Chapter 404: Vanguard: Director Han Sanping's Grand Gift

The news from the Berlin International Film Festival hadn't even been out for two days before the industry was shaken once again.

The latest China-US film import agreement appeared on the official website of the General Administration in the form of an official red-headed document.

Although there had been psychological preparation beforehand, now that the stone had finally dropped, the entire domestic film industry felt as if cold water had been poured into hot oil, instantly boiling over.

Large companies were fine; they had their own channels and received the news early. It was mainly the small production companies that were wailing in despair.

Voices of opposition, complaints, and curses were endless.

There were voices of support, but they belonged to a very small minority.

Contrary to the pessimistic and negative mood of most film companies, the cinema chains were all beaming with joy.

After all, for the cinema chains, the more imported blockbusters, the better. In the words of Zhang Weiping, it was "sitting there and splitting the money"—it was a business that only earned and never lost!

As expected, the General Administration held a meeting the very next day.

Wei Jin, Xu Laoguai, Wu Ershan, and others went to the General Administration.

A group of industry experts and leaders explained the latest policies to the big shots of the film and television circle.

Perhaps the voices of doom from the outside were truly too loud, and the General Administration hoped to boost morale.

The attending experts stood on the stage, passionately describing the current state of development in the domestic film industry.

"Last year, the total domestic film box office exceeded 16 billion, a year-on-year increase of nearly 30 percent, with domestic film box office approaching 10 billion yuan, accounting for 62.38% of the total annual box office."

"In just half a year, three films with box office receipts exceeding 1 billion—Thieves, Mojin: The Lost Legend, and Flying Swords of Dragon Gate—were born in succession, even reclaiming the box office record previously held by Avatar."

"Facing the new situation, everyone must respond actively. The domestic film industry has the strength to fight. I hope the companies and directors present will continue to produce high-quality content and strive for cross-border, cross-industry globalization and a full industrial chain."

This was Wu Ershan's first time attending such a meeting; in the past, he hadn't been qualified to attend meetings of such top industry big shots.

The heads of state-owned enterprises like China Film Group, Shanghai Film Group, and Western Film Group, as well as the top brass of industry giants like Shanhe Media, Huayi, Bona, Enlight Media, and Starlight, were all present.

Looking at the big shots sitting in the front row, not to mention the big shots from the Film Bureau and those from the propaganda department.

Wu Ershan, a Mongolian man, forced out the smile of a delicate scholar from the south.

He acted quite seriously, holding a notebook and occasionally recording the key points explained by the leaders.

It was just that he found he couldn't quite keep up with the rhythm, so he turned his head to look at the person sitting next to him.

To his left was Xu Laoguai. After a glance, Wu Ershan was almost stunned.

Xu Laoguai sat straight as a bamboo pole, his hands shielding his notebook, scribbling rapidly.

But upon closer inspection, Xu Laoguai was actually drawing, and damn it, he was drawing a turtle.

And you have to say, it was vivid and lifelike; his artistic foundation was quite profound.

Wu Ershan felt his brain go into a mess for a moment, so when his name was called, he stuttered and stumbled.

However, the leaders didn't mind; instead, they took him for an artist with a unique personality, and the applause was quite loud.

Then it was Xu Laoguai's turn. He was slightly better, after all, he had seen big scenes before.

Immediately following was Wei Jin. He had attended such meetings more than once and had rich experience in dealing with them. This time, as a director and producer, he took the stage to share his experience and insights from managing three billion-yuan films.

Afterwards, a certain high-ranking leader took the stage to summarize and say a few simple words.

An hour and a half later, the mobilization meeting ended.

Most production companies and some directors left first, but Wei Jin, Xu Laoguai, and Wu Ershan could not leave yet; staff members had greeted them midway through the meeting, and they were kept behind.

Looking around, those who stayed were all famous directors and the largest companies in the industry, and Wei Jin had a guess in his heart.

However, seeing that Lu Chuan was also there made him feel a bit disgusted.

After the people in the venue had left one after another, Director Tong took the podium.

"Everyone, you should understand the meeting just now..."

"Hehe."

As soon as Director Tong said this, some people at the scene laughed.

Everyone did indeed understand; it was just for show, to let the leaders see a side of high morale.

Director Tong didn't mind, taking it as a way to liven up the atmosphere, but then his expression turned serious.

"Those who stayed here are all large companies in the industry or famous directors, the pillars of the industry. I won't give you any empty talk; this time, the wolf is really coming!"

Looking at the solemn faces of the crowd below, Director Tong nodded with satisfaction. If this group of people didn't have a clear understanding, then it would be over.

"So everyone, the situation is not optimistic. Director Wei Jin, Director Xu Ke, Director Wu Ershan, Director Chen Kaige, and Director Feng Xiaogang have films to be released this year. I hope you will not avoid this, but act as the vanguard and set an example for the industry!"

