Feng Xiaogang responded to the battle with Wanda: I am a victim and not afraid of trouble

At the post-screening meeting, some viewers asked Feng Xiaogang's motivation for publishing an open letter to Wang Jianlin, President of Wanda Group, on Weibo yesterday, and asked him to respond to the rumor that the postponement of "Where are the Fantastic Animals" was related to "Pan Jinlian".

Original title Feng Xiaogang: Wang Jianlin doesn't give Wang Zhongjun face and Wang Sicong ignores shareholders.

On November 19, director Feng Xiaogang and screenwriter Liu Zhenyun and stars Fan Bingbing, Yu Hewei, Zhang Yi, Li Zonghan and others appeared in Shanghai to promote the current movie "I am Not Pan Jinlian". At the post-screening meeting, some viewers asked Feng Xiaogang's motivation for publishing an open letter to Wang Jianlin, President of Wanda Group, on Weibo yesterday, and asked him to respond to the rumor that the postponement of "Where are the Fantastic Animals" was related to "Pan Jinlian".

Feng Xiaogang gave a very detailed answer to this. He said that Huayi had already been secretly manipulated by Wanda in two films before, but he had never dared to tear each other apart, so he chose to open the conflict this time, otherwise the films of other Huayi directors and even the China film industry would be harmed. "Pan Jinlian" box office exceeded 100 million yuan in two days after its release. Feng Xiaogang said that Wanda gave the film a low rating due to its conflict with Huayi. Not only did Wanda suffer losses, but it also ignored the interests of shareholders.

In Feng Xiaogang's response, he first expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that many films produced by Huayi, including "Rock Tibetan Mastiff" and "Lu Yao Know Ma Li", were implicated due to the conflict between Wanda and Huayi. He believed that the director and film works had become victims of the conflict between the two companies.

"It is not a fair practice for the conflict between the two companies to retaliate against the director. Wanda has one mouth on the left and one mouth on the right, and the third mouth is coming to me. Let's follow Master Liu's words, I am not afraid of trouble. Not only am I not afraid of trouble, but Li Xuelian in our film is also not afraid of trouble."

He also said that if he didn't say anything, after "Pan Jinlian", many Huayi films such as "The Death of Romantics" starring Cheng Er, Ge You, and Zhang Ziyi, and "Eight Hundred Heroes" starring Guan Hu, which will be released during the Lunar New Year, will continue to be deliberately suppressed by Wanda Theater.

"That is to say, all directors 'films may be subject to retaliatory screenings due to the feud between the two companies. This will cause great harm to the China film industry. This is not my business alone. If I don't make this contradiction public, these directors may suffer such dumb losses in the future."

In addition, he also said that after Wanda began to suppress low-profile films of its films, Huayi Brothers has never dared to make the matter public because they still had the illusion not to get into trouble with Wanda. He also revealed that Huayi Chairman Wang Zhongjun had even privately apologized to Wang Jianlin, but Wang Jianlin did not give Wang Zhongjun face and still lowered the screening of "Pan Jinlian".

In response to Wang Sicong's statement on Weibo yesterday that Wanda was just not optimistic about the low-profile film of "Pan Jinlian", Feng Xiaogang also provided schedule and box office data to prove Wanda's mistake in decision-making.

Feng Xiaogang said,"We account for 40% of the country's film schedule and 62% of the box office. In other words, 40% of the screenings actually don't overestimate me, right? So "Pan Jinlian" is less than 13% of the screenings in Wanda Theater, accounting for 30% of the box office. What does this figure mean? This figure shows that Wanda suffered losses because of its conflict with Huayi."

Feng Xiaogang also pointed out in particular that Wanda Cinema, as a listed company, made such mistakes in decision-making are irresponsible to shareholders. "Last weekend, the box office of Wanda Theater was about more than 15 million yuan, but this weekend it turned to more than 9 million yuan, losing a lot of money. If Wang Sicong's personal hobbies say he doesn't think this movie is good, it doesn't matter. If you are a private company, it is fine and you are willing to pay for this money. But you are a public listed company. You are doing this completely ignoring the interests of shareholders. You are doing this for this."

