Chapter 47 Finishing

In 03, Hollywood continued to sweep the world with its high-cost, high-return movies, and the trend was even getting worse.

The blockbusters "The Matrix 5" and "X-Men 2" released in May are typical examples.

Director Li Yang's debut film, "Blind Shaft" won the Silver Bear Award at the 53rd Berlin Film Festival, marking the beginning of the counterattack of a grassroots artist.

...

New York time, May 5th, the filming site of "The Day After Tomorrow".

The main actors of the crew are filming the last scene.

At the end of the film, there is a speech by the President of the United States.

"The past few weeks have made us realize how small humans are and how powerful nature can be."

Gu Wei sat in front of the monitor, watching the actors' performances on the camera.

“We have long believed that we can endlessly waste natural resources without consequence.”

"We were wrong, and I was wrong too. The fact that I'm speaking to you on foreign soil shows how the situation has changed."

"Now, not only Americans, but people all over the world have become refugees from third world countries. They took us in in times of crisis, and I am deeply grateful for that."

After finishing the last sentence, Gu Wei's expression relaxed.

This also means that the film "The Day After Tomorrow", which took half a year to shoot, is about to be completed.

"Click."

At the shooting site, all the crew members turned their eyes to Gu Wei.

"Ok, passed."

Gu Wei made a gesture, and instantly everyone relaxed.

Soon, all the actors in the crew gathered together.

Gu Wei left the director's seat and stood up.

"I hereby announce that The Day After Tomorrow has officially wrapped up filming. Everyone must attend the wrap party tonight."

Suddenly, there was ghostly howling at the scene, and many people jumped up excitedly.

Looking at the state of the people in front of him, Gu Wei shook his head.

After being in Hollywood for so long, I’m still not used to this way of celebrating.

.........

That afternoon, Hollywood media reported the news that the film had been completed.

"The filming of the sci-fi disaster film "The Day After Tomorrow" has officially ended this morning,"

"After half a year, Chinese director Gu Wei's second Hollywood film has officially wrapped up!"

“The wrap-up reception will be held in the evening…”

At 6 o'clock in the evening, a cocktail party was held at the hotel where the guests were staying, and the head of Warner Company also came to participate.

In the meeting room, Dennis walked up to Gu Wei holding a glass of wine.

"Director, it was a very pleasant time working with you. Cheers to you."

After saying that, he drank the champagne in the glass in one gulp.

Seeing this, Gu Wei smiled and took a sip.

The two continued chatting for a while, and Dennis left with an excuse.

When the others nearby saw Dennis leave, they all walked towards Gu Wei.

"Director, let me toast to you."

"Director, I hope we can continue to work together next time."

At this moment, Gu Wei was the center of the entire cocktail party, and everyone came to toast him.

...

The next morning, Gu Wei rushed directly back to Los Angeles, and the staff was responsible for transporting the finished film to Warner headquarters.

The film will be done there for post-production editing and special effects shots.

Warner Corporation headquarters.

Gu Wei took a rough look at the special effects shots of the movie, which had been in production for half a year. The quality was very good. He estimated that with the editing and production of the final film, the movie would be released before the end of the year.

"Gu, most of the special effects for the movie have been almost completed. The remaining parts will probably be completed in four to five months."

“Very good, the special effects are handled very well, this movie will bring a different shock to the audience.”

"Haha, now I am really looking forward to the release of the movie."

Mike said excitedly.

Warner holds a seven-tier investment share in this movie, so he is under much greater pressure than Gu Wei.

The film has now been completed as planned, and the quality is very good. Warner is also looking forward to the box office after its release.

"Mike, you need to hurry up with the post-production and avoid any mistakes."

Gu Wei added.

"Of course, I will keep a close eye on it during this period. Nothing will go wrong, don't worry, Gu."

.........

Several blockbuster movies released in May were very popular at the box office. In less than half a month after their release, the box office had already exceeded 5 million yuan.

This is good news for Gu Wei and Warner, and it also represents better development of the North American film market.

In June, Gu Wei received an invitation to attend a promotional reception for the movie "Bad Boys 2".

Gu Wei didn't attend many cocktail parties in Hollywood, but this time, when he was invited, he didn't hesitate and took Reid with him. Reid was surprised and kept asking why.

Gu Wei's purpose was very simple, he just wanted to get to know Will Smith.

With the completion of filming of "The Day After Tomorrow", Gu Wei also had some plans for his next film.

The script of "The Pursuit of Happyness" is his next movie. The script registration has been completed and the consent of the protagonist of the story has been obtained. It can be said that everything is ready, only the east wind is missing.

This east wind is Will Smith. The movie he starred in in the original time and space was invested with 5500 million US dollars, and the global box office exceeded 3 million US dollars, and he was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor.

In addition to the main creative staff of "Bad Boys 2", many other directors and stars also came to the cocktail party to show their support.

Will Smith is currently filming the movie "I, Robot" and he also took time out to attend the movie's promotional reception.

