New Age Artists

Chapter 476 Criticizing Ip Man (22)

12 month 9 day.

China Film Huairou Film and Television Base.

Shen Santong attended the premiere of "Mei Lanfang".

The venue, both inside and outside, is decorated with rich Peking Opera colors, with facial makeup, appearances, costumes, and Peking Opera props everywhere.

Nowadays, premieres are no longer just about watching the movie, but about adding some fancy stuff.

Hosted by Cai Kangyong.

Talking about the movie, Chen Kaige was very modest: "I believe that everyone will like the movie "Mei Lanfang". I hope this movie can accompany everyone through this cold and heart-warming end of the year."

Cai Kangyong asked: "Director Chen, can you give a score to the film?"

Chen Kaige avoided answering: "I dare not give a score, I just hope that everyone will enjoy this carefully made film."

Cai Kangyong's questions became sharper: "Director Chen, I heard that this drama was originally scheduled for December 12, but was first moved up to December 12, and then returned to the original schedule. What's the reason behind this?"

Chen Kaige said: "The production company considered changing the release date, but in the end, I insisted that the original release date was the best."

Cai Kangyong asked with a smile: "Did The Promise make you lose confidence a little bit, and want to avoid the more popular Kung Fu blockbuster Ip Man?"

"What's the reason that gave you the confidence to compete with Ip Man?"

Chen Kaige's face turned gloomy for a moment.

Shen Santong was enjoying the sight watching from below.

In this life, with Shen Santong, "The Promise" did not cause as much trauma to Brother Kaizi as in his previous life.

But more than two years later, something historic happened.

Some media or companies downplayed Hollywood and Chen Kaige's struggle at the time, and put the blame for the overseas revenue of costume blockbusters on Chen Kaige.

Shen Santong also witnessed with his own eyes how to change the topic.

For things like this, you have to spend money to publish press releases to fight against it. If you ignore it, it will slowly change your memory.

Brother Kaizi and his wife handled the situation very badly.

Sending a lawyer's letter is a traditional approach that doesn't work well.

In the previous life, in the 08 Lunar New Year period, there were Xu Ke's "Women Are Not Bad", Chen Kaige's "Mei Lanfang", Ye Weixin's "Ip Man", and Xiao Gangpao's "If You Are the One".

In this life, Xu Ke is working on the later stage of "The Empire of the Sky".

The next film to be replaced is the comedy film "Bank Robbery" produced by another label, Qishierbian, under Santong Entertainment.

The director of "The Bank Robbery" is Yang Qing, the director of "Night Club" in the previous life.

Santong Entertainment now has multiple labels, including Locomotive, Seventy-two Transformations, Vanguard, Little Demon, etc.

The Locomotive Film Company is a golden brand, "Seventy-two Transformations" is a commercial genre film that cannot reach the locomotive, "Avant-garde Films" is an experimental film, and "Little Demon" is a low-cost horror film.

It was originally planned that "The Bank Robbery" would lead the show in the first week, followed by "Mei Lanfang" on the 12th, "Ip Man" on the 19th, and "If You Are the One" on the 22nd.

However, "If You Are the One" was too strong, so "Ip Man" wanted to move up the release date.

This matter also caused a lot of trouble in my previous life.

In fact, it was “Ip Man” that caused the trouble.

The prototypes of the two characters in "Ip Man" and "Mei Lanfang" were created in similar time periods.

In terms of publicity, both films tell the legendary life stories of great masters, one is a world-famous actor, the other is the king of Kung Fu. One brought Chinese drama to the world, the other made Chinese Kung Fu popular all over the world.

The commercial elements of kung fu movies are more attractive than "Mei Lanfang".

Chen Kaige's appeal for "The Promise" is questionable, and "Mei Lanfang" can only focus on the classic "Farewell My Concubine", but "Farewell My Concubine" was a movie made more than ten years ago.

"Ip Man" wants to compete with "Mei Lanfang".

China Film Corporation disagreed, so the release date was moved up to the 5th, and "Ip Man" was scheduled to be released on the 16th, a gap of 11 days.

"Ip Man" was able to be screened one week apart from "If You Are the One", which made everyone happy.

But "Ip Man" obviously felt that "Mei Lanfang" had an easier time, so it found a theater chain and wanted to move the release date up to the 12th, just one week away from "Mei Lanfang".

The reason why "Ip Man" was able to press forward step by step in the previous life was because Han Sanping forced the role to be assigned to "The Warlords" and "Red Cliff" twice, which caused him to lose his prestige and he couldn't even keep "Mei Lanfang".

It's funny that Han Sanping saved the screening schedules of Hong Kong directors' "The Warlords" and "Red Cliff", but the cost was borne by Chen Kaige's "Mei Lanfang".

If it weren't for Han Sanping's roles in these two films, there would have been chaos and everyone in the theaters would have hated him.

"Ip Man" would not have to be forced to postpone the release of the film twice in a row, and it was impossible for "Mei Lanfang" to have a ten-day slot to earn box office revenue.

In this life, Han Sanping has not lost his prestige, but Shen Santong is too powerful. He has reshaped the costume blockbuster and made it into a historical blockbuster.

The Hong Kong circle is more united and will not allow Chen Kaige, the leader of Han Sanping, to emerge.

Whether in personal or work contact, Shen Santong is Han Sanping's like-minded collaborator, and Chen Kaige is the closest person to him.

Therefore, the production crew of "Ip Man" still pushed for the release of the film twice, full of murderous intent.

For the first time, "Mei Lanfang" was postponed as in the previous life and moved to the 5th.

"Ip Man" wants to mention the 12th again.

Chen Kaige was very angry. It was obvious that the producers of "Ip Man" thought he was a soft persimmon.

It might as well go back to the 12th schedule and release it at the same time as "Ip Man".

Shen Santong finds the most interesting thing is that amidst the changes in schedule, some media outlets have always been biased towards "Ip Man".

The bias should no longer be obvious.

The title was directly "Mei Lanfang's film is released in advance and becomes the 'beneficiary' of the Lunar New Year period."

The actual content is that "Mei Lanfang" was supplied in advance and "Ip Man" was the biggest beneficiary.

Omit "Ip Man" and make it invisible. Just looking at the title, it seems that "Mei Lanfang" was released early just for its own benefit.

Moreover, the topic shifted to the change of release date of "If You Are the One", which led to the early release of "Mei Lanfang".

It's a joke.

Among the four films released during the Lunar New Year holiday, the best one is If You Are the One.

The Little Steel Cannon returns to the comedy theme and is the biggest card of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The reason why some media speak up for "Ip Man" is that they like "Ip Man" too much.

Han Sanping took over the conversation and pointed at Shen Santong in the audience: "The schedule issue is related to Xiao Shen."

Cai Kangyong looked at Shen Santong in the audience and said, "What does it have to do with Director Shen? Is Director Shen here? I heard that he has been elusive."

Han Sanping said: "Let him speak. Come on, Xiao Shen, what did you say at that time?"

Shen Santong was unhappy.

Who