Chapter 459 Cinema System

Hearing Han Sanping's goal of 35 million, Xu Feng raised her eyebrows slightly. She was quite confident that "Time Traveler" could get this box office.

Before the filming of this movie, it had already attracted widespread attention because of Zhou Yan's concert.

Later, when the film was officially filmed, it was also hot and often reported.

With such a large base of Wang Zuxian and Zhou Yan, the domestic box office may not be as good as "The Chorus" in the end, but it should not be a problem to get a box office of 35 million.

Xu Feng's expectations for this movie are of course not limited to the mainland box office.

If they only focus on the mainland box office, they will definitely lose money. The production cost of this movie eventually exceeded 30 million.

According to the current domestic profit-sharing form, there is no way to break even without a box office of 90 million, and the possibility of achieving such a box office is very small.

If this movie wants to make money, it must be successful in other ticket warehouses.

Not to mention Europe and the United States, which are not very stable. Xu Feng is mainly concerned about the box office in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, especially Japan. As long as the box office performance of Japan meets expectations, this movie can make money.

It doesn't have to reach the level of "The Sixth Sense", as long as it is at the level of "The Chorus". The distribution income of "The Chorus" in Japan also exceeded 1.3 billion Japanese coins. Although it is not as good as Zhou Yan's first two movies, it is also very impressive.

Han Sanping also knew that it was meaningless to talk about the box office at this time, so he just mentioned it and didn't extend it further. He looked at Zhou Yan who was pouring wine and said, "After this movie, you should not have a new movie for a while, right?"

Zhou Yan smiled, "The next movie depends on the opportunity, but it will definitely not be next year, and the earliest will be the year after next. I have a lot of other work on hand now, and I will be too busy to shoot a new movie."

"Well, finish the work on hand first, and it's all big work." Xu Feng said.

Han Sanping asked, "Besides the soundtrack for Titanic, what other work do you have?"

"I promised Alan Kleeman to compose the soundtrack for his new movie, and they're going to start shooting soon. The movie Shutter Island, which I wrote, will also start shooting next spring, and I'll definitely make time to go there then."

"I still have to go there, it seems that the screenwriter's fee is not easy to earn." Han Sanping sighed.

Zhou Yan nodded, "It's indeed not easy to earn."

"How much do you get paid for writing scripts for them?" Han Sanping asked curiously.

"Seven hundred and seventy thousand."

Han Sanping's eyes widened, "US dollars?"

"Of course, who would do it if it wasn't for US dollars." Zhou Yan smiled.

"Is seven hundred and seventy thousand US dollars considered high in Hollywood?" Han Sanping didn't know much about the market in Hollywood.

"Not very high, there is also a script worth 4 million US dollars."

"Oh, there is also a script worth 4 million US dollars. It sounds like 770,000 is not very high. The market in Hollywood is indeed high. 770,000 US dollars can make a medium-sized movie in China. No wonder so many people want to develop abroad. This money is really easy to make."

What Zhou Yan didn't tell Han Sanping was that in addition to the 770,000 US dollars in screenwriting fees, he also received 1.8 million US dollars in film and television licensing fees, which added up to 2.57 million US dollars.

Later, when "Shutter Island" is released, if the sales are good, he can also get a bonus, and it is very considerable.

Xu Feng smiled and said, "Don't envy Hollywood too much. The production cost there is too high. You can't make any movies with a few million dollars. This is not conducive to the development of independent producers."

"Their overall level is still high, and it is worth learning from. Zhou Yan did a good job in this regard. The money was spent on the right things. The sound and picture level of the movie is very high. On the contrary, the overall equipment level of domestic cinemas is poor, which may drag down the movie."

"That's not the case. Although the equipment level of domestic cinemas is relatively poor, the sound and picture levels of different movies can still reflect the difference. Otherwise, those Hollywood blockbusters would not be so popular." Xu Feng said.

In fact, the equipment level of domestic cinemas is not as bad as Han Sanping said. After all, there has been no innovation in the technology of film projection in recent years, and there is almost no generation gap between China and foreign countries.

The technology used in the United States now is not fundamentally different from that used in China.

