PNB Chapter 56: Filming Begins for "Lost in Thailand"
Chapter 56: Filming Begins for "Lost in Thailand"
In the fifth week, the box office of "Lost on Journey" continued to decline, falling below the 10 million mark.
990 million!
Cumulative box office: 38290 million!
Those who were supposed to see it have basically seen it.
In addition, the impact of new movies such as "Kung Fu Panda" has led to a significant drop in the number of screenings for "Lost in Thailand".
Further down the list, screenings will decrease.
Because "Red Cliff Part I" is about to be released!
The number of screenings available for "Lost in Thailand" will be even smaller.
Moreover, by this time, the box office potential of "Lost in Thailand" had been almost completely exhausted.
Sure enough, "Lost in Thailand" only grossed 450 million yuan in its sixth week and 260 million yuan in its seventh week.
The film "Lost on Journey" has finished its run, with its box office totaling 39000 million yuan!
Gu Qingshan specially held another celebration banquet at a five-star hotel in Beijing and gave Xu Zheng, Wang Baoqiang and others a red envelope again.
This celebration banquet was purely for the purpose of celebrating, with no intention of publicity, and not a single media reporter was invited.
At that time, the media spotlight was on "Kung Fu Panda" and "Red Cliff Part I"!
Of course, with the Olympics drawing ever closer, Olympic-related topics accounted for more than half of the discussions.
The next day, at Huairou Film and Television City.
The press conference for the start of filming of "Lost in Thailand" was held at a five-star hotel.
The popularity of "Lost on Journey" ignited the entire month of June, and the launch press conference for "Lost on Journey: Thailand" naturally attracted the attention of the entire industry.
Inside the grand banquet hall, dozens of photographers were scattered around, and a large number of reporters and industry professionals gathered together.
"As expected of a famously quick shooter, filming started immediately after the movie finished its run in theaters."
"Making movies is so lucrative, one movie can earn hundreds of millions. If I were in that situation, I would be motivated to make a new movie right away."
"Wow, nearly 4 million at the box office, that's really impressive."
"I heard they held a victory celebration yesterday, a really wild celebration."
"Of course, we've made so much money, we definitely need to celebrate."
The crowd whispered amongst themselves, waiting for the press conference to begin.
At 10:00 a.m., Gu Qingshan led the main cast into the venue, and Han Sanping attended in person, which shows the importance he attaches to "Lost in Thailand".
The film company invested 300 million yuan in "Lost in Thailand", accounting for 20% of the box office revenue. The box office share alone reached 2861.04 million yuan, with a return on investment of 954%!
Not to mention, China Film Group also makes a profit from distribution and other aspects.
This time, China Film Group invested another 600 million yuan in "Lost in Thailand", accounting for 20% of the box office revenue.
Tu Jingwei hosted the press conference for the start of filming of the new movie "Lost in Thailand".
Tu Jingwei first reviewed "Lost in Thailand" to warm up the audience, and then invited the main creative team to the stage.
Han Sanping, representing China Film Group, spoke first, "Thank you to all the media friends for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend the press conference for the launch of 'Lost in Thailand,' a film produced by China Film Group and Qingshan Film & Television..."
His speech was met with enthusiastic applause from the audience.
There was no way around it; this was none other than Master Han, the head of China Film Group.
Gu Qingshan introduced the background of the creation of "Lost in Thailand" and the cast.
Xu Lang — Xu Zheng.
Wang Bao—Wang Baoqiang.
Gao Bo — Huang Bo.
Secretary – Chai Biyun.
Flight attendant – Che Xiao.
An'an—Tao Hong.
Of course, the ones with the most screen time are Xu Zheng, Wang Baoqiang, and Huang Bo!
The other female characters all had very little screen time.
For "Lost in Thailand," Xu Zheng received a salary of 4 million yuan, a five-fold increase. This salary is second only to Ge You in the mainland market, making him a top-tier male star. Wang Baoqiang received 2.5 million yuan, a more than four-fold increase, also placing him firmly in the top-tier male star's salary category.
Currently, the starting salary for top-tier actors in mainland China is 100 million yuan, with Ge You receiving the highest salary at 500 million yuan.
As for actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Chow Yun-fat, whose film salaries exceed 100 million, Gu Qingshan certainly couldn't afford them and wouldn't bother to hire them.
Even big stars who command tens of millions, twenty million, or even thirty million in film fees don't warrant a second glance from Gu Qingshan.
Of the three lead actors, Huang Bo received the lowest salary, at 40 yuan.
In 2006, Huang Bo rose to fame for his role in Ning Hao's film "Crazy Stone". However, "Crazy Racer" had not yet been released at that time, and Huang Bo's salary was not high.
Faced with the film "Lost in Thailand," Huang Bo agreed without hesitation.
Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang's great success made him extremely envious.
As long as it becomes a hit, what does that little bit of pay matter?
Gu Qingshan offered Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang high salaries, which meant that he would get the meat while they also got some meat soup.
Furthermore, the film "Lost in Thailand" featured 15 product placements, generating over 5000 million yuan in revenue.
In addition, the Thai government gave "Lost in Thailand" 3000 million baht.
The reason why the Thai government is so generous is naturally because Thailand urgently needs to change people's impressions of Thailand in order to attract tourists to the country.
The events of 2006 were a devastating blow to Thailand, and the global financial crisis triggered by the US subprime mortgage crisis further devastated the country, leading to a sharp decline in the number of tourists visiting Thailand.
Among the world's major economies, China performed the best during the financial crisis.
Thailand is eager to attract Chinese tourists to boost its economy.
Then came the Q&A session with reporters.
One of the reporters from the Sixth Princess got the first chance to ask a question. She asked, "Director Gu, this is your fourth film. Do you think 'Lost in Thailand' can break the box office record set by 'Lost on Journey'?"
"Records are meant to be broken; no record can stand forever," Gu Qingshan said. "The box office performance of 'Lost in Thailand' is determined by the audience. As the director, my responsibility is to make a good film."
"Director Gu, have Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang's salaries increased?" a reporter asked.
Gu Qingshan smiled and said, "You'll have to ask them both about this."
"I have to thank Director Gu for raising my salary; I'm very satisfied with it," Xu Zheng said with a smile.
It can be said that the salary Gu Qingshan gave him was beyond his expectations, and he was genuinely very satisfied with it.
A salary of 400 million is top-tier in mainland China.
Wang Baoqiang smiled憨厚ly and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Director Gu. I would be willing to work on Director Gu's films even without pay."
His highest paycheck was 250 million yuan.
He has never received this much in total since his debut.
"Huang Bo, this is your first time working with Director Gu. What are your thoughts?" a reporter asked Huang Bo.
Huang Bo grinned and said, "When I received Director Gu's call, I was completely stunned. I am very grateful to Director Gu for giving me this opportunity. I will definitely do my best to perform well and not let Director Gu down."
Huang Bo cherished this opportunity very much.
He drank with Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang in private and already knew their film salaries, which made Huang Bo very envious.
Originally, everyone was in the same boat, and their pay was about the same.
Good heavens, now he's the only one left who's a loser.
The press conference lasted for two hours before it ended. The media reporters received their travel expenses and left, all rushing to finish their reports.
As for Gu Qingshan, he led everyone to hold the opening ceremony.
They started filming by praying to the gods, and then everyone took photos as souvenirs. Gu Qingshan didn't start filming, since it was already lunchtime and he had to eat.
This opening banquet will be quite lavish, comparable only to the wrap party for a movie.
The sacrificial animals used for worshipping the gods were all turned into dishes.