China Entertainment 1997

Chengdu University, Auditorium

Thousands of Chengdu University students, as well as students from other schools who came to join in the fun, packed the auditorium to capacity, and everyone looked at the entrance expectantly.

Along with the host's announcement, Cao Xuan, Hu Jing, Huang Bo and other main creators of "When Men Are in Love" appeared in the auditorium, and the scene instantly burst into cheers and applause.

Although college students these days are not considered to be the proud ones, they are still very valuable.

It can make them let go of their reserve and become fans of younger brothers and younger sisters. Ordinary celebrities do not have this influence.

As an international star and Asia's king, Cao Xuan is obviously different.

Portal websites such as Sina have conducted relevant voting statistics before. Among the celebrities that young people like most, Cao Xuan has never fallen out of the top three, even if he is not the first.

Even the official media recognized this. Last year, Cao Xuan was the only person from the literary and artistic circles selected by a second-rate newspaper as one of the "Top Ten Influential People in China in 2002". Many of the people listed alongside him were political and business tycoons.

The same is true for foreign media. Time Magazine recently selected the world's top twenty most influential musicians. Cao Xuan and Utada Hikaru are the only Asian candidates on the list.

Not to mention other lists or statistics that are less valuable. If they were all counted, it would take half a minute to browse them.

These are not necessarily completely accurate. From the side, it can be seen that Cao Xuan's popularity and influence are definitely top-notch in China and Asia.

Especially college students, they may not necessarily like celebrities, but it is different for superstars, not to mention that Cao Xuan is not just a superstar.

The child of a farmer, from a grassroots background, relied on talent and luck to make a fortune from scratch. In less than ten years, he became internationally famous, surrounded by beautiful women, and wealthy.

There are rumors that Cao Xuan's net worth has exceeded 3 billion, but it is not known whether it is true or not.

Because Forbes and Hurun have been publicized by someone, except for the celebrity list, the rich list will not list Cao Xuan for the time being due to incomplete information and unclear data.

But the public is not fools. Tianya also has various real revelations about Cao Xuan. Some people even estimated Cao Xuan's net worth by almost 90% based on inside information.

It's a pity that there are pig teammates who join in the fun and set the pace.

Someone pretended to be an insider and claimed that Cao Xuan was worth tens of billions. The most cruel statement was that Cao Xuan was already the richest man in the country and could be called a mainland cucumber.

Of course, there are also classic puppet conspiracy theories that say Cao Xuan is the white glove of a certain boss.

Anyway, everything is possible, and Cao Xuan is happy to see the results. Sometimes, the muddier the water is, the better, and the muddier it is, the safer it is.

This created a phenomenon. Everyone knew that Cao Xuan was rich, but they didn't know how rich he was.

However, from the aspects of Fanxing Building, theater chain formation, film and television city construction, Penguin shares, charity, etc., everyone can have a vague idea that Cao Xuan's net worth is at least 1 billion.

This net worth and the above experience are enough for many young people to regard him as an inspirational model and life idol.

Men regard Cao Xuan as a role model, and men should do so!

The woman regards Cao Xuan as the lover of her dreams and flies up the branches like a phoenix!

College students are also young people. There may be some exceptions in some groups, but most people also hold this idea, so much so that Cao Xuan's reputation among young college students is extremely high, which is why the situation in the auditorium today appeared.

Facing the warm welcome, Cao Xuan kept a low profile, clasping his hands together in greeting. After taking his seat, he expressed even more humility after taking the host's microphone.

"I received an invitation from President Sun to come to Chengdu University today to hold a film promotion meeting.

To be honest, I am still a little nervous today. After all, I am only a high school student. All my classmates have higher academic qualifications than me in entering university, so I don’t dare to try to imitate the class.

Today is for everyone to chat with each other, just like friends chatting. I will share my humble opinions with you to the best of my knowledge. If there is anything that is not one-sided, you are welcome to give me some advice. "

Cao Xuan's low-key opening won the favor of many students. They may not like to appreciate this kind of character, but they will never dislike a modest and cautious person.

Of course, Kuroko is the exception...

Today's host seems to be the vice president of the student union of Chengdu University. In addition to following the process and maintaining the situation, he is mainly responsible for raising some film-related questions.

After all, this meeting was to promote "When Men Are in Love". If students were to ask questions, the topic would be distorted.