Earlier, a Weibo user "1874 AD" broke the news that due to Huayi's appeal to the radio and television to set aside space for "I am Not Pan Jinlian" to be released on November 18, the release of "Harry Potter" rumored "Where are the Fantastic Animals", which was originally scheduled to be released on the same day, was postponed from 11.18 to 11.25; and Clint. "Captain Sully", directed by Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks, has also been postponed to December 9.

In this regard, Feng Xiaogang also said that this rumor is completely untrue. He revealed that Huayi had long sold the copyright to "I am not Pan Jinlian" to Yaolai Culture. Yaolai Culture has become the first producer and distributor. "After Huayi Brothers sold this film, they only had the right to authorship but no rights. They didn't need to get involved in the distribution at all, because the revenue had been locked in early on. Why did Huayi Brothers go to the Film Bureau to talk about this? Let's not talk about whether the film bureau is managed by Huayi. Huayi can't even handle Wanda. Can it still handle the film bureau?"

According to an earlier report by Entertainment Capital,"I am Not Pan Jinlian" was first operated by the Ferris Wheel, a company owned by Beijing Culture. At that time, the Ferris Wheel purchased the copyright from the original author Liu Zhenyun and asked him to complete the script adaptation. Later, Feng Xiaogang decided to shoot the film. Because he was Huayi's director, the project was transferred to Huayi as a whole. Huayi became the project contractor and the largest investor.

After the movie was shut down, Huayi introduced Yaolai Culture in order to share the commercial risks of the movie. After watching the rough cut, Yaolai was willing to guarantee the guarantee of 500 million yuan. One of the conditions was to obtain a 20% investment right. Finally Huayi gave up 20% of its 70% investment, plus 30% of the previous Beijing Culture. In the end, the investment ratio of all parties was 5:3:2.

Yaolai pays investors 200 million yuan in net box office revenue based on the total box office revenue of the film of RMB 500 million yuan; the box office revenue of 500 million to 800 million yuan will be exclusive to the issuer Yaolai; if the box office exceeds 800 million yuan, the issuer Yaolai Film and Television Culture earns 50% of the net box office revenue.

Feng Xiaogang's response is compiled in full

as follows. I think it is a particularly simple matter. Due to the feud and contradiction between Wanda and Huayi Brothers, Wanda retaliated this "revenge" on the director's work. As a director, I very much hope that my film can be seen by more audiences. It is not a fair practice for the two companies to "retaliate" against the director for the conflict. The same is true for the movie "Rock Tibetan Mastiff" and "Lu Yao Know Ma Li", which already has articles in front of it. Huayi Brothers was actually a little scared, because he didn't dare to say anything after the previous two screenings that were lower than the market average. Why? Because Huayi has no theater lines, and Wanda has a large theater line with a proportion of 13%, he feels that we dare not make this matter public and dare not tear this face because the film company relies on theater stores, right? But Wanda opened one mouth on the left, one mouth on the right, and the third mouth came to me. According to Master Six, I am not afraid of trouble. Not only am I not afraid of trouble, but also Li Xuelian in our film.

What do 90% of people in our lives take when they are wronged? Bear with it. The method Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei adopted was also forbearance. I even told you that no one knew about it. Today, I will give you something. Wang Zhongjun was afraid that his relationship with Wanda would be ruined, so he went to Wang Jianlin to apologize. However, he did not give him such face and continued to "retaliate" to "I am not Pan Jinlian". I also tell you that I made this contradiction public. No one knows if there is a contradiction secretly under the hand, so I made it public.

So who else is down there? There is also "The Death of Romantics" starring Zhang Ziyi and Ge You, and "Eight Hundred Heroes" filmed by director Guan Hu. That is to say, all directors 'films may be subject to retaliatory scheduling due to the feud between the two companies. This will be very harmful to China's film industry. This is not my own business. Yesterday's box office came out, so many viewers went to see it, and other theaters across the country gave "I am Not Pan Jinlian" an appropriate schedule that met market expectations.

