Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 156 Foreign New Year
In China, "A World Without Thieves" held a series of premiere celebrations in Shanghai, BJ, Hong Kong, Singapore, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, bringing the film's popularity to a peak.

Feng Xiaogang, as the producer of A World Without Thieves, officially announced that the film will be released simultaneously in 12 cinema chains across the country and all cinemas of Yunnan and XJ Film Company at midnight on December 9, with no advance screenings.

This shows great confidence in the quality of the film.

At the same time, Feng Xiaogang also announced that the people of Taihe will learn from Xingchen Entertainment and offer a reward for the piracy of "A World Without Thieves".

The reward amount is the same as that for "The Shallows". Each copy of "A World Without Thieves" seized will be rewarded at 0.5 yuan, and the pirated production line will be rewarded at 30 yuan.

The box office success of "The Shallows" is obvious to all, and Feng Xiaogang certainly wants to replicate it.

Besides, he doesn't think his "A World Without Thieves" is much worse than "The Shallows".

In terms of cast, investment scale, release date, and story, "A World Without Thieves" is only strong and not weak in all aspects.

When he was making this film, his benchmark was Zhang Yimou's "House of Flying Daggers".

Later, The Shallows surpassed House of Flying Daggers and became the annual box office champion, so the target of A World Without Thieves naturally became The Shallows.

……

On Thursday, December 12, "A World Without Thieves" was finally officially released after much anticipation from movie fans, firing the first shot of the Lunar New Year box office.

Because of the good publicity before, and the fact that it was the Lunar New Year holiday and many people had already taken their holidays, tickets for "A World Without Thieves" were hard to get as soon as it was released.

There were long queues outside movie theaters in many popular areas.

The Lunar New Year holiday showed its great power.

Because it is close to the Spring Festival, the movie was not released on the usual Friday, but on Thursday.

That is to say, the box office of the first weekend is not the box office of three days, but the box office of four days.

In the early morning of the 13th, which was Monday, the first weekend box office results were released.

"A World Without Thieves" grossed 4010 million in four days, far exceeding "Cell Phone" released in the same period last year, setting a record for Feng Xiaogang's highest box office over the years.

4010 million in four days, including 1300 million on the first day.

Breaking 10 million on the first day is already a very proud achievement. Currently, only Zhang Yimou and Zhang Chen can do this, and Feng Xiaogang is the third one.

In major theaters across the country, "A World Without Thieves" has achieved impressive results.

Beijing has always been Feng Xiaogang's base, and the New Film Association is very supportive of him. In Beijing alone, the box office of A World Without Thieves exceeded 800 million in four days.

In Shanghai, Feng Xiaogang finally had a chance to be proud of himself. The box office revenue exceeded 500 million in four days, while the box office revenue of "Cell Phone" in the same period last year was less than 100 million.

Other southern cinemas, such as Sichuan Pacific Cinemas, Wuhan Tianhe Cinemas, and Emei Cinemas, also showed strong box office growth trends for "A World Without Thieves".

Compared to last year's "Cell Phone", the box office has increased several times, and there is no longer the dilemma of "not being able to cross the Yangtze River" in previous years.

Feng Xiaogang was very proud of himself; he had been very hurt before.

He had always been the most popular director in mainland China, but then "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers" directly brought him to the ground.

Before he could do anything, another Zhang Chen appeared out of nowhere.

The first film grossed an astonishing 6000 million yuan, higher than any of Feng Xiaogang's own films.

The second film was even more outrageous, directly knocking Zhang Yimou off the altar and even winning the annual box office champion.

Now, although "A World Without Thieves" has only been released for four days, it is certain to exceed 100 million yuan, and it is about to become the third member of the 100 million yuan club in mainland China.

……

华谊兄弟
The brothers Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei felt very unhappy when looking at the box office data in their hands.

The so-called winning is not terrible, but whoever is missing is embarrassed.

"A World Without Thieves" was Feng Xiaogang's first project after leaving Huayi, but it became a huge hit. What do people think?
Although they also invested in this film, the majority of the money went to Taihe people, and they only accounted for a small part.

The distribution has nothing to do with them, it is done by China Film.

Of course, they can also explain that there are many reasons for the huge success. The story of "A World Without Thieves" is a novel, which has a mass base. The subject matter is also very appropriate. It happens to be a story about the Spring Festival travel rush, with many stars. Feng Xiaogang also made special changes for audiences in the north and south...

But ordinary people certainly don’t think so.

Damn, how can we play this?
Feng Xiaogang is gone, and Wang Jinghua is also trying to become independent. If Wang Jinghua does well after leaving, what will become of Huayi?

Shallow water that trapped a real dragon?
That would be really embarrassing.

……

At this time, the crew of "Eden Lake" is filming in an orderly manner.

The role of the script reading was very obvious. The filming went smoothly from the beginning. If it were in China, it would definitely take some time to adjust, but here, this time was shortened to the shortest possible.

Today is New Year's Eve, but filming continues.

The United States does not celebrate the Lunar New Year, or perhaps it does, but only in some places such as Chinatown. It is far from the point where the whole world celebrates the Lunar New Year in later generations.

But the New Year should still be celebrated.

