China Entertainment 1997

On December 18, Feng Xiaogang's new movie "If You Are the One" was released, kicking off the Lunar New Year season.

The title "If You Are the One" was originally thought by Feng Xiaogang for several months, and was finally inspired by a marriage advertisement. The original program "If You Are the One" was originally created to take advantage of the popularity of other people's movies.

However, now that the Starry version of "If You Are the One" has been aired several years in advance, it's hard to say who is taking advantage of whom.

It is said that Feng Xiaogang once wanted to change the title of the film, but he could not think of a good replacement. In addition, the Huayi Wang brothers also wanted to gain popularity, so they negotiated with Fanxing.

The two parties discussed and decided to cooperate. The crew can use this name, but they must add product placement and related plots of the "If You Are the One" program in the movie, and subsequent movies can also use the popularity of the program to promote it.

The Wang brothers want the popularity of the program team, and the program team is also interested in the traffic of Feng Xiaogang's new movie.

You must know that Feng is one of the top directors in the mainland, and his films have attracted a lot of attention and influence. Reaching a cooperation will also be beneficial to the program team.

And it doesn’t matter if you don’t cooperate. Although “If You Are the One” is not an idiom, it is a word well known to the public.

The "If You Are the One" program team has also imposed certain restrictions, but similar to the copyright of the program itself, it does not mean that others cannot use this word.

Of course, in principle, both parties can file a lawsuit and accuse each other of harming their own interests, but this would outweigh the gains and losses. It is better to cooperate and each get what they need.

The movie "If You Are the One" has typical Feng's humor, but there is not so much comedy, but the scenery is first-rate.

This is not surprising. Many of the house scenes in this movie are embedded with advertisements, including foreign wine, cars, cruise ships, credit cards, mobile phones, websites, coffee shops, laptops, Hangzhou scenic spots, real estate, etc., with a cumulative advertising fee of more than 20 million yuan.

You must know that the total investment in this movie is only 50 million yuan, and half of the cost will be recovered directly.

Of course, Cao Xuan has no shame in criticizing others. Although his "Hurricane Rescue" does not have as many advertisements as "If You Are the One", its income is even better.

Samsung, Pepsi and a car advertisement alone have brought in tens of millions of yuan, and the level of profit is much greater than that of the Wang brothers.

But there is one thing to say. Although Cao Xuan is making money, he is still restrained. Implantation is implantation and will not affect the movie itself. Moreover, most of them are modern urban films with advertisements, ancient costumes or other inappropriate themes, which are basically not suitable. Advertisements will appear in the main film,

But Huayi and Feng Xiaogang were a little bit aloof.

The first part of "If You Are the One" was okay, but the second part was called "Unscrupulous". Nearly 20 brands were embedded in one movie, and the total advertising revenue reached more than 60 million, which almost paid back directly.

It was jokingly said that it was not a product placement in a movie, but a commercial film...

But this is also his ability. How many directors want to have this commercial appeal, but companies and brands still don't care about him.

"If You Are the One" has good box office data. It grossed almost 100 million in its first week, and its performance in the second week was also eye-catching.

Before the release of Huayi and Feng Xiaogang, it was expected to be 200 million, but now it is expected to reach 300 million, and it suddenly started shaking.

Especially Feng Xiaogang, he has suffered a lot these past few years!

He is the first well-known commercial director in the Mainland. In 1997, "Party A and Party B" was able to make money. He was the one who heated up the market from the very beginning of the Lunar New Year movie.

As a result, Lao Mouzi's "Hero" directly stole all the limelight with a total global box office of 1.65 billion yuan, becoming the number one commercial director in the mainland.

Later, stars emerged, and Xu Laoguai and Cao Xuan teamed up to make a lot of hits. The former directed the "Xiuchundao" series, "Seven Swords" and "Painted Skin", which grossed less than 1 billion at the box office, and is known as the number one director in Hong Kong.

Although Feng Xiaogang has produced masterpieces such as "Assembly" and "A World Without Thieves" in the past two years, he has always been firmly suppressed. Although the box office is high, it is not particularly impressive in the face of major hits.

Not to mention Zhang and Xu, there is also Ning Hao, a rising star among the stars. The two parts of "Crazy" have gained both word-of-mouth and box office success, and are also compared to the comedy predecessor Feng Xiaogang by the outside world.

Feng Pants was quite sulky about this.

Lao Mouzi let it go. Although he was not convinced, his achievements were here.

