Behind "Tang Detective 3" is the crisis of Wanda Film and Television

1.

In October 2014, the filming of "Journey to Hong Kong" directed by 42-year-old Xu Zheng began. The second male lead in the drama is 30-year-old Bao Beier.

Also at the same time, Chen Sicheng, who was 6 years younger than him, was filming "Detective Chinatown", and the male lead in the film was Wang Baoqiang.

In fact, "Tang Detective" could have started filming earlier, but 32-year-old Wang Baoqiang suffered a broken foot while participating in a variety show, and Chen Sicheng postponed it for more than 40 days to wait for him.

Abandoning his old partner Xu Zheng and falling into the arms of Chen Sicheng, "Baby" explained with sincerity: "It's really interesting that Director Chen waited for me for so long before turning on the film."

Compared to the less famous "Tang Detective", many viewers were moved and felt regretful at the same time.

After all, Wang Baoqiang's previous "囧" starring Xu Zheng and Huang Bo had a box office of 1.26 billion, breaking the box office and attendance records of domestic movies at the time.

But the real reason is that Wang Baoqiang only received a mere 3 million yuan in salary afterwards, while Huang Bo received 30 million.

The reason is that Director Xu gave them two choices before filming started: one is a fixed salary, and the other is no salary and a share of the box office.

Wang Baoqiang chose the former, while Huang Bo chose the latter.

Feeling unwilling, Wang Baoqiang went to Xu Zheng for comment and wanted to share more money, but Director Xu blocked him back by saying, "Everyone must abide by the rules of the game."

At this time, Chen Sicheng and Wang Baoqiang discussed that they also wanted to make a comedy film, so they hoped that Wang Baoqiang could star in the new film "Detective Chinatown".

The entire concept of "Tang Detective" originated in 2012, when Chen Sicheng was still filming the TV series "Beijing Love Story".

The suspenseful reasoning framework of the whole story comes from the famous variety show "The Biggest Brain". Chen Sicheng even quietly visited the scene several times to observe and communicate with the contestants for a long time.

Faced with the friend's invitation, Wang Baoqiang agreed, but he didn't care in his heart.

It’s not that he doubted the sincerity of Chen Sicheng, a good friend, but he had already heard that because he was cast as the male protagonist in this project, investors were somewhat disgusted by his previous image of a poor loser in "囧囧" , eight hundred were unhappy.

Fortunately, Chen Sicheng is serious. He feels that Wang Baoqiang's scumbag image is a perfect match for his highly praised "little fresh meat" Liu Haoran.

So I told the financial backers very seriously: The male lead must be Wang Baoqiang, otherwise the film would not be filmed.

The financial backers thought: OK, you are the director, as long as you guarantee to make money, you can take care of everything else.

In fact, the shrewd Chen Sicheng chose the "poor and black" Wang Baoqiang not only because of brotherhood, but because he knew very well that with the end of the film subsidy policy, a large number of audiences in the sinking market would be the source of Chinese films. A real workhorse.

For audiences in first- and second-tier cities, watching movies is just one of their pastimes, but for young people in third- and fourth-tier cities and towns, watching movies is the main or even the only form of entertainment.

Among the huge audience in the sinking market, some may not know Leonardo DiCaprio, but everyone knows Wang Baoqiang’s name.

This is a new game between the audience and the director in the film production model, and it is also an increasingly sophisticated routine for film and television capital players who are familiar with the market.

In this way, the waves of capital rolled up under the tide of the times gave birth to the Tang Detective series.

2.

In 1978, Chen Sicheng was born in a cadre family in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. He has been extremely smart since he was a child and has lived a life without worries about food and clothing.

He himself once said: My factory settings are pretty good.

Chen Sicheng's writing skills were not bad when he was a child. When he was 13 years old, he imitated Jin Yong and wrote the fan novel "The Legend of Fragrance", and imitated Gu Long's "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang" and wrote "The Legend of Chen Liuxiang". It is widely spread among classmates.

