On January 8, Yu Minhong posted on his personal public account "Old Yu Gossip" that the film company invested by New Oriental produced an inspirational movie about the "Daliangshan Youth Basketball Team" last year. This film, which was originally positioned as an online movie, now has to go through the cinema channel, Yu Minhong also said that in the future, New Oriental may further invest in inspirational movies.
In 2013, the movie "Chinese Partner" was released, and Yu Minhong said after seeing it: "Reality is more cruel than movies." Although Cheng Dongqing and Yu Minhong in the film are far apart, they are the same people in their bones: no matter how difficult life is, they are still dreamers as always.
Image source: Screenshot of the movie "Chinese Partner"
Yu Minhong, who is jokingly called the master of chicken soup for the soul by netizens, has always been keen to export values about dreams and struggles. In Yu Minhong's view, investing in filmmaking is also a way to export values and educate others. When talking about investing in films, Yu Minhong once said: "I think film and television must be an inseparable part of the field of education, or it has a close relationship with education. ”
In 2014, Yu Minhong first entered the film and television industry and invested in a film and television company; in 2016, he established a film company with Chen Tieming and Qiu Bojun, which led to speculation that Yu Minhong wanted to make "China Partner 2".
In the next five years, the film company established by Yu Minhong did not make a big splash. Until the double subtraction order, New Oriental tried to transform in the future, Yu Minhong will take out the inspirational movie separately for telling.
This is not unrelated to the current situation of New Oriental.
Yu Minhong said that after the double reduction, New Oriental laid off 60,000 employees, and cash expenditures such as tuition fee refund, employee dismissal N+1, and teaching point rent withdrawal were nearly 20 billion. As of May 31, 2021, the Company's cash flow and cash equivalents were US$1.612 billion, and short-term investments were US$3.435 billion, totaling approximately US$5.047 billion (approximately RMB32.634 billion).
After cutting off the K9 business, the revenue decreased by 80%, and New Oriental urgently needed to find a new direction. In addition to the field of education, New Oriental's cross-border transformation first set up a large-scale agricultural platform, but the teacher was unfavorable, the first live broadcast sales of helping farmers were only 5 million yuan, and without Yu Minhong's appearance in the live broadcast room, the sales of seven live broadcasts to help farmers were less than 900,000 yuan.
The change in the distribution channel of the "Daliangshan Junior Basketball Team" confirms that inspirational movies are an important path for Yu Minhong to find a new 10 billion business.
Yu Minhong itself is a typical inspirational story. His speeches, live broadcasts and books, as well as his constant attempts to speak to young people, may not be suitable for everyone, but some of them are sincere.
After the double subtraction, the image of the inspirational star is more plump and complex. Yu Minhong's inspirational chicken soup is known for its huge fan base, and this advantage applied to movies may greatly fill the shortcomings of the vertical track of Chinese inspirational films, just like Wu Jing's deep excavation of patriotic films.
A
For the film "Chinese Partner", director Chen Kexin always wanted to talk to One of the film's prototypes, Yu Minhong, but before the premiere of the movie "Chinese Partner", Yu Minhong refused to meet Chen Kexin or any actors. He has repeatedly clarified that New Oriental was not involved in investing in China Partners.
After the premiere of the film, Yu Minhong was invited to the stage, he said: "Although the plot of the film is wonderful, the real story is more exciting, the dispute between friends is more cruel, but the friendship is also stronger." Yu Minhong was a little disappointed, thinking that the director had filmed himself too hard, "What happened in the movie and what actually happened is far behind, and the personality of the character is also too different from the personality in our reality." ”
For example, there is a plot in the movie: New Oriental fights with ETS, and Cheng Dongqing recites various laws and regulations of the United States in a large section. Someone asked this question: "Teacher Yu, have you really memorized those charters?" Yu said no, but had read the legal provisions on U.S. intellectual property.
