Chapter 395: Dominating the Spring Festival Film Season: Li Jie's Sincerity

The hometown is no more than 1,000 kilometers away from Beijing.

Although Wei Jin and the others were not in a rush, stopping to play and sightsee along the way, the journey eventually had to come to an end.

After 5 days, Wei Jin and his party returned to Beijing, just in time for the first day of work after the Lunar New Year.

At the same time, the Spring Festival Film Season also drew to a close.

However, the heat of this year's Spring Festival Film Season caught the entire entertainment industry by surprise.

One must know that, as of now, the popularity of the Spring Festival Film Season is not high.

Not to mention comparing it to the biggest hit, the New Year Slot which lasts for one or two months, even the National Day Slot, which is also a holiday, beats the Spring Festival Film Season by several blocks.

After all, during the Lunar New Year, the number of viewers willing to step into a cinema is still very small.

According to statistics, the total box office output of the entire 2011 Spring Festival Film Season was only 380 million.

But this year's Spring Festival Film Season has refreshed the industry's perception, with a cumulative output approaching 700 million in box office.

"Once Again" has been released for 6 days and raked in 308 million at the box office, truly leaving others in the dust! Crucially, the online word-of-mouth is also quite good; over 30,000 people on Yinxiang Net have given it a rating, with a score as high as 7.9.

Although this rating is not considered very high in Wei Jin's script, a score above 7 almost means that the film's subsequent box office is basically stable and will not suddenly collapse.

Based on this data and word-of-mouth, the industry unanimously judges that the final box office for "Once Again" is very likely to exceed 600 million.

Without a doubt, "Once Again" is another blockbuster film that achieved great success with a small investment.

Many industry peers are green with envy; watching Wei Jin make money is even more painful for them than losing money themselves.

For a time, countless copycat projects were launched.

"Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" also performed brilliantly, catching the traffic brought by the holiday; over the 6-day holiday, it reaped 148 million, with a cumulative box office as high as 867 million! Counting the ten-day extension, this film still has 12 days left in its theatrical run, and the hope of breaking 1 billion is quite high.

The two films combined reaped 456 million over the 6-day holiday, directly occupying nearly 70% of the total market box office.

Without a doubt, this year's Spring Festival Film Season, Shanhe Media is the biggest winner, and the other films don't even have the qualifications to drink the soup.

"The Viral Factor," produced by Emperor Motion Pictures, performed extremely poorly even after entering the Spring Festival, reaping a total of 51 million over the 6-day holiday.

It has been released for 12 days so far, with a box office of 110 million, but the daily box office is already less than 5 million.

Looking at this situation, it is feared that this film will have a hard time finishing its one-month theatrical run.

And another film co-produced by Emperor Motion Pictures and Bona, "The Great Magician," also failed to make a splash during the Spring Festival Film Season, reaping a total of 48 million over the 6-day holiday.

As of now, it has been released for 17 days, with a box office of only 151 million, and the daily box office is even only three or four million.

This film had a production cost of 15 million USD, and adding in marketing, the total investment is at least 150 million; at this box office, the producers are definitely suffering a bloody loss.

With two consecutive films suffering huge losses, Emperor Motion Pictures is deeply mired in it; how miserable! Beijing, Yanjiao Villa.

After coaxing Dudu to sleep, Wei Jin tiptoed out of the room and took a bath in the bathroom.

After washing up, Wei Jin wrapped himself in a bathrobe and quickly returned to the bedroom, climbed into bed, and hugged the fragrant beauty to watch TV together; what was playing on the TV at this moment was Nazha's "Eastern Palace."

"Xiao Jin, isn't this drama of yours too tragic? I see many netizens saying they want to send you razor blades."

"Li Jie, the original novel was written to be very tragic; we have already made major adaptations, okay?"

Wei Jin was a bit speechless; when they were at the cinema in his hometown, there were fans on-site "accusing" him, but what does that have to do with him, Wei?

One must know that in female-oriented novels, it is either sweet or it is a knife.

But usually, novels have a lot of sweetness with an occasional knife, but this "Eastern Palace" by Fei Wo Si Cun is different; it is a touch of sweetness amidst a thousand cuts.

Moreover, the original work starts from the perspective of the heroine, describing the people of Danchi as mostly true, good, and beautiful, and even Danchi can be called simple and honest in its folk customs, whereas the people of the Central Plains are arrogant and fond of schemes and tricks.

The purpose is naturally only one: to make the heroine more popular and make the hero appear more black-bellied.

Shanhe Media made quite a few adjustments during the adaptation; the three forces of Xizhou, Danchi, and the Central Plains cannot be called good or evil, just different in their stances.

The hero is also not entirely an ambitious person; his actions are more for the sake of his home, country, and the world.

