The TV series "Ice Hunting" was launched two days ago, as a TV series broadcast after Zhang Songwen became popular with "Hurricane", and starring Yao Anna, the "second princess of Huawei", it is destined to cause a lot of controversy.
The criticism of the plot and the performance of the actors is still within the scope of rational discussion, but many netizens tried to lead the speculation that Yao Anna brought capital into the group, and Huawei participated in the investment. For this reason, the two directors of the TV series have refuted the rumors one after another, and said that the TV series production budget is stretched.
On February 23, chief director Gao Qunshu issued a long post in response to the recent controversy, revealing that "Ice Hunting" has a total investment of more than 30 million, which was compressed to 55 days to complete filming, and the crew is so poor that they can only live in a hotel for dozens of yuan a day.
The production cost is linked to the quality of the TV series, but it should not determine the audience's criteria for judging a drama. We have previously written two manuscripts criticizing the drama's loopholes in plot and logic, and the flaws of the script actually have little to do with investment.
This time, what we want to discuss is not "Ice Hunting" itself, but from the production cost of this drama to the film field.
Ice Hunting" 18 episodes, the first few episodes obviously feel that the plot is fragmented and the details are missing, there should have been some deletions, but not deletions, according to the average length of 40 minutes, 18 episodes also need to be more than 700 minutes long, the length of 5 movies. The TV series is mainly filmed in Hainan, with many scenes, many transitions, and some action scenes, various chases, yachts and other elements, and it is indeed surprising that it was filmed with only 30 million production costs, after all, a network that was filmed in the studio in more than 20 days, the production cost is at least 10 million yuan, and the blogger broke the news that "the crew is so poor that they eat steamed buns every morning" is not an exaggeration.
But looking at the Spring Festival films, the production cost is staggering.
Huanxi Media, the producer of "Mr. Red Carpet", which has been withdrawn, previously issued a circular and disclosed that the total production cost of the film is 2600 million yuan, of which the production fee and post-production and visual effects expenses add up to more than 33 million.
In comparison, the total investment in "Mr. Red Carpet" is not the most outrageous.
It is rumored in the industry that the production cost of "Flying Life 2" is as high as 400 million! Audiences who have watched the movie know very well that the first 90 minutes of the movie are basically literary dramas, there are no big scenes, and the most money-burning scene should be the passage of multiple "old man's music" drag racing cars, but that kind of car costs thousands of dollars a lot, even if it is scrapped, it is not much.
The last 30 minutes of racing scenes should be filmed at a high cost, especially the collision of two cars using real shooting, only filmed once, and scrapped two cars, but full of calculations, both cars can't be wanted, 2 million is enough, right? A few special effects shots that claim to have been made for a few months, how much can they burn?
But "Flying Life 2" has racing, action, special effects, and can burn money visibly with the naked eye, while "Hot and Hot" is completely incomprehensible.
It is reported that the total production cost of "Hot and Hot" is 3500 million, I didn't believe it at first, but I watched the 2After the cost of 600 million, I think it is not impossible.
As a comedy movie, "Hot and Hot" has no big scenes, and the scenes are relatively simple, and in terms of casting, actors such as Lei Jiayin and Yang Zi will definitely not be more expensive than Andy Lau. A large part of the cost of the movie should be Jia Ling's year-long weight loss process, after all, it is necessary to be equipped with special fitness coaches, nutritionists, special training venues, and even special sports doctors. And because it takes time to lose weight, "Hot and Hot" was filmed for a year, and if the staff can't take on other scenes during this period, will it also be counted as a salary during this period?
But even so, 3The production cost of 500 million is too high. What is this concept? "The Wandering Earth" has so many special effects and such a long production cycle, and the total cost is only 50 million US dollars, equivalent to 3 yuanAbout 200 million.
3.500 million, enough to shoot 10 "Ice Hunting", in terms of picture and production level alone, is "Ice Hunting" worse than "Hot and Hot"? I feel that the level is quite high!
That 3Where did the 500 million flowers go?
Generally speaking, the production cost of the film and the whereabouts of the funds are kept secret. Because Huanxi Media is a listed company and has the obligation to disclose, this gives a glimpse of the whereabouts of the funds of "Mr. Red Carpet".
From the details of "Mr. Red Carpet", it can be seen that the "project planning and development and non-protagonist expenses" are as high as 39 million, and the non-protagonist expenses are not difficult to understand, which is the remuneration of Shan Liwen, supporting role Ning Hao and other actors in the movie, and "project planning and development" should refer to the expenses from script creation to the early stage of start-up, is it possible that the cigarettes smoked and the water that the screenwriter and director drank are counted in it? But in any case, 39 million is not a small number.
And the cost of the protagonist, that is, Andy Lau, took 60 million alone, Ning Hao's directing fee was 24 million, and the cost of other main creators, which should refer to photography, art, etc., also took 20 million, and the three items added up to 100 million were gone.
If "Mr. Red Carpet" is applied to "Hot and Hot", the doubt will be solved.
As a top-notch female director who has created more than 5 billion movies, and a comedian with great box office appeal, Jia Ling's salary and director fee calculated for herself should not be lower than Andy Lau and Ning Hao, right? Otherwise, "Hot and Hot" 3The investment of 500 million yuan really can't be added no matter how much it is added. This is equivalent to Jia Ling, who single-handedly handled everything from the script to the shooting to the starring role, filming "Hot and Hot" does not count the actual cost of filming, from the development of the script to the completion of the movie, she gave herself a salary of more than 100 million - enough to shoot three "Ice Hunting".
Writing here, I understand why "Hot and Hot" is obviously a 100% profitable project, Jia Ling still puts her big bowl of entertainment in the fifth position of the producer, in front of Xinli Media, China Film, Alibaba and China Literature Film and Television, before the movie starts, more than 100 million remuneration has been collected, isn't it fragrant?
As for the year-long shooting, I believe Jia Ling will not take out the money from her pocket, after all, referring to "Mr. Red Carpet", there are all kinds of expenses and production fees that are only put there, and the total production cost of "Hot and Hot" is almost 100 million more than that of "Mr. Red Carpet", how to shoot it is enough!
At this point, back to the topic of this article.
If it weren't for Andy Lau taking 60 million and Ning Hao taking 24 million, if Jia Ling treated the movie as her own child and didn't charge director fees and starring fees, would these two movies be filmed at a cost of tens of millions?
We have been calling for a boycott of the high remuneration of actors, but ignoring the high remuneration of the core creative staff of a film, in the face of high returns, movies are more like a money-making business, they make film investment risky higher, so that small and medium-sized film and television companies can not get projects, so that new directors can not get investment and can't afford to hire big-name actors, so that the pace of Chinese films blooming has slowed down, and this Spring Festival file has become the "first year of withdrawal".
Would it have been better if "Flying Life 2" had put money on adding an extra car or two, and if "Hot and Hot" had put money on enhancing filmmaking?
Dragon and Tiger Leap Spring Festival stalls