Chapter 338: Movie Breaks Records, Xiangjiang Property, Financing Begins

In Shenzhen, when Ning Hao came for a roadshow of The Crazy Race, Seeing Yan Li made a special trip to meet him.

"Director Ning, Great Director Ning, you've really made a name for yourself this time."

Seeing Yan Li happily wrapped his arm around Ning Hao; The Crazy Race broke 100 million in five days and 200 million in eleven, crushing Red Cliff: Part II, and was likely to become the second 300-million-plus film after Not One Less in the New Year's slot.

Hua Yi had barely basked in its moment of triumph when Yi An caught up again.

With The Crazy Race's massive success, director Ning Hao naturally rose in stature.

No, saying he rose with the tide is too modest—Ning Hao became a god in one battle.

Nowadays, domestic films breaking 100 million aren't that rare, but many are directed by Hong Kong or Taiwan filmmakers.

In fact, among mainland directors, only Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Feng Xiaogang have achieved pure commercial box office earnings over 100 million—that's the origin of the term "Three Great Mainland Directors."

The Crazy Race made Ning Hao the fourth mainland director to enter the 100-million club.

He is also the third mainland director to break 200 million, and is expected to become the second to break 300 million.

These titles mean more than enough for a director who just turned thirty.

If earlier labels like "genius director" and "leader of the Sixth Generation" were Yi An's marketing hype, now, by box office performance alone, Ning Hao is unquestionably the one.

Even if someone refuses to acknowledge it, Yi An will make them acknowledge it.

Hua Yi gained much prestige from Feng Xiaogang; Yi An has long been mindful that they too have a flagship director, and now that Ning Hao has shone, they must write it large, elevate him to the altar.

Ning Hao grinned broadly—he was thrilled, enjoying both fame and fortune from the film's massive success.

But he knew The Crazy Race had some artificial elements.

The combined production and marketing costs had already climbed toward tens of millions.

This expenditure could rival that of major blockbusters; in other words, The Crazy Race's success was not solely his own achievement.

"What artificial elements? Marketing is part of film commerce—soon, marketing costs will keep rising, even dominating total costs."

Seeing Yan Li thought Ning Hao had been influenced by online voices and tried to reassure him.

"Red Cliff, Not One Less—they also spent heavily on marketing, just in different proportions or total amounts."

"Don't overthink it, don't obsess—no matter what, our box office is real, the project is profitable, and that's the hard truth."

As a director, Ning Hao might think of attracting audiences purely through the film itself, but Seeing Yan Li, standing higher, thought more broadly.

Today's society is no longer the era where good wine needs no bush; since its founding, Yi An has never relaxed its emphasis on promotion.

Marketing doesn't overshadow the film itself—it enhances and amplifies its appeal as a supporting force.

If the film itself is weak, no amount of marketing helps; only when both work in tandem can true success be achieved.

To be blunt, ramping up marketing is nothing—some companies resort to all sorts of gimmicks to chase box office: buying tickets, phantom screenings, and more.

Compared to them, Seeing Yan Li is practically an honest, law-abiding man.

Besides the brand-new Great Director Ning receiving Seeing Yan Li's warm attention, the male lead Huang Bo also enjoyed excellent treatment.

"Bo'er, you've become a huge star this time—Deng Chao is worried you'll steal his top spot."

Huang Bo flashed his signature grin: "He's overthinking it—my image? If I became top guy, wouldn't that embarrass our company?"

The Crazy Race's huge success gave Huang Bo major exposure and boosted his fame, but claiming he'd dethrone Deng Chao was nonsense.

Not to mention Deng Chao's People's Justice: The River of Time is also a smash TV drama, reaping rewards nearly as substantial as Huang Bo's.

More importantly, the company's top guy isn't decided by film box office alone—otherwise, Hua Yi's top guy would be Ge You or Zhang Hanyu.

Top guy and top girl are judged by popularity, exposure, and commercial power; someone like Huang Bo, a serious actor, is lucky to grab second place.

"Don't be modest—I'm counting on you, put more pressure on Deng Chao."

Seeing Yan Li was genuinely pleased: The Crazy Race had produced both a renowned director and a comedy sensation, both under Yi An's banner—huge profit.

More crucially, both Ning and Huang were cultivated from obscurity by Yi An, powerfully demonstrating Yi An's talent development and star-making ability.

Compared to Hua Yi and Orange Sky, whose majority of artists are "mercenaries," Yi An is far ahead.

Seeing Yan Li planned The Crazy Race's celebration party for when it broke 300 million, but since he came personally, he couldn't show nothing—he arranged a private small gathering for the crew.

"This is Gao Jie."

"This is Jiu Kong."

Ning Hao introduced each key crew member to Seeing Yan Li one by one.

The Crazy Race had many Taiwanese artists because filming took place in Xiamen, and Ning Hao wanted actors who spoke Minnan dialect.

But he couldn't find suitable Minnan-speaking artists from Fujian, so he turned to Taiwan, where Minnan dialect is also widely spoken.

This decision made The Crazy Race quite popular in Taiwan.

