Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 505: Monsters and demons, you were the first to attack
In the end, Zhang Chen did not agree to remake "Water Margin", and Dong Jianqiang was a little disappointed.

Even though the Four Great Classics do not have copyright, not everyone can film them.

Being able to remake the four great classics is itself a reflection of one’s strength.

But Zhang Chen didn't want to take pictures, and the conditions didn't allow him to do so.

If you want to remake a work of the level of the Four Great Classics, you certainly can't just find any director to do it.

Must be a famous director.

Then Zhang Chen has to do it himself.

But where does he have the time?

There are so many universes that cannot be captured.

……

Back to the movie
The box office performance of "Wulin Wai Zhuan: The Treasure Hunters" was completely within expectations.

The marketing department made a prediction when the film was first released that it was unlikely to break 100 million.

Sure enough, the box office grossed 1800 million in the first weekend.

But the reputation is good.

This kind of movie is actually similar to the later "Boonie Bears" and has a fixed audience.

The 2024 Lunar New Year box office was full of nonsense. Some people criticized "Red Sea", some criticized "Fengshen", but no one criticized "Boonie Bears".

They have a fixed audience and don't need to compete with other films for publicity or audiences.

It's hard to be a big hit, but it's also hard to flop.

No matter how strong he really is, the breeze will blow across the hills.

It has nothing to do with me even if you beat your brains out.

It can be said that as long as "Wulin Waijia" continues to maintain its popularity, similar theatrical versions can continue to be filmed.

I just don’t know how many seasons “Wulin Waijia” can be filmed.

He doesn't have Zhao Benshan's ability to make his apprentices keep bidding at low prices.

When these actors become famous one by one, their value will surely increase greatly, and one day they will lose their cost-effectiveness, and that will be the end of "Wulin Waijia".

There are many similar examples abroad. For example, the six main actors of "Friends", from being unknown at the beginning to having a net worth of 2000 million US dollars at the end, were very united. If they wanted to leave, they left together, and if they wanted to stay, they stayed together, forcing the producers to submit.

But in the end, after ten years of filming, it came to an end because the producers could no longer make any money due to the high pay.

In comparison, the producers of "The Walking Dead" are much smarter, starting with personal plot lines after the main plot is completed.

Having one or two main characters develop personal stories can significantly reduce costs.

However, this trick is unlikely to be used in "Wulin Wai Zhuan".

The structures of "Wulin Waijia" and "Friends" are similar, and the stories basically take place in a closed environment.

"Wulin Wai Zhuan" is an inn, and "Friends" is Monica's home.

After the end of "Friends", a personal line was actually launched, "Joey", but it was not very successful.

On the contrary, "The Walking Dead", which is similar to a road comedy, was very successful in opening up the personal line.

This may also be the fate of "Wulin Waijia".

But Zhang Chen is not worried. If "Wulin Waijia" cannot be filmed, the worst that can happen is that he can start over and film "Love Apartment".

……

It’s normal that the overseas copyright of “The Treasure Hunters” didn’t sell very well.

It has no mass base overseas and can only be sold as an ordinary costume comedy.

But even so, Zhao Benshan was very satisfied.

The performance of "Treasure Hunt" is already the best result of Benshan Media in the film industry in recent years. What's more, Zhang Chen has also agreed to let Benshan Media lead next year's "Jianghu".

The box office of "The Treasure Hunters" is very stable at several million per day, so there is nothing good to report.

The media's coverage these two days has been focused on the Venice Film Festival in August.

Zhang Yimou was appointed as the chairman of the film festival.

It turns out that Zhang Yimou still has a good international status.

Even though he had stated that he was busy with the Olympics, Venice insisted.

According to the rules of the three major awards, the chairman can decide who will win the highest award.

Venice is the Golden Lion.

Cannes is the Palme d'Or.

Berlin is the Golden Bear.

Zhang Chen thought it was fun to watch. This year's class seemed to be the one where "planning is up to me and success depends on planning".

Jiang Wen was full of confidence that Zhang Yimou would award the Golden Lion to "The Sun Also Rises", but he was unexpectedly stood up.

As the Shanghai Film Festival was about to open, Chen Xi and the "Ip Man" crew arrived in Shanghai in advance.

They are here to promote the movie.

