Chapter 501: Dealing with Old Yue
The box office battle during the Lunar New Year holiday is still going on.

The competition has changed from the first round of "1942" and "The Banquet" vs. "Lost in Thailand" to the current second round of "Chinese Zodiac", "Shanghai Grand" and "The Guillotines" vs. "Lost in Thailand".

Many people in the circle are eagerly watching, hoping that a movie will come out and kill the momentum of "Lost in Thailand".

But the reality turned out to be the opposite of what was expected. Compared to the success of "Lost in Thailand", the box office of "Chinese Zodiac" was quite good.

However, "The Guillotines" and "The Great Shanghai", starring Huang Xiaoming, are much darker.

After one week of release, "The Guillotines" only earned 3000 million at the box office, which did not even reach the first-week box office performance of several other Lunar New Year films.

The lineup and investment of this film are not small, and can even be said to be very powerful.

The same is true for its fellow film "The Great Shanghai". Although the box office was a little higher on the first day, this film has a star-studded cast including Chow Yun-fat, Sammo Hung and Francis Ng. If this trend continues, the box office may not even be able to pay the actors' salaries.

At the same time, when "Lost in Thailand" broke the 10 billion mark, a large number of news releases were immediately issued by media reporters.

Along with this, there was also news that the film’s release date would be postponed for a month.

"Lost in Thailand, a groundbreaking Chinese film, is the first film to break the billion-yuan box office."

"Xingchen Films, the producer of Lost in Thailand, has submitted an application to the Film Bureau for a postponement of the release date. The new extension key has a time limit of one month."

Either of these two pieces of news has made the entire film industry uneasy.

With less than a month of release and a box office of 1 billion, Lost in Thailand does qualify for an extension.

"According to incomplete statistics, as of January 2013, 1, Lost in Thailand had been released for 1 days, with a cumulative box office of over 21 billion yuan and over 10 million viewers, setting a record for the highest cumulative box office and number of viewers for domestic films."

"The billion-dollar bet with the cinema chain has ended, and Xingchen Films has become the biggest winner."

Wang Baoqiang, Xu Zheng, Huang Bo and others even posted directly on Weibo to celebrate.

After all, this year has come to an end, and Lost in Thailand has secured its title as the domestic box office champion.

.........

Speaking of the term "Lunar New Year period", we have to mention Cheng Long and Feng Xiaogang.

The former's "Rumble in the Bronx" was the first film introduced to the mainland in the name of "Lunar New Year holiday".

The latter was the first person to open the Lunar New Year box office market in the mainland. Starting from that year's "Party A and Party B", the term "Lunar New Year box office" really came into being in the mainland.

I didn't expect that 14 years later, Feng Xiaogang would suffer such a crushing defeat in the Lunar New Year box office battle!
The epic blockbuster "2.1", which cost 3.42 million yuan to invest, grossed million yuan at the box office. Its potential was exhausted and it was forced to be withdrawn from theaters.

This result made many colleagues in the industry sigh with regret.

After deducting several additional publicity costs, it is clear without a detailed calculation that Huayi Company suffered a direct loss of more than 100 million yuan.

As a listed company, financial reports must be made public.

Coupled with the two previous loss-making "Tai Chi" series, the negative impact can only be large, or even serious.

Therefore, Huayi Company’s publicity has been completely shifted to the hit movie “The Chinese Zodiac” and the comedy script “Private Tailor” which is currently being written.

...

On the other hand, after attending the premiere of "The Chinese Zodiac", Liu Yifei went straight back to the "Parasite" crew to continue filming.

But less than two weeks after filming, the young lady left the crew again and came to Gu Wei.

"Senior, how is the post-production of The Wandering Earth going?"

In the villa, Liu Yifei asked casually.

"The current progress is okay, what's wrong?" Gu Wei asked subconsciously.

After a moment, Liu Yifei looked at Gu Wei's profile and suddenly said with a smile:
"Dad wants to see you, shall we go see him together?"

After hearing this, Gu Wei finally reacted and slapped his forehead, wondering how could he have forgotten about this.

No wonder the young lady suddenly left the crew, so this is what happened.

"How can we let our father wait for us? Let's prepare well and go together when the time comes."

The meeting with An Shaokang was finally scheduled for the weekend.

Back home, the successive release of three blockbusters has made the Lunar New Year box office seem even more exciting.

Speaking of which, Jackie Chan's "Chinese Zodiac" gave the industry a surprise at the beginning, with a first-day box office of 4500 million, leading the way.

