Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 379 Roasting on the Fire

Zhang Chen said this, isn't he afraid of offending people?

Of course not.

Han Sanping forced them to stop fighting because "The Promise" was competing for an Oscar.

Now that the Oscar nominations list has been announced, and "The Promise" is not on it, what is there to worry about?

However, he had no intention of restarting the war of words, he just said it casually.

The reporters in the audience applauded and cheered. Chen Xi, who was not far away, held his forehead with his hand, but still failed to stop it.

Zhang Chen was still talking on the stage, and the same voice as before was once again sarcastic: "Director Zhang Chen seems to be deliberately targeting Hong Kong filmmakers. There is not a single Hong Kong actor in the crew of Painted Skin~"

This time, Zhang Chen finally saw the person who was speaking, a thin young man wearing a pair of black-framed glasses. The badge on his chest indicated that he was a reporter for Apple Daily.

I'm here to find news materials.

“The cast of Painted Skin is indeed all from mainland China, but the two big names behind the scenes, Mr. Chang Suk Ping and Mr. Yuan Ba ​​Ye, are both from Hong Kong filmmakers.

So it is untenable to say that I deliberately target Hong Kong filmmakers, but I do prefer to use mainland actors. The reason is simple: I want to give them more opportunities.

I said it last year that good film resources basically give priority to Hong Kong actors, especially male actors. In comparison, there are too few resources for mainland actors. Since I advocate taking care of mainland actors, of course I have to lead by example.

Of course, I am not against using good Hong Kong actors, for example, Mr. Liang Jiahui is the leading actor in "Taken", but the prerequisite is that your Mandarin must be at least standard, otherwise the moment you speak, you will be out of character, and what acting skills can you talk about..."

After the press conference, Zhang Chen realized that he seemed to have made a slip of the tongue again, and greeted Chen Xi with a smile. The latter looked unhappy. What Manager Dong said was true, this guy would not be happy unless he made trouble.

But the media reports the next day were beyond their expectations.

[Xingchen Entertainment's new work "Painted Skin" has been confirmed to be an oriental fantasy theme, with Fan Binbin, Huang Xiaoming and Zhou Xun joining]

[Zhang Chen declared that he would reopen the door that Brother Chen Kai had closed himself]

[Painted Skin, a work Zhang Chen used to humiliate Chen Kaige]

[Zhang Chen said frankly, I just want to support Fan Binbin]

Although these are exaggerated, they are at least reliable and there are traces to follow. At most, they can be considered artistic processing.

But the following is outrageous, and it is the biggest outrage in the world~
[Zhang Chen claims that the new movie will break the 3.6 ​​million box office record held by "Titanic"]

Zhang Chen was completely shocked. When did I say that I could break the box office record of "Titanic"?
How come I don’t know?
I said it would exceed 3.6 million. When did it become ​​million?

But it was no use for him to be shocked, as the media were reporting the story like crazy.

It doesn't matter what the truth is.

But there are still people who believe it~
A lot of netizens left comments under the news:

Come on Director Zhang, we believe you can do it~
Support Director Zhang. I will definitely give you a movie ticket when the time comes.
Support domestic films, I will definitely be there to support them when the time comes~
Domestic films are finally going to rise. Support Director Zhang and support domestic films~
Seeing the building getting taller and taller with no sign of stopping, Zhang Chen started to panic.

You think too highly of me, that is God Ka’s big ship.

Where do the records of large ships come from?

In 1997, there were less than 2000 screens in China and piracy was rampant. Under such circumstances, "Big Ship" brazenly won a box office of 3.6 million yuan, which was simply a monster.

People like Cameron are the children of destiny. Even if a reborn person meets him, he may not be able to defeat him.

Zhang Chen shook his head, this was too exaggerated.

Breaking 3.6 million was already considered bragging, and breaking million was something Zhang Chen didn't even dare to think about.

Who is it? Which bastard fabricated this news? Isn't this putting him on the spot?

But people just believe it.