So according to the process, if the students asked a lot about the movie, he would not ask any questions, but if there were few questions about the movie, he would have to set the pace himself and act as a back-up.

The first conversation must start with movies. The host seems to have a lot of relevant experience and has no stage fright.

"I just read the online report this morning. Our "Men Are in Love" box office has exceeded 30 million. It's an incredible result. It's my first time starring in a movie to get this box office figure. How does it feel?"

"not bad."

Cao Xuan smiled and explained: "Actually, we have also benefited from the market. After SARS, everyone is more willing to engage in some entertainment activities. Coupled with the Chinese Valentine's Day, the box office on the first day was extremely bright, and the subsequent figures have also remained very good. good."

"According to online estimates, the box office can reach more than 50 million. Are you confident?"

"If we follow the normal trend of the data, the hope is still quite high, but the prerequisite is that piracy protection must be done well."

Speaking of this, Cao Xuan couldn't help but grind his teeth. Movie piracy has always been rampant and has always been a problem that is difficult to cure in the film and television industry.

Until 2022, the gun version of the movie will still be banned, and it is even more so these days. Pirate companies will try their best to get the movie.

The most exaggerated thing is that even before the movie was released, the pirates had already obtained the high-definition resources, and then released the movie first, which made the producer vomit blood.

"When Men Fall in Love" was already considered a cautious one, and copies were escorted in major cities. But even so, within a week of its release, pirated discs appeared on the market.

The relationship between Fanxing and China Film Group has been suppressed, but it still cannot be completely eliminated. As the movie is released longer, the number of pirated discs will increase, which will inevitably have an impact on the box office.

Cao Xuan has been a fan of pirates since he first debuted. His albums have enriched many pirates. In terms of games, there are also private pirates who are making trouble. This time when the movie was released, they were plundered again.

Let's put it this way, if there were no piracy, the movie box office would probably have increased by 10 million to 20 million.

Cao Xuan has always been cautious in his words and deeds in the entertainment industry and rarely expresses targeted opinions on someone or something.

When it comes to piracy, I hate it with all my heart. It is definitely the first echelon in the industry to fight against piracy, and has repeatedly criticized piracy in public.

The report submitted by Cao Xuan to the Central Musicians Association and the National Youth Committee at the beginning of this year focused on combating piracy.

If one day in the future, Cao Xuan can be elected to the two sessions, combating piracy will definitely be an issue he would like to talk more about...

We talked about the box office issue for a while, which is also a key highlight of the movie "When Men Fall in Love".

Since its release on August 4, it has exceeded 30 million in box office in nearly two weeks. It can be said to be the Chinese love movie with the best box office in recent years.

As for the box office record of Chinese love movies, "When Men Fall in Love" is still far behind.

"Romance in Lushan" was released in 1980. It was a huge hit at the time. It was shown nationwide, with hundreds of millions of moviegoers, and the ticket price was ten cents per ticket. In the end, it accumulated nine figures in the box office, which was not inferior to "Shaolin Temple".

Such an achievement is a milestone even in the history of Chinese-language films. Unless "When Men Fall in Love" now has a box office of over 100 million, it will not be qualified to be compared at all.

But even so, "When a Man Loves" also made many people see the potential of commercial love movies.

The key is that this kind of movie has low cost and high returns, and is a favored project by many film companies. It can be expected that in the next two to three years, there will be many love movies, even focusing on tragedies.

This is not an exaggeration. Two companies have already approached Cao Xuan to inquire about the copyright of classic love songs such as "Fairy Tales", "Those Years" and "Long Time No See", hoping to adapt them into love movies.

The most interesting thing is that a film company also took a fancy to "Your Answer" and wanted to adapt it into a personal biography film of Cao Xuan, and then asked Cao Xuan to star in it.

Cao Xuan even laughed angrily. If he wanted to make a personal biography movie, Fanxing wouldn't have no money, so he would need someone else to adapt it.

But this also reminded him that many of the company's artists want to make movies, and they can choose a few from their IP library and adapt them into low-cost love movies.

The investment is not much, but with the influence of the song, even if you don't make money, you won't lose much.

Shooting two films every few years is a periodic effort, just for the sake of sentimentality. It can not only help newcomers and star artists to improve their qualifications, but also cultivate their own film directors.

Achieve multiple things with one stone!

So while others were thinking about "When Men Are in Love", Fanxing's third film "Fairy Tale" was quietly planned.

