reporter Wu Zhaohan
With the rapid growth of happy twist, the outside world also has new doubts about its future, that is, is it too dependent on "famous characters".
This year’s National Day movie is like a fight between gods, but Happy Twist, which used to be a brand in National Day, was absent from this excitement. In the past three National Day files, Happy Twist has won a total of 4.2 billion box office, but this year is approaching the end of the year, but Happy Twist has not yet released a movie.
For a time, the voices of missing and questioning happy twist one after another.
From the outside world, it’s a pity that Happy Twist, a dark horse at the National Day box office, was absent from this year’s major schedules. However, the president of Happy Twist Liu Hongtao was very open about it and did not show any regrets. “The absence just happened to catch up. Yes, this year’s project has not yet been completed, there is a film in the late stage, and the schedule has not yet been determined."
Of course, a good attitude does not mean that there is no pressure.
Six years ago, before he had a place in the film industry, Liu Hongtao used "like walking on thin ice" and "like an abyss" to describe happy twists. Six years later, in an exclusive interview with "Chinese Entrepreneur", he still used these two words to describe the current state of Happy Twist. Although
is doing business that makes people laugh, Liu Hongtao said that happy twists often feel pressured from the market environment, the industry environment, and the self. From its debut in a small theater, to the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, to the big screen, Happy Twist spent 16 years, and it has grown to today encompassing the three major business sectors of film, drama, and artist management. It has produced many explosive works. On the wind, a realist "comedy" was staged in the real world. However, since the beginning of this year, Happy Twist has encountered many "unhappy": net profit declined in 2018; the second largest shareholder cleared and transferred equity; IPO application withdrew...
The speculation that Happy Twist withdrew its IPO application fell on last year’s In the unsuccessful movie "Aunt Li Cha", this made the staff of the Happy Twist team feel inexplicable, "This is completely over-associated." A middle-level backbone of Happy Twist responded.
Liu Hongtao seemed very calm about the expectations and doubts of the outside world. He said, “Art creation is not like engineering and can be completed according to plan. Sometimes there is uncertainty in the process from scratch. We did not see our film this year. But next year we may have different works, emerging in different fields." Liu Hongtao, president of
happy twist.
When luck came,
In 2003, a comedy "I want to eat twist, now I'll twist it for you" was staged in the Shaw Theater in China. This is the first work of Happy Twist who has just entered the drama industry. I don’t know where the courage came from. The crew’s first round of performances was scheduled for 40 performances at the Shaw Theater. At that time, Shen Teng, a senior at the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Arts, ran for an interview and got a small supporting role.
Going high and low is a standard comedy stage. The opening of Happy Twist is that Happy Twist had no box office appeal at that time. 40 games were booked, but only a few tickets were sold. Shen Teng later recalled the worst performance in the "Interview with Yang Lan". It was a snowy day. Only 7 tickets were sold. The theater manager persuaded the performance out of sympathy. The main creator and founder team of
stood at the entrance of the theater and apologized to the audience who came to watch the show. “If you come to the audience, you will get a refund and pay for the taxi. At that time, I felt that there was no future or hope.” Shen Teng recalled.
Great Beijing is full of opportunities. Why is it so difficult for so many big stars? Yu Kai, the founder of Happy Twist, later recalled: “There were more than 40 performances, indeed because of lack of business experience and lack of understanding of the market.”
was just as difficult as opening the market to amuse the audience. Shen Teng said that it was hard to come across a charter. Almost all of them are older audiences, very serious, unhappy with any burden, especially painful and tortured, "We can't wait to rush down and plunge into their arms to perform." The founders of
Zhang Chen and Yu Kai tried their best to mobilize the audience to watch the show, and even used buses to pick up the audience in batches. Due to the hilarious plot and humorous lines of "Want to Eat Twist Now", and at the same time conveying warmth and positive energy in the happy ending, the turning point comes with the increase in the number of performances. There was a performance at
. Happy Twice rented a VIP room in the Shaw Theatre. Inform the audience in advance that they can come to this VIP room if they want to chat with the creator after the show. After the performance, the 700-seat dramaThere were more than 500 people in the field, and none of them left, so the main creator directly communicated with the audience on the stage. One of the audience said a sentence, which gave the whole team a particularly strong confidence: "Next time you perform, I will come because you speak human words." The second round of
is scheduled to be held at the Haidian Theater. Because of the first round As a result of the accumulation of performances, the ticket sales for the second round of performances went smoothly. Shen Teng was quite proud of this. "Haidian Theater performed the last nine performances. The scalpers at the gate of the Central Academy of Drama followed the Haidian Theater. Each scalper earned an average of 7000. Yuan.”