In his opinion, Old Monster Xu relied on Cao Xuan for half of his achievements. With the help of external forces, no matter how good the data was, it was still a weak victory.

Ning Hao is indeed talented, but his qualifications and achievements are too low. When will it be his turn to be compared with him.

However, his previous box office data has never had a major breakthrough, which has led to him becoming the target of many people. Now "If You Are the One" is expected to exceed 300 million, finally entering the first echelon of box office.

Director Feng Da was so high-spirited that he even proposed the so-called rate of return.

Chinese-language films that also had a box office of over RMB 300 million, "A City of Golden Armor", "Painted Skin" and "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" Part 1, all had huge investments, with the least "Painted Skin" claiming to cost over RMB 100 million.

In comparison, the investment in "If You Are the One" was only 50 million, including embedded advertising. The actual cost was more than 20 million, and the net profit gained was doubled.

Of course, Feng Pants didn’t just say that he was great at making money, but also wanted to show that he could make a big difference out of his small efforts.

Obtaining super high box office at the lowest cost shows that you are very capable and can be a box office hit without spending money. It means that the box office hits of Lao Mouzi and others are not gold-rich.

A little more connotation, it may involve publicity and distribution expenses, secretly indicating that the so-called large-scale production means spending money on marketing and publicity, while word of mouth is king.

Old Monster Xu was filming and didn't respond. His wife, Mr. Shi, came out and said a few words about the situation.

Lao Mouzi was on vacation + working on a new script, and ignored Feng Xiaogang at all, but Boss Zhang in the new scene was not a good person and responded directly.

"Feng Xiaogang said that he was so small and powerful that he seemed to be awesome. In fact, he had no ability to play big scenes. If he really didn't want to make a blockbuster, why did he fail to make "The Night Banquet" when he was filming it? .”

Regardless of whether it was for publicity or not, he was really annoyed. Feng Xiaogang transformed into Feng Dapao and confronted Boss Zhang.

"He said that I failed in the filming of "The Night Banquet", but the rating of "The Night Banquet" on Time.com was higher than that of "House of Flying Daggers", and that this drama made money for investors. Please explain to me, Boss Zhang, what does it mean that the filming was a failure? .

If Boss Zhang doesn't understand movies, you can ask Yimou for advice. It's not shameful to be uneducated, it's shameful to show off. "

Boss Zhang was not a vegetarian and he immediately spat back. Director Feng Da was not to be outdone. At the end of 2008, the two started a scolding war with the media through Weibo.

If we talk about the yin and yang connotations and counterattacks at first, and the suspicion of hype, later the scolding became really hot, and even exposed each other's faults.

Boss Zhang said that Feng Pengtong was just Wang Shuo's lackey. He had been flattering others for several years and finally rose to power by stealing scripts. Vitiligo was his retribution.

Feng Trousers scolded Boss Zhang as a fool who sells box lunches, saying that the boss is just a blood-sucking insect who relies on sucking Lao Mouzi's blood. Sooner or later, he will be kicked by Lao Mouzi and get out of the circle.

Since the launch of Weibo in August, Penguin has continued to attract traffic and expand its influence and users. In nearly half a year, it has slowly caught up with Penguin Blog.

With the development of mobile networks and the continuous operation of Penguin, it is foreseeable that Weibo will surpass blogs next year and become the most popular social platform nowadays.

Coupled with the real-time news and hot searches, and under the leadership of Cao Xuan, a large number of celebrities began to shift their main positions to Weibo, and Weibo has become a holy place for first-hand gossip.

In the past, Weibo users were also the main group of people who hid fat people's melons. However, despite the amount of gossip, they were still not as good as this scolding war.

It’s not that they are more influential than the previous ones, but that the main battlefield of this scolding war is Weibo.

In the early stage, both parties relied on the media to vent their anger. Later, Feng Xiaogang started to complain directly on Weibo. Boss Zhang responded through the media. After realizing that it was not enough, he also opened Weibo himself.

It only took 14 minutes for the Weibo backend to complete the VIP registration for him, and then pushed the account to the homepage and listed it as a hot search. In less than a day, it gained 300,000 followers.

Countless netizens who were waiting to eat melon praised the efficiency of the Weibo staff.

With Weibo, there is no need for the media to be an intermediary. After one person complains, the other person will retaliate. People who eat melons are very happy to see it. They even ask questions in the comment area, and the owner may reply directly.