He and Chen Xi looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes.

"Let me call Manager Dong and tell him about the situation. Let's see how to deal with it."

This situation must be clarified, otherwise it will be a mess in the end.

The call was connected, but Chen Xi had just told the story again when Dong Jianqiang on the other end was even more excited than them.

"What, you said it wasn't Zhang Chen who said that?"

"Yes, no, we announced that it had exceeded 3.6 million, which was our plan before. The media made up that it had broken the of Titanic..."

"Ah~ But I already~"

Seeing Dong Jianqiang's reaction, the two people on the other end of the phone suddenly had a bad feeling.

"what happened to you?"

"Last night, a reporter interviewed me and said that Painted Skin was determined to break 3.6 million. I thought Zhang Chen was bragging again, so I helped to brag a little."

"Helped to blow a few lines? What did you say?"

"I said that box office records are meant to be broken. If Cameron can do it, why can't Zhang Chen do it?"

finished~
The two people on the other end of the phone were instantly furious. If emotions could be visualized, then at this moment there must be two knives stabbing at their hearts.

"Did you really say that?"

Chen Xi still hoped that Dong Jianqiang was joking.

But Dong Jianqiang's reply shattered the last glimmer of hope.

"real."

"What should we do? Is it too late to withdraw?"

"It's too late. The interview with me happened last night. By now, the press release has probably been issued~"

Sure enough, when they searched on the Internet, they found Dong Jianqiang's TV interview.

"Manager Dong, Director Zhang Chen claimed that the box office of Painted Skin will exceed 3.6 million, breaking the domestic box office record held by Titanic. Is this true?"

Dong Jianqiang didn't show any surprise on his face, he looked calm, and he even nodded when he heard it: "It's true, Director Zhang has always been a man who is good at creating miracles, and besides, isn't the purpose of box office records to be broken?
It is not surprising that a foreign film like "Titanic" has topped the domestic movie box office list for nearly 10 years. In many countries, it is the box office record holder.

But in 2004, our neighbor South Korea produced a film called "Taegukgi: Flying Taegukgi", which broke the record of large ships.

If they can do it, why can't we? In fact, it is a shame for domestic filmmakers that a foreign film has occupied the top spot on the box office chart for ten years. Director Zhang Chen wants to wash away this shame, and I think we should support him. "

Is this considered overpraising?

Zhang Chen didn't know what to say anymore.

Defeat the big ship, what kind of tiger-like words are these?
"No, Mr. Dong, don't you ever think before you speak?"

"It's you who always talks nonsense. He interviewed me right after the press conference. I really thought it was you who said that. What can I do? Should I destroy your reputation?"

What Dong Jianqiang said made sense. This was more than once or twice the time that he had to clean up Zhang Chen's mess.

Why do I feel like this was specially designed by someone?

"But, didn't you watch the press conference?"

"How could I have the time? 'Kowloon Walled City' had just been released and the box office on the first day was not very ideal. At that time, I was completely focused on the movie and didn't worry about the press conference at all. Besides, wasn't Chen Xi there?"

"Okay, it's too late to say anything now. It's already happened. Let's discuss what to do~"

The matter was done and they could only try to remedy the situation. Chen Xi brought the two back to reality.

But everyone actually knows in their hearts that it would be impossible to deny it at this point, as it would become the laughing stock of the entire entertainment industry.

Even if we fail to reach 3.6 million in the end, it is better than going back on our word now.

Within a few minutes, the three of them came up with a strategy.

The only thing we can do now is to hold on.

Regardless of whether Zhang Chen said this or not, it has already happened now.

We can only take it one step at a time and see what happens.

Zhang Chen suddenly felt overwhelmed.

Just as he was about to hang up, Zhang Chen suddenly remembered what Dong Jianqiang had said: "You just said that the first-day performance of Kowloon Walled City was not ideal?"

Dong Jianqiang on the other end said, "The first day's box office was 330 million. I'm afraid it's still a little far from the 4000 million target you set for him. Lu Yang is getting anxious now~"

Lu Yang was really anxious and angry now, and his mouth was covered with bubbles.

