1990: Starting from Baojia Street

The Flying Piano Boy did not receive very good publicity in North America, because the investment cost of the film was only 8 million US dollars, and there was not much money that could be spent on publicity.

There are a lot of Hollywood blockbusters in the key North American market, and it is not easy to do well in publicity.

There are many blockbusters this year. The Lion King will be released in June, True Lies and Forrest Gump will be released in July, but the promotion of these movies has already started.

True Lies starring Schwarzenegger, director James Cameron, Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis, actor Tom Hanks, these two movies just list the names of the main creative staff Printed on the poster, it is enough to attract movie fans.

Not to mention The Lion King, which is a movie that Disney strongly promotes, and the promotion is all-round.

…

The Flying Piano Boy didn't have enough publicity. It's a French drama, so the schedule is naturally very average.

When Jessica and Hardison arrived at the theater, they found that the entire theater was not even 30% occupied.

Although some more audiences came near the opening of the movie, the attendance rate definitely did not reach 35%.

For a new movie that has just been released, such attendance is certainly poor.

Moreover, this show is the only show in this cinema, which shows that the film schedule is very low.

But Jessica and the others were not surprised. The attendance rate of such dramas was generally not very high, and they had seen many that were even lower than this.

Jessica and Hardison were neighbors. She originally didn't want to come to the movie. It was Hardison who told her that there was a movie about piano being released today. She became interested and came to the cinema with Hardison. .

She has played piano since she was a child, so she usually likes to watch movies related to music. If it is related to piano, that would be even better.

Unfortunately, there are very few such movies, and they are usually biopics.

She was pleasantly surprised by The Piano Lesson released last year. Although this movie had a lot of female themes, the music part was also very good.

Jessica was deeply impressed by the piano music composed for the film by British composer Michael Nyman.

Michael Nyman is good at using simple melody overlapping and classical orchestral techniques. Before this, Jessica had not seen modern minimalism's carving of melody to such an extent.

When she was in the lobby just now, Jessica took a special look at the poster for The Flying Piano Boy. In addition to the director and actors, the soundtrack director was also marked on it.

Y-Chou is Chinese.

When she saw that the scorer was Chinese, Jessica was slightly disappointed. There seemed to be no well-known composers in China. This was also the first movie she had seen where a Chinese was the score director. Y-Chou had even heard of it before. Never heard of it.

Hardison next to him was very excited. He had always wanted to invite Jessica out to watch a movie, but he never had the chance. Today he happened to see a movie about piano. His eyes lit up and he ran to invite Jessica.

As expected, Jessica agreed.

It didn't matter whether the movie was good or bad, he was very happy to watch the movie with Jessica.

Before the movie started, Hardison turned his head and asked Jessica in a low voice, Are we dating?

Jessica looked at Hardison, shook her head and said, Of course not.

How about we go have ice cream later?

Hardison, I will not date any boys before I am sixteen. Jessica said seriously.

Hardison curled his lips. They were only thirteen years old. If they had to wait until they were sixteen, there would still be more than two years.

Then when you are sixteen, can you be the first to date me? Hardison asked again.

maybe.

If Hardison had anything else to say, Jessica said, The movie has started.

He looked up and saw that the movie had indeed started.

The movie is very good, the plot, shooting techniques, and actors all performed very well, and the interaction between the male protagonist and his neighbor's sister was also very attractive to Hardison, and he watched it with gusto.

Jessica was a little disappointed.

The movie was indeed good, but she came here for the piano.

The young male protagonist plays the piano very well, and the young male protagonist's experience can also resonate with Jessica, but there are no original songs in it. The young male protagonist plays some well-known classical music.

This aspect is completely incomparable with Piano Lesson.

Sure enough, the unknown soundtrack director just doesn't surprise people.

She was even a little confused, did this movie really need a soundtrack director? Isn't it just to bring over some well-known classical music? Mainly to show off the young male protagonist’s piano skills.

Even if she were replaced as the soundtrack director, she would still be able to complete the task, maybe even better.

But soon, Jessica discovered that she was wrong.

When the young male protagonist secretly played the piano at his grandfather's house, Jessica originally thought it would be a well-known piece, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be a very light and interesting original piece.

This piece of music is very simple, but the melody is very out-of-the-box. It matches the mood of the little hero at the moment, and it is perfect.

Well, it seems that the music director didn't do nothing. At least the improvisation of the young male protagonist was done very well.

But with Piano Lesson in front of it, the soundtrack here seems ordinary.

