One is a director who has a lot of pursuit of art, and the other is a businessman who values interests more than everything, Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping from golden partnership to court, it seems that they have long been predestined.
| Author: Wang Zhening
| Editor: Curry
On May 31, mixed in with topics such as "new movie fixing" and "mou girls can't be plastic surgery faces", another piece of news about Zhang Yimou also appeared on the Weibo hot search list - suing "old partner" Zhang Weiping.
The two have worked together for 16 years before, and Zhang Weiping has invested in the filming of as many as 11 films directed by Zhang Yimou, including the well-known "Hero", "Ten Faces Ambush", "The Golden Armor in the City", "Jinling Thirteen Chao", "Three Guns Shooting Surprise" and so on.
However, the two people, who were once regarded as "golden partners", still failed to avoid tearing their faces and breaking up in the face of entanglement of interests and human grievances, and parted ways in 2012.
This is not the first time the two have fought a lawsuit since they broke up. As early as 2015, Zhang Yimou sued Zhang Weiping's New Picture Film Company (hereinafter referred to as the New Picture Company) for the sub-payment problem of the movie "Three Guns Shooting Surprise", and the lawsuit was 5 years long, and the final judgment also unexpectedly revealed the inside story of Zhang Yimou's overbirth fine that year.
In 2020, Zhang Yimou sued New Picture Company on the grounds of labor disputes, and the lawsuit has not yet waited for the final result. This year, Zhang Yimou turned the spearhead directly from the company to Zhang Weiping himself, and sued him in court on the grounds that "shareholders harm the interests and liability of the company's creditors", and the trial time is set for September 7 this year.
From the brothers who cherish each other to the enemies who are fiercely sword-fighting, what really happened between the "two Zhangs"?
Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping (right).
Golden partner
Zhang Yimou's first encounter with Zhang Weiping took place at a circle party in 1989.
At that time, Zhang Yimou already had a number of film works that he could get his hands on: "Red Sorghum", "Ju Dou", "Big Red Lantern Hanging High", "Alive", etc., and Zhang Weiping was the manager of the Ministry of Commerce of a foreign company and had great ambitions for doing business. The two talked happily and became friends.
The two really began to cooperate at a time when Zhang Yimou's career was at a low ebb.
In 1995, Zhang Yimou began to plan and prepare for the film "Have Something to Say", but encountered a situation in which he and his "inspiration muse" Gong Li were scattered and the investors reduced their investment from 26 million to 10 million, and Zhang Yimou had no choice but to terminate the contract.
Movie poster for "Something to Say" movie.
At the dinner table, Zhang Yimou told his friend Zhang Weiping about his troubles. At that time, Zhang Weiping's business was booming, and his investment projects covered food, medicine, real estate and other fields. Seeing that his friend had difficulties, he did not say a word and paid his pocket, which led to the first cooperation between the two.
This cooperation made Zhang Weiping lose a lot, only the 8 million yuan received through the transfer of the right to issue, and even the cost was not covered.
But Zhang Weiping saw the value and potential of Zhang Yimou through cooperation. After deciding to enter the film industry, he bet his "treasure" on Zhang Yimou without hesitation, and a "bet" was nearly 16 years.
In 1997, New Picture Pictures was established in Beijing, with Zhang Weiping as chairman. The company does not refuse to come to the films directed by Zhang Yimou, and has invested in countless well-known masterpieces, including "No One Can Be Less", "My Father and Mother", "Happy Time" and so on. Zhang Yimou has won a number of domestic and international awards, and Zhang Weiping's company has also made a lot of money, and the cooperation is seamless.
The most successful collaboration between the two is the 2002 movie "Hero".
English poster of the movie "Hero".
This is Zhang Yimou's first time shooting a purely commercial film, and it is also the first martial arts blockbuster he directed after his transformation. But it is such a landmark work that opened the "era of commercial blockbusters" of Chinese films, and the initial cost was only 30 million yuan.
