Chapter 418 A dark horse

In order to catch the last wave of the Spring Festival, many movies scheduled for late January were released almost simultaneously within two to three days.

Among them, the imported film "Sherlock Holmes" is the most dazzling, followed by big productions such as "The Great Magician" and "Reverse War".

The Lunar New Year gunfight blockbuster "Inverse War", jointly produced by Qiankun Starlight, Huayi Film Group, Emperor Entertainment Group, and Matt Culture, is naturally the one with the most publicity. According to data released by theaters, its current screening rate has surpassed "The Flowers of War" by New Picture, ranking first in the Chinese-language film schedule.

However, what happened afterwards surprised all the major film and television companies in the industry. "The Great Magician" was exactly the same as "Reverse War", with box office revenue exceeding 10 million on the first day, and then the reputation took a sharp turn for the worse.

Although according to box office rules, it is not a problem for the two movies to exceed 100 million yuan, the problem is that the producers have invested huge amounts of money.

On the contrary, "You Are the Apple of My Eye", which had already been taken off the screen in Hong Kong and Taiwan, was released in Taiwan. With a cost of only NT$5000 million, the film eventually earned NT$4.52 million at the box office, ranking third in Taiwan's annual box office that year.

It then achieved a box office of over HK$6128 million in Hong Kong Island, surpassing Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu" to become the best-selling Chinese-language film in Hong Kong Island.

After its release in mainland China, the box office was average on the first day, but the subsequent word of mouth and positive reviews attracted more people to watch the movie. In the following days, the average daily box office exceeded 5000 million yuan, and the total box office in one week officially exceeded million yuan, making it the highest-grossing Taiwanese local film in mainland China.

For a time, this movie was widely reported by the media and was regarded as a dark horse by film and television companies in the industry.

……

"What happened to domestic films? Where is the way out?"

Several big-budget domestic films have failed in succession, and now they are being defeated head-on by Taiwanese films. A well-known film critic in the industry has raised this question.

As soon as the topic came up, major directors naturally became the first subjects to be interviewed.

"Most of the country's big directors started out making art films. Faced with the transformation from art to commercial, many people cannot adapt. Perhaps with time, the situation will get better and better." Feng Xiaogang was the first to speak out.

Needless to say, when this statement came out, many directors in the industry agreed with it, but most of them were directors of art films.

Then, Zhang Yimou, who has been unusually low-key during this period, also said, "After several consecutive failures in commercial films, perhaps I should reflect on myself and strive to make a few more good works that are worthy of the audience."

The consecutive speeches by two big directors caused a lot of discussion among netizens.

Even the topic of "Weibo Night" which was very popular a few days ago was covered up.

To be honest, this year's Weibo Night is extremely popular because Sina is already the leader in this field.

The debate on the Internet is in full swing.

Of course, in the original time and space, the main fans were Liu Shishi’s fans and Yang Mi’s fans, the two competing for supremacy.

But in the current time and space, the competition has developed into four people: Su Chang, Tong Liya, Yang Mi, and Liu Shishi.

Among the most influential TV actresses of the year announced on Weibo, Liu Shishi and Yang Mi are the favorites.

One of them became a first-tier star thanks to the huge hit "Palace" at the beginning of last year, and the other one became a first-tier star thanks to "Startling by Each Step".

Even at the end of the year, the coverage and influence of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" did not exceed that of the previous two TV series.

Finally, in the selection of the most influential actress in TV dramas, Liu Shishi won the last laugh, while Yang Mi lost the award due to overlapping filming incidents.

"No, we can't do this anymore?" Seeing Liu Shishi's fans mocking her crazily online, Yang Mi was so angry that she was about to go crazy.

"Or, let's change companies." Zeng Jia suggested.

In the newly added Weibo Goddess of the Year competition, Su Chang outshined all the other contestants and had the last laugh.

Su Chang was so happy that he couldn't remember where to start these two days. He even came to Liu Yifei to show off to her.

As a result, the young lady silently took out the Berlin Film Actress trophy, which immediately made Su Chang become autistic.

Originally, Cao Guowei and Gu Wei discussed inviting Yifei to participate as well, to judge and increase the popularity of the topic on Weibo, but Gu Wei directly refused.

What a joke! Given the young lady's unique status in the domestic entertainment industry, it would be unworthy of her status as a movie queen if she continued to participate in these events and selections.

Back to the topic, when the reporter interviewed Chen Kai, he did not comment too much, but just said that he would take the film "Search" that he was currently editing to participate in an international film festival, but he did not reveal which one.

"I will prove myself again, and 'Searching' has all the qualities to be a fine film."

Immediately afterwards, Lu Chuan also stood up and said a few words, and at the same time promoted "The Banquet", saying that it would compete with the movies released in the same period.

At the same time, Gu Wei and Jiang Wen, who were drinking and chatting together, frowned at the same time when they saw Lu Chuan's remarks.

"Haha, it's just that I don't have any movies released this year, otherwise I would definitely satisfy his wish to compete with me." Jiang Wen said with a slightly red face and a disdainful tone.

"Hehe, I can satisfy him. Let's try it then." Gu Wei couldn't help but speak.

