Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 331 Lenovo Endorsement
"Taken" has been released for a month and a half so far, and its current box office is 2.4 million yuan. Dong Jianqiang estimates that it will have no problem exceeding the million yuan box office of "Hero".

Originally, "Hero" was released for two full months and eventually grossed 2.5 million yuan, creating a miracle.

In this life, China Film Corporation saw the potential of "Taken" and deliberately extended its screening time.

Although it is still 1000 million short of the target, there is still half a month left and it should be no problem to surpass "Hero".

"You will soon be the number one director in the country~" Dong Jianqiang's tone was full of excitement.

Chen Xi was also nearby: "We must hold a grand celebration party for Taken, so you should come back then..."

"Forget it, I won't go back. There are a lot of movies released recently, and if I go back I will have to attend their premieres, which will delay the filming schedule..."

Everything is expensive in the United States, and it is really not cost-effective for him to make a special trip back just to attend a celebration party.

"Oh, okay~"

"By the way, a brand wants to find you as an endorsement. You don't have a fixed agent, so they called the company. Will you take the call?"

"Ask me to be the spokesperson?" Zhang Chen thought he had heard it wrong.

Generally, when brands do advertising or endorsements, they mostly look for celebrities but not many directors.

What's more, Zhang Chen has another identity, that is, the boss of a well-known entertainment company.

"Tell me, which manufacturers are they?"

Whether to endorse the product or not is another matter, but he really wants to know who has such good vision.

"Lenovo, they want you to be their ambassador, not for a specific product, but for the entire series~"

Oh, it turned out to be the conscience of America. Zhang Chen immediately lost interest.

"Forget about Lenovo."

"Don't you want to listen to their offer?" Chen Xi continued to seduce.

I'm afraid Lenovo's offer is really not low.

Yes, although Zhang Chen is a director, he is a star-type director, and his popularity is comparable to that of domestic first-tier directors.

Moreover, Lenovo asked him to endorse an entire series, so I guess he paid him a lot.

But no matter how high the offer is, Zhang Chen would never work for them. I uninstalled Didi in my previous life, so how could this life be worse than the previous one?

Zhang Chen curled his lips, "I don't want to listen~"

Lian·Manmen Zhonglie· thought that it was impossible for Zhang Chen to have any contact with him. He himself said that he was not from Huaxia Company.

"Okay~"

Chen Xi couldn't figure out why Zhang Chen was so resentful of Lenovo, but since the boss had already made the decision, she wouldn't try to persuade him anymore.

"There is one more thing, it's about The Promise~"

"Premiere? Isn't it going to be released at the end of December? This is still a month away. Isn't it too early?"

"No~"

Chen Xi paused for a moment before saying, "It was poet Chen who launched an anti-piracy initiative. In fact, it was just to promote The Promise. He followed Zhang Weiping's example, but this time he made a big fuss..."

After listening to Chen Xi's description, Zhang Chen already understood what was going on.

To put it bluntly, it is similar to his original anti-piracy reward, but it is a bit stingy, with only a reward of 30.

Zhang Chen originally offered a reward of 50 yuan.

Poet Chen probably didn't want to repeat what others have said, so he changed the format and turned it into a signature initiative. It is said that quite a few celebrities have signed it.

"Just sign it for me. If you ask, just say I'm filming in the U.S. and the schedule is tight, so I can't go back~"

In fact, everyone understands that this is to build momentum for "The Promise".

But no matter what, anti-piracy is a good thing after all.

This kind of thing cannot be done by just one or two people, everyone must take action.

"Your choice was so wise. This year's Lunar New Year movie season is really a battle of gods~"

At this time, Dong Jianqiang grabbed the phone and started talking about interesting things in the circle.

"The premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire two days ago was really a blast.

The organizers actually found a hundred fans to wear Harry Potter gear to attend the premiere, and set up nearly a thousand white candles and 15,000 dominoes to simulate a spellcasting scene... Tsk tsk tsk..."

In recent years, people have become more and more aware of the importance of publicity, and every time a blockbuster movie is released, there are always all kinds of fancy things.

"House of Flying Daggers" held a compilation concert, while "Myth" featured a large group of armored Qin soldiers standing on both sides.

All in all, their "Taken" is the shabbyest, quite standard, neither sexy nor romantic~
"When "A Quiet Place" is released in China next year, I will also make it fancy, otherwise people will think we have no talent~"

Dong Jianqiang was very upset that he lost to other companies in these aspects.

"Harry Potter" is indeed a very profitable series. Zhang Chen remembers that the domestic box office of "Goblet of Fire" seemed to have almost exceeded 100 million yuan.

It's obviously a foreign background, with wizards and magic and so on, so it should be a viewing barrier for domestic audiences.

But it's okay.

