Chapter 229: Shocking News

Before everyone stepped onto the plane back to the country, Han Zong quietly pulled Cao Yang aside and said excitedly: "Junior Brother, after the plane lands in Jingcheng, there will be a small press conference, and CCTV will also have reporters interviewing; be prepared."

"Hold a press conference at the airport?"

Cao Yang asked with some confusion. Is the airport willing? Don't cause a riot when the time comes.

Under normal circumstances, it is very common to notify some familiar reporters in advance for photos and short interviews at the airport, but a press conference?

Senior Brother, are you serious?

"'District 9' broke the domestic box office record, sold well globally, and achieved a breakthrough achievement at the Oscars. This film is a co-production, and you are the director; it can be considered a new path and new model explored for Chinese cinema.

The higher-ups attach great importance to this. Holding a press conference with the airport as the background, CCTV will film it, and it is estimated that some footage will be intercepted and put on the evening news, which can be considered a welcome and emphasis on your triumphant return."

A press conference and CCTV filming as soon as you get off the plane, this treatment... is almost catching up to the visits of officials from some important countries; it is estimated that it is just missing a red carpet and leaders meeting the plane.

Cao Yang then thought that it was already '05, and there were only a few years left until the '08 Olympics; these few years are exactly when the country wants to show its international influence.

A native-born Chinese director, also from a red-and-expert background, the films he has filmed have never had the domestic "scar" series.

And the latest film is a sci-fi film that is considered "high-end" in the eyes of the public, and it broke the box office record that had been pressed on the heads of foreign films for many years.

The key is that he also won the Oscar for Best Director, becoming a big director with global influence, and the films he filmed sold well globally. Is there any better publicity than this?

It can be considered catching up to a good time.

That's why there is this series of super-standard treatments.

"Not just because of 'District 9', right?"

Cao Yang's heart moved. If it were only because of winning the Oscar for Best Director for "District 9," perhaps there would be a CCTV interview, but a press conference at the airport would not be necessary.

"Smart."

Han Zong praised him. He smiled very happily. At that time, not only would Cao Yang appear on camera, but he would certainly also have interviews and appearances. How could he not be excited?

As the actual helmsman of China Film Group, Han Zong certainly appears on camera and accepts interviews frequently, but there is a very big difference between appearances and appearances.

Don't think it's convoluted; appearances also depend on where you appear, on what platform it is broadcast, and whose ears it reached when it was uploaded...

"Junior Brother, a consensus has been reached with Columbia; 'Inception' will publicly announce a budget of 182 million USD, which is 1.5 billion RMB at the current exchange rate. The news will be released at the press conference."

"Not holding a press conference specifically for 'Inception'?"

Cao Yang thought Han Zong would hold a press conference specifically after returning to the country.

Even if calculated at the actual budget of 160 million USD, it is over 1.3 billion when converted. Such an investment budget scale is absolutely unprecedented in the country, and it is also something people of this era dare not imagine.

Money is still very, very valuable now.

This investment scale is almost equal to the total national film box office in '04, and more than the total annual domestic box office before '04.

The total national film box office in '00 was 860 million.

The total national film box office in '01 was 890 million.

The total national film box office in '02 was 950 million.

The total national film box office in '03 was 1.07 billion.

To put it exaggeratedly, the investment scale of this kind of film has an influence no less than dropping a "Fat Man" on Japan.

Han Zong waved his hand and said with a smile: "You don't understand. Holding a press conference specifically, how can it have more shock and influence than announcing it when returning with honors? One plus one is sometimes much greater than two."

Alright, as long as you are happy.

Arriving at Jingcheng Airport, everyone was notified by the flight crew not to leave first. After other passengers had all gone down, everyone was led off the plane.

Then, Cao Yang took back his previous words. There was indeed no red carpet, but when shaking hands with the people welcoming them, the person next to him introduced that there were big leaders from the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and the Film Bureau, and a big leader in charge of the cultural sector in Jingcheng.

Hou Keming, who is in charge of the work at Beijing Film Academy, also came, but his standing position was very far back, and it was his turn to shake hands with Cao Yang last.

"Very good, Beijing Film Academy is proud of you."

Old Hou didn't say much on such an occasion, just patted Cao Yang's hand and said this sentence.