Although new technologies have been developed abroad, they have not been popularized in cinemas.

"Indeed, the shortcomings of domestic cinemas now are not mainly in the equipment, but in the fact that the cinema system is too loose and not market-oriented. The relevant departments want to solve this problem, but there has been no good way." Han Sanping sighed.

"In fact, it is not difficult to change this situation. We just need to break the existing cinema system and adopt another system. With funds and film supply as the link, a film distribution entity and several cinemas will be formed to implement a unified brand, unified scheduling, unified operation, and unified management distribution system." Zhou Yan said.

Xu Feng smiled and said, "Isn't this the theater chain system in North America?"

Han Sanping sighed, "In fact, such voices did appear in the previous internal meeting, but they were not firm enough, and there were only voices, no practical solutions. Our national conditions are different from those of the United States. If we want to adopt the theater chain system, we will definitely encounter a lot of resistance."

At present, the filming, distribution and operation of domestic films and cinemas are all controlled by public economic organizations, and only state-owned enterprises are qualified to operate related businesses.

The filming step is a little looser. Companies like Tomson can also cooperate with major studios and take a roundabout route to borrow shells to lay eggs.

There is no way to touch the screening and distribution, because once access control is relaxed and private capital comes in, the former state-owned enterprises will face great risks.

Complete liberalization and allowing private capital to develop wildly will definitely not work, but if we are timid and do not break the existing system, it will only lead to a slow death.

Taking into account various circumstances, relevant departments are also in a dilemma when formulating strategies.

Relevant departments must find a suitable method that can not only mobilize the enthusiasm of private capital and the vitality of theater development, but also impose strong restrictions on private capital and hold the initiative in their own hands.

Zhou Yan is a person who has experienced the reform of theater chains and knows the general development of the domestic theater chain system. It can be said that the reform of China's theater chains has been successful, not only improving the vitality of the market's micro-operations, but also ensuring the control of macro-management.

One thing Han Sanping did not mention is that the domestic movie theater system is in urgent need of reform. Not only is it lack of vitality, but many state-owned movie theaters are in a "monopoly" position and lack supervision. They often underreport box office revenue.

After the implementation of accounting, the box office revenue of movie theaters will be shared with the producers, which gives the movie theaters room to maneuver. As long as they conceal the box office revenue, they can give less of the share to the producers and keep the money in their own pockets.

This is not an isolated case, it is a common phenomenon across the country.

Because it is too simple to do, there is a lack of supervision and a system, and the box office revenue data mainly relies on the cinemas.

As a result, the producer's income is reduced, and naturally there is a lack of enthusiasm for production.

If there is no money for production, the number of movies will decrease, the quality will decrease, and the income of cinemas will also decrease, which forms a vicious circle.

"If the theater system is implemented in China, does Mr. Xu have any ideas?" Han Sanping suddenly looked at Xu Feng.

Xu Feng shook his head and said, "I really haven't thought about this. Director Han, as you know, I founded Tomson Film Company because I like movies and want to make more good movies. My thoughts at this stage Nothing has changed. I still focus on filming.” Han Sanping smiled and said, “It doesn’t matter. You can think about it in the future. Tomson Pictures is developing well in the mainland and has the foundation to establish a theater chain. If you have ideas. , that couldn’t be better.”

"Maybe I will have an idea in the future."

Han Sanping nodded and said nothing more.

The reason why he told Xu Feng about theater chains was not just because Tomson Pictures was developing well. If the theater chain system was really to be implemented, ordinary film companies would not be able to establish theater chains.

But Tomson is not an ordinary theater company. The development of the local industry of the Tomson Group controlled by Xu Feng’s husband Tang Junnian is obvious to all.

As a couple, one is engaged in the film and television industry and the other is engaged in the real estate industry. If they start a theater chain, they are in a unique position.

However, it is too early to say this now. Whether the theater chain system can be implemented is still unknown. Even if it is implemented, it will be basically impossible within three to five years.

Now the internal voices are not unified, and there is no way to formulate clear policies in a short time.

It will take some time until the internal voices are unified, policies are formulated, and then implemented.

