Zhang Jiahao Talks with Filmmakers about the Release of the 750 Million Dollar blockbuster "Ashura"

Global debut of the three head combined version movie poster

  For the past six years, the low-key fantasy film "Ashura" has used over 2400 special effects shots and a blockbuster production of 750 million yuan. It was officially scheduled for release on July 13th during the summer vacation. Recently, during the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival, Yang Hongtao, the producer and chief producer of "Ashura", and Yang Zhenjian, the producer and producer, along with director Zhang Peng, invited Wu Lei, Carina Lau, Zhang Yishang, Mingdao, Tuca, and other creators, as well as mysterious investor Zhang Jiahao, to participate in the global release ceremony of the Ashura world and the final trailer and three head poster of the movie "Ashura". At the same time, the game and VR movie of the same name were also launched simultaneously with the movie "Ashura". In the early stages of the national exploration of the "film and television+entertainment" model, the "Ashura" team became the "first person to eat crabs".

  In addition to the simultaneous release of two heavyweight materials, renowned investors Zhang Jiahao, producer Yang Zhenjian, director Zhang Peng, and multiple leading actors have revealed a large number of stories in front and behind the scenes of "Ashura".

Investor Zhang Jiahao

Film Producer, Chief Producer

Yang Hongtao, President of Ningxia Film Group (first from right)

Director Zhang Peng

  Capital Marshal Zhang Jiahao:

  Make investments emotional and capital warm

  Since the release of the film "Ashura" at the beginning of the year, it was exposed that the behind the scenes investor was the actual controller of 36 cultural schemes and the famous investor Zhang Jiahao. After that, news reports about Zhang Jiahao have been overwhelming, with 160 million yuan invested in China TV, 600 million yuan invested in Shenzhen Red Diamond Football Club, 6 billion yuan invested in US real estate, and huge amounts invested in hedge funds in the United States... A series of large-scale investments have left people stunned. Zhang Jiahao calmly told reporters, "As investors, capital operation is our core. This time, it is not only an investment in a single film of 'Asura', but also a deep integration investment in the entire film and television industry

  And Zhang Jiahao's investment in the cultural field is even more surprising. From the initial industrial operation of "the same song" to investing in film and television works such as "Gives Love" and "Love in the Present" in 2014, to investing in the fantasy film "Ashura" and establishing a 5 billion yuan "Cinema Investment and Acquisition Fund" in conjunction with the Dadi Cinema Line, this series of strategic layouts can fully demonstrate Zhang Jiahao's feelings, persistence, and courage towards film and television culture.

  What is even more shocking is that in the late production stage of the movie "Ashura", the meeting between Zhang Jiahao and Yang Zhenjian became a key turning point for the film. It is said that it took less than 2 hours to discuss investing in "Ashura", and Zhang Jiahao decided to invest, and the next day all the funds were in place, becoming the largest investor of the film. Little did they know that at that time, the production team of 'Asura' was facing production funding exceeding budget, which hindered the production progress. According to Yang Hongtao, the chief producer of Asura, "Zhang Jiahao is a passionate, righteous, and wise investor. During his first meeting with him, he did not ask too much about the market expectations of Asura, but rather talked more about the current situation and future development of the Chinese film market, as well as his understanding of the past works of the main creative team of Asura and his plans for future works It is a representative work of Chinese cinema, and it can be said that the warm investment of Zhang Jiahao Xue in carbon has achieved the film mission of "Ashura". In this exchange, Yang Zhenjian's film sentiment has repeatedly dispelled Zhang Jiahao's investment concerns. Firstly, he is a passionate filmmaker. Secondly, they are senior professionals in the film industry, and the success of films such as "Skin 1" and "Skin 2" is the best witness. Furthermore, people in their late 50s still have a passion for entrepreneurship, being able to mortgage their own house for their movie dreams and receive support from their families... Immediately, Zhang Jiahao decided to invest in this high cost film costing 750 million yuan, only to create a domestically produced fantasy film with those who have feelings. Zhang Jiahao's investment philosophy of "making investments emotional and capital warm" deeply moved Yang Zhenjian. Zhang Jiahao told reporters, "A short-term decision to invest represents our sincerity, trust, and work style.

