The box office of "Rouge" on the second day reached about 5200 million, just a little short of breaking million. The data exceeded the predictions of major forecasting agencies and also exceeded the expectations of the box office of "Road to Glory" has not changed much.
"Happy Time" also bucked the decline and achieved a daily box office of around 1900 million.
One media outlet commented: "Looking at the declining box office, the actual box office for the two days combined is not as good as the box office results of a normal commercial film during the holiday season."
Some media also commented: "It has been a long time since we have seen art films achieve such outstanding box office results in the market. It seems that these three art films can all break 100 million yuan."
Of course, there are also media outlets that have expressed doubts: "I don't understand, why didn't 'Road to Glory' expand its screenings? If they were still conservative on the first day and didn't want to expand the scope of previews, how come after the first day, there was still only 7% of screenings on the second day? We communicated with managers of major theaters, and they said that it's not that they didn't want to schedule screenings, but that the distributors were only willing to do 'small-scale' previews. 'Road to Glory' really missed a good opportunity to collect box office revenue."
The media was buzzing with discussion.
The industry is more concerned about how the box office performance of these three art films will eventually end up.
Some people ask, will the box office performance of these three art films encourage more film companies to shoot art films?
Entertainment critic Guan Suchen directly responded to this question: It doesn't make much sense. These three art films all won awards at film festivals. Rouge and Road to Glory are directed by top directors or starred by movie stars. The halo is too big. Even if the box office is high, it will not increase the industry's interest in art films. But it may increase the interest of movie stars in the industry in acting in art films, and perhaps this can reversely drive the establishment of art films.
On the third day, the daily box office of "Rouge" remained stable at just over 5000 million. During the three-day holiday, the box office was close to million. According to the results of the box office forecasting agency, the final box office of this film may reach 4 million.
The third-day box office of "Happy Time" dropped a lot, only 1300 million, but the cumulative three-day box office was 4500 million, which can be described as "blood money" for this low-budget movie with a production budget of only 80. And it was director Yu Qin who made a lot of money alone - this movie was basically made by her own money.
The only exception is "Road to Glory", whose daily box office in three days was only around 1700-1800 million, mainly because the screening rate limited its performance. Including the previous previews, the total box office was close to 6000 million.
This is a box office victory for three art films.
Almost every media outlet has used the slogan of "Renaissance".
While fans of art films were excited and thrilled, the industry just treated it as a joke.
Because they all know that such a box office miracle is almost impossible to come by.
The prerequisite is that you have to go to an international film festival first, win an award, and especially if the film has good reviews and reputation, and can create a good reputation, and then get an "exclusive schedule" in China where there is no competition from commercial films, to replicate such a miracle.
But no matter what, box office is box office, and it is the result of audiences buying tickets and going to the cinema to watch the movies.
Art films became a little popular in a less popular month like September.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, "Road to Glory" once again reduced the number of screenings and returned to its previous level.
This has once again put many fans who came to watch the movie into the depressing situation of not being able to buy tickets.
Gradually, a kind of complaining voice appeared on the Internet:
——It was the first time I wanted to see a movie, but I couldn’t buy a ticket, not even a seat in the first row or the last row.
——Is “Road to Glory” engaging in hunger marketing?
——I’m not going to watch it anymore. It’s such a crappy movie and it’s so hard to buy tickets.
……
However, no matter how much discussion there is from the outside world, "Road to Glory" sticks to its strategy, earning around 3 yuan in box office revenue every day, and steadily and slowly building the aesthetic image of the film.
This strategy of "Road to Glory" has also left many people in the industry confused and puzzled.
Why does it take such a long preview?
The market is so enthusiastic now, why not expand the scale of screening?
How long do we have to wait?
Do we have to wait until the National Day period and let it compete with the blockbusters during the National Day period?
Are you crazy?
Faced with these questioning voices, "Road to Glory" still did not make any response or reply.
On September 17, Lu Yanhe and Zeng Qiao suddenly attended the drama promotion event held by Maxine in Thailand for "River of Silence" and officially announced the broadcast time of the drama: October 9.
Domestic audiences were stunned and asked why the first promotional event for this drama was not held in China but in Thailand.
Then I found out that the investors of "River of Silence" were not domestic film and television production companies. This was a custom drama directed by Maxine and Chen Lingling.
It has not even been scheduled on any domestic video platform and may not be broadcast in the country.