Zhang Chen asked the crew to order a large amount of dumplings from a Chinatown restaurant, and everyone celebrated New Year's Eve together at noon.

It was supposed to be at night, but conditions did not allow it. Some actors did not stay in the hotel where the crew was staying at night, as they had to go home.

In the morning, he first called his grandfather to wish him a happy new year. It was very lively there, with his uncle, aunt, and the whole family together.

He greeted everyone one by one, and this greeting took half an hour. The dumplings were finally delivered.

Dumplings, of course, have to be eaten hot. The packed dumplings are all raw, and the chef hired by the crew cooks the dumplings on the spot.

Three pots were cooking at the same time, but there was still not enough food.

The steaming dumplings came out of the pot and were placed on a plate, steaming.

The Americans like to eat separately, with each person getting a few dumplings. Although they still sit together, they eat their own food.

The dumplings are a little hot, but they are best eaten at this time.

When you take a bite, the aroma of the dough mixed with the filling fills the air, making you drool.

This made those who didn’t get to eat it very greedy.

In fact, dumplings are sold in both Chinese and Japanese restaurants, but they are too difficult to make, so the price is naturally not cheap, which leads to many people never eating them.

But Zhang Chen feels that anyone who has eaten it will probably never forget it in their lifetime.

Of course, Zhang Chen and other main creative staff were the first group to eat the dumplings, and the four Chinese people enjoyed them very much.

The dumpling flavors are all the most classic ones, including pork and leek, pork and three fresh delicacies, and to cater to some vegetarians, there are also leek and egg flavors.

Zhang Chen originally wanted to order pork and fennel, but unfortunately they didn’t have that here.

I don’t know if these foreigners who are prone to allergies are allergic to leeks, but seeing how deliciously they eat them, it seems unlikely.

Zhang Chen and his friends enjoyed the meal very much, the only drawback was that the vinegar here was not aged vinegar.

Pete and Jason also enjoyed their meal, but they didn't know how to use chopsticks, so they had to make do with forks.

Diane can use chopsticks and is very skilled at it.

He was even discussing with Zhang Chen while eating why Chinese chefs could tell whether the dumplings were cooked without a timer, and why pork-filled dumplings needed to be watered three times, while vegetarian-filled dumplings needed only be watered twice.

Zhang Chen didn’t know why, but the older generation taught him this way. Perhaps this is cultural heritage.

Halfway through the meal, the video call rang.

Dong Jianqiang had communicated with him before. This was the Spring Festival special program of "China Entertainment Report", and he was connected via video on the spot.

The QQ video function was available in 2001, but mobile QQ was only launched last year.

Unfortunately, the wireless transmission speed of mobile phones is too slow to support video chat.

So Zhang Chen used a laptop.

"Hello, Director Zhang Chen, can you hear me?"

Zhang Chen looked at the hosts in the camera: Li Chengyuan, Liu Tong, Fang Ling, and Zhou Yun, all familiar faces.

These are a bunch of unlucky kids who have to work overtime to record a show on New Year's Eve.

"Hello, four hosts, hello, and all the viewers of China Entertainment News."

"Wow, Director Zhang, there are so many people around you?" Zhou Yun was responsible for livening up the atmosphere.

"Haha, today is New Year's Eve, we are eating dumplings, let me show you..."

The New Year special is still a recorded broadcast, but the reason why it was chosen today is that we want to see how Zhang Chen and others celebrate the New Year in a foreign country.

In the camera, a room full of foreigners were eating dumplings. They were obviously scalded but still reluctant to spit them out, which amused the hosts and audiences on the other side.

"It seems like they really like our dumplings~" Seeing that their country's delicacies were liked by foreigners, the hosts spoke with pride.

"Yeah, see that line? Some people are already on their second plate."

Zhang Chen's words immediately caused laughter from the other side.

Then he continued: "Who do you think this is?"

Then Fan Binbin appeared in the camera, and he waved and greeted everyone.

"Hello everyone, I'm Fan Binbin, wishing you all a happy new year in advance."

Zhang Chen also followed suit to wish a happy new year.

The host asked, "Director Zhang, Binbin, will the movie Eden Lake you are shooting be shown in China?"

Zhang Chen smiled and said, "I don't think that's possible. This is a cult film. It's too bloody and will definitely not pass the review. If you want to watch it, you can only find the resources yourself."

There was laughter again. They didn't expect Zhang Chen to even say something like "looking for resources". Maybe this sentence would be edited out in the later stage.

The host quickly changed the topic: "Director Feng Xiaogang's A World Without Thieves earned 4000 million yuan in the first weekend. Many people are saying that your prediction was accurate. Do you have any response to this?"

"Oh, 4000 million?"

Zhang Chen remembered that the box office of "A World Without Thieves" in the original time and space seemed to be 3300 million in the first weekend, but now it has become 4000 million. It seems that it was caused by the flapping of butterfly wings.

"I've been busy filming these days and haven't paid attention to domestic news. First of all, congratulations to Director Feng. A World Without Thieves is bound to break the 100 million mark. I also have to congratulate myself. It looks like I won the bet. Director Feng, you promised me that you would guest-star in a movie. Don't break your promise..."

Zhang Chen shouted from a distance, and the host and the audience over there laughed again.

(End of this chapter)