Chapter 488 Review and New Movie
Last night the rain was light and the wind was strong, and I couldn’t sleep off the hangover.
Although Gu Wei and Zeng Li didn't drink, the storm was quite intense.
After a deep night's sleep, Zeng Li woke up the next day feeling much more relaxed, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
Since the broadcast of "Ode to Joy", her fame has soared to the top position in the industry. She has been approached by countless scripts, including idol dramas and dramas with female protagonists focusing on their careers. As a result, she has been busy filming in the crew for the past two years.
When she was young, her career was lukewarm, but when she reached middle age, she suddenly became famous because she knew a younger brother like Gu Wei. In the past year or so, Zeng Li has also experienced what it feels like to be a popular star.
Very good, but a little tired
However, if she had to choose again, Zeng Li would still want to be famous.
Not to mention the gains in money and fame, at least you will have more choices after becoming famous.
She wasn't very famous before, and there were only a few scripts for her every year, most of which were supporting roles of the third or fourth place. If she didn't act, she would just be idle.
Since she became famous, she has been offered so many roles that she can't even take them all. She can choose the crew and role she likes according to her own requirements.
It feels great to be in control of your own career!
In the morning, Gu Wei went to the company after breakfast.
Zeng Li was cleaning the house at home.
The day after tomorrow is New Year's Eve. She has no work arrangements for the next two days and is just waiting to go back to her hometown to celebrate the New Year after performing on the Spring Festival Gala.
After a busy morning, Zeng Li cleaned the house neatly. Wearing a light grey home suit, she held a small rag in her hand, tied her hair up, and pinched her waist, feeling very accomplished.
Wiping the sweat from his head, he looked at himself in the dressing mirror. He didn't know if it was because of the work he had done in the morning, but Zeng Li felt that he looked particularly good today.
Mingming was cleaning the house without putting on any makeup, but her skin was fair and rosy, and she looked much more energetic than usual.
She suddenly remembered what her old classmate said to her when she went to find Qin Hailu after Gu Wei left last time.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I raised my hand and touched my smooth face.
"Isn't it really because of Gu Wei?
I’ve never heard of this kind of thing having a beauty effect.”
After thinking about it, I don’t know if I’m overthinking it.
"Should we ask Gu Wei to come over tonight?
Try again?"
Zeng Li hesitated in his heart.
"Forget it, his parents are in the capital, and the family is finally reunited, so let's not call him.
I must be overthinking it. Maybe I’m too tired from work, so after coming back from a good rest, I naturally look radiant.”
Zeng Li calmed down and stopped thinking too much. It was a good thing anyway. He hummed a song as he walked to the kitchen and started thinking about what to eat for lunch.
In the company office, Gu Wei was processing some documents.
Around the end of the year, there were many things happening in the [Defending the Ming Dynasty].
"The Love Master" has been withdrawn from theaters. This low-budget comedy film, independently invested and produced by the company, achieved huge success at the box office, with a final box office of 758 million yuan. After deducting the cost, "The Love Master" had a net profit of more than 200 million yuan.
There will be some income from online copyrights in the future, which can be considered a long-term income.
And since the first film was so successful, "The God of Cookery 2" also has to be scheduled. However, director Wen Mu and lead actor Xiao Yang also have "Dying to Survive" to shoot, so they can only get the script out first and start preparations later when they have time.
The release dates for the two dramas produced by the company last year, "Eternal Love" and "Princess Agents", have already been set.
[Eternal Love] is on the 30th of this month, and there are still 5 days left.
"Princess Agents" has been scheduled to be broadcast by Mango TV in May in the "Youth in Progress" theater.
Gu Wei's company doesn't have to worry about anything for these two dramas. Local TV stations and video platforms that have purchased the copyrights will naturally do the marketing before and after the release.
"Ashes of Love" starring Yang Zi and Li Xian is currently in post-production, and director Wu Jinyuan has been working overtime in the company's editing room recently.
However, the post-production time for a costume fantasy drama like this will not be too short, and it will take at least 3 or 4 months for the finished film to be released.
Because the copyright transaction price of this film did not meet expectations, Gu Wei instructed that it be temporarily shelved and will be sold after Yang Zi and Li Xian become famous.
In this case, the broadcast time will probably be pushed back to next year. It just so happens that there are too many TV series with the potential to become a big hit this year, and it can also avoid the company's own dramas being concentrated online in this year, which would compete with itself.
The post-production of the urban romance drama "You Are My Glory" which was completed by Gu Wei and Reba in November last year has been completed, and they are now negotiating with several local satellite TV stations for the first round of broadcasting rights.
This drama is a customized drama for "Honor of Kings", and the online broadcast channel must be Tencent Video, but the price is still under negotiation. However, Tencent has always been wealthy, and even if it is for the promotion of "Honor of Kings", they will offer a price that satisfies Gu Wei.
