"Flying Life 3" directed by Han Han and starring Shen Teng is undoubtedly one of the most watched movies during this year's Spring Festival. With this movie, Shen Teng is expected to become China's first "Mr. 40 billion box office", and Han Han will also be more and more successful on the road to business.
Two days after its release, the box office of "Flying Life 3" exceeded 1 billion, accounting for more than half of the box office during the Spring Festival. It is ranked first among all the films during the Spring Festival. The total box office is expected to exceed 5 billion.
The entire movie is basically all male, and about half of the time is quite hard-core professional racing content. In the field of racing movies, it can be said that Tingdong Pictures has a monopoly trend.
The biggest boss of the film is undoubtedly Han Han, the founder of Tingdong Pictures.
As an iconic figure born in the 1980s, Han Han was once an alternative literati image; but now, in his middle age, he has smoothed his edges, achieved success through commercial movies, and completed a major change in his identity.
Everything he has gained today comes from the choice he made 16 years ago, and his destiny changed as a result.
Han Han’s path of “abandoning literature and pursuing business” is also an alternative focus for the in-depth reform of Chinese society.
"Solo" edited by Han Han, originally called "Renaissance", solicited manuscripts at a high salary of 10 to 40 times the industry standard manuscript fee.
The initial news was posted on Han Han's blog in 2009, the second year after the Beijing Olympics. The "Renaissance" seemed to follow some kind of grand narrative, but coming from Han Han's mouth, it also had a certain cynical undertone.
The title "Renaissance" was eventually dropped for unknown reasons.
On October 27, 2009, the title of the publication was officially set as "Solo Group". At first glance, the name sounded a bit like Han Han's "smart" style.
"Solo" is opposite to "choir". It is called "solo" and also called "group". It is not literal, but it can only mean that each one sings his own thing and is a piece of loose sand.
Despite this, readers disdain to delve deeper. Just like the not-so-profound "rebellious spirit" represented by Han Han, just by standing on the opposite side of the "collectivist narrative" in a clever way, it can have the effect of echoing a hundred responses or sensationalizing.
After changing its name to "Solo Group", the issue was still "difficult to produce".
Finally, "Solo" adopted the method of "book instead of publication" for printing and distribution. The so-called "book instead of publication" refers to the popular so-called "magazine book", also called Mook, which uses the ISBN to substitute the issue number. In the name of the magazine, it is actually a book publication.
After some operations, "Solo" was released in the summer of 2010. The first printing of 500,000 copies was sold out within two days. The publisher was so happy that an additional 1 million copies were printed overnight.
After the first issue of "Solo" became a hit, Han Han's team hastened to prepare the content for the second issue.
There are rumors that the second issue of "Solo" will be published and released in January 2011, and Han Han has prepared a celebratory drink.
Unexpectedly, within a few days, the situation took a turn for the worse. On the evening of December 26, 2010, Han Han announced to his team at a hot pot restaurant on the elevated road in Yan'an, Shanghai, that "Solo" would cease publication.
The team members sang "Farewell" together, bidding farewell to the "solo group" in a "chorus" manner.
"Solo" failed after publishing only its first issue, as well as the various difficulties in applying for an issue before, all because of two words – content.
In order to polish the content of "Solo", Han Han put a lot of thought into it.
In the first half of 2009, Han Han called folk singer Zhou Yunpeng: Write any article, poetry, essay, anything.
When Luo Yonghao was asked to write, Han Han said, write about your most sincere things. Luo Yonghao wrote an article "The Story of Qiu Junan", listing his deeds such as smashing Siemens, which solidified his image as an "idealist".
Han Han called Cai Kangyong late at night. I am Han Han and I would like to ask you to write an article about language. The fee is one thousand words and one thousand yuan. You can write whatever you want, even if you use curse words. To this end, Cai Kangyong wrote an article "Where are the Dirty Words?"