For example, Boss Zhang confirmed some unsavory past events in the comments section about Feng Pants fawning over Wang Shuo and Beijing Circle.

Feng Pengtong responded to fan Lao Mouzi's breakup with Gong Li, and Boss Zhang was involved in the incident, and was even the instigator.

As a result, Wang Shuo and other friends of Feng Pants signed up Weibo to clarify for Feng Pants, and besieged Boss Zhang. Boss Zhang also had his own friends who responded wildly.

At the end of the day, not to mention the crowd was overjoyed, even the person in charge of Penguin Weibo couldn't help but hold the two of them in their arms and give them a kiss.

This scolding battle between the two has added millions of new users to Weibo and exposed countless news. This is an effect that they may not be able to achieve even if they spend money.

………

Cao Xuan is also one of the followers. He eats melon every day without being beaten, which is a blessing. It takes a lot of pressure from rehearsing sketches for him.

That's right, Cao Xuan was still invited to "Not Short of Money".

The director of this year's Spring Festival Gala is Lang Kun, an old acquaintance of Cao Xuan. The two collaborated on the 2005 Spring Festival Gala, which is now known as one of the most successful Spring Festival Galas.

The two had a good personal relationship. He personally asked for help from Lao Zhao, and even roped in a deputy director of CCTV to intercede. Cao Xuan was too embarrassed to refuse, so he agreed.

However, he did not help Lao Zhao in vain. In addition to taking the opportunity to get Lao Zhao to agree to a few film appointments, he also tried to coax him to participate in a show.

He had imagined before what it would be like for top comedians like Lao Zhao and Xiao Hei Fatty to compete on the same stage.

But at this time, the little black fat man can say that Lao Zhao has become famous, so he may not nod easily. After all, the king of sketches is here. It is natural to win, but it will be embarrassing to lose.

But now that Cao Xuan has obtained Lao Zhao's favor, the chance of persuading him has greatly increased.

With Lao Zhao and Xiao Hei Fat in the lead, and a few well-known stars, the show is ready. It will definitely be the ceiling lineup in the comedy industry, and it will be a top-notch lineup.

Even if you don't do "Happy Comedian", a comedy competition for famous comedians, it would be good to do "Swordsman" with Lao Zhao as a mentor.

The music talent show is almost done, but the comedy talent show is completely blank.

But no matter what kind of show he asks Lao Zhao to do, now he will help Lao Zhao perform sketches first.

With the guidance and help of Cao Xuan, the general structure of the sketch is not much different from the original version, except that Cao Xuan is not the host of "Avenue of Stars", but the producer of "The Voice of China".

CCTV originally wanted to let Cao Xuan play the role of producer of "Avenue of Stars". After all, this is a CCTV program.

But Cao Xuan insisted on using "The Voice of China". I was already selling my face and acting in sketches, and it was not enough to advertise.

In the end, CCTV was still reluctant to let Cao and Zhao join forces and agreed to use the "Voice of China" brand. Cao Xuan also successfully helped advertise his own program on CCTV.

He even considered whether to ask for advertising fees from Beijing TV.

You must know that CCTV Spring Festival Gala advertisements are all very expensive. Yuan Shikong’s 2010 Liu Qian Magic advertisement for Huiyuan Juice earned CCTV 60 million yuan.

Cao Xuan and Lao Zhao, two big names in the Spring Festival Gala, join forces to invite external bids for advertisements, and getting tens of millions in advertising fees is just like having fun.

However, given CCTV's character, even if there are advertising fees, the money may not reach Cao Xuan's hands, so I don't bother to say more.

This year's Spring Festival Gala is on January 25th, and the script of "Not Short of Money" was not written until January 5th.

In other words, there are only 20 days of rehearsal time for a few people. Even so, Cao Xuan still has time to rehearse another singing program.

Lao Zhao was under great pressure and spent a long time recruiting Cao Xuan to help out. He wanted to make this show more exciting, otherwise such a luxurious lineup would be wasted.

With less and less time, he became more worried and anxious. He constantly adjusted the script every day, adding and deleting burdens. When he was most anxious, he didn't sleep for nearly four days.

It's not that I don't want to sleep, it's that I can't sleep at all. I'm very sleepy. I squint for a while to rest my mind, then get up and continue acting.

Cao Xuan watched from the side and was secretly speechless. Fortunately, he was a singer. If the sketch actor really couldn't survive the Spring Festival Gala for more than ten years, whether he could overcome the pressure or not was secondary. The key was that there was no need to suffer this.