Later, Happy Twist performed works such as "Love Flu", "Crazy Stone", "Somali Pirates", and "Earl of Oolong Mountain". These works made Happy Twist a firm foothold on the theater stage. From this, Happy Twist gradually explored its own comedy style. Many years later, Liu Hongtao summarized the comedy genes of Happy Twist into four points: wonderful story, touching feelings, sharp inventory, and comic expression. The birth of
's explosive works and the increase in performances made the founder team decide to expand and go out of Beijing.
This is also in line with the stage of comedy, and it has become popular. Of course, you have to do a bigger business until the company is listed. As early as 2010, when Zhang Chen, Yu Kai and Liu Hongtao were chatting, they imagined that if Happy Twist wanted to seek a listing, there were only two capital markets in the Mainland, Shanghai and Shenzhen. In order to improve the brand effect, Happy Twist must perform in these two cities. .
So, in 2011, Happy Twist began to go all out to expand to Shenzhen and Shanghai. In the expansion of business and performance cities, the reputation of Happy Twist continued to rise and entered the attention of CCTV. Therefore, it was on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala. This is no different than a godsend. From the moment
stepped onto the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, the fate of Happy Twice and its artists have also changed dramatically. After two consecutive years of the Spring Festival Gala, the names of Shen Teng, Ma Li, and Du Xiaoyu may sound strange, but the images of "Hao Jian," "Ma Li", and "Ex-husband" have begun to gain popularity.
Happy Twist’s appearance on the Spring Festival Gala coincides with its time for expansion. Liu Hongtao does not deny that the Spring Festival Gala is a particularly good opportunity for Happy Twist to open up the national market.
"When we found that the operation in this city was relatively successful, other cities should be able to do so. More and more cities began to invite us to perform. Now we have 15 subsidiaries in other places." Liu Hongtao is concerned about this expansion. He was very satisfied with his decision, which played a pivotal role in opening up the national market in the future. Another unexpected gain of
is that after Shen Teng and Ma Li gained a reputation and impression among the audience after the Spring Festival Gala, "the audience will also think, they are sketch actors, can they still act in movies?"
is really not afraid of being caught Dig "horns"? There is a big difference between
's stage theater performance and presentation methods. It is an amazing leap from the theater stage to the big screen. If you jump well, you will jump to the dragon gate. If it is messed up, you may lose your reputation.
In the National Day file of 2015, a movie called "Charlotte Annoyance" was released. That was the "Virgo" with Happy Twist on the big screen. At first, many people were not optimistic about this movie. Previously, "Charlotte Annoyance" was a bit famous in the drama circle, but no one knew it in the film circle, and the audience did not. I know, there is no "mass base", and some people in the circle are not optimistic that the happy twist team can make a name in the film circle. "At that time, many people said how can a sketch make a movie?" During that time Liu Hongtao could only After sleeping for 5 hours, the "Maoyan Box Office" data is refreshed every 30 minutes, and he will pick up the phone to read the data when he is fine.
Finally, "Charlotte Trouble" jumped to the box office list as a dark horse, winning 1.44 billion box office, so that the operating income of Happy Twist increased by 154.8% and net profit increased by 234.15%. In Liu Hongtao’s opinion, this result is not unexpected. "We have been deeply involved in the comedy field for so many years and have learned a lot. Turning it into a movie proved to be established. This film really established the label of a comedy company. At the end of the same year, Happy Twist was successfully listed on the New Third Board. At that time, when the movie concept stocks were in full swing, the market value of Happy Twist also increased. 300 million soared to 5 billion, becoming the "first share of Chinese drama."
