by Gu Wei and "Huo Xiaolan" played by Bai Baihe as the male and female protagonists.
The whole story line is not much different from the first part. The little demon king "Hu Ba" is being hunted again, and then Gu Wei and the others who got the news go to rescue him. After a series of dangerous adventures, they defeat the evil villain and win the final victory.
"Where is Liang Chaowei?"
Gu Wei touched his chin and thought, if the film was shot according to this script, then there would be no problem for "Monster Hunt 2" to continue the reputation of the first part, and it would even have a higher breakthrough in box office.
In fact, the reason why the protagonist of the original "Monster Hunt 2" was changed is very complicated.
First of all, in the first film, the leading role was Bai Baihe instead of Jing Boran. After the huge success of "Monster Hunt 1", it was the female lead who gained more fame and other aspects.
Because Jing Boran had no outstanding achievements before and his popularity among the public was not high, everyone just thought that he was lucky enough to have a hit movie, and no one thought that the high box office of "Monster Hunt" was caused by him.
Before the filming of the second part started, Bai Baihe was exposed for the "one-finger Zen" incident. Anle was afraid that her image would be damaged and affect the box office, so they found Liang Chaowei to be the male lead, and the two protagonists of the first part played supporting roles, hoping that Actor Liang could carry the box office of Monster Hunt 2.
But this version is completely different. Gu Wei is the real protagonist both in the film content and in the publicity.
People inside and outside the industry believe that Gu Wei played a very important role in the film's success.
Therefore, unless Anle is stupid, it is impossible for him to leave behind the popular top star Gu Wei and find a completely unrelated person to play the male lead in the second part.
Gu Wei thought for a while after looking at the script.
Yang Liwen knocked on the door and came in.
"Boss, you're looking for me?"
"Sister Yang, what are the conditions offered by Anle for [Monster Hunt 2]?"
Gu Wei asked without even raising his head.
Yang Liwen thought about it.
"Anle offered you a salary of 50 million, which is already the highest among domestic actors. It's considered very sincere."
When Gu Wei took on the role in "Operation Mekong", his salary was still 30 million, but later "Monster Hunt" became a huge hit and ranked first in film history, so his external offer increased again.
Among the current domestic movie stars, the highest quoted salary for Cheng Long and Chow Yun-fat is 80 million, and Gu Wei is only 40 to 50 million. After that are the middle-aged first-line stars such as Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, Deng Chao, and Chen Kun, whose salaries are basically between 20 to 30 million.
If Gu Wei takes on "Monster Hunt 2", his salary will be stabilized at 50 million, which is a great benefit to him.
Gu Wei held the script in one hand and tapped the table lightly with the other.
In fact, he was a little disappointed with the movie "Monster Hunt 2" just for the salary. It was not that Gu Wei was too greedy, but there was no harm without comparison.
Similarly, when other companies approached him for films, he held shares in "Operation Mekong" and "Wolf Warrior 2". After the films were released, Gu Wei earned hundreds of millions of dollars.
Although the "Monster Hunt" series had high box office, he now has more choices. He has the time to make a movie invested by his own company, which will far exceed the income from participating in "Monster Hunt 2" in all aspects.
So if the salary of 50 million is just a bit useless for him.
"Sister Yang, please reply to Anle later and tell them that I want to use my film salary as equity and make additional investments. I want to get a 30% investment share in Monster Hunt 2."
Gu Wei remembered that after Wu Jing became famous, his company, Dengfeng International Pictures, invested in and held a 30% stake in some of the mainstream films he starred in. Given his current fame and box office appeal, it shouldn't be too much to ask for the same share.
Yang Liwen was stunned for a moment, seemed to be hesitant to speak, and finally agreed.
"I'll do it right away!"
Then he left the office.
After Yang Liwen left, Gu Wei thought for a while. He had previously used his film remuneration as a stake and brought money into the crew because the films were not well received and the producers hoped to boost the box office through Gu Wei's fame.
Just like the earliest "The Blade of the Assassin", "The Left Ear" filmed last year, and even the "Operation Mekong" which just ended.
The producers were not sure whether the film could make a profit in the end. "The Blade of the Assassin" could not even be filmed without Gu Wei's money, so the crews were happy to accept Gu Wei's investment.
But the "Monster Hunt" series is different. Since the first film won the first place in film history, the second film can achieve higher results even if the quality is average, and it is 100% profitable.
