Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 114: Bingbing's Battle
The premiere ended at around 22 p.m., after which they prepared a thank-you reception at a nearby hotel, with a specially arranged bus taking the guests there.

When they arrived at the cocktail party, Zhang Chen toasted everyone on behalf of the film company.

“Thank you all for coming today. Xingchen Entertainment and I are both relatively new to the film industry, and today’s premiere is also the first since the establishment of Xingchen Entertainment.

I sincerely thank you all for coming. I won’t say any nice words, but next time if you need my support, I’ll be there for you.

Come on, everyone, please raise your glasses. I toast to you all. Cheers! "

“Cheers, and I hope The Shallows will be a big hit at the box office!”

"Haha, thank you, thank you, it will sell well, it must sell well..."

Some people like to attend cocktail parties, which do have their own unique charm.

Just the feeling of being the center of attention is intoxicating.

After chatting with everyone, it is natural to clink glasses and drink with each big shot individually.

Zhang Chen walked among the crowd with a glass of wine, greeting people from time to time. Dong Jianqiang was supposed to accompany him and introduce the guests, but Fan Binbin volunteered to take on this job.

A lot of people came today, including celebrities, companies, investors, and people from theaters. Dong Jianqiang called almost everyone he knew to come, just to pave the way for Xingchen Entertainment.

Seeing Han Sanping in the crowd, Zhang Chen immediately walked over and said, "Mr. Han, thank you. Without your support, the filming of The Shallows would never have been so smooth~"

Zhang Chen imitated Dong Jianqiang's way of speaking and clinked glasses with Han Sanping.

"Haha, don't be polite to me.

You don't have to belittle yourself. The quality of The Shallows is obvious to all. Don't forget that you promised me that it would make over 100 million yuan. I'm looking forward to attending your celebration party."

Han Sanping was in a good mood. No matter how optimistic he was before, it was just his and the cinema's personal opinion. It was not until today when he saw the real reaction of the audience that he finally felt relieved.

You know, although Han Sanping verbally agreed to give "The Shallows" publicity resources that are no less than "House of Flying Daggers", that is real money.

Even though he is the vice chairman of China Film, he still has to take responsibility.

Seeing the audience's real reactions, he finally felt a little more confident.

"Of course, of course. I am very confident that it will exceed 100 million."

The publicity for "The Shallows" was very extensive, with various interviews and hard advertising.

November is a less popular period, with not many people competing with "The Shallows". As long as you are willing to spend money, you can basically get all kinds of resources.

Buses, subway stations, outdoor advertisements, elevator advertisements, and even sanitary advertisements are all about "The Shallows".

"It's a pity that The Shallows was released too hastily. If it could be released next year, we could use the time in between to win a few trophies and it would be more likely to make over 100 million yuan at the box office."

Han Sanping said with some regret.

Zhang Chen knew that he was right.

He actually doesn't care much about awards, but he still has to give out awards. After all, if he wins, it can greatly stimulate box office growth and help increase prices in other places.

"The Darkest Thing" benefited from the Saturn Awards. When Guangguang announced that "The Darkest Thing" was shortlisted for the Saturn Awards, there was a significant change in the box office the next day.

All I can say is that people at this stage are more inclined to recognize awards.

Zhang Chen also registered "The Shallows" for the fantasy film festival held in Portugal every February.

This film festival, along with the Sitges Fantasy Film Festival and the Brussels Fantasy Film Festival, is known as one of the world's three major fantasy film festivals.

It is certainly not as famous as the three major European films, or even the Saturn Awards, but it is still very famous in the fantasy film circle.

The subject matter of "The Shallows" is a natural match for fantasy film festivals, and Zhang Chen is a director who has won the Saturn Award. The value of the Saturn Award is highly recognized by the three major fantasy film festivals.

The organizers directly designated "The Shallows" as the opening film of the film festival.

"Yes, but time waits for no one. February is too long..." Zhang Chen shrugged helplessly.

"Okay, I won't waste your time. There are many investors over there. It would be good for you to get to know more of them."

Han Sanping thought that Zhang Chen was in a hurry to release the film because he was anxious to get the money back, and suggested that Zhang Chen get to know more investors.

There are many professional investors in this circle, but there are even more unprofessional investors, like Mr. Li, the richest man.

He received quite a few calls recently, all from people wanting to invest.

However, the object they want to invest in is "The Dark Knight Rises". They are all very cunning. Of course, the sequels of successful movies have a greater chance of making money, so they all want to make some money by riding on the bandwagon.

Fan Binbin accompanied Zhang Chen as they continued to move through the crowd, occasionally introducing new faces to him, acting like a hostess.

Then, two figures suddenly appeared from the side and blocked his way.

It was Li Lianhua and her sister Li Xue.

"Director Zhang, nice to meet you. I'm Li Xue, Li Binbin's agent. We talked on the phone. I wish The Shallows a big box office success..."

The Li Lianhua sisters came with Wang Zhonglei. How could Wang Zhonglei attend such an event without bringing female stars?

Zhang Chen shook hands with a smile, then took the other party's business card and gave out his own.

"Miss Li, I have also heard of your name for a long time."

Those who came to support him today are all his benefactors, and he is very happy with everyone.