But with this soundtrack, Jessica became more interested in the movie.

Not bad, I can barely give it a passing grade in terms of music.

As the movie progressed, Jessica suddenly discovered that after the movie entered the middle and later stages, there were suddenly more soundtracks.

In the early part of the movie, except for the young male protagonist playing the piano, there is almost no other music, and there is a lot of blank space.

But in the middle and later sections, even if the young male protagonist does not play the piano, there will be a lot of soundtracks. In addition to the piano, there are other orchestral music, which is a lot richer.

In the middle of the scene where the young male protagonist meets his neighbor's sister again, the young male protagonist plays an impromptu song, and Jessica is stunned.

This piece of music... was also written by that Chinese musician?

The beautiful piano sound, coupled with the back of the heroine on a rainy day, and the affectionate eyes of the young hero, Jessica held her breath for fear that her voice would affect this wonderful picture.

The music is so good and the director is so good at filming!

Hardison looked envious when he saw this scene. He even wondered if he also wanted to learn piano?

And it's not over yet.

When the young male protagonist's grandfather passed away, Jessica initially felt a little sad, but when she heard the song Tears played by the male protagonist, her tears began to well up in her eyes along with the music.

This piece of music is not a very sad one, but the plain melody pierces Jessica's heart every time.

This is a minimalist piece.

Some people think that minimalist music is a rebellion against progress, a corruption of modernity, too repetitive and boring, without advancement of phrases, and a surrender of refined art to popular art.

And their views just illustrate a problem, that is, this type of music is loved by the public.

Moreover, movies are popular art, so it is very appropriate for a piece like this to appear in a movie.

Jessica has studied piano since she was a child and is in contact with classical music every day. However, she is not so arrogant that she thinks popular music is unworthy. On the contrary, she likes to listen to popular music with strong melodies.

For the first three songs, every time a song appeared, Jessica had to change the soundtrack and guide Y-Chou to re-understand it.

After the last song Croatian Rhapsody appeared, Jessica had to re-review the movie for the fourth time.

This score director is simply a genius of melody.

Jessica focused most of her energy on music, while Hardison was more enjoying the plot of the movie, especially in the middle and late stages when the young male protagonist showed off his power, helped his grandfather realize his dream, helped his father take back the company, and finally performed on the stage. Symphony, these episodes look so cool.

Compared with the original version of The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly shot by Zhou Yan, the French version is indeed a bit more enjoyable and less restrained. The young male protagonist is like a boss behind the scenes, taking control of everything at a young age.

The interaction with the heroine is also more unrestrained.

When the movie ended, the lights in the theater turned on, and everyone else started to walk out, but Jessica sat motionless in her seat.

She wanted to see the names of the soundtracks that appeared in the movie. The names of some of the songs were reflected in the movie, such as the song Tears composed by the young hero after his grandfather passed away, and the song Tears that was played in the concert hall at the end. Croatian Rhapsody.

But the name of the song that the young hero secretly played at his grandfather's house and the song that the young hero played impromptuly when they reunited with the heroine were not shown in the movie.

It was not until the end that Jessica finally saw the names of these two songs.

The first song is called Secret Joy and the second song is called Reunion.

Jessica also confirmed one thing. These songs were all composed by the soundtrack director Y-Chou himself.

The music that appears in the movie is not necessarily composed by the soundtrack, but some is sampled, such as the classic tracks such as The Clown's Morning Song and Ronzo in this movie.

There are also some original tracks, which may have been written by the soundtrack director inviting others to write.

That's why Jessica paid special attention to the creator.

But unfortunately, the names of some soundtrack clips in the movie did not appear.

When the movie credits ended, Jessica stood up and walked towards the door of the theater.

Halfway through, Jessica suddenly asked, Is this movie still scheduled for tomorrow?

It should...must be.

Hearing that Jessica might want to watch it tomorrow, Hardison didn't care whether the movie was scheduled for tomorrow or not, so he directly answered in the affirmative.

At worst, he could just pay for the cinema to add one more show, and it wouldn't cost much anyway.

I want to come over tomorrow and listen to the music inside.

No problem, I'll cover it. Hardison said, patting his chest.

Arriving at the lobby outside, Hardison went straight to the ticket office.

Hello, would you like to ask if there is a filming schedule for The Flying Piano Boy tomorrow?

The conductor was a little surprised when he saw him coming out of the theater. He must have been watching this movie when he came out after the show. Why did he have to buy a ticket just after watching it?

Yes, same time tomorrow.

Well, give us two tickets.

