Chapter 245

Ning Hao, that brat, was very smart; he knew who the real big shot was and who could bring heat and influence to the film.

Therefore, when promoting the film, he kept mentioning Cao Yang. Even if the host brought up unrelated topics, he tried his best to steer them toward Cao Yang.

It gave people the feeling that this film was Cao Yang's, and he was just a tool.

Why say this brat was smart?

He actually understood very well that the producer, executive producer, and screenwriter were all Cao Yang. Even if he deliberately blurred Cao Yang's presence, if the film succeeded, everyone would still think it was Cao Yang's credit.

Why would he want to deliberately blur Cao Yang's presence? That would be stupid!

Vigorously promoting Cao Yang's presence had too many benefits.

First, the film's heat would absolutely go up easily.

He saw in the "Cao Yang Bar" that everyone who knew about the film's news was looking forward to its release; they were all very curious about this film filled with "Cao Yang."

This showed that at the current stage, the two words "Cao Yang" were the biggest heat and guarantee in the film and television circle.

If the film sold well, for example, if the box office broke 100 million, no matter what others said, the two words "Ning Hao" would definitely become famous.

Counting everything, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, how many directors had a box office that could break 100 million? Cao Yang, Old Director Zhang, Stephen Chow, and Little Cannon. Even Chen Kaige didn't have a film with over 100 million in box office yet; he would have to wait for "The Promise" to be released.

Second, having hung out with Cao Yang for so long, Ning Hao truly admired Cao Yang's ability, and at the same time, his own vision had improved quite a bit.

Cheng Cheng Jianye could be a producer in Hollywood, and Gu Gu Changwei could win an Oscar for Best Cinematography; how was I, Ning Hao, any worse than them?

He was currently reading for Old Tian's postgraduate degree, and his relationship with Cao Yang was no worse than Cheng Cheng Jianye's or Old Gu's. Everyone was on the same team, and he believed his "little junior uncle" would definitely not forget him.

Otherwise, how could there be "Crazy Stone"?

Therefore, he truly had no resentment about "Crazy Stone" being labeled with Cao Yang's name; instead, he thought he had taken advantage of the situation.

Otherwise, how could "Crazy Stone," with an investment of over 20 million including promotion and distribution, have fallen on the head of someone like him who had "flopped" with two films?

Ning Hao was very clear-headed.

Don't look at how Cao Yang and Old Old Mouzi had pushed the box office ceiling to the level of 200 or 300 million at the current stage; the reality was that domestic directors whose box office could exceed 10 million were already in the ranks of "famous directors."

Otherwise, why would Lu Chuan's "The Missing Gun," with a 9 million box office, be crazily praised by various media and eagerly pursued by private capital that had just emerged in the film and television circle?

It was because at the current stage, there were too few directors in the country who could sell box office; they were simply as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

To be honest, apart from those few big directors, no other director in the country could afford an investment of over 20 million.

With an investment of over 20 million, if there wasn't a box office of over 60 million, it would definitely be a loss—this was just counting the box office.

Of course, if you weren't a big director, selling overseas copyrights wasn't an easy thing either.

If you asked if Ning Hao was under pressure, he certainly was a little, but not much.

Relying on Cao Yang's name, plus those big stars in "Crazy Stone," to put it bluntly, even if it was filmed as a pile of shit, it could still sell 20 or 30 million in domestic box office.

Overseas, it could easily sell a few million USD in copyrights, so the probability of losing money was very small.

Compared to the original version, this version of "Crazy Stone" had quite a few changes in actors.

Duan Duan Yihong was the male lead, that is, the security section chief Bao Bao Shihong in the film.

Ning Hao also didn't expect that Duan Duan Yihong, who had only become slightly popular because of "Nine-Tailed Fox," would become an international star in the blink of an eye because of the big hit "District 9."

This was a major highlight of "Crazy Stone."

Bao Bao Shihong's wife didn't have much screen time, but it was a cameo by Li Li Xiaoran.

The role of Dao Ge's girlfriend was a cameo by Pang Bing.

Don't think that Pang Bing's popularity had declined because she was "banned" by Huayi; Ning Hao had already received news from Cao Yang that as soon as this news came out, it was guaranteed that Pang Bing would leap to become the biggest heat.

And the role of the master thief Mike was a cameo by Wu Wu Qihua.

You have to know that Wu Wu Qihua had also relied on "District 9," and his asking price was now up to 3 million USD, surpassing the Four Heavenly Kings and Liang Liang Chaowei.

Ning Hao also knew another piece of news: after it was announced in a few days, Wu Wu Qihua's popularity would rise even further.

With Cao Yang's project and the current cast, as the director, Ning Hao really couldn't think of how this film could lose.

You have to know that at the screening held at the Beijing Film Academy a while ago, from the start of the film to the end, the smiles on everyone's faces hadn't stopped, and Han Zong and the theater chain people had all praised him highly.

The theater chain people even patted their chests and guaranteed that the screening would definitely not let Han Zong, Director Cao, and Director Ning down.

July 15th was a Friday. An investment of over 20 million could be considered a big production in the country, so the film's premiere definitely wouldn't be shabby; it was chosen to be held at the Beijing Theater.

This film was also jointly invested by Cao Yang's studio, China Film Group, and the Youth Film Studio. Han Zong and some directors and leaders from the Beijing Film Academy all came.

Knowing that Cao Yang would definitely attend the premiere, many stars and media came to show their support.