At this time, Hong Kong and Taiwan film and television works had a profound impact on a generation of young people, and Chen Sicheng was no exception. The room was covered with many celebrity posters, and at a young age, he was extremely longing for them.

At this time, the family still hoped that Chen Sicheng would study hard, get into a good university, enter an official career, and honor his ancestors.

But Chen Sicheng didn't want to. He wanted to be an actor. No matter how hard his family tried to persuade him, he refused to listen, so he had no choice but to follow him.

In 1994, 16-year-old Chen Sicheng heard that the great director Xie Jin had set up a film and television school to train future Chinese movie stars. He suddenly became excited and came to Shanghai alone.

After a short period of pre-examination training, Chen Sicheng was admitted to Xie Jin Hengtong Star School (later renamed Shanghai Normal University Xie Jin Film and Television Arts College) with the first grade in his major, and became classmates with 18-year-old Wuhu girl Zhao Wei .

A year later, a big-eyed girl came to Chen Sicheng’s next class, a 13-year-old Qingdao girl named Fan Bingbing.

Xie Jin Hengtong Star School can actually only be regarded as an art training technical secondary school, and its ultimate goal is to provide artistic talents to major art schools.

In 1996, 20-year-old Zhao Wei was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy, and 18-year-old Chen Sicheng was also admitted to the Shanghai Theater Academy. Although he was not the first in his major, his professional results were also excellent, and he was the same as Nie Yuan and Hao Lei. Become classmates.

At school, Chen Sicheng was very lively and smart. He was very knowledgeable in professional performances and was deeply loved by his teachers, especially Professor Li Xuetong, who almost treated him as a direct disciple and trained him carefully.

But unexpectedly, this disciple was very troublesome to the teacher. Because he helped his classmates in a fight out of loyalty, he was expelled from the theater and banned from taking exams for two years.

Chen Sicheng, who had always been confident, was rubbed against the ground by fate.

After the Chen family’s darkest moment, Chen Sicheng’s father, who always paid attention to his image, was so anxious that he rushed to Shanghai wearing short-sleeved shorts to find a solution.

While Chen Sicheng was shutting up and thinking about the past, 15-year-old Wang Baoqiang was still huddled in front of the Beijing Film Studio as a "Beijing drifter" with a confused look on his face. He had a dream of a martial arts movie and only discovered it after studying hard in the Shaolin Temple for many years. I was looking in the wrong direction.

After receiving some advice, Wang Baoqiang squatted at the entrance of Beijing Film Studio all day long, waiting for a certain director to give him a chance.

Finally, someone asked him what he could do. The excited Wang Baoqiang got out of his way without saying a word and gave people a "White Crane Spreading Its Wings", which shocked them.

He has participated in a lot of dramas, but Wang Baoqiang only accepted "passers-by" and "dead corpses" whose faces he could hardly see, so he was still happy to call home. He said he was making a movie.

In 1999, 21-year-old Chen Sicheng came to Beijing after being banned from taking exams. He wanted to be admitted to the Beijing Film Academy. He knew that his classmate Zhao Wei was studying there.

But after Nortel learned of his "criminal record", it decisively shut him out, which broke Chen Sicheng's heart.

Fortunately, Chen Sicheng applied for the Central Academy of Drama on the recommendation of his mentor, Professor Li Xuetong, and was appreciated by the examiner Wang Lina. He once again entered the new palace of performing arts as the top professional.

However, this time the classmates were replaced by Jin Dong, Chen Shu, Li Guangjie and others.

Because he has several more years of acting and social experience than ordinary classmates, Chen Sicheng thrives in college. He is good at writing scripts, directing, and publicity, and even participates in singing competitions.

At this time, Wang Baoqiang's life was not easy. He could still eat well as a supporting actor, but he could only starve when there was no filming.

His family was very aware of Wang Baoqiang’s situation and advised him numerous times on the phone to give up his ambition to be an actor and to go home to farm and marry a wife.

But Wang Baoqiang didn’t. He was not willing to study hard for many years. After eating the box lunches of the crew for many years, he always felt that one day he would be able to fly on the branches.

