Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 46 Records are meant to be broken, to be challenged.

"That's already two billion?"

As soon as the New Year's Day holiday ended, countless film and television companies felt like they had undergone a complete transformation overnight.

"2012" has surpassed 2 billion yuan at the box office, reaching 20.3 billion yuan.

In ten days, the box office reached 15 billion yuan. During the three-day New Year's Day holiday, with 3D cinemas almost always packed, the box office on New Year's Day alone reached 210 million yuan, and the remaining two days each saw a box office of over 100 million yuan, achieving a reverse trend in box office revenue. In thirteen days, the box office reached 2 billion yuan.

"They won't even give us this little bit of work?"

Almost all the movies released during the Lunar New Year season were box office hits. If it were an imported blockbuster, they might point their fingers at Han Sanping and curse him for letting an imported blockbuster in.

Now the referee himself is on the field. This is a movie that they paid for and co-produced. What can you say? You can't use any means. Under the crushing power of blockbusters, Huayi Brothers and other companies are routed. Romance films and comedies are all useless.

Under absolute power suppression, even the best movie plot is useless.

Even if "Goodbye Mr. Loser" were moved to this release window, its box office revenue would be cut by at least half.

During a major film release period, when the market is not yet fully developed, it is absolutely unacceptable for two films to achieve high box office returns simultaneously.

Everyone gets two or three days off, goes out on dates, and usually just goes to see one movie. It's impossible to go to two movies with your girlfriend unless you have two.

This is where the advantage of blockbuster movies comes in: unless your girlfriend is a die-hard fan of a particular celebrity and insists on seeing it, no man can resist the allure of a disaster blockbuster.

The winner takes all. Two years ago, a foreign 3D blockbuster did the same thing, overwhelming domestic films. Now it's the same, devouring all the domestic box office revenue.

Countless viewers even lined up to watch it a second or third time on the 3D screen, as it was a completely different experience.

As the film's producer, China Film Group has been releasing news recently. In an interview with the media, Han Sanye expressed his gratitude to director Chen Shouzhe for his role in bringing the film together, saying that it was thanks to Chen's efforts that the film was a success.

When asked about the investment ratio, the third party generously stated that the Chinese side held 40%, but did not disclose the specific percentages for the four companies.

However, he now envies Chen Shouzhe. He only now knows some details of the contract. China Film Group invested 250 million yuan, accounting for the majority of the domestic four-party investment, but it was a one-off deal. The subsequent copyright revenue of the film, etc., belonged to Columbia Pictures and Chen Shouzhe. The two companies enjoyed copyright dividends. Even after the film was taken off the screens, it could continue to bring Chen Shouzhe a steady stream of copyright revenue.

Even after the movie's theatrical run ends, Chen Shouzhe will continue to receive a large sum of money from the copyright for decades to come.

"What is Chen Shou doing?"

Inside the China Film Group office, Han Sanping looked at the global box office report. The domestic box office was now equivalent to US$320 million, and the international box office was not bad either. Fourteen days had passed, and in addition to the Chinese box office, the film was released in more than 100 countries at the same time, earning US$6.28 million, bringing the total box office to US$9.48 million.

The Chinese market surprised the United States, generating $300 million in box office revenue within two weeks, attracting the attention of countless Hollywood film companies.

Suddenly, many American film companies sent people to study the Chinese market. Some American companies that had previously cooperated with them began to look for Chinese film companies, and the one they contacted most often was Chen Shouzhe, after all, Chen Shouzhe had facilitated this deal.

A few years ago, a co-production spearheaded by Huayi Brothers did not make much of a splash, which shows that co-productions also depend on the people involved.

Chen Shouzhe clearly understands the market better and is more skilled at commercial films, making him the best partner.

In capitalist countries, no one will ignore a director who can make money. No matter how many movies you make or how many awards you win, if you don't achieve box office success, they won't care about you.

"I just checked the news; Director Chen's book has been released, and he's holding a book signing ceremony," the secretary said.

"Journey to the West?" Han Sanping asked.

"No, it's a new book called Ghost Blows Out the Light."

"Ghost Blows Out the Light? What book is that? Like Journey to the West? About ghosts and monsters?"

"It's not a book about ghosts and monsters, it's about tomb raiding. I bought a copy yesterday out of curiosity, and I got so engrossed that I stayed up all night reading it," the secretary said with an awkward smile. "Let me see what it's like, whether it's suitable for adaptation into a movie," Han Sanping said.