During the manuscript selection stage, Han Han saw an article called "Jin Shengtan It Hurts so much". He was so shocked after reading it that he immediately called the author of the article, Ma Ling, who was the editor of "Women's Newspaper" at the time, and said, "This article must be published. Come to Shanghai and I will treat you to dinner." Ma Ling's pen name is Mi Meng.
At that time, the first printing of 500,000 copies of "Solo" had been sent to the factory for printing. After seeing the sample book, Han Han was dissatisfied with the cover and decided to spend 600,000 yuan of his own money to replace the cover with kraft paper.
The publishing director said this was the willfulness of an idealist.
The second episode of "The Choir" was "stillborn". Han Han's team finished their dinner and bid farewell to the "Solo Group" with a chorus of "Farewell".
The next day, Ma Yimu, the editor-in-chief of "Solo Group", posted on Weibo, announcing the disbandment of "Solo Group" with the text – "The years are long, the clothes are thin, classmates, let's say goodbye."
"The years are long and the clothes are thin" comes from Miriam Yang's "Goodbye 2-chome". The lyricist is named Lin Xi. This pen name is a split of the word "dream".
The dream of "Solo Group" has not yet come to an end. Celebrities such as Luo Yonghao and Mi Meng relied on this magazine to help them achieve their own excitement and shock.
In 2010, Han Han was selected as the second among the top 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine because he was the editor-in-chief of "Solo". This reputation is similar to a kind of "praising" to some extent. If Han Han follows such a "rebellious road" and goes to the dark side, he will probably not get any good results.
Fortunately, Han Han chose another path.
The dream of "Solo" ended. On December 28, 2010, Han Han published a blog post "See you soon". Many people think that the title "See you later" may indicate that "Solo" will be reborn.
It was not until four years later that Han Han's directorial debut was released, titled "We Will Never See You Again", which was like a distant answer to a long farewell.
The fee for the headline article in "The Solo" is set at 2,000 yuan per thousand words. Han Han sets the fee for his own article at 1,000 yuan per thousand words, the same as other authors of "The Solo".
In 2010, when Han Han was working on "Solo", a businessman spotted him. His name was Chen Nian.
At that time, Vancl executives held a meeting to discuss the selection of spokespersons. There were three candidates: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Rain, and Han Han.
At first, the Vancl team was wavering because of Han Han's "risky and controversial nature". Chen Nian believed that Han Han was a pioneer born in the 1980s, a race car driver and a writer. He was highly consistent with Vancl's brand spirit of "civilian fashion, no pretense", and his fan base far exceeded that of ordinary celebrities.
Chen Nian first made an appointment with Han Han through a friend, but Han Han declined on the grounds of training for racing cars. Chen Nian simply called directly late at night: I am Chen Nian, CEO of Vanke. I would like to ask you to speak for me. We will not talk about business, but only about your understanding of young people.
George Han asked casually, how much?
Chen Nian said that based on your standard manuscript fee, it would be a thousand yuan per thousand words.
Han Han smiled, endorsement fees are calculated based on manuscript fees? You really know how to play.
The two agreed to meet and discuss in detail.
After the meeting, Chen Nian said, I don't invite celebrities, I invite spiritual leaders. You will have the same aura wearing a 29 yuan T-shirt as you would wearing a racing suit.
Han Han was moved by the "no pretense" positioning and accepted his first commercial endorsement.
Chen Nian wrote the copy himself and wrote the famous "Mortal Object":
I love the Internet, I love freedom, I love getting up late, I love night food stalls, I love racing, and I also love the 29 yuan T-SHIRT. I am not a standard bearer, and I am not someone’s endorsement. I am Han Han, and I only represent myself. I'm just like you, I'm a regular customer.
After reading the copy, Han Han made two changes, changing "I love getting up late" to "I love getting up early to practice driving" and deleting "T-SHIRT for 29 yuan."
Chen Nian said, add the price. This is to be honest with consumers.