The huge sales of "The Man from Nowhere" gave Chen Xi a boost of confidence.

Although the sales of "Extreme Job" were average, its box office was actually not bad, it was just not as impressive as "The Man from Nowhere", and the rights to the Korean remake were sold.

Chen Xi called Zhang Chen: "When will you come to Shanghai?"

"On the day of the awards ceremony, it would be useless if I went early..."

"No, you have to come earlier to support us. Xingchen Entertainment is your biological son, and Jiahe is not picked up..."

There was some indignation in Chen Xi's tone.

Zhang Chen is speechless~
"And I have something to discuss with you~"

"What to discuss?"

"Recently, the Hong Kong media has been deliberately smearing "Ip Man"..."

"Slander? Do you know who it is?"

“Zedong Films, and possibly others, but it’s not clear yet.”

Zedong Films? Wang Jiawei? The Grandmaster?
Zhang Chen immediately understood what was going on.

It’s old news.

This was mentioned when the "Ip Man" project was launched, but was refuted by Chen Xi with just two sentences.

"Don't pay attention to them. Those guys can't affect the box office of Ip Man. Well, I'll go there in advance. I also have something to tell you. By the way, let's discuss Golden Harvest's filming plan for next year..."

Zhang Chen really had no expectations for the Shanghai Film Festival, and did not submit any of his own works to participate.

Because the chairman of this session is poet Chen.

One of the judges is Lu Chuan.

I am also very confused. What was the organizing committee thinking? Why did they bring these two people together? Are they afraid of a lack of credibility?
As for "Ip Man", it is just using the Shanghai Film Festival platform to promote the film. It is neither participating in the awards nor expecting to sell the copyright.

The Shanghai Film Festival's overseas influence is very limited, and more people come here to sell films than to buy them.

Many well-known production companies are not interested in the Shanghai Film Festival.

Although it is an A-class film festival, it is probably the most embarrassing A-class film festival.

The awards given have no authority.

In fact, Zhang Chen felt that there was no need for the Shanghai government and the Film Bureau to support this film festival.

They probably think that since it is an economic center, they want to develop the cultural sector as well.

But the point of force was wrong.

Just imagine, the award-winning works selected by the Shanghai Film Festival,

What an irony!
You will be scolded to death.

Therefore, the more successful the Shanghai Film Festival is, the bigger it is slapping itself in the face.

I don’t know whether the relevant departments are aware of this problem.

Zhang Chen did not come alone, he was accompanied by Ning Hao and Lu Yang.

Poor Guo Fan was left behind by him to prepare for the related matters of "2012". After the Shanghai Film Festival, they will set off for Hollywood.

Ning Hao and Lu Yang were very excited as it was their first time attending the Shanghai Film Festival.

In fact, Zhang Chen was the same, but he never had any expectations for film festivals, so he didn't think it was a big deal.

The neon lights of Shanghai flicker at night. Because of the Shanghai Film Festival, the number of foreigners arriving here has increased significantly recently, and there are many foreigners on the streets.

"It really looks like the foreign concessions before liberation..."

Ning Hao is as loud-mouthed as usual.

"Don't tell me, it really looks like..."

"Making movies for the rise of China..."

Lu Yang's words made everyone laugh and cry, "You kid, you've pushed yourself pretty high~"

Lu Yang was hit on the back of his head and noticed that there were reporters taking pictures of him from a distance, but he didn't care and even made a "yeah" gesture to the camera.

Zhang Chen and the other man also joined in the fun and stood over, making a "yeah" gesture together~
A few seconds later, the reporter on the other side made an "OK" gesture and waved with a smile.

Zhang Chen has always been friendly towards reporters, and other people in his company have a similar attitude.

"I heard that the department has guaranteed your admission to graduate school?" Ning Hao suddenly asked.

"Well, I was admitted to graduate school. From the school leaders to the department head and the class teacher, everyone tried to persuade me, and I gave in..."

"Ah~"

Zhang Chen sighed, he could imagine the scene at that time.

In fact, from the school's perspective, there is nothing wrong with doing so.

We finally had a golden phoenix, so of course we wanted it to stay here for two more years.

When Zhang Chen, the golden phoenix, flew away, the school leaders probably broke their back teeth.

There is no way Lu Yang, the golden phoenix, would let him fly away.