After all, in the structure of Tencent Group, the importance of games is far greater than that of video platforms, and "Honor of Kings" is the most important project of Tencent Games after "League of Legends".
Tencent Games has an annual revenue of hundreds of billions, so it doesn’t need a few people like Gu Wei.
As an aside, making games really makes much more money than filming movies.
In 2016, the total box office of the Chinese film market was 45.712 billion yuan, setting a new high in recent years.
According to the financial report released by Tencent a few days ago, Tencent's total revenue in 2016 was 151.9 billion yuan, and its mobile game revenue was 38.2 billion yuan.
One company dominates the entire domestic film market.
The revenue from mobile games alone almost caught up with the total box office of the domestic film market that year.
This was before Honor of Kings became extremely popular.
Gu Wei is very clear that in the next few years, with the upgrading of smartphones, the mobile game "Honor of Kings" will become more and more popular. It is estimated that in the future, the revenue of Tencent's mobile game alone will far exceed the total box office of the domestic film market in that year.
It is impossible for a person to watch movies every day, but he can play a game anytime and anywhere.
The campus fantasy film "Take My Brother Away" starring Peng Yuchang and Zhao Jinmai is almost done with post-production.
Gu Wei discussed with the professionals in the company and decided to release the film during this year's summer vacation.
It was just before the release of "Wolf Warrior 2" to avoid being crushed into cannon fodder by Gu Wei's own film.
Although this film is produced solely by Wei Ming Tian Xia, Gu Wei plans to give a certain investment share to China Film Group and Wanda to bring in two allies.
Part of the reason is because of director Han Jianu. Her status is special, so she will definitely receive preferential treatment if China Film Group is invited to participate.
On the other hand, this movie is different from "The Love Master", which was also produced by the company. From the two directors Han Jianu and Rao Xiaozhi to the actors Peng Yuchang, Zhao Jinmai, and Zhou Ye, they are all newcomers.
None of them are famous, so it is difficult to get screening time for the movie itself, and bringing in allies is also for box office considerations.
The reason why [Wei Ming Tian Xia] had the exclusive share of [The Love Master] was because the film was a comedy, and Xiao Yang, Xiao Shenyang, Qiao Shan, Yan Ni and others were all famous to a certain extent. Plus with Gu Wei's support, they were not afraid of the theaters not scheduling the film.
Looking back at the whole year of 2016, Gu Wei has achieved a lot.
"Knife of the Assassin 2", which was released on December 30, 2015, had a total box office of 1.03 billion yuan, making it the best-selling martial arts film in the past 10 years.
Before this, only "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" surpassed "Knife of the Assassin 2" in terms of global box office.
Gu Wei took on this film early and his salary was only 20 million, but he still had a 30% share of the investment.
It has been almost a year since the movie was released. After deducting the costs, "Assassin's Spring Blossom 2" brought Gu Wei more than 100 million in net profit.
Unlike "The Blade of the Assassin" in which he only participated and invested, "Detective Chinatown 2" released in the summer of 2016 was a movie that Gu Wei himself controlled.
The film cost 350 million yuan, and Gu Wei took on three roles: director, screenwriter, and leading actor, and took home a total of 60 million yuan in remuneration.
The final box office was 3.9 billion yuan, and Weiming Tianxia, as the main investor of the film, accounted for 60% of the investment.
The more than ten product placements in the movie earned a total of 125 million yuan.
This film brought nearly 1 billion in revenue to Weiming Tianxia.
Operation Mekong, which was released during the National Day holiday, had a final box office of 2.08 billion yuan. Gu Wei's salary was converted into investment, accounting for 20% of the shares, and he finally received 150 million yuan.
Throughout 2016, Gu Wei had no TV dramas broadcast, but these three movies were released.
In addition to his income from movies, Gu Wei renewed his endorsement contracts with nine brands in January 2016, including Lay's potato chips, Be & Cheery, Master Kong Iced Black Tea, Mosen Eyewear, L'Oréal Men, KFC, Tuborg Beer, Clear, and Watsons.
All of them are two-year contracts, expiring in January 2018, with a total endorsement fee of 410 million yuan.
In September, he signed a two-year 60 million yuan endorsement contract with Honor of Kings. In November, he signed contracts with Coca-Cola and Porsche, with two-year contracts worth 15 million US dollars and 10 million US dollars respectively.
In the last few days of December, he signed a 2-year contract with Bulgari for $10 million.
In 2016, Gu Wei's income from endorsements reached 730 million yuan.
In addition to these, there is also the continuous copyright income brought by "Wei Ming Tian Xia" from films produced in previous years such as "Detective Chinatown 1", "Go Princess Go", "Love O2O", and "The Monkey King: Hero is Back".
Among them, "Love O2O" sold the satellite TV broadcasting rights several times and earned the highest income.