This situation can be seen from the "Lost in Journey" series. Even though the later "Lost in Hong Kong" did not receive good reviews, it still earned 1.6 billion yuan at the box office, surpassing the second film "Lost in Thailand" which had a better reputation.
Gu Wei could imagine that his request was no different from cutting flesh from Jiang Zhiqiang of [Ele Films].
"Forget it, don't think too much about it. I've already done it. Let's see what Jiang Zhiqiang decides!"
Gu Wei muttered something, stopped thinking about it, threw the script of "Monster Hunt 2" aside and started to busy himself with other things.
He had been out filming for more than two months, and there were many things in the company that needed him to deal with. Gu Wei would also be going on a roadshow with the crew of "The Sword Identity 2" in a few days, so he didn't have much time left.
After being busy in the office for the whole morning, he had a simple work lunch and asked his assistant to clean up the leftovers. Just as he was about to pick up the documents that he had not finished reviewing in the morning, his cell phone rang.
Looking at the incoming call ID, Gu Wei curled his lips. He could already guess what the content of the call would be.
"Hello, Mr. Jiang?
No bother, I just had lunch.
I know there's nothing I can do about it. These are all decisions made after the company's research, and I can't refute anything.
This is not something I can change casually. I really hope to continue working with President Jiang and Director Xu, but there is nothing I can do about the requirements that have already been set by the company.
Well, okay, then I'll let my agent wait for your reply!
Happy cooperation! "
After hanging up the phone, Gu Wei shrugged. He had said everything he needed to say. The conditions could not be changed. Whether they could continue to cooperate in the future depended entirely on Jiang Zhiqiang.
Throwing the phone aside, Gu Wei stopped thinking about it and continued with his morning work.
At the same time, in the president's office of [Etone Films].
Jiang Zhiqiang put down the phone and was smiling one second, then his face turned gloomy the next. The speed of his expression change was the essence of Sichuan Opera face-changing.
He frowned and said nothing.
"How is it? 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~"
Jiang Zhiqiang slammed the iPhone in his hand heavily on the desk in front of him.
"Gu Wei is too greedy!"
"Not at all?"
Xu Chengyi asked again.
"He kept talking to me in official language, saying that the company's decisions were made by [Weiming Tianxia] Gu Wei, the sole boss, and that he had the final say on everything.
He just saw that the first movie was a big hit, so he asked for a huge amount of money to star in the second movie!
I was thinking of negotiating with him, offering him a share of the film salary, but not a large share, but he insisted on 30%.
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 profits from the second film as director's fee.
In his opinion, Gu Wei was a little too greedy, asking for 30% at once, which was three times what he, as a director, deserved.
"Lao Xu, what do you think about us rewriting the script and changing the protagonist in the second part?"
Jiang Zhiqiang suddenly looked up and asked.
Director Xu lowered his head and thought for a moment.
"It's not impossible. Originally, I envisioned that the true soul of the Monster Hunt series would be the Little Monster King 'Hu Ba', and the other actors, including the male and female protagonists, could be replaced.
As long as the story background remains the same, it’s fine to have a different group of people take Huba on the adventure.”
"Okay, then you can find someone to rewrite the script now. I don't believe that without Butcher Zhang, we can't eat hairy pigs.
Our movies will still be big sellers without Gu Wei. He takes himself too seriously!"
Gu Wei's request is something Jiang Zhiqiang absolutely cannot accept.
In his expectation, the box office of "Monster Hunt 2" will definitely exceed that of the first one. A 30% share means hundreds of millions of dollars in profit, which is a huge difference from the 50 million yuan salary he offered.
He also believes that the main reason for the success of "Monster Hunt" lies in its novel form and realistic special effects, and Gu Wei played a limited role in it.
From this aspect, we can also see that interests are indeed the most fundamental reason for partners to part ways.
As early as when filming the first part, Gu Wei came to the rescue and used his fame to bless the movie, making "Monster Hunt" a big hit.
At that time, Jiang Zhiqiang believed that Gu Wei's joining brought the film back to life and he was the absolute hero.
Now that he has succeeded, he thinks that the other party is just icing on the cake and the effect is not as great as he imagined.
"I understand. Give me some time to talk to the screenwriters in the company. I believe there will be no problem."
After taking the task, Xu Chengyi turned around and left the office.
(End of this chapter)
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