This shocked the fans who had been looking forward to the show for a long time.
Even if it is Maxine's drama, is there no video platform in China that would buy it?
It was at this time that Icefield Video belatedly announced that "River of Silence" would be broadcast simultaneously on Icefield Video.
-
The car stopped in the parking lot of Bingyuan Video's company building.
At the elevator door, two staff members wearing work badges were waiting to pick someone up.
After the car stopped, Wang Biao got out first, left the door open, and turned sideways to invite Lu Yanhe to get out.
Lu Yanhe got out of the car wearing a casual suit and sunglasses, looking very stylish.
I'm coming to Bingyuan Video's company today, and I'm putting on some style.
Zou Dong also got out of the car and came to Lu Yanhe's side.
The receptionist came forward quickly with a warm smile on his face.
"Teacher Lu, welcome to Bingyuan. I'm Zhao Yurui, and I'll be in charge of taking you upstairs."
"Hello." Lu Yanhe nodded politely, "Excuse me."
Zhao Yurui immediately shook his head and said, "No problem, my colleagues all wanted to take this job away from me, but I defended it firmly."
Zhao Yurui's words deepened Lu Yanhe's impression of him.
"Thank you." Lu Yanhe thanked him.
I came to Icefield Video today to record some promotional materials for "River of Silence".
At the same time, Li Quansen, the person in charge of Bingyuan Video, also wanted to meet with him.
Zhao Yurui took Lu Yanhe directly to the studio. Lu Yanhe first cooperated with the director of Bingyuan Video to complete the shooting of more than a dozen promotional materials.
The shoot lasted about an hour.
After the filming, Zhao Yurui appeared again and took Lu Yanhe to Li Quansen's office.
"Mr. Li is already waiting for you in the office."
Lu Yanhe nodded and followed him to Li Quansen's office.
This was not the first time Lu Yanhe had met Li Quansen. He had run into him before on other occasions, such as at a charity event not long ago. But Lu Yanhe had never had a face-to-face chat with Li Quansen alone.
This time, Li Quansen took the initiative to ask to meet him, and Lu Yanhe readily agreed.
Unlike Lin Desheng of Northern Lights Video, Li Quansen is older and has more legends in the industry.
If Northern Lights Video is the upstart, then Icefield Video is the old guard.
The history of Bingyuan Video can be traced back to 20 years ago. At first, it was a film and television production company. Later, after acquiring four or five bankrupt film and television companies, it built a video website based on its huge film library and the wild growth of the Internet era, which is now Bingyuan Video. It spent about 13 or 14 years in the wild stage. Until the rise of online dramas, Bingyuan Video suddenly ushered in its vent.
Whether it is Lin Desheng or Li Quansen, they are people who have caught up with the trend of the times.
Therefore, after going through rounds of financing and burning money, and fighting countless battles, we finally have our current position in the video platform matrix.
However, although the two companies currently have similar market shares in the video platform and similar industry positions, the reputations of Lin Desheng and Li Quansen in the industry are very different. The biggest difference is that Lin Desheng is not very active on the Internet. He is basically not a boss who likes to be active in front of the screen. But Li Quansen is completely the opposite. He is even more active than some celebrity artists and can be seen in various activities.
"Mr. Li." After Lu Yanhe entered Li Quansen's office, he took the initiative to call out and say hello.
Li Quansen immediately stood up and strode over with a warm and bright smile on his face. His friendliness could be rated full marks and that smile did not give people a sense of hypocrisy at all.
"Yan He, congratulations." Li Quansen held Lu Yan He's hands with both hands. He gave Lu Yan He the feeling of a giant bear - of course, his own body shape was also like a bear. "Rouge and Road to Glory were both box office successes and won international awards. You are truly a young man full of miracles."
"Mr. Li, you praise me too much." Lu Yanhe said modestly, "My small achievements cannot be compared with a big platform like Bingyuan Video. You are my role model."
Li Quansen laughed, "Sit down."
The two people exchanged pleasantries.
Li Quansen said: "In fact, I have wanted to meet you for a long time, but the time has never come. You see, you have a long-standing relationship with us at Bingyuan, starting with the show "Young Days"."
The show "Young Days" has been broadcast on Bingyuan Video.
Of course, because this program was produced by Li Zhenzhen's team, Bingyuan Video was only a broadcasting platform and was not involved in the production, so Lu Yanhe and his team did not have much contact with Bingyuan Video.
