Chapter 259 Animation Movie Explosion
People who are directors all have some obsession in their hearts.

Several directors in Hong Kong, such as Liu Zhenwei, are fond of peach blossoms. Many of their films always have a "peach blossom plot". The most well-known one is Chun Shisan Niang in "A Chinese Odyssey", which says, "Wherever the peach blossoms pass, no grass grows."

Wang Jiawei's obsession is separation. Although he seems to have made many movies, they actually all tell the same story: meeting and leaving.

Zhang Yimou's obsession is to "make the film with rich colors", focusing on the artistic conception rather than the plot. The beautiful composition is easy to come by, but the story is greatly reduced.

Director Xu Ke used to be known for "feelings of troubled times" and "gorgeous action", a typical example of which is "Swordsman" starring Jet Li, the fighting scenes in which are considered classics among classics.

It’s just that now when we go north to shoot films, the sentiment has been lost and only the special effects are left. We have cooperated with Huayi Company, but we haven’t confirmed the desired effect. It’s a bit of a pity…

There is also John Woo's White Dove and Ning Hao's "Night in Paris" which appears in almost every work.

Gu Wei's obsession has recently shifted towards gorgeous special effects. Compared with art films, after shooting several special effects blockbusters, Gu Wei has become more and more fond of this technology.

Most special effects movies are boring during the shooting process, but when the post-production is completed and you see the finished film, you will feel endless pride.

...

After leaving South Korea, Song Ge went to the island country again. Just like when he was in South Korea, this time he went there to set up a branch of Xingchen Film and Television.

The filming of the Hollywood plot is slowly coming to an end, and the remaining plot will mainly focus on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China.

One of the main plots of this film is that in order to save his family, the writer Curtis drove and took a plane to avoid the collapsed high-rise buildings and the sinking ground on the street. This process drives the story forward, while showing the internal conflicts within Curtis' family and the conflicts between Curtis' family and the Russian wealthy businessmen, highlighting the dramatic tension.

Today, at the filming site of "2012", a meeting is taking place between chief consulting scientist Adrian and members of the president's team to promote the Atlantis project, which is also the subplot of the movie.

Since it is a presidential meeting, it must be held in the White House, which is in line with the scenario.

However, the real White House was definitely not accessible for filming. The filming location was a large hotel conference room selected by the logistics staff. A lot of additional props were temporarily built to simulate the scene of the conference room inside the White House.

"Attention all departments, get ready to start."

In the conference room, the crew arranged the lighting and props, and several supporting actors entered the scene one after another.

Matt Damon, Nicole Kidman, Liu Yifei and others sat in front of the monitor with Gu Wei, staring at the screen.

Danny Glover, who played the president, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who played Adrian, made a gesture and the filming officially began.

In the camera, several people kept performing according to the lines...

In mainland China, among the several blockbuster films that were launched in the first half of the year, South Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun starred in "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan", Song Hye Kyo joined "The Grandmaster", and Kim Hee Sun starred in "Warring States". There has been a constant stream of news topics surrounding Korean stars and domestic blockbusters.

The news about Song Ge's appearance at CJ Company was also posted on the domestic Internet by reporters.

Subsequently, according to media reports, Star Film and Television Company established a branch in South Korea.

"Korean female stars have suddenly become popular, replacing Zhang Ziyi, Xu Jinglei, Zhao Yanzi and other leading ladies."

"Now Star Films has also set up a new company in South Korea. Hallyu is becoming more and more popular."

"Bullshit, Director Gu's company is going to make money from the Koreans, while other domestic companies are giving money to Korean actors. How can it be the same?"

...

On set, the entire scene went smoothly, as we were all members of the Actors Guild, it was very easy to use them.

"You were so fascinated by it. Have you ever thought about participating in the production of the movie?"

In front of the monitor, Gu Wei turned to look at Liu Yifei and asked in Mandarin.

"Ah, I'm just a little curious. I don't know much about film production."

When Liu Yifei heard this, she suddenly spoke loudly.

"It's okay. I can learn it slowly when I have time."

Gu Wei had this idea before, but he didn't tell Liu Yifei clearly. As he gets older, switching to the production industry is an inevitable choice. He can't just keep making movies for the rest of his life.

This is a very common situation in China. For example, Chen Kai's wife Chen Hong and Feng Xiaogang's wife Xu Fan, both met and got married through filming when they were young. As they got older, they also gradually moved behind the scenes.

"Okay, I'll learn more about it when I have time."

Liu Yifei didn't think too much about it and replied casually.

.........

"Alice in Wonderland" has successfully exceeded 200 million in North American box office, and the global box office is heading towards 1 billion US dollars.

Coupled with the already released "How to Train Your Dragon" and the upcoming "Toy Story 3" and "Shrek the Monsters: Reborn", the first half of this year can be said to be a year of explosive growth for animated films.

