Chapter 614: Complaints against the billion

In the original time and space, the Lunar New Year box office at the end of 2013 was known as the worst in history.

"Drug War", a movie with an investment of 1.2 million yuan, can be called the most expensive domestic blockbuster during the Lunar New Year holiday.

There were no super productions, no first-line big-name stars, and no competition between big directors. The key point was that several so-called domestic blockbusters had mediocre box office results, which even led to a slight decline in the mainland film market.

But the current situation is completely different from the original time and space. First of all, due to the dominance of "The Wandering Earth", "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame", produced by Huayi, directed by Xu Ke, and starring Yang Ying, Lin Gengxin, and Zhao Youting, was postponed to late November, just in time for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Secondly, "Storm" starring Liu Dehua and Yao Chen is scheduled to be released on December 12, and "Private Tailor" written by Wang Shuo and directed by Feng Xiaogang is also scheduled to be released for the New Year on December 12.

"New Police Story 12" released by Xingchen Film and Television Company on December 24, and "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" invested by Shanghai Film Group, directed by Li Rengang, starring the first generation of traffic star Lu Han and Jing Boran, this year's Lunar New Year box office can be said to be full of big productions.

Especially for "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", the official Weibo of the movie released five official concept posters in the latest promotional posters, indicating that the movie version has finally unveiled the mysterious veil.

Coupled with the fans of Lu Han and others as well as the fans of the novel itself, this movie has sparked a lot of discussion among netizens before it was even released.

.........

Hollywood.

"The Wandering Earth" is still in theaters. As time goes by, in addition to competing fiercely with "Gravity", this movie has also added several new rivals in the North American schedule in October.

For example, "Escape Plan", "4 Years a Slave", "Jackass : Jackass: The Last Jedi" starring Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and "Captain Phillips" starring Tom Hanks.

Among them, Stallone's "Escape Plan" only took in more than 300 million on the first day, and this box office result undoubtedly failed to recover the investment cost.

For an action movie, this result is unsatisfactory. For an action star, if he cannot carry the box office with his own skills and popularity, it means that his era is over.

Just like Cheng Long, the representative of Chinese kung fu stars, is getting older and even uses a double, Stallone and Schwarzenegger are also unable to defeat time, and reducing martial arts and increasing literary drama is a compromise method of last resort.

However, "Escape Plan" was released on the first day in China, and the audience still gave it affirmation and praise.

It has already received more than 2000 million at the box office on the first day. It is almost certain that the box office of the movie in China will be higher than that in North America.

.........

The release of "The Wandering Earth" has reached its fourth week, and the media has reported specific data for the first three weeks.

14.3 billion in the first week;
5.8 million in the second week;
3.5 million in the third week;
After more than twenty days of release, the cumulative box office has reached 23.5 billion.

According to this rule, if "The Wandering Earth" had not been delayed, it would have most likely exceeded 25 billion, and as for the 30 billion box office, there is no need to think about it.

Now with a one-month delay, "The Wandering Earth" has a good chance of setting an unprecedented box office record.

When the box office of "The Wandering Earth" exceeded 2 billion, Gu Wei and the main creative staff held a press conference in the capital after the roadshow.

In addition to another wave of publicity, it is also to celebrate the fact that the single-film box office of Chinese-language films in mainland China has exceeded the 2 billion mark for the first time.

This achievement really dazzled many people, but there were many people in the circle who were envious and jealous, but not many who were shocked.

Twenty billion! This was unimaginable in the past, but when it comes to Gu Wei, some people even think this achievement is average.

After all, the global cumulative box office of "2012" converted into RMB is directly close to billion, which is equivalent to the total box office performance of the mainland film market in the previous two years.

After the press conference, Gu Wei turned down all activities, including various film festivals, premiere ceremonies, etc.

Firstly, he really doesn't have the time, and secondly, with his current achievements, he no longer needs to participate in various activities to increase his exposure.

Even when the "Focus Interview" program crew came to interview him, Gu Wei wanted to find an excuse to withdraw and was not willing to talk too much about "The Wandering Earth".

But CCTV reporters were not so easy to deal with. In the end, Gu Wei’s idea of ​​pushing the issue was shattered and he had to accept an exclusive interview with the official media.

Since it was an official media interview, Gu Wei was naturally not allowed to say anything nonsense, so from the beginning of the interview, he almost followed the pre-arranged script.

The interviewing reporter congratulated him first, then praised him again, and finally asked Gu Wei about his mental journey in filming the movie, and then asked him to talk about the prospects of the mainland market.

Finally, he gave a look into the future. In the middle, Gu Wei got excited and talked a few words about the problems with the mainland's system.