Two young people with completely different circumstances are still wandering outside the "rich circle". They have only one dream: to be an actor.

3.

In 2003, 25-year-old Chen Sicheng faced the choice of graduation. He hesitated a little, whether he should change his profession to become a singer.

Although I met the hit-and-miss director Kang Honglei in college and starred in his TV series "Migrant Workers", the show was repeatedly banned due to its subject matter. The professional performances of many veteran actors in the crew directly made the debutante Chen Sicheng was overwhelmed.

Although Chen Sicheng won the Best Newcomer Award for his film debut "Judge Mom" ??when he was a senior in college, facing the film and television industry that competes for acting skills and resources, Chen Sicheng was just a star who could not make any waves. "Back wave".

Compared with him, Wang Baoqiang, who also plays a small role in this movie, can only be regarded as a fleeting "splash".

The fateful first encounter between the two came like this, but one was the starring role and the other was a supporting role, and there was little communication with each other.

But just when Chen Sicheng was still hesitating about his career direction, Wang Baoqiang unexpectedly quietly changed from a "spang" to a "back wave".

In this year, the goddess of luck favored 21-year-old Wang Baoqiang.

Director Li Yang, who was preparing to shoot the movie "The Blind Shaft", needed a rural boy with a simple appearance. He accidentally discovered Wang Baoqiang, who had dull eyes and timid words at the entrance of Beijing Film Studio, and fell in love with him at a glance.

"The Blind Shaft" made Wang Baoqiang, who was making a movie for the first time, quickly win many awards such as the Golden Horse Award for Best Newcomer. Happiness came too suddenly.

However, due to the sensitive subject matter, the film was not released in the country. Wang Baoqiang was only known in the circle as a somewhat "two-dimensional" rural child.

What really changed Wang Baoqiang's fate was "A World Without Thieves" directed by Feng Xiaogang. The male and female protagonists were determined, but there was never a suitable candidate for the "Silly Gen" in the film.

Finally, someone recommended Wang Baoqiang in "The Blind Shaft". Feng Xiaogang's eyes lit up and he asked Wang Baoqiang if he had any schedule.

"This film will take three months to shoot, so you have to think carefully about it." Director Feng was very afraid that Wang Baoqiang would fall off halfway.

Director Feng was overly concerned about what an honor and opportunity it was to be able to make a movie with big names such as Feng Xiaogang, Andy Lau, and Ge You. What he was afraid of was Wang Baoqiang, who was almost the first to report to the crew.

In 2004, 22-year-old Wang Baoqiang became famous overnight with "A World Without Thieves" and successfully became a signed artist of Huayi.

At this time, Chen Sicheng also signed a contract with Huayi after filming several film and television dramas, and the two became colleagues in the unit.

Two years later, a military drama "Soldier Assault" raised the profile of Chen Sicheng and Wang Baoqiang to the status of first-line actors.

Also at the end of this year, Wanda Group’s CBD Wanda Plaza store opened, and Wanda Cinemas welcomed its 100th screen, becoming a distribution channel that domestic cinemas should not underestimate.

The increasingly hot film market has become a piece of fat that is coveted by all parties.

4.

Chen Sicheng, whose fame was gradually getting further and further away from Wang Baoqiang, quickly overtook him in a corner.

In 2010, 32-year-old Chen Sicheng joined Xinli Media and the newly listed LeTV to direct and star in a "Beijing Love Story".

In this drama, there are not only old partners Li Chen and Zhang Yi, but also a beautiful 27-year-old girl, Chinese opera school girl Tong Liya.

There is no Wang Baoqiang in the film, not because Chen Sicheng doesn’t want to find him, but because Wang Baoqiang is too popular and there is no schedule at all.

At this time, no one could understand why Chen Sicheng, who looked like a fool, was favored by capital and became a director.

What is even more unexpected is that during the production of "Northern Ireland", Wanda Film and Television announced that it would invest in Xinli Media.

It is said that Wanda’s attitude is very simple. It is only responsible for paying for the film directed by Chen Sicheng.