Zhang Peng (left), Yang Zhenjian (center), Zhang Jiahao (right)

  Regarding the reasons for investing in 'Ashura', Zhang Jiahao stated: firstly, he affirmed the film's main creative team. The film continues the team of "Painted Skin", which was once known as the "New Magic of the East" and the "benchmark of Chinese cinema" in 2008. They are all senior filmmakers from various countries who have been deeply involved in film and television for many years. Zhang Jiahao believes that the most important aspect of investment is the investor, who invests more in people than in individual projects. He does not want to focus too much on the profitability of projects and ignore human emotions. The second is that the spirit of pursuing movies in film works is in line with positive energy. Thirdly, the main creative team has the ideal of bringing national and cultural confidence to the world stage for domestic films. The fourth is the grand pursuit and sentiment of taking responsibility for the development of China's film industry. Fifth, it is consistent with the original intention of investing in movies. Zhang Jiahao said: In China's film and television industry, there is rarely a professional investment fund that can cooperate with theaters to form a 'capital+cinema line' search for content. The establishment of the 'cinema investment merger and acquisition fund' has solved this problem. We are a team with rich experience in the investment field and huge advantages in capital integration and management. This year, we will comprehensively implement the 'film and television+finance+IP derivative production' through the integration of 'finance+channels+content' Industry development strategy, entering the film and television cultural industry for investment. The purpose of investing in "Ashura" is to enrich the domestic film investment service chain, test the innovative investment in the film industry, and start by exploring the deep integration and operation of film and television advertising, as well as the systematic service development of subsequent IP derivative products‘ The cross-border integration of film, industry, and finance is the overall plan and strategy for innovative investment in the film and television industry of 36 Plan Culture. Adhering to the 'core resources, high-end integration, and deep links' is the development path of 36 Plan Culture's' film, industry, and finance' investment. “

Zhang Jiahao and his team

  In recent years, Zhang Jiahao's investments in industries such as culture and tourism, real estate, finance, health, environmental protection, science and education have become increasingly popular. At the beginning of 2018, we reached a cooperation with the University of Cambridge to introduce advanced research achievements from Cambridge and returned to China. We were awarded the Business Ambassador of Cambridge by the Mayor of Cambridge, Mr. George Pippas, and the Honorary Doctor and Medal of Cambridge by the University of Cambridge.

  Behind his multiple decisive investment experiences, it is related to Zhang Jiahao's thorough understanding and adherence to the five thinking styles of "human nature thinking, social thinking, political thinking, financial thinking, and industrial thinking" when making investments. He said: Most of us take profit as the fundamental principle, but in fact, profit is also created by humans. A person's perspective on wealth determines their future career and pattern. In the field of investment, when you thoroughly understand these five thoughts, various things in society will become simpler. For investors, controlling projects and policies has also become easier. My requirements for the team are 'do less, do the right thing, and do big things'

  For the estimated probability of breaking through the 3 billion box office, Zhang Jiahao believes: "This is reasonable

  In the future, Zhang Jiahao revealed that he will continue to deepen cooperation with Yang Zhenjian and Zhang Peng in the field of "film and television production+investment". He said, "In the future, we will further focus on the planning of the film 'Painted Skin 3' and continue to explore high-quality content through film and television funds, expanding the influence of the film through the form of 'film and television+finance+IP derivative industry'

Yang Zhenjian (third from left)

  Producer Yang Zhenjian:

  A 6-year dream is happiness

  For the past 6 years, the core behind the scenes promoter of the film "Ashura", the producer and producer of this film, Yang Zhenjian, Chairman of Zhenjian Film Industry, said, "Ashura" is a happiness gained from the pressure and challenge of 750 million yuan in the past six years. As early as 2012, after "Skin 2", it was natural to launch "Skin 3", but in the end, "Skin 3" was shelved and "Ashura" was launched . At that time, it was predicted that around 2018, we needed to have truly affordable heavy industry films, and we cannot rely on past successful projects without making progress and relying on our old roots. So he searched and extracted the theme of "Ashura" from traditional Eastern culture, and wanted to present the six realms of "Heavenly Realm", "Ashura Realm", "Human Realm", "Hungry Spirit Realm", "Warcraft Realm", and "Purgatory Realm" in this theme to the world audience. To achieve world-class standards is a fulfilling ideal that requires perfect execution, Hollywood Chinese director Zhang Peng gave me great confidence and hope. Over the past six years, Zhang Peng and I have worked together to form a mature and first-class behind the scenes team consisting of over 200 international filmmakers from 35 countries, as well as 1600 Chinese filmmakers. Many of our team members have participated in "Speed and Passion", "Lord of the Rings", "Game of Thrones", and "Crazy Max" Waiting for the creators and Oscar winners of well-known works Yang Zhenjian said that working with these excellent filmmakers from around the world is both a form of happiness and a form of pressure. Fortunately, they have excellent and perfect artistic presentation abilities, and pressure is costly.

  King Ashura:

  The Three Headed Combination is a Wonder

  The character setting of a body with three heads has never been seen in the history of film development, and the setting of the three head Asura king in the movie "Asura" breaks this gap. In the character posters and trailers of the film "Ashura" that were exposed this time, the most eye-catching three characters in the film, Ashura King, were revealed. Their three characters were the Insight Head played by Wu Lei, the Desire Head played by Leung Ka hui, and the Strategy Head played by Carina Lau. Director Zhang Peng said, This unprecedented three headed character setup has brought unprecedented difficulties to the filming and later stages of the film. In order to achieve the performance of three different actors on one body, the production team developed a large amount of shooting technology in the early stages of filming, using 6000 square meters of LED to build a six sided LED shooting studio. Shooting three headed characters was the biggest challenge in my years of work. Although the process was bumpy, when I finally saw the final presentation effect, My heart is still full of happiness

  The actors Wu Lei and Carina Lau, who played the three heads, said that this type of performance with a three head combination is a form they have never seen before. During the performance, the actors' expressions, movements, and even light and shadow must be synchronized, placing high demands on their performance. In order to better portray the three headed Asura King, Carina Lau challenged her acting skills without a costume for the first time. She stated that this was the biggest challenge she had ever faced in her career. "I have never acted in a movie without a costume. I wore tight fitting clothes with action capture tracking points on the set, and the special effects later installed my and Wu Lei's heads on Jia Hui's body." Wu Lei also stated that the filming scene should be based on Liang Jiahui's movements, To adjust the angle and range of movement of my head and body, 'When Jia Huige's head is lowered, I may have to raise it, and Sister Jialing's head may have to tilt towards another angle.'

Liu Jialing, Wu Lei, and Tuka

  A tragic warrior crafted for $6.5 million

  图As an important and special character in Ashura, Ka also debunked the mystery of identity for the first time. This pumpkin shaped character was originally a brave rebel warrior in the Asura Realm. In a battle with the Asura King, he was alienated into a pumpkin shaped monster. This little pumpkin monster man is a CG character built for millions of dollars. Actor Wang Tiejun, who plays Tuka, said that Tuka is a special character whose uniqueness lies not only in his unprecedented image, but also in his tragic emotions in the play.

The main creative team of Ashura (part) - Mingdao (third from left)

  Mingdao:

  Without a sense of decline and heartlessness

  Mingdao plays the role of a physician in the Asura Realm, and he claims that his role as a physician in the Asura Realm carries a special mission of salvation. In the movie, King Asura uses a torture tool called the "Flying Flail" to divide the captured Asura rebel soldiers into two, and those who never land and fly in the sky will never fall until they die of exhaustion. The part on the ground is like a walking corpse, and those who become slaves to King Asura are called heartless and heartless. He invented a magical nutrient solution specifically designed to save those who fly in the sky without falling, hoping that one day without falling can merge with heartless and heartless people to form a complete person. These two character settings, with their minds wide open and their hearts open, both have their own ups and downs, "Mingdao said.

  Can cross border CP achieve ultimate happiness due to the intricate character relationships in the movie? Will the conservative forecast of 3 billion box office break through? What kind of splash will Zhang Jiahao's "emotional investment temperature capital" create?

  Original link:http://ent.huanqiu.com/yuleyaowen/2018-06/12313370.html?agt=15417