Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 174 Ma Chucheng wants to make trouble
When Ma Chucheng heard his friend asking about this, he looked worried.

"It's not "Hancheng Raiders"..."

"Why, the box office is not ideal?"

When this was mentioned, Ma Chucheng's face immediately showed resentment.

"It would be strange if the box office was good. There are nine films released in the same period. I am not afraid of competition, but one film occupies 80% of the screenings. How can the box office be good?"

On the first day, the screening schedule for "The Dark Knight Rises" was 2%. When the first day's box office came out, the film alone accounted for more than 52% of the total box office that day. So on the second day, all theaters adjusted their screening schedules, and "The Dark Knight Rises" took the lead and enjoyed the treatment of a blockbuster.

"You mean the Peacock?"

Hong Kong filmmakers, unless they are preparing to go north, really don’t pay attention to the mainland.

The concept of Greater Hong Kong has long been deeply rooted in people's minds. In their impression, the mainland is still that of poverty and backwardness, which is not so easy to change.

They have no idea what movies are released in the same period. Only "Peacock" is a little famous. After all, it won the Berlin Silver Bear, one of the top three in Europe.

Ma Chucheng shook his head: "It's not "Peacock", that's an art film, I'm not afraid of it. I'm talking about "Dark Invasion 2"."

Hearing this name, everyone at the table suddenly understood.

"I know this movie, 'The Dark Invasion', which grossed 2200 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong and was the No. annual box office in Hong Kong for a long time."

The person speaking was Chen Kexin. He collaborated with Ma Chucheng on "Comrades: Almost a Love Story" and the two of them had a very good understanding.

As soon as he said this, he noticed that the faces of the Hong Kong filmmakers present all looked a little ugly.

"What are you talking about? Last year's annual box office record was set by Kung Fu, okay~"

Chen Kexin's words clearly hit the pain points of some people.

A mainland film actually won the first place in Hong Kong's annual box office. This is a humiliation to the entire Hong Kong film industry.

Fortunately, Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu" later regained the throne and restored reputation for Hong Kong films.

Chen Kexin is not from Hong Kong, he is Thai and has no sense of belonging to Hong Kong, so he cannot understand why these people are angry, but he also knows that he probably said something he shouldn’t have said, so he remains silent.

Wu Junru, who was standing by, quickly tried to smooth things over for her husband: "Ke Xin was just talking nonsense. He is not from Hong Kong, so he doesn't understand these things."

Although Peter Chan is a director, those who can sit at this table all have a high status. In terms of influence in the Hong Kong film industry, Peter Chan is the worst.

But with Wu Junru around, no one would argue with him.

Ma Chucheng talked again about the media's smear campaign against him, which made him very upset.

The mainland media was okay, at most they reported that "Black 2" won the box office championship in the first weekend, and basically ignored "Hancheng Raiders".

But the Hong Kong media is different, they are always stirring up trouble.

Although "Dark Raid 2" is far ahead of the rest, how can it be without rivals?

How to report without pulling down or criticizing others?

So they found some opponents for Black 2.

"Peacock" is one.

"Hancheng Raiders" is another one.

One is second and the other is third.

In theory, these two combined don't even amount to a fraction of "Black 2", so there's nothing to compare, but the media doesn't care about that.

If you can't compare with the box office, then compare with other things.

The artistry of "Peacock" is that it is an art film, so it is normal that it cannot compete at the box office.

But you can use this to criticize "Black 2" for its lack of artistic quality.

The same is true for "Hancheng Strategy".

The angle is also tricky.

They're all sequel movies.

"Hancheng Raiders" is the sequel to "Tokyo Raiders", and "Black 2" is the sequel to "Darkness Invasion".

"Tokyo Raiders" grossed over 2800 million in Hong Kong, while "Hancheng Raiders" only grossed over 700 million, a fraction of its predecessor.

That’s right, “Hancheng Raiders” has already been released in Hong Kong and it was a huge box office flop.

That's why Ma Chucheng was so angry, because the mainland was his last chance.

It is normal for the box office of a sequel to plummet.

But "Black 2" has maintained its consistent standard. According to predictions, its box office should be similar to its predecessor.

There is a contrast.

The unscrupulous media in Hong Kong are indeed quite capable. They actually found another point to criticize others.

Both Ma Chucheng and Ning Hao studied photography.

Not only them, but also Gu Changwei.

All three of them studied photography.

Gu Changwei and Ma Chucheng are both successful photographers, while Ning Hao is a small fry, a student at the Photography Department of Beijing Film Academy.

On this point, Ning Hao was completely defeated.

But at the box office, the famous photographers Gu Changwei and Ma Chucheng together could not beat the new director Ning Hao.

This is very interesting.

The fact that "Dark Rising 2" beats "Peacock" and "Hancheng Raiders" is not as shocking as the fact that a new photographer beats a veteran and famous photographer.

So, the headline of the media reports was - A chaotic fight between three photographers.

It’s true, this February was really a battle between three photographers.

All three of them started out as photographers and later became directors.

Two of them are sequels.

This is full of news points.

Finally, it was concluded that Ma Chucheng and Gu Changwei were not as good as a new director from Beijing Film Academy.

Hearing such an absurd conclusion, Ma Chucheng wanted to curse. Is that a new director? Behind him stands a billion-dollar director.

But the media didn't care about all this. They were only responsible for adding fuel to the flames. For a while, it seemed that all the people in Hong Kong were laughing at Ma Chucheng.