At this time, it is very normal to build some relationship and appear to be connected and close to each other.
"I'm also depressed that you have cooperated with Northern Lights on so many projects at once. Why didn't we at Icefield Video cooperate with you?" Li Quansen pretended to sigh and said, "You can't just cooperate with Northern Lights in the future. We have such a deep bond. What they can give you, I can also give you."
Lu Yanhe smiled and nodded, but of course he couldn't take such words seriously.
"Okay, Mr. Li, we will definitely have the opportunity to cooperate in the future." Lu Yanhe said.
Li Quansen immediately asked: "Do you have any projects planned for the future? Just tell us. As long as we at Bingyuan Video can help, we will definitely help."
Lu Yanhe smiled, "I haven't encountered any difficulties at the moment."
help?
Thank you. If we cooperate, we will benefit from each other. Can you help me? It seems like I owe you a favor.
No matter whether Li Quansen had this intention or not, Lu Yanhe would just ignore it.
Li Quansen: "That's good. The news that you are not having any difficulties is what I want to hear the most."
Lu Yanhe almost couldn't help but take a deep breath on the spot.
Aren't you afraid of being corny when you speak so directly?
Li Quansen said, "It's a pity, actually. I heard that you have two movie scripts in your hands and are looking for cooperation. Our Bingyuan Video Movie business is not up and running, so we can't help you. Otherwise, why would I hold the copyright in my own hands? I respect creative talents like you very much. As long as we can reach an agreement on cooperation and let Bingyuan always have the priority to renew the contract, I don't need the copyright to be in my own hands."
The words sound nice, but they are meaningless. The key point of this paragraph is "Our Icefield Video Film business has not been established, and we can't help much." No matter how nice the other words are, they are just a statement of "talking for free."
"..."
Lu Yanhe kept a smile on his face.
Li Quansen suddenly seemed to remember something and asked, "But I heard that the copyrights of the movies "Lost on Journey" and "Rouge" are still in your hands?"
"Yes." Lu Yanhe nodded.
Li Quansen: "Are you interested in adapting these two stories into TV series?"
"Ah?" Lu Yanhe was stunned.
Li Quansen: "In fact, these two stories are quite suitable for being adapted into TV series. The film is relatively small in size, and if it is adapted into a TV series, it can show more details."
Lu Yanhe immediately shook his head and said, "Sorry, Mr. Li, I don't have any idea of adapting them into a TV series for the time being."
Li Quansen asked: "Why?"
Lu Yanhe said: "On the one hand, I already have a lot of projects on hand and I don't have time to make a TV version. On the other hand, I also feel that the stories that these two stories want to tell have been told very thoroughly in the movie. If they are changed into TV versions, there is nothing new to expand on."
Li Quansen said: "What if we buy the adaptation rights and find a screenwriter to adapt it ourselves?"
"Ah?" Lu Yanhe was stunned.
Li Quansen said: "I know you are very busy. It is basically unrealistic to ask you to adapt the script, but these two stories are both very good stories. Especially for Lost on Journey, I want to use the concept of embarrassing things happening on the road to create a series of short dramas. Each one may be about 80 or 90 episodes, not long, and a comedy. I don't want to copy the story in the movie exactly. Rouge expands on the current story. There are many things that can be expanded about Ruhua's story in the brothel, as well as the things in the Twelve Young Master's family. The focus of the movie is all on the two of them. In fact, there is a lot of content around them that can be expanded."
After Li Quansen said this, Lu Yanhe also reacted.
Li Quansen suddenly mentioned the idea of adapting it into a TV series. It was not a spur-of-the-moment idea at all, but he had already thought about how to adapt it and only mentioned it to him then.
In fact, whether a TV series is adapted into a movie, or a movie is adapted into a TV series, it is not uncommon to modify the original plot and only use the name or the concept of the world view.
This is happening all over the world.
Lu Yanhe did not refuse immediately, but fell into deep thought.
If the stories of "Lost on Journey" and "Rouge" can continue, especially the latter, Lu Yanhe would like to see it.
As Li Quansen said, Rouge is a story that focuses on the main plot. In fact, it can enrich the original work with many details. The most attractive point of this story is the decadent and spooky atmosphere of the era of Ruhua and Shi Er Shao. The atmosphere of that era presented in this movie is not achieved by many movies with the same theme.
Lu Yanhe also thinks it would be great if it could be presented in a richer way.
