Chapter 356: The Tragic Summer Season
The next day, Liu Zhou went straight to China Film with the manuscript of "Interstellar".

Liu Zhou is already familiar with China Film Corporation, and the staff of China Film Corporation are also familiar with Liu Zhou. People greeted him along the way.

Liu Zhou went straight to Han Shanping's office. When he knocked on the door and came in, he saw Han Shanping reviewing documents wearing a pair of reading glasses.

When Han Shanping saw that the person coming was Liu Zhou, his frown immediately relaxed and a smile appeared on his face.

"You're back? You've stayed in the United States for a long time this time."

As Han Shanping spoke, he put down his pen, then his glasses, stood up and sat down on the sofa opposite Liu Zhou.

“I came back. There is no other way. Now I am not only a director in Hollywood, but also the owner of a film company. There are many things I need to deal with.

And the private jet I ordered just happened to arrive, so I waited there for a few more days and flew the plane back.”

"You're even flying a private jet now."

"Private jets are nothing special. In fact, they are only considered new in China. Even some celebrities abroad have private jets.

In a few years, private jets will no longer be a rare commodity in China.”

"I'm not blaming you. I just hope you can pay attention to the impact and not end up like Lao Zhao, who ended up in disgrace."

"Don't worry, Zhao Benshan and I are different. He is arrogant, but I am not. I am very low-key."

"Old Zhao is the same. He is so old, but he still acts like a young man and makes a big fuss."

"It's understandable actually. If someone is always praised, his mentality will inevitably change, no matter who he is. Moreover, after crossing the Shanhaiguan Pass, he is like a local emperor who commands the support of hundreds of people."

There is a saying circulating in the circle and on the Internet: After passing Shanhaiguan, look for Zhao Benshan.

This is not a joke, but the fact.

Zhao Benshan's influence in the Northeast region is truly at its peak. Not only does he have businesses in many industries, he also has strong connections in both the white and gray circles.

No matter how successful his disciples were outside, when they were in front of Zhao Benshan, they still had to kneel down and call him Master.

When the Liu Laogen Grand Stage he opened in Northeast China, all the guests were celebrities, and even Jackie Chan could only sit three rows away.

Big names in the circle such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Feng Kuzi, Jiang Wen, Naying, Ge You and so on all came to show their support.

Well-known CCTV hosts such as Yang Lan, Bai Yansong and Ni Ping also attended the event in their best attire.

However, Liu Laogen Grand Stage was indeed very popular. In its first year of opening, it raked in 6000 million yuan at the box office and stimulated local domestic demand by 3 million yuan.

At its peak in 2012, the theater’s annual revenue reached 2.5 million.

In addition, Zhao Benshan has carried out in-depth cooperation with Heilongjiang Satellite TV by relying on his deep connections in Northeast China.

It can't even be called cooperation, it's simply bundling and monopoly.

To what extent is the monopoly?
From day to night, in addition to news and weather forecasts, Heilongjiang Satellite TV broadcasts Zhao Benshan's TV series or "Benshan Happy Camp" performed by his disciples almost all day long.

Even on the evening of the Spring Festival, when all TV stations were broadcasting the Spring Festival Gala, Heilongjiang Satellite TV was still broadcasting Benshan Happy Camp.

At that time, Lao Zhao even directly shouted publicly:

“Heilongjiang Satellite TV is my home turf.”

After tasting the sweetness of success at Heilongjiang Satellite TV, he began to carry out in-depth cooperation with Liaoning Satellite TV, his hometown.

So, if you are always in an environment where one person commands the support of everyone, how can you not be proud?

It wasn't until he generously bought a private jet, which finally attracted everyone's complaints, that he finally regained some clarity of mind.

But the simple image he created has been completely shattered.

"Forget it, let's not talk about him. Let's talk about you. You usually don't come here for no reason. What's the matter with you coming here this time?"

"Can't I just go have some tea with you since we haven't seen each other for so long?"

"You really have this heart. I've been filming "The Founding of a Republic" in Huairou, which is so close to me, for such a long time, and you haven't come to visit me?"

Hearing Han Shanping's words, Liu Zhou couldn't help but touch his nose and said with a smile:

"Weren't you too busy recently? I forgot about it for a moment. By the way, has the filming of "Founding of a Republic" been completed?"

"We have finished filming. Huang Jianxin is currently working on the post-production. He hasn't made a movie in such a long time. When he takes up the director's baton again, he feels like he lacks the energy to keep up."

"You have finished filming, right? This is a gift to the country, it's an honorable thing."

"Okay, stop joking. Tell me, what do you want from me?"

"There are two things. One is about the introduction of Twilight."

“Don’t worry about that. As long as there is nothing illegal in the movie, we will also introduce Twilight without you telling us. After all, the box office of this movie is so high.

