Chapter 182 Schedule and Pincer Attack

The company's plans for next year were not discussed in this meeting.

After learning about the current situation of the company, Liu Zhou also focused the discussion on the movie "New World".

"Mr. Zhang, has the specific release date been determined?"

"It's confirmed. It's scheduled for December 21st. I've already communicated with Mr. Zou. New World will be released simultaneously in Mainland China and Hong Kong."

"Ok, when is the release date of Chen Shiren's The Promise?"

"December 15th, a week earlier than us."

Hearing Zhang Zhao's words, Liu Zhou couldn't help but nodded in his heart.

Maybe now everyone has great confidence in Chen Shiren's "The Promise", thinking that it will be another box office bomb.

So many movies avoid it for fear of becoming cannon fodder.

But only Liu Zhou knew that although "The Promise" had good box office results, the film had such bad reputation that it attracted ridicule from passers-by and completely brought poet Chen down from the altar.

This is the most criticized of the three bad martial arts films in the history of mainland China.

At least although "House of Flying Daggers" and "The Banquet" were also criticized, at least no passers-by edited the videos and pasted their faces together for output.

The reason why "The Promise" was able to earn 1.75 million yuan at the box office despite such a bad reputation in its previous life was that

In addition to the massive publicity in the early stages and Chen Shishi's aura as a famous director that attracted a large number of audiences to the cinema, another reason was that "The Promise" had no rivals at all when it was released.

It can be said that it dominated the Lunar New Year box office in 2005.

But this time, Liu Zhou is ready to increase the intensity of Chen Shishi and "The Promise".

What's more, Liu Zhou would be a fool to let go of such a good opportunity to profit from the box office.

After everyone is fed with a pile of poop, even plain soup will seem delicious.

Besides, "New World" is not just a bland soup, but a delicious dish.

Therefore, Liu Zhou was very satisfied with Zhang Zhao's decision to release "New World" after "The Promise".

"Very good, is the publicity plan ready?"

"It's done. The publicity campaign for The Promise is so strong right now. I plan to promote it in the media and on the Internet as usual during this period.
Then, after The Promise is released, we will increase investment in promotional materials.”

"Okay, let's follow your plan. You can decide how to promote it. But let me make it clear that I may not have much time to participate in the promotion this time. I have other things to do.

So when you make plans, don’t assign me too many promotional tasks.”

"Okay Mr. Liu."

"One more thing. Since the film will be released in mainland China and Hong Kong simultaneously, you need to communicate well with Mr. Zou and allocate the promotional tasks to the actors in a reasonable manner."

"Don't worry, Mr. Liu. We have already discussed this."

"very good!"

Zhang Zhao’s ability is indeed very good, and he has taken every aspect into consideration.

After talking about "New World", Liu Zhou couldn't help but cast his gaze towards a somewhat embarrassed figure in the corner of the conference room.

Originally he was not qualified to attend this meeting, but Liu Zhou specifically called him over.

"Ning Hao, has the release date of your movie Crazy Stone been confirmed?"

Ning Hao submitted the script of "Big Diamond" at the end of last year.

However, the company was busy acquiring Golden Harvest at the time, so the script was temporarily shelved.

Later, after Golden Harvest was reorganized, the script of "Big Diamond" fell into Zhang Zhao's hands.

As soon as he saw it, he thought the script was very good and quickly called Ning Hao over.

He didn't expect that there was such a piece of gold hidden in the company.

After the conversation, Zhang Zhao approved a budget of eight million for the film and let Ning Hao take charge of it.

Ning Hao was of course very happy about this. He thought that after Zhong Lifang, who valued him, was transferred away, he would definitely not be able to live as comfortably as before.

At that time, he even thought that if the company did not give him a large budget, he would use a DV to shoot.

But I didn't expect that the new general manager had a good vision. He noticed me at first sight and gave me sufficient budget.

This made Ning Hao unable to help but take advantage of the situation, and he wanted to ask Zhang Zhao if he could invite Liu Dehua to make a guest appearance.

He knew that Andy Lau had a very good relationship with his boss and the company.

Zhang Zhao reported the matter to Liu Zhou, who decisively rejected it.

Andy Lau is the king of Hong Kong and one of the most popular actors at the moment, but he was asked to play a supporting role with a budget of only six million.

No matter how good Liu Zhou's relationship with Liu Dehua was, he was too embarrassed to bring this up.

Ning Hao really dares to think so.

However, the role of Mike really required a Hong Konger, so Liu Zhou invited Andy Lau's younger brother Lin Jiadong.

Then he personally called Ning Hao to tell him the news and asked him to change the name of the movie to "Crazy Stone".

"Big Diamond" sounds so damn rustic, "Crazy Stone" is so much better.

After handing the project over to Ning Hao, he went through a lot of trouble and invited back the original crew except Mike. In October, Ning Hao completed the film.

"It's confirmed. Mr. Zhang has arranged it for next year's May Day."