However, with such a good example before him, Lu Yanhe was also worried about whether it could be presented in a richer way.
Li Quansen saw Lu Yanhe's worry.
He said: "Although you don't have time to be the screenwriter yourself, I very much hope that you can serve as the artistic producer of the adapted dramas and participate in the production of these two dramas. In this way, you can also personally check the quality."
Lu Yanhe was silent for two seconds, then said to him, "Mr. Li, thank you for your invitation. I need to go back and think about this matter."
Li Quansen nodded, showing his understanding, "No problem."
-
Lu Yanhe came out of the Bingyuan Video Company building when his cell phone suddenly rang.
It was a call from Chen Ziyan.
"Sister Ziyan?"
Lu Yanhe originally thought that Chen Ziyan was calling to ask about his meeting with Li Quansen, but he didn't expect that what Chen Ziyan said was completely different.
"Schmidt Lawley from Green Valley Films in the United States contacted me," Chen Ziyan said. "He is determined to compete for this year's awards season for Glory Road. He suggested that he could also do public relations for us for the performance awards, but he hopes that we can sponsor part of the public relations expenses."
"Ah?" Lu Yanhe was surprised. "What's going on?"
"In the United States, they are allowed to do PR for awards," Chen Ziyan said. "Moreover, every year companies that hope to win awards will spend tens of millions of dollars on PR. This has become an industry. There are even special PR companies in Hollywood that do this."
Lu Yanhe had heard about it more or less, but had never understood it in such detail.
In his simple understanding, awards should be objective and authoritative, and not subject to public relations.
Chen Ziyan said: "The public relations system of the American awards season has very strict rules of what is allowed and what is not allowed. Bribery is absolutely not allowed. Don't get the wrong idea. Just understand it this way. There are so many movies every year. People certainly won't watch every movie. Many movies are even unknown. At this time, professional public relations promoters are needed to push the movie to those who are eligible to vote. From appearing on TV shows to accepting interviews, to buying advertisements in major media, and even judges sending DVDs to explain the advantages and artistic value of the movie to influential people, these are the most common public relations methods. In addition, there are various cocktail parties and activities that accompany the three or four months of the awards season."
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Okay."
Chen Ziyan said: "I have communicated with Star Entertainment, and they have made it clear that if you do not renew your contract with Star Entertainment, they will definitely not be willing to pay for our PR expenses. In your current situation, there is no need to renew your contract with Star Entertainment. So, I came to ask for your opinion."
"Give me a PR performance award, can I win it?"
"It's almost impossible," Chen Ziyan said. "Forget winning an award. It's even hard for you to get nominated for a few influential awards. But I think since Glory Road is going to be in the awards season, we can take advantage of this momentum. First, we can learn about the routines in public relations in advance and make some connections that we need to make this time. Second, we can let some North American filmmakers know and get to know you because your performance in Glory Road is really outstanding. Even if you don't get any nominations, you can let some influential media, film critics and even filmmakers see your performance, and maybe you can accumulate some fame."
Lu Yanhe asked: "Then I think we can give it a try."
Chen Ziyan hummed, and then said: "This public relations fee will be paid from our Linghe Film and Television Production Company."
Lu Yanhe said: "No, I'll just pay from my personal account."
If the payment is made from Linghe Film and Television Production Company, Chen Ziyan, as another major shareholder, will also suffer losses - although Lu Yanhe believes that Chen Ziyan will definitely not care about this amount of money, as she is much richer than him.
But Lu Yanhe felt that since it was PR for him and his agency was no longer with Linghe, he should settle the accounts.
Not leaving any conflicts in economic disputes is a principle that Lu Yanhe established a long time ago, and he would rather suffer a little loss himself.
He already earns more than many people, so financially speaking, he would rather suffer a loss himself than let others suffer a loss - it's not worth it to let two people who have a good relationship become estranged because of a small financial issue.
Chen Ziyan didn't waste any time arguing with Lu Yanhe about this matter.
Lu Yanhe took the initiative to offer to pay for it himself. It was fine for him to pay for it himself.
Chen Ziyan didn't plan to take out much at once.
This time her goal was very clear, which was to test the waters and see the depth of the American awards season public relations system.
Prepare for the future.
-
Just as it was confirmed that "Road to Glory" was going to compete in the North American awards season, "River of Silence" began its pre-broadcast promotion in a grand manner.
