China Entertainment Mythology 2004

Chapter 176
After hearing that "Lost in Thailand" is likely to be scheduled for July, Feng Xiaogang couldn't sit still.He is very confident in his films, but he is completely unsure about Li Mu!

With regard to the films that Li Mu has made over the years and the achievements he has achieved, is this really something a normal person can do?

Going back and forth in circles in the living room, my heart became more and more anxious.

The Tangshan Earthquake occurred on July 1976, 7, and the film’s schedule was originally set for July 28, but after careful research, he has decided to advance the schedule, but no matter how much the schedule is raised, the premiere date After all, the anniversary of the earthquake will not be too far away.

The schedule of "The Great Earthquake" doesn't have much room for adjustment. Once the schedules of the two movies are too close...

At this time, his wife Xu Fan came over and said: "What's the use of you just going around? If you are really worried, you can call Li Mu. I think Xiao Li usually speaks kindly. You two discuss it." , wouldn’t it be solved by staggering the schedule by two or three weeks? I don’t think Xiao Li will refuse to agree, and this is also beneficial to his "Lost in Thailand"."

Feng Xiaogang said: "Call him and say good things, and beg him to avoid the schedule... I have won the national box office champion since 97, and he was still in middle school at that time."

Xu Fan said disapprovingly: "When you won the box office championship, you never thought that there would be a capable person in our country who could win such a high box office, and also win the Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture."

Feng Xiaogang nodded and said, "Then I will fight!"

As he spoke, he took out his mobile phone, found Li Mu's name and dialed it, and the other end was quickly connected.

"Hello, Director Feng?"

"Director Li, I'm calling today to discuss the film schedule with you. I heard that your "Lost in Thailand" will also be released in July. I'm thinking that there is no need for our two films to be squeezed together. Do you think so? ?”

The other end of the phone said very simply: "Of course, when will Director Feng's "The Great Earthquake" be scheduled?"

Feng Xiaogang said: "The preliminary decision is set on July 7."

The other end said with a smile: "July 7th, that's ok, then my "Lost in Thailand" is scheduled for July 8rd, the two movies are staggered by half a month, what does Director Feng think?"

Feng Xiaogang smiled and said: "Okay, then this matter is settled like this. By the way, I wonder if Director Li is free on the premiere day of "The Great Earthquake"? If you are free, come to the premiere to support my brother?"

……

After about half an hour, the two hung up the phone, and Feng Xiaogang immediately leaned on the sofa and hummed pop songs.

Xu Fan smiled and said, "How about it, I just said that Xiao Li is easy to talk, do you believe me now?"

Feng Xiaogang said with a smile: "Li Mu is a nice person. I asked him to come over to support the premiere, and he agreed without saying a word. He is a good friend, and we can't do errands. He is the premiere of "Lost in Thailand" The time has come for us too. By the way, I also told him that we are negotiating with the eight major theater chains to increase the proportion of film production, and he agreed to publicly support us at that time."

In fact, the ratio between film studios and theater chains is not static. Before 2002, the film studios could only get 35% of the box office. In 2002, the movie "Hero" was released. Because the film studios were very strong, the theater chains finally compromised and gave in. This increases to 40%.

Later, after many games between filmmakers and theaters, finally in 2009, Radio and Television’s “Guiding Opinions on Adjusting the Account Sharing Ratio for Domestic Films” made it clear that the producer and distributor’s account sharing ratio should not be less than 43% in principle.

But this kind of game has not stopped in fact. In 2011 on the original timeline, when director Zhang Yimou's "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" was officially released, the film studio's new screen strongly notified the national theaters to re-set the ticket price of "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" standard, the minimum fare was increased by 5 yuan, bringing the minimum fare to 40 yuan in first-tier cities.

At the same time, the proportion of the film's share of the theater's accounts was increased by two percentage points, from the original 43% to 45%.

As for why even the minimum ticket price is required to be adjusted, because in many cases, even if the theater sells a ticket for 100 yuan, but he only admits that he is selling it at the minimum ticket price, you can easily not get the actual data, and in the end you can only It can be settled according to the lowest fare and multiplied by the share ratio.

As a result, the film studio’s effort to increase the ratio of billing led to a joint boycott from the eight major theaters in China, and after the direct intervention of the higher authorities, it ended in a "complete failure" for the eight major theaters, and the theaters finally agreed to "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins". According to the ratio of 45%.