Relatively speaking, although "Lost in Thailand" is still more than a month away from its final release, it has already entered its final stages, with the average daily box office reported to be less than 20 million, and will only get lower in the future.

But even with this result, it still beats Liu Weiqiang's "The Guillotines" and Wang Jing's "The Great Shanghai".

The former had a box office of 860 million on the first day, and the latter closed at 1245 million on the first day, both far from the expected targets.

After all, Bona's Yu Dong boasted a lot to the media before the movie was released.

At that time, he boasted that "The Great Shanghai" and "The Grandmaster" would definitely get at least 10 billion yuan in box office during this Lunar New Year holiday.

Looking at the current situation, the burden of the 10 billion box office revenue will have to be given to "The Grandmaster".

After "Lost in Thailand" obtained the extension key, although the daily box office dropped a lot, it still competed with "Chinese Zodiac" back and forth.

From the screening schedules of major cinemas in the capital, it was found that even though "Chinese Zodiac" has surpassed "Lost in Thailand" in terms of screening sessions and screening rate, the daily box office of this movie has also dropped sharply.

Coupled with the successive releases of two imported blockbusters, the industry's box office forecast for this film is that it is highly likely that it will not exceed 1 billion.

.........

Weekend, sunny day.

When he arrived at the hotel entrance, Gu Wei, who was accustomed to big scenes, was even a little nervous.

Liu's father is a staff member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stationed in France. He usually stays in Paris, France. He came back this time mainly to report on his work and meet Gu Wei by the way.

This emotion affected the young lady next to him. Liu Yifei took Gu Wei's arm and teased him a few words, and only then did Gu Wei calm down.

An Shaokang, Gu Wei's first impression of him was that this man was very bookish, gentle and refined, or it would be more appropriate to describe him as elegant.

It seems that Liu Yifei's artistic youth temperament is most likely influenced by An Shaokang.

"Dad, let me introduce you."

Liu Yifei came to An Shaokang naturally and was about to introduce him.

"Haha, that's not necessary. Although I don't watch many movies on a daily basis, who in China doesn't know the great director Gu Wei?" An Shaokang said with a smile.

"Excuse me, uncle. These are just empty titles." Gu Wei said modestly.

No matter what, Gu Wei always maintains a humble attitude. After all, there are many faults that a father-in-law can find in his son-in-law.

The meeting place is in a star-rated hotel.

Gu Wei sat down, drank tea, and chatted with An Shaokang face to face.

Gu Wei had seen many big scenes, and after some self-adjustment, his restraint had decreased a lot, but there was still a feeling different from the past. Perhaps this was the first time they met, and he felt a natural sense of repression from his future father-in-law.

"Speaking of which, I didn't care enough about Xixi. You two have been together for such a long time, but this is the first time we meet."

An Shaokang suddenly changed the subject and brought the topic to this matter.

As soon as Gu Wei heard it, he knew that they were going to get down to business.

Even Liu Yifei noticed it and couldn't help looking at An Shaokang with her big eyes. "Actually, I've been busy with work these years and haven't paid enough attention to Xixi, but with you accompanying her, I can see that Xixi is very happy.

Gu Wei, you will be 30 in a year or two, and Xixi is not young either, just a few years younger than you."

When An Shaokang talked about his age, he couldn't help but sigh and glanced at Liu Yifei who was sitting next to him. He didn't expect that more than 20 years had passed in a flash.

"dad."

Liu Yifei was also affected by her father's words and suddenly spoke, as if trying to stop An Shaokang from continuing.

"Uncle, I've made up my mind. I'm going to get engaged to Xixi after the New Year."

Gu Wei expressed his opinion first without waiting for An Shaokang to ask.

First, my parents had made the decision, and now it was the other party's parents' turn to ask. Besides, Liu Yifei has been with me for several years, and I can't keep dragging it on like this.

"Dad, I did discuss it with the senior, and mom agreed."

Liu Yifei's face turned red in an instant, but the curve of her lips betrayed her.

Hearing this, An Shaokang nodded with satisfaction.

He didn't know much about the entertainment industry, but he had read a lot of gossip in the industry. When he found out that his beloved daughter was in love with the director, he had a quarrel with Liu Xiaoli. After all, in his eyes, most men in this circle were philandering.

But as time went by, Gu Wei's performance gradually changed his mind, which led to their meeting today.

Afterwards, Gu Wei and Liu's father called the waiter to serve the food and had a few drinks together.

