Chapter 1101: Chapter 314: Next Project, Mysterious Text Message
Chapter 314: The Next One, Secret Messages
Although Yu Xiaodi and Huang Ying knew about each other, they didn’t say anything in front of Li Jie. This is what Li Yan found out later. Their situation was somewhat similar to Zhang Yurong, Hai Fu, and Wen Qianyi, where two knew about each other, and one knew separately.
Shinohara Mirai and Matsushima Kui came only for a short period as representatives for fostering a friendly cooperation atmosphere with Li Yan, while the professional inspection and negotiation team, along with Paradise Group, rapidly completed multiple department, industry, and a series of cooperation intentions and contracts.
This was a win-win cooperation, and everyone was satisfied. However, the level of cooperation still had certain limits. The results of the cooperation couldn’t be seen in a short time; everyone needed time to verify, and adjust future cooperation plans according to feedback from various aspects during the cooperation process.
Two weeks passed quickly, February was over, and March began.
During this period, Shinohara Mirai and the others had already returned to Beihai Country. This separation made them much more nonchalant, realizing that distance was only psychological, not as far or difficult as imagined. They did not feel too saddened by the parting, and they also invited Li Yan to come and play in Beihai Country when he had time.
Yu Xiaodi had started school again, returning to S University to continue her classes, as she hadn’t attended classes in December and January before the winter holiday; now that she was back, there were some things she needed to catch up on.
Zhang Yurong and the others were busy with company affairs, Yue Yao worked at Mountain Stone Investment every day, but she was remotely directing their organization to destroy the assassin organization in Ligou Country.
After accompanying Shinohara Mirai and the others, Li Yan was not idle, including providing relevant information to Zheng Tian to prepare for the promised remuneration. He also helped Li Jie contact some war buddies of her father, Li Chengfeng, and brought them to S City for a reunion after many years.
To avoid the awkwardness of discussing expenses, after contacting them, he first mentioned being able to get cheaper group tickets and asked them to provide their information to confirm the flights. This relieved some economically worried old war buddies from pressure. After arriving in S City, knowing that Li Jie wasn’t affluent, Li Yan paid out of his own pocket for rooms at a Paradise Group hotel, telling her it was due to company connections and discounts.
While he was helping Li Jie fulfill this wish of celebrating her father’s birthday, and could imagine Li Chengfeng’s excitement for this old war buddy reunion, Li Yan himself didn’t attend. One reason was the nostalgic gathering; having someone with different experiences would feel out of place, and since Li Jie is Li Chengfeng’s daughter, she had to help with accommodations and such. It would be boring for him with no topics to discuss; another reason was Li Chengfeng persistently calling him ’son-in-law,’ which he couldn’t bear. Additionally, at a Paradise Group hotel, if someone recognized him or he encountered colleagues handling client accommodations, it wouldn’t be ideal if word spread.
...
Today, Li Yan held a meeting at the company, which was not exactly a celebration, but close enough. The box office statistics from major first-tier city theaters last week had come out, and the data was very encouraging for everyone.
In fact, when last week’s data came out, everyone was even more excited, but because Li Yan was still accompanying Shinohara Mirai and others, he hadn’t held a full meeting to share collectively.
Taken during its first week, "Springtime Leaked" grossed 28 million. During the second week, with a full week including Valentine’s active effect and some contribution from the Lantern Festival, it grossed over 52 million, achieving around 80 million over two weeks as predicted by Qiao Pan. According to Qiao Pan’s estimate, by the end of the third week, it should surpass 100 million. Although the journey beyond 100 million was limited, for a film with such investment, it was already a great victory.
Now, the third week’s data was out, around 30 million, although it had significantly declined compared to the second week with an average daily box office of over 4 million. But for a film in its third week of release, especially a city romance film with its main opening period over, it wasn’t just an acceptable result, it was a remarkable achievement. It surpassed Qiao Pan’s estimate by nearly 10 million.
"... It’s now reached 110 million at the box office! We’ve already fulfilled expectations, and the main box office has been laid. Starting this week, schedule allocations and attendance should see a significant drop; however, as the entire film market enters the least popular spring monthly schedule, March films won’t be few, yet they’re mostly non-competitive local films or unsynchronized, non-big productions, or even non-Anders imported batch films. So even if it drops by 60-70% this week, we still have a chance to reach a 10 million gross; a few more millions next week, plus theaters in second and third-tier cities not yet networked, ultimately achieving 130 million is no problem!"
Li Yan was also quite thrilled, the crucial situation was already set, the box office was already a big earner, what’s left was just extra icing on the cake. Seeing everyone extremely excited, he didn’t mind adding more motivation.
"What is 130 million? In today’s Yun Country market, it’s not an astonishing result. But we know very well that our investment is just over 10 million, definitely the most profitable, highest return rate film released this year until now! Uh, maybe except for Pleasant Goat."