However, the difference from before is that this time the only movie "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" that increased the share of accounts.

So in 2012, the five major domestic mainstream production and distribution giants, including China Film, Huayi, Bernard, Xingmeihe and Guangzhi, formally formed an alliance, issued the "Notice on Adjusting the Proportion of Account Sharing for Domestic Films", and once again requested that the proportion of film studios be increased to 45%. %, but was boycotted by 13 theaters across the country. In the end, it was clear that the film’s joint action ended in failure. Since then, the film’s 43% share of the bill has been used until Li Mu crossed.

As a director and the owner of a film company, Li Mu will of course sit on the side of the producer, and since Yuan Shikong's "Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" directed by Zhang Yimou next year can increase the share of accounts by two points, So today he and director Feng Xiaogang need less than 45% of the bill?
Therefore, after director Feng Xiaogang mentioned this matter on the phone, Li Mu immediately agreed to support him. He estimated that even if he did not stand up in this wave, he would definitely stand up when China Film Group took the lead in negotiating with theaters in the future.

……

The next day, the producers of "The Great Earthquake" had a closed-door negotiation with the eight major theaters, and the eight major theaters took a very tough attitude this time. If the producer still refuses to make concessions, the eight major theaters will jointly refuse to screen the movie. "Great Earthquake".

Seeing that the negotiations had come to an impasse, Feng Xiaogang couldn't help asking the theater angrily: "The producers in the United States can even get 65% of the box office. Why can't the producers even get 45% in my country? You think this kind of Is the situation reasonable for him?"

Bao Jianqiu, the person in charge of Xinjiekou International Cinemas, replied: "Our national conditions are fundamentally different from those of the United States, and we must not simply generalize. According to the division of the United States, every movie theater in China will close down! The derivative products in the theater can account for more than 30% of the theater's revenue, and we can only rely on the single income of the box office. Every time the film company increases the share ratio by a point, it means that the theater will lose a large part of its profits. We will definitely stick to this If Director Feng insists on increasing the share of accounts to 45%, then we have no choice but to 'jointly' refuse to screen "The Great Earthquake."

Bao Jianqiu bit the word "United" very hard, and the threat in his words was quite obvious, and this made Director Feng Xiaogang very annoyed, he couldn't help raising his voice: "Okay, since the theater does not agree with our proposal If you don’t want to share the bill, then you can completely refuse to show "The Great Earthquake", in addition to "If You Are the One 2", "Lost in Thailand", and "The Hunger Games", if you don’t want to make money, we have no objection.”

The representatives of the eight theater chains were very firm at the beginning, but when they heard "Lost in Thailand" and "The Hunger Games", their expressions immediately changed.

Everyone is negotiating with Feng Xiaogang now, why are "Lost in Thailand" and "The Hunger Games" involved?Isn't that the new movie of the company directed by Li Mu?

Could it be that Director Li Mu and Feng Xiaogang have reached an agreement in private?

If this is the case, you can't say too much.

Why has the number of domestic screens increased like crazy in recent years?In fact, this has a lot to do with Li Mu's several blockbuster movies.

"Taken" had a domestic box office of 2.8 million, while "The Promise", which ranked second that year, was only 1.8 million.

"Assassin", domestic box office 3.6 ​​million.

"Inception" has a domestic box office of 8.9 million.

"Taken 2" has a domestic box office of 6.3 million.

"Doomsday Collapse" has a domestic box office of 7.9 million.

The domestic box office of "Gravity" is as high as 16 billion!
In 09, the national box office for the whole year was less than 100 billion. As a result, the box office of Li Mu's four movies alone was nearly 40 billion, accounting for 40%!

Really don't want to show Li Mu's movie?
Then the theaters across the country simply close down!

02年时《英雄》的制片方凭啥敢强势要求提高分账比例？02年时全国全年票房9亿元，最终《英雄》一部电影的票房就是2.5亿，单部电影占全年总票房的比例竟然高达27%！

How could the theater reject the producers of the destined hit "Hero"?
As a result, there is another Li Mu now, with a total box office of 100 billion for the whole year, and his movies alone reached an astonishing 40 billion. Although some of these movies are New Year's Eve, the box office cannot be counted as last year, but even if it is only 30 billion Yi Na is also 30% of the total annual box office!

How could the theater have the courage to refuse Li Mu's small request?

That's right, increasing the share ratio by two points can only be regarded as a small request for Li Mu at best!

(End of this chapter)