The male lead is tentatively chosen to be Qiao Zhenyu, and the female lead is still being considered, but basically we are choosing from among the starry female artists. We will shoot next year and pick a release date for Chinese Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day... to make money.

As for personal biopics, Cao Xuan always feels a little ashamed of himself.

Besides, he is not yet 30 years old and has only just started to rise in life. It is too early to shoot this thing.

Maybe in another twenty or thirty years, Cao Xuan will become famous and even start to retire. Maybe he will make a biographical movie to commemorate himself.

Cao Xuan, who was already half an old man at that time, must have felt something when he looked at his young "self" on the movie screen.

After chatting with the host, the students began to ask questions freely. As a result, the first person named asked questions that made Cao Xuan look more and more like a reporter.

"As far as I know, among the movies released this year, the highest box office was "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" released at the beginning of the year with 52.22 million.

Do you think "When Men Fall in Love" can surpass this movie, or do you think "When Men Fall in Love" is expected to win the box office championship this year? "

"I don't want to tell lies, I really hope so."

Cao Xuan responded happily, but at the same time emphasized: "This wish is not easy to realize."

Then Cao Xuan counted on his fingers and told everyone the difficulties in winning the title of "When Men Are in Love".

"The Matrix 2" has not yet been released, and the box office has already approached 40 million, and "The Matrix 3" will be released around the end of the year. These two movies have strong momentum.

Later there are "The Flying Dragon Reborn" by Cheng Long, "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" by Jiang Wen and Zhao on New Year's Day, and "Hedong Lion's Roar" by Principal Gu and Zhang Yunv.

And the most important thing is that the old partners Feng Xiaogang and Ge You will release a new Chinese New Year movie "Mobile Phone" at the end of the year.

Cao Xuan has a golden finger. Although there are several movies listed above, I know that most of them are not threatening.

Especially the movie "Heroes of Heaven and Earth". Although the outside world regarded it as the successor of "Heroes", and the other party even clamored to break the record of "Heroes", but he knew how weird this movie was and its reputation was ruined.

The mainland box office of 41 million may seem like a lot, but the investment in this movie was as high as 80 million.

The overseas box office that had high hopes was also poor. The North American box office was only 82,000 US dollars, which did not cover the publicity expenses and round-trip air tickets.

Jiang Wen almost didn't get over it, and Zhao was regarded as a box office poison and had been unlucky for several years.

On the contrary, Feng Xiaogang's "Cell Phone" performed steadily and even became his highest-grossing film to date. The Original Spacetime won the annual championship in 2003.

Cao Xuan knew what the media wanted to do. They wanted to hear him blast and hype up the news.

However, Cao Xuan doesn't have much ambition for "When Men Are in Love". It's just Fanxing's first try at the movie. The current results have exceeded his expectations, so normal publicity is enough, and there is not much desire for hype.

The main reason is that he doesn't have much money. Eighteen million is not worth Cao Xuan's cannon, and he is not a quarrelsome person.

Unlike Feng Gangpao, who always criticizes people and says some shocking things every time a movie is released.

Cao Xuan actually doesn't understand this kind of routine. It seems that he has made some small profits, which is good for the box office and has a good reputation, but in fact it offends everyone and ruins his popularity with the public. In the long run, the gains outweigh the losses.

"Why do you want to make a movie like this? Is this story your own idea? I see your name is in the screenwriter column."

"I came up with the original idea, but the script was perfected by everyone. As for why I wanted to make a movie like this, I actually wanted to make a love story about a small character, with sweetness, helplessness, and sadness."

"I am a fan of Hu Jing. I like this movie very much. I have watched it several times. I cry very hard every time. You must be good and don't leave her like in the movie."

"Thank you for your support, but you still have to distinguish between movies and reality. Look at me, am I standing here properly?"

Cao Xuan did not respond directly. Instead, Hu Jing stood up and invited the female fan to the stage for a hug.

Immediately afterwards, a boy came out and said that he was a fan of Hu Jing and wanted to hug him. Cao Xuan pulled Huang Bo over and expressed his suspicion.

"He and I can only choose one hug."

The boy glanced at him a few times, fearing that he might do something dirty, so he ran to hug Huang Bo.

Seeing the boy lose his temper, the atmosphere at the scene became much more lively, and many questions became bolder. Cao Xuan also answered casually.

"how much money you have?"

