Chapter 291 Wang Zhongjun’s Ambition
On the evening of April 26, Liu Zhou arrived at the premiere of "The Forbidden Kingdom" on time.

In fact, this was the premiere ceremony in mainland China. The movie was released in North America last Friday and grossed 21 million US dollars in the first three days, which is a pretty good result.

However, despite this, Huayi still held a very grand premiere ceremony in Beijing.

When Wang Zhongjun saw Liu Zhou coming, his eyes lit up, and he quickly walked over and said with a smile:

"Mr. Liu, thank you for taking the time to attend this premiere."

"Of course I have to come if Mr. Wang invites me."

"Haha, please come in. I have to greet some other guests."

"Boss Wang, you are busy, you don't have to worry about me."

Liu Zhou walked into the meeting place and took a quick look. He saw many familiar faces in the circle, most of whom were from Beijing.

This time, Liu Zhou did not see Han Shanping, but saw Boss Yang sitting there.

"Boss Yang, you don't look well." Liu Zhou walked up and greeted Boss Yang with a smile.

Boss Yang looked up and saw that it was Liu Zhou. His frown relaxed and he said:

"Boss Liu, I didn't expect you to be here too. Aren't you on bad terms with the Wang brothers?"

In front of Boss Yang, Liu Zhou didn't say anything empty and said directly:
"It's a bit difficult to get along with, but even if I don't consider the Wang brothers' face, I still have to give face to Jackie Chan and Jet Li. They both called and invited me to participate."

"No wonder." Boss Yang sighed and said, "Huayi made a profit this time. They actually facilitated the first collaboration between Jackie Chan and Jet Li."

"Huayi doesn't have the ability to do this. It should be mainly because the Hollywood film companies did a lot of work in the middle. But if there is any profit, Huayi will definitely make a lot of money."

"The Forbidden Kingdom" is said to have an investment of 400 million yuan, but this time Huayi did not inflate the investment, the total investment is really 400 million yuan.

Cheng Long and Jet Li founded a J&J film company together, and they each invested in the company with a salary of 80 million RMB.

The remaining 2.4 million was jointly funded by Huayi and the American producers, with Huayi contributing the largest share, 1.5 million.

However, Huayi's approach is more wild and bolder, and the 1.5 million yuan of funds are all bank loans.

Such operations may be common in later generations, but at this time, only Huayi would do this, because banks did not have such business.

Huayi wanted to pay Jackie Chan and Jet Li’s film remuneration directly, but the two were not fools and would definitely not agree to that.

Don’t think that later generations think this movie is a bad one, as it only grossed over 100 million yuan in China.

But at that time, the collaboration between the two Chinese action superstars caused an unprecedented sensation, and everyone was very optimistic about the movie "The Forbidden Kingdom".

Of course, Jackie Chan and Jet Li would not underestimate themselves and they are also very confident in the movie, so they definitely hope to invest and get dividends.

Huayi had no choice but to agree to let the two of them invest as the film had to rely on their global box office appeal.

Although the movie "The Forbidden Kingdom" only earned more than 100 million yuan at the domestic box office, it has always been on the list of bad movies and loss-making movies.

In fact, they didn't lose a penny at all. Instead, they made a huge profit as everyone thought when the film project was first launched.

With a cost of 4 million, the full North American copyright was sold for 2500 million US dollars, and the full Southeast Asian copyright was sold for million US dollars.

In these two areas, most of the costs have been recovered.

As for other regions, the copyrights of dozens of countries are still under negotiation, but Huayi is full of confidence and wants to wait until the early box office results in North America come out before selling it, which will allow it to sell at a higher price.

They were really waiting for this. After Lionsgate bought the copyright of "The Forbidden Kingdom", it took in more than 50 million US dollars at the North American box office.

Therefore, in subsequent negotiations with distributors in other countries, the price discussed was also higher, and the total sales amounted to nearly 50 million US dollars.

Moreover, this movie seems to have done well at the box office in other places except mainland China, with a global box office of up to 1.47 million US dollars.

This result is much better than "Curse of the Golden Flower".

Under the operation of Golden Harvest, the North American copyright of "Curse of the Golden Flower" was sold to Sony for US$30 million, which was a higher price than "The Forbidden Kingdom".

Sales in Europe and South America combined totaled nearly $15 million, and the Asian share also totaled more than $15 million.

With overseas revenue of 60 million US dollars and domestic box office of more than 300 million RMB, "Curse of the Golden Flower" made Golden Harvest and New Picture earn a lot of money.

However, the film's box office performance outside of Asia was somewhat dismal. For example, in North America, it only grossed $6.56 million.

Even with videotapes and other copyrights, it would be difficult for Sony to make a profit.

It was also through the movie "Curse of the Golden Flower" that overseas film producers realized that the trend of Chinese costume martial arts blockbusters had completely subsided.

In fact, in recent years, domestic audiences have become somewhat tired of watching martial arts movies, so in the next few years, martial arts movies have become silent again.

So although "The Forbidden Kingdom" did not make as much as "Curse of the Golden Flower", it still made a lot.

And for Huayi, their gains are not just box office revenue.

Wang Zhongjun has first-rate means and vision, and he is also very ambitious. He put so much effort into creating "The Forbidden Kingdom" not just to make money.