Han Han thought for a while and agreed. Just add it. 29 yuan is quite reasonable.
Many years later, Zhang Yuqi was carrying goods in the live broadcast room. When she heard the price of 699 yuan, she said, 699? 699 (yuan) I can't even buy a sock.
Han Han loves T-SHIRT which costs 29 yuan, but 699 yuan cannot buy a pair of Zhang Yuqi’s socks.
I have to say that the difference between those who are literate and those who are not literate is quite big.
After Han Han's "Fanke Object" was launched, it quickly became a craze. Netizens adapted it into the "Fanke Object" template. From celebrities to ordinary people, it spread virally. The number of visits to Fanke's official website increased by 300%. Chen Nian said with a smile that it was worth more than investing 1 billion in advertising.
At the celebration banquet, Han Han told Chen Nian that this advertisement will be popular, but don’t rely too much on me. Vancl must make good products to last long.
A few years later, Chen Nian contacted Mu Dan's second son and prepared to release a "Mu Dan series of T-shirts", claiming that his "hands were shaking."
At the recording site of "Vicious Liang Huanxiu", Liang Huan compared Chen Nian's excitement to "seeing Jay Chou." Chen Nian blurted out that Mu Dan should ditch Jay Chou by hundreds of thousands. A hundred years from now, everyone will definitely remember Mu Dan, and Jay Chou must be trash.
After this "wild talk", Vanke's sales plummeted, the "Mudan T-shirt plan" was forced to be shelved, and the partners avoided suspicion.
Chen Nian, who invited Han Han to endorse, seemed to have become "possessed by Han Han". His unabashed and sharp words were contrary to business logic, and ultimately ruined Fanke's good situation.
In fact, after Chen Nian invited Han Han to be an endorsement, he unknowingly headed towards a commercial cliff.
Due to the popularity of Han Han's "Fanke Object", Fanke's sales reached 1.8 billion yuan in 2010. Chen Nian started an aggressive strategy and proposed a "10 billion sales target" in 2011, believing that "everything can be done by Fanke". He expanded his main products from a 29 yuan T-shirt to all categories, and expanded his employee base from 1,000 to 13,000.
That year was also the time when JD.com, Tmall and other giants were making rapid progress. With such a small size, Fanke quickly fell into a state of financial rupture. In addition, the fourth and fifth rounds of financing were not in place, and the dream of going public was shattered. Fanke's debt snowball grew bigger and bigger, and Chen Nian had to embark on a long road to repay debts.
For Han Han, the business window for brand endorsements has been opened. Following Vanke, Han Han has successively endorsed Camel, Nestle Coffee, Volkswagen, OnePlus and other brands, with endorsement fees in the tens of millions.
"Solo 2" was urgently stopped at the printing factory. Executive editor Ma Yimu looked at the scrapped pulp with mixed feelings. It was this premature "paper book" that gave him the idea of making an electronic book.
Ma Yimu called Han Han and said that he would make an "atomic bomb-style condensed reading" and only recommend one article, one picture, and one question every day, cutting off all redundancy.
For the original name of the electronic book, Han Han thought of "Kindergarten". Undoubtedly, this name was similar to "Solo Group", with a certain hidden sharpness and stance. Due to the lessons learned from past experiences, it was rejected by all members.
It was finally named "ONE·One", and the slogan is: In a complex world, one is enough.
This smooth name has smoothed away all the edges and corners that are the hallmark of Han Han's rebellion, but it carries the enthusiasm that Han Han has accumulated over the years, just like the transformation of a young and frivolous teenager into adulthood, becoming more commercial and entertainment-oriented.
On October 8, 2012, “ONE·ONE” was launched.
Two hours later, Han Han posted on Weibo – One is all (One is enough), and the number of downloads exceeded one million that day.
Han Han’s insight on management is – don’t manage. Employees wear slippers to work, bring cats to the company, and make the office look like a literary Internet cafe. On the other hand, every editor is a generalist, proficient in drafting, advertising, and publishing.