How did the 32-year-old Chen Sicheng manage the 56-year-old Wang Jianlin? Why did Wang Jianlin, who regarded 100 million as a "small goal", fall in love with this TV series with an investment of only tens of millions?

In fact, Chen Sicheng has always been very anxious about his current situation. He has complained to his mentor Wang Lina many times that the director does not understand drama, and he is always not in tune with them, and he is always not popular.

Teacher Wang said: "You are an actor now, so you have to listen to the director. If you have opinions, you should wait until you can make the decision."

Chen Sicheng was immediately enlightened and engraved in his mind. mind.

Many years later, Chen Sicheng, who became a director, said in an interview: "I don't want to be the cake being shared, I want to be the cake maker."

This This is indeed the motivation and reason for Chen Sicheng to transform into a director. At a young age, he has realized that capital is the real "dream machine" in the entertainment industry.

He knows very well that only decent works can allow capital to push himself to the center of the stage, but the most important thing is to learn to cater to and compromise with capital.

At the earliest stage, Chen Sicheng and Wanda Pictures expressed the hope of making a suspense film or crime drama that would better represent their strength. However, Wanda said that the market is still more receptive to idol-type films.

Chen Sicheng is very sensible and doesn’t insist on much. He should be his idol. Anyway, as long as you are willing to pay.

Chen Sicheng, who took the money, was indeed very dedicated and did everything himself.

Not only did he participate in the script creation from beginning to end, in order to save budget when filming "Northern Ireland", he slept up to four hours a day. He once shot more than 200 shots in one day with a single camera and a single crew. If you can take a hundred pictures, that's pretty good.

During the filming, it was freezing cold and many people fell ill. The director of photography fell down, and the assistant photographer fell ill. Chen Sicheng carried the machine himself to shoot.

After filming a drama, Chen Sicheng had to shave his long flowing hair into a buzz cut due to severe hair loss.

In the end, "Beijing Love Story" was a great success on major TV stations, with an investment of 30 million yuan, a harvest of hundreds of millions of yuan, and many awards.

This drama made Xinli Media and the Wanda Film and Television behind it a lot of money, and also allowed Chen Sicheng to get his first pot of gold.

It’s just that many people are not convinced and feel that this drama is too pretentious and that Chen Sicheng’s success is purely a case of “a blind cat meets a dead mouse”.

At the same time, Director Chen's new love relationship was once again revealed. The target is Tong Liya, who plays Shen Bing in the play, and the "matchmaker" is Yang Mi, who was filming together.

In order to win the favor of the beauty, Chen Sicheng upgraded his studio to Shanghai Chengya Film and Television Culture Media Co., Ltd. in 2012. It is said that the name "Chengya" comes from the homophony of "Chen" and "Ya".

With the help of the TV series, the movie version of "Northern Love" with an investment of 40 million was subsequently launched and steadily received a box office of 500 million. Chen Sicheng once again showed extraordinary market operation capabilities and questioned his Everyone shut their mouths.

As for Wanda behind the scenes: "It doesn't matter if it's a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat."

Chen Sicheng, who has successfully transformed, has handed over two pretty good "report cards" to Wanda, which laid a good foundation for subsequent cooperation to create "Tang Detective".

After making enough money, the beauty will naturally not be able to run away.

In 2014, 36-year-old Chen Sicheng spent 15 million to marry 31-year-old Tong Liya on the island of Tahiti in the South Pacific.

On that day, a lot of celebrities, big and small, came, but among the "comrades" back then, only Wang Baoqiang came.

Yaya, who is extremely beautiful, instantly blinded many people’s eyes by wearing an 8.8-carat diamond ring that symbolized her birthday, but this light may not only come from love, but also from capital. Help.

5.

Shortly after the wedding, Chen Sicheng approached Wang Baoqiang: Brothers, let’s make a new movie together. The money will definitely be more than others.

Chen Sicheng is confident in saying this. Behind Chengya is the big financier Wanda. Wanda Film and Television holds 60% of the shares. Chen Sicheng himself holds 30% of the shares. He is still the only one Wanda trusts. director.