Cao Yang looked up and saw people with CCTV logos setting up cameras and filming not far away. There were nearly dozens of reporters waiting on the side. No reporters were arguing or shouting for news; everything was stable and not chaotic.

The formation is indeed big enough.

After finishing the welcome process, several big leaders gave up their positions, and the next step was the formal interview.

First, the CCTV reporter came out from the crowd and said:

"Congratulations to Cao Dao for winning the Oscar for Best Director, and congratulations to 'District 9' for breaking the domestic box office record and selling 468 million USD globally. This is a very remarkable achievement."

"Thank you."

"May I ask Cao Dao, as a director with global influence, what is your view on the current development trend of domestic films?"

This topic is a bit broad. It looks easy to answer, but due to his own influence, it is not easy to answer formulaically; it must have some substance.

Cao Yang thought for a while and said a few points simply.

"The development of domestic films is generally good, and the market potential is huge.

In '04, more than 200 films were filmed, 50% more than in '03, and the box office also exceeded 50%. This is a good phenomenon. With policy-driven market transformation, there will be more and more films in the future, and the box office will also be higher and higher.

Of course, besides opportunities, there are also challenges and problems.

In the future period, imported revenue-sharing blockbusters will grab market share, so everyone should be mentally prepared; this is only temporary.

After all, we have just started, and this point cannot be compared with Hollywood, which has a mature system, but it will get better slowly, and the rise of Chinese-language films is only a matter of time.

At the current stage, there is also the problem of regional imbalance; the box office is concentrated in big cities, and cinema construction in third- and fourth-tier cities is lagging behind. This is a problem to be solved."

Other reporters asked a few formulaic questions, and then it was the CCTV reporter's turn to ask: "Cao Dao, regarding the next creation, do you have any plans or ideas? Can you talk about it?"

Here it comes.

"I have two projects to do in the next year.

One is an art-house film. Everyone knows I am an art-house director. If I have a good idea, I will certainly film it as much as possible, so as not to only film experimental films and get rusty."

After saying this, the reporters below and the CCTV reporter all smiled politely. "The other project is still a co-production. China Film Group, Qingying Studio, and Columbia are collaborating again, preparing to create a super sci-fi blockbuster."

Cao Yang looked around and found that the reporters below were looking at him with some expectation, and there was not much surprise. It seemed that they didn't know the inside story.

"This film is called 'Inception', budget... 1.5 billion!"

With a "boom," the scene that was stable and not chaotic just now instantly became a vegetable market.

One reporter after another scrambled to hand over their microphones, shouting things Cao Yang couldn't hear clearly.

The CCTV reporter was also stunned for a moment, then followed and shouted. As for what was said, Cao Yang couldn't hear clearly either.

Let alone the reporters, except for a very few leaders who knew the inside story in advance, everyone else was also completely confused, and some even suspected they had heard wrong.

Fortunately, this was a press conference organized by officials. Under the instructions of the leaders, the confused staff reacted first and hurriedly maintained order.

Otherwise, I don't know how long this noisy scene would last.

The staff took nearly five minutes to calm the scene down.

!

Under the covetous and expectant gazes of other peers, the CCTV reporter asked again: "Cao Dao, you just said that this new film called 'Inception' is investing 1.5 billion?"

"Yes, we have already made all the budgets, it will take about 182 million USD, which is 1.5 billion RMB. For specific information, you can interview the film's producer, Han Zong of China Film Group."

Cao Yang stepped back and pushed Han Zong out.

It was obvious that Han Zong enjoyed such a "stage."

Cao Yang watched him accept interviews from reporters eloquently, with great passion, and from time to time he would accompany it with gestures, as if describing a beautiful future.

"Cao Dao, can you tell me what the true budget of this film is?"

A big leader from the Film Bureau asked in a low voice.

As an insider, he knew very well that there was still some gap between the publicly announced budget and the actual budget; everyone does this, it just depends on how much "water" is in the middle.

He had even seen films with an investment of over 10 million publicly claiming over 30 million, directly doubling it more than twice.

Actually, with his status, he shouldn't have asked these, but this film investment was too shocking—no, it was too scary, and even he couldn't resist his curiosity.