The key is that in the past two years, the box office of animated films has been getting higher and higher, and the market response has been getting better and better. Many big Hollywood companies have turned their attention to this field.

In China, the hottest topic recently is not the blockbuster movies, but the term "movie ticket refund system".

The reason is that after the Consumer Rights Protection Day some time ago, a website suggested that low-quality films should be treated like other commodities - if you are not satisfied, you can return them.

The proposal of a "movie ticket refund mechanism" immediately sparked heated discussions.

Netizens left messages on the Weibo accounts of major directors and celebrities, calling for ticket refunds for bad movies.

Even Gu Wei, who was filming in Hollywood, saw the news online.

"It's unjustifiable not to pay after eating." Jiang Wen was the first to speak out, calling on the audience to remain calm.

As a director, I am naturally in opposition to the audience in this regard.

After all, a movie requires such a huge investment, and no one can accept the suggestion of relying on the box office to make a profit.

"Not only do I not support it, I seriously suspect that the audience is mentally damaged."

Feng Xiaogang started to retort, and then made a long speech.

"Bandit logic."

Netizens responded one after another.

"Senior, what do you think of the 'ticket refund system'?"

Liu Yifei became curious and pulled Gu Wei to ask.

"Actually, I think it's okay, but I definitely can't say it directly."

Gu Wei touched his nose and said.

The current audiences and movie fans are already pretty good. At least the movies made by today's directors still have some substance. If we wait for a few more years, it will really feel like we've eaten shit.

The big directors made rebuttals but didn't put down their work.

Huayi Company announced the release dates for "Aftershock" and "Mystery of the Phantom Flame", with the former targeting the summer vacation and the latter the National Day holiday.

"Aftershock is the work I have shot with the most care in recent years, and it will definitely make the audience feel that it is worth the money."

While Feng Xiaogang was arguing with netizens, he was also promoting his latest movie. He has become an expert at hype.

Gu Changwei and his wife jointly sent out invitations to the movie premiere in the circle.

The movie written and directed by Jiang Wenli will be released soon.

Brother Chen Kai announced the release date of "The Orphan of Zhao", which will be released during the Lunar New Year holiday.

For a time, the leading actors of various movies were promoting their respective movies on Weibo, constantly posting comments and interacting with netizens, and the industry seemed very lively.

"Despicable Me 2", produced by Tomorrow Star Films, held its premiere ceremony before its release.

At the premiere, Gu Wei was present with all the main creative staff of the crew. He had high hopes for the film, and since there were no other competitors in the chosen time slot, he was very confident about the box office.

Reid represented the company, partnered with several senior executives from Warner and Universal, and invited many free celebrity artists to be guests.

All film directors and dubbing artists including DreamWorks were invited to the event.

At the same time, a lottery was held online and 300 lucky audience members were drawn to watch the movie on site.

At the scene, Minions dolls and posters can be seen everywhere, and invited fans will also receive a complete set of doll props.

"Despicable Me 1" tells the story of the protagonist Gru who planned a perfect plan to steal the moon, but unexpectedly the shrinking ray gun used to steal the moon was snatched away by Victor.

In order to take back the shrinking ray gun, Gru decided to adopt three orphans and use them to enter Victor's heavily guarded castle to carry out his theft plan.

But in the second part, it tells the story of Gru, who has turned over a new leaf and is willing to be a full-time nanny to his three adopted daughters. Unexpectedly, a secret organization dedicated to fighting global crime comes knocking on his door. Gru has to return to his original world and lead the Minions and his new partner Lucy to save the world.

The story is a bit old-fashioned, but the plot is compact and the characters are well-developed.

Influenced by the popularity of 3D, the film has stepped up the production of a 3D version, and will be released simultaneously in two versions around the world.

On the red carpet of the premiere, each voice actor of the movie character held the doll they dubbed and accepted interviews from reporters one after another.

There was nothing too fancy. Everyone answered two or three questions, and then everyone said a few lines of their respective characters, which was considered an easter egg.

Media reporters kept holding up microphones and conducting interviews in order to get the first-hand and latest material.

At the venue, due to the large number of audience members, the cocktail party was held after the movie.

"Gu, is the filming going well?"

Will Smith came to the scene with his family and spoke enthusiastically after seeing Gu Wei.

"The filming here will be completed soon, and we will return to China to shoot in a while."

Gu Wei and Liu Yifei sat together and talked with Will Smith and his wife.

But the two sides chatted for a while and then went their separate ways.

After a while, Gu Wei found that Cheng Long and Will Smith started chatting, and Will Smith pointed at his son from time to time.

As far as I can remember, the two sides did collaborate and filmed a movie about "Kung Fu".

Leonardo was currently filming and couldn't be there in person, but the other party specially recommended "Despicable Me 2" through a private portal.

As guests and moviegoers arrived one after another, the screening of the film officially began...

(End of this chapter)