The premiere didn't have any fancy tricks; it just followed the traditional set of procedures, and finally, they watched the film. The situation was about the same as expected; from not long after the film started, the laughter hadn't stopped, and until the film ended, the whole process could be considered to have no "urination points" (boring parts).

Seeing the reaction of the audience and media on the scene, Ning Hao breathed a sigh of relief.

After the premiere, Han Zong found Cao Yang. He actually wasn't as calm as he appeared on the surface; he still had some worries about "Crazy Stone."

This worry came from the imported blockbuster "Mr. & Mrs. Shi Misi," which was released last Friday.

"Mr. & Mrs. Shi Misi" was a blockbuster starring Hollywood big stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. These two had high popularity and box office appeal globally.

Especially Pitt; he was already a member of the 20-million-dollar club, and his influence was great.

Although Jolie wasn't in the 20-million-dollar club yet, she was one of the few Hollywood actresses who could carry box office.

Plus, the two had been constantly rumored to be in a relationship since last year. Although they denied it at the time, in April of this year, Pitt's extramarital affair with Jolie was confirmed, leading to his divorce from America's "sweetheart" Aniston.

If this kind of thing happened in the future China, the film would just wait to be boycotted, and the people might also be listed as disgraced artists.

But unfortunately, the two were Americans, and their moral values were different from those in the country.

It was precisely because of such news that it boosted the heat of this film, which was better than spending tens of millions in promotion fees.

!

After it was released in the US on June 10th, it achieved a box office of over 50 million USD in the first three days of the opening weekend.

Currently, the North American box office was over 180 million USD. For an action film to achieve this result, it could be considered a big hit.

Not only that, this film had been released in the country for a week, and the box office had reached over 20 million, nearly 30 million; it was currently at the height of its popularity.

Of course, there was another important reason for Han Zong's worry: "Mr. & Mrs. Shi Misi" wasn't introduced by China Film Group, but by China's second institution with the right to distribute imported films nationwide, China Film Distribution Co., Ltd.

This was what made Han Zong the most uneasy.

Before 2003, China Film Group was the only company that possessed the right to distribute imported films nationwide.

And China Film Distribution Co., Ltd. was established on August 8, 2003, by 19 state-owned film units with strength in the country participating in investment.

Although China Film Group was also one of these 19, China Film Distribution Co., Ltd. wasn't under the management of China Film Group; they had a bigger backer called the Publicity Department of the CPC.

The establishment of Huaying was to break China Film Group's monopoly on imported blockbusters. From this, the distribution of imported films shifted from a single subject to a "China Film Group + Huaying" dual-track system, forming a direct competitive relationship.

Therefore, Han Zong was both worried and looking forward to "Crazy Stone."

Han Zong was still very happy to strike a blow at Huaying.

"Junior brother, how about we announce the news of Wu Wu Qihua and Pang Bing joining 'Inception' tomorrow to add some heat to 'Crazy Stone'?"

If this were a film directed by Cao Yang himself, he definitely wouldn't be worried at all, and he might even advise Cao Yang to adjust the schedule forward to bump into "Mr. & Mrs. Shi Misi."

But the key was that this wasn't directed by that brat Ning Hao.

"Senior brother, I remember it was you who suggested earlier that we should announce the news of Wu Wu Qihua and Pang Bing joining two weeks later to create heat for 'Crazy Stone,' which might have a weakening box office."

Cao Yang glanced at Old Han, a bit confused as to why he had changed his mind.

"Sigh, isn't Xu Ke's 'Seven Swords' going to be released two weeks later? That film claims an investment of 140 million HKD and took three years to build. I'm afraid it will cause too much impact on our film, so I thought about announcing it two weeks later."

Although due to Cao Yang's appearance, the General Administration wasn't as superstitious about directors from Hong Kong and Taiwan, Ning Hao wasn't Cao Yang, and that was Tsui Hark; he had no reason not to worry.

"Is 'Seven Swords' being released on the 29th?"

Cao Yang had only heard that "Seven Swords" would be released during the summer vacation, but he didn't know the specific date.

"Yes." Han Zong nodded. Before, he had only considered "Seven Swords," but who knew he would be backstabbed by Huaying; the box office of "Mr. & Mrs. Shi Misi" was a bit high.

Cao Yang smiled. Senior brother, you have underestimated the ability of comedy films a bit.

"Senior brother, you can just handle it; it's fine to announce it whenever."

Cao Yang counted with his fingers:

"There are some meetings to attend at the Olympic Organizing Committee, the preparation progress of 'Inception' needs to be followed up, the CG of 'Black Swan' is almost finished, I still need to edit it in, my postgraduate degree is about to graduate, I need to prepare my thesis..."

Han Zong felt his head spinning and waved his hand, "Fine, I'll discuss it with Xie Xie Xiaojing and Ning Hao."

"Senior brother, you don't need to worry too much; wait for the word-of-mouth and seat occupancy rate of 'Crazy Stone' before deciding."

Cao Yang comforted him.

Han Zong sighed in his heart. He believed in Cao Yang, but he didn't believe in Ning Hao; he was really afraid of being rubbed on the ground by "Mr. & Mrs. Shi Misi."

He wasn't afraid that the box office of "Crazy Stone" wouldn't be ideal; he was afraid of being suppressed by Huaying!

For him, this matter was much more important than the box office.

(End of chapter)