Cao Yang didn't hide it from him either and said directly: "160 million USD, 1.32 billion RMB; if it's not enough, we will add more."

Due to Leonardo's joining, even if it is said to be a cameo, the global attention brought to the film will certainly increase a lot.

Therefore, Columbia said that depending on the situation, the publicity budget might be added.

The leader of the Film Bureau opened his mouth and didn't know what to say for a moment; he was really a bit scared.

1.3 billion and 1.5 billion look like a difference of 200 million, which seems like a lot, but on such a large base, it doesn't seem like an intentional exaggeration of the investment budget.

After a long while, the leader of the Film Bureau smacked his lips, patted Cao Yang's arm, and muttered in a low voice: "Very good, not bad..."

Actually, the minds of the reporters at the scene were long gone; with such earth-shattering news, they all wanted to go back quickly and hurry to publish it.

A press conference that was originally expected to last forty minutes lasted thirty minutes. Han Zong saw that everyone's minds were not here, so he simply ended the press conference early.

On the way back for the group, news had already started to appear on the internet; now everyone is competing for timeliness.

Sina Entertainment: "Shocking news, Cao Dao Yang's new film 'Inception', investing 1.5 billion RMB, preparing to create a sci-fi blockbuster beyond imagination..."

At that time, the three major portal websites were open for comments on news, and there were not many restrictions. Some hot news even had tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of comments, which is incomparable and unimaginable later.

Sina also specially gave this news more pushes; as long as you open the portal website, what catches your eyes is this news.

Therefore, after this news was released, the comments below increased rapidly.

"Idiot editor, you only know how to attract attention every day, and you don't check carefully. You probably forgot a decimal point; it should be an investment budget of 150 million, right?"

"Laugh to death, an investment of 150 million, and you still say you are creating a sci-fi blockbuster beyond imagination. The editor is really ignorant. Cao Yang's previous 'District 9' invested over 500 million, nearly 600 million; that is a sci-fi blockbuster."

"The person upstairs makes sense. I guess the editor probably got it wrong and wrote an extra 1; it should be an investment of 500 million. For a big director like Cao Yang, who also won the Oscar for Best Director, how could a sci-fi film only invest 150 million."

"The person upstairs makes sense; I guess it should also be an investment of 500 million."

"Everyone, I would like to say weakly, go check Sohu and NetEase; there are related news, all saying an investment of 1.5 billion. Different websites shouldn't make the same mistake, right? But, 1.5 billion? I always feel it's a bit fake."

"Go check People's Daily Online and Xinhua Net, which just went online last year; those are official media, and they also reported this news... In short, I still can't believe it."

One stone stirred up a thousand waves. At first, everyone doubted the accuracy of the news.

However, authoritative official media such as People's Daily Online, hosted by People's Daily, and Xinhua Net, hosted by Xinhua News Agency, all reported this news at the first time, and all said an investment of 1.5 billion, so it was impossible for everyone not to believe it.

But that is 1.5 billion!

In '04, the average housing price in Jingcheng was only over 4,000, and the average monthly salary in Jingcheng was only 2,362 yuan.

Does a film need 1.5 billion to film?

Many people have disputes about this; 1.5 billion is too much, a bit beyond imagination.

Then, someone popularized science under the news.

"1.5 billion looks like a lot, but converted into USD, it's only a little over 180 million USD.

You might not have an accurate positioning of Cao Yang's status in Hollywood. Let's put it this way, saying he is one of the top five directors in Hollywood might be controversial, but he is definitely in the top ten.

Hollywood films with an investment of over 150 million USD are definitely super-productions, but there are a few every year. For a director in the top ten to prepare a film with an investment budget of 180 million USD, this looks normal."

Slowly, everyone started to accept it, and everyone was itching, super expectant of this kind of film with an "against-the-sky" investment.

As long as people knew this news, no one was not expectant. This film can be considered hot before it was even filmed.

Then, in the film and television circle, a piece of news that was super shocking to actors spread out: "Inception" needs two Chinese actors, and the screen time is very heavy.

For a time, actors with slightly more connections showed their magical powers, anxiously starting to inquire about what kind of actors Cao Dao needs.

There is a feeling that whatever kind of actor Cao Dao needs, I am that kind of actor.

Whatever Cao Dao needs, I have...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 230 =====