Hearing this, the ones who were named, except for Wei Jin, all had unpleasant expressions.

No one present was a fool. Director Tong's meaning was very clear: as soon as their films were scheduled, at least one imported film would be arranged as an opponent, and perhaps even two.

After all, these were the best-selling directors present. If all these people ran away, the whole industry would truly lose its spirit.

"Director Wei Jin, you are the box office record holder. Will you state your position first?"

Seeing the silence in the room, Director Tong called him out directly.

And Wei Jin didn't mince words; he stood up directly to state his position.

"Director Tong, I can't guarantee anything else, but my works, or rather the works controlled by Shanhe Media, only look at the schedule, not the opponent. Changing dates or fleeing the schedule will never happen!"

"Good! That's the spirit I wanted!"

Director Tong slapped his thigh and stood up, shouting. Then he looked at the others. Except for the few directors who had already signed with Shanhe Media, the rest kept their heads down, clearly unwilling to be cannon fodder.

The meeting ended, and everyone dispersed one after another. Many people began to sigh, including Xu Laoguai and Wu Ershan, who were no exception.

"Alright, do you think it's over just because you didn't state your position? If you flee once, the General Administration will have it noted down..."

Wei Jin's move just now wasn't just posturing. Imported films didn't have much promotion and could drop in at any time. Whether you liked it or not, the General Administration had already given the heads-up.

Avoiding it was impossible, and besides, Wei Jin never intended to avoid it.

Wu Ershan and Xu Laoguai clearly understood this problem too, and they nodded.

"Then, President Wei, shall we go together?"

"No, I still have something to do. You guys go ahead."

After dismissing the two, Wei Jin headed straight toward Director Tong's office.

He knocked on the door, and only after a "Come in" sounded from inside did Wei Jin push the door open and enter.

Director Tong was brewing tea; looking at Wei Jin, he was somewhat surprised: "Why haven't you left? Is something the matter?"

Wei Jin smiled and replied, "Director Tong, there is something I need your help with."

Director Tong was truly a leader; he reacted instantly.

"Is it about the script? Are you unsure about it, or is the content too risqué?"

"Yes, the script is a bit risqué, so I was hoping you could help me vet it."

"Alright, sit down first and tell me about it."

After spending an hour in Director Tong's office, Wei Jin left satisfied, but on the way, he received a call from Han Sanping and instructed Lao Zhu to head straight to China Film Group. The traffic in Beijing was truly worrying; by the time they reached China Film Group, it was almost mealtime.

Han Sanping was in no rush to talk business and directly invited Wei Jin to eat at China Film Group's small canteen.

Regarding this, Wei Jin naturally complied with respect; one had to know that this was a small canteen opened specifically for leaders, and the food was genuinely good.

After the meal, Han Sanping brought up the real business.

"Wei Jin, this is what I'm thinking: in the past, it was always you, kid, yielding profits to China Film Group. We've been cooperating for so long, and in fact, there are many ways to cooperate. The simplest would be project swaps or import film quotas. What do you think?"

Han Sanping's tone was very sincere. Over these years, China Film Group had made quite a bit of money following Shanhe Media, but there were some projects he was clearly optimistic about that he couldn't bring himself to push for due to investment costs, which made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Furthermore, constantly "fleecing" Wei Jin and "lying down to win" made Han Sanping feel embarrassed, so he proposed a new way to deepen their cooperation.

Regarding Han Sanping's proposal, Wei Jin felt somewhat moved.

Setting aside project swaps—after all, apart from himself, no one could say for sure whether a film would be profitable—the import film quotas were truly just handing money to Wei Jin.

Speaking of quotas, they were actually considered a gray area in the film industry.

The import rights for foreign films were held exclusively by China Film Group.

And the distribution of foreign films domestically was controlled by two companies: China Film Group and China Film.

Import films were divided into Revenue-sharing Films and Flat-fee Films, but most of the time, these two groups were too busy with Revenue-sharing Films to handle them, let alone the more numerous Flat-fee Films.

Therefore, the usual choice was to transfer some Flat-fee Film quotas to private distribution companies for a fee.

However, due to policy restrictions, the nominal explanation was that private film companies were assisting the two state-owned enterprises in undertaking the distribution of Flat-fee Films.

Private film companies only needed to pay a "paid" fee—that is, about 25% of the domestic box office of the Flat-fee Film—to distribute overseas films without any risk. The key was that this portion of the distribution fee could be set quite high.

Calculating it out, many of Summit Entertainment's film projects could obtain Flat-fee Film quotas through this method, with almost zero cost.

However, with the introduction of new agreements, the value of quotas was also decreasing; after all, there were too many import films.