Domestic audiences have long been accustomed to it and like to watch movies with original soundtracks. What does a mere magic culture matter?

This movie has a great reputation among young people, but adults may not find it that good.

Zhang Chen actually envied this, as his "Twilight" could not achieve this level.

Although Twilight was a big hit in Europe and America, its box office in China was actually average. Chinese people are not interested in vampire culture, let alone vampire romance.

The settings of the two are obviously similar, but I feel that they are not as interesting as domestic zombies.

……

The filming of "Silence's Door" is still proceeding in an orderly manner. There are very few lines in this movie, and communication between actors depends entirely on sign language.

Fan Binbin came to the crew a month earlier than Zhang Chen to familiarize himself with the environment. He had already practiced sign language thoroughly and had developed relationships with several of the young leading actors.

In this drama, the requirements for the young actress who plays the daughter are actually quite high.

The role of the daughter is probably the most important role besides the male and female protagonists, and many plots are driven by her.

The original Kong, this little actor is a real deaf-mute. It is definitely impossible for Zhang Chen to use the original cast for this version, but the little actor that New Line helped find is also very good.

All I can say is that some people are born to do this.

The scene we shot today was the scene in the barn, which is also one of the most important scenes.

The closed environment was inherently fraught with danger. The child continued to sink and could only maintain his balance by using a door panel that had fallen in.

The most important thing about a horror movie is creating the atmosphere.

The way a strange face suddenly appears in front of the camera is actually the lowest level. In high-level horror movies, you know the monster will come, but you just don’t know when it will come.

This creates a sense of anticipation for the audience and allows them to empathize with the movie.

When the protagonist is nervous, the audience is nervous too. When the protagonist is relaxed, the audience is relaxed too. The audience even dares not make a sound, for fear of implicating the protagonist in the movie.

Zhang Chen used this technique here to create suspense within a limited space.

In the last second, the two children were still arguing about whether their father would come and who he would save first. In the next second, they were in danger together and had to cooperate with each other.

You must not make any sound and at the same time avoid falling.

At the same time, another shaky door was creaking, which could attract monsters at any time and become another "time bomb".

With this design, suspense and tension are created.

Hollywood is actually very good at this kind of scene. The same technique was used in "Jurassic Park" where the brother and sister were hiding from the Tyrannosaurus in the kitchen and almost hit the banging kitchen utensils.

The filming location was a prop barn, which looked like a normal barn from one side, but had a big hole on the other side for filming.

"All departments in place, action~"

At the command, the young actors began to perform with all their might.

Someone dragged my brother's feet across the barn floor, making him appear to be sinking.

There was a panic expression on my brother's face, as if he would be drowned in the next second.

The next second, my sister jumped down, carrying half of the door panel with her.

With the support of the door panel, the younger brother managed to hold on, but the older sister was in crisis at this time.

Without dialogue, the audience focuses on the actions and expressions, which is especially high for the actors.

I have to say that the young actors New Line found are very reliable and their performances did not seem out of place at all.

Zhang Chen originally thought he would have to shoot it several times, but he didn't expect to pass it in just two takes.

"Ka, let's save one more~"

Perhaps it is because the children here have been exposed to stage performances since childhood and are no strangers to performing. This is also one of the reasons why American movies and TV series can be popular all over the world.

Of course, the main reason is that they have military bases all over the world.

Strictly speaking, "A Quiet Place" is not a horror film, it should be considered a thriller.

It's also very different. Normal horror movies make the audience scream in the cinema to resonate with the protagonist.

"A Quiet Place" allows the audience to be quiet in the cinema so that they can resonate with the characters.

This kind of contrast is a new concept. It has appeared before, but it is indeed rare and belongs to a niche category.

……

Domestically, the film market is in full swing.

November is basically dominated by "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and "A One Man's Journey".

But "A Solo Journey of Thousand Miles" is clearly no match.

Zhang Yimou's film is a purely literary one, and of course it cannot be compared with "Harry Potter".

From the title of "A Thousand Miles Alone", one might think that it is about Guan Yu, but it is not.

It tells the story of a father who embarks on a journey of self-redemption in order to express his love and repentance in the last moments of his son's life.

The main actors include Ken Takakura, Takaichi Nakai, Jiang Wen, etc., and the screenwriter is Zou Jingzhi.

But the total box office was only more than 3000 million. If it weren't for Zhang Yimou's reputation, the box office might have been even worse.

December will be even more lively, with three major directors, Chen Shishi, Chen Kexin and Liu Zhenwei, competing on the same stage.

However, the media have always been commenting on the four major directors, Chen Shishi, Zhang Yimou, Chen Kexin, and Liu Zhenwei, competing on the same stage.

This is a bit bullying. Zhang Yimou's films are purely art films, and they were deliberately made away from December, yet the media still compare them together.

(End of this chapter)