Chapter 30: Box Office and Casting

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The next day, Li Xiaoran and the others headed to Shanghai for the touring premiere events, while Cao Yang and Tian Zhuangzhuang remained in the capital to continue preparing the film.

This time, Qingying Film Studio joined forces with China Film to release 270 prints—a distribution scale normally reserved for major directors.

One had to remember that the country currently had fewer than two thousand screens. With 270 prints, the film would reach nearly every sizable city.

When Titanic was released, it had opened with only 300 prints. It was only later, after its popularity soared, that several additional rounds of prints were added.

After all, this was a film that had won two Silver Bears. The news coverage had been constant, and its popularity remained fairly strong—especially among women.

On top of that, Li Xiaoran’s public feud with International Zhang had alerted many people who normally paid no attention to movies that a film starring a Berlin Best Actress winner was about to be released.

For a brief time, a wave of moviegoing took shape.

Then, perhaps because the film was told entirely from a female perspective, many women began promoting it spontaneously, calling their friends and relatives along. The box office over the weekend turned out to be unexpectedly strong.

Once the workweek arrived, attendance fell back, but it was still better than normal.

“You checked the box office?” Old Tian asked Cao Yang with a smile.

“Yeah. Yesterday’s figures are out.”

The film’s takings had indeed been impressive. It earned 2.2 million yuan on Friday, 2.7 million on Saturday, and, after dipping slightly on Sunday, another 2.6 million. Its first three days brought in an excellent 7.5 million yuan.

Because of this, General Manager Han of China Film and Hou Keming of Qingying Film Studio had both called personally to share the good news, offer their congratulations, and strengthen their ties.

According to them, barring any unexpected setbacks, the film was guaranteed to take in at least 20 million yuan.

One should not assume that 20 million was a small figure. This was 2001, and for an art film to earn that much was practically miraculous.

Happy Times, released at the end of the previous year, had been a film by the National Teacher himself, yet its box office had amounted to only a little over 5 million yuan.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, nominated for ten Academy Awards, was impressive enough. Its cast was packed with stars, and although it had been released domestically the previous October, it had earned only 15 million yuan in China.

Why was Little Steel Cannon so arrogant?

Just look at his results from the previous year. He had released two films, A Sigh and No End to It, and both had surpassed 30 million yuan at the box office.

In those days, among all the directors on the mainland, who would dare to thump his chest and claim that his film could break 30 million? Not one—not even the filmmakers from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

At the time, any film that passed 15 million yuan was considered a major box-office hit. And “major hit” was exactly what it meant.

For filmmakers from Hong Kong and Taiwan as well, anything above 10 million yuan counted as a respectable result, while 15 million was likewise considered a major success.

The previous year, The Duel, directed by Lau Wai-keung and starring Andy Lau, Little Swallow, and Ekin Cheng, had taken in 15 million yuan. Its official publicity had proudly proclaimed it a box-office smash.

One had to remember that its cast included Andy Lau, the Little Swallow who had taken Asia by storm, and Ekin Cheng of the Young and Dangerous films.

Even with the film being hailed as a box-office hit, it was unlikely to have made much money. Of those 15 million yuan, the production company would receive only a little over 6 million.

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In 2000, Andy Lau’s quoted fee was one million U.S. dollars, and his actual take could not have been less than five million yuan. If the film were released only on the mainland, how could hiring Andy Lau on that level of box office possibly avoid a loss?

Everything depended on whether Hong Kong and Southeast Asia performed strongly.

So all one could say was that the market was dreadful at the moment, but its potential was enormous.

Tian Zhuangzhuang was also stunned by the current box-office figures.

He secretly did the math. If the film reached 20 million yuan, the production side would receive roughly 8.5 million.

Using 8.5 million as the basis, Qingying Film Studio’s ten percent would be 850,000 yuan. Sixty percent of that would go to the coal magnate—5.1 million—leaving 2.55 million.

Cao Yang had said that this was a project initiated by the two of them. The foreign-rights sales had earned him a bonus, while the domestic box office would be shared. Surely he deserved at least ten percent of that—another 850,000 yuan.

Adding in the 500,000-yuan bonus he had already received, the film might actually bring him an income of 1.35 million yuan! Of course, that was before taxes.

Before helping Cao Yang, Tian Zhuangzhuang had never considered any of this.