By the way, I haven’t congratulated you yet, Twilight is a big hit at the box office, and now the Summit Entertainment you acquired should be able to gain a firm foothold.”

"It has stabilized. We are also lucky this time. Twilight is an asset left by the previous boss. Now that they see that Twilight is a big hit, they must be regretting it." "You can't blame anyone, but you are really lucky."

"Boss Han, I'm not just looking for you to introduce the movie, I also need you to arrange a better schedule for it."

Although there is no complete domestic film protection month yet, imported Hollywood movies are generally released in July and November.

It is obviously impossible for "Twilight" to be released in November, otherwise there will be a lot of pirated copies by then, so it can only be released in July.

However, this year's summer movie season in mainland China is the most competitive in history.

Blockbuster films such as "Transformers 2", "Harry Potter 6", "Ice Age 3", "Up", and "Wolverine" that have fought each other in North America will once again fight each other in mainland China.

Among them, "Transformers 2" was a huge success, earning more than million yuan at the box office.

Historically, the box office record of "Titanic" was broken by "Transformers 2".

In addition to Hollywood blockbusters, there are also many domestic films, including Lu Tailang's "Jinling Jinling", Zhang Ziyi's starring and investment "Perfect Match", "Silver Empire", "Robot" and so on.

Throughout August, on average, a new film was released to the audience every four days.

The total box office of the original time and space this summer season reached 16.5 billion, while the previous year's summer season was only 4.6 million.

But now, because of the existence of Golden Harvest, this year's summer season is even more competitive than in history.

As one of the most important schedules in the mainland film market, Golden Harvest will certainly not miss it.

For this summer season, Golden Harvest Films has prepared a total of three films, including Ning Hao's "No Man's Land", Chen Guofu's "The Message", and "Overheard" produced by the Hong Kong branch.

Coupled with "Twilight", which was originally scheduled to be released during last year's Lunar New Year holiday, the competition for this year's summer season is fierce.

The three films produced by Golden Harvest can decide their own release dates, but as an imported film, "Twilight" can only be arranged by China Film.

But Summit Entertainment is also a subsidiary of Golden Harvest Group, so "Twilight" can be considered its own movie. Liu Zhou certainly also hopes that "Twilight" can have a better schedule and get more box office revenue.

“Don’t worry, our own people will definitely be taken care of. I will release Twilight at the end of June, giving it a week to earn box office revenue.

But how much box office revenue it can earn depends on whether Twilight is popular. A week later, other Hollywood blockbusters will be released one after another.”

"A week is enough. Thank you, Mr. Han."

This is the summer season, and Han Shanping is really considerate of the film to be able to enjoy the box office exclusively for a week.

In one week, it can earn 40% or even 50% of the total box office.
"The first thing is solved, what about the second thing?"

"The second thing is good news. This is the script for the second science fiction movie I wrote and am planning to shoot. Mr. Han, you can take a look at it first."

After saying that, Liu Zhou handed the script of "Interstellar" to Han Shanping.

Han Shanping took the script and said with a smile:

"You finally finished it. I've been waiting for your script for so long that I've finished filming a whole movie."

After saying that, Han Shanping ignored Liu Zhou and opened the script.

When you open the homepage, the four big words "Interstellar" immediately appear before your eyes.

When Han Shanping saw this name, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and a strong space science fiction atmosphere came to his face.

Afterwards, Han Shanping spent more than half an hour going through the entire script.

After reading it, Han Shanping couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief and said:

"The story is still as good as ever, even better than The Martian, but this movie seems to be the same as The Martian, with not many big scenes."

"It's true that there aren't many. The movie Interstellar actually wins mainly because of its story."

Han Shanping pondered for a while and said:
“I think you should also know that the audience is actually looking forward to science fiction blockbusters with more special effects.

The first film, The Martian, was fine. Zhang Yimou's Moon was also story-oriented. Your Interstellar is also like this. Will it make the audience impatient? "

After hearing Han Shanping's concerns, Liu Zhou smiled and said:

"Don't worry, Mr. Han. It won't happen. Although these three science fiction movies don't have many big scenes, they are all good movies. Most of the audiences know what they are doing.

I also want to make a sci-fi blockbuster with lots of cool special effects, but the current level of special effects technology in our mainland is not up to the standard yet, so we have to take it slow.

First, we need to improve the special effects technology and train the team well, and then it won’t be long before we can shoot science fiction blockbusters with lots of special effects.”

Historically, "Interstellar" has been well received in mainland China. It doesn't make sense that everyone would criticize it just because it was directed by Liu Zhou.

"Okay, as long as you understand what's going on. Is this collaboration on Interstellar the same as last time?"

"Of course, we will each invest half, and you can handle the rest. I will only be responsible for filming."

"no problem!"

(End of this chapter)