Cao Xuan: "I shouldn't have to worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation in this life, provided I don't go bankrupt."

"Some people say that you made such a sad movie just to torture your fans. Is that true?"

Cao Xuan: "If I want to torture him, the male and female protagonists should die together."

“How can I be successful like you?”

Cao Xuan: "I'm confused now. I'll teach you after I figure it out."

"I saw many people on the Internet praising your acting skills. Do you think you are a first-class actor now?"

Cao Xuan: "It's a long way away, take your time, I'm still young, don't be in a hurry."

"You've already won a Grammy, so do you still think you're a second-rate singer?"

Cao Xuan: "I think so."

"Who do you think is a top singer or actor?"

Cao Xuan: "Michael Jackson, Madonna, Teacher Liu Huan, Teacher Peng, my master Teacher Li Xuejian, Teacher Chen Daoming, Uncle Ge, Brother Cheng Long, Brother Fa, Master Xing and others from Xiangjiang are all first-class singers in my heart Or actors.”

"When will the English album be released?"

Cao Xuan: "A few more chapters."

"..."

This meeting was still very successful. Cao Xuan and Hu Jing were generous and had no airs. Although some issues were cunning, they were handled with humor. Huang Bo's emotional intelligence was good, and the students found it quite interesting.

At the end of the meeting, many people asked for autographs, and Cao Xuan and others also met some of the requests.

Among them was a boy with the same hairstyle as Cao Xuan and wearing a "Chris Tsao" co-branded T-shirt. He squeezed his way to Cao Xuan, handed over a notebook, and expressed his feelings excitedly and nervously.

"Teacher Cao Xuan, I am your die-hard fan. I can sing all your songs. Now I am singing in a bar. I want to become an excellent singer like you in the future."

Cao Xuan looked up and saw something familiar, so he asked one more question: "What's your name?"

"My name is Zhang Jie, from Sichuan Normal University."

Cao Xuan understood. With a stroke of his pen, he wrote a few blessings, signed his name, and then added one more sentence.

"Our company and Beijing Satellite TV will have a talent show next year called "Tomorrow's Star". If you are interested, you can sign up and give it a try."

Zhang Jie's eyes shone and he couldn't help but nodded wildly: "I will definitely go."

When Hu Jing heard this, she couldn't help but ask on the way back: "Why haven't I heard that the company has this plan?"

"You're not from the variety show department."

Cao Xuan explained that with a golden finger, he knows better than anyone else the draft craze in the next few years.

Various types of talent shows such as "My Style Show", "Super Girl", "Happy Boys" and "Avenue of Stars" have received huge ratings and introduced waves of new singing stars.

"My Style, My Show" is a program of Modu TV, "Super Girl" and "Happy Boy" are key projects of Hunan TV, and there is even a special Tianyu Media.

Even if Cao Xuan knew that these programs were very popular, he could not easily get involved in them. However, he had the money and resources to produce his own programs.

"Tomorrow's Star" is a program that Fanxing is preparing to launch next year. It claims to be discovering and creating a new generation of music stars.

The contestants are open to the whole country, and people will be sent to auditions in various places. After the audition, they will go on TV for preliminary selection, and they will be promoted step by step. Finally, the few newcomers with the strongest comprehensive strength or the highest popularity will be selected.

At that time, not only will there be generous bonuses, Fanxing will also sign a contract with him and create a tailor-made album for him. [Champion] and [Popular King] Cao Xuan will personally write songs for him, and Cao Xuan will recommend him to the Spring Festival Gala program group and is expected to appear on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala.

Let's put it this way, such conditions, coupled with Cao Xuan's prestige among young music lovers.

It is foreseeable that the popularity of "Tomorrow Star" and its attraction to contestants can easily crush "Super Girl" and "My Style, My Show".

This is an opportunity for Fanxing Variety Club to make a name for itself. It is also an opportunity to recruit new talents in the music industry, and it is also an opportunity to launch Fanxing's singers.

Several singers such as Phoenix Legend and Gu Miaomiao have not yet debuted, and they will also be included in the "Stars of Tomorrow" competition this time.

With their professional strength, it is not difficult to advance. Then we will see if they can gain more popularity on the show, and then use it to release a single album and become famous.

Cao Xuan briefly discussed the idea of ​​"Tomorrow's Star", and even Huang Bo was interested in it and wondered whether he should regain his music dream. Hu Jing also thought it was fun.

