Reasoned and Well-Founded

The leader in charge of the market could not stand it any longer.

Everyone had basically figured it out. Shen Shanden was young, but his mouth was huge. He really knew how to talk big.

No matter how talented he was, he could not act like this!

"Comrade Xiao Shen, last year, our total annual box office was less than three billion. Do you know what one billion means?"

Han Sanping added, "It should have been around 2.6 billion. First place was Curse of the Golden Flower, and second was A Night to Remember."

Han Sanping's secretary also chimed in, "One billion would mean taking more than a third of the China Film Market."

Zhou Qifeng wanted to find a pile of sand and bury his head in it.

Just a few casual remarks, and the pressure came crashing down on him. Zhou Qifeng was a little terrified.

These were all big shots!

If these people were sent out, every last one of them would be a major figure in the China Film Market.

They only seemed unremarkable because they were standing before Han Sanping.

They seemed easygoing because they could tell Han Sanping appreciated Shen Shanden.

Especially after Ode to the Great Ming, Han Sanping had praised Shen Shanden far too highly and said far too much, even becoming a little overly enthusiastic.

Zhou Qifeng glanced at Shen Shanden from the corner of his eye and sucked in a cold breath.

Facing the doubts, Shen Shanden spoke calmly and unhurriedly.

"First of all, my film will be a costume blockbuster with substance and backbone, a thoroughgoing historical epic."

"Judging from the box-office trend, Curse of the Golden Flower probably will not reach 300 million, though it will come close."

"When Embroidered Spring Blade: The Sun and Moon Reopen comes out, it will not be hard for it to earn three times what Curse of the Golden Flower makes. That would be 900 million."

"Sigh, it is not one billion, but it is close enough."

From that perspective, Shen Shanden sounded somewhat regretful and let out a sigh.

Everyone was speechless!

Holy shit!

He could really talk big!

He was really putting on airs!

A Shandong native was not supposed to be like this. Where was that honest, down-to-earth nature?

Shen Shanden remained composed and spoke with confidence.

"Embroidered Spring Blade: The Sun and Moon Reopen has many standout plotlines. Let me name a few important ones."

"The first, and the one running through the whole story, is the growth of the three protagonists. I will make it incredibly satisfying, bringing out the thrill of crossing class barriers and following Zhu Yuanzhang to build an empire."

"If this point is handled well, it will be no weaker than Curse of the Golden Flower. What is Curse of the Golden Flower, anyway? It looks like it has a star-studded cast, but its plot is a mess, and it was even adapted from Thunderstorm."

Han Sanping told him to watch his words. "Can you stop putting others down? Are you even criticizing Thunderstorm?"

"Sorry." Shen Shanden admitted his mistake, then said, "Thunderstorm is of course great. Its story structure is classic, but Curse of the Golden Flower is still a Western-style story."

"This kind of sensational ethical drama subtly caters to outsiders' stereotypes. And the result? A disastrous overseas box office."

Shen Shanden sneered.

The leader in charge of the market retorted, "In recent years, Hollywood has also grown tired of legendary epic blockbusters. People are not even interested in ancient European history, so how could they possibly care about Chinese epics?"

Shen Shanden said, "We are not an epic. We are real history turned by a director into a fictional story."

"Second, I think that statement is still too mild. You can tell from how closed-off the United States television industry is that the United States is not merely uninterested in us. It is uninterested in anything outside the United States."

"And judging from how old Europe keeps cozying up to our Sixth Generation directors, using every kind of fund to invest in films full of profanity and subsidizing art-house cinema, they do not want our culture spreading either."

"Yet under such complete lack of interest, from 2000 to 2005, Hollywood opened its market wide to us."

"And it just so happened that when we entered the WTO market, they treated films as one of their main demands, placing them alongside major sectors like finance, insurance, and banking."

Everyone was shocked again.

Shen Shanden had just condemned the entire Sixth Generation with one sweeping stroke.

Han Sanping was rather intrigued. Shen Shanden was arrogant, but some of his ideas suited Han Sanping's tastes quite well.

Put plainly, films might not be that large in terms of market size, but in terms of influence, cultural security, and ideology, they were extremely important.

Han Sanping added, "Costume blockbusters actually sell well overseas. Back then, Hero was sold in the European and American markets, especially the United States, not through revenue sharing but outright buyouts, and the price was not high."

Shen Shanden was startled. "So our costume blockbusters, built around Western cores, were never that profitable from the very beginning?"

"This is... a little too cheap."

Everyone sucked in a cold breath.

He had just condemned the entire Fifth Generation as well.

Young man, do not be so high-spirited!

"Watch your wording. Show some respect for your seniors." Han Sanping merely gave Shen Shanden a light reminder before agreeing, "The United States is very good at exploiting its market advantage. If a film succeeds in the United States, it draws attention all over the world."

"American cultural controls are very strict. Combined with its market advantage, films from other countries that want to enter the American market have to accept harsh demands for low-priced copyright buyouts."

"Producers often lean toward accepting because once they gain fame in the United States, they can earn it back from other markets."

"The cold reception for costume blockbusters also has something to do with our desire for revenue sharing."

Shen Shanden was dumbfounded!

In his previous life, he had seen a news report saying that films from other countries charged very high distribution fees to be screened in China.

The reason was that the Chinese market was large, so they demanded more.

That was also why some foreign films, such as Japanese animated movies, were not released domestically. Their asking prices were too high.

So that was how it was.