OK.

After buying the ticket, Hardison returned to Jessica, shook the ticket in his hand, Done.

Thank you. Jessica smiled and nodded.

On the way back, Jessica was still thinking about the music in the movie.

She doesn't know when the soundtrack of this movie will be released. If the soundtrack comes out, she will definitely buy it. She has listened to the soundtrack of The Piano Lesson many times.

But what Jessica didn't know was that if she had looked carefully at the content of the lower half of the poster just now, she would have discovered that it was actually written on the poster that most of the original songs in The Flying Piano Boy have been Included in the music album Piano Boy.

As long as she wants to listen to it, she can go to some larger record stores and find the album.

…

Of course, not everyone didn't notice.

For example, Kahn in New York saw the news of the music album The Piano Boy for the first time. He was surprised at the time that the soundtrack was released just after the movie came out.

After watching the movie, Kahn went to a record store he was familiar with to look for it, and he actually found it.

It wasn't until Kahn bought the album and listened to it that he realized that he had been cheated.

Although this music album is called The Piano Boy, it is not the soundtrack of The Flying Piano Boy at all. The songs from this movie account for less than one-third of the album.

However, he was willing to be deceived in this way, because he found that The Piano Boy is simply a treasure album. Except for a few songs in the movie, the other songs are also very good.

Kahn even feels that the other music in this album is better than the music in the movie.

Kite, Forever Together, Summer, Wind, these songs really get better and better the more you listen to them, and the album is very rich in elements. In addition to the previous soothing ballads, there are also songs like Awakening A song that makes people's blood boil.

The only regret is that this album does not include the song Tears from the movie.

After reading the introduction of the album, Kahn realized that this music album had actually been released in other countries long ago, and the songs in it were all composed by the composer Y-Chou for the movie.

In addition to this movie, there are two other Chinese movies.

And he was also surprised to find that The Flying Piano Boy was actually a remake of The Flying Piano Boy directed by Y-Chou himself.

He couldn't help but sigh, who is this Y? He can compose such good music, but he can also make movies. Moreover, it seems that Y's directing skills are not bad. The first short film he made won the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. The general.

The original version of The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly also performed very well and was the first movie in the past ten years to rank among the top ten at the Neon box office.

…

On May 3, when Zhou Yan was reading at home, he received a call from Zhang Youan.

Unfortunately, the box office performance of The Flying Piano Boy in North America was not high, with only more than 300,000 US dollars on the first day.

After the call was connected, Zhang Youan told him some bad news.

Zhou Yan was a little disappointed when he heard that the amount on the first day was only over 300,000 US dollars.

Three hundred thousand US dollars is really a bit small.

However, he had not had high hopes before, so when he heard this result, he was not particularly disappointed.

And he was disappointed mainly because he knew Xu Feng would probably be disappointed.

Give him a peach and give him a plum in return. Xu Feng is so kind to Zhou Yan. Of course, Zhou Yan also hopes that Xu Feng can make money.

As expected, does Sister Feng know this news? Zhou Yan asked.

Hearing Zhou Yan first ask Xu Feng, Zhang Youan suddenly laughed, Mr. Xu already knows, she told me this news. However, I only told you half of the news, and the other half. Although this movie The box office on the first day was only over 300,000 US dollars, but the box office in the first three days of the weekend reached 2.1 million US dollars, and it increased a lot in the following two days.

The first day was more than 300,000, and in the third day it reached more than 2.1 million. The following two days added up to 1.8 million, with an average of 900,000 per day. This increase is quite high.

Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows and said, That means the movie's reputation is pretty good.

Yes, the reputation is pretty good, so the box office increased a lot in the next two days, especially on the third day, the single-day box office reached 1.2 million US dollars. According to the current situation, the follow-up performance should be good. This is the current result Judging from the results, the final box office should be able to surpass Farewell My Concubine.

The box office of Farewell My Concubine in North America was more than 5 million US dollars. Now The Flying Piano Boy has received 2.1 million US dollars in its first weekend. It will definitely be no problem to exceed 5 million US dollars.

However, Zhou Yan feels that there is no need to compare it with Farewell My Concubine because the latter is a white film and will definitely be more accepted in North America.

The genres of the two movies are also different. Farewell My Concubine is an art film, but the latter is not.

Moreover, the investment costs of the two movies are also different, with the latter being more than twice as much as the former.

The reason why Zhang Youan compared Farewell My Concubine to Farewell My Concubine was because of his own thoughts.