At the beginning, his only thought had been that Teacher Situ had spoken. If someone needed help, he had to lend a hand.

He would test Cao Yang himself. If the young man could not pass his test, Tian would go to Beijing Film Studio or Qingying Film Studio to get hold of a DV camera, then find a few students nearing graduation at the Beijing Film Academy. With a little assembling, he could still put together a temporary crew.

If the young man had talent, he would do everything he could to help him.

Yes—help him. He had never considered payment at all.

Cao Yang was a man worth working with!

Then another thought struck him.

Wait a damn minute. The coal magnate was going to get more than five million yuan?

Holy shit!

An eightfold return in half a year. President Feng had to be the most successful investor in the film industry among all the coal magnates, right?

Since when had coal magnates learned how to make money by investing in movies?

They probably had never imagined it themselves.

They had simply had too much cash on hand, so they would casually throw out a few hundred thousand to pamper a mistress and keep her happy. How could they have expected to make real money?

President Feng had stumbled into incredible luck.

Then another thought occurred to him.

Had he stumbled into the same kind of luck?

Ha! Who cared? When Cao Yang accepted his award in Berlin, he had already said that Tian was the one who had shown him the way.

The one who had shown him the way. Ha, that sounded pretty good.

Watching Old Tian grin foolishly to himself, Cao Yang assumed he was simply delighted by the film’s strong box-office performance.

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Old Tian was a decent man. Cao Yang decided not to give him the role of the wife-beater in Empty Room. He could not keep making Old Tian play villains.

The wife-beater was a central character whose presence ran throughout the film, and the role carried considerable weight. Old Tian was also serving as the art director and would have to work as the cinematographer, so there was no way he could handle everything at once.

They should find a Hong Kong actor instead. They could not give the Hong Kong side only two minor roles with barely any screen time—that would look too perfunctory. Adding this important part should make up for it.

“Senior, who do you think would be suitable for the wife-beater? Someone from Hong Kong, perhaps?”

So I don’t have to play the part anymore?

Tian Zhuangzhuang was rather pleased, but since he had not prepared an answer, he quickly tossed the question back.

“Who do you have in mind?”

“How about Cheung Kwok-fai?”

Old Tian thought for a moment before answering uncertainly, “The comedian? His fee isn’t low, is it? He’d probably want six or seven hundred thousand.”

That was indeed how affordable Cheung Kwok-fai was at the time. His asking price would not exceed one million, and even that was because his fee had risen after he starred in The King of Comedy 2000.

“I heard he’s been trying to change his image these past two years. Since ours is an art film, most actors are willing to lower their fees. We can offer him two hundred thousand and see what happens.”

“Let’s try it.”

As he spoke, Old Tian suddenly thought of someone else.

“There’s a guy whose name has something like ‘Hua’ in it. He’s been in Category III films. He’d be perfect as a refined-looking scoundrel like a wife-beater. More importantly, his fee is low. We should be able to get him for under two hundred thousand.”

Huh? Old Tian, you certainly have broad tastes. If I asked you who had acted opposite him, would you be able to name her without even thinking?

“Simon Yam?”

“Not him. He could play the role too, but our budget is limited. We can’t afford his fee.”

Cao Yang already knew exactly whom Old Tian meant. With a pair of glasses on, the man really would be exceptionally well suited to playing a refined-looking scoundrel.

As for the female lead, Cao Yang immediately thought of two people: Yu Feihong and Big Beauty Yuan.

He was still wavering between them when Yu Feihong called.

She first congratulated Cao Yang on the film’s success, then said that although the movie she had starred in had been released a day earlier, it had failed to make even the slightest ripple. The box office was so poor that it was painful to look at.

After complaining for a while, she suddenly changed tack.

“Junior, I heard you’re preparing a new film. Do you have a role suitable for your senior?”

This was the advantage of having the Beijing Film Academy behind you. Cao Yang’s film had only just entered preparation, yet word had already reached her side.

What else could Cao Yang say? She had been one of his targets from the beginning. Since she had taken the initiative to bring it up, he might as well settle it.

It was also a way of thanking Yu Feihong for her support the previous time. When no one else had believed in the film, she had specifically set aside ten days to make a cameo appearance. She had truly come to his aid when he needed it most.