Chapter 423 The era of special effects blockbusters begins

That day, after the press conference ended.

"China Film Group Chairman Han Sanping said frankly that The Wandering Earth will focus on the global market and go all out to enter Hollywood."

“What are the specific differences between Eastern and Western cultures?”

"With an investment cost of over 90 billion, % of which is spent on filming and post-production, will The Wandering Earth invite big-name stars to join?"

Pieces of news came one after another, causing a lot of discussion among the audience.

Two days after the Xingchen Film and Television Company’s casting announcement came out, a rumor suddenly spread online: Gu Wei’s so-called open casting was just a gimmick and was simply hype.

It is no wonder that most of the characters in this film will probably be selected from the artists under his company, and they will be the ones that Gu Wei strongly supports.

As for the heroine of "The Wandering Earth", it is most likely to be played by Liu Yifei, and the male lead is not difficult to guess. Huang Xiaoming, Cheng Long, Qin Hao and others are all possibilities. As for who will get the role, it depends on his relationship with Director Gu.

Because the post was about the casting of the currently hottest drama "The Wandering Earth" and revealed inside information and internal decisions, it was widely reposted and became a hot topic.

In the end, the rumors spread so much that some bad media even directly reported that Liu Yifei and Huang Xiaoming had been confirmed as the male and female protagonists of "The Wandering Earth", and filmmakers in the industry blasted Xingchen Film and Television Company for the inside story of casting.

Gu Wei could not help but smile bitterly after reading it, and then asked the publicity department of Xingchen Film and Television Company to issue a statement to refute the rumors.

At the same time, Liu Yifei also received many calls from acquaintances, such as Zhou Xun, who asked directly: "Yifei, have you watched the news these two days?"

"Yeah, I saw it. It said on the Internet that I was selected. It's really funny. Haha." The young lady said with a heartless smile.

"Aren't you going to play the leading female role? This is the first domestically produced 3D special effects blockbuster!" Zhou Xun asked in an exaggerated tone.

Liu Yifei hummed and said, "It's all just guesswork on the Internet. I've been reading scripts recently, but not the script for The Wandering Earth.

Sister Xun, are you interested? You can come for an audition. "

Zhou Xun laughed and said, "Of course I'm interested in Director Gu's movie. I've already received the audition invitation. By the way, you have to say a few good words for me when the time comes."

Hearing this, Liu Yifei said with a smile: "Hehe, no problem, but I can't make the decision for Director Gu, so I still have to watch your performance when the time comes."

Afterwards, the two chatted for a while. After hanging up the phone, Zhou Xun recalled what Liu Yifei had just said, "Another script, whose script in the circle can compare with Director Gu's movie?"

After thinking for a while, Zhou Xun really had no clue, so he could only shake his head, put the matter aside, and concentrate on preparing for the audition for the heroine of "The Wandering Earth".

On the other side, in the office of the chairman of Xingchen Film and Television.

Gu Wei had just finished reading the documents Song Ge handed over when his assistant came over and said, "Boss, Director Wang is here and is waiting in the next office."

"Okay, let her come over."

Not long after, Wang Jinghua, wearing a professional suit and exuding the temperament of a strong woman, pushed open the door of the office and walked in.

Afterwards, Gu Wei chatted with the other party for more than an hour. When Song Ge arrived, he met Wang Jinghua who was leaving with a smile at the door.

"Director Gu, judging from Sister Hua's expression, she must have gotten a lot of roles."

After sitting down on the sofa, Song Ge made a joke.

"Hey, they are all small supporting roles and guest appearances. There is no need to invite outsiders to audition. Just leave them to our family members." Gu Wei waved his hand and said.

"Haha, now that the movie roles are announced, some people are saying that the company is behind the casting."

"Just say it. If you don't give it to your own family, it will cause dissatisfaction among the artists below."

Hearing this, Song Ge nodded. These were just minor details and it was estimated that not many people in the circle would pay attention to them. After all, everyone was focusing on the main characters.

.........

On the other hand, after Wu Jing got the script from director Liu Meng, except for the party with Gu Wei and others, he almost stayed at home and pondered it over and over again.

You should know that since the disaster relief in 2008, Wu Jing was deeply touched after communicating with a young soldier in the disaster area, and he has always wanted to make a military-themed movie to let real men appear on the screen.

The more he read the script of "Special Forces: The Sharp Blade", the more he liked it.

As for the director's request to train in the army for a few months, it was exactly what Wu Jing wanted.

In the room, Wu Jing closed the script he had just read, then turned on the computer. After thinking for a moment, he typed out lines of text on the keyboard.

At the same time, the Hollywood film industry was asking the World Trade Organization to increase the quota for imported films, and the discussion was still heated.

Before the official announcement of the specific news, a relevant insider suddenly posted a Weibo online.

