Chapter 341 Real People

The script of "Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Mystical Ancient City" successfully passed the review of the General Administration, and naturally the help of Han Sanping was indispensable.

After all, in the eyes of some people, it is normal for me to use my seniority and the power in my hands to suppress you, so that you can know what it means to be promoted based on seniority and to be low-key.

Gu Wei was too lazy to deal with those old guys, so he called Han Sanping. Wang Chen also took the trouble to run back and forth several times before it was done.

While the circle was still discussing whether "Ghost Blows Out the Light" had passed the review, Cannes announced the first batch of films shortlisted for the main competition unit this year.

"Sleeping Beauty", "The Moon over Vermillion Flower", "The Origin of Women", "Revenge for My Father"...

Films from France and Italy occupy the vast majority of the main competition shortlist, but unfortunately there is not a single Chinese-language film shortlisted.

This is the 19th consecutive year that a domestic film has missed the Palme d'Or competition. The last time it was shortlisted for the main competition unit at Cannes was Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine.

"When can we go to Cannes?"

In the villa, there were only a few days left before Liu Yifei joined the group for training, and the girl found an excuse and kept pestering Gu Wei.

"What's going on? You just went to Berlin and now you want to go to Cannes!" Gu Wei said with a smile, rubbing the young lady's face.

"Oh, as long as you are an actor, who wouldn't want to go to Cannes? Of course I have this dream too. Look, there are netizens on Weibo tagging you, asking you to go to Cannes to compete!" Liu Yifei leaned on Gu Wei's arm, drawing circles on his chest with her little hand.

Gu Wei picked up the girl's phone and took a look. As expected, after Chinese-language films were completely defeated in the main competition unit of Cannes this year, netizens set their sights on Gu Wei.

"Of the three largest in Europe, I've only been to Berlin twice, and I don't have any ideas for the other two!"

"Director Gu, please produce a work. Don't just focus on making commercial films. Make some art films too."

"First, win the three major European films, then win the Oscar for Best Picture, and achieve a grand slam."

To be honest, among the three major European awards, the Palme d'Or is the most difficult to win. Over the years, there have been countless works registered for the competition in China, but only Brother Chen Kai has done it. Otherwise, after so many of Director Chen's movies have failed in succession, there are still people who are willing to invest in his movies.

In other words, domestic investors and audiences believe this. No matter how poorly Chen performs, there are still people who believe that he can create miracles and make high-quality movies.

"Then I'll write a good script and take you to Cannes."

Hearing this, Gu Wei grabbed Liu Yifei's hand and said something directly.

"Really?" At this moment, the young lady's eyes lit up.

……

There was basically nothing new about the Chinese-language films in March, it looked like a stagnant pool of water.

April has just arrived, and the first movie to get off to a good start was "Single Men and Women", which was released on March 3st.

The film tells the love story of two handsome guys, Louis Koo and Ng Yen Cho, competing for the beauty queen. The story is a bit old-fashioned, but most of the audiences who went to the cinema to support the film were there for the looks. The film is full of handsome men and beautiful women, which really attracted a lot of attention.

The film has good box office and reputation, and has not been affected by "Battle: Los Angeles". It is no surprise that it will reach the box office record of 95 million in its previous life. As a low-cost love movie with simple scenes, a box office of nearly 100 million is already a huge profit.

Next up is "Hard Man 2" starring Golden Horse Award winner Liu Ye, which was released on April Fool's Day, April 4.

Even though the film featured long-legged beauty Zhang Zilin, "Little Li Flying Dagger" Jiao Enjun and South Korean stars, it was not well received by the market. The box office was quite far behind that of "Single Men and Women", and it is estimated that it did not even reach half of the latter.

It is worth mentioning that Liu Ye, who graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 96, is a good actor. He won numerous awards since his debut, but the films he starred in have never performed well at the box office.

The first film he starred in, "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog", only sold one copy nationwide and was regarded as a typical case of zero distribution.

However, this film was bought by a Japanese film producer for 8 US dollars and eventually earned 800 million US dollars at the box office after its release in the island country. Some media outlets even reported that the final total was 3500 million US dollars. This is really strange and I don't know whether it is true or not.