This year is his last year, and just like Zhang Chen did in the past, the school tried its best to stop him and offered various benefits.

The difference is that Zhang Chen held on.

Lu Yang couldn't bear it.

"Wealth and honor cannot lead to debauchery, brother~"

Lu Yang helplessly spread his hands: "I want it too, but they offer too much~"

"Tell me, what are the conditions?"

Lu Yang just laughed and said nothing.

……

Soon, everyone arrived at the hotel where Jiahe and his group were staying, but Chen Xi was not there, but in the film exhibition area.

In the exhibition area, there is a huge poster of "Ip Man". On the poster, there is a picture of Donnie Yen hitting a wooden man, with two huge traditional Chinese characters "Ip Man" on it.

"Director Zhang, Director Ning, Director Lu~"

Zhen Zidan was the first one to see them and immediately came forward to greet them respectfully.

Zhang Chen patted his shoulder and said, "Not bad, I've seen Ip Man, it's very well made and will become your masterpiece..."

Zhang Chen's words really touched Zhen Zidan's heart.

He himself was also very satisfied with the quality of "Ip Man".

After decades of going back and forth, he has not made a name for himself in either Hong Kong or Hollywood.

I am now in my forties and suddenly I have a representative work, which is like a dead tree coming back to life.

Ye Weixin and others also came forward to greet everyone.

Zhang Chen also praised him.

Although Ye Weixin looks gentle because he wears glasses, he is actually a dark person inside.

Look at the movies he made. In "SPL", Zhen Zidan finally defeated Hong Jinbao, but was ambushed by him and fell to his death.
It’s similar in “SPL 2”, Tony Jaa has defeated the villain, but falls to his death while trying to save others;

This person, deep down, doesn't believe that good deeds will be rewarded.

In fact, Zhang Chen thinks he is quite suitable to develop in Korea, shoot those violent things, maybe he can become a master. But it is also good to stay here and be a tool.

"Ip Man" was well filmed.

Of course, it may also be that this was his first time working with Golden Harvest and Wilson Yip did not dare to express himself freely.

"Work hard. If Ip Man does well at the box office, you will still be the director of Ip Man 2 next year..."

Zhang Chen casually drew a pie in the sky, and at this time Chen Xi also arrived.

"You're finally here~"

"We are very fast. We rushed here as soon as we got off the plane."

"Don't give me that. You were all photographed by paparazzi while walking on the Bund..."

There is probably nothing more embarrassing than being caught lying in person.

Zhang Chen changed the subject: "I recently invested in a streaming media company, PPLive. Then the copyrights you acquired will be useful..."

Chen Xi disagreed: "What's the use? Piracy is everywhere now. It doesn't matter whether there is copyright or not."

However, Zhang Chen remembered that there would be a wave of actions at the end of this year, probably because of next year's Olympics, to make their attitude known to the international community.

After 08, it will become increasingly strict.

"Great! If that's the case, then I have to hurry up and buy more before others realize this. Unfortunately, some companies are holding on to the copyright and won't sell it..."

"You can't be the only one who can achieve all the good things. There are still many smart people in this world."

In fact, Chen Xi already has a lot of multimedia copyrights in his hands, and according to Zhang Chen's instructions, he will try his best to get the copyrights of those that are particularly popular.

LeTV was able to provide food and clothing to the entire company just by relying on the TV series "The Legend of Zhen Huan", which shows how profitable copyright is in later generations.

Even if Golden Harvest fails in the future, it can still live a very comfortable life relying on these copyrights.

What's more, his own film library is not small.

After just a few words, Ning Hao spotted Jay Chou nearby.

He was at another booth, also promoting a movie - "Secret".

Speaking of Jay Chou, he has been really busy in recent years, producing a movie every year while also working on his albums.

Seeing that there were no outsiders around, Ning Hao simply started chatting with Jay Chou about the movie.

"This is a story about a drummer who gradually achieves success. The hero in the story, Zhang Chen, was modeled after you..."

Ning Hao told the story outline again, "Hey, that's good~"

Jay Chou’s iconic comment.

He is very interested.

Of course I'm interested.

Ning Hao is a member of the 200 million box office club.

Men all have a collecting habit.

He just collaborated with another 200 million-level director, Zhang Yimou, last year, and is about to collaborate with another 200 million-level director, Ning Hao.