Since mainland release was complicated, Yi An first sold DVD and online streaming rights, earning a small profit.

"Director Yan, thank you for your support—I'll drink this up."

Seeing Yan Li had some fame in Taiwan, though less than in mainland China or Xiangjiang, but everyone who worked in mainland China knew him.

The Crazy Race had no big stars, and no one dared act haughty in front of Seeing Yan Li—everyone was polite.

Seeing Yan Li had no airs—he chatted, laughed, ate, drank, and gave each person a gift when leaving.

All were elegant souvenirs: pens, mugs, lighters—nothing expensive, just a few hundred to a thousand yuan each; Huang Bo and Ning Hao received special gifts: each got a watch worth tens of thousands, a small red envelope.

Ning Hao was fine—he was close to Seeing Yan Li and used to free meals and drinks; Huang Bo, receiving Seeing Yan Li's personal gift for the first time, proudly wore the watch, delighted.

"Our boss is really generous."

"That's nothing."

Ning Hao smiled: "Director Yan isn't good at much else, but when it comes to paying, he never holds back—the more you deliver, the more generous he becomes."

"Wait—after the roadshow, the company will assign you new projects and commercial deals; if you maintain this momentum, they'll come to you to renegotiate your contract terms."

Huang Bo had not lacked roles in the two years since joining Yi An, but his fame and status meant his income was modest.

With The Crazy Race's huge success, Yi An certainly wouldn't miss the chance to exploit it—Huang Bo earns, the company earns.

So as expected, Huang Bo was about to enjoy a period of great popularity.

As for Ning Hao himself, he made a fortune: besides his director's fee and some profit-sharing, more importantly, he had done the company a great service, which would increase his share in purchasing original shares later.

These past few days, he had become wildly popular, and several companies had extended olive branches—but Ning Hao didn't even respond.

Yi'an had money, power, and the big prize of listed shares dangling before it; only a fool would switch jobs.

Not only did Ning Hao refuse to leave himself, he also told Huang Bo not to do anything foolish.

Even if we ignore the past, Huang Bo now definitely had a chance to secure original shares.

They had a good personal relationship and supported each other at the company; Ning Hao couldn't let him walk into a trap.

"Don't worry, I'm not that foolish."

Huang Bo scratched his head. Yi'an was thriving and treating him well; it had backed him up with such a hit project as Crazy Race. For that alone, he couldn't leave right after becoming famous.

Not to mention that he didn't think Director Yan was the kind of person with a gentle disposition—if he crossed the river and broke the bridge, Director Yan might just tear his own bridge down.

…

Meanwhile, Seeing Yan Li, back in Xiangjiang, was still scrolling through reviews of Crazy Race on his phone.

Compared to the earlier Crazy Stone, this film was more mature; Ning Hao's signature dark humor, multi-threaded plot, and memorable lines were all exceptional.

This was precisely why Yi'an had a chance to push Crazy Race past 300 million.

Otherwise, the cast lineup of Crazy Race alone simply wasn't strong enough to draw such attention.

Excellent quality, explosive word-of-mouth, successful marketing, plus the contrast with Red Cliff—it had all the advantages of timing, geography, and human effort.

"What a pity about Painted Skin."

Seeing Yan Li felt a pang of regret—he thought of how Painted Skin had missed the National Day slot. Though its performance was still outstanding, the better it did, the more people wondered: if it had premiered during National Day, Yi'an might already have two films over 300 million.

As he lamented, Seeing Yan Li quietly calculated the profits of Crazy Race.

Although Yi'an had massively increased promotional costs—even claiming they were prepared to lose money—

in reality, the film was still profitable, and profitably so.

If the box office broke 300 million, the studio and distributor would split roughly 120 million—this alone would recover tens of millions in costs, not to mention all the miscellaneous revenues.

According to Seeing Yan Li's estimate, the film's total income would be between 140 and 160 million.

It was only a rough estimate; Seeing Yan Li wasn't certain, because truly phenomenon-level films were notoriously hard to predict.

For normal films, various rights and other revenues depended heavily on the market, with prices generally falling within a range, depending on how many rights you could sell.

But that was for normal films. Crazy Race breaking 300 million, by today's film market standards, was a potential contender for annual champion—a super hit.

This meant its rights and other revenues would inevitably carry a premium—even record-breaking premiums—with a variety of buyers, defying conventional logic.

Seeing Yan Li and Yi'an had experience with this.

Previously, Painted Skin had been a massive hit, boosted by the dual-bing effect, and its rights revenue outside the box office had been extraordinary.

Revenues from TV, online, overseas, DVD, books, commercial partnerships, image licensing, merchandise development, and more totaled nearly 60 million.

Crazy Race had a higher box office, but due to its subject matter and cast, Seeing Yan Li thought it probably couldn't match Painted Skin—but you never knew.

What if Crazy Race turned out to be wildly popular in every way?!

Just half a month ago, no one had imagined that a film with a few-million budget like Crazy Race would crush Red Cliff, which cost hundreds of millions.