Huayu 1992, my entertainment era

"Director Zhang, have you read the script we faxed to you? What do you think of it?"

When they arrived at the reception room, Zhou Ziheng had someone serve tea to Zhang Yimou and Gong Li, and then asked about "The Yellow Sea".

When Florence Hui contacted Zhang Yimou, she had already sent him the film script.

"I've read it. It's a very good script. I like it very much."

Zhang Yimou hesitated for a moment and continued, "I know this is a bit presumptuous, but I really like this script.

I think it has a great chance of success.

so……"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziheng immediately understood that Zhang Yimou had conditions for this.

"You tell me!" He motioned for him to speak out.

Zhang Yimou organized his words and then spoke, "I wonder if your company could give me some of its investment shares.

Not much, two million is enough."

Zhou Ziheng pondered for a moment and felt that it would be okay to give up some investment.

Moreover, two million, to be honest, is not a lot of money in the investment of this film.

"Okay, but let me make it clear first. If you want to invest, your director's fee..."

"I understand this. My current director's fee for a movie is about two million, which can be converted into a one million investment. I will invest another one million."

Upon hearing that Zhang Yimou not only did not want a director's fee but also gave out one million, Zhou Ziheng could not help but look at him in surprise.

As if seeing Zhou Ziheng's doubts, Zhang Yimou smiled and said:
"I have been working for others for the past few years. It is time to think about myself."

Zhou Ziheng smiled and said, "It's a wise decision."

In the final analysis, although Zhang Yimou has made many internationally influential films in recent years, he has not actually made much money.

He has always been receiving director's fees.

Getting the director's fee is indeed very stable, and whether the movie fails or not has nothing to do with him.

But for someone like Zhang Yimou, who is now at the pinnacle of domestic directors, this is certainly not enough to satisfy him.

In Hong Kong, once a director has achieved a certain level of success, he will go out on his own and become his own boss.

Obviously, Zhang Yimou also wants to be a boss now.

When did Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping set up the company?

Although Zhou Ziheng couldn't remember clearly, he roughly knew that it was in the mid-to-late 1990s, which should be in the past few years.

"Do you have any recommendations for actors?"

Since it was decided that Zhang Yimou would be the director, Zhou Ziheng naturally had to ask him what he thought about the role.

"I want Zhang Fengyi to play the role of the protagonist Zhou Nan," said Zhang Yimou.

"Zhang Fengyi?" Zhou Ziheng frowned slightly, "Can he handle this role?"

Zhou Ziheng naturally knew Zhang Fengyi, who is currently a first-line actor in mainland China. He has worked with Zhang Yimou several times, including in "Terracotta Warriors" and Chen Kaige's "Farewell My Concubine".

However, in Zhou Ziheng's impression, Zhang Fengyi seemed to have never acted in a crime film.

Moreover, his appearance looks very decent, which does not seem to match the image of the protagonist in the play "The Yellow Sea".

"Don't worry about that. Zhang Fengyi's acting skills are fine. I think he can handle this role."

Zhang Yimou strongly recommended Zhang Fengyi.

Seeing this, Zhou Ziheng didn't want to offend Zhang Yimou, so he said:
"Then ask him to try it, but make it clear first that if it's not suitable, change it immediately."

"I understand. After the crew is ready, I will let him try out a few scenes first. I will then record the audition and show it to you.

If it doesn’t fit, we’ll change it!”

Zhang Yimou assured.

"What about the character of Lao Mian?" Zhou Ziheng asked again.

The role of Lao Mian is definitely one of the most important roles in the drama "The Yellow Sea" or "The Conjuring".

In his previous life, Zhou Ziheng watched "The Yellow Sea" largely because of the Yanbian God of War Lao Mian. This is a very outstanding role, and the interpretation of the role must also be in place.

If we just randomly choose an actor and he doesn't meet the standard, the quality of the whole play will be greatly reduced.

"I don't have a suitable candidate either. How about we just open the casting to the public?" Zhang Yimou suggested this as he didn't have anyone suitable for the role.

"Yes! Actors are not limited to Hong Kong. Actors from Taiwan and mainland China are all welcome."

Zhou Ziheng said.

……

In October, "Die Hard 3" was released in Hong Kong.

As soon as this movie starring Bruce was released, it immediately caused quite a wave of movie-watching in Hong Kong.

Even though October is not a golden period, the movie still earned over 10 million in box office revenue within two weeks of its release.

It can be seen that this movie, which has made hundreds of millions of dollars in Hollywood and is popular all over the world, may also be a big hit in Hong Kong.

It’s a pity that this movie has already been released in other regions and has achieved good box office.

This resulted in the market being flooded with pirated discs in places like Hong Kong where the film had not yet been released.

Without the influence of piracy, the box office of this movie might have been higher.

However, for Hengyu, the current box office of this drama is acceptable.

Hengyu did not make any investment, it just introduced the products. After deducting the share of profits with Fox, Hengyu can still make a lot of money.

In October, Hengyu not only released "Die Hard 3", but also "The Dark Knight" directed by Huang Wei and starring Louis Koo was released in late October.

Originally, Zhou Ziheng didn't have high expectations for this play.

Unexpectedly, this play gave him quite a surprise.

After the movie was released, it earned four million in box office revenue in the first week alone.

This is definitely a big surprise for a movie whose production and promotion cost less than two million.

"The Dark Knight" is obviously a success.

According to the company's forecast, the final box office of this movie will not be less than 15 million.

Horror movies have always been very popular in the disc market.

Before the film was even released, Media Asia offered HK$5 million for the disc distribution rights of the film.

This is the distribution in other regions. All in all, this drama actually created a profit margin of dozens of times.

This really scared Zhou Ziheng.

At the same time, it also made him realize the feasibility of low-budget horror films.

So, he directly contacted Suzuki Koji, the author of the Japanese science fiction novel "The Ring", and prepared to shoot this classic horror film that he had seen in his previous life.

At the same time, he also told the company's screenwriters some horror film ideas in his mind and asked them to write scripts based on these ideas.

Speaking of which, the market space for horror films in Asia is very large.

Because many countries in the Asia-Pacific region have been influenced by Chinese culture, ghost films are more likely to enter the market in these countries.

Zhou Ziheng thinks that Hengyu can make more horror films and completely take over the horror film market in countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.

From now on, whenever Asian horror films are mentioned, everyone will think of Hengyu's productions.

It's not impossible.

You know, in 1998, Japan's "The Ring" was a horror film that directly earned 2.49 million US dollars worldwide.

It has been successful in Asia and around the world.

Inspired by this film, Hong Kong made the classic horror film "The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village".

Therefore, if Hengyu can buy the copyright and make this movie, it will definitely be of great benefit to them.

(End of this chapter)