Although there is no competition between Zhou Yan and Chen Kaige, as they are both contracted directors of Tomson, in Zhang Youan's view, there is a natural competition for favor.

There are only so many resources in the company. If you give more here, you should give less there.

As Zhou Yan's manager, Zhang Youan naturally hopes that Zhou Yan can beat Chen Kaige in front of Xu Feng.

There is even better news. Zhang Youan continued, We commissioned an agency to randomly check a total of twenty-five record stores of different sizes. In the past two days, the sales volume of Piano Boy has increased sharply. On average, each record store has a daily The number of sales of ‘Piano Boy’ was seven.”

Zhou Yan didn't understand the meaning of these data, Is this data good?

It's very good. After all, it has just begun. Now the publishers we cooperate with in North America have also increased orders to the factory.

The distribution company in North America had already produced a large number of first copies, a total of 120,000 copies.

The reason why Tomson was able to negotiate such a high number of first releases with the other party was because the album Piano Boy achieved very good results in Neon.

Although it was not a big hit in Europe and the United States, it sold well. The distribution company estimated that the first batch of 120,000 copies should be no problem.

But now it seems that these 120,000 copies are obviously not enough.

Although an average of only seven copies are sold per record store per day, sales will increase as the film is slowly seen by more people.

Moreover, when the distribution company sees that the record has good prospects, it will also invest more costs to help promote it.

In the past, they only marked the information about the music album of The Piano Boy on the movie posters. Now they can spend more money to make posters specifically used to promote the music and put them in movie theaters.

As publicity increases, sales will inevitably increase.

Not only North America, but also distributors in Europe are increasing orders. After North America, movies will also be released in European countries such as Germany and Italy.

In that case, I'm relieved. Zhou Yan thought for a while and asked, When will my next batch of royalties be paid?

Hearing Zhou Yan ask about the royalties share, Zhang Youan asked: Are you short of money recently? Didn't Shiseido's endorsement fee be regarded as one million? It was spent so quickly?

Zhou Yan smiled sheepishly, It was a bit of an impulsive purchase. I bought a Steinway B211 hanger for the recording studio.

Steinway...uh, how much did it cost? Zhang Youan didn't know much about the price of pianos.

Specially customized, it costs over a million.

Zhang Youan twitched his lips. Before, he said that Zhou Yan only knew how to work, but he didn't know how to spend money. Now he realized that what he said was completely wrong.

It's not that Zhou Yan doesn't know how to spend money, it's that he doesn't spend small amounts of money, and once he spends it, it's big money.

For more than one million, he bought a piano. Zhou Yan was really willing to give it up.

But this is all Zhou Yan's own money. As long as Zhou Yan doesn't break the law or engage in some evil activities, he, as an agent, won't interfere with how he spends his money.

Okay, let me help you with the reminder later. How much money do you have on hand?

Six to seven hundred thousand, maybe.

Have you spent a lot of money recently...

I'm going to order another one.

...

Tsk tsk, one million-level piano is not enough, so I have to order two. This is really a money-spending ancestor.

Okay, I understand. The next batch of money should arrive soon. I will help you urge Shiseido to settle the balance as soon as possible.

Speaking of the final payment, Zhang Youan thought of another thing.

Oh, by the way, there are several companies here in Neon that have contacted us and want you to help them shoot commercials and write songs. The prices are not low.

After Shiseido's advertisement was aired, the response in Neon's home country was very good, and other brands also took notice.

When these brands learned that Zhou Yan had also shot the advertisement, they called Zhang Youan.

When he heard that other companies were looking for him to shoot advertisements, Zhou Yan refused without even thinking, No, I don't have the time. The last time I helped Shiseido shoot an advertisement, it was just because I was there. It just happened to happen.

In fact, there is another key reason, that is, Shiseido’s spokesperson is Wang Zuxian. The reason why he works as a spokesperson for Shiseido and helps them shoot advertisements is mainly because of Wang Zuxian.

Although he is very short of money now, there are many places to make money, so he doesn't go out to shoot advertisements for those brands.

And he's not really short of money, it's just that he doesn't have enough money temporarily.

He is really short of money. Qizhi Company has made a lot of money, so he can share a lot if he wants.

Qizhi is the advertising design company they founded together with Huo Siqi. With Huo Siqi's connections, the company's business is not worried at all. It has received several large orders. Recently, their design department has been overwhelmed and is still recruiting people.

Zhou Yan refused, which was also expected by Zhang Youan, I understand, your studio is opening, do you want to hold an opening ceremony?