I heard that the male lead in this drama was written by Zhang Chen based on him, which means that Zhang Chen has a good impression of him.

Maybe I will have a chance to cooperate with Zhang Chen next year, and then I can summon the dragon.

At this time, media reporters accidentally discovered Zhang Chen and rushed towards him.

Soon, the booth of the "Ip Man" crew was surrounded.

Chen Xi looked at this scene excitedly, it had to be Zhang Chen.

In the past few days, few people paid attention to them.

Zhang Chen had only been here for a while when the place was already packed with people.

He is indeed a man with his own traffic.

Everyone made way for the media to take pictures.

Because when the media takes pictures, they will naturally include the "Ip Man" poster in the background. This is free publicity.

Zhang Chen was equivalent to being conscripted into the army.

Within an hour, the news that Zhang Chen was attending the Shanghai Film Festival spread across all major portals.

Then, he received a call from Ren Zhonglun: "Zhang Chen, you came to Shanghai without telling me, so I could send someone to pick you up..."

Zhang Chen laughed: "Mr. Ren, please don't be polite. I'm just here to present an award and will leave after that."

Ren Zhonglun on the other side immediately said, "Why are you in such a hurry? You finally came here, so just stay for two more days. We put a lot of thought into this Shanghai Film Festival."

"I can't help it. There are so many things waiting for me at home..."

"Don't worry. I see Ning Hao and Lu Yang are here too. There will be an industry forum after the opening ceremony tomorrow. You can come and listen. If you have any good ideas, you can exchange them with each other..."

Ren Zhonglun was determined to make the best use of everything.

Zhang Chen was a little unhappy. He hated meetings the most.

The so-called forum is essentially just a meeting.

Just about to refuse: "This is not good..."

"What's wrong with that? It's settled. Wait for my notice tomorrow~"

After Ren Zhonglun finished speaking, he hung up the phone, fearing that Zhang Chen would go back on his word.

Zhang Chen looked at the hung up phone without uttering a single curse.

But I have to give Mr. Ren face, so I might as well just stay for a few days and see the world.

Zhang Chen did not attend the red carpet segment of the opening ceremony on the second day.

That is a place where female stars compete with each other for beauty. He has no works, so he won't join in the fun.

I did see a lot of familiar faces at the venue:
Cheng Long, Han Sanping, Zhang Guoli, Boss Yang, Wang Jing, Johnnie To, Huang Xiaoming, Zhou Gongzi, Chen Daoming...

I also saw many enemies:
Feng Xiaogang, Zeng Zhiwei, Wu Baige, and the Sunglasses King who always looks like a visually impaired person...

Zhang Chen greets people he knows.

"Brother Long, did you come back specially to attend the Shanghai Film Festival?"

Cheng Long saw that no one was paying attention to him and smiled bitterly: "Human relations~"

It turns out that he is similar to Zhang Chen, and was kidnapped because of a favor.

"I hope there won't be any changes with "The Forbidden Kingdom"?" Zhang Chen was most worried about the release date.

Cheng Long patted his chest and assured: "Don't worry, I have already made an agreement with them, and we will be able to finish the filming on time. I will come to you as soon as the filming is finished..."

New stars came in one after another at the door, all of them had walked the red carpet.

There are quite a few foreigners.

This is also the feature of the Shanghai Film Festival.

It is different from all other domestic film festivals and positions itself as an international film festival.

Every time an award is given, most of the winners are foreign films and foreign filmmakers.

This has greatly reduced its attractiveness to domestic film companies.

Everyone knows that he doesn't like to give awards to his own people, so who would be willing to flatter those foreigners?

It was only in the past two years that the organizers realized this and began to consciously award prizes to domestic films, which led to a change.

Zhang Chen saw Liang Jiahui walking in from the door. He had just walked the red carpet with the crew of "Tracking".

"Tracking" is a very good movie, but unfortunately the box office was not high. It seems that South Korea has bought the rights to remake it.

"Brother Hui, are you shortlisted this time?"

The person asking the questions was Lu Yang, and he was also very depressed.

The launch conference had already been held, but because Liang Jiahui had to attend the Shanghai Film Festival, "Hurricane 2" was forcibly postponed to after the festival.