Everyone laughed proudly as well; only the Pleasant Goat series theatrical release during the assured winter vacation period could somewhat match this return rate and profitability level. As industry insiders, everyone calculated the break-even or loss situations from several New Year blockbuster films released.
Films with over 100 million investment, let alone achieve tenfold box office like "Springtime Leaked"; just to break even, they need at least 250 million, squeezed by the New Year box office peak, yet how many will reach massive sales of two or three billion among the many films releasing in that period? (Author’s note: The return rate of Springtime Leaked isn’t limitlessly exaggerated, both the investment and final box office figures reference actual movie examples. Some indicated, some might guess which one.)
"’Springtime Leaked’ is our company’s entrepreneurial debut, and this success isn’t much related to me personally; it’s the result of everyone’s hard work over the past few months! I thank you all here, for not letting me, the first manager, lose face!"
Li Yan bowed to everyone and then continued, "Especially Qiao Pan! Everyone can see, he has contributed the most to this project, almost exhausting himself! By the way, you should know, he’s no longer just our cooperating producer; from now on, he’ll be one of us. Let’s give a warm round of applause to the outstanding producer, the director of our project, creativity, and production! - Of course, this title is personally given by me, we don’t have that many people yet."
Everyone applauded enthusiastically, without jealousy. Through the collaboration on this film, everyone understood that Qiao Pan contributed the most, and his joining made the group stronger. As the company grows stronger, individuals have more opportunities to shine.
Qiao Pan, being experienced, immediately gave a courteous speech, thanking Li Yan for the opportunity, thanking everyone’s assistance and cooperation. Overall, he didn’t rely on his experience and recent contributions to act superior; instead, he kept a humble attitude and maintained harmony with everyone.
...
After announcing the good news, expressing gratitude, and welcoming the newcomer, it was time to discuss new plans.
As a mid-sized budget film, having been screened for the third week with over a hundred million in box office, it should be self-sustaining. Investing a large amount of manpower and resources in promotion won’t yield much effect anymore. So, the director can rest, the stars can rest, but as a company, it needs to start preparing the next movie and enter a new phase.
In fact, it’s because Heavenly Film is a newly established company less than half a year old with limited resources. If it were a large film company, the filming plans would be established and prepared a year or even longer in advance, and the preparation progress wouldn’t be delayed because of a new release.
Seizing the victory is what everyone would think.
Initially, the employees of Heavenly Film all had reservations about Li Yan, a manager who was more inexperienced than others. Now, after ’Springtime Leaked’ became a big hit, there’s no more doubt about his vision. Everyone is confident about the success of the new film, and under Li Yan’s encouragement, they expressed their opinions freely.
"We can follow Anders’ formula; make a sequel for every profitable film! Even romance films can have sequels; ’If You Are the One’ is a successful example! We can make another ’Springtime Leaked Again’!"
"Even if we can make a sequel, it shouldn’t be done immediately. Even Feng Xiaogang and Ge You’s golden duo took a year before shooting the next one. Anders also doesn’t shoot sequels immediately."
"I think, whatever we shoot is fine, but we need to get the theme right! Why is our return rate high? Fashion films have low costs for locations, costumes, props, etc., and can include ads and get sponsorship. The biggest investment is star salaries. ’Let the Bullets Fly’ had a box office of seven hundred million, winning acclaim and face, but after deducting one hundred million production costs and fifty million promotional expenses, the profit was less than one hundred fifty million, and it took two years! In the same period, ’If You Are the One 2’, with a box office of five hundred million, was mixed in reviews, seemingly losing, but it cost less than twenty million to produce, all scenes were sponsored, a lot of ads already paid off and made money, the box office recovery of two hundred million is pure profit! The key is, it only took two to three months. We must insist on shooting urban-themed films!"
"Costume dramas cost more, can’t include ads, but it doesn’t have to be one or the other with fashion films. We could do animations! Isn’t ’Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf’ earning big bucks one after another?"
"Animation? Apart from ’Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf’ as a special case, which large Anders productions sell well? How many make money? Many who tried to make theatrical version movies like ’Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf’ flop."
"As long as it’s like ’Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf’, choosing the right animation with a mass base, a theatrical version still makes sense. ’The Moonlight Sonata of Qin’ maybe? It’s popular online, even if not on TV!"
"Does ’Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit’ have a base? Conan? Doraemon? But all the films were failures! ’The Moonlight Sonata of Qin’ being popular online doesn’t help; getting the homebody fans into the theater is tough. Plus, influenced by Beihai Country’s animation style, their tastes are more particular."
...
Listening to everyone’s discussion, Li Yan maintained a smile without dismissing any idea. Whether feasible or not, they were all valuable discussions. At this moment, his phone received a message, and upon opening it, he suddenly couldn’t hear what everyone was saying!
"You looking into me? Want to see me? I can give you a chance." (To be continued, for more information on what happens next, visit www.qidian.com, support the author, and enjoy legitimate reading!)