After hearing this, Liu Zhou couldn't help but look at Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao also understood Liu Zhou's meaning and explained:
"I think Ning Hao's Crazy Stone is very good. If it is released in a better time slot, it should do well at the box office.

There are two big movies released during the Lunar New Year period, directed by you and Director Chen. If this low-budget movie is also squeezed in during the Lunar New Year period, I'm afraid it will become cannon fodder.

So we are considering putting it on the May Day schedule next year. Although it takes a little longer, it will also give full play to the box office potential of the film.”

Under normal circumstances, Zhang Zhao’s considerations make sense, but isn’t the situation of this year’s Lunar New Year box office a bit abnormal?

So his arrangement was a little imperfect.

"Mr. Zhang, move the release date of Crazy Stone to December 8, a week before The Promise is released."

Upon hearing Liu Zhou's arrangement, everyone present was a little surprised. Ning Hao also raised his eyebrows, and then looked eager to try.

"Mr. Liu, Crazy Stone will be released on December 8th, and it will only have a short week to earn box office revenue.
In the next two weeks, it will definitely not be able to get much box office with The Promise and New World being released one after another.”

"I know your concerns, but you may not have seen Director Chen's The Promise, otherwise you would not have this idea."

Zhang Zhao had some clues and asked tentatively:

"Mr. Liu, do you think Director Chen's The Promise might fail?"

"I don't know whether it will be a hit or not, but after watching it, I feel that it is a bad movie. It may have good box office in the early stage, but its reputation will definitely fail."

After The Promise was completed, when a screening was held, poet Chen, perhaps to show off, asked someone to invite Liu Zhou and Zhang Yimou to watch the film.

In addition, Han Shanping also invited the two of them, so they just went.

After watching it, poet Chen asked Liu Zhou what the movie was like with an expectant and proud look on his face.

Liu Zhou had to praise poet Chen profusely for the visuals, special effects, his professional level and past honors.

It was not until he saw poet Chen laughing heartily that Liu Zhou smiled politely and immediately returned to the "Red Cliff" crew.

However, Han Shanping, who was familiar with Liu Zhou, was not as happy as poet Chen was after hearing his words.

Han Shanping could see that Liu Zhou seemed to look down on the movie, which made him a little worried about the movie.

But the matter was done, and he could only support poet Chen to the end.

“Mr. Liu, even if the reputation of The Promise is going to collapse, it is still a blockbuster after all, and the box office will definitely not be bad. Isn’t it a bit too risky to release Crazy Stone a week before it?”

“Don’t worry, the reputation of The Promise will be worse than you think. I’ve also watched Crazy Stone, which is a very good movie.

Maybe with the support of The Promise, it can take in more box office revenue.”

Zhang Zhao finally understood what Liu Zhou meant, but he couldn't help but wonder how bad "The Promise" was that Liu Zhou dared to use a low-budget movie to make a fuss about it.

"Okay, Mr. Liu, I will adjust the release date of Crazy Stone to December 8th."

"It's only ten days until December 8th. Can you arrange to come here if the schedule is suddenly moved up?"

"Yes, because of The Promise, there are almost no movies released in December, so it is no problem to move up the release date.
It may be that the publicity needs to be re-planned, and there are only ten days, so the time is tight and the task is heavy. "

"It's fine as long as we can arrange it. As for publicity, just spend more money on it."

Since poet Chen has given Liu Zhou such a good opportunity, he must seize it.

I just don't know if "The Promise" can still achieve a box office of over 100 million yuan this time, with "Crazy Stone" before and "New World" after.

Liu Zhou arranged these two films to sandwich "The Promise" this time, which can be regarded as giving face to poet Chen.

Most people don't have such a big hand.

"Ning Hao, can the leading actors of the movie spare some time to promote it?" Liu Zhou asked.

"Yes, I definitely can!" Ning Hao patted his chest and guaranteed.

"Okay, if you can, then you can contact them and connect with Mr. Zhang."

"no problem."

Ning Hao didn't expect Liu Zhou to be so optimistic about his movie, but the thought of competing with a great director like Chen Shishi made him a little excited.

He had been a little worried before, but after hearing Liu Zhou's words, he immediately became confident.

Ning Hao admires Liu Zhou very much and is very convinced of his vision. These are the deep impressions Liu Zhou has left on Ning Hao over the past few years.

Therefore, compared to Chen Shishi's aura as a great director, Ning Hao trusts Liu Zhou more.

Since he thinks "The Promise" is bad, then this movie must be very bad.

Ning Hao felt excited just thinking about how he could step on poet Chen to get to the top this time.

After a few people discussed some publicity matters, Liu Zhou announced the end of the meeting.

Zhang Zhao went to the publicity department to re-plan the publicity plan;
As soon as Ning Hao left the office, he called several actors of the film and told them to drop everything they were doing and gather in Beijing immediately.

Liu Zhou called Zhong Lifang to his office, and the land for building Jiahe’s headquarters building had been found.

(End of this chapter)