Chapter 258 Investing in "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons"

Stephen Chow is very slow in making films, especially those that he invests in and directs himself. This is probably because the box office failure of "A Chinese Odyssey" left too deep a shadow.

It was okay in the late 90s, with works produced almost every year.

After 2000, only one movie was released every few years.

According to original history, "CJ2008" was not released until .

It was Jiang Heng's investment and promotion that made this film possible two years ahead of schedule.

Now that the film is released, my feelings for my father are already placed in it.

He wants to make another film to express his regrets in love.

Many viewers believe that Stephen Chow’s words in “A Chinese Odyssey” were directed to Zhu Yin.

But judging from the content of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", Luo Huijuan was the love of his life.

When the two first got together, Luo was already the female lead, but Zhou Xingxing could only play a supporting role.

As time went by, Luo Huijuan began to desire to enter the marriage hall, get married, have children, and have a happy and complete family.

But at that time, Zhou Xingxing's career had just started, and it was the time for him to make great plans.

He once asked Liu Zhenwei about his desire to get married.

Liu's advice is not to rush into making a decision, but to wait.

Because the social atmosphere was relatively conservative at that time, once an idol star got married, his popularity would plummet, and in serious cases it would almost be equivalent to retiring from the circle.

Zhou Xingxing played supporting roles for ten years before he became famous. How could he give up his future for love?
When Luo mentioned getting married for the first time, Zhou Xingxing gave an explanation.

When she brought it up for the second time, Zhou just said "crazy".

So in “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons”, when Miss Duan said that she wanted to get married and start a family, Xuanzang’s response was – “You’re crazy.”

Later, in an interview with Chai Jing, Zhou Xingxing said: I think I was unlucky. If I could do it again, I wouldn’t be so busy!
But in fact, Zhou Xingxing had a girlfriend during those years, and this time the girlfriend was Yu Wenfeng. They broke up in 2010.

Perhaps it was this breakup that made Zhou suddenly realize that after working hard for half his life and accumulating billions of dollars, he was still alone and did not even have a happy family.

Looking back, I realized that the girl who only wanted to start a family with him, get married and have children was the true love of his life.

As a result, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" was approved in 10, filming started in 11, and released in 13. It earned 12.47 million box office in mainland China, breaking the box office record for Chinese-language films.

Zhou Xingxing is indeed a person who creates myths!
But at this moment, his feeling of making up for the shortcomings was not so strong.

I just think that while the current market conditions are good and my relationship with Jiang Heng is good, I can make a few more special effects blockbusters and earn more money.

It’s just that he never deconstructs love in his movies, but only adds touching love elements.

"Of course I will. Not only do I need investment, but I also need your help in planning. Otherwise, I'm afraid it will take me two or three years to make one!" Zhou Xingxing said with a smile.

Jiang Heng leaned back slightly in his chair and said, "No problem. How much do you want to invest?"

Stephen Chow hesitated. The production cost of "Kung Fu" was 1.4 million yuan, "CJ" was a little over million yuan, and the production cost of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" in history was also over million yuan.

However, the investment in "Lion Camel Ridge", a film in the "Journey to the West" series shot by Jiang Heng a few years ago, was as high as 40 million US dollars, or more than 300 million RMB.

With such a great example, it would be difficult to make a film that would satisfy the audience with more than 100 million yuan.

But if he really had to invest more than 300 million to make a movie, he was unsure, fearing that the box office performance would not be good and he would suffer heavy losses.

After thinking it over for a long time, he finally said a number, "Well, let's just say 200 million!"

Jiang Heng asked again: "How much are you going to invest?"

Zhou Xingxing hesitated again, and after a few seconds he said, "Sixty million, please!"

Jiang Heng asked again: "Do you want to leave a share for other people?" The film produced by iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video and directed by Stephen Chow seems to be a sure win at the moment, so leaving a certain share of the investment to other companies can be considered a personal favor.

However, Stephen Chow has been in the Hong Kong entertainment industry for many years and doesn’t consider these things at all.

"I'm not considering it, do you want to stay?"

Jiang Heng said: "Then don't keep it. I'll pay for the 140 million investment!"

Although Zhou Xingxing knew this would be the result, he still felt a little envious.

He used to spend a lot of money, but he didn't want to lose it all, so he changed his style instantly and never dared to play like that again.

All I can say is that people can never teach others.

Things can teach you a lesson, it only takes once!

He really envied Jiang Heng's generosity, but unfortunately he couldn't do it.

"Director Jiang is so generous. It's settled now. I'll go work on the script first. We'll discuss it later if there's any progress!"

"No problem, let's have a meal before leaving?"

"Forget it, you're so busy, I'll just go out and have a bowl of noodles!" After saying that, he really left.

Jiang Heng saw his slightly bent back and his graying hair, and a sentence suddenly popped up in his mind: There are talented people in every generation, and each of them leads the trend for hundreds of years!
Master Xing, you are really old!
Although "CJ7" has a certain box office appeal, due to the different film types, it does not have a big impact on the box office of "Zhu Xian".

"Zhu Xian" has been released for many days and still occupies the single-day box office champion. The box office in mainland China has exceeded 800 million, but it is hard to say whether it can exceed 900 million.

Because "Kung Fu Panda", produced by iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video, has landed in theaters.

To be honest, the mainland market has been rather dismissive of animated films in recent years.

The reason is simple. There haven't been any excellent animated films in China for many years.

But the audience is looking forward to it because the pre-screening advertisement for "Zhu Xian" includes "Kung Fu Panda".

Mainland audiences at this moment have never seen an animated film with such exquisite and detailed picture quality and such intense fighting scenes, and they have been looking forward to it for a long time.

On August 8, many domestic cinemas were once again packed with people, including young couples and families of three, all excitedly talking about this summer.

The 2006 mainland summer movie season was definitely the strongest summer season in the history of Chinese-language films.

Four blockbusters were released one after another. Except for the slightly awkward plot of the first part of "Red Cliff", "Zhu Xian" and "CJ7" are both pretty good. I just don't know how "Kung Fu Panda" is.

At one side, a fashionably dressed woman wearing sunglasses sat quietly, listening to the chatter of people next to her. It was Yang Mi who had not been seen for a long time.

She knows that she has no backing or resources in the circle, so she has been working very hard in recent years.

After switching from Rongxinda to iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video, I have more resources for TV dramas, but unfortunately I have not been able to get any significant roles in movies.

What made her particularly depressed was that Liu Yifei starred in "Pacific Rim 2", and Tang Yan and Jing Tian starred in "Zhu Xian". The fame and status of the first two continued to rise due to the hit movies.

Jing Tian is even more exaggerated. He became extremely famous because of his role as "Biyao".

Jing Tian can pick any TV drama roles she wants. It’s so infuriating!

She used to be very hardworking, but has been slacking off recently.

She suddenly realized that personal efforts seemed not as important as relationships.

Before, Jing Tian always got close to Jiang Heng, and she had secretly laughed at him.

I think this girl is not in her right mind, and you have no acting skills. Even if you get a role, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it. What's the point!
I never expected that someone with no acting skills would become famous. How can I justify this?

(End of this chapter)