Yesterday, Wang Sicong said,"How many films I schedule for you is my business behavior. I don't think highly of your movie, so I schedule you low." If this movie is good, I will improve its layout." So, yesterday's box office came out, and now we can answer Mr. Wang Sicong. The national average of our movie schedule is 40%, and our box office proportion reached 62% yesterday. I don't know if the audience is clear about it, but given 40% of the movie clips, the box office accounted for 62%. That is to say, this 40% of the movie clips actually didn't overestimate me, right? Of course, I think it's also very good. So, less than 13% of "Pan Jinlian"'s screenings in Wanda theaters account for 30% of the box office. What does this figure mean? This figure shows that Wanda suffered losses because of its conflict with Huayi and gave it low-profile films.

Last weekend, the box office of Wanda Theater was about more than 15 million yuan, but this weekend it turned to more than 9 million yuan, losing a lot of money. If Wang Sicong's personal hobbies are okay and he says,"I don't think this movie is good", it doesn't matter. If you are a private company, it's okay, and I'm willing to pay for this money. But you are a public listed company. You are doing this completely ignoring the interests of shareholders. You are doing this for this.

Dear viewers, am I right? To take a step back, it also shows that there are major mistakes in your vision and the market's judgment of this film. If I were a shareholder, I would be very worried that the person leading this company had made such a big mistake in judging the market.

Such a simple truth, I don't know why it turned into saying that Feng Xiaogang, you are too strong. Can you care how others arrange their films? This is called unreasonable.

Am I strong? I'm a victim. Because of the conflict between the two companies, these directors have been punished. Not only me, there are already two directors in front of them, and there are also many outstanding directors who have worked with Huayi. If I don't make this conflict public, these directors may suffer these dumb losses in the future. Huayi Brothers still dare not say it to this day because they still have illusions and don't get into trouble with Wanda. Why? Compared with Wanda's size, it is a small company and it dares not. But as a director, I am not afraid of this, and I have nothing unreasonable. I said there is no hope of solving this problem, but I want to let the public know why this problem occurs and what the reasons are.

You said we squeezed out those two movies (notes: "Where are the Fantastic Beasts" and "Captain Sally"). If we had that ability, would we be squeezed out of the National Day slot? Who doesn't know that during the seven-day National Day holiday,"I'm Not Pan Jinlian" was rescheduled from National Day? Where do we change it? We move it to the beginning of the month? Said it was too close to the Sixth Plenary Session. We moved it to November 10th and said that there would be an Ang Lee movie. We hope to leave enough space for Ang Lee's movie. Where should I move it? I went to the New Year's Eve stall, and all the people were anxious with me.

I have a birth certificate, so there must be a time when it can be released, right? Anyway, aren't domestic films allowed to be released in November?

There is a Weibo called "AD 1874", and I especially want to ask this friend. He said Huayi wanted the film bureau and asked to remove other people's films. First of all, it was inaccurate, because Huayi Brothers resold the film to Yaolai Pictures on the first day of filming. The first producer was Yaolai Pictures. After Huayi Brothers sold off the film, they only had the right to authorship without any rights, and there was no need to interfere in the issue of distribution. Because the income had been locked in early on, why would Huayi Brothers go to the Film Bureau to talk about this? Let's not talk about whether the film bureau is managed by Huayi. Huayi can't even handle Wanda. Can it still handle the film bureau?

Today, I will briefly explain the ins and outs of these two questions clearly, and I also hope that the media can relay my answers to the audience and readers. At the same time, I also very understand the indignation expressed by some viewers without knowing the truth. If I was guided by some wrong public opinion, I would also become very angry. But the truth is this. I said that people always say,"You always bother with this matter when there is nothing." I don't say that people say,"Look, you ignored it?" So today is the right time to make it clear about this event.

Editor: Nancy