"Director Zhang, you're welcome. Just call me Binbin."

Li Lianhua is of medium height and thin.

She actually looks pretty good, but for some reason, Zhang Chen always feels that she doesn’t look like a celebrity.

It's just not stunning enough.

Li Lianhua is similar to Fan Jiuyi, both of them started their careers by hype, but she is not as controversial as Fan Jiuyi, who is not popular. In fact, all the actors from Huayi are similar, and they are more or less related to hype. There is no other way, this is what the company is best at.

As far as I can remember, Li Lianhua remained popular for a long time in her later life. After Fan Jiuyi's accident, Li Lianhua was still active on the big screen. Later, she starred in the Hollywood project "The Meg", but she was already very old by then.

Strictly speaking, she is better than Fan Jiuyi, at least she has left behind some classic roles.

Chu Chu in "Young Justice Bao", Li Ningyu in "The Message", and Ada Wong in "Resident Evil".

Especially Li Ningyu, it can be seen that her acting skills are quite good.

The degree of restoration of Ada Wong is also very high.

This year, she just won the role of a gorgeous female thief in "A World Without Thieves", which made her surpass Fan Jiuyi, but in fact, she was not even the leading actress.

The leading female role was given to Liu Nai Cha, who was said to be Chen Guofu's mistress.

Zhang Chen didn’t believe this rumor at first. How could Liu Nai Cha be a lover, given her appearance?

But later, more people spoke out, and there were various revelations, saying that Liu's grandfather was a senior member of the Kuomintang and that Huayi wanted his influence in Taiwan.

I gradually began to believe it, otherwise it would be hard to explain why Chen Guofu would fall for Milk Tea Liu.

I can't really like this.

The group of people were chatting and laughing, and the atmosphere seemed good. If someone didn't know them, they would have thought they were good friends.

But only Zhang Chen, who was involved, knew that the two Binbin sisters had always been at odds with each other.

In fact, the two of them loved each other very much in their early years and were as close as sisters.

Fan Jiuyi was introduced to Wang Jinghua by Li Lianhua.

The two first met when they starred in "Youth on the Move" together. At that time, they were both unknown, and because their names both contained the word "Bingbing", they felt a sense of sympathy for each other and became good sisters.

At that time, Fan Jiuyi terminated his contract with Qiong Yao and his career came to a standstill.

Li Lianhua did a good deed and introduced her to Wang Jinghua. Wang Jinghua admired Fan Jiuyi very much, so she signed her and joined Huayi at the same time.

Li Lianhua probably never expected that Fan Jiuyi would later become her competitor.

Huayi has always advocated the system of one male and one female artist. There can only be one top female artist, so what to do? Fight for it.

After all the fighting, their feelings faded and the sisters became bronze sisters.

Huayi is happy to see this happen, as they believe competition can stimulate vitality and make things easier to handle.

But overall, Li Lianhua is at a disadvantage.

Fan Jiuyi snatched the heroine role of "Young Justice Bao 2" from her.

In the entertainment industry, fame and fortune are brothers.

Businesses will only come to you if you are famous, popular and a hot topic.

If there are no hit works released in a year, the fame will decline and the business will immediately consider replacing the person.

This is what happened to Li Lianhua. The female lead was snatched away, and then several of her endorsements were also snatched away.

Li Lianhua could only try her best to catch up with Fan Jiuyi, but Fan Jiuyi had already entered the Hong Kong circle at this time.

This woman is really capable of making trouble.

Then she got Feng Xiaogang to play the female lead in "Cell Phone".

It was not until this year that Li Lianhua managed to turn the tables, squeezing out Fan Jiuyi and winning the role of the female thief in "A World Without Thieves".

Originally, both of them were trying their best to compete for the female lead, but they were ruthlessly told by Mr. Wang and Mr. Wang that the female lead had already been given to someone else, so they could only compete for the second place.

Then Fan Jiuyi made a wrong move and was taken advantage of.

Unexpectedly, the other party soon hooked up with the up-and-coming director Zhang Chen and starred in the country's first big movie with a female lead.

"My sister has always felt very sorry for not being able to work with Director Zhang."

Li Xue is worthy of being an agent, she never forgets to fight for opportunities for her sister.

"Yes, Miss Li is a very good actor. I am looking forward to the cooperation between the two sides. If there is a suitable role in the future, I will definitely invite Miss Li."

Zhang Chen also put away his polite words. He has received many calls like this recently, and he will definitely grow.

"Then we will wait for good news from Director Zhang."

Both parties in the conversation are very clear that what they say at this time cannot be counted.

But they didn't expect to finalize a cooperation by just saying a few words. Everything depends on human effort.

As long as there is contact, there will always be opportunities in the future.

A smile appeared on Fan Binbin's lips. She noticed a detail: Zhang Chen always called her Binbin, while Li Lianhua was Miss Li.

The competition between the two for the top spot has already reached a fever pitch.

What you have, I must have too.

You have a dressing room, and I must have a dressing room too.

You travel in a Mercedes, but I can't travel in an Audi.

Even the name Binbin has to be disputed.

In this regard, Fan Jiuyi is at a disadvantage. Both Mr. Wang and Mr. Wang always call her Xiao Fan, and call Li Lianhua Bin Bin.

(End of this chapter)