In terms of recruiting manuscripts, Han Han relied on "facial recognition" to recruit authors such as Li Haipeng and Zhang Xiaohan. In terms of manuscript fees, he no longer wanted to be the "first-rate", but only benchmarked against first-tier magazines.
In terms of writing, Han Han's essays are sharp, but his novels are weak. In Feng Tang's words, they are not up to the "golden thread" standard.
Regarding this, Han Han seems to have some self-awareness. In the "Anonymous Writers Project" launched in 2018, all contributors are anonymous, and the judges, including Ge Fei, Bi Feiyu, Su Tong, and Han Han, do not participate in scoring.
This is a bit like a replica of the New Concept Essay Contest that allowed Han Han, Guo Jingming and others to stand out. The biggest achievement of ONE's "New Concept Essay Contest" was the discovery of Shuang Xuetao, who became a dark horse in the literary world. Shuang Xuetao later married Zhang Yueran, another beneficiary of the New Concept Essay Contest, and worked hard in film and television, becoming a popular writer favored by capital for film and television adaptations.
In the early days, ONE relied on advertising to monetize. Later, it opened up book publishing monetization channels. It signed more than 30 authors and published 74 books, with a total revenue of over 450 million yuan. Some books, such as "Skins", sold more than one million copies and sold dozens of film and television rights.
In 2016, Han Han received 60 million yuan in Series A financing from Huachuang Capital, with a valuation of 600 million yuan.
When he started ONE, Han Han had already entered the film and television industry by selling book and film rights. With the intervention of capital, he was further prepared to enter the "bigger plate" of movies with great fanfare.
But in the process of entering film and television, Han Han also suffered a serious fall in the catering industry.
At the end of 2014, the first Nanjing store of Han Han's restaurant "Nice to Meet You" opened. Thousands of fans lined up, and the number for dinner in the evening was set at noon.
One of the characteristics of the restaurant is that it is full of Han-style literature and art. For example, the dish names include "You haven't eaten my tofu", "If you have money, you will be willful crayfish", "Father-in-law Burger" (after Han Han gave birth to his daughter Han Xiaoye, he was once called the "National Father-in-law"), House of Cards Ribs, etc.
The private room of the hotel is called "The Humble House". A Chaplin silent film is shown at the door. A racing car model and Han Han's trophy are also displayed. The waiter's greeting is "Nice to meet you."
This restaurant, which was built from the ground up to be artistic, had something go wrong on the first day of business. When Han Han arrived, it caused chaos and the "father-in-law serving food" session was canceled.
Then, takeout shops with "the same name but different flavors" appeared in Nanjing. The average number of takeaway shops is 30 yuan per person, while the average number of restaurants is 100 yuan per person. The ingredients and tastes are completely different. Consumers questioned that they were selling dog meat at the expense of sheep. The official explanation for this is that they are two strategies for the same brand.
Within two years, the number of "Nice to Meet You" stores expanded to more than 60. Although franchising was open, there was no unified training. Stores in different locations had different tastes, management was chaotic, and accidents occurred one after another.
In 2015, the Ningbo store operated without a license and was fined 284,800 yuan.
In 2016, a rat infestation occurred in the Wuhan store and it was operated without a license, so it was forced to close down.
The rat plague is a bit too much. I wonder if Han Han did the experiment in a real hotel in order to find "literary inspiration" and write a masterpiece similar to Camus' "The Plague".
In 2018, the Tianjin store owed 122,800 yuan in wages and was sued, causing its reputation to collapse.
Since then, "Nice to Meet You" stores have been closed in batches and the project has been withdrawn.
Judging from Han Han's business trial of opening a restaurant this time, it seems that he made a similar mistake to Chen Nian, blindly expanding and causing a break in the capital chain.
However, Han Han did not directly hold shares in the main company, and his losses were limited. Although the project claimed to have lost 100 million yuan, it was not Han Han's direct personal loss.