But no matter how good the brothers are, they still rely on money to maintain their relationship, and Chen Sicheng knows this very well.

After some preparations, "Detective Chinatown" was released on New Year's Eve on December 31, 2015. The actors were Wang Baoqiang, Liu Haoran and Tong Liya, and Chen Sicheng completely retreated behind the scenes and became a director.

Liu Haoran, who plays Qin Feng in the play, was spotted by Chen Sicheng as early as 15 years old when he starred in "Northern Love". At this time, he was also the only artist signed by Tong Liya Studio.

During the Spring Festival of 2016, 38-year-old Chen Sicheng had a double happiness. While "Detective Chinatown", which cost 80 million, won 800 million at the box office, Tong Liya also gave birth to a baby boy for him, whose nickname was "Duoduo", which is also said to be Chen Sicheng's nickname.

The former Houlang completely set off huge waves in the film market and became a director talent that was unanimously optimistic by capital.

Seeing the great success of his friend's transformation into a director, Wang Baoqiang couldn't restrain himself and directed and starred in a comedy film "Havoc in Tianzhu".

At the press conference, many directors and actors came to the stage to support, and Wang Baoqiang cried with joy.

This year, Wanda Film and Television, which has entered the A-share market and became the first theater chain in China, spent 50 billion to build the Oriental Film City in Qingdao. The high-spirited Wang Jianlin was featured in the mainstream American film magazine "The Hollywood Reporter" The cover of "The Author".

In 2018, Wang Baoqiang once again participated in Chen Sicheng's "Detective Chinatown 2". The 200 million-cost film once again set a box office record of 3.4 billion.

Since then, the universe of Chen Sicheng's "Tang Detective" has taken shape and has become a highly anticipated suspense comedy.

Among the emerging directors in China, Chen Sicheng has become one of the few leading figures who can produce both acclaimed and popular films.

But Chen Sicheng, who is famous and rich, seems to have also made "mistakes that successful men make". Since 2014, he has been frequently exposed as a "time management guru" and has dated many women. There have been scandals for many years.

Tong Liya also showed amazing tolerance for this, and just said lightly: As long as I can go home.

But it was also in this year that "Great Expectations" filmed by Chen Sicheng and Tong Liya was a hit in terms of word-of-mouth and ratings. The so-called 300 million investment was instantly wiped out, and Wanda Pictures behind it had no choice but to He pinched his nose and remained silent.

No matter how good a director is, it is impossible for every film to make money. Wanda can only take a long-term view.

You must know that Wanda Film and Television not only contacted Chen Sicheng at that time, but also contacted film and television directors such as Zhang Yimou, who had just finished fighting with his good brothers, and Chen Guofu, who had gone solo from Huayi. In the end, they all Not settled.

It can only be said that "Director Xiao Chen" who still needs to prove himself is more obedient, sensible and cooperative.

Chen Sicheng did not disappoint Wanda.

In 2018, thanks to the help of "Tang Detective 2", Wanda Film and Television, whose annual profit was only 500 million, boldly handed over a net profit of 400 million in the first quarter, even attracting raised questions from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

A year later, the crime suspense film "Manslaughter" invested by Wanda and produced by Chen Sicheng was released in China. It earned 1.1 billion at the box office at a cost of less than 100 million, which is equivalent to similar suspense films. Not a bad result.

For Wanda Film and Television, which has been suffering from poor management, Chen Sicheng can be called "the man who saved Wanda."

At the premiere of "Manslaughter", Chen Sicheng once argued aggrievedly: "Actually, I was also a person who was killed by manslaughter. The public put a series of labels on me..."

6.

In fact, there is nothing to explain. The capital behind the entertainment industry only depends on performance.

If you can make money, it’s all about your skills. If you can’t make money, you can only stand aside if you have a big wrist. A little scandal is nothing.

For example, Huayi once deeply tied up Feng Xiaogang, but after Feng made several films hit the market, capital quickly went after the more profitable director Guan Hu.

Because of this, some scandals did not affect Chen Sicheng's subsequent film career at all.

