Chapter 472: Beyond Avatar

Los Angeles.

June 6th, local time.

After a long flight, Gu Wei, Liu Yifei, Han Sanping and others stayed in a star-rated hotel in downtown Los Angeles under the personal arrangement of Reid.

inside the room.

Gu Wei and Liu Yifei had just finished washing up and tidying up when Reid knocked on the door.

"Boss, the vice president of Warner is here."

Hearing this, Gu Wei responded, and then went to the hotel restaurant with Liu Yifei and others.

Richard Fox, because of his strong support for the special effects blockbusters shot by Gu Wei in recent years, the old guy has a bad reputation in Hollywood and is known as the "Hollywood American Traitor".

But because Gu Wei's movies brought Warner Bros. a steady and considerable income, his position in Warner Bros. was very stable.

Talking about feelings with capitalists is ridiculous in most cases. They only care about how much profit you can bring to them.

A big director like Gu Wei, who can continuously make blockbuster movies and has not failed yet, is always a guest of honor for film companies and investors wherever he goes.

In the hotel living room.

The old man Fox was extremely enthusiastic and gave Gu Wei a warm hug as soon as they met.

He also praised Liu Yifei for her extraordinary beauty, saying that those Hollywood actresses could not compare to her at all. Liu Yifei blushed after hearing this.

When she heard that Gu Wei only stayed in the superior rooms of the hotel, she temporarily arranged for service staff to move Gu Wei and his group to the presidential suite. If Liu Yifei had not been present, she might have arranged for two girls.

Seeing this, Gu Wei did not refuse the other party's kindness. After all, it would be a waste if he didn't stay there.

As for Han Sanping and others nearby, they naturally accepted it with joy. It was estimated that if Gu Wei and others were not there, these people might have had a taste of the local foreign horses.

During dinner, Fox said that the company's president would attend the celebratory reception the day after tomorrow.

"Gu, not only the president, I heard that some heads of the six major Hollywood companies will also be present this time. These guys are drooling over you right now."

Hearing this, Gu Wei felt a little awkward. I'm not a beauty, why would I covet her?

In fact, Gu Wei has been staying in China during this period and has not yet clearly felt the rise of his status in Hollywood.

It can be said that thanks to the movie "2012", Gu Wei has completely become a hot topic in the eyes of everyone.

Some people may say that even without "2012", Gu Wei would not be their dream partner, right? After all, "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Interstellar" both had high box office sales.

The Big Six in Hollywood: Not really!

To be honest, Hollywood does not lack directors who produce high-grossing films, but it lacks directors of commercial films who can set box office records.

The difference between the box office of 500 million or 1 billion US dollars and the box office record of more than 2 billion US dollars is even greater.

Everyone talked about some things about the celebratory party. After the old man Fox welcomed Gu Wei and others, he tactfully left early, leaving the time for Gu Wei and others.

As for the specific matters of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", the two of them tacitly did not mention it. After all, Fox knew that Han Sanping held the power over imported films, and China Film had participated in several previous films.

But Warner wants to get a larger share of this series of movies.

At the dinner table, Han Sanping and the others were just getting into the spirit of drinking, but were interrupted by Fox, which naturally made them feel a little unhappy.

Seeing this, Gu Wei asked for a private room again, and then called his entourage, including Reid, so that everyone could celebrate together first.

"What he said is true. The presidents of the six major Hollywood companies will all attend the meeting the day after tomorrow." After two glasses of wine, Han Sanping's face flushed slightly, and he asked in an excited tone.

Gu Wei was somewhat speechless and said, "Uh, Mr. Han, you only listen to the good news. They only said that some of the responsible persons will come, but they didn't say that they will definitely come, let alone that all of them will come."

But Han Sanping waved his hand and said, "Alas, it's all the same."

Seeing Han Sanping's look, Gu Wei didn't know what to say.

"Haha, Director Gu is really famous. Now I'll have something to brag about when I go back and chat with them." However, Wang Changtian next to him continued to flatter him.

Ye Ning also felt a little emotional. Even though Wanda bought a company here and invested billions of dollars, few people knew him. Maybe when people spent money, they thought Wanda was a rich man!
"By the way, I always feel that this Fox looks a lot like the Disney manager who came to China. Could they be brothers?"

As they talked, everyone stopped talking about business and started chatting instead.