Liang Jiahui was also a little embarrassed: "I'm sorry, Yangzi, Nai Hai is a director for the first time and he was shortlisted. I must support him..."

You Nai-hoi is the most famous screenwriter in Hong Kong, and Du Dapao basically depends on him for his livelihood.

He has a lot of great works under his name: "Gunfire", "Infernal Affairs", "PUT", "Underworld", "Big Guys Have Big Wisdom", "Tall Trees Attract Wind"...

"Tracking" is his first directorial work. Unexpectedly, he was nominated for the Best Director at the Shanghai Film Festival for his first time as a director.

Liang Jiahui introduced You Naihai to everyone.

After they chatted for a few words, they saw Tian Zhuangzhuang coming in from the door.

Tian Zhuangzhuang is the dean of the directing department of Beijing Film Academy and also Lu Yang's master's supervisor. All three of them are from Beijing Film Academy, and two of them are from the directing department with a solid background.

"Excuse me, let's go say hello to the teacher~"

After apologizing to everyone in the "Tracking" crew, the three of them walked towards Tian Zhuangzhuang.

"Teacher Tian~"

"Director Tian~"

Different identities require different titles.

Tian Zhuangzhuang was also nominated for Best Director this time. In fact, he and You Naihai are competitors.

"It's you guys. How's Pacific Rim going?"

“It will probably be completed in another month.”

"Well, when you're done, remember to bring it back to Beijing Film Academy so we can have a look..."

Tian Zhuangzhuang's eyes were filled with satisfaction for his most proud student.

Although he also makes art films, he doesn't like what Zhang Chen and Lu Yang shoot, but that doesn't stop him from appreciating them. In fact, he knows in his heart that art films are out of date and commercial films are the way to go.

Wave after wave of stars entered the venue, and the venue immediately became star-studded.

The female stars are all vying with each other for beauty.

Gong Li wore a golden tiger-print dress by robertocavalli, looking very domineering, like a queen.

Fan Xiaopang went straight for a leopard print piece.

People with a poor figure simply cannot pull off this kind of clothes.

(I admit, I just like Fan Binbin, I didn’t take her money)
Maggie Cheung wore a black long skirt, Zhou Gongzi looked like a fairy, and Shu Qi wore a retro deep V skirt...

Zhang Chen could guess tomorrow's announcement with his buttocks. It must be the Shanghai Film Festival red carpet show, and Fan Binbin would steal the show.

This woman loves to outshine others with her beauty. No one can escape her clutches.

After the opening ceremony, Zhang Chen finally witnessed the forum that Ren Zhonglun mentioned.

It’s called the Golden Jue Forum.

After entering, I found that they were all familiar faces~
They are basically senior directors, actors, producers, or industry leaders...

There are guests from the mainland and Hong Kong, and Ren Zhonglun is the host.

The first topic is how domestic films can go global.

Someone immediately jumped out and said: "If mainland films want to go overseas, the most important thing is to be formalized. First of all, they must compete reasonably and legally, and put an end to plagiarism, double standards and other operations."

The speaker was Wang Jiawei, who spoke in Cantonese. He immediately pointed the finger at the mainland. Zhang Chen felt that he was the one he was talking about.

It's worthy of being an art film, it's good at making innuendos.

Zhang Chen didn't say anything, he felt there must be more.

Sure enough, after Wang Jiawei finished speaking, Wu Baige jumped out again: "Let me add one more thing, I think film ratings are very necessary.

The United Kingdom, the United States, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Iran, these countries have adopted the film rating system, especially South Korea. After adopting the rating system, the film industry has flourished and has produced several excellent works in recent years..."

Damn it, who asked for your opinion?

Wu Baige talked at length about the benefits of film ratings, and was quite disdainful of the current film censorship system.

This time at the WTO, China Film Corporation was sued for discriminating against imported films in scheduling, which is why Hollywood blockbusters were shown consecutively in May, June, and July.

This gave some people hope, and they felt that they could also take this opportunity to promote the mainland's film rating system.

Zhang Chen didn't say anything. He was ready to let the bullet fly for a while.

In fact, he also hated the censorship system, but the sense of superiority in the other party's tone, that is, "I am superior to you," made him uncomfortable.

Han Xin once said, when you reach the point of being unable to endure it anymore, there is no need to endure it anymore!

(End of this chapter)