In the sketch "Not Short of Money", everyone knows that the sketch is about Lao Zhao, and Cao Xuan is the mascot, not the core of the sketch.

After the skit was performed, Cao Xuan followed suit. The one who took the blame for the bad performance was Lao Zhao. It had nothing to do with Cao Xuan, the helper, so he was the one with the least pressure in the entire sketch crew.

At least it didn't delay his sleep. When he got home at night, he could still take care of the children and pay the public food...

However, on January 15th, Cao Xuan still asked for a leave from Lao Zhao.

For his sketch, Cao Xuan delayed a lot of the promotion of "Save Mr. My Life".

This movie is scheduled to be released on January 28, which is the third day of the Lunar New Year. The market for the Spring Festival movie has not yet been fully cultivated. At best, people will not bet on it during the Spring Festival, and not on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Although Cao Xuan doesn't mind taking the lead, at least it has to be a commercial blockbuster that can attract audiences.

"Saving Mr. Me" is originally a literary film that focuses on awards. The box office basically depends on Cao Xuan's personal appeal. It is really unrealistic to expect such a film to be released on the first day of the new year and start the Spring Festival.

Considering that the Spring Festival Gala can also bring publicity to the film, Cao Xuancai can ignore most of the conventional publicity, but he cannot do without any publicity.

So Cao Xuan simply contacted him, and the entire crew went directly to the most popular program "The Voice of China" to promote it.

………

"Huo Hua, Zhang Ze, Qian Yuan."

Cao Xuan greeted several actors from the crew. Actually, they didn't appear much today, so they came to cheer.

Originally, Cao Xuan only called the last two. They were not well-known, so it would be nice to show up on such a flagship show. Liu Huohua was also a popular niche, so it didn't matter whether he showed up or not.

But this guy still joined in the fun. Cao Xuan didn't call him. When he heard the news, he ran over and went to the show to share the truth happily.

"I watch that show every day. Can you let me try out the instructor's chair later and post on Weibo? My wife also likes to watch it. I will definitely envy her to death."

"Your wife? Last time I heard Hu Jing said you would get married next year?"

"Well, the hotel is being booked. As expected it will be summer."

"Congratulations, I'll send you an invitation then, I'll definitely be there."

"It goes without saying that if your whole family comes, I'll save a place for you."

Liu Guohua and Cao Xuan were fairly familiar with each other, and they were even more familiar with the East and West Palaces. After all, they were classmates for four years in college, and they usually got along well. If there was no emergency for him to get married, he would definitely be there.

But the one who is more powerful has to be Yuan Quan. She and Xia Yu have also decided to get married next year. They have appointed the East and West Palaces as bridesmaids and Cao Xuan as Xia Yu's best man.

In addition to Penguin and being the best man for his cousin twice in high school, this is the third time Cao Xuan has been the best man.

Their family of three acted as green leaves for Yuan Quan and his wife, and these two people gained a lot of face...

A few people were chatting about the recording site of The Voice of China, which was at a studio in Beijing. When Cao Xuan arrived, the director and producer of The Voice of China came out to greet him.

"boss."

"Thank you for your hard work. I knew the process just now. I said I hid it from several instructors. Did you hide it?"

"Hide it."

The director smiled and said: "Except for a few of us, even the photographer and host Hua Shao have just gained trust. I have already told them that I guarantee that the instructor and the audience will not be clear before going on stage."

"That's good."

Cao Xuan nodded: "It's too fake when it comes to acting. Only by hiding it can you have surprises and the effect will be better."

"Boss, in addition to hiding it from everyone, we have another plan. Because your voice is so recognizable, you may be recognized by several instructors with just your mouth. So we plan... this will be more effective."

"Just do as you say."

Cao Xuan readily agreed. He had overlooked this before. As the first person in the Chinese music scene, although his voice was not very personal, people familiar with it could easily identify it.

In order not to reveal the secret by opening one's mouth and to produce some program effects, necessary disguise is indispensable.

After discussing the process, Cao Xuan and the four of them hid in a small lounge. After the show officially started recording, the four of them ran to the red carpet outside and walked around as an appearance.

Then Liu Huohua and the three of them went to the family area backstage to wait, while Cao Xuancai waited beside the stage to come on stage.

When the lights dimmed, Cao Xuan, wearing a simple long windbreaker, appeared on the stage. The faint light hit his face. All the audience who saw him were stunned, and then burst into warm cheers.