"Director Gu, please forgive me. This paragraph needs to be deleted and definitely cannot be broadcast." The beautiful reporter's gentle tone was full of unquestionableness.

"Okay, just watch and cut it."

At this moment, Gu Wei finally felt the awesomeness of the Sixth Princess. If she were the one doing the interview, he would probably be able to broadcast the interview word for word.

.........

Star Film and Television Company.

This was the first time that Gu Wei had seen Wuershan since the last dinner hosted by Han Sanping.

In the conference room, Wu Ershan was a little emotional and was complaining about John Woo at the moment, but it was not because the other party made some inappropriate remarks about Gu Wei, but because the suspension of "The Crossing" affected the progress of "Painted Skin 3".

"Director Gu, the crew has completed preparations, and Zhou Xun has also reserved a schedule. Originally, according to Huang Xiaoming's part, we should have been able to start filming by mid-November at the latest. But now that The Crossing has been delayed, Huang Xiaoming can only finish his part by mid-December at the earliest."

"The key is that both the Central Film Studio and the Western Film Studio were urging us to go ahead, and the filming location was almost ready. Who would have thought that this would happen at the last minute..."

Wuershan kept talking, and his face became darker and darker.

Honestly speaking, Ursula's anxiety is understandable. After all, it is definitely better to use the original cast for a series of movies than to make temporary substitutions.

But that's how the entertainment industry is. One thing can easily trigger a chain reaction. Otherwise, why do you think there are so many people competing for the same role?

For some people, it is because of ambition, while for others, it is indeed a combination of various factors.

After hearing these words, Gu Wei also felt a little annoyed. He had never been interested in "Painted Skin 3" in the first place, and now this kind of thing happened. If he hadn't considered that the investors included state-owned enterprises such as China Film Group Corporation and Xi'an Film Group Corporation, he would have wanted to give up his share.

After thinking for a while, Gu Wei called Huang Xiaoming directly in front of Wuershan.

"Xiao Ming, Director Wu Ershan told you, right?"

"Well, I understand what Director Wu meant. After receiving the call, I also communicated with Director Wu Yusen. Considering the crew's start time, the earliest it can be completed is early December."

"What do you think, will you accept this film or not?"

"Personally, I definitely want to take it, but the reality is here..."

The two chatted for about five minutes, and Wuershan listened the whole time.

After hanging up the phone, Gu Wei said directly: "Either continue to wait, or change people. If you change people, you can choose the actors yourself. I won't interfere with this."

"I understand. I'll go back and think about it and give you an answer as soon as possible." Wu Ershan stood up and left the office directly after saying this.

Seeing Wu Ershan's leaving back, Gu Wei rubbed his chin. He understood the other person's thoughts very well.

Isn't it just to come here to complain? This way, even if there are problems later, it can't be blamed on him. In this case, Gu Wei doesn't plan to continue to worry about "Painted Skin 3" because Wu Ershan and Chen Guofu are in charge anyway.

After staying in the company until the afternoon, Gu Wei received a call from Han Sanping.

"Go ahead and submit 'Swallowed Star' for review. It should be fine this time."

“Well, this time…” Gu Wei was very happy to hear this, but he was interrupted by Han Sanping before he could finish his words.

"Forget about the grading system. The General Administration has held several meetings recently, but still hasn't passed it."

Hearing this, Gu Wei was slightly stunned, but his expression remained unchanged. It was obvious that he had a premonition in his heart, "It doesn't matter if it doesn't pass. Can the review standards be relaxed a little?"

This is what Gu Wei cares about the most. To be honest, the more he shoots movies in China, the more he can feel the institutional constraints.

"It depends on the person. There is no standard." Han Sanping said lightly.

This made Gu Wei speechless. Doesn’t “it varies from person to person” mean it depends on the background and connections?

Whoever has support behind the scenes can test the rules, and whoever disobeys will be hit hard.

After chatting with Han Sanping, Gu Wei did not stay in the company. He said hello to Song Ge and left, preparing to go home.

The car radio was reporting the news:

"Famous mainland singer Wang Feng held a concert in Chengdu today, and thousands of fans in the audience shouted Zhang Ziyi's name in unison."

"Nicholas Tse attended the event and was called upon by many reporters and fans to reconcile with the princess. Nicholas Tse smiled and said 'yes' repeatedly."

"The urban love drama "Let's Get Married" starring Gao Yuanyuan and Huang Haibo will soon be broadcast on CCTV-1 and Mango TV..."