"Haha, I think they are a bit similar. We think we are all the same when we look at each other. I guess Europeans and Americans think the same way about us."

Huang Xiaoming said at the right time.

“This is the truth. In fact, many domestic audiences only watch Hollywood movies and don’t remember the people involved.

I can name a few actors, but the director doesn’t know many of them.

Even Xixi was called by the wrong name at the premiere of "2012" last time. "Gu Wei said with a smile, and Liu Yifei laughed when she heard this.

Cheng Long was a little surprised, "Hasn't Yifei starred in several movies such as Inception and Interstellar? The Americans should have some impression of her!"

Gu Wei laughed and said, "They think all Asians look the same, how can it be so easy to remember them?"

Ye Ning slammed the table and said excitedly: "Director Gu's words are so reasonable and insightful. I must toast to you!"

Everyone raised their glasses and took a sip, listening to Ye Ning's talk, "I've always wondered why our films don't sell well in Europe and the United States.

This topic does not include Director Gu's movies. I have thought of various reasons before, but I just forgot about face blindness. When those foreigners watch our movies, they can't tell who is who. It will definitely be difficult to sell tickets."

Han Sanping nodded: "That's true. Not to mention ordinary audiences abroad, even the media often misidentify our stars."

Wang Changtian smiled and said, "You mistook Li Binbin and Zhang Ziyi for Fan Binbin, right?"

When this matter was mentioned, everyone laughed. A case of mistaken identity happened at the Cannes Film Festival some time ago.

Han Sanping joked, "There are only a few famous Chinese actresses anyway. If you don't know them, just call them randomly. What if you call them right? Even if you call them wrong, foreign netizens won't recognize them!"

Everyone laughed, but after the laughter, they felt a little sad. China lacks international superstars.

The most influential person at the moment is Brother Cheng Long, and that is the result of his accumulation over decades.

The second is Liu Yifei, who has accumulated a lot of overseas fans through her blockbuster movies.

As for those "international female superstars" who are often misidentified by foreign media, they really have no international influence.

Then everyone involuntarily turned their eyes to Gu Wei, and then to Liu Yifei.

Now, Gu Wei naturally understood what everyone meant. He turned his head and looked at the young lady and said, "Xixi, are you ready to become a world-class superstar?"

The young lady nodded seriously.

.........

On the evening of June 2012, 6, when international student Lin Jiang arrived at the world-famous TCL Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, he found that the place was already packed with people.

Looking around, there are crowds of people everywhere.

Countless "2012" fans came from all over the United States to celebrate this great moment.

Because, as of the early morning of the 26th, "2012" officially topped the list, surpassing "Avatar" by top Hollywood director Cameron, setting a new world box office record.

In the crowd, in addition to white and black people from Europe and America, there are also a large number of Asian faces, including Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and even Vietnamese.

Listening to them chatting in the waiting area, they were mostly talking about who was coming and which top star was walking on the red carpet.

At the entrance of the venue tonight, superstars who are usually unattainable in the eyes of fans appeared one after another as if they were ordinary people on the street.

The box office data created by "2012" was made into large posters, standing on both sides of the theater.

There are also giant posters of Liu Yifei, Cheng Long, Matt Damon and others.

Naturally, more than a dozen famous American media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Times, would not miss this rare opportunity.

As for the big stars who came, there were countless of them.

Not to mention Leonardo, Will Smith and others.

Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Schwarzenegger, Jim Carrey, Jason Statham, Nicolas Cage and other top Hollywood male stars were dressed formally, as if they were attending a film festival.

Whenever someone steps onto the red carpet, it always causes screams from fans.

Actresses such as Elizabeth Taylor, Monica Bellucci, Jennifer Lawrence, Megan Fox, etc., all wore exquisite dresses, attracting the media's cameras.

In addition to celebrities, big directors such as Cameron and Nolan are naturally also the targets of media reporters.

They all accepted the interview with a smile on their faces, and the most frequently asked question was naturally about their opinions on the film and director Gu Wei.

"There is no doubt that 'Avatar' created a new era of 3D, but '2012' further promoted this technology." Cameron felt a little regretful that his record was surpassed, but he was also considering whether he should start the second film project as soon as possible.

“Haha, I came here today just to congratulate Gu on his new achievement.

Well, I have watched this movie three times. It is indeed a landmark disaster film." Nolan said a few compliments to the domestic media.

As for the mainland media, Sina, Sohu, Penguin, NetEase and others naturally also sent special personnel over.