Yu Minhong Xu Xiaoping Wang Qiang
Maybe it's dissatisfaction with this movie, maybe it's the business opportunity seen in the movie's big sale, which planted a seed in Yu Minhong's heart. Just a year later, in 2014, Yu Minhong's Hongtai Fund began to enter the film industry, and its first investment was to inject nearly 50 million yuan into Zizhi Pictures.
The Hongtai Fund was jointly established by Yu Minhong and investment banker Sheng Xitai, and the investors behind it also include Niu Gensheng, founder of the Old Cow Foundation, Wang Zhongjun, chairman of Huayi Brothers, and investors such as Zhang Lei of Gaoling Capital.
According to an insider close to New Oriental at the time, "New Oriental has been trying to export its own values, and making a movie may achieve all this in a more interesting and direct way." ”
However, Zizhi Pictures failed to complete Yu Minhong's layout goals for the film industry. Yu Minhong has also always hoped that the story of the New Oriental people can affect more people, so when in July 2016, Chen Tieming, the former chairman of Runya Film and Television, and Qiu Bojun, the founder of Jinshan Company, found Yu Minhong and hoped to establish a film and television company.
Yu Minhong hopes to bring more stories of New Oriental young people to the screen, "dig up the stories of two generations, put their stories on the screen, so that young people who are struggling can get inspiration from their struggle." ”
According to the enterprise investigation data, Xinwei Pictures (former name: Pig Pictures) was established in 2016 with a registered capital of 31.11 million yuan, Beijing Oriental Zhuoyong Investment Management Co., Ltd. is the third largest shareholder, holding 19% of the shares, Yu Minhong is one of the directors, and the final beneficiary shares are 18.81%.
On the day of the establishment of Pig Pictures, it launched a small fresh meat combination with 24 candidates, screening 12 young people to attack the show business. At that time, there were media reports that Yu Minhong, the godfather of New Oriental, launched a 24-member fresh meat boy band across borders, invested in Pig Pictures or filmed "China Partner 2".
However, "Partner 2" did not wait, and last year, under the impetus of Yu Minhong, Xinwei Pictures participated in the investment of a movie about the Daliangshan Junior Basketball Team entering Beijing.
In 2020, the news of four Yi teenagers standing on the Beijing Dongdan basketball court attracted yu Minhong's attention: they came from Ashamo Village in Ganluo County, in the hinterland of Daliangshan, Sichuan, living in poverty, and at first the basketball hoop was only supported by a tree stump, but under the leadership of Coach Amu, the training conditions gradually improved, and they had the team name "Liangshan Black Hawk".
The experience of these basketball teenagers fighting for their dreams is in line with Yu Minhong's appeal for inspirational stories, so it has become the first generation of water test products.
B
What kind of tone will the inspirational movie Yu Minhong want?
This may start with Yu-style chicken soup. Generally speaking, when people are confused, confused and need to be excited, they will think of listening to inspirational chicken soup and watching inspirational movies. Yu Minhong is different from Zhang Chaoyang, Liu Qiangdong and other Internet celebrity entrepreneurs, and his words are always closer to young people. You can resent his teachings for lack of nutrition, but it's hard to say he's hypocritical. Along the way, he also practiced what he called philosophy.
Yu Minhong has always believed that pain has no meaning, and carrying through suffering is wealth. Failed the college entrance examination twice, was admitted to Peking University for the third time; there was no money to study abroad, so he worked to earn money and was criticized by Peking University; he was kidnapped twice and escaped from death; since the listing of New Oriental, he was right and wrong, and he fell apart with his partners... Yu Minhong has experienced ups and downs, in a recent program, Yu Minhong said: "Life is a battlefield, I am willing to continue on the battlefield, as long as my energy and ability can keep up." ”
Therefore, under the double reduction, Yu Minhong did not stand still, but explored forward. According to Sina Technology, in the past three months, New Oriental has successively invested in the establishment of a number of new companies, including professional intermediaries, food business, Internet information services, fertilizer sales, intelligent robot research and development, etc.
Yu Minhong is very good at talking to young people. Not only have he lectured in major universities, but he has also published books dedicated to confused young people to express their views and attitudes on some of the dilemmas faced by young people today.
