Chapter 35: Some happy and some sad (seeking monthly ticket)
The person who came to see Xu Jiajun from Lydia Cinemas was Li Maowen, the general manager, who is also one of the shareholders of Lydia Cinemas.
This was just for the purpose of losing money and making noise.
But Li Maowen was pleasantly surprised after watching the entire film in the theater of Ritz Cinema. He realized that this film might be a dark horse in the film industry this year.
At the same time, I also realized that the originally prepared conditions could not impress Xu Jiajun, and the cooperation had to be formalized and long-term, because Oriental Pictures has the potential to become a long-term film supplier for Lydia to maintain the operation of the theater chain.
So he invited Lei Juekun to watch the film again. After watching it, Lei Juekun also decided to cooperate with Oriental Pictures for a long time, but the two parties could not agree on the conditions.
In the end, at Hui Jiajun's request, the matter was temporarily shelved and we would discuss the results after the movie is released.
Then they talked about Happy Ghost’s division of accounts.
Nowadays, Xiangjiang Cinema Chain implements a guaranteed guarantee system. In addition to receiving a share of the box office, each theater also has a fixed cost of about 10,000 to 20,000 yuan per day.
In the end, the box office will have to pay 17.5% entertainment tax, and about 15% of the distribution fee will be deducted, and then the remaining theaters will get 60%, and the film owners will get 40%.
The film's owners mainly rely on overseas distribution and video tapes to make money, and they don't make much at the local box office.
After negotiations, Lydia Cinemas agreed that all 18 of its theaters would screen Happy Ghost starting from February 12. After all, Lydia Cinemas itself didn’t have any good movies to show, so it was better to empty the screens.
All for Happy Ghost.
In the account sharing section, Lisheng may have wanted to pave the way for future negotiations and wanted to show its sincerity in cooperation, so it made corresponding concessions and agreed to share 50% of the total box office after deducting entertainment taxes and distribution fees.
This share is already very good. For example, the satellite companies under Jiahe can only get 50-50 points from Jiahe, while other independent companies can only get 60-40 points.
Theater chains are the leaders in the industry.
"It will be screened in 18 theaters. Once A Jun and Happy Ghost are released, you will definitely become a blockbuster." On the way home after the negotiation, the co-pilot in the car, Zhao Yazhi, flushed with excitement and was very excited.
There were no more than 100 theaters in Xiangjiang at this time, and Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers only had about ten or twenty theaters. They usually allocated different movies, so 18 theaters were screening the films together. This treatment alone would shock the industry.
Xu Jiajun held the steering wheel with one hand and walked with the other hand on Zhao Yazhi's beautiful legs in stockings. He chuckled and said, "Sister, you have so much confidence in me."
"Of course, if I don't have confidence, I won't risk my reputation to help you promote it." Zhao Yazhi snorted lightly, feeling that he was coming from nowhere, and pulled down the skirt he had lifted up: "Don't make trouble, drive well, what do you think?
How much box office can Happy Ghost have?"
"At least 10 million." Hui Jiajun blurted out directly. Originally, he thought it would be 89 million in the end, but now that it has become popular before it is released, and the popularity is so high, it should not be difficult to win 10 million at the box office based on the quality of Happy Ghost.
When the film was released in 1984, it took in 17 million at the box office. At that time, a movie ticket was 14 yuan, which was equivalent to more than 1.2 million moviegoers.
Now Happy Ghost has become well-known throughout Hong Kong. At present, movie tickets cost 10 yuan each. To be conservative, if we count 1.2 million movie viewings, the movie has a box office of 12 million.
"Ten million!" Zhao Yazhi widened her beautiful eyes and opened her small mouth into the shape of Xu Jiajun, with an expression that made you dream: "Are you kidding? There is no movie in Hong Kong that has exceeded 10 million at the box office so far!"
"It will be there soon." Xu Jiajun said calmly, even if there is no happy ghost, the junior brother played by Cheng Long will make more than 10 million this year.
Today is the 9th, Junior Brother Comes Out is released today. On the roadside, you can see that the theaters owned by Golden Harvest are full. Cheng Long's appeal is still very strong.
Nowadays, the salary of most popular stars is only 20,000 to 300,000 yuan. Cheng Long has already received 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 yuan. He is in a unique position. You can imagine how popular he is.
"I don't believe it." Zhao Yazhi curled her lips. She thought a box office of five million was already very high.
"How about we make a bet." Xu Jiajun slowed down the car and whispered a few words in her ear.
It looks like the car is slowing down, but in fact it is speeding up.
Zhao Yazhi's face instantly turned red, and a look of embarrassment flashed across her pretty face. However, facing Xu Jiajun's playful and provocative eyes, she felt rebellious again. She gritted her silver teeth and said, "Just bet, I'm afraid of you."
……………
The next day, February 10, Ritz Cinemas announced that it would release Happy Ghost in all its theaters on February 12, which caused a huge sensation in the industry.
Shao Yifu and Zou Wenhuai were dismissive, thinking that Li Sheng was dying. Many people in the film and television industry were also waiting to see the joke. After all, the higher Happy Ghost is praised, the more miserable he will be when he falls.