Even the Sixth Princess of Central Media greeted Gu Wei in advance and chose the best seat.

When someone suddenly called out the names of Gu Wei and Liu Yifei, it caused a commotion at the scene.

Foreign student Lin Jiang was naturally one of those who cheered. He was extremely excited at the moment. He had never thought that a Chinese director could be so popular in Hollywood.

After answering the reporters' questions, Gu Wei, Liu Yifei and Cheng Long waved their hands and walked back into the venue amid the cheers of their fans.

Because "2012" set a new record, and Gu Wei has a high reputation in the Hollywood film industry, many industry leaders came to the celebration banquet with the intention of making friends.

As soon as he entered the venue, Gu Wei "coincidentally" met the president of Universal Studios. After seeing Gu Wei, the other party came forward to shake his hand and said, "Oh my God, I didn't expect this movie to be so popular. It gives me the feeling that it has a great chance of breaking the record of 3 billion US dollars."

Gu Wei smiled calmly and said, "Really? I hope it's as you said!"

After the two chatted for a while, the president of Universal Pictures left time to other people with a reluctant look, which made him quite uncomfortable.

This was the first time that Gu Wei was looked at so lovingly by a grown man. She felt as if she was more attractive than gold and diamonds.

“Gu, I think you should stay in Hollywood. Only here can you fully display your talent.

And this movie should be nominated for an Oscar, believe me, he will get an award that deserves it.

You can consider giving up those Chinese-language films. Even if you can make wonderful works, it is difficult to get high box office in North America. "When I met Harvey again, he smiled and said.

His tone was full of disdain for domestic films, but in his heart he was extremely jealous of the box office of "2012".

Because in his opinion, Gu Wei rejected his proposal last time, and now the movie "2012" has set a new world record. The most important thing is that he failed to reach a cooperation with the other party, and he is afraid that he will not even have the opportunity to follow suit in the future.

Hearing Harvey's words, Gu Wei was a little angry. There are always many people in this world who know that what they do and say is meaningless, but they still want to come up and disgust you.

On second thought, if I get angry or worried about this, then I am fulfilling the other person's wish.

“I don’t think so. Although there are many Americans who don’t like Chinese-language films, there are also many who like them.

I believe that the Chinese-language films I make can also set records in the North American market.”

Gu Wei said in a firm tone.

Harvey was startled when he heard that, then he laughed and said, "Then I wish the market performance of your Chinese-language film will be as great as your eloquence!" After that, he saw a hot female star, laughed again, and rushed over.

Afterwards, Gu Wei took a deep breath and continued to greet the guests.

This "celebration banquet" hosted by Reid might be more appropriately called a premiere, except that there was no movie screening.

Because there were so many big stars present, the media were very busy interviewing them.

……

Meanwhile, media outside the party who were not invited continued to make comments and opinions.

As The Hollywood Reporter said: "It is really hard to imagine that after Avatar, another movie can break the global box office record it created. If there were no accurate statistics, I would have thought someone was trying to celebrate April Fools' Day in advance.

Of course, 2012, which broke the record of Avatar, was still shot in Hollywood. It is impossible for other countries to produce it, after all, they simply do not have the technology. "

The Americans are so arrogant that when they praised "2012", they did not forget to belittle the film markets of other countries, naturally including China.

Philadelphia Inquirer: "Gu Wei, the Chinese director, is a smart guy. He finally didn't make those soft-looking "kung fu movies" like his predecessors. I don't know why they always think we like this kind of "dancing" fighting.

To be honest, the various scenes in this film are so real and shocking, it deserves this box office record, provided it is a Hollywood production!"

Perhaps it was because Gu Wei created this miracle as a non-American, or perhaps it was the praise from other great directors that made the American media feel a little uncomfortable.

While the celebration of "2012" was still going on, several media outlets published bad reviews of the film.

Afterwards, although some media outlets praised the film, their condescending attitude still made people feel disgusted.

But the situation was different for domestic media. When the news that "2012" officially topped the box office in North America was reported back to China, the media was instantly in an uproar.

Sina Weibo, which claims to be able to handle the traffic of five celebrities getting married or cheating at the same time, was instantly paralyzed and no content was displayed for half an hour.

Many domestic entertainment media outlets urgently changed their pages and replaced them with photos related to Gu Wei or the box office record of "2012".

……

(End of this chapter)