When the drama "River of Silence" was being filmed, although it was said to be a drama with two male protagonists, in fact Zeng Qiao was the main character and Lu Yanhe was the supporting character.
When all the official announcements were that Zeng Qiao was the first and Lu Yanhe was the second, Lu Yanhe's fans were somewhat dissatisfied. They thought that Lu Yanhe's status had surpassed Zeng Qiao's, and that it was a dual-male lead drama, so why did the crew always choose Zeng Qiao as the first?
Lu Yanhe himself saw some fans making trouble on the official Weibo account, so he responded directly:
——Don't make a fuss. The contract states that Brother Qiao is the first role. Isn't it normal for me to play the second role for Brother Qiao? Don't argue about this, okay? We are all having fun filming and we have a good relationship. Don't let these meaningless disputes affect the harmony of our crew.
Lu Yanhe's quick response and his attitude in reply surprised many people.
In recent years, there have been so many disputes over the ranking of the show, and such news would pop up almost every few months. Lu Yanhe was the first to directly respond to the fans and ask them to stop making trouble.
The key point is that Lu Yanhe's attitude is not hidden at all and is very generous, which has won him a wave of goodwill. However, some fans are not very satisfied.
They thought they were fighting for Lu Yanhe's rights, so why did Lu Yanhe jump out and criticize them?
Even if Lu Yanhe was the second lead when he signed the contract, but now, considering Lu Yanhe and Zeng Qiao's current status in the circle, does Zeng Qiao still deserve to sit in the first position?
Lu Yanhe didn't want to pay any attention to such statements.
Immediately, fans who held this idea began to promote a statement: The reason why Lu Yanhe had such an attitude was because of his personal relationship with Zeng Qiao, which forced Lu Yanhe to stand up and express his position. It was Zeng Qiao who used his personal relationship with Lu Yanhe to embarrass Lu Yanhe.
This statement is not reliable and does not make sense, but some fans believe it and keep forwarding it, saying with absolute certainty that it must be true.
Lu Yanhe almost couldn't help but reply, "If you have delusions, go to the hospital immediately," but he felt that this was a bit too much, so he held back.
At this time, some media suddenly reported that the TV series "Deviation" starring Zeng Qiao was purchased by HP for exclusive global broadcasting rights after being taken off the shelves.
This media outlet also knew the role played by Lu Yanhe in this matter, and said: According to reliable sources, the cooperation between "Bias" and HP this time came from Lu Yanhe's matchmaking.
Soon after, HP also announced that "Deviation" will be launched on October 12.
"This film was indeed recommended to us by Lu Yanhe," HP Asia Pacific's head admitted generously during an interview at a forum. "After our evaluation, we believe that Deviation is a film that can resonate with people all over the world."
Now that's good, Lu Yanhe's fans who wanted Lu Yanhe to do something instantly straightened their backs.
——You see, Zeng Qiao still needs Lu Yanhe to help sell "Deviation" to HP to make a profit!
——How can Zeng Qiao be so shameless? Not only did he ask Lu Yanhe to help save the drama "Deviation", but he also had the nerve to continue asking Lu Yanhe to play the second role for him.
——Lu Yanhe is so miserable. He is too kind and always thinks about his friends. But, do his so-called "friends" think about him?
……
These remarks made Lu Yanhe furious.
Everything was going well between him and Zeng Qiao, and nothing had happened between them, but they were driven into a turmoil by this instigation.
When Lu Yanhe was getting annoyed, Zeng Qiao sent him a message: Yanhe, don't worry about what is said on the Internet, don't take it to heart, it's enough for the two of us to know what's going on.
Lu Yanhe felt even more guilty.
-
At the same time, Maxine's Zhong Benshuo was so angry about the news that his mouth trembled.
Lu Yanhe also recommended this work to him, and he was also interested in buying it. After all, "The River of Silence" starring Zeng Qiao and Lu Yanhe was broadcast on Maxine. If "The River of Silence" was well broadcast, then "Bias" could borrow the popularity of "The River of Silence".
However, Tom White's bid was higher than his, and "Bias" was snatched away by HP. Now it is deliberately released several days after "River of Silence" - the intention to take advantage of the popularity is clear and obvious.
Zhong Benshuo was very annoyed.
At this time, I saw that Zeng Qiao and Lu Yanhe were still being slandered and defamed by many fans because of some trivial things.
Zhong Benshuo thought about it and came up with an idea. (End of this chapter)