In addition to the movies that were released, the epic war blockbuster "The Revolution of 1911", directed by Cheng Long and co-produced with Shanghai Film Group, starring a star-studded cast, was also announced to have officially wrapped up.

The film is scheduled to be released during this year's National Day holiday, which also happens to be the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, and the industry is very optimistic about it.

However, no one could have imagined that this film with huge investment and star-studded cast would only earn more than 50 million at the box office, becoming a typical failure case in the industry.

"Director Gu, I'm ready. I'll join Yifei tomorrow and go to France to shoot a few scenes. I won't be back until May. Director Gu, don't forget to visit us when you have time."

Wow, Cheng Long is really hardworking. He seamlessly switched to "Chinese Zodiac" right after "The Revolution of 1911" was finished. Everyone has to admire his attitude.

The next day, as soon as Liu Yifei got on the plane, media reporters reported the news.

"The crew of "Zodiac" set off for France to prepare for the start of filming."

"Director Cheng Long, along with Liu Yifei, Liao Fan, Kwon Sang-woo, Zhang Lanxin and others boarded a plane at the Capital Airport and flew directly to Paris, the capital of France."

...

In the office of the chairman of China Film Group Corporation.

Gu Wei drank tea leisurely and chatted with Han Sanping.

Originally, Liu Yifei went to France to film a movie, and Gu Wei was planning to take a good rest at home for two days. Unexpectedly, Han Sanping called him over as soon as the young lady left.

"Mr. Han, just say what you want to say. You seem to be hesitating. Are you worried about the schedule of my movie?" Gu Wei said jokingly.

"What are you worried about? If you don't worry about it, why should I worry about it?" Han Sanping said unhappily. After a while, he continued, "In the first half of the year, almost no movies invested by China Film Group made money. I just finished shooting "The Founding of a Party" and Shanghai Film Group followed up with "The Revolution of 1911". It's obvious that they want to compete with me."

Hearing this, Gu Wei opened his mouth and almost said that "The Revolution of 1911" would be a box office flop.

To be honest, if someone says that this movie, with Jackie Chan starring in the lead role and Shanghai Film Group investing and promoting it, will only make 100 million yuan at the box office, they will probably be considered a psychopath.

"so?"

“Let’s find an opportunity to announce the launch of The Wandering Earth in advance, including the investment cost and the directing director, so as to shock people in the industry.” At this moment, Han Sanping was smiling like a cat that had stolen some dried fish.

Recently, seeing other companies in the industry starting big projects one after another, Han Sanping couldn't help it.

"I think you can't keep it to yourself, and you're afraid that you'll let it slip." Gu Wei silently complained about the other person in his heart.

"This is not good. A project that can only be launched by the end of this year or the beginning of next year at the earliest is brought up half a year in advance. If something unexpected happens in the middle of the process, it will seem a bit anticlimactic."

"No matter what accidents can happen, we have China Film Group to back us up. We can handle any task, no matter how big it is." Han Sanping waved his hand and said with great enthusiasm.

Gu Wei also believed this. China Film Group still had the strength, but its huge size could not match the large number of investment projects. If anything really happened, they would still have to bear the consequences themselves.

However, Gu Wei did not reject Han Sanping's proposal. He was afraid that if he continued to hold it in, the other party might get sick.

Afterwards, the two talked about the release schedule of "On the Beach at Night Alone".

It won't work on May Day. There are so many commercial blockbusters, plus Hollywood imported films, it's a typical situation of too many people and too little meat. Even though "On the Beach at Night Alone" won the Berlin Award, after all, this movie is an art film, and it's not cost-effective to compete with commercial blockbusters.

July and August are the summer vacation season, and after September it is the National Day season. After looking around, June is the only suitable month.

"We'll announce it at the movie premiere then, and it will also add some hype to the film."

Before leaving, Han Sanping did not forget to nag a little, and Gu Wei said "hmm" as a reply.

...

Since April, the promotion of the domestic blockbusters "Warring States" and "Guan Yunchang" has reached a white-hot stage.

Especially the former, which was announced to be released simultaneously in China and North America, is very eye-catching.