Done it.

Ah? Have you done it?

Well, I took the students to do it briefly.

I see. I also wanted to make it a lively event and let everyone know that you have opened a studio.

We won't do it for now.

Okay, I understand. Let me just say this first. I haven't visited your studio yet. I'll go to Yanjing in a while and I'll go sit with you.

good.

…

The second time Zhou Yan heard about the box office performance of The Flying Piano Boy in North America was six days later, and it was Xu Feng who told him personally.

Because the news was so good, Xu Feng couldn't help but call him personally to tell him.

This time Xu Feng told him about the box office data of the previous ten days. In just ten days, the box office exceeded 6.5 million US dollars.

Although the single-day box office is now declining, the decline is not bad, and the overall box office is relatively stable. Looking at the current situation, there should be no problem with the final box office exceeding 10 million US dollars.

We estimate that it can exceed 10 million U.S. dollars. However, data provided by an organization shows that the final box office of the movie can exceed 20 million U.S. dollars. I can't believe it myself.

Professional institutions should conduct more comprehensive data analysis, Zhou Yan said.

Well, I have read their analysis report. It probably means that the box office data of Flying Piano Boy is stable and has sufficient stamina. According to the current downward trend, it should be able to exceed 20 million US dollars.

If it can exceed 20 million, then your investment will be profitable.

It can make a lot of money. If the movie can eventually exceed 20 million U.S. dollars in the North American box office, then the total box office will very likely exceed 40 million U.S. dollars, and it will have passed the profit line long ago. It's a pity that I didn't invest more at the time. Otherwise, the portions will be more.”

Although Xu Feng said this, he actually didn't regret it too much. He attracted people to invest not only for money, but also for the resources in the hands of these investors.

The distribution and promotion of movies rely heavily on resources.

If you don't share the money with others, why should they help you? The film industry is like this, you help me and I help you to build a network of connections.

Xu Feng has been really good recently. She signed Zhou Yan before just because she was optimistic about Zhou Yan's talent. Whether she could make money was secondary.

But he didn't expect that Zhou Yan turned out to be a money-making machine.

Since signing Zhou Yan, Tomson's profits have been rising steadily, and now her company's portfolio is getting bigger and bigger.

If it continues to develop, it can even feed back to the Tomson Group. Among other things, Tomson Film Company's current cash flow is very high. If there is not much investment in the past two years, they can save a lot of cash.

Well, it's good if you can make money.

Xu Feng suddenly smiled again and said, Don't worry, I'll send you the final payment in a few days.

Zhou Yan was stunned for a moment. He didn't even mention the money. Actually, I...

I heard from Zhang Youan that you have been spending a lot of money recently. Don't worry, I won't owe you your hard-earned money.

Zhou Yan didn't pretend to be pretentious, Thank you very much, Sister Feng.

It's your own money. Why are you thanking me? I should have given it to you earlier.

Zhou Yan’s arrangement for the film’s soundtrack was negotiated in two stages.

For the first time, they only discussed licensing, and the fee for licensing the soundtrack alone was US$100,000.

But later Olivier packaged the film's soundtrack to Zhou Yan, and the packaging fee was 400,000 US dollars. This 400,000 US dollars included the initial 100,000 US dollars.

Zhou Yan only received the first batch of money in the early stage, but not the subsequent batch.

Zhou Yan will take 90% of the next three hundred thousand US dollars, which is two hundred and seventy thousand US dollars.

If he can get this money, it will be more than enough to buy a Steinway b112, and he can also do other things. Recently, he is considering whether to purchase some real estate or real estate.

I mainly need to buy some things recently, so I spent some money.

I know, it's more than a million pianos, and I have to buy two more. Xu Feng laughed, It's okay, the money is a bastard, we will make more money after spending it. If it doesn't work, let Zhang Youan ask Zhou Xingchi for an invitation, you give Isn’t the salary for the soundtrack of Westward Journey 800,000?

Haha, that's not the case.

When Zhou Yan signed the contract with Cai Xing Company, the terms of remuneration payment had been agreed upon. Cai Xing Company would pay Zhou Yan's entire remuneration within six months after the filming of the film was completed, and no later than September 1995, which is the latest Zhou Yan will be able to get all the money before school starts next fall.

I'm not a fool. It's impossible for me to pay the soundtrack director's salary before the filming of the movie has even started.

Not to mention the remuneration for post-production work such as scoring and directing, many actors' remuneration is paid after the filming of the film is completed, and may be paid in installments. (End of chapter)