"What about 'SPL'? How much did it take in the first day?"

Zhang Chen did not ask too much about "Kowloon Walled City", but asked about its competitors.

Dong Jianqiang seemed to be looking for information. After a while, he said, "SPL is much better than ours, 422 million~"

Zhang Chen nodded. The box office of both movies could not be said to be high, but it was not low either. It was just at a normal level.

After all, the star lineup of "SPL" is much stronger than that of "Kowloon Walled City" and more attractive. Moreover, because of the stars, the theaters will give it more support.

The first-day screening schedule for "SPL" was 25%, while that for "Kowloon Walled City" was only 19%.

"Kowloon Walled City" is indeed too plain. Except for a group of supporting characters who have some fame, all other people are unknown. No wonder the theaters are not optimistic about it.

This 19% is mostly due to the face of Star Entertainment, otherwise it may be even lower than this.

"Wait a bit, I guess the box office will be better in a couple of days after word of mouth comes out..."

There are so few things that can be hyped up for such low-budget films, and relying on word of mouth is almost the only way to make a comeback.

"Well, wait a little longer~"

Dong Jianqiang is quite confident about "Kowloon Walled City". "I browsed the forums today and found that many forums have given high praise to "Kowloon Walled City". I believe that the reputation will rise in a few days~"

After hearing what Dong Jianqiang said, Zhang Chen made a special search and found that the reputation of "Kowloon Walled City" was surprisingly good.

[Oh my god, I've finally waited for this, there's finally a good movie in our country]

[I have a feeling that Xie Miao is the second Tony Jaa~]

【Finally, there is an action movie worth watching】

[This kind of fist-to-flesh feeling is really great. Brothers, who knows other videos of similar style? Please recommend~]

The reputation of "Kowloon Walled City" is indeed very good, and many people are praising it.

In the past two years, the high-flying fighting style has gradually become less popular, while the real-fist fighting style has become more popular. The most obvious example is Tony Jaa.

His films have risen rapidly in the past two years, becoming popular in most parts of the world and becoming the first film in Thai film history to win the North American weekly box office championship.

"Ong Bak" and "Tom Yum Goong" have accumulated considerable popularity for Tony Jaa.

In fact, these two movies clearly imitate Jackie Chan's movies. The scenes of jumping over glass and jumping off horse-drawn carriages are exactly the same as those in Jackie Chan's movies.

But because of his realistic fighting style, almost no one accuses him of plagiarism.

This is how the art world works. Good copying is called tribute, and bad copying is called plagiarism.

Of course, there are also bad reviews. Film critics gave very low ratings to "Kowloon Walled City".

[A movie that fights for the sake of fighting, with an old-fashioned approach, similar to the breakthrough mode of the 1980s]

[This is a movie without any ideological depth. I don’t know why the director made it. I can’t see any sincerity~]

[It is hard to imagine that a farce can be made into a movie. It is simply a blasphemy to the art of film]

[A new director's flopped work seriously doubts the quality of the Beijing Film Academy's directing department]

The film critics' comments were as sharp as ever, leaving no face for the newcomer, as if their comments would not show his sophistication.

To be fair, some of what he said is correct.

For example, this is a movie about fighting for the sake of fighting.

The plot of the entire movie is so simple that it can be explained in one sentence, and the real attraction of the movie is the fighting scenes.

The fight was brutal, the punches hit the flesh, the fight made the blood boil~
This type of film has a unified name in the West - visual film.

As the name suggests, it is a movie designed to satisfy sensory needs without any ideological depth.

The Fast and Furious series is actually the most typical example.

"Fast and Furious" was actually a purely visual movie in the beginning, without any core, it was just for fun.

It's just that the producers are smarter. After the third film, they began to consciously add other elements, such as the concept of lumberjack, which raised the level of the film to a higher level.