You know, generally only movies directed by big directors can be released globally, and it must have taken a lot of effort to release "Warring States" simultaneously around the world.

The star-studded Lu Zheng also announced to the outside world for the first time that the domestic box office of "Warring States" is aiming to reach 3 million yuan, making it the box office champion of domestic films in the first half of the year.

On the other hand, "Guan Yunchang" starring Zhen Zidan is also not far behind and is being promoted vigorously.

Afterwards, the crew of "Guan Yunchang" held a "A Generation of Heroes" press conference in the capital. Jiang Wen, who played "Cao Cao" in the film, took on the responsibility of publicity.

First, he praised the director, "If I meet a director like Mai Zhuang, I would like to be an actor."

Then he "deprecated" himself again, "I am responsible for carrying the sword for Guan Gong."

Finally, he expressed his appreciation for his opponent and said, "Let 'Zidan' fly for a while."

Each propaganda slogan seemed to have already ensured victory.

Afterwards, Gu Wei, who learned the news, also watched Jiang Wen’s press conference.

"Haha, the director who set the domestic film box office record has also learned to be a 'supporting actor' and even played the role of a supporting actor. That's amazing."

“Hey, what are you saying? It’s not like I haven’t played supporting roles before, I’ve even played guest roles.

There is no other way. I owed some favors to people during the filming, and I can only repay them slowly."

After being laughed at by Gu Wei, Jiang Wen quickly changed the subject and talked about other things.

"Brother, I have written a script. When you have time, come and take a look. If it suits you, invest in it."

As they chatted, Jiang Wen talked about his plans for his next movie.

Hearing this, Gu Wei knew that the other party was going to continue filming the "Beiyang Trilogy". Unfortunately, except for "Let the Bullets Fly", the other two were only mediocre.

"Let's talk about it when the time comes. I also have a new movie coming up which requires a huge investment, so I may not have enough funds." Gu Wei laughed it off, trying to brush it off.

On the other end of the phone, Jiang Wen was thinking in his mind, even Gu Wei said that this movie had a huge investment, how big is it?
…On the 6th, "Warring States" announced that it would hold its global premiere celebration more than half a month in advance.

Recently, the crew of "Warring States" has traveled to major cities across the country, which is a huge undertaking.

Open the portal website, especially the movie information, and you will find that the promotional news of "Warring States" in various cities accounts for more than one-third.

Even the popularity of "2012" was suppressed a bit, which shows how much Lu Zheng has invested this time.

However, Gu Wei felt that the other party’s promotional method was wrong. They only spent money to buy news and trending searches, but ignored the ways in which the audience and fans could learn about the news. After all, there are many people in China who do not watch news and trending searches.

Starry Night sent the invitation letter a month in advance, and the day before the premiere, Lu Zheng called.

"Director Gu, the premiere is on the 6th, which is tomorrow. You must not be too busy and forget it."

"Don't worry, Mr. Lu, since I promised to go, I won't forget it."

Gu Wei chuckled and shook his head. He was impressed by this guy Lu Zheng. He estimated that Ning Hao and Wu Ershan would also receive a call.

Only Lu Yang was busy filming, otherwise he would definitely be included.

But then again, just go. Gu Wei will still give him this little face. After all, he is one of the company's clients.

On the afternoon of the 6th, Gu Wei drove to the scene with Wu Ershan and Ning Hao.

The premiere was held at the National Convention Center in the Olympic Sports Park, which was indeed of high quality.

When the few people arrived at the scene, they saw that the venue was indeed very grand, and there were many people in the industry present. In addition to the senior representatives of the distributors China Film, Shanghai Film, Starry Film and Television, China Radio and Television Media, and Happy Blue Ocean Film and Television, there were also Mr. Wang of Huayi Company, Wang Changtian and Li Xiaoping of Guangxian, Yu Dong of Bona, and Mr. Li of Xiaoma Pentium.

These are the companies that Gu Wei can name. As for other less well-known companies in the industry, there are too many to count.

After chatting with a group of people for a while, Gu Wei always felt that the CEOs of several large companies did not seem to be there to show their support, but seemed to be more interested in coming to laugh at the joke.

It is normal for newly established film and television companies to struggle in the industry, and it is also normal for them to be hostile to established film companies.

