Chapter 236 Failed again
When Liu Zhenwei was young, he was also a powerful figure in the Hong Kong film industry. The box office success of films such as "A Chinese Odyssey" has always been talked about by movie fans.

And because he directed the movie "God of Gamblers" which made Stephen Chow famous, many mainland investors and filmmakers are somewhat "superstitious" about him.

This is also the reason why Liu Zhenwei can always come out to "rehash old stuff".

But many people overlook one point, whether it is Liu Zhenwei or Wang Jing, the peak moment of their directorial career was with the participation of Zhou Xingxing.

Without the "best comedian" (Wang Jing's original words), the terrible plot segments were unbearable to watch.

In fact, the story is still the same story, and the jokes are still the same jokes. But because it is not starring Stephen Chow, the effect is very different.

People didn't realize this at first until director Derek Yee remade a classic scene from "Kung Fu" in a variety show.

The audience then realized that they were not even as good as the extras taught by Stephen Chow.

But at this moment, Liu Zhenwei, Yang Shoucheng and others still maintained blind confidence.

"what happened?"

Yang Shoucheng was smoking a cigar, looking dignified, and showing the aura of a big boss.

Liu Zhenwei smiled, with a helpless yet unwilling expression, "Zhou Axing actually advised me to withdraw the film!"

"what!"

Yang Shoucheng looked disdainful, "He must be crazy, he doesn't really think special effects can solve all problems?"

"It's hard to say. Seeing him in recent years, he seems to be quite fascinated by special effects technology!" Liu Zhenwei sighed.

Yang Shoucheng took a puff of his cigar, waved his hand and talked freely: "Using movie special effects to create screen images that have never been seen before, the first time you watch it, it is very shocking and amazing, but when you watch it again, that feeling will be much weaker.

When Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" was released in 93, to be honest, I was stunned. I couldn't believe that someone could make such lifelike dinosaurs. But the two subsequent works were not as popular and box office as the first one. So, special effects are not omnipotent! "

The last sentence was said with absolute certainty.

Liu Zhenwei shared the same opinion, and because he had seen Jiang Heng's appearance before he became successful, he always felt a little uncomfortable with that.

I'm afraid even he himself is not aware of the secret rivalry he is having.

"Mr. Yang is right. This time, let's let our mainland colleagues see it so they don't have to be afraid of it all the time!"

Yang Shoucheng said disdainfully: "There was no film market in the mainland before. When it was at its lowest point, Jiang Heng brought a special effects blockbuster to the north, and the box office was over 100 million yuan. They were scared out of their wits. During the best Lunar New Year and summer vacations, there is always a blockbuster released. It would be strange if his box office was not good!"

This kind of thing is really hard to imagine in Hong Kong.

Especially during the golden age of Hong Kong films, the best Spring Festival period was always the competition between "Two Zhous and One Cheng". Jet Li's films were mostly scheduled in the summer vacation, and the competition was even more intense.

The two made a lot of bold statements, but when it came to promoting "A Chinese Odyssey", every word they said was related to "A Chinese Odyssey", saying that "A Chinese Odyssey" was the final chapter of "A Chinese Odyssey".

Liu Zhenwei also talked about the role of Bodhi Patriarch he had played, saying that the actor they had originally chosen did not perform well and he was cast as a last-minute replacement.

When asked by reporters what he thought about the film being released one day earlier than Pacific Rim 2, Liu Zhenwei replied that he did not think it was a problem.

Because the mainland film market has already developed, I believe that the simultaneous release of two blockbusters will both have good box office results.

Besides, the two films are of different genres. "A Chinese Odyssey" focuses on special effects and romance, while "Pacific Rim 2" is about mechas fighting monsters. They are not in the same genre at all.

Finally, I hope that both films can achieve good box office results.

While "A Chinese Odyssey" was being promoted in China, Jiang Heng was abroad, in the United States, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, France... He visited almost all the countries with the largest film markets in the world.

Except India, of course.

There are dozens of languages ​​in this country. It would be too troublesome to distribute it nationwide, and it would be impossible to split the profits.

We can only sell the local distribution rights of the film, and get back as much as we can.

Jiang Heng's hope is to create a non-3D billion-dollar special effects blockbuster, and "Pacific Rim 2" has the greatest hope.

Because he wants to release a 09D movie before "Avatar" in the summer of 3, so if non-3D movies want to make over 2 billion US dollars at the global box office, they have to rely on "Pacific Rim ".

Therefore, Jiang Heng showed unprecedented "diligence", sleeping only four or five hours a day, and was either promoting the film or on the way to promote the film.

Megan Fox followed at first, but later she couldn't bear it anymore and had to take a day off and follow again the next day. Fortunately, she managed to persevere to the end.

Jiang Heng's promotional tour ended on December 12, when he stayed in a mansion in Sydney with Megan Fox.

Because few people here know them, they don't have to worry about being photographed by the media when they go out to eat or go shopping.

Besides, it is summer here in Australia, so it is very pleasant to stay here.

In China, the crew of "A Chinese Odyssey" is still promoting the film with all their might, releasing news from time to time, but they also know that it won't have much effect, as success or failure will depend on the 22nd.

In Hong Kong, at the entrance of Jiahe Cinema, Liu Zhenwei strolled over after having morning tea. Seeing many young people pouring in, he was very happy. Then he took the subway to Yingshuang Company.

Upon hearing that Yang Shoucheng was busy, he went to find Yinghuang's CEO Leah Bo.

The latter smiled and said, "Director Liu, don't worry. The box office data information will only be known tomorrow morning!"

Liu Zhenwei said: "I'm not in a hurry. I just came here when I had nothing to do. As you know, I have fewer and fewer old friends in Hong Kong. If it weren't for my comeback filming, I would be having afternoon tea in Vancouver right now."

Leah laughed and said nothing more.

To be honest, he is a little uncomfortable with Liu Zhenwei's constant "quit" and "return" to the entertainment industry in recent years.

However, the boss was superstitious about Liu Zhenwei's previous achievements, so he couldn't persuade him too much.

As for the movie "A Chinese Odyssey", he thinks the quality is average. If it was released during the summer vacation, or at a different time period, instead of competing with "Pacific Rim 2", it might still make some money.

But at this moment, it’s really hard to say, I hope there will be a good result!

The next day, the box office results from the mainland were reported back to Hong Kong.

But the British company was dumbfounded, because the box office on the first day was only 323 million. What's worse, the film's reputation was extremely bad.

In another time and space, mainland audiences at this moment are watching Hong Kong films through a "filter" and their tolerance level will be higher.

But at this moment, they have already experienced a large number of excellent commercial films, and they don't even look at "bad movies" like "A Chinese Odyssey: Part One".

The Douban score is only 4.9. When you open it, you will see all negative reviews. Many film critics have even written long reviews, criticizing the film from all sides.

Liu Zhenwei was confused. Although he felt that "Crazy Journey to the West" was not as good as "A Chinese Odyssey", he didn't think it was that bad.

How could this happen? Don’t you like “postmodernism”?

(End of this chapter)