But without a doubt, this was still a generous gift.

"Thank you for your kindness, Han Dong. If I have a need for quotas, I will speak up. As for project swaps, the company will have several projects starting soon; shall we discuss it then?"

To tell the truth, Wei Jin didn't think much of China Film Group's projects because Han Sanping was too fond of blockbusters, and currently, there were very few blockbusters in the country that could actually make money.

"Don't wait until then. Take a look at this first and see if anything interests you."

Han Sanping signaled his secretary, who handed over several stapled A4 sheets.

"Uh..."

Seeing that Han Sanping was so well-prepared, Wei Jin could only shake his head and take the papers to browse through them.

*So Young*, *The Monkey King*, *Switch*, *Monkey King: Hero is Back*, *The Crossing*... The A4 paper was only 5 pages long, containing plot summaries for over a dozen films, along with directors, producers, and even production crews and cast lineups.

Among these films, except for the animated film *Monkey King: Hero is Back*, the rest already had lead investors.

However, Wei Jin's gaze was fixed tightly on this animated film.

In his past life, he hadn't seen this film and didn't know the production team, so even though he knew the film's box office was a huge success, he had no way to intercept it.

But he truly hadn't expected to encounter this film under these circumstances.

Wasn't this just like meeting a pillow when you're sleepy?

Seeing that Wei Jin seemed interested, Han Sanping nodded, the corners of his mouth lifting: "Wei Jin, these films were all carefully selected by me. If you're interested, you might as well pick a few more."

Han Sanping said this with great magnanimity, but in reality, almost all these films had lead investors, and the share available for participation was not much.

However, Wei Jin really had to eat this "pie" offered by Han Sanping. Putting down the papers in his hand and pondering for a moment, he spoke slowly.

"Han Dong, for Shanhe Media's subsequent projects, whichever one you take a fancy to, you can invest a 30% share. As a swap, I want to take the lead control of *Monkey King: Hero is Back*!"

As soon as Wei Jin finished speaking, Han Sanping's eyes lit up, and he beamed as he immediately gave the go-ahead.

"Good, it's a deal!"

Having settled this matter, both Wei Jin and Han Sanping were in high spirits. Neither was in a hurry, so they took advantage of the lunch break to chat.

"I haven't congratulated you yet; you're about to make a fortune again, right?"

Han Sanping's words were a bit sour, but Wei Jin knew what he was jealous of.

A few days ago, *Happy Death Day 2* was released in North America.

With the backing of the previous installment, theaters were generally optimistic about this low-budget horror film, and the number of opening screens was quite considerable.

So much so that the film's box office performance exceeded expectations, raking in 9.1 million USD on the first day and a staggering 34.2 million USD over the first three-day weekend—it could be called a miracle!

Summit Entertainment predicted that this film's box office might even surpass the first one.

Although the cost of this second installment had soared to 8 million, judging by these results, it was definitely a huge profit.

"Heh, shareholder dividends, just a little pocket money, not worth mentioning."

Seeing that Wei Jin didn't want to talk much about it, Han Sanping changed the subject.

"By the way, you went to see Director Tong earlier, right? What did you talk about? A new project?"

"Yes, I have a script that's halfway polished, but there are some parts I'm not sure about, so I asked Director Tong for some guidance."

Wei Jin didn't hide it and recounted the situation of the script.

Even if this project passed censorship, China Film Group was indispensable.

To be honest, with the way Shanhe Media had developed to this day, whether China Film Group participated in a project didn't actually make much of a difference; after all, whether it was theater scheduling or promotion and distribution, the assistance China Film Group could provide wasn't that significant.

But now that the new agreement has landed, some things have become very subtle.

According to the General Administration, the films of major directors will all be assigned opponents.

But who is this opponent? When will this opponent appear? There is some room for maneuvering in this.

And China Film Group, which controls the distribution of imported films, happens to have the power to stir up this chessboard.

Therefore, for the company's future blockbusters, China Film Group is an absolutely indispensable link! After hearing the script outline, Han Sanping wore a playful expression.

"You kid, you really have given Director Tong a huge problem."

Wei Jin's script involves money-power deals, power, and coercion, somewhat exposing social class contradictions; the scale is too big! "Hehe, Han Dong, times are different now. Since we have to deal with foreign enemies, we can't tie our own hands and feet, right?"

"That is true."

Han Sanping nodded, "What did Director Tong say on that side?"

"In principle, there is no problem, but the ending must be positive."

"It seems Director Tong is under quite a bit of pressure too. By the way, how much is the investment this time?"

Looking at Han Sanping's bright and piercing gaze, Wei Jin smiled.

"Han Dong, the script hasn't even passed censorship yet. Rest assured, China Film Group won't be left out."

"Good, I'll wait for your news, haha."

(End of this chapter)