"Oh, that movie? I haven't heard that you have any movies coming out this year. Could it be the two directed by Ning Hao and Lu Yang?" Jiang Wen was very curious, then thought about it and shook his head, "No, you invested a lot in these two movies, but you had nothing to do with their filming."

"Well, there will be a new movie after the new year. I have been listed as the producer and Xu Zheng will be the director. It is expected to be released during the Lunar New Year period." Gu Wei explained.

After he finished speaking, Jiang Wen stared at him closely and said, "Brother, you didn't learn from Zhang Weiping, did you open champagne to celebrate before the film was even approved?"

"How much is the investment? What type? I'm just curious, just asking casually, haha."

"comedy."

"The investment is about 30 million." "…"

The more he listened, the more silent Jiang Wen became.

He didn't want to say anything anymore. Well, it was only Gu Wei who spoke. If it was someone else, Jiang Wen would probably have started to scold.

After saying that, Gu Wei still looked at the other party with a serious face. Jiang Wen also reacted and said hurriedly: "I understand, I understand, keep it a secret, don't worry."

Getting back to the point, Jiang Wen thought that Gu Wei was just teasing him. Anyway, he was not optimistic. In his opinion, Xu Zheng had only acted in a few movies, one of which had a box office of over 100 million yuan, which was not bad, but he was still too immature.

"To be honest, I also want to know what happened to domestic films. Is it really like what Feng Xiaogang said, that this is the pain brought about by the change of style?" Speaking of this topic, Jiang Wen drank a glass of wine by himself, his tone a little sad.

“Nonsense, what labor pains are all just excuses for the poor box office and bad reputation.

Take you for example. You started out with art films and later switched to commercial films, which achieved both box office success and good reputation, and even broke domestic records.

Let’s not mention Feng Xiaogang, his main business is commercial films.

Although Director Zhang's commercial films in recent years have not received good reviews, except for "The Flowers of War", his other films have not lost money.

Director Chen is the same. What he lost the most is his reputation and public opinion.

If you ask me…"

Having said this, Gu Wei burped and suddenly stopped talking.

This made Jiang Wen so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks. "Go on," he urged hurriedly.

"If you ask me, in the final analysis, it's because people don't respect movies enough. Think about how they pursued perfection in the past, and look at the shoddy production now. This result is their own fault."

Looking at Jiang Wen who was lost in thought, Gu Wei did not disturb him. What he said today was also to remind Jiang Wen to have more respect for movies and not to mix in too many personal metaphors, otherwise the audience would not understand and might be hit by a blow one day.

.........

As the first cycle after the millennium, the Spring Festival atmosphere in the entertainment industry this year is particularly strong.

The most eye-catching one is naturally the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Dragon.

Everyone wants to see whether director Ha Wen’s changes can produce innovative effects.

At Xingchen Films, except for two people who stayed behind, the rest of the employees took their generous year-end bonuses and happily went home to celebrate the New Year.

Online, many employees of other film and television companies in the industry posted pictures of the bonuses they received and the benefits provided by the company.

It can arouse the envy of netizens from time to time.

I only see flowers but not red: "Sure enough, the entertainment industry is still the place to make money, with thick banknotes and you can often see all kinds of celebrities."

Shi Guang’s friend: “Well, other companies are giving out cash, but Huayi is still having fun and continues to issue additional stocks.”

In the capital, in a courtyard.

New Year's Eve night.

While Gu Wei was texting with the young lady and following her arrangements for a meeting after the New Year, he was accompanying his parents and watching the Spring Festival Gala.

To be honest, Gu Wei couldn't remember how long it had been since he last watched the Spring Festival Gala. It might be due to visual fatigue, or maybe he was tired of the same old routine.

"Hey, the stage seems to have changed this year. Look, it's a little different." Dad Gu stared at the TV and said with some surprise.

In the past many years, the Spring Festival Gala stage in Studio No. has had two sections, one half is the stage and the other half is the auditorium.

What is shown on TV now is that the entire stage and auditorium are designed as a 360-degree open space.

The fan-shaped studio only has round tables on the left and right sides of the middle rear for guests to sit. A T-shaped stage extends from the center of the main stage of the performance area, spanning the entire studio.

It’s eye-catching, and the atmosphere of the Spring Festival Gala like a “party” suddenly arises.

It's not just a change in the stage.

There have been great changes in the language programs this year. Several actors from the "Happy Twist" drama club can be said to be the new sketch talents "heavily" recommended by the Dragon Year Spring Festival Gala crew to the national audience. They starred in two of the seven language programs that appeared.

One of them is "Skynet Huihui" with Cai Ming.

There is also a skit called "Today's Happiness" performed by members of the "Happy Ma" drama club.

After the live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala ended, some of the main creators of the "Happy Twist" team accepted an exclusive interview with this newspaper.

"The success of appearing on the Spring Festival Gala stage is due to the solid foundation laid by the 17 Mahua series of dramas."

"An important reason why Mahua Troupe does not distinguish between seniority and teamwork in creating and staging works is that it provides every actor with room to fully display their talents."

...

(End of this chapter)