But no matter how it is adapted, the main tone of this drama cannot be changed, and that is tragic romance.

Whether it is the early stage of killing the heroine's entire family to her face, or the later stage of loving and killing each other, and even the ending of the second male lead Gu Jian being pierced by ten thousand arrows, all uphold the theme of "tragedy."

"However, Li Jie, let me tell you, the audience is just saying one thing while doing another; the more tragic it is, the higher the ratings, hehe."

Wei Jin is not bragging; although "Eastern Palace" had a good start, it was only average, and the ratings hovered around 2%.

But starting from episode 11, when the hero exterminates the heroine's entire clan, the ratings of "Eastern Palace" soared all the way, with peak ratings as high as 3.38% and average ratings maintained at 2.58%.

So, tragic romance or whatever is definitely a magic weapon for ratings.

Wei Jin believes that as the later plot unfolds, the peak ratings of this drama even have the potential to break 4.

More than half an hour passed, the TV series finished playing, and there was a mist in Ceng Li's eyes.

Not because she was moved, but because of Wei Jin's hands, which hadn't stopped for this half hour; how could a sister in her thirties withstand it?

Ceng Li even felt that her self-control was truly strong enough, but at this moment she didn't want to suppress herself anymore, and she bit her red lips to send a signal.

"Xiao Jin, I want..."

"Li Jie, where is your sincerity?"

"Little rascal."

Giving the man a charming look, Ceng Li leaned over, unbuttoned her shirt, and blocked Wei Jin's mouth. After adjusting at home for two days, Wei Jin came to the company.

Not long after arriving at the office, Guo Fan knocked and came in.

"President Wei, the final cut of 'Ex Machina' is out; is it convenient for you to take a look?"

"Sure."

Wei Jin didn't say much, stood up directly, and went with Guo Fan to the small screening room of Shanhe Ink.

After watching the film, which was less than two hours long, how should I put it? It was average.

"As a debut work, to be able to reach this level, it is barely qualified."

Guo Fan was not discouraged upon hearing this; he knew what his level was, and he also believed that he would definitely do better next time.

"Then President Wei, what about the release schedule?"

"Fine, I will go to China Film Group this afternoon."

After sending off Guo Fan, Wei Jin was in no rush to leave; he took a tour around Shanhe Ink to check on the progress of projects currently in post-production, and the feedback he received was quite good.

Regarding films, the post-production of *Gravity* was proceeding entirely according to plan, with all work expected to be completed before August.

Honestly, this efficiency was a bit higher than Wei Jin had anticipated, but since Shanhe Ink had dedicated almost all its equipment to this film, causing them to turn away many potential clients last year, it was quite reasonable.

The special effects for *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons* were nearing their end and would be finished in ten days at most.

However, aside from the special effects, there were still many areas of this film that needed polishing, and Zhou Xingxing would have to arrange his own time for that.

The post-production for that *The Four* film from Fiber had already been completed, but since the year had just begun, the other party had not yet come to conduct the final inspection.

Furthermore, progress on the television drama side was also good. The post-production for *Heart Surgery* was completed before the New Year, and the post-production for *Princess Agents* was currently underway; this series had a total of 60 episodes, so the post-production time was relatively time-consuming, expected to take about another 5 months.

Everything was moving forward in an orderly manner.

Afterward, Wei Jin returned to his office, and after instructing his assistant to brew a cup of tea, he began browsing industry news.

A piece of news caught Wei Jin's attention.

With only about ten days left until the opening ceremony of the Berlin International Film Festival, Wang Quanan's *White Deer Plain* had actually been specially invited to be shortlisted for the Main Competition Section.

One must know, this was different from when *Room* was shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival, which had been at the deadline of the final list; *White Deer Plain* had completely opened up a special channel, and this was the only film announced to be shortlisted this time.

One has to say, big directors really do receive preferential treatment.

It is worth mentioning that as a Berlin regular, Zhang Yimou's *The Flowers of War* was also invited to participate in the screening this time, and the officials could be said to have given him plenty of face.

In addition, Xu Laoguai's *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate* also received an invitation.

In this way, four Huaxia films would appear at this Berlin International Film Festival, and three of the directors were partners of Shanhe Media.

After continuing to browse for a while, Wei Jin found nothing worth noting, and then turned his attention to the invitation letters on his desk.

One of them caught his attention; it was sent by Juli Pictures.

That film, *Special Identity*, was scheduled to hold a press conference in Beijing on February 7th.

Wei Jin was too embarrassed to even complain; given the character and popularity of that guy Yang Zi, I fear there would be very few people going to support this press conference.

Casually tossing it into the trash can, Wei Jin called for his assistant, Huang Mengying.