"Perhaps, you should join forces with Gu Changwei..." Wu Junru came up with an idea.

Zeng Zhiwei next to him also became interested: "Yes, I know that dead punk. He had offended Emperor Entertainment Group's boss Yang before, and many people are unhappy with him. Now that Black 2 has occupied a large number of screenings, why don't you other producers unite to do some public relations for it? As long as you make it look bad, won't your market share increase?"

"Just, is this okay?"

Ma Chucheng still had some concerns. It's not that he didn't understand what Zeng Zhiwei said, but he had never used it.

"What's the big deal? It's a mainland movie. What does it have to do with us?"

Zeng Zhiwei shrugged indifferently.

"I think so too." Wu Junru also echoed, but Chen Kexin remained silent.

"Then... let me try?"

"Well, if necessary, I can help you find the contact. Also, you can contact Boss Yang, maybe he is willing too~" Zeng Zhiwei suggested, and Ma Chucheng was really tempted.

……

Zhang Chen had no idea that the scumbags in his eyes were preparing to attack his movie. At this moment, he was arranging the post-production work of "The Accidental Murderer".

"Black 2" has a very good momentum. Ning Hao and a group of main creators started a painful and happy roadshow, flying around every day.

Since he didn't need to personally participate in the promotional roadshow, Zhang Chen started tinkering with his own "Accidental Murder".

The movie "The Accidental Murderer" has no special effects and it was scheduled to be released on May Day, so there is plenty of time.

Zhang Chen and Dong Jianqiang were drinking tea in the office when Chen Xi knocked on the door.

"Director Zhang, if you are free during this period, would you consider visiting the crew of "Wulin Waijiao"?"

After Chen Xi finished speaking, Zhang Chen slapped his forehead fiercely and said, "Forget about it."

Before filming "The Accidental Murderer", he had been thinking about visiting the set of "Wulin Waijia", but later Wang Jinghua and Chang Jihong were causing trouble in the crew and he was unable to go.

I forgot about it after I came back.

Now that Chen Xi mentioned it, it was just right...

"It's better to go today than to wait for a better day."

The group set off.

The filming location of "Wulin Wai Zhuan" is in Beijing.

In the original time and space, "Wulin Waijiao" was originally intended to be filmed in Huairou, but later due to lack of funds, they went to Pinggu, the cheapest place, rented a vacant land, built an inn and started filming.

It is also jokingly called the 'Pinggu Feilong Film and Television Base'.

The base is nothing, just a shabby house without a roof.

Have you noticed that "Wulin Waijiao" basically has no outdoor scenes, the entire story takes place in an inn, and all the stories about the martial arts world are told orally. Why?
Isn’t it because you have no money?

We don't even know what the street outside the inn looks like. It has never appeared in the camera. As for the Yichunyuan opposite, at most only a room appears.

In this time and space, with the investment from Xingchen Entertainment, Zhang Chen told them not to be so stingy and that they would get everything they deserved.

Don't be afraid of wasting it, because he will only take a shot without preparation.

The original time and space "Wulin Waijia" has a total of eighty episodes, and the sequel "Dragon Gate Escort" is another story.

Zhang Chen is not going to do this in this time and space.

He plans to shoot in seasons.

There are 40 episodes in one season, let’s have three seasons first.

This will not only make sales easier, but also reduce the financial pressure.

When the film and television base is free, you can also do some tourism.

This is what the later series "Love Apartment" did. If "Love Apartment" can do it, why can't "Wulin Wai Zhuan" do it.

As for the script, in the original time and space, Ning Caishen was the only one who relied on it. In the end, he was forced to the point that his hair almost fell out, and he had to rely on drugs to draw inspiration.

This time and space does not need it.

Zhang Chen specifically asked a team of screenwriters to assist him in enriching the various jokes.

In fact, this kind of unit drama is very easy to write, because each small story is independent and has no connection with each other.

You can also move part of the plot of "Dragon Gate Escort" over here, just change the characters.

As for jokes, Zhang Chen provided a lot of them himself.

He picked out some plots from online dramas such as "Never Expected That", "Diaosi Man" and "Baozou Big Event".

Many jokes, although taking place in modern times, would be equally fine if they took place in ancient times with a different setting.

Isn’t the original version of “Wulin Waijiao Movie” about the housing price issue?

Pinggu is not far from the capital.

Pinggu originally belonged to Hebei Province, but was transferred to Beijing in 58. It was a county at first, and became a district of Beijing in 02.

The GDP of Beijing has long been at the bottom.

The pillar industry here is peaches, so when "Wulin Waijiao" said it wanted to build a film and television base here to shoot the TV series, the Pinggu District Government was very welcoming.

When it comes to film and television bases in Beijing, they are all in Huairou, and this is the first time in Pinggu.

The crew was not informed of the group's arrival in advance, so they entered the village quietly without firing any guns.

The crew members usually live not far from the filming location, and when Zhang Chen and his team arrived, they just happened to catch the crew starting work in the afternoon.

The arrival of the car quickly attracted the attention of the staff. Director Shang Jing shouted "click" and just as he was about to see who was coming, Guan Xiaotong called out the identities of everyone first.

"Director Zhang Chen..."

She is the actress who plays Mo Xiaobei, and also plays the youngest daughter in "The Accidental Murderer".

During the filming of "The Accidental Murderer", Zhang Chen was always very friendly to her, so she was not afraid of Zhang Chen. She recognized him at a glance when she saw him from a distance.

(End of this chapter)