At the same time, Jiahe released the news that Junior Brother's debut had a box office of 800,000 yuan on the first day yesterday, which quickly overshadowed Happy Ghost and attracted all the media.
Judging from the release time of three weeks, this first day plus Cheng Long's fame is obviously aimed at tens of millions. It is very likely that it will be the first movie in Hong Kong to break the tens of millions at the box office. Naturally, Golden Harvest will leave no room for publicity in order to attract
More audiences came to the theater.
Therefore, the matter between Xu Jiajun and Zhao Yazhi has dropped a lot, and even the talk of Happy Ghost has been replaced by the junior brother's intervention. How can you bear this?
He immediately asked La Jiang to chat with his ex-husband.
Big Taurus plus Black Star, a two-pronged approach, the ex-husband endured the reluctance of "riding his wife and riding others" and admitted to the media that he was framed by Xu Jiajun and Zhao Yazhi.
He also said that he would buy a ticket to see Happy Ghost.
There was nothing I could do, Xu Huangmao gave me too much.
The ex-husband also said that he wanted to know what kind of drama could cause his wife and children to break up. As soon as his words came out, the whole Hong Kong people also wanted to know.
After some clever manipulations by the young publicity genius Xu Jiajun, the popularity of "Happy Ghost" finally picked up again the day before it was released, and continued until the next day.
Time came to February 12th, and Happy Ghost had its premiere. Thanks to the previous hype, the attendance rate was full as soon as it was released, and the reputation quickly grew.
The box office on the first day was 900,000, which overshadowed Junior Brother's Journey. On the contrary, as the audience was diverted in large numbers, the attendance rate of Junior Brother's Journey began to decline.
"The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead, and Lei Juekun actually got an advantage." Throwing the newspaper reporting the first-day box office of Happy Ghost on the table, Zou Wenhuai sighed with mixed emotions, and his intestines turned green with regret.
Losing a movie with a box office of over 10 million is only the second thing. The key is to let Lisheng Cinemas stand out.
The 25-year-old Cheng Long was immature and said with some anxiety and worry: "Mr. Zou, godfather, what should we do now? All the audience have been taken away."
"The genres of the two films are different. Moreover, given your reputation, even if the attendance rate drops, it won't be too exaggerated. The box office will drop slightly, but it should be no problem if it exceeds 10 million." He Guanchang patiently reassured.
Cheng Long was still unwilling to give in: "Godfather, if the total box office is surpassed by Happy Ghost, wouldn't that person named Xu step on me to get the upper hand? I'm so shameless."
As a person who saves face, Junior Brother is a film he directed and acted in. If he is overpowered by Hui Jiajun, what will happen to his face?
"Then what do you want? Play outside the game? Don't think wrongly. Xinji has been beaten to death by Xu Jiajun. The hot ginger who came out of Shenghe is clearly his dog. His behavior is not the right way.
, haven't you been fucked enough by the club?" He Guanchang's face darkened and he warned in a stern tone.
When the club was mentioned, Cheng Long immediately lowered his head.
His former boss was Luo Wei. After he was recruited to Jiahe by He Guanzhang, Luo Wei was so angry that he found someone from the society to do things. He was very nervous at that time.
"Aaron, you are different from him. You don't need to care about temporary gains and losses. Besides, Happy Ghost's box office may not be able to exceed that of Junior Brother." He Guanchang comforted him in a slow tone, and then turned to look at Zou Wenhuai: "
Do you want to ask this young boy to have a chat?"
"It's useless. Li Sheng won't let go after finally grabbing a life-saving straw. We can't offer better terms. Besides, who knows if he's just lucky? We don't need to gamble." Zou Wenhuai shook his head.
He shook his head to show that his efforts were not in vain, and then chuckled: "We are not the ones suffering the most now."
The one who feels the most uncomfortable right now is Shao Yifu.
Happy Ghost was filmed on a Shaw Brothers studio. The actor Lin Guobin is from Shaw Brothers, and the director Gao Zhisen is also from Shaw Brothers. In the end, Lei Juekun was taken advantage of.
If he had talked to Xu Jiajun...
What makes him even more uncomfortable is that there is a Shaw Brothers Spring Festival drama called Modern Shit that is scheduled to be released on the 15th. But now there is a junior brother in front of him and a happy ghost in the back. If Modern Shit is still released as scheduled, he will be cannon fodder.
"The release of The Modern Man has been postponed for a week. Also, please have a chat with Ah Zhi. If Xu Jiajun is willing to come to Shaw Brothers, I would welcome him." Shao Yifu said to Fang Yihua, and paused: "If Xu Jiajun doesn't want to come, just give it a try.
Gao Zhisen.”
Even if he is happy, Xu Jiajun is not qualified enough for him to lower himself down to talk about it in person. He does not believe that every script by Xu Jiajun can be popular. The director is the key and the soul of the crew.
Compared to the melancholy of Zou Wenhuai and Shao Yifu, Lei Juekun was almost laughing his head off. He couldn't wait to sign a long-term contract with Oriental Pictures, but Hui Jiajun insisted on waiting until the movie was finished before discussing the matter.