Han Han's failure in running a restaurant confirmed the value of the saying "Don't make money beyond your own knowledge."
In 2015, Han Han appeared on the variety show stage for the first time for his self-written and directed debut movie "The Future", and shouted the "father-in-law marketing" slogan "The movie will sell well, and Ono's dowry is indispensable."
This film by Han Han is full of Han Han's famous sayings. Although the plot is thin, but with the blessing of many factors, such as Han Han's appeal, the theme song "Ordinary Road" sung by Pu Shu, Han Han's "father-in-law marketing", etc., the final box office was fixed at 629 million yuan. Considering that the investment of the film was 51 million yuan, it was very profitable.
Han Han realized that movies are a small game, as exciting as racing, more profitable than magazines, publishing, and restaurants, and more suitable for him.
On July 21, 2015, Han Han registered Tingdong Pictures. The name Tingdong is taken from Tingdong Village, Tinglin Town, Jinshan District, Shanghai, where Han Han was born. It means Han Han reminds himself not to forget his roots. The name of the previous "Solo" studio was Tinglin Town Studio.
The company's English name is PMF, and it claims to the outside world that it is Professional Making Films. Privately, Han Han laughs at himself as "afraid of trouble," which is in line with his "hands-off shopkeeper" style.
Before filming "We Will Never Die", Han Han spent 7 years looking for film investment, but no one paid attention at all. Until the box office of "We Will Never Die" reached 629 million, the attitude of capital reversed 180 degrees. In 2016, Puhua Capital took the initiative to invest 10 million in Series A.
With the support of capital, in the movie game of small and big gains, Han Han presented "Riding the Wind and Waves" three years after "The End of Time". The film invested 160 million yuan, had a box office of 1.046 billion yuan, and a net profit of 216 million yuan. Tingdong Investment accounted for 50%. Han Han held 85% of the shares at the time and made a personal profit of 91.8 million yuan.
After this nearly doubled growth, Han Han began to explore the hit model of racing and comedy. When preparing for his third movie "Flying Life", Han Han wanted to find a middle-aged actor who "had passed away and wanted to make a comeback."
At this time, Shen Teng took the initiative to call and recommend himself, claiming to be the "military arts school boy", and also sent photos of his youth to prove it, which perfectly fit the character's relaxed experience.
Han Han agreed to the invitation, and at the same time put forward a condition: he must bring a few happy twist actors over. Shen Teng agreed immediately and eventually attracted Allen, Chang Yuan and others to join.
Before joining the group, Shen Teng once wanted to lose weight in order to fit the image of a "racing driver". Han Han hurriedly stopped him. There is no need to lose weight. A down-and-out driver should have a belly. We will tailor a racing suit for you.
Shen Teng then let go of eating and drinking. As a result, not only the racing suit but also the helmet had to be tailor-made. Shen Teng couldn't fit into the helmet because of his big head, so Han Han stopped work urgently and ordered a large-size helmet overnight.
At the filming site, Han Han personally demonstrated every scene. Shen Teng joked that he acted like Han Han and we would never refer to it.
In 2019, "Flying Life" was released, earning a box office of 1.728 billion. The film invested about 500 million, of which Guomai Culture invested 28 million and made a profit of more than 8 million.
By 2024's "Flying Life 2", the box office has almost doubled again, reaching 3.361 billion yuan, with a net profit of 600 million yuan, of which Tingdong Investment accounts for about 30%, Han Han holds 56%, and his personal net profit is 120 million yuan.
The upcoming "Flying Life 3" is expected to be released by all walks of life, with an estimated box office of 4 billion yuan, and is expected to become the box office champion during the Spring Festival. This has also become Shen Teng's key to becoming "Mr. 40 billion box office".
