Chapter 193 China Film Bank

The Spring Festival has just passed and Zhang Yimou’s new movie has just been released, and it is still being hotly discussed in the circle.

In China Film Group.

Gu Wei took time out to come over. The editing of "A Dog's Purpose" will be completed by early April at the latest, and the purpose of his visit this time was to confirm the release date.

New year, new atmosphere. Although last year's "Red Cliff" suffered a lot of losses, the group made a lot of money from its investment in "Interstellar". Coupled with the upcoming filming of "Founding of a Republic", Han Sanping is in a good mood and has a happy smile on his face.

"confirmed?"

"Well, it will be released in mid-April."

Han Sanping raised his eyebrows and thought about it thoughtfully.

"Nanjing! will be released in April. You won't be keeping an eye on it."

Gu Wei would definitely not admit it directly. Instead, he picked up the release list and pointed at it.

"Mr. Han, in March we have Watchmen and Dragon Ball. In May, there are more blockbusters, including X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek 2, Terminator 4: Salvation, and Night at the Museum: Escape from the Smithsonian..."

A lot of them were listed very eloquently, all of them were blockbusters from Hollywood. The competition was too fierce.

"It can't be helped. Several blockbusters are released in May, which will relieve the pressure on Inception during the summer.

I was called in for a talk.”

Han Sanping said leisurely that he has been very concerned about domestic films.

Gu Wei smiled. Han Sanping's protection of domestic films was indeed impeccable. He arranged so many films during the May Day period just to let them consume each other.

"That's enough, Mr. Han."

He gave a thumbs up to Han Sanping who was sitting on the sofa.

"Okay, I heard that you rejected Li An's invitation. Now that it's settled, let's do it. The group will announce it in the next two days, and let China Film Group handle the publicity and promotion."

"no problem."

They are all old acquaintances, so I feel at ease to leave it to China Film Group Corporation Gu Wei.

After talking about the movie release date, Han Sanping talked about Ning Hao's new movie.

"There's no big problem with the script review. China Film Group still has a lot of funds, so we can invest some."

This hit the mark for Gu Wei, as he had originally planned to produce this film with China Film Corporation.

"Okay, Mr. Han, since you've already asked, we'll finalize it after the budget comes out."

...

China Film Group was very efficient and announced the films scheduled for release in the first half of the year the next day. A Dog’s Purpose was on the list, two days earlier than Nanjing! Nanjing!, and was scheduled to be released on April 4.

"After eight years, Director Gu is directing another domestic film, and the release date has been confirmed."

"The only two blockbusters in April, Director Gu and Director Lu Chuan face off against each other."

"Looking forward to the Hollywood blockbuster starring Yifei,"

The media reported it immediately.

“Nanjing! Nanjing!” is not afraid of being compared with any other movie.”

Lu Chuan's team spoke frankly when facing interviews from media reporters.

In addition, there is "Inception", which is scheduled to be released in the summer vacation in July.

Leonardo DiCaprio partners with Liu Yifei and Qin Hao, plus the billion-dollar director Nolan, it's full of gimmicks.

This luxurious lineup has once again sparked discussions among actresses in the circle, and Liu Yifei's popularity continues to rise.

I have endorsed many more brands, all of which are international brands. I feel embarrassed to send out invitations to lesser brands.

"Mom only chose three in the end and rejected the rest."

In the villa, Liu Yifei spoke to Gu Wei on the phone.

"It's good. I need to run fewer announcements and events."

During this period, Gu Wei and Liu Yifei went to see Liu's father together, but Liu Xiaoli used the excuse that she had something to do and did not go with them.

The meeting went smoothly. My daughter is grown up now and has her own ideas, so as a father it is not appropriate for me to interfere too much.

Furthermore, Liu's father also investigated Gu Wei. Both his parents were formal employees, and Gu Wei himself was an internationally renowned director, and there were no bad scandals about him.

All these added together make him a person worthy of trust.

"Haha, were you particularly nervous just now?"

After leaving the restaurant, Liu Yifei stared at him and said jokingly that just now at the dinner table, she saw Gu Wei sitting upright and standing up repeatedly when toasting, which she had never seen before.

"No, that's respect."

Gu Wei was stubborn and refused to admit it. It would be a lie for him to say he wasn't nervous when meeting his father-in-law.

...

In the following time, Gu Wei stayed in the company, focusing on post-production editing.

As the only Chinese-language film competing for the Golden Bear Award at this year's Berlin Film Festival, "Mei Lanfang" has received exceptionally high attention.

However, during the media screening, many foreign media, film producers and audiences felt that the film was too boring due to the subject matter and length, and many of them yawned and left the theater midway.

After watching the movie, many media outlets said that the lead actor Li Ming’s acting was dull and Zhang Ziyi’s appearance did not conform to classical beauty, and they felt that Chen Kai had chosen the wrong actors.

This made Brother Chen Kai very embarrassed, but fortunately all 1600 tickets for the premiere were sold out, and the reputation of the great director gave him an advantage.

Another film, "Bella's Diary", although not shortlisted for the main competition unit, received many good reviews when it was screened at the film festival.

This movie is based on the same theme as "Nanjing!". The film was shot with great respect and restoration of the original work and history.

