Chapter 107: Gao Yuanyuan: How should I reward Wei Jin?

With the release of *Time-Space Cohabitation* this time, the cinema chains' scheduling was quite cooperative; after all, it is a work by Wei Jin.

Major cinema chains all provided a screening rate of over 50%, and Wanda Cinema Line even gave 60%; one can only say they are worthy of being allies.

As for the Shanhe Cinema Line under his own banner, it gave an ultra-high screening rate of 70%. It wasn't that he didn't want to go higher, but *Dragon Tiger Gate* was also being released during the same period, and he had to give them some screenings, otherwise, the cinema chain's reputation would be ruined.

That's right, it's that film that broke the news about Zhen Zidan being a "drama bully." I don't know if the producers have something wrong with their brains; such self-exposure has no effect other than making the audience resent the film before it is even released.

If they really wanted to hype it up, it would be better to expose the complex relationship between Xie Feng, Yu Wenle, and Zhang Baizhi; at least the media loves to write about it and the audience loves to watch it.

Faced with such high screening rates from the cinema chains, Wei Jin did not let any party down, and the film's box office performance was quite eye-catching.

On the first day of *Time-Space Cohabitation*'s release, the box office was 18 million; the next day, the box office was 21 million.

Benefiting from the broadcast of *Happy Camp* on Saturday night, the Sunday box office hit a new high, reaching 27 million.

The box office for the first three days of the weekend was 66 million, drawing gasps from industry insiders and the media. One must know that the total cost of the film was only 20 million; even including promotion and distribution, it was at most no more than 30 million. This three-day box office had almost recouped the costs. Is this the influence of Wei Jin?

Compared to the beautiful results of *Time-Space Cohabitation*, the box office of *Dragon Tiger Gate* can only be described as dismal. After three days of release, the box office was less than 5 million; the producers are probably crying in the bathroom.

Monday, Qi Xi Festival. After getting off work in the afternoon, many couples made plans to go out, and the best way to relax after a meal is naturally to watch a movie.

Arriving at the cinema, many audience members were surprised to find that almost all the screenings were for *Time-Space Cohabitation*.

This is also normal; the cinema chains naturally won't do business at a loss. Seeing that the box office and attendance rate of *Dragon Tiger Gate* were very dismal, they naturally shifted the screenings to films with higher attendance rates and better word-of-mouth, which also brought the average screening rate of *Time-Space Cohabitation* to over 65%.

The effect was also significant. According to statistics, on Qi Xi day, the box office of *Time-Space Cohabitation* reached 23 million.

You have to know, this was a workday. Usually, a film's box office on a workday is at least cut in half, but this film stubbornly showed a warming curve. Many cinema chain managers were congratulating themselves on their decisiveness.

Hangzhou, the set of the *Search* crew, had just finished a scene.

Gao Yuanyuan was preparing to head to the nanny van to rest when she saw her assistant, Xiao Zhou, running over with an excited look on her face:

"Yuan Yuanjie, the box office is out, it broke 100 million, it broke 100 million!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Yuanyuan snatched the assistant's phone and looked at the data in the text message, her face full of surprise: "How is it so fast? It's only been released for five days, right? Isn't this faster than *Painted Skin*?"

"It seems so, Yuan Yuanjie. Now you are the female lead of a film with over 100 million at the box office. Looking at it this way, breaking 200 million will also be easy. Let's see who dares to call you a vase in the future."

Xiao Zhou was full of pride. Her own artist was flourishing, and she was rising along with her. She then thought for a moment and added:

"But Director Wei is really good to you. Two films in a row, I don't know how many female stars are envious..."

As an assistant, she naturally knew a lot about the matters between Gao Yuanyuan and Wei Jin, and she also understood Gao Yuanyuan's desire to win Wei Jin's heart. This was a reminder to her to pay attention to her methods and never sour the relationship.

"Mm, I have it in mind..."

Gao Yuanyuan nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this, but in her heart, she was pondering how to reward Wei Jin. There really weren't any tricks left to play, and for a moment, she was actually a bit distressed. As of August 2nd, *Time-Space Cohabitation* had been released for five days, with a cumulative box office of 101 million, officially entering the ranks of commercial films that broke 100 million. This had already surpassed the speed of *Painted Skin*, creating the record for the fastest to break 100 million, causing a shock throughout the circle. Many media and industry insiders were marveling at Wei Jin's dominance in film.