"Keep doing the necessary publicity and maintain exposure, and the rest is up to fate~"

Zhang Chen firmly believes that after getting through the first few days, around the second week, when word of mouth spreads, the box office of "Kowloon Walled City" will definitely make a comeback.

As for the arrogance of film critics, Zhang Chen really wanted to say a few words.

But Chen Xi disagreed.

"You've already messed up 'Painted Skin', just let 'Kowloon Walled City' go~"

It sounded as if Zhang Chen was a human-shaped natural disaster, and whoever came into contact with him would be unlucky.

……

The next few days turned out to be just as they had expected.

The entry "Painted Skin vows to break Titanic's record" successfully took the first place on Baidu's search list.

No one cares about other things, such as the conflict between Zhang and Chen, the three-party collaboration of "Painted Skin", the investment scale of over 100 million yuan, and even the cast.

What everyone is concerned about is just one thing - can "Painted Skin" break the record of large ships?
Even Han Sanping called to ask.

Zhang Chen felt like he was being forced into a desperate situation.

But there is also good news: the box office of "Kowloon Walled City" made a comeback on the second day.

The box office on the first day was 330 million, and on the second day it doubled to 600 million, and on the third day it was 590 million...

The box office in the first three days of the first weekend was 1520 million, which was directly tied with "SPL", which had a first weekend box office of 1530 million, a difference of only 10.

Dong Jianqiang was puzzled at first. Logically speaking, word of mouth shouldn't have spread so quickly. It should have taken at least until next week, but why did it explode the next day?

Later I found the answer in "Zhang Chen Bar".

It turned out that the forum owner 'Qingcheng Wuji' organized fans of "Taken" to watch the movie, which boosted the box office of "Kowloon Walled City".

Upon asking, I found out that the reason was Zhang Chen's promise - if the box office of "Kowloon Walled City" exceeded 4000 million, he would let Lu Yang direct a sister film of "Taken".

If possible, they would certainly prefer to watch the orthodox sequel directed by Zhang Chen, but Zhang Chen is a guy who only cares about digging holes and not finishing them. Seeing that there is no sign of a sequel in sight, fans have to settle for the second best and just let it be a sister film.

The box office of "Kowloon Walled City" unexpectedly rose by chance.

Dong Jianqiang looked at the box office data with great joy. This at least showed that Zhang Chen already had strong box office appeal.

I simply hired another wave of internet trolls to repost the incident.

Overnight, stories about how fans of "Hurricane" helped boost the box office of "Kowloon Walled City" in order to see the sequel appeared on various forums~
The past two years have been the era when fans have become very popular.

In 2005, fans of "Super Girl" had just contributed all kinds of cool things, and in the blink of an eye it was 2006, and Zhang Chen's fans started to boost the box office of "Kowloon Walled City".

For a time, the discussion on this topic increased dramatically.

It's actually getting worse.

Gradually, 'supporting the box office of 'Taken' sequel to 'Taken' for 'Kowloon Walled City'' has become a hot trend, and many ordinary audiences who are not fans of 'Taken' have also joined in.

They may not like Taken, but they like playing it.
Everyone seems to enjoy the feeling of personally pushing history forward.

When Zhang Chen heard the news from Chen Xi, he really didn't know how to describe his feelings.

what is this?
Is this the earliest fan economy?
When I announced this news, I just wanted to motivate Lu Yang. Of course, I also had some ideas of riding on the popularity of "Hurricane", but I really didn't think it would develop into what it is now.

The new year has come to the second week
"Kowloon Walled City" is in high spirits, but "SPL" is not bad either.

The box office data of the two movies have always been very close.

The cinema chain admitted that they had initially underestimated the potential of "Kowloon Walled City" and later increased the screening schedule.

But "SPL" itself did perform well and always had the upper hand over "Kowloon Walled City", with its box office revenue only tens of thousands more than the latter every day.

It is not very harmful and extremely insulting.

Lu Yang was in both pain and happiness every day. When "Kowloon Walled City" was very popular, he was on the road every day.

