Chapter 244 Are You Mistaking
Hu Xiaoxiao then asked Zheng Pingxin why the box office was so ridiculously low.
Zheng Pingxin said bitterly, "It's the scheduling. There aren't enough screenings. Of the three major cinemas, only Baoguang Cinema scheduled 'Feng Yue Jian'. The other two cinemas didn't schedule it. Baoguang Cinema didn't schedule many screenings for 'Feng Yue Jian' either, so the box office hasn't been able to increase."
The three most powerful cinema chains in Baogang are Baoguang Cinema, Shanhai Cinema, and Ji's Cinema, with Ji's Cinema being the most powerful. Other smaller cinema chains are smaller, less powerful, and have fewer locations, so combined they can hardly compare to the three major cinema chains.
Among the three major cinema chains, only Baoguang Cinema scheduled a screening for "Feng Yue Jian", and the number of screenings was small. It is conceivable that the box office would not be a flop.
Hu Xiaoxiao held his forehead with his hand. "Our film is so good, why are we only given so few screenings? What about the distribution company? Which distribution company did you contact? Aren't they following up on this matter?"
On the other side, Zheng Pingxin told Hu Xiaoxiao the details of the incident.
After Zheng Pingxin finished the film, he naturally wanted to find a strong distribution company. However, his previous failures were so severe that the major companies were reluctant to discuss the matter at the mere mention of his name, rejecting the film without even seeing it. Furthermore, aside from Hu Xiaoxiao, the other actors in the film were not worth mentioning. Zheng Pingxin was already out of fashion, and no one in the film industry cared about him anymore.
Hu Xiaoxiao is from the television industry, which is completely different from the film industry. How many people who have done well in the television industry have failed in the film industry? Therefore, Hu Xiaoxiao's name cannot attract the interest of filmmakers.
The big distribution companies looked down on "The Mirror of Temperance", so Zheng Pingxin had no choice but to find a much smaller distribution company. After watching "The Mirror of Temperance", this company thought it was good, but it happened that they had a movie coming out soon.
One is someone else's movie, and the director is a flop; the other is their own movie, and both the director and the actors are more famous than "Feng Yue Jian". It is conceivable that the distribution company puts all its energy on its own company's films, and all its resources are tilted towards its own films, which leads to almost no promotion of "Feng Yue Jian".
In terms of film scheduling, there are too many films in Baogang, hundreds of them a year. On average, there are dozens of films released every month. The cinemas are so small and the audiences are so numerous, so the film scheduling resources are very scarce.
As a result, the distribution company allocated most of the screenings it had obtained to its own films, and "The Dream of Red Mansions" received very few screenings.
Hu Xiaoxiao didn't notice this problem because there happened to be two Baoguang Cinemas near her residence and one near the dance school. When she saw that "The Mirror of Love and Moon" was showing, she assumed that other theaters would also be showing it. Even though she saw that the schedule was small and the time slot was not very good, she thought that the film had a high attendance rate and good reputation, and the theater would increase the number of screenings, so she didn't think too much about it.
Could it be that the screening schedules she saw were only the ones she saw?
Hu Xiaoxiao hadn't expected Zheng Pingxin to be so unreliable. Not only was he incompetent in management, but he also completely messed up the important work later on. "Why are you saying this now?"
It's been released for ten days. If she hadn't asked, the movie would have been taken off the shelves and she wouldn't even know why the box office was so low.
On the other end of the phone, Zheng Pingxin said in a very depressed tone: "It's hard to explain over the phone. Let's make an appointment to talk in detail."
Hu Xiaoxiao made an appointment to go to a cafe and planned to find Zheng Pingxin to find out how he did his work and how he made such a mess of things.
It happened that Dong Peiyu came to Hu Xiaoxiao to discuss something. After knowing about this, she followed Hu Xiaoxiao.
In the cafe, Zheng Pingxin had already arrived and was sitting in his seat with a dejected look on his face.
After Hu Xiaoxiao arrived, he ordered a few cups of coffee and asked directly which distribution company they were looking for and whether there was any way to recover the box office.
Zheng Pingxin brought all the contracts he signed with the distribution company. "I met with their manager several times, and they verbally agreed to it, but they never scheduled a screening. Now they won't even see me."
Dong Peiyu held the coffee and stirred it slowly with a spoon. Seeing Hu Xiaoxiao's frown, she comforted him, saying, "Scheduling is very complicated. It's a game between the various film companies. If the movie fails, it fails. Consider it a lesson learned."
She believed Hu Xiaoxiao was just the lead actor, and if the film flopped, so be it. She could just get better resources next time and rise to prominence. In her opinion, the film shouldn't have been released, as it hindered Hu Xiaoxiao's subsequent career. Other film companies would have been deeply affected by the poor box office performance of Hu Xiaoxiao's first film. If it wasn't released, no one would know about it, which would have helped her secure resources for Hu Xiaoxiao.
Zheng Pingxin felt like the sky was falling when he heard this. He had already failed twice in a row, and was the third one going to flop as well? It was obviously such a good film. "Ms. Hu, can you think of a solution?"
Because Hu Xiaoxiao's abilities were so impressive during filming, Zheng Pingxin desperately wanted to find a solution from Hu Xiaoxiao. He no longer dared to think about making money, and was thankful to have his investment back.
Dong Peiyu found this ridiculous and bluntly said to Zheng Pingxin, "Are you kidding me? Actors need to help with distribution and scheduling when making a movie? If the actors have to handle everything, what's the point of you being a director and producer? If you can't make a movie, don't do it, or you'll bring everyone down."
Zheng Pingxin blushed at what Dong Peiyu said, but he still looked at Hu Xiaoxiao with pitiful and expectant eyes.
Dong Peiyu rolled her eyes at him, stood up, and was about to pull Hu Xiaoxiao away.
Hu Xiaoxiao sighed and said to Dong Peiyu, "I also invested money in this movie..."
Dong Peiyu was stunned for a moment, a little bit unable to believe what she heard, "You have to pay for making a movie?"
"The crew had no money, but I invested in this project because it seemed good. They haven't even paid me yet..." Hu Xiaoxiao's voice trailed off as he saw Dong Peiyu's increasingly dangerous gaze. "I'll pay you after the box office returns."
Dong Peiyu's heart sank when she heard Hu Xiaoxiao's answer. "How much money did you invest?"
Hu Xiaoxiao stretched out a finger.
"One hundred thousand?" Dong Peiyu frowned. One hundred thousand yuan could be considered as a lesson, although this lesson was a bit expensive.
Hu Xiaoxiao shook his head.
Dong Peiyu's voice couldn't help but get louder. "One million?"
Hu Xiaoxiao corrected her, "It's one and a half million."
"One million and a half?" Dong Peiyu felt dizzy when she heard the figure. "You actually invested one million and a half? Do you know how many films only gross around one million?"
Hu Xiaoxiao realized belatedly that she had been rather extravagant. But she thought, if a few pieces of jewelry usually cost a million, investing in a movie wouldn't be a lot, right?
Now that she has invested, she has to find a way to arrange the film schedule in order to recover the losses and avoid having to live frugally in the second half of the year.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