Actually, thinking about it, it is also very normal. Since winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Wei Jin's reputation in the country has reached its peak. Many film fans were looking forward to his new work, and coupled with the poor performance of competitors in the same period, the film's own good word-of-mouth, and the powerful screening support from cinema chains, it is not strange to have this result under the addition of multiple factors. Regarding this, everyone in the company was beaming with joy, looking forward to the film's box office hitting new highs.

Gao Yuanyuan was even more excited, stating on the phone that she would definitely give Wei Jin a special reward after *Search* wrapped up.

However, Wei Jin was a bit worried; the subsequent box office was really hard to say, because *Taken* was about to be released.

On August 4th, the Hollywood action blockbuster *Taken* was released globally, and domestic cinema chains basically all gave it a screening rate of over 50%.

As for why the cinema chains gave such a high screening rate, one has to mention the domestic revenue-sharing standards for imported films.

When foreign films enter the domestic film market, there are usually two forms: one is a buyout film, and the other is a revenue-sharing film.

A buyout film is very simple: a domestic distribution company pays to buy it out, the production side takes the buyout fee and leaves, and the film's final box office results have nothing to do with the production side anymore. It is the same principle as selling the overseas rights of a domestic film.

Imported films are different. Since 1994, the country has introduced 10 overseas revenue-sharing blockbusters every year. After joining the WTO, Huaxia and North America reached an agreement on film imports, increasing the number of imported films to 20, and reaching 50 within 3 years, with 20 of those films adopting the revenue-sharing system.

Under these circumstances, in order to protect the fragile domestic film market from being captured by Hollywood, the Film Bureau adopted a low revenue-sharing model for imported revenue-sharing films, meaning the production side could only get a 13% share of the box office, a ratio far lower than the 43% for domestic films.

The extra portion naturally fell into the hands of China Film Group, which held the distribution rights for imported films. In order to obtain high profits, China Film Group usually vigorously promoted imported revenue-sharing films. The higher the box office, the higher the profit for China Film Group, and they even went so far as to give cinema chains higher rebates, until it later caused panic in the industry, which led to the introduction of the Domestic Film Protection Month.

Under these circumstances, it is no wonder that Zhang Weiping later angrily scolded Han Sanping as "Zuoshandiao."

The high screening rate of *Taken*, coupled with the fact that it was Wei Jin's script and featured the Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, naturally attracted many audience members to enter and enjoy it.

The box office on the day of release reached 13 million, and the box office for the first three days of the weekend reached 54 million. One can only say that in this era, domestic audiences were still full of expectations for Hollywood blockbusters.

However, what surprised Wei Jin a little was that *Time-Space Cohabitation*, which he thought would be affected, actually remained firm under such circumstances, still able to maintain a daily box office of six or seven million, and even break ten million on weekends. For a moment, Wei Jin just felt that he had won big.

As of August 14th, *Time-Space Cohabitation* had been released for 17 days, and the box office had just broken 200 million, but its potential was basically exhausted, with the daily box office already less than 2 million. The industry expected the final box office to land at around 220 million.

However, even so, it had already far exceeded Wei Jin's expectations; he had somewhat underestimated his own influence.

And the news coming from Hong Kong was also quite gratifying; the cumulative box office of *Time-Space Cohabitation* exceeded 34 million. It seems that Wei Jin's reputation is still very loud even in Hong Kong.

Recently, when Gao Yuanyuan called, her gentle-as-water tone and her attitude of being ready for the taking made Wei Jin feel a bit itchy and impatient.

Also worth rejoicing is that *Taken* had been released for ten days, with a domestic box office of 140 million and a global box office reaching 118 million USD.

This film officially established Summit Entertainment's status in Hollywood. One must know that in early August, there were quite a few blockbusters released in North America, among which Paramount had two and Sony had one.

In such intense fighting, *Taken* was still able to carve out a bloody path and grab a global box office of over 100 million USD. For a time, many independent film companies regarded Summit Entertainment as a hero resisting the Hollywood giants.

The new book is on the shelves, I implore all book friends to reward me with a subscription and a collection, thank you all!

The child is sick, it was a bit late today, I hope the readers will forgive me (End of this chapter)