At that time, piracy was rampant in the Chinese film market, and Zhang Weiping adopted a pioneering marketing model, auctioning audio and video copyrights, chartering business jets for publicity, taking out more than 10 million yuan for bombing propaganda, and even moving the premiere of the film into the Great Hall of the People.
There is no doubt that Zhang Yimou's technology and Zhang Weiping's operation together contributed to the film's great success. "Hero" won 250 million yuan at the domestic box office that year, accounting for 25% of the annual box office, and after being released in North America, it won the box office for two consecutive weeks, and finally the global box office was as high as 177 million US dollars (about 750 million yuan).
Taking advantage of this upward trend, the two have successively cooperated in a number of acclaimed and popular movies such as "Ten Faces Ambush".
In 2006, Zhang Yimou served as the general director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, and the cooperation was suspended for 3 years. During this period, the new picture company also suspended business, and not a single film was invested.
After 3 years of brewing, the two joined hands to re-emerge from the mountain, and thought that they would present a blockbuster masterpiece with thick accumulation and thin hair, however, a "Three Guns Shooting Surprise" not only filmed Zhang Yimou's reputation, but also almost broke the friendship between the two.
Although the film received more than 200 million box office at that time, it became the "worst" film in Zhang Yimou's history, with a Douban score of only 4.7 points.
The movie "Three Guns Shooting Surprise" Douban score.
Even after that, the "Love of hawthorn trees" and "Jinling Thirteen Chao" have gained good reputation, but it seems that it is difficult to reverse the trend of the end of the "two Zhang era" created by the two together.
Part company with
In 2011, during the promotion of "Jinling Thirteen Chao", some people found that Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping were almost no longer on the same stage, and the outside world soon spread out about the two people breaking up.
It wasn't until 2012 that Zhang Weiping officially confirmed in an interview with the media that the two had "broken up": "We haven't seen him since "Jinling Thirteen Chao", and I have nothing to do with him (Zhang Yimou). ”
Although the two have parted ways, there are rumors about their feuds on the rivers and lakes.
According to the disclosure, Zhang Weiping has repeatedly intervened in Zhang Yimou's creation. In the casting of "Full of Golden Armor" and "Three Guns Shooting Surprise", Zhang Weiping disregarded Zhang Yimou's opinions and forcibly stuffed his favorite popular actor.
What really broke the relationship between the two was the filming of "Jinling Thirteen Chao".
It is reported that in order to ensure that the film is released in advance, Zhang Yimou bought the film and television rights of this work early, and said that when the film enters post-production, the TV rights will be returned free of charge.
But a few months before the film started, Zhang Weiping sold the rights to the TV series at a "sky-high price" and earned a large amount of royalties.
Not only that, under the operation of Zhang Weiping, the film was also forcibly inserted into a passion scene, which made Zhang Yimou deeply feel that his creation was disturbed, and the hype during the publicity period disappointed him even more: "The grade is too low, it is simply wasting our labor." ”
On September 4, 2012, Without warning, New Picture Company issued lawyer letters through several major websites, announcing the revocation of the jurisdiction of 12 artists including Zhang Yimou Studio, including Zhou Dongyu, Dou Xiao, and Ni Ni. On the 12th of the same month, Zhang Weiping once again criticized Zhang Yimou through the Internet, accusing Zhang Yimou's studio of being an "illegal" "leather bag company", and claiming that Zhou Dongyu and others' current agents were not qualified to work.
In May 2013, Zhang Yimou officially joined LeTV Pictures as a contracted director and artistic director. He thought that the entanglement with New Picture Company could be put to an end, but then he fell into a bigger crisis.
That month, actress He Jun broke the news online that Zhang Yimou and his wife Chen Ting had given birth to 3 children in China and posted a photo of Chen Ting.
In fact, Zhang Yimou and Chen Ting registered their marriage as early as December 2011. Their eldest son was 10 years old, their youngest son was 7 years old, and their daughter was 5 years old, but the outside world knew nothing about it.
Zhang Yimou and Chen Ting's family.