The name of a celebrity in the news made Gu Wei fall into deep thought. When casting for "The Wandering Earth", Huang Haibo also came to audition for the role of Huang Xiaoming. Unfortunately, "Ding Li" ultimately lost to "Xu Wenqiang".

As one of the few talented young actors in the industry, Huang Haibo's change in acting surprised Gu Wei who auditioned for him.

From his youthfulness when filming "Time and Space Lovers" to his current status as a recognized actor in the domestic entertainment industry, and thinking about what happened to Huang Haibo in later life, Gu Wei felt sorry for mentioning him.

"Perhaps, some people shouldn't disappear from the big screen like this." Gu Wei murmured to himself while driving.

...

really.

The next morning, the General Administration announced the latest news that the rating system had come to an end, and Jia Zhangke's "A Touch of Sin" was used as an example.

The reason given by the General Administration is also very lofty: "For the sake of the physical and mental health of the domestic people, the rating system previously proposed by directors in the industry has been carefully considered and discussed by the leaders and decided not to adopt it."

"We warn some directors to follow the rules when making movies and TV series, and not to over-interpret relevant social contradictions..."

"In the future, the censorship of television and movies will be strictly enforced to prevent the spread of bad culture..."

Now, there is an endless stream of wailing from directors in the circle. It is real wailing, which is different from the wailing of domestic screenwriters a few days ago after they jointly asked for higher salaries but were rejected.

The main reason is that everyone has realized that the grading system is unlikely to be passed directly, and many people even initially thought of just asking the General Administration to relax the review standards.

But I didn't expect that it has not been relaxed but has become more strict.

Afterwards, many directors made a few complaints when being interviewed by the media, and as a result they were called to the General Administration on the same day.

After what happened above, who dared to say anything? For a while, almost no directors in the industry mentioned this matter anymore.

Naturally, the media reporters would not be so tactless in reporting the news, because another incident in the circle attracted their attention.

China Film Corporation has been complained about again, and it’s a collective complaint from many Hollywood film and television companies. The matter has even been reported to the World Trade Center.

To be honest, since the mainland increased the number of imported films in the past two years, China Film has been complained by Hollywood almost every year, but this time the incident was particularly big.

Thanks to the efforts of Comrade Han Sanping during his last period in office, a large number of imported films were blocked before the December Lunar New Year holiday and were scheduled to be released in November.

Hollywood movies such as "Hotel Transylvania", "Thor 2", "Gravity", and "Red 2"...

Almost all films that performed well at the North American box office did not enter the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival period.

To be honest, most of the mainland's film and television companies and filmmakers should give a thumbs up to Han Sanping. If it weren't for Han Sanping, it would be a question whether many film and television companies could continue to operate, let alone continue to make money by making bad movies.

After all, for the domestic film industry, each imported film is a hurdle before the release of each film.

I just wonder if China Film Group will continue to maintain Han Sanping’s “good style” starting next year?

The industry is very worried about this.

When "Zuoshandiao" was around, everyone often complained.

Now that everyone has left, everyone has realized the benefit of having the "Mountain Sculpture" to provide shelter from the wind and rain. It really does provide shelter from the wind and rain!

"Mr. Han, you are worthy of being a veteran party member. You fought for the people of the country until the last moment." Gu Wei joked.

"hehe."

.........

As it entered late October, "The Wandering Earth" finally got rid of the situation where tickets were hard to come by.

Currently, "The Wandering Earth" still maintains an average daily box office of more than 30 million, and the data is still amazing.

At the same time, movie fans are more eager for the upcoming Lunar New Year and Spring Festival films.

Many movie fans are specifically waiting for the movie in this schedule. They have saved up their movie tickets for a year and will finally put them to use at this time.

This year's Lunar New Year and Spring Festival period have been packed with blockbusters. With the hit of "The Wandering Earth", major film and television companies are gearing up to make a big move.

The audiences are also looking forward to their favorite movies being released soon. After all, after watching the movies produced by Star Film and Television Company, everyone has new expectations for mainland blockbusters.

"We don't require every movie to be of the same quality as The Wandering Earth, as long as it's not a bad movie."

"I am looking forward to my brother's "Grave Robbers' Chronicles". I am posting this as a testimony that I will go to the cinema to watch it at least three times."

"Detective Dee: Rise of the Mystery Phantom Flame, Private Order, The Man from Macau, New Police Story 2013, please come out soon. I've watched The Wandering Earth two or three times. I want to change my taste."

As for Gu Wei, after finishing the review of "Swallowed Star", his next schedule is not very important. In addition to going to China Film to get the import quota for "The Revenant", he will go straight to Hollywood after attending Alibaba's acquisition celebration banquet...

……

(End of this chapter)