Original title: Suffering from Shen Teng Ma Li dependence disorder, how does Happy Twist keep half of Chinese comedy?
Sohu Entertainment Zhuangao (Hamai/Text) In July and August this year, the total box office of movies nationwide has accumulated 5.2 billion yuan, exceeding the same period last year, of which “Lonely Walking on the Moon” contributed 2.2 billion yuan, accounting for 42%.
When “Mozart in Outer Space” fell short of expectations and “Tomorrow’s War” performed mediocrely, “Lone on the Moon” alone saved the summer season.
This film has a total box office of nearly 2.2 billion yuan in 13 days of release, ranking the top of the box office list every day, far ahead, and has no competitors at all. It is expected that its final total box office may reach 4 billion yuan, ranking in the top eight in the domestic film history box office list, becoming the highest-grossing film of Happy Twist.
There are two voices behind the achievement of “Lone on the Moon”. One believes that happy twist is still the eternal god, and comedy movies rely on it. Another thinks that the success of this film is more due to the actor’s credit. Without Shen Teng’s acting skills and audience support, the result would be unimaginable.
These two points of view just show the advantages and risks of Happy Twist. When the audience starts to predict the quality of a movie with “content”, the importance of actors is infinitely magnified, and the weight of the brand of Happy Twist shrinking.
Happy Twist has entered the film field since the release of “Charlotte Trouble” in 2015.
This comedy with an input cost of 69.3 million yuan sold 1.444 billion yuan that year, second only to “Monster Hunt” and “Hong Kong 囧”, ranking third in the annual box office list. The reputation is also very good, with a score of 9.3 points on Maoyan and 7.8 points on Douban, which made the battle of Happy Twist a god, and also made Shen Teng, Ma Li, and Allen jump from drama actors to comedy stars.
In 2016, Happy Twist launched the low-cost comedy “Donkey Gets Water”, which has a good reputation among movie fans, but because the subject matter and story lacked a popular foundation, the box office failed to explode, and it sold 172 million yuan.
In 2017, “Shy Iron Fist” was released and sold 2.213 billion yuan. In 2018, “The Richest Man in Xihong City” was released and sold 2.547 billion yuan, breaking the box office records of twist films.
On the other hand, the audience’s expectations and dissatisfaction with Happy Twist are getting stronger and stronger. While the box office is setting a record, the reputation of one twist movie is not as good as the other.
Judging from the Douban score, “Charlotte Trouble” scored 7.8 points, “Donkey Gets Water” scored 8.3 points, “Shy Iron Fist” scored 6.8 points, and “The Richest Man in Xihong City” scored 6.6 points. Aunt”, the Douban score dropped to 4.6 points.
The box office of “Li Cha’s Aunt” also began to shrink, selling 600 million yuan, making Happy Twist to encounter a crisis of trust for the first time.
Since 2019, Happy Twist has not launched a new master control work.
“Super Family” starring Allen and Shen Teng was originally scheduled to be released in the Spring Festival in 2022, but it was withdrawn. “This Killer Is Not Too Calm” sold 2.6 billion during the Spring Festival. However, this film is controlled by Xinli Media, and Happy Twist is only the third largest producer.
During the summer vacation, when there was a lack of new films in the market, Happy Twist took out “Lone on the Moon” and airborne it and won a battle.
From 2015 to 2022, Happy Twist has launched 6 films produced by the master, and participated in the selection of “Peerless Master”, “Demon Bell”, “My Hometown and Me”, “Half Comedy”, “My Father and Me”, “This The killer is not too calm” 6 movies, with a total box office of 16.7 billion yuan, “Lonely on the Moon” and “Super Family” will run to 20 billion yuan after the release.
It can be said that in addition to Ning Hao, Xu Zheng, Chen Sicheng, and Han Han, the few directors with stable output, Happy Twist has already propped up half of Chinese comedy films.
Shen Teng, Ma Li Dependence
While Happy Twist has propped up half of the Chinese comedy, several veteran actors Shen Teng, Ma Li, Allen, and Chang Yuan have propped up half of the Happy Twist, especially Shen Teng, who has become the most conspicuous sign of Happy Twist.
The four best-selling films of Ma Hua, “Charlotte Trouble”, “Shameful Iron Fist”, “The Richest Man in Xihong City”, and “Walking to the Moon” all feature Shen Teng. Lun and Song Yang, the results were not satisfactory.
Many audiences go to the movies for Shen Teng and Ma Li, not for the signboard of Happy Twist. “Walking on the Moon” is an example.
In addition, these actors can also bring opportunities for Happy Twist to invest in other films. For example, “Demon Bells” starring Shen Teng and “My Father and I” directed and starred. Happy Twists are the main productions. one of the parties.
Also, the success of actors has brought about rapid growth in the brokerage business.
In the past, Happy Twist only had performances and derivative businesses. In 2015, a “Charlotte Trouble” made the income of movies and derivative businesses exceed that of performances and derivative businesses. “Charlotte Troubles” brought in 192 million yuan in revenue, more than twice the total revenue of the play of the same name. Happy Twist thus tasted the sweetness of the movie.
Since 2017, the artist brokerage business of Happy Twist has exploded. That year, the artist brokerage income was 93.04 million yuan, accounting for 11.31% of the total revenue.
In 2018, the income of artist brokerage soared to 292 million yuan, accounting for 29% of the total revenue, and it was three pillars with the performance and film business.
The vast majority of artist brokerage income comes from several top artists such as Shen Teng, Ma Li, Allen, and Chang Yuan.