Seeing this, Cao Xuan thought for a moment: "The plan is to invite some celebrity judges. You are also a popular singer. If you are interested, you can be a judge."

"no problem."

Hu Jing seemed to be really interested in the program and agreed.

The competition system of "Star of Tomorrow" is different from that of "The Voice of China". The judges do not need to be fixed. Several more singers and stars can be invited to take turns.

Cao Xuan still has a lot of friends in the music industry, Wei Wei, Tian Zhen, Liu Huan, Wang Fei, Xiao Zhou, Tan Jing, and Eason Chan can all make guest appearances.

In this kind of talent show, if the contestants want to be popular, they must at least be in the middle and late stages. If they want to catch people in the early stages, it all depends on the judges.

Cao Xuan even considered whether to invite two judges with bad tempers or sharp tongues. Such judges have always been the highlight of the show.

However, it is okay to use harsh words, but it is best not to personally attack and insult the contestants. It goes against the original intention of the program and will also bring bad reputation to the stars.

After all, if this program is to be officially launched, it will take at least the summer vacation next year. There is still plenty of time, and details will be added later.

In the next few days, Cao Xuan and other main creators went to Guangdong and Guangxi provinces again, and the time came to August 20th.

The best box-office harvesting period for "When Men Fall in Love" is over, and the road show in some big cities in China has basically been completed. The rest, apart from regular publicity, relies on a steady flow of water.

Cao Xuan didn't have to travel around the country anymore, but he immediately recorded the MV for the English album around the world, waiting for him to come back.

"When Men Fall in Love" has a box office of 48 million, surpassing "The Matrix 2" and becoming the 2003 summer box office champion.

"The Dragon Reborn", which has high hopes, was released on August 15. Relying on Cheng Long's fame, it has a box office of 25 million, which can only be said to be acceptable.

The Hollywood box office performance that Cheng Long focused on promoting was not ideal, with only 22 million US dollars. Although it is considerable in conversion, the cost of the film was 300 million Hong Kong dollars, which was not enough even after the box office was divided.

The worst thing was in Xiangjiang, where the box office was only US$929,000, which is less than 8 million yuan converted into RMB.

You know, even Cao Xuan's "When Men Are in Love" has a box office of more than 6 million in Hong Kong.

You know, because it is a Cantonese-speaking area, Xiangjiang is the place where Cao Xuan has the least influence in Greater China. It is also the first film of a newcomer, so the box office appeal is limited.

But even so, Cao Xuan has won more than 6 million at the box office, which is no more than 1 million behind "The Dragon Reborn".

In fact, Cheng Long's "The Flying Dragon Reborn" was originally intended to save the market, and the name also has a metaphorical meaning. He hoped that the flying dragon in Hong Kong films would be reborn, but it was severely damaged.

This movie was so bad at the local box office in Hong Kong that it ranks high even among all of Cheng Long's movies.

It was also from this time that although Cheng Long has not given up the idea of ​​saving the Hong Kong film industry for the time being, his focus has begun to shift to the mainland.

After the unsatisfactory results of "Around the World in Eighty Days", Cheng Long chose to return to China for development. Several films were targeted at the mainland market.

Brother Cheng Long was in trouble in his career, and "The Rebirth of the Flying Dragon" was ridiculed by the crowd.

Cao Xuan's "When Men Are in Love" is blossoming everywhere. In addition to the popularity in the domestic market, the data in overseas markets are also good.

More than 6 million in Xiangjiang!

Taiwan Province 12 million!

Singapore has more than 5 million!

Over 10 million in Japan!

South Korea has the best performance, with more than one million cumulative views. It is also considered a popular movie in South Korea.

…

Adding up the bits and pieces, the total overseas box office of "When Men Are in Love" even exceeds that of the mainland market.

On September 14, 2003, "When a Man Loves" was officially launched in China.

The total box office was 52.4 million, narrowly surpassing "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and temporarily ranking first in the mainland box office rankings this year.

The overseas market did not end until November, with funds collected as high as 78.44 million.

The total box office revenue of "When Men Are in Love" exceeded 130 million. Although some box office shares were not high, some even simply sold the copyright directly and only received the buyout fee.

But after a rough calculation, Fanxing was able to make a profit of around 40 million in the end.

Other expenses such as copyrights, DVDs, etc. can also make some money. Excluding the cost, Fanxing's movie has made a good start in the first shot.