According to the current trend, it will not be a problem to complete the 4000 million bet.

This is what makes him happy.

The painful thing is that he really wanted to defeat "SPL", but he never succeeded and was always deprived of tens of thousands of dollars every day by it.

……

Sun Entertainment
Huang Bogao, Ye Weixin, Zhen Zidan and others opened champagne to celebrate~
Wine-red liquid is poured into a goblet
"Come on, everyone, let's wish our "SPL" a big box office success~"

Huang Bogao suggested, his tone sounding as if he was commanding someone to do something.

Everyone raised their glasses noisily, and the red liquid flowed down the esophagus into the stomach, stimulating blood circulation and making everyone's face look red.

The box office of "SPL" is absolutely amazing for them~
Based on the calculation that the first weekend box office generally accounts for one-third of the total box office, the final box office of "SPL" is estimated to be between 4000 million and 5000 million.

This is a good result that is difficult for Hong Kong films to achieve.

For Hong Kong films to enter the mainland, 3000 million is a hurdle, and many films stop at this number.

How could they not be happy that "SPL" has achieved its current results?

Especially for Wong Pak-ko, "SPL" was the project he led and it was also the first work of Sun Entertainment entering the mainland. It was a huge success, which is a good sign.

It is worthwhile to kowtow to Guan Erye and burn incense, it really works~
Hong Jinbao smiled along, but he was not very happy in his heart.

The result he wants is for "SPL" to sweep away "Kowloon Walled City", rather than the current stalemate.

A stalemate actually means defeat.

What is the cast of "SPL" and "Kowloon Walled City"?
The combination of Zhen Zidan + Hong Jinbao + Simon Yam can’t beat Xie Miao?
……

Ningxia
A group of horse bandits were galloping across the Gobi Desert. The leader of the bandits was laughing loudly, and there was a woman in white gauze riding on his horse.

Long shot, medium shot, close shot, close-up~
Click~
Zhang Chen's voice came from the loudspeaker, and the actors playing the horse bandits gradually stopped.

Zhang Chen leaned over to the monitor to watch the replay. After a while, he said, "Okay, it's over. Let's get ready for the next one~"

The camera adjusted its position and the props staff helped. At this time, Chen Xi came over with a phone and handed it to Zhang Chen.

The call was from Tung Kin-keung, reporting on the first weekend box office performance of Kowloon Walled City.

The result of 1520 million in the first weekend is actually pretty good.

It’s not bad to be on par with “SPL”.

He has seen "SPL", which is indeed well made.

"Original Space", "SPL" and "Flash Point" are all works that save the reputation of Hong Kong films.

At that time, Hong Kong Kung Fu movies were no longer popular. What was popular in the world were Thai Kung Fu movies, such as "Ong Bak" and "Tom Yum Goong".

"SPL" and "Flash Point" are films made by Hong Kong filmmakers to compete with Tony Jaa.

"Flash Point" performed well, earning 3450 million at the mainland box office, but "SPL" was not released in the mainland at all due to censorship issues.

Thinking of this, Zhang Chen suddenly thought of a question: "Boss, can you check whether the version of "SPL" released in mainland China and Hong Kong is the same?"

Dong Jianqiang understood immediately: "You are suspicious of them..."

"Yeah, I suspect they're playing a double version."

The issue of dual versions has always existed, and Xingchen Entertainment did it before. Later, the General Administration clearly stipulated that it was not allowed, but it still existed, but it was a situation where the people did not report it and the officials did not correct it.

Zhang Chen remembered that in the original version, Wilson Yip cut two versions. In the mainland version, Zhen Zi alone killed Hong Jinbao and that was the end of the story.

But the Hong Kong version is much darker. Zhen Zidan finally defeats Hong Jinbao, but in the end he is ambushed, thrown off the building and dies tragically on the roof of a car.

What’s even darker is that the people in the car happened to be Sammo Hung’s wife and children.

In other words, Hong killed his wife and children with his own hands.

A very dark ending.

(End of this chapter)