"Nonsense!" Chen Yiyang rudely cursed after hearing Gong Fan’s words.
If this reason was given to soone else, they might actually believe it.
But Chen Yiyang had previously seen the film "Full River Red" at Zhang Yimou’s place.
The running ti of "Earth Wandering 2" is 173 minutes, nearly three hours.
It’s indeed much longer than regular films, leading to fewer screenings at theaters.
However, from the rough cut of "Full River Red" that Chen Yiyang had seen at Zhang Yimou’s place, that film’s running ti was also at least 160 minutes.
Even if both films underwent so trimming, the ti difference wouldn’t exceed twenty minutes.
How could this affect the number of screenings?
This small ti difference wouldn’t add enough ti to screen one more show per day at cinemas.
As for the second point, is "Full River Red" a family-friendly movie?
Chen Yiyang had seen quite a few violent scenes in the movie earlier; how could it be family-friendly?
"This is absolutely abnormal," Chen Yiyang imdiately told Gong Fan. "The two reasons the cinema chains gave don’t hold up. I have seen the rough cut of ’Full River Red’ before."
"You should only say this to ," Gong Fan reminded Chen Yiyang upon hearing his words.
"Director Zhang Yimou allowed you to see the rough cut because he trusts you, but before a movie is released, all information related to the film must be strictly confidential, unless it is officially released. Everyone who watches must sign a confidentiality agreent."
Of course, Chen Yiyang didn’t sign a confidentiality agreent before watching the movie. Mainly because, at his wealth status, signing it didn’t matter—the penalty fee wasn’t restrictive at all.
That’s why Zhang Yimou never ntioned this.
"By the way," Chen Yiyang rembered sothing and continued to ask, "Do all cinema chains give more screening slots to ’Full River Red’, or is it just a few?"
"All of them,"
Gong Fan’s words left Chen Yiyang in silence.
He had already realized that "Full River Red" might be a major rival for "Earth Wandering 2" when he saw it at Zhang Yimou’s place.
But he hadn’t expected the confrontation to begin before the films were even released.
"By the way," Gong Fan continued, "my movie is a sci-fi special effects film, logically the best screens should be given to us, but looking at the screening plan sent by the cinema chains, the screens with the best effects are mostly assigned to ’Full River Red’, while we have very few."
"Alright, I got it," Chen Yiyang nodded and replied, "Luckily, there’s a state-owned cinema chain here in Jiangnan. I’ll inquire what’s going on."
In an industry where the business model is highly mature, various competitors are both rivals and collaborators.
For instance, video platforms jointly increase mbership fees, add advance viewing fees, and e-comrce platforms jointly cancel refund-only options.
Therefore, when Gong Fan ntioned that all the cinema chains were treating "Earth Wandering 2" this way, Chen Yiyang imdiately realized that these major chains must have already communicated amongst themselves.
This wasn’t just one or two chains targeting "Earth Wandering 2," but a consensus reached by all the chains.
He just couldn’t figure out the reason behind this consensus yet.
Fortunately, the second largest cinema chain nationwide is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Jiangnan Province Broadcasting Corporation.
After making so connections, Chen Yiyang called a manager there.
"Mr. Chen, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you the truth; it’s just that I really can’t say,"
The chain manager straightforwardly told Chen Yiyang, "Our cinema chain has its own difficulties; the current screening plan is already our best arrangent.
After all, the Spring Festival period is too important; it determines whether the cinema chain can achieve profitability this year. If you hope we can allocate a few more good screens to ’Earth Wandering 2’, we could still discuss it.
But as for changing our overall screening strategy, we can’t cooperate."
"I’m just curious," Chen Yiyang asked, "what’s the reason for such a screening plan? I’m not demanding that ’Earth Wandering 2’ receive exceptionally good screenings, just hoping to understand the reason behind this."
"Due to so pressures, and the terms offered by the other party are very favorable," the cinema manager vaguely stated, "That’s all I can say. If I elaborate further, and it gets out, I’ll face penalties."
"Alright, thank you," Chen Yiyang said and hung up the phone.
The cinema manager explained the reasons for the screening plans in a very vague manner.
It seed to hint that Zhang Yimou’s side had offered better conditions, leading to the current screening situation.
But after thinking about it carefully, Chen Yiyang felt sothing was amiss.
Zhang Yimou is considered a veteran director in the country, and a prolific filmmaker.
Although none of his recent films have been huge hits, they have consistently garnered around a billion in box office revenues.
He seed to have no reason to offer better terms to cinema chains for more screenings, right?
Rember, Zhang Yimou once used his status to pressure cinema chains twice consecutively, increasing the shares given to the film side by the chains.
Suddenly making such a move now feels unreasonable to Chen Yiyang.
However, with Chen Yiyang’s status, he doesn’t need to care about others’ attitudes; he can inquire directly in front of them about any doubts.
He doesn’t fear offending people.
Chen Yiyang greatly values his friendship with Gong Fan.
Though Gong Fan called him to inform about this matter, he didn’t explicitly ask Chen Yiyang to help resolve it.
Still, Chen Yiyang felt he must uncover the truth as much as possible behind this matter.
Thus, Chen Yiyang directly flew to the Imperial Capital. He called Zhang Yimou regarding the visit, then drove straight to Zhang Yimou’s residence.
"This is my daughter, Zhang Mo."
When Chen Yiyang arrived at Zhang Yimou’s house, he noticed another young lady there.
Zhang Yimou introduced the young lady’s identity to Chen Yiyang.
"Hello, Uncle Chen," Zhang Mo instinctively addressed Chen Yiyang.
Chen Yiyang could only awkwardly reply, "I’m from the 90s."
Although Zhang Mo is Zhang Yimou’s daughter, she’s from the 80s, making her over ten years older than Chen Yiyang.
A person more than ten years older calling him uncle...
Chen Yiyang found it a bit uncomfortable.
"Hahaha, sorry, this child is just used to calling my friends uncle," Zhang Yimou quickly stepped in to explain.
It wasn’t really his fault; mainly, the speed at which Chen Yiyang’s wealth and status grew surpassed his age.
In that scene, calling Chen Yiyang brother or sister felt disrespectful, while calling him Mr. Chen seed too distant. After all, Chen Yiyang was visiting as a friend.
In the end, calling him uncle was a last resort.
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