After he announced the launch of the "Tang Detective 3" project, 30 capital companies took notice, and countless brands rushed to cooperate.

Although the production of this film has been completed long ago and was originally planned to be released during the Lunar New Year in 2020, there was no sound for a long time after it was withdrawn due to the epidemic.

The film rights to "囧Mom", which is also a competitor, were sold to the platform by the shrewd Xu Zheng early on, and Xiaosha walked away with 600 million in cash.

Other films such as "Jiang Ziya", "Chinese Women's Volleyball" and "Vanguard" that were originally scheduled to be released during the Spring Festival last year could not hold up and were released one after another during the National Day holiday last year. Unfortunately, the results were average and far from expected. .

Seeing that "Tang Detective 3" was not moving at all, many people thought that there was a financial backer behind Chen Sicheng, so they did not panic.

But the actual situation is that Chen Sicheng was panicked. Even though he was the director and producer, it was not him who had the final say on which schedule the film would be released on.

"Tang Detective 3" has as many as 25 producers and 15 distributors. The main investors are Wanda Film and Television, Beijing Yitong Legend Film and Television and China Film Co., Ltd., and the rest are joint producers. I was so depressed that I wanted to make a big profit at once.

Of course, Chen Sicheng is no exception in this regard. He also wants to eat a fatty meal.

According to Tianyancha, the legal person of Beijing Yitong Legend Film and Television is Chen Shengqi, Chen Sicheng’s father.

Chen Sicheng is not stupid. He has the final say in making movies, and he cannot lose himself by sharing the accounts.

Although Wuzhou Film, as the main distributor, is the one who decides the schedule in theory, the real boss behind them is Wanda Pictures. The stock price has fallen painfully in recent years.

In 2019, Wanda Film and Television suffered a huge loss of 4.729 billion yuan. Except for "Manslaughter", it did not have a single successful movie. Good projects originally handed over to itself were poached by other competitors. .

One year later, Wanda Cinemas in Lhasa was officially opened, which means that Wanda Film and Television spent 16 years to finally achieve the layout of Wanda Cinemas in 31 provincial capital cities across the country.

But behind the scenery, the reality is cruel.

For this reason, Wanda Film and Television’s actual losses have exceeded 6 billion, and a large amount of company liquidity and repayment funds are missing. The landlord’s family really has no food left.

Wanda Film and Television’s hopes of turning around are all bets on “Tang Detective 3”.

Not counting the money spent on filming, Wanda Pictures, which has three of the six producers of "Tang Detective 3", is working harder on marketing.

Before the cancellation of theatrical films due to the epidemic last year, Wanda Film and Television had already spent tens of millions on it. This year, it has spent an additional 30 million on promotions, making "Tang Detective 3" fully scheduled during the Spring Festival. The volume reached a terrifying 47%, which is almost overwhelming.

Thanks to this movie, Wanda Pictures’ stock price has been trending for several days.

As of the close of trading on February 9, Wanda Film and Television was trading at 21.64 yuan per share. Although there was a slight fluctuation, it was much higher than the previous increase.

From the perspective of the entire market, it is almost a foregone conclusion that "Tang Detective 3" will become a hit again.

However, from a capital perspective, all eggs cannot be put in one basket.

Wanda and Chen Sicheng also have a private agreement, which requires Chen Sicheng to cultivate a suitable "successor".

Ke Wenli, the director of the 2019 dark horse "Manslaughter", was originally one of the directors of the "Detective Chinatown" web drama and was also a team partner directly appointed by Chen Sicheng.

Also under the planning of Wanda, as the manager of the wholly-owned company, Chen Sicheng is also looking for new egg-layers while laying out the Tangtan film and television universe.

You must know that behind any movie, there are countless shadows of capital. Before the movie is in place, the capital is already in place.

It is precisely because of this that ratings and perceptions are far less tangible than banknotes.

Chen Sicheng, who has been deeply tied to Wanda, is just a footnote in this movie era.

It remains to be seen where Tangtan Universe and Wanda Film and Television will go.