"From now on, just throw any invitation letters related to Juli Pictures and Yang Zi directly into the trash."

"Very well, boss."

In the afternoon, Wei Jin arrived at China Film Group; in the office, Han Sanping still had his usual look with a crew cut and a Zhongshan suit.

Wei Jin did not stand on ceremony; he sat down on the sofa in a relaxed manner and stated his purpose straight away.

Han Sanping did not act like a stranger either; while handing over the release schedule, he began to bring up the old topic again.

"Wei Jin, when will this year's new film start?"

"No rush, it's coming soon."

Wei Jin sat on the sofa tapping his leg, took the release schedule, and began to flip through it.

Just at the start of the year, there were already many films with set release dates, and quite a few of them were very familiar.

*The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel*, invested in and starred in by Huang Xiaoming, was placed in April, almost overlapping with *The Great Robbery*; I hope Brother Xiaoming will be strong then.

*Killing*, directed by Guan Hu and starring Huang Bai, was placed at the end of April, also aiming for the May Day slot.

"Hmm, Chairman Han, let's place *A Simple Life* at the beginning of March, and *Ex Machina* in the middle of March."

March naturally didn't count as a hot slot, but fortunately, there were no blockbusters crowding it, and besides, the further one went, the more crowded the slots became.

*A Simple Life* won many awards last year, but for this type of art-house film, the box office potential was limited, so there was actually no need to consider the slot too much.

However, Wei Jin didn't care; the copyright for this film had already achieved profitability, so any box office revenue was a gain.

As for *Ex Machina*, with a cost of ten million, Wei Jin didn't count on getting a piece of the pie in a hot slot.

"Let's put *Bottom-Tier Girl* in the National Day slot, and *Gravity* in the New Year slot."

After finishing the release schedule, Wei Jin quickly made his decision and drew a few circles on the sheet.

"Oh? Is there enough time?"

Han Sanping instantly perked up; China Film Group had an investment of over 20%, after all.

"Hmm, no problem."

Although there was still work like dubbing and scoring aside from the post-production special effects, Wei Jin could find time to complete these in advance, and it would not affect the final completion time of the film.

"That's good, this time I'll be counting on you to slaughter the competition overseas, haha."

Since *Passengers*, Wei Jin's films had not been released globally; after a lapse of two years, Han Sanping was looking forward to seeing how much box office it could reap, even though this had nothing to do with China Film Group.

"I hope so."

Wei Jin had expectations for the performance of *Gravity*.

"By the way, Chairman Han, let's set *Pacific Rim* for June 15th; Warner has already confirmed it, and there are no strong competitors in North America for this slot."

"Good, it's about time to let everyone see Huaxia-style mechs, haha."

Han Sanping had high hopes for this film; the hundreds of millions in funds had been tied up for two years.

After finishing the business talk, Wei Jin and Han Sanping started chatting idly.

"Chairman Han, is the matter of the agreement settled?"

On the release schedule just now, the arrangement of Hollywood blockbusters was completely different from the past, and Wei Jin couldn't help but suspect that China Film Group was making preparations in advance.

"Hmm, the negotiations are about to end; it's estimated that it will be announced next month."

When talking about this topic, Han Sanping's tone was a bit heavy.

"Don't spread it outside yet; the specifics are..."

Listening, Wei Jin raised his eyebrows involuntarily.

According to the agreement reached by both sides, Huaxia would further open up the film market, and the number of imported revenue-sharing films would increase by 14 on the basis of the original 20.

The revenue-sharing ratio for Hollywood films would also increase from 13% to 25%.

In addition, the number of imported films entering the domestic market in the form of flat-fee films would also increase significantly.

According to this agreement, Wei Jin can foresee that the domestic film market will be quite lively in the future.

Calculating it out, on average, at least 2-3 Hollywood blockbusters will be released domestically every month, along with countless flat-fee films crowding in.

Domestic films will face the impact of imported Hollywood blockbusters head-on.

Honestly, regarding the content of the agreement, Wei Jin actually feels indifferent.

The film market ultimately still has to rely on the quality of the work to speak for itself, but this news is undoubtedly a heavy blow to those film companies that have been resting on their laurels.

After all, once the audience has more choices, it will be much harder to make easy money off of garbage.

"By the way, can China Film Group participate in the second installment of Detective Dee?"

This sudden change of topic by Han Sanping caught Wei Jin a bit off guard, but after thinking about it, he did not refuse.

The profit margin for this film is not considered too large, so there is absolutely no need to hog all the profits; besides, Enlight Media is already on board, so having one more, China Film Group, would be fine.

"Han Dong, let's chat with Chairman Wang of Enlight Media another day."

"Good."

(End of this chapter)