Facing the limelight of "Charlotte Troubles", "Donkey Gets Water" was also put on the big screen. However, even with the success of "Charlotte Troubles", the release of "Donkey Gets Water" was quite costly.A lot of twists and turns. After
"Charlotte Troubles" became popular, the best publishing companies in the industry have seen the potential of Happy Twist, and many people hope to cooperate with Happy Twist on new projects. But when Liu Hongtao went to find cooperation with "Donkey Get Water", he was poured cold water, and most people didn't like the movie. From the perspective of the industry, the acceptance of black humor by Chinese audiences may not be high. "After I finished Charlotte, I knew the best distribution companies. Everyone said that I would cooperate with new movies in the future, but when I took "Donkey Deshui" to the past, many people told me this The movie is not good. The extreme statement is that this movie can be shown in a few movie theaters in Beijing and Shanghai, so don’t push this movie.”
But happy twist thinks this movie is very powerful. It is very characteristic, and the internal judgment has a box office of over 100 million. As a result, he insisted on making this movie, and the final box office was 172 million, which was in line with internal expectations, and received the highest score for Douban's annual Chinese film.
In Liu Hongtao's opinion, the pleasure of "Donkey Deshui" is not lower than that of "Charlotte Annoyance", he even went to Zhihu to answer the question "How to evaluate the movie "Donkey Deshui"". Liu Hongtao believes that the hilarious comedy followed by a black humorous film and the positive effect of high word-of-mouth to the company is a very meaningful thing in itself. The audience recognizes Happy Twist’s diversified attempts in creation. For black humor movies, this box office is already a miracle, and the joy it brings is not at all inferior to "Charlotte Troubles." To a certain extent, this is also the balance between art and box office. The film industry can be roughly divided into the European model and the Hollywood model. The former focuses on the artistry of movies, while the latter focuses more on the box office. In China, where the film industry has just started, each model has its supporters, or in other words, it wants to be balanced. Happy Twist, which started as a stage drama, obviously does not want to be simply labeled as a "box office winner". Liu Hongtao has always been talking about "art creation", "We have always respected the laws of market and art creation. We value the box office, but we also value the word-of-mouth of users. If the word-of-mouth is not good, it will really hurt your heart."
Happy Twist's "Iron Fist of Shame" and "The Richest Man in Xihong City" have continuously created a steadily rising box office, attracting popularity among many "corners" such as Shen Teng and Ma Li. Many high-quality comedians stand out, and Happy Twist is therefore He was dubbed "The King of New Generation Comedy", "The Whampoa Military Academy in the Comedy Circle" and so on.
Liu Hongtao said that entering the big screen does not mean that Happy Twist is transforming, it is more of the expansion of the comedy business. Today, Happy Twist has formed a troika of "performance + film and television + artist agency", and has grown from a drama performance team to a comedy entertainment company.
In 2018, the revenue of Happy Twist exceeded 1 billion, an increase of 17.36% year-on-year. The company performed more than 2,500 stage plays throughout the year, and the cumulative box office of the produced films exceeded 3.1 billion. At the same time, because Shen Teng, Ma Li, and Allen have all grown into well-known comedians, Happy Twice’s artist brokerage income this year reached 292 million yuan, a sharp increase of 213.83% compared to the previous year.
In 2017, when Shen Teng participated in the variety show "Happy Camp", He Jiong once asked jokingly: "Uncle Shen, how many billions are you carrying now?" Shen Teng replied with a complacent expression: "That can't be done. , Today is also strong. "
Two years later, Shen Teng became the actor who completed 10 billion box office in the shortest time.
However, with the rapid growth of Happy Twist, the outside world also has new doubts about its future, that is, is it too dependent on "famous characters". Well-known celebrities can make a movie’s box office to a certain extent, but successful celebrities often have disagreements with the company on issues such as the distribution of benefits, and even part ways. This is not uncommon in the Chinese film and television industry, and even lawsuits occur from time to time. Shen Meng, executive director of
Xiangsong Capital, believes that Happy Twist as a production company has limited resources for the realization and transformation of IP, strong dependence on celebrities, and weak voice. They are all subject to others.” Shen Meng further analyzed that although Happy Twist has mastered IP, it cannot control the results of stars and IP. In addition to a single production business, its performance will be seriously affected by external factors. Leading ability and the right to speak, its performance can be expected.
is well-known in the team such as Shen Teng, Ma Li, Allen, Chang YuanThe actors of the film set up their own studio companies, and the rumors of "Happy Twist relies heavily on Shen Teng and Ma Li" and "Standing away from the stage" are rampant.