The company's early production "Yu Zui" was sold by Gu Wei along with the subsequent copyrights to LeTV Video. However, I heard that the film has now been removed from the shelves, which has caused LeTV Video to have some complaints about "Wei Ming Tian Xia".
Gu Wei was looking through the company's data reports for the past year when there was a knock on the office door and Director Rao Xiaozhi walked in.
Gu Wei looked up and smiled, "Director Rao, please sit down! I was just looking for you and Senior Sister Han. The screening of "Take My Brother Away" will be held after the New Year, and the company plans to release this film during the summer vacation this year."
Rao Xiaozhi held a white-covered notebook in his hand and sat on the reception sofa beside Gu Wei's desk.
"Mr. Gu, please take care of the arrangements regarding the film's release. If there's anything you need me to do, just let the company know."
Rao Xiaozhi is very humble.
During the New Year's Day holiday this year, his first film, "Hello, Madman!", was released on the same day as Wen Muye's "The Love Master." However, "The Love Master" was a huge hit, while "Hello, Madman!" only grossed 15.66 million yuan, failing to recoup its initial investment.
Although the film received good reviews, the fact that his first film as a director suffered such a huge loss was indeed a blow to Rao Xiaozhi's self-confidence.
"Don't worry, Director Rao, [Quickly take my brother away], there's no problem with the filming with you and Senior Sister Han. The quality of the film is guaranteed, and the company will definitely do its best in the post-production promotion and distribution.
This is a low-budget campus fantasy film. It’s unlikely to be a big hit, but it will definitely make a small profit.”
Rao Xiaozhi and Gu Wei chatted for a few sentences about "Take my brother away quickly" before they talked about the main reason for their visit today.
"Mr. Gu, I wrote a script during my free time last year and would like to give it to you for your review."
As he said this, he handed over the white-covered notebook in his hand.
Gu Wei took it with some surprise and saw four big words written on the cover: [Flustered Shot and Off-Clock].
The name was unfamiliar, and he couldn't think of a movie with that name before.
But since he was their own director after all, Gu Wei's expression did not change at all, and he just opened the book and started reading.
Rao Xiao waited anxiously without making any sound.
Gu Wei read ten lines at a glance. It didn't take him long to finish reading the script and get a general understanding of the story.
"Sure enough, you can't just look at the title, otherwise you will miss a good movie."
Gu Wei let out a long sigh, and the smile reappeared on his face.
"Director Rao, the story you wrote is very exciting. The stories of several small people are connected by a broken gun. It is absurd but true and touching, and very interesting."
After hearing Gu Wei's evaluation, Rao Xiaozhi felt relieved.
"Last year, I was on a plane and listened to Yao Shisan's song 'Blind Man'. I was particularly moved by the homesickness it conveyed, and so I came up with the idea of making a movie about my hometown.
Boss, you know I was a play director before, and part of this script was inspired by the play "Idiot"."
Gu Wei nodded.
"When I read the script, it felt a bit like director Ning Hao's Crazy Stone, with its montage technique, parallel and intersecting shots, and all the subplots converging at the end."
"Yes, that's what I thought. It was actually inspired by Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, with multiple narrative threads culminating in a single main plot."
"How much does Director Rao's film cost?"
When Rao Xiaozhi heard Gu Wei's question, he calmed down.
"When I was writing the script, I had already thought of some of the main actors and scenes. 30 million yuan would be enough to film the whole thing."
Gu Wei didn't reply immediately, but was looking at the cover of the script, thinking about something.
Rao Xiaozhi was nervous. Seeing that Gu Wei didn't say anything, he thought that he felt the cost was too high. After all, the total box office of his last movie was only 15 million. This time, with a cost of 30 million, he had to get a box office of more than 90 million to make a profit.
"Mr. Gu, as for the cost, we should be able to reduce it if we think of a way."
Gu Wei was stunned and looked up at Rao Xiaozhi.
"Director Rao misunderstood, your script is very good!
There is no problem with the cost of 30 million. If it is not enough, we can make up for it later.
So, just like Wen Muye’s film “Dying to Survive”, let’s start preparations after the New Year. I will pass on the instructions later and ask all departments of the company to cooperate with you.
Both of your films will be promoted as important projects of the company this year."
"Thank you, Mr. Gu."
Rao Xiaozhi was beaming with joy. He hadn't expected that filming his new movie would go so smoothly.
"What does Director Rao think about the actors?"
"When I was writing the script, I thought of several actors who often perform in dramas and they fit the image of the characters in the play very well."
"Okay, you know best what kind of actors are suitable for the script you wrote. If there is a suitable role, I hope you can first consider the actors under your company."
Rao Xiaozhi nodded, it was normal to support one's own artists.
Gu Wei hesitated.
"I think this movie could be renamed to something more appropriate. 'The Nameless' would be a good choice."
Please give me a monthly ticket!
(End of this chapter)
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