Even as a powerful company like Wanda, after it was established in 2011 in another time and space, it only invested in the talented Xu Jinglei's "Intimate Enemies" and still made a living by following China Film.

The producer of "Warring States", Xing Guang Canlan, is really domineering, as they dare to make a blockbuster with an investment of hundreds of millions before they have established themselves in the circle.

The entire film is said to have cost 150 million yuan, which is definitely a blockbuster-level investment at this stage.

Because this money can be used to shoot "Let the Bullets Fly", "The Siege of the City in October", "Confucius", "The New Shaolin Temple", "Guan Yu"... and of course, "The Warring States".

Let’s not discuss the film’s artistic achievements and box office, there really is not much to say.

In Gu Wei's opinion, the greatest contribution of "Warring States" to the Chinese film market should be a warning to latecomers that blockbusters are easily cheated and "newcomers" need to be cautious. This newcomer refers to new companies in the film market.

With the same investment, "Let the Bullets Fly" stars Chow Yun-fat, Jiang Wen, Ge You, and Carina Lau, while people like Chen Kun can only play small supporting roles.

"The Siege of the City in October", "Confucius" and "Guan Yunchang" can all be said to be full of big names and very lively, but when it comes to "Warring States", there is not even a "pay king" of any importance.

Furthermore, in terms of publicity and promotion, "Let the Bullets Fly" cost 1500 million yuan, and in the capital alone there were: bus stop hard advertisements for one month, subway media trailers for two months, and major outdoor LED advertisements in the city...

Apart from the lively premiere ceremony, "Warring States" also put some effort into the news, but neglected the most basic publicity.

In other words, the money was spent but the effect was not significant, which can be said to be the wrong use of money.

In fact, it can be seen from the staff behind the scenes of this movie that this is mostly a case of amateurs meeting amateurs, with tears in their eyes.

The director of this film, Jin Chen, is a standard art film director who has never touched commercial films. Asking an art film director to direct a commercial blockbuster is a more creative idea than Chen Kai's "The Promise".

The producer of "Warring States" has only produced one movie before, which was also Jingtian's "My Beauty Boss". There is no need to discuss the plot and theme because it is meaningless. However, the producer of "My Beauty Boss" also served as the producer of "Warring States".

It can be said that the whole film is a combination of an unprofessional director, a novice company, amateur production, a new female lead, and a "pseudo" big-name lineup. Expecting such a film to make Fuguihua Jingtian famous is just a case of being rich and willful.

Although "Warring States" was not well received, Gu Wei was warmly welcomed. Since he entered the venue, there was an endless stream of people greeting him and trying to get close to him.

Capital is profit-seeking and the market is realistic. People in the circle have a love-hate relationship with Gu Wei.

Love is about his ability to make money, and every movie he made is a big hit. As for hating him, there are many things. Hate that he only works with a few fixed companies, and hate that his directors generally don't accept invitations from other companies...

However, if there is an opportunity for cooperation, they will probably run faster than anyone else and will definitely come up to us as soon as possible.

As the host, Lu Zheng took the initiative to greet everyone after they greeted Gu Wei.

"Director Lin, you're here."

"Mr. Lu, this is really a big scene." Gu Wei complimented.

It's true, a lot of effort was put into preparing for the premiere.

The number of guests invited this time exceeded two hundred, all of whom were well-known celebrities in the industry, and there were also many media representatives. Even the Sixth Princess came.

At the entrance of the premiere, the red carpet was a hundred meters long, no less than that of ordinary film festivals, and even longer.

Around the red carpet, four or five meter high poster stands are connected into one piece.

Just looking at these character posters gives people a feeling of a grand scene and a big battle.

One after another, big names walked onto the red carpet, with media cameras flashing non-stop.

Han Sanping, Ren Zhonglun, Yang Shoucheng, Ye Ning and other company bosses all came to show their support.

Many artists from Star Media, Orange Sky, Yinghuang and other companies also came.

Jiang Wen, Gu Changwei, Chen Kun, Li Binbin, Huang Xiaoming, etc.

A large number of celebrity artists walked across the red carpet and entered the venue.