Han Han's Tingdong Pictures, with the exception of "Four Seas", has failed to produce any major films directed by Han Han. This has opened up a new track for the entire Chinese film market in the vertical field of comedy. Han Han is not only a writer who can write jokes, but also a professional racing driver with outstanding achievements. He combines racing and comedy, which naturally forms a strong alliance and builds a high protective wall. Other directors who only specialize in comedy or vertical genres can't catch up.
It can be said that in the field of racing and comedy, Han Han is currently invincible and has formed a kind of monopoly.
Han Han is the idol of a generation and a symbolic existence. His path of "abandoning literature and pursuing business" profoundly reflects the social pain points of the times.
At first, Han Han won the competition with a new concept called "Looking at the Man in the Cup" and became famous all over the world. Although "Three Gates" has strong traces of imitating Qian Zhongshu's "Fortress Besieged" in terms of wording and sentence construction, considering that Han Han was only seventeen or eighteen years old at the time, his genius in language is obvious to all.
After publishing several best-selling or not-so-best-selling books, Han Han's enthusiasm for writing seemed to be less intense, and he turned to driving a racing car, and his literary achievements were fixed in "Three Gates".
But in terms of essays, Han Han's sharp style is indeed of his own. Regarding Han Han's literary achievements, his friend Luo Yonghao put it more euphemistically and to the point, that is, the essays are solid, but the novels are almost meaningless.
The most valuable thing about essays since Lu Xun's time is that they criticize the current ills. Not long ago, Han Han took up the banner of criticizing the current ills, and for a time he became the most popular so-called "public intellectual" in China, and was praised from all sides.
This appreciation reached its peak around the time Han Han founded "Solo". The landmark event was the magazine's abortion, and Han Han's subsequent ranking as the second among the "Times" Top 100 People.
This was a watershed in Han Han's life and a turning point in his "abandoning literature and pursuing business." Han Han was a smart man and it was impossible not to feel that he was already in that position, and he knew what the title of "public intellectual" meant. Judging from the several childish and heroic articles he published in those years, such as "Talk about Democracy," discerning bystanders also knew it well.
Although Han Han "doesn't live up to his name", he is still "raised" to that height to bear risks that he himself is unwilling to bear, which is similar to a kind of "praising".
Han Han finally chose to quit. As the "Solo" disappeared, the scholar Han Han, who was famous for his "rebellious spirit", also left the stage. At the same time, the businessman Han Han made his appearance.
Han Han has almost achieved his ultimate in business. As mentioned before, his core ability lies not in literary novels, but in essays. Essays criticizing current ills are undoubtedly dangerous, but after being filtered or castrated by the business crowd, the essays with guns and sticks are filtered into "golden sentences" that seem sharp but are pale. This kind of "golden sentence" looks like personality, but is actually coquettish. More importantly, it is harmless and can be widely accepted, thereby achieving commercial realization.
So, when "The Movie", which was "full of golden lines", earned more than 600 million at the box office despite controversy, Han Han finally found a real gold mine from writing, publishing, electronic magazines, and restaurants.
Naturally, it is impossible to continue to satisfy the audience with "good quotes" all over the screen. Han Han's cleverness is once again shown. He integrated racing into the movie. He is an expert in this aspect, at least much more "expert" than ordinary viewers. This is equivalent to finding a place for those "good quotes" flying in the sky, and it is also equivalent to the "dry goods" in the movie, enough to satisfy the largest base of moviegoers. This naturally became the way for businessman Han Han to make a fortune.
Wang Shuo once said that Feng Xiaogang filtered out the "poisonous" parts of his novels and concocted them into bottles of "sugar water", thus achieving commercial success. Han Han's movies are also similar.
Businessman Han Han will undoubtedly go further, but those smooth comedy movies have long lost their original edges and sharpness, and "polishing away all the edges" and making a cup of "sugar water" that everyone loves to drink is the essence of commercialization.
From "peeping into a cup" to "a cup of sugar water", each of us, including Han Han himself, cannot escape the influence of society.