Judging from the box office data, Happy Twist's reliance on Shen Teng is beyond doubt. However, Liu Hongtao responded with only one sentence to the comments from the outside world, "We know it in our hearts." In his view, star actors and Happy Twist depend on each other, grow together, and achieve each other.
Regarding the rumors of leaving, Shen Teng's statement gave Happy Twist a reassurance. Someone once wanted to dig Shen Teng and asked him when his contract with Happy Twist expired. Shen Teng said that he signed an indefinite contract with Happy Twist. Liu Hongtao smiled and said, Shen Teng himself said this sentence. In fact, the contract has a time limit, but everyone has come together for many years and has a sense of mutual trust. This sense of trust and tacit understanding will stimulate more creative chemical reactions. The basis of trust is still the rational distribution of benefits. Liu Hongtao revealed that happy twist artists participate in the company's projects are paid according to market standards, and it does not mean that the company's artist compensation will be discounted. There will be some options for major artists as the company grows.
Since 2011, Happy Twist has at least hundreds of performances per year, but at that time there was only one group of actors, and can only perform more than 100 performances a year. The increase in performances will inevitably face a shortage of personnel. In order to train enough actors, Happy Twice did a two-month actor training class at that time, and achieved good results. Until now, this actor training class is still being done, once a year. It was these trainings that provided a large reserve of actors for Happy Twist, and laid the foundation for Happy Twist to expand its business to artist brokers. The current "first sister" Ma Li also became the official contract artist of Happy Twist in 2011. At that time, Ma Li had been performing at Happy Twist for 4 years.
Of course, Liu Hongtao also admitted that Happy Twist does have the problem of individual personnel loss, but it remains within the normal range. He also admitted that how to work hand in hand with the artists in a comfortable state is also an issue that the company is constantly exploring.
Even if the trump card is in hand, Liu Hongtao still feels very pressured. The public's requirements for drama are constantly increasing. The rise of fragmented comedy platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou have all invisibly brought a certain sense of urgency to Happy Twist. Moreover, it is an indisputable fact that the performance of film and television companies fluctuates. For Happy Twist, which accounts for as much as 40% of film revenue, the revenue fluctuations brought by the movie box office are obvious.
In the past two years, Happy Twist began to do theater theaters, and created offline performance ecology by operating theaters. The first theater they fully operated just opened on the day the reporter was interviewed. Several theaters will open in succession. Liu Hongtao said Innovation is full of expectations.
In order to make the revenue structure more stable, Happy Twist needs to continuously expand new business. Liu Hongtao revealed that currently Happy Twice has begun preparations for web dramas, Wang Da, and Wang Zong, and two web dramas cooperating with Youku have entered the post-production stage. Regarding the progress of new business, Liu Hongtao appears very cautious, always emphasizing "make it first before talking".
Who can be on the stage?
IPO has yet to ring the bell, and the wake-up call for declining reputation comes first. With a score of 4.6 on
, "Li Cha's Aunt" has become the lowest rated movie in the history of Happy Twist. Although this movie has won 600 million box office, it is not a commercial failure, but for Happy Twist, the tide of bad reviews is like a sharp knife in the heart. During the period of
, Liu Hongtao reviewed the comments on Douban and other platforms every day. “It is obvious that the audience's expectations and expectations for us are quite high. We did not meet the expectations at that time.” Liu Hongtao analyzed that
, “The previous routine of happy twist was a high concept. The audience recognizes this concept, then there is no problem behind it. If they do not recognize it, then it cannot be recognized. The problem with "Li Cha’s Aunt" is that the audience did not recognize the male role model, so the following is all disaster. In "Charlotte Troubles", crossing is a high concept, and "The Shame of Iron Fist" is an interchange between men and women. While we are high in concept, we are still realism, and every detail is realism."