After "Chaosheng" was exposed, netizens continued to crusade, some people pulled out the information that Chen Ting was He Jun's sister, and said that He Jun had participated in the training of "Jinling Thirteen Chao" and was later expelled, which may be retaliation; some people said that the manipulator behind the scenes was Zhang Weiping, and He Jun clarified, "I am not related to Zhang Weiping, the eight rods cannot be beaten, and I have no contact with him for a long time." ”
In the end, He Jun withdrew from the show business circle, and Zhang Yimou was fined 7.48 million yuan by the Wuxi Family Planning Commission, but his break with Zhang Weiping was far from calming.
Multiple appeals
Under the merciless "attack" of his old friends in the past, Zhang Yimou is also planning to fight back.
In July 2015, Zhang Yimou filed a lawsuit against Zhang Weiping's New Picture Company, demanding that New Picture Company pay 15 million yuan for the box office share of his film "Three Guns Shooting Surprise".
New Picture Company denied owing money to Zhang Yimou, and provided a memorandum of cooperation between New Picture Company, Zhang Yimou and another producer, Hong Kong Anle Company, as well as the oral agreement record of the film's mainland box office "three three shares" at that time, saying that Zhang Weiping's wife had paid Chen Ting more than 12 million yuan in box office shares in batches.
Zhang Yimou said that this part of the payment was paid by New Picture Company to Zhang Yimou for other films, and took out the proof of Zhang Yimou's income made by the lawyer representing New Picture Company at the Wuxi Family Planning Commission as evidence in the "Chaosheng Case" to prove that he did not pay the relevant money to himself.
On September 15, 2015, the Chaoyang District People's Court rendered a first-instance judgment, demanding that New Picture Company pay Zhang Yimou a total of 15 million yuan for film shares, and New Picture Company appealed.
In the same year, Zhang Yimou's imperial literary planner Zhou Xiaofeng published the book "Fate: Lonely Zhang Yimou", which disclosed the reasons for the rupture of the "two Zhangs" and criticized Zhang Weiping, and Zhang Weiping responded: "Made out of nothing, full of lies." ”
Zhou Xiaofeng's work "Fate: Lonely Zhang Yimou".
In April 2016, at the second-instance trial site of the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing Municipality, The New Picture Company claimed that Zhang Yimou and his family "lived in luxury" during their cooperation with New Picture Company, using the settled expenses to purchase a number of luxury cars and brand-name costumes, and paid for the cost of the child's international school.
Zhang Yimoufang insisted that the money was earned from activities such as shooting advertisements, directing stage plays, and directing opening ceremonies. In the end, the second-instance judgment adopted the claim that New Picture Company had paid more than 12 million yuan to Zhang Yimou and his wife, and ordered it to pay Zhang Yimou the remaining 2.4636 million yuan.
Zhang Yimou was not satisfied with the change of judgment, and the case was remanded to the Chaoyang District Court in Beijing for retrial. The two sides tugged several times until September 2019, when the Beijing Third Intermediate People's Court concluded the case and demanded that New Picture Company pay Zhang Yimou 2.4636 million yuan, but the payment was never paid.
On November 18, 2019, New Picture Company was revoked its business license by the Beijing Dongcheng City Supervision Bureau due to abnormal operation, but this did not hinder the progress of the litigation. Four days later, the Chaoyang District Court in Beijing issued a "Consumption Restriction Order" to New Picture Company to restrict Zhang Weiping's high consumption.
Even so, Zhang Yimou still did not give up. In 2020, Zhang Yimou continued to sue New Picture Company on the grounds of "labor disputes". At present, the case is progressing to the opening of the trial on March 19, 2021, and the final result has not yet been pronounced.
This time, Zhang Yimou directly sued Zhang Weiping himself in court without the previous lawsuit being settled, adding another shackle to the already rigid relationship between the two.
One is a director who has a lot of pursuit of art, the other is a businessman who values interests more than everything, and now the two sides have been in court for many years, although the final result is not clear, but the friendship of more than ten years has failed to reality, which is inevitable to be lamented.