The Weibo post said that the visit to the United States will have several major impacts on Chinese films. China and the United States have reached an agreement to increase the import of 20 IMAX or 14D movies to the original 3 movies per year, and the U.S. box office share will increase from the original 13% to 25%. Sino-U.S. co-productions will enjoy the same treatment as Sino-Hong Kong co-productions.
It immediately caused a sensation in the circle.

Many people asked to verify the authenticity of the matter, and then someone found relevant news on the website of the Los Angeles Times and confirmed that the news was true.

At this time, several opinions emerged on Weibo.

The first type is naturally the production companies. This undoubtedly means that the living space for domestic films, especially low-cost domestic films, will continue to be compressed. Small and medium-sized companies, which were already squeezed, have suffered another heavy blow.

This group of people wailed on the Internet.

The second is the cinema chains. They are in full support of this. After all, the cinema chains make money from screening movies, and the more box office revenue they make, the more money they make.

The third group is the mainland audience. After hearing the news, they had mixed feelings. Some were worried about domestic films, while others felt that they could see better movies in the future.

"After so many years of shouting, the wolf has finally come. I hope that the mainland film industry will not be left with corpses everywhere, but will be reborn from the ashes."

In North America, according to the information provided by Reid, there is a chorus of calls from the Hollywood film industry.

The President of the Motion Picture Association of America delivered a speech, welcoming the new China-US film agreement.

The MPAA chairman and CEO even exclaimed: "This is a landmark agreement.

After all, China's box office has become an important presence in the global film industry that cannot be ignored, and Hollywood has become more and more coveted in recent years.

Subsequently, China Film Group has announced the imported blockbusters that it will introduce this year.

Just from the published list, the audience can see that this year's screen battle is bound to be very exciting.

Many Hollywood blockbusters will be released in various schedules during the Year of the Dragon.

From the already released "Mission Impossible 4" and "War Horse", to "The Avengers", "The Dark Knight Rises", "The Amazing Spider-Man", etc., there are countless works involving well-known directors and international superstars, which are very exciting.

As for Chinese-language films, directors are taking their time.

Feng Xiaogang’s “Revisiting 1942”;
Chen Kaige’s “Search”;
Ning Hao’s “The Golden Robbery”;
Lu Chuan’s “The King’s Feast”;
Most of the movies, including "The Guillotines" and "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", have announced their release dates.

As for the Berlin International Film Festival that is coming soon this year, there are Chinese-language films in the Panorama unit entries, exhibition films, main competition unit entries, and non-evaluated films, making this year's Berlin Film Festival one of the most watched in the industry.

It is a pity that only one film, "White Deer Plain", was shortlisted for the main competition.

In mid-February, in addition to Berlin and the Oscars, art examinations across the country also began one after another.

This year, a total of 6185 candidates applied for Beijing Film Academy of Performing Arts, and the number of admissions was 85.

Then Nortel announced the screening style for the performance department's physical examination major.

"Wang Jinsong, deputy dean of the Beijing Film Academy's Performance School, recently said that candidates' "natural beauty" is the most important, and the school will check candidates with tattoos and plastic surgery during the third test."

But regulations are regulations. With the phenomenon of making big money as an actor and in the entertainment industry becoming more and more serious in recent years, some regulations and requirements are just nice to say on the surface.

.........

February 2th is a day destined to excite celebrities and artists in the circle.

Gu Wei's new film "The Wandering Earth" has started auditioning at Xingchen Film and Television Company.

In the future, this film is seen as a masterpiece that will lead the Chinese-language film market into the blockbuster era 2.0.

The movie that opened the blockbuster era 1.0 was naturally "Hero" released in 02.

The so-called blockbuster era means big investment and high box office.

From these two points of view, Let the Bullets Fly and Painted Skin 2 are also eligible to compete. After all, the domestic box office results of the two films of million and million are still firmly occupying the first and second place in the domestic box office records.

But from the perspective of film production, Let the Bullets Fly is somewhat tricky. Although the publicly announced investment is high, a lot of money was spent on the actors' salaries.

The same situation occurred with "Painted Skin 2" which followed. The actors' pay accounted for a large proportion of the film's total pay, and it was also a fantasy film with nothing to do with science fiction special effects. Therefore, when later generations summarized the Chinese-language film market during this period, they classified it as a work from the 1.5 period of the blockbuster era.

The reason why "The Wandering Earth" will become a recognized epoch-making work in the future, in addition to its huge investment and high box office, is that it has opened the curtain of "domestic 3D blockbusters", making domestic filmmakers marvel that Chinese-language blockbuster series can be shot in this way.

In addition, the film has excellent special effects, many but not complicated characters, grand scenes, and down-to-earth plot and lines, all of which make "The Wandering Earth" exude a temperament that is completely different from previous domestic blockbusters.

It can be said that it is not a heavyweight work at all. While many filmmakers are still immersed in making money with "pseudo-blockbusters" and "traffic stars", "The Wandering Earth" has been able to truly go abroad and let some foreigners take a look at how our "heroes" save humanity and the earth.

.........

(End of this chapter)