According to Han Sanping's judgment, even if it happens quickly, this matter will have to wait until after 2000.

Without talking about the movie theater, Han Sanping asked Zhou Yan again, "Are you going to attend the author representative meeting tomorrow?"

Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, I will go to the conference tomorrow afternoon."

"It's in the Great Hall."

"Well, the conference will be held in the Great Hall. I don't know about the subsequent activities." Zhou Yan will not participate in the subsequent election activities.

"Would you like to contact the TV station to take some photos for you tomorrow and write a report? It can also build momentum for the movie."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "You can write reports, just take photos, it's too eye-catching."

Han Sanping nodded and said, "It doesn't matter if you don't take special photos. I'll ask CCTV later. They should be able to take photos of you."

There will definitely be many official media reporters at the conference tomorrow, and they will definitely have photos on hand. It will not be difficult for Han Sanping to get some photos.

Xu Feng smiled and picked up the wine glass, "Director Han, you are too concerned about the announcement of the new movie. Come on, Ayan, Xiaoxian, the three of us represent the whole crew and propose a toast to Director Han."

Hearing what Xu Feng said, Zhou Yan and Wang Zuxian also picked up their wine glasses. Zhou Yan said, "Sister Feng is right. Third brother is really working on the new movie this time."

Han Sanping picked up the wine glass and said with a smile, "What you are saying is obvious. We are all from one family. What two families talk about. Besides, I asked my third brother to make this movie. Speaking of which, I have to thank you." Third brother, please help, come on, I respect you, thank you for your contribution to the film, and thank you for your contribution to the Chinese film industry."

"Everyone works together."

…

After lunch, Han Sanping sat for a while and then left.

Xu Feng sat on the sofa holding a tea cup. She drank a little too much at noon and was a little drunk. After a while, she looked up at Zhou Yan and said, "Do you have any thoughts on what Director Han said?"

"What happened?"

Han Sanping said a lot of things today, and Zhou Yan didn't know which one Xu Feng was referring to.

"It's about theater reform. Do you think the reform will be implemented?"

"Of course it will be implemented." Zhou Yan said with certainty, "However, it is not certain when it will be implemented. According to my guess, it may be after joining the WTO."

Xu Feng curled his lips, "It is still uncertain when we can join the WTO."

China submitted an application for rejoining the WTO in GATT, the predecessor of 8, and it was not until last year that multilateral negotiations with the 37 member states of the WTO were launched, but the situation was not clear, and many people were pessimistic about joining the WTO.

After all, it has been ten years since they submitted their application for rejoining the WTO, and there has been no progress on this matter.

So far, China has not reached an agreement with any country.

Even if five are to be settled in a year, it will take more than seven years to negotiate.

The key is, can five be settled in a year?

"Of course, and it won't be too far away."

Seeing Zhou Yan so optimistic, Xu Feng was quite curious, "Have you heard any news?"

Xu Feng knew Zhou Yan's background. If Zhou Yan could hear some inside news that ordinary people didn't know, it would be very normal.

In a way, Zhou Yan's information should be more extensive and reliable than Han Sanping's.

"China is such a big market, those member states will not give up, they just want us to make more concessions."

"Then will we make concessions?"

"Concessions are necessary, but there is a degree in the middle, so negotiations need to take some time to find the balance."

"Do you have any judgment on the time? I heard someone say that even if it succeeds, it will take at least ten years."

Zhou Yan smiled, "I don't know, maybe."

Although Zhou Yan did not give a direct answer, Xu Feng was a person, and she could see from Zhou Yan's reaction that Zhou Yan believed that China would not need ten years to join the WTO.

Xu Feng had inexplicable confidence in Zhou Yan's judgment.

On the one hand, because of Zhou Yan's background, she believed that Zhou Yan would definitely be able to obtain some information that ordinary people could not access.

On the other hand, Zhou Yan's judgment has never been wrong. Although Zhou Yan has not made a judgment on such things before, since Zhou Yan has spoken, there must be a reason.

If China can really join the WTO in a few years, domestic economic policies and market environment will be greatly affected, and their development will also follow the pace of policies. (End of this chapter)