So the four instructors with their backs to the stage frowned. The show has basically reached the final stage of auditions. The audience responded similarly and they also figured out some tricks.

For example, some performances with special images, high contrast, and outstanding singing performances will have a more intense reaction from the audience.

But no matter how intense it was, it was still not as good as it was today. It was as if it had exploded. In the past, some players had performed at a god-level performance, and the audience's reaction was about the same, or even slightly worse.

Cao Xuan was also startled. He quickly raised his index finger to his lips for fear of revealing his secret, and pointed at the four mentors. The meaning was self-evident.

The audience cooperated one after another. Although the cheers were still loud, no one called out the name.

And when the four instructors were still confused, the melody came in, which was Cao Xuan's masterpiece "The Wind Rises".

Cao Xuan deliberately lowered his throat to find a strange voice state, and then deliberately broke the key of the words. When the student should be high, he was low, and when he should be low, he even had broken sounds, trying to keep every word out of tune.

"On this... road... go... stop and go

Follow the traces of the young man drifting

The moment before stepping out of the station

There was…some hesitation

…”

When Cao Xuan played like this, the audience at the scene had even more fun, cheering and booing.

No matter how slow the reaction of the four instructors was, they realized something was wrong at this time. The stage auditions for "The Voice of China" were all carefully selected, and it was impossible for such a contestant to appear.

Liu Huan and Ren Xianqi shook their heads and laughed. Han Hong looked around to find out who it was. Eason Chen closed his eyes and listened to the analysis with his own ears.

The four instructors guessed and guessed, each with their own imagination, but they were still unsure. Until the chorus stage, the smile on Cao Xuan's face stopped, he stopped causing trouble, and went all out, and his clear and magnetic voice suddenly resounded throughout the audience. .

“I once had a hard time extricating myself from the size of the world

I also indulged in it and talked in my sleep.

No truth or falsehood, no struggle, no fear of jokes

I once turned my youth into her

I also had summer popping up at my fingertips

Whatever your heart moves, just go with it.

…”

After more than ten years of training and study, especially in the European music scene in recent years, Cao Xuan's singing skills have been greatly improved.

It may not be as good as those talented wizards, but it is definitely at the top level in the industry. I dare say it is [S+], but as long as it performs normally, it is barely an [S].

Putting aside those national teams, those in the Chinese music world who dare to beat Cao Xuan in rap performance are only a few dozen.

King Cao Tianwang went all out, and it was definitely a musical feast. The audience applauded wildly, and the four instructors knew who it was almost instantly.

Chen Yixun, who had already guessed, almost immediately pressed his seat and turned around as soon as Cao Xuan spoke the first few words, laughing and pointing to the stage with both hands.

Liu Huan and Ren Xianqi followed closely behind, almost turning around one after another. Han Hong was last, but only a few seconds behind.

Feeling the four instructors turn around, Liu Huohua from the family area backstage pulled Zhang Ze and others to celebrate enthusiastically and cheered excitedly.

"Ah ah ah, all four instructors have turned around and can advance!"

The host Hua Shao on the side was very speechless. Isn't this just stealing the spotlight?

Cao Xuan ignored the outside world. Since he had returned to normal, he sang well and finished the entire song "The Wind Rises".

All four mentors stood up, Liu Huan clapped softly, and the other three waved their hands to cooperate, especially Chen Yixun. One was so excited. Those who knew knew that he was a mentor, and those who didn't thought he was a fan.

Well, that's not wrong, he was originally Cao Xuan's fanboy.

After singing the song, Cao Xuan looked like a newbie who was scared, and bowed slightly: "Hello, teachers."

Several instructors who had planned to communicate immediately understood after hearing this, and sat down one after another, and Han Hong, who was half the host, asked.

"Introduce yourself."

"OK."

Amid the laughter at the scene, Cao Xuan said cautiously: "My name is Cao Xuan. I am 33 years old. I am a singer and actor by profession, and sometimes I do small business."

"Hey~"

The audience couldn't help but booed, and several instructors laughed. Liu Huan, who had the best relationship with him, made fun of him.

"A second-rate singer and a third-rate businessman, right?"

"No no."

Cao Xuan waved his hands repeatedly with a humble look on his face and said, "If you don't join the mainstream, you will just make a living."

"Hey~"

This time, even the four instructors couldn't help it and booed him along with the entire audience.

————

ps: Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. I wish everyone a healthy Dragon Boat Festival and a happy Children’s Day...