When the domestic film market was large, they had to pay others high distribution fees.

But when domestic films wanted to enter foreign major markets, they had to sell themselves cheaply.

They lost either way!

They did not have even a shred of pricing power!

When they had no market, they had no pricing power.

Even after they had a market, they still had no pricing power.

Shen Shanden was stunned.

Why did this industry seem so abnormal?

Han Sanping told him to continue. "You are not finished yet. What exactly gives you the confidence that the box office will break one billion?"

Shen Shanden thought back. He had just said that the first plot point was worth 300 million.

"The second major plotline is Xu Da and Chang Yuchun's Northern Expedition into the Central Plains, followed by the founding of the Great Ming, with the protagonists merging into the tide of Great Unification. That plot alone is worth at least 200 million."

"Then comes the capture of Dadu, achieving the unprecedented feat of conquering north from south, ushering in the moment of Great Unification. More than four hundred years had passed since the Later Jin ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. The northern lands, long steeped in barbarian customs, would begin restoring Han Chinese attire and traditions."

"That plot point is worth at least 300 million. When the time comes, I will use a long take to make it both unifying and grand. Those two points together will bring in 500 million."

"Then the Imperial Guards are established, wearing Feiyu uniforms and displaying the results of restoring Han Chinese attire and traditions. If I capture that feeling, it will be worth another 200 million."

The leader in charge of content raised a doubt. "The Imperial Guards should be around 1380. If the story starts with Zhu Yuanzhang's Red Turban Army, that spans twenty years. The protagonists' age range would be a little too broad."

Han Sanping's secretary added that he had also done his homework. "The Imperial Guards were probably formally established in 1382. If the story begins in the late Yuan, that would be 1355, nearly thirty years earlier."

Shen Shanden had long prepared for this, so the question could not stump him at all. "We can use dramatic treatment and move it forward by ten years."

"The protagonists' growth arc is worth 300 million, the founding of the Great Ming is worth 200 million, the capture of Dadu, the restoration of Han Chinese attire and traditions, and the founding of the Imperial Guards all have emotional high points. Hah, now that I add it up, one billion is too little!"

"And that does not even include Ode to the Great Ming. When the time comes, I will remake it into an even better version and put it at the end, blowing the audience away until their skin erupts in goosebumps."

"The song will blend with the climax of the plot, releasing all the audience's emotions at once."

The more Shen Shanden spoke, the more confident he became.

It did not matter whether others believed him. He believed it himself.

"One billion? I do not think it will be difficult at all! If we show even one-tenth—no, one-hundredth—of the historical significance and achievements of the Great Ming, even a tiny trace of its glorious and confident grandeur, it will be enough! More than enough!"

"From the Eight-Nation Alliance, when the West overwhelmed the East, to the defeat on the peninsula, how many years was that? Fifty years. Even excluding the defeat on the peninsula, it has only been a hundred years until now."

"The Great Ming dominated an entire age for more than two hundred years. What glory! Just a little of it is enough!"

The more Shen Shanden spoke, the more excited he became!

His ancestors had been too damn amazing!

Zhou Qifeng was impressed. He just felt that his senior brother was too good at selling a story.

The Spring Festival Gala had not arrived yet. If they had watched this year's Spring Festival Gala, they would have found it even more familiar.

The Planning skit performed by Zhao Benshan and Song Dandan was exactly like that: "A fighting rooster, the fighter jet of roosters!" Chicken meat cost two thousand a bite, chicken hearts four thousand, and chicken livers six thousand.

What Shen Shanden was doing was this kind of addition and subtraction. Each plot point was worth at least 200 million; keep adding, and one billion would be there.

Han Sanping's secretary questioned him. "We only have three thousand screens now. It is impossible."

Shen Shanden said directly, "That is a static way of looking at things. Under the factory director's leadership, our film industry is flourishing."

Han Sanping smiled without saying anything.

Everyone was speechless.

Shen Shanden continued, "The policies are favorable too. Non-public capital is now allowed into the cultural industry, and private cinema chains such as Wanda Cinemas are developing."

"In 2002, we carried out cinema-chain reforms, establishing eleven cross-provincial cinema chains and nineteen provincial cinema chains. Thirty-five cinema chains were registered nationwide, with 1,024 cinemas and 1,843 screens joining them."

"In 2004, there were 1,188 cinemas nationwide, and the number of screens rose to 2,396. In 2005, after adjustments, there were more than 2,600 screens. Last year, the number exceeded 3,000."

"This year, it will be 3,500. Next year, 2008, it will be 4,000. In 2009, 4,500."

"A major production like Embroidered Spring Blade: The Sun and Moon Reopen will take at least three or four years from approval to release. At the earliest, it will be released in 2010."

"Development is not mechanical or linear. Quantitative change is very likely to trigger qualitative change. By 2010, the number of screens could very well exceed 6,000."

"By then, the number of screens and the scale of cinema chains will be double what they are now. Judging from Titanic's performance back then, our market potential has not been fully unleashed."

"If Curse of the Golden Flower had quality comparable to that big ship, doubling its box office would not be a problem. Embroidered Spring Blade: The Sun and Moon Reopen will definitely have at least half the quality of that big ship."

"Double Curse of the Golden Flower and it becomes 600 million. With the scale of cinema chains doubled, double it again, and that is 1.2 billion."

"One billion will not be difficult."

Shen Shanden laid out the data directly. His reasoning was sound and well-founded, making him convincing.