The two of them did not continue discussing this topic. Instead, Liu Yifei was always between them, constantly serving food and pouring wine for both of them, and she was very busy.

After dinner, the two continued chatting for a while, and then Gu Wei said goodbye.

"Actually, my dad loves me very much, I know that, but you also know my mom's temper, which has resulted in me and my dad meeting very rarely over the years. But seeing that you two can chat so well, I feel relieved."

After returning to the villa, Liu Yifei raised her snow-white neck, very satisfied with the result of today's meeting.

Seeing this, Gu Wei lowered his head and kissed those red lips instantly. Liu Yifei couldn't help but hug Gu Wei tightly, and her body softened.

"Let's get engaged by the end of the year and get married next year, okay?"

After a long time, their lips parted and Gu Wei asked softly.

"Ok!"

Liu Yifei hugged Gu Wei tightly, leaned on his shoulder, and responded sweetly.

A moment of spring night is worth a thousand gold. At this moment, the only thing left in the two people's eyes is each other's figure.

.........

The next day, early in the morning.

A black business car drove smoothly towards the airport. If there were familiar reporters present, they would be able to recognize the license plate number at a glance.

Although it is near the end of the year, there is still some time before the Spring Festival travel rush and it is morning so the traffic is not too congested.

About half an hour later, the car arrived steadily outside the airport.

The two assistants silently guarded the suitcase, looking in other directions to see if there were any media reporters coming over. They were also responsible for stopping them.

At the car door, Gu Wei and Liu Yifei hugged each other for a long time.

"I have to go in. You should go back and have a rest. Don't be too tired on the crew. Eat on time. If you really feel tired, take a few more days off. I will visit you on the crew when I come back." Gu Wei kept talking.

"Ah."

"Uh-huh."

"Oh, you're annoying, go now."

Well, she is really worthy of being a young lady. She disliked Gu Wei just because I said a few more words.

This attitude is no longer the obedient look from last night.

Afterwards, in front of the two assistants, Gu Wei kissed the young lady, and a smile appeared on her face again.

"I will be gone for no more than half a month this time, and then I will go to the crew in South Korea. When I come back, we can prepare for the engagement." Before parting, Gu Wei couldn't help but say a few more words.

"Okay, that's enough. Go soon and come back, I'll wait for you at home." This time the young lady was not impatient. It seemed that she was very satisfied to hear Gu Wei say the words about engagement.

After the two parties separated, Gu Wei walked towards the waiting hall with two assistants, while Liu Yifei got into the driver's seat.

She looked at Gu Wei's back through the car window until Gu Wei disappeared from her sight, then she asked the driver to start the car and prepare to go home.

At the same time, several media reporters who were waiting at the airport recorded the entire process.

"Haha, it's not a wasted trip. We have new material for today. Director Gu Wei and Liu Yifei showed up at the airport."

"Hey? Where is Director Gu going?"

When this question was asked, the group of reporters were stunned for a moment. Their intuition told them that there was big news.

……

At the airport, after boarding the plane, Gu Wei put his mind at ease. This trip to Hollywood was not about anything particularly important.

It was just that after the filming of "The Wandering Earth" was completed, Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio called him at the same time, hoping that Gu Wei could come over.

The matters of the next two films were confirmed in person. Of course, for Gu Wei, going to Hollywood, or making movies in Hollywood, was not a big deal.

But for people in the circle, it was a big deal for Gu Wei to fly to Hollywood in person.

More than an hour after the plane took off, there were already more photos of Gu Wei and Liu Yifei outside the airport in the online entertainment information.

"Director Gu Wei showed up at the Capital Airport, and Liu Yifei saw him off in person."

"Director Gu and his two assistants will most likely be heading to Hollywood."

Soon, actors and artists in the circle were attracted by the news.

Flying to Hollywood?
Immediately afterwards, the entire film and television industry became agitated.

Soon, a large number of film and television companies, brokerage companies, and actors and artists took action.

Everyone was trying to find out where Gu Wei was going this time, or to be more blunt, to find out about Gu Wei's film project this time.

At the same time, in the meeting room of Huayi Company.

The third meeting on the postponement of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" was formally held.

As the originally scheduled release date was approaching, Lost in Thailand announced that it would be postponed for one month.

Apart from the big and small Wangs of Huayi, the heads of several other companies have lost their former composure.

"Ahem, we don't have much time left. We have only one goal today, and that is to get a decision to postpone the release of the movie passed."

Wang Zhongjun sat in the main seat and spoke loudly, with a hint of unquestionable tone.

……

(End of this chapter)