"I bought you a set, it's right here. It's perfect for adaptation, but it might have some trouble getting it approved." The secretary went to the bookshelf and took the book out.

Han Sanping took it and glanced at it; the cover looked quite impressive.

"Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Ancient City of Jingjue!!"

The new book was released on New Year's Day, and Chen Shouzhe held a three-day book signing event, signing 1,000 copies each day. Today is the third day.

Many people in the film and television industry are joking that Chen Shouzhe could have written a few more scripts, so why bother writing a book?

Now all the major companies are keeping an eye on Chen Shouzhe, even overseas companies are watching him.

The success of "2012" made them see the hidden value in Chen Shou; what the bosses saw was money, money from overseas.

Celebrities see the overseas market; they can break out of the domestic market and enjoy international fame.

This time, Huang Xiaoming, Li Baibing, and the others have all become famous, and they want to be like that too.

All the celebrities are envious of one person right now.

Yang Mi.

It's an open secret in the entertainment circle that Yang Mi and Chen Shou are having an affair, which has drawn criticism from many female celebrities. They're really good at investing, and this youngest stock in the entertainment industry is now soaring, hitting the daily limit every day.

Privately, many celebrities who are on good terms with Yang Mi tease her, saying that she bit a thigh, making Yang Mi blush. It was indeed a thigh, and just thinking about it makes her lower abdomen hurt.

"Honey, our studio is doing just fine, what's wrong with you?"

Inside Jiaxing Studio, Zeng Jia looked at Yang Mi in bewilderment. She actually proposed to split up the business and leave Jiaxing. How could that be possible? The entire Jiaxing relied solely on Yang Mi. Without Yang Mi, what would Jiaxing be?

“Jiajia, tell me honestly, are you lying to me? Jiaxing is not ours at all, it belongs to you. I’m only just realizing it now. Jiaxing, the studio named after you, Zeng Jia, is actually yours, Zeng Jia’s. And I’m just a worker. The whole company relies on me to make money, but I’m just a worker.”

So, I deserve to work my ass off for you, deserve to earn money for you to spend, deserve to be used by you and then kicked out, right? You really only see me as a hen that lays eggs, don't you?" Yang Mi also exploded. After investigating for a long time, she understood more and more that everything Chen Shouzhe said to her was true.

Zeng Jia's expression changed. She hadn't expected Yang Mi to suddenly attack her. She smiled and said, "No, I didn't. You're a shareholder in the company too. How could it be mine? I've never thought of that, Mimi. You have to believe me. We've been working together for so many years. How could I lie to you?"

"Hehe, Zeng Jia, how long are you going to keep lying to me? Now I understand. Even if I leave Jiaxing, I can still maintain this. But if you leave Jiaxing, you'll just be an agent. Why do you have so many shares in the company? I don't even have as many shares as Ruoxiao. I was just fooled by the two of you working together."

"I've already consulted a lawyer. I will leave Jiaxing and start my own studio," Yang Mi sneered.

"No, Mimi, you can't do this. We can still talk about it. Have you forgotten that when you were blacklisted, I was the one who helped you through it all?"

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been blacklisted by Director Chen. You only treated me as a tool to make money. You never thought about my future. It was because you got so many commercial deals for me and encouraged me to secretly leave the crew that I was blacklisted.”

"I know it was my fault, but it's all over now. Director Chen's ban on you is over, and this will never happen again. Calm down." Zeng Jia was completely anxious and flustered.

"That was something I begged for myself. Could the ban have been lifted without Chen Shouzhe's help? Let me tell you the truth, I have two choices now. One is that I leave Jiaxing and you buy all the shares, and Jiaxing is still yours. The other is that you give Jiaxing back to me, and for the sake of our past, you can still be my agent."

"Yang Mi, don't forget, I still have something on you," Zeng Jia said anxiously.

"You've finally been exposed. If you dare to tell anyone, your life is over. You don't think someone like you can still survive in this industry, do you?" Yang Mi mocked.

Zengjia was completely unaware of Yang Mi's attack and immediately panicked, revealing her true thoughts and making Yang Mi see her manager more clearly. It turned out that Yang Mi had been using her all along, and it seemed that she would have to change her manager in the future.

(End of this chapter)