Judging from the review, happy twists Born out of stage drama, the story of the movie naturally bears the mark of the drama, especially the main creative team of the movie is also the drama team. "The Donkey Gets Water" belongs to Zhou Shen's team, and basically uses the drama system. "Li Cha's Aunt" uses the original drama characters. Happy Twice especially emphasizes originality. If it is a drama adaptation, it will basically use an original team. The director, actors, and screenwriters are all the original team.
And there are various attempts of "pioneer" in the form of expression of the drama. In the niche stage, the "pioneer" tries to have its own fans and naturally selects interested audiences. But on the big screen, facing the broadest audience, how can more people accept the high concept of a film more effectively?
Liu Hongtao has been thinking about how to do the next work, so Happy Twist stopped a project that was in the stage of creating a script. This is also an important reason why Twice has not launched a new film project. "We want to return to realism more now, and this does not rule out that there will be romantic and fantasy content."
Liu Hongtao said that in the drama performances, they will resume every day, and the main creative team will base on the audience feedback after each performance. Make adjustments and reflections. This kind of review and adjustment cannot be made in the film. It can only be polished by the experience accumulated in the early stage. "The Aunt of Li Cha" proves that Happy Twist does not always change from drama to film. Each creative combination can successfully cross this hurdle.” In the past year, Happy Twist’s performance is indeed not eye-catching. The second largest shareholder, China Cultural Industry Investment Fund’s clearance and transfer of equity, has also caused speculation about Happy Twist. . However, Liu Hongtao said very calmly that the equity transfers were planned and did not have a negative impact on the company.
Aiqian Media founder Ai Cheng once asked Liu Hongtao if he would feel pressure because his performance did not meet expectations. Liu Hongtao shook his head, "What Zhang Chen and I think about every day is not how much we need to achieve and how much market value we want to achieve. What they think every day is whether this work will work, whether the audience likes it, and whether our team can continue to create better things. In the next ten or twenty years, the audience will still like us. This is what we care about the most."
Inside, there is a metaphor of Zhang Chen’s vision of Happy Twist: “We planted a tree, and the flowering and fruiting are natural. We must work hard to make the branches and leaves luxuriant. The more luxuriant the tree, the more flowers and knots will bloom. Compared with Zhang Chen, who is more artist-like, Liu Hongtao is more pragmatic. He hopes that the new field of happy twist layout can grow steadily like drama, so as to ensure the increase of film revenue while reducing its proportion and avoid The volatility caused by movie revenue. "We guarantee that the profit of each link is at a certain level. It is very good if the film has a hit, but if not, we can still become a company with better profits."
last Spring Festival file, Liu Hongtao was watching " After "Operation Red Sea" and "Detective Chinatown 2", I deeply feel the rapid progress and fierce competition of the entire film industry. At the same time, he also sees that new models and atmospheres continue to emerge in the theater industry, and the development of the industry is also constantly pushing the happy twist forward.
However, Liu Hongtao did not have too much psychological pressure because of this. "The current environment and rhythm will not make us anxious. We have always been confident. Everyone will say that you are accumulating energy this year. In fact, we did not deliberately deliberately. We have been steadily cultivating talents, but talents have not yet emerged."
Happy Twist was absent from this year’s National Day file, and many viewers were a little bit disappointed. Someone forwarded an article "Happy Twist was absent from the National Day file and missed him". Liu Hongtao, he was still very warm after seeing it. During the "dormant" period of happy twist, Liu Hongtao and the team believe that only the main creators who have been together for a long time will polish the work to a more comfortable state, polish it well on the stage, and adapt it into a movie. A virtuous circle, "The stage play is the source, and everyone will not rush to make more profitable movies, but first make the source better, and it will be more clear to the audience's needs."
So, the meaning of doing a good work is what? Liu Hongtao thought for a while and told a story. In January 2013, Charlotte's drama was being performed. Ma Li received a private message from an audience. The private message stated that she and her husband could not survive the seven-year itch and were about to divorce, because the first time they dated, they had a good time. It's a twisted scene, so I broke up and watched it again, saying goodbye to the past. After watching Charlotte, I couldn't leave it, and I had a good time.