Ning Hao's script for "No Man's Land" was submitted for review two days ago. The review process of the General Administration was not fast this time, and I heard that there were some internal controversies.

The specific content was not released and the media only made brief reports.

…No industry in the country can be separated from meetings.

Before the New Year, we should summarize; after the New Year, we should look forward to the future.

Indeed, if meetings are not held frequently, the status of some leaders cannot be demonstrated. Only by saying a few words from time to time can their presence be highlighted.

Early in the morning, Gu Wei drove to the location and snowflakes were falling outside.

The annual Directors Guild gathering has begun again, and almost all domestic directors will attend.

"Director, here we come."

As soon as I reached the door, I saw Ning Hao getting off the car.

"It's so cold, and you don't even have to pick a day."

After getting off the car, the cold wind made Gu Wei shrink his neck, and he couldn't help but mutter something to Ning Hao.

"It's a good day, an auspicious day, suitable for traveling and gatherings."

Ning Hao replied with a smile on his face, Xing Aina gave him a big fat boy, and this guy is so happy now that he doesn't know what to do.

"Forehead."

When I entered the venue, there were already a lot of people there, most of them were unfamiliar faces. I might have seen some of them before, but not very familiar with them.

"Hello, Director Gu, I am..."

"Hello."

There were too many people. At first, Gu Wei responded with a few words, and then he nodded when someone greeted him. Otherwise, he would be exhausted if he said a few words to everyone.

Even in loose associations, seating is based on seniority.

Several well-known directors including Gu Wei sat in the first row, and the others sat in the back according to their fame and works.

Ning Hao and Wu Ershan sat behind Gu Wei. Both of them are billion-dollar box office directors, and there are not many of them in China at present.

Gu Wei's arrival attracted the attention of others, and Zhang Yimou raised his hand.

Looking around, except for Brother Chen Kai who was waiting in Berlin to attend the closing ceremony, almost everyone was there.

"Director Zhang, Director Tian, ​​you guys arrived quite early."

Gu Wei was sitting in his seat, with Zhang Yimou on his left and Tian Zhuangzhuang on his right, and he yawned as he spoke.

"You are young, you must be moderate and take care of your health."

When Zhang Yimou saw him teasing like this, Tian Zhuangzhuang next to him also smiled.

After chatting for a while, we got back to the old business.

Gu Wei’s new movie has been scheduled, so a few people just asked about it.

However, they heard that the script of Zhang Yimou's movie had not been finalized yet, which aroused their curiosity.

"After several revisions, it didn't work, so Wei Ping chose Xu Zhengchao to revise it."

"?"

"He writes sketches, if I remember correctly."

"Ah."

Zhang Yimou nodded helplessly without saying anything.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. Instead, your movie and the one produced by Director Tian should be released together to compete with each other."

“Hey, there are too many blockbusters in March and May, and I can’t do anything about it.

I had originally planned to release it in the second half of the year, but there are a lot of imported films in the second half of the year, plus other big directors’ films, so it’s even harder to choose a release date.”

Gu Wei pretended to be helpless and glanced at Director Tian while speaking.

He couldn't figure out how Lu Chuan had persuaded Tian Zhuangzhuang to be the producer of Nanjing! Maybe it was because of his old man.

When this matter was mentioned, Tian Zhuangzhuang rarely said a word. There was a problem with the censorship of this film. He had also seen the content of the film, but since it had been filmed, it must be released.

The annual Directors Guild gathering doesn’t have much new ideas. It is a loose organization established to promote communication.

First the host came on stage and talked about the development history, then wished everyone a happy new year. He said a lot of long-winded words that made Gu Wei sleepy.

Then a few big directors came on stage to complain and brag, but only famous directors could go on stage, and most people could only listen from the audience.

As the leader of the sixth generation of domestic directors, Gu Wei naturally had to go up and speak. He talked about some random things and just got by with it.

He wanted to say a few more words, asking everyone to make better films and focus on the technological development of the film industry, but then he thought, it would be useless even if the department leader said it every day, and even if he said it, it would probably not have much effect.

However, Feng Xiaogang, who had just won the box office championship for domestic films, was in high spirits and went on stage to share many of his ideas.

As he was talking, he started to criticize the development of the industry, and the people below rolled their eyes.

"Cough cough."

The host coughed a few times, forced a smile, and interrupted Feng Xiaogang's speech.

The party ended and everyone went their separate ways.

"Director Zhang, we still need to be cautious with movie scripts. Although commercial films need to be aimed at the general public, we cannot hire outsiders to do it."

At the door, Gu Wei reminded him that he really didn't want to see Zhang Yimou's reputation ruined, so he couldn't help but talk about these things one after another.

"Oh, I'll pay attention."

In fact, compared to "Three Guns", he prefers to shoot "The Flowers of War", but the latter takes too long to prepare and requires huge investment.

According to Zhang Weiping, he wanted to make a commercial film first to replenish the company's funds, and then start that movie when the funds were sufficient.

Considering that he hadn't had a new movie in more than a year, Zhang Yimou had no choice but to agree.

Seeing this answer, Gu Wei shook his head and drove away. That was all he had to say, so he could take care of himself.

(End of this chapter)