He is also good at talking to people who are admired by young people.
In 2020, Yu Minhong had a conversation with Wang Jing, the "pathfinder" of Everest. Wang Jing is also an inspirational figure, also from the countryside, self-made, starting from a restaurant waiter, with partners to put pathfinder on the market for ten years, and has climbed Mount Everest 4 times. In 2014, it took 143 days to complete the Earth Nine Poles 7+2 mountaineering expedition, setting a new world record.
After the double reduction, Yu Minhong is not idle, still building a bridge for young people to communicate with the world, such as a recent conversation with Liu Daming and Dr. Tao Yong.
Born in 1994, Liu Daming, due to congenital disability, underwent eleven major surgeries, had passed by death, but still fought against the pain, and was admitted to the University of Manchester, a young inspirational writer.
Dr. Tao Yong, in January 2020, was slashed six times with a kitchen knife by gangsters due to a doctor-patient dispute, and after two weeks of hospitalization and surgery, he was out of danger of life, but he could no longer perform surgery. After such a blow, Dr. Tao Yong set up a public welfare fund to bring medical protection to more children who have lost their light.
In the dialogue with Yu Minhong, the topic of how to establish faith and stand up in the face of life difficulties is indispensable, and Yu Minhong can still bring his own traffic to prove that the audience base of this kind of chicken soup is large.
C
Today's young people, in the face of difficulties, setbacks and pressures, after self-doubt, avoidance and withdrawal, all want to be encouraged, and inspirational movies are widely popular for their unique value.
In social platforms such as Zhihu and Douban, you can see that many people are asking "whether there is an inspirational movie recommendation", the reason is nothing more than "watching can correct bad emotions such as inferiority" "Recently too sad to want to fight chicken blood", "want to watch inspirational movies to recharge", "after watching the mood to relax and rekindle the hope of life" and so on.
The recommendation of netizens was swept away by foreign movies. In an inventory similar to "a must-see inspirational movie of a lifetime", "Chasing Dreams and Pure Hearts", "Forrest Gump", "Shawshank Redemption", "Glorious Road", "Wind and Rain Harvard Road" are all regular visitors.
For Chinese films, the inspirational category is the blue ocean of films.
It is not that no one has made inspirational movies, last year's sports competition film "Beyond" starring actor Zheng Kai won 143 million yuan at the box office, but Douban only scored 5 points. The dark horse movie "Lion Boy", which emerged in the New Year file, also conveys another inspirational story: life is like a lion dance, going up and down the mountain. Earlier, netizens also included "The King of Comedy" and "The Piano of Steel" with comedy labels into inspirational movies.
"China Partner" grossed 541 million at the box office in 2013, with a Douban rating of 7.6. Evaluations of the film are polarized, with those who like it likening it to a Chinese version of the Forrest Gump story, while those who don't like it think it's a clumsy inspirational film that takes time out of reality.
This may be a common problem with inspirational movies, as film critic @Europa once said in his review of "The Chinese Partner", a successful inspirational movie is not about telling everyone that they are rich, but to tell the audience that successful people also have vulnerable times.
Five years later, "China Partner 2" arrived late, the box office was dismal, and the Douban score was 4.1.
At present, compared with foreign countries, the script creation of domestic inspirational films is a hard injury, and it is difficult to blame the censorship scale factor.
For Yu Minhong, this is bad news and good news. As the most inspirational storyteller, whether he can take the corresponding film category to a whole new level is both difficult and possible.
Resources:
"Work hard, study hard, try to find new directions!" Old Yu gossip
"Finding Hope in Despair" Yu Minhong
"The Educational Significance of Inspirational Movies for College Students" Film and Television Media
"Yu Minhong Live Dialogue Everest "Pathfinder" Wang Jing: Find the Mountain in Your Heart" China Net
"60-year-old Yu Minhong: "Chinese partner" changed to "China's decent person", Sina Technology
"New Oriental "Godfather" Yu Minhong launched a 24-member fresh meat boy band across borders, invested in Pig Pictures or filmed "China Partner 2"? Cook small fresh