In addition to overseas distribution, Huayi has also started to distribute films in Taiwan and Hong Kong for the first time. In the past, Huayi's films were distributed by local film companies, after all, they were local bosses, and Huayi had no relationship with the theaters there.

However, this time with Jackie Chan and Jet Li present, no one can stop theaters from showing this movie. No matter what tricks the film companies in the two places make, the theaters will not pay any attention.

After all, these two people are enough to guarantee the box office, and theaters also need to make money.

However, Wang Zhongjun was not in a hurry to do it all at once. He co-distributed the film in Hong Kong and cooperated with Disney in Taiwan.

With "The Forbidden Kingdom", he opened the door to the film markets in both places.

Although it is just a crack, with Huayi's strength, this crack will definitely get bigger and bigger until Huayi can independently distribute movies in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

"Alas, seeing how rapidly your companies are developing, and then looking at you, I have been standing still and can't even keep up with you."

"Boss Yang, you are being a little modest. As a long-established film company, you have the Hong Kong film market as your base and are actively investing in the north. Who dares to ignore you?"

However, after hearing what Liu Zhou said, Boss Yang became even angrier, and his voice became even louder:
"What kind of foundation is this? They are just a bunch of losers, and they are just a bunch of useless people who can't be helped."

Liu Zhou didn't react at first. Why did Boss Yang suddenly get angry? And he was very angry.

Then I changed my mind and instantly understood why he was so angry.

It must have been caused by the incident in the Hong Kong entertainment industry earlier this year.

In addition to Hong Kong, the mainland entertainment industry also has a great influence.

More than a dozen movies had their cast replaced or were shelved, some variety shows also temporarily replaced their guests, and the group's concerts this year were directly cancelled.

During this period, there were constant reports of which crews and stars terminated their contracts, and many other variety shows and concerts were also temporarily put on hold.

The most serious case is the film "Jump Out", starring Chen and invested by Columbia and Star Shine, where the post-production of the film is halfway done.

The production company is going crazy, Chen Ke is the leading male role!

Once something happened to him, the whole movie was almost ruined.

The second male lead in this movie is still Wu Yanzu. Wu Yanzu plays opposite Chen Zuo, which shows his status in the Hong Kong entertainment circle at that time. It is not an exaggeration to call him the first of the new generation.

Incredibly, the fall of these people led to the rise of people like Zhang Jiahui and Gu Zai, who had previously been active in action and police and gangster films.

After that, young Hong Kong actors were rarely seen in major mainland productions.

After these people, Hong Kong has never produced any real stars.

Mainland actors and stars began to rise, and mainland film and television companies began to use mainland actors. The situation where young mainland actors played supporting roles for young Hong Kong actors no longer existed.

Mesozoic stars, led by Chen Kun, have risen to prominence, starring in big productions one after another. At the same time, a new generation of stars have emerged like mushrooms after a rain, one after another.

Apart from a few actors of the older generation, there are no more stars in Hong Kong.

Because of the photo incident, the entire Hong Kong entertainment industry has been much more low-key. Even at the premiere of "The Forbidden Kingdom", there were not many Hong Kong artists.

Otherwise, given the reputation of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, there would definitely be many Hong Kong artists coming to support the event.

Seeing that Boss Yang, who was good at cultivating his Qi, was so angry, Liu Zhou thought that he was angry, so he changed the subject:
"Boss Yang, you see, Boss Wang is more entertaining. This is probably the most special premiere I've ever attended. It was actually held in a tent."

Setting up a huge tent in Chaoyang Park to hold a premiere, no one would do this now, let alone in the next ten years or so.

“It’s just a publicity stunt. In order to match the release date in the United States, The Forbidden Kingdom had to be released in an unpopular time slot.

The release date is not good now. If we don’t do a better job of promoting it, even the best movie will be wasted.”

"I heard that this tent alone cost several million, and the entire premiere cost more than 10 million?"

"That's right, the Wang brothers are really smart. In fact, the 10 million is well worth it. Even if the premiere is held in a stadium or conference hall, it will cost a lot of money and the momentum will not be as good as this."

"Boss Yang, when will the film "Battle of Guandu" that you and Cheng Tian are working on be released?"

"The film is currently in post-production and may not be released in time for the summer season. It will probably be released during the Lunar New Year season this year."

Boss Yang suddenly changed his mind and asked:

"Mr. Liu, when will your movie The Martian be released? It won't be during the Lunar New Year holiday, right?"

Although "The Battle of Guandu" is also a blockbuster, "The Martian" is the first domestic science fiction blockbuster that has attracted much attention since the project was launched.

Unless this movie is terrible, even if the quality of the movie is slightly better, "The Martian" will be a box office bomb and anyone who touches it will die.

Although the Lunar New Year holiday season is currently large enough to accommodate two big productions.

However, "The Martian" and "The Battle of Guandu" are not simple big productions, and both have huge ambitions for the box office, so even the Lunar New Year holiday may not be able to accommodate these two films.

Seeing that Boss Yang looked a little nervous, Liu Zhou said with a smile:

"Boss Yang, don't worry, The Martian will not be released during the Lunar New Year holiday."

(End of this chapter)