In 2017, Happy Twist paid 60.77 million yuan to Shanghai Doubao Film and Television Culture Studio, which is wholly-owned by Shen Teng, 24.42 million yuan to Shanghai Shijiao Film and Television Culture Studio, which is wholly-owned by Allen, and Shanghai Flower, which is wholly-owned by Ma Li. Song Film and Television Culture Studio paid 19.06 million yuan and 12.55 million yuan to Shanghai Muzhe Film and Television Culture Studio, which is wholly-owned by Changyuan. The total expenditure accounted for 40% of the total annual purchase amount, of which Shen Teng alone accounted for 21%.
In 2018, Happy Twist paid 78.46 million yuan to Lihe Film and Television Culture (Changxing) Studio, which is wholly-owned by Ma Li, and paid to Xinyi Xixiang Tengteng Film and Television Culture Studio and Changxing Zhenpin Film and Television Culture Studio, which were wholly-owned by Shen Teng. 60.1 million yuan, 32.39 million yuan, a total of 92.49 million yuan, and paid 25.8 million yuan to Shanghai Shijiao Film and Television Culture Studio, which is wholly-owned by Allen. The total expenditure accounted for 31% of the total purchase amount, of which Shen Teng alone accounted for 17.62%.
The risk of loss of core “cash cow”
Happy Twist’s artists include directors, screenwriters, actors, etc. There are more than 200 contracted artists, who are responsible for their performances, movies, TV dramas, commercials and other business lines of the whole business line, and obtain artist brokerage service income according to the agreement ratio.
For artists with commercial value and commercial potential, the company signs exclusive management agreements with the artists.
Happy Twist calls the actors who have cooperated for a long time and made great contributions “meritorious actors”. Shen Teng, Ma Li, Allen, Chang Yuan, Huang Cailun, Song Yang, and Wei Xiang are all meritorious actors. Among the meritorious actors, Shen Teng, Ma Li, Alan, and Chang Yuan are obviously actors with commercial value, and each has a studio controlled by their name, so as to cooperate with Happy Twist.
There are also some meritorious actors who did not sign with Happy Twist. For example, Wei Xiang, who is known to the public with “This Killer Is Not Too Calm”, is actually a contract actor of Xihong City Film and Television Culture.
The advantage of this cooperation model is that Happy Twist can obtain income from the non-company business of the actors and magnify the commercial value, but on the other hand, the artists are free and lack deep binding. If the contract expires one day, it will not be renewed. About, Ma Hua will face the risk of the loss of the core “cash cow”.
As veterans, Shen Teng, Ma Li, Alan, and Chang Yuan do not hold shares in Happy Twist. The IPO prospectus of Happy Twist revealed that among the artists, only directors Yan Fei and Peng Damo (real name Peng Anyu) passed Happy Brothers. The company indirectly holds a little share of Happy Twist, and the share is very small.
Directors have a similar pattern of cooperation.
During the period of “Charlotte Troubles”, Yan Fei and Peng Damo took the box office share as directors. In “The Richest Man in Xihong City”, the two established Xihong City Film and Television Culture, which became the main control of the film. The producer, Happy Twist is only the third largest investor.
After “My Hometown and Me”, Xihong City Film and Television Culture is the eighth largest producer, “This Killer is Not Too Calm” Xinli Media is the first largest producer, and Xihong City Film and Television Culture is the second largest producer. Happy Twist is only the third largest producer. The film and television culture of Xihong City, which is controlled by Happy Twist, also participated in the investment and is the sixth largest producer.
Yan Fei and Peng Damo each hold 31% of the shares of Xihong City Film and Television Culture, and Happy Twist holds 15% of the shares. They are the fourth largest shareholders, but they only exist as shareholders and have no control.
In layman’s terms, Yan Fei and Peng Damo have a new project and can freely choose to cooperate with companies that can provide better conditions. Happy Twist, as its shareholder and old owner, only has a certain right to cooperate.
Regarding the possible loss of talents, Happy Twist also suggested risks in the past annual reports.
“Although the company has provided favorable working conditions and incentive mechanisms in terms of career development, remuneration and benefits, and working environment, and has cultivated and formed a large-scale professional talent team, it may still face the loss of talents, especially the loss of star artists. As well as the risk of talent shortages or unsound talent pipelines in the development process, which will adversely affect the company’s continued operations.”
Cultivate more Shen Teng rely on the system?
At the just past Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum·Tianjin Summit, Zhang Chen, founder and chairman of Happy Twist, gave a speech as a guest speaker. He did not directly answer the question of how to retain Shen Teng, which everyone was concerned about, but talked about Shen Teng. After the story of Teng and Happy Twist, he mentioned the talent training system built by Happy Twist.
“When it comes to the core competitiveness of entertainment enterprises, in fact, everyone knows that it is a human problem. Over the years, we have trained hundreds of comedians, including directors who are both writers and directors, including the director of the film I mentioned just now. Zhang Chiyu started out as a screenwriter in our system, gradually became the co-director of the film, and finally became an independent director.
Many people ask me the same question, how do you keep Shen Teng? In fact, there is no secret here, I think it depends on a system.
In 2003, when our company was just established, Shen Teng, a student who just graduated from the drama academy, came to participate in our first drama performance. Then gradually from this stage, he became a creator, and now he has become a comedy star who is a writer and director.
Including the film director Zhang Chiyu I mentioned just now, it is because of the performances of such stage plays, they have more opportunities to hone their acting skills, and become opportunities to have movies and dramas, and grow like this up.
Therefore, in order to retain talents, it is necessary to rely on the system, rather than rely on independent projects. “
The implication is that Happy Twist not only depends on a certain actor, but also depends on a certain play, but also continuously cultivate more Shen Teng and create more IP.
Zhang Chen positioned Happy Twist as a comedy IP manufacturer. Its main business is offline theater operations and performances, and movies are a side business. In the future, it will embrace the metaverse and enter the field of VR interactive theaters and virtual concerts.Return to Sohu, see more
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