Taking advantage of the gap, Gu Wei held the wine glass and walked straight towards Will Smith.

"Hello, Smith, I'm Gu Wei."

"Hello, Director Gu Wei, nice to meet you."

Will Smith had noticed Gu Wei long before he entered the cocktail party. In Hollywood, a big director with awards and box office success is the one that every actor wants to curry favor with.

Originally Will Smith was still considering what excuse to use to get to know this young Chinese director, but now he saw Gu Wei coming over on his own initiative.

Will Smith greeted Gu Wei very politely.

"Smith, congratulations on the good box office success of your movie."

"Thank you."

The two chatted for a while, and after Gu Wei praised Will Smith's movie, he got straight to the point:
"Smith, I have a script here that I think is very suitable for you. I would like to invite you to star in it."

Hearing this, Will Smith showed a thoughtful expression on his face.

Smith, 35, has many representative works in Hollywood. The 1996 film "Independence Day", as a model of American heroism, caused a sensation in the US market when it was first released, and eventually became the annual box office champion at the time with a global box office of 8 million US dollars.

The following year, the classic series "Men in Black" was filmed. This movie is not only an action science fiction movie, but also a comedy movie deeply loved by the audience. The story breaks the inherent pattern of science fiction movies, and incorporates the grotesque and evil into the alien science fiction theme. It is memorable for its hilarious humor, novel ideas and alien images.

Now he has just finished filming "Bad Boys 2" and is at the peak of his career. His salary has increased rapidly and he is already a top male star in Hollywood. Even facing Gu Wei's invitation, he needs to think carefully.

"Gu, what kind of movie is it? Can I take a look at the script first?"

Gu Wei did not bring the script with him, but just gave a brief account of the contents of the script.

Sure enough, after listening to Gu Wei's narration, Will Smith showed an interested expression on his face.

"Gu, can we make an appointment? I want to see the complete script before making a decision."

"no problem."

The next morning, Will Smith and his agent came to the Rising Star Films Company.

It can be seen that he is still full of interest in Gu Wei's invitation.

The two greeted each other in the office.

Gu Wei turned and walked to the bookshelf behind him, took out the script he had just printed, and handed it to Will Smith sitting opposite him.

After getting the script, Smith couldn't wait to read it.

Gu Wei held the cup of coffee, sipped it, and glanced at him from time to time.

The only sound around was the rustling of papers; even the sound of drinking coffee was so quiet that it was almost inaudible.

It's impossible to finish reading a complete script in a short time.

After drinking his coffee, Gu Wei sat in front of the computer and browsed the domestic news.

.........

In the mainland film market, with the box office success of "Hero", other directors have begun to take action and prepare their own commercial blockbusters.

Feng Xiaogang's new movie "Cell Phone" is currently being filmed, aiming at the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of the year.

"Infernal Affairs 3: Ultimate Infernal Affairs" is scheduled to be released in December."

“Hong Kong directors and celebrity artists flocked north.

The most glorious golden age of Hong Kong cinema (1985-1996) was the era when traditional American special effects blockbusters were in decline.

With the end of the Star Wars trilogy, the era of using props to create science fiction visual effects has come to an end, and the dominance of American science fiction blockbusters over the world film industry has relaxed a little.

It was during this period that Hong Kong films flourished, giving rise to genre films with strong local characteristics such as police and gangster films and nonsensical comedies.

It is no exaggeration to say that the center of Chinese-language films is Hong Kong Island, and all of Asia is watching Hong Kong films.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Around 1993, American films completed industrial upgrading after undergoing visual transformation using digital technology.

The digitalization wave of the American film industry is gradually sweeping the world.

Special effects blockbusters such as "Jurassic Park" and "Titanic" have landed in Hong Kong with great force, dealing a dimensionality reduction blow to Hong Kong's local films.

It would be hard for viewers who have not experienced that period to imagine how powerful Hollywood once was.

To make matters worse, the financial crisis broke out in Hong Kong in 1997, and no one invested in movies due to the economic downturn.

Cinema chains were already on the verge of collapse, and offline distribution was drained by the endless stream of piracy.

In the next six years, despite the occasional masterpieces such as "Shaolin Soccer" and "Infernal Affairs", they still could not save the decline of the entire Hong Kong film industry.

"Infernal Affairs", which brought together four movie emperors, won the box office championship, but in fact it was only 5505 million.

In 02, the market-oriented reform of mainland cinema chains gave Hong Kong filmmakers hope again.

Due to the real estate boom in the mainland, a large number of multi-screen cinemas have emerged and the mainland film market has begun to revive.

This year, with the release of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA Agreement), the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued new regulations on co-productions.

In order to adapt to the local conditions in the mainland, Hong Kong directors have used their open cultural vision and creativity to deliver many "unbelievable" works to mainland cinemas.

The friction and conflicts between mainland directors, actors and artists and Hong Kong film industry personnel are also gradually intensifying...

(End of this chapter)