"No, it's okay, it's okay, haha.

Director Gu, please come in. Tiantian and the others are waiting for you at the venue."

Entering the innermost part, the crew members of "Warring States", including Sun Honglei, Jing Tian, ​​Wu Zhenyu, Jiang Wu and others were scattered among the crowd socializing, waiting for the premiere to officially begin.

After seeing Gu Wei, everyone came over to greet him one by one, keeping a very humble attitude for fear of being impolite.

After a brief greeting, Gu Wei sat in the first row. Sitting next to him were the CEOs of major film and television companies in the industry. He was the only one who held two positions at the same time, while the other directors sat in the second row.

.........

"Too cruel!", "My heart aches!"

The premiere celebration of "Warring States" did not play the entire film, but only edited some clips that the producers thought were good.

I don’t know what the director was thinking. He dared to broadcast such shocking lines at the premiere celebration.

After that, the main creators came on stage. Sun Honglei and Wu Zhenyu were just paving the way for Jing Tian. The two of them only talked for ten minutes when they went on stage together.

After a song and dance, many shots of Jing Tian were played continuously on the screen. Then Jing Tian appeared and talked about some contents of the play.

The most explosive news came when Sun Honglei and Jing Tian were on the same stage. The host asked him what it felt like to act opposite Jing Tian.

Sun Honglei said with a bitter face: "Jingtian is a very sincere, frank and brave girl. It's the first time I've met such an actress. When I went to the scene on the first day of filming, I was actually quite worried because the heroine's role was too important."

Jing Tian, ​​who was standing aside, was originally looking ahead blankly. Upon hearing this, he glanced at Sun Honglei, then his eyes widened in shock.

Sun Honglei continued: "Then she moved a small stool and sat opposite me. The first thing she said to me was, Brother Honglei, I can't act, what should I do!"

At this moment, Jingtian's expression was a little helpless, his cheeks were slightly red, and he lowered his head and smiled embarrassedly.

Ning Hao in the audience covered his mouth and laughed. He leaned forward and whispered in Gu Wei's ear: "She is trying to pass the buck." Gu Wei sighed inwardly, this girl is too honest.

On stage, Sun Honglei continued, "Not many girls have the courage to say such sincere words in front of a male actor, a male lead, their opponent! My heart melted (confused) at that time. What should we do? Let's get through this together! We communicated and worked together to play this role well! Although I debuted earlier than her, I also hoped to impress her with my enthusiasm and sincerity, and then the two of us worked together to shape both roles well. Facts have proved that it is still good."

Then, Jing Tian spoke with a solemn and imposing expression, a heroic look between his eyebrows, and a somewhat fast speaking speed, "I also want to say here that as a newcomer, I feel very nervous to be able to participate in such a big-budget movie, including so many seniors, such as Xi Shanjie, Nakai Kiichi, Sun Honglei, and Wu Zhenyu... before I joined the crew, I was very nervous. I can't describe the emotion..."

After a pause, he suddenly smiled and said, "I was so depressed that I wanted to scream and collapse. I was really worried about my performance. So I think Brother Hong Lei helped me complete this play. I really want to thank him!" He then bowed deeply to Sun Honglei.

Wu Ershan in the audience couldn't help but say: "The girl is not bad, but she has a little, I can't tell what feeling she has."

Hearing this, Gu Wei turned his head and whispered to Wu Ershan behind him: "Really?"

Wu Ershan was stunned for a moment, then said, "It's really too real. How can I say I can't act in front of so many people? Haha."

After that, Sun Honglei stepped down from the stage, and then Jing Tian was interviewed again. A short film named "The Growth of Jing Tian" was played at the end. It included clips, introductions, and commentaries of the young lady's performances in various film and television dramas since her debut in 08. If her fans were present, it would have been a real treat, because she also sang the theme song of "Warring States".

In the end, Jingtian was on stage for about half an hour, absolutely being treated like the leading actor.

The next day, the media gave good reviews to the premiere of "Warring States", and since Lu Zheng was willing to spend money, there were a lot of positive reviews online.

The film market in early April is still crowded with low-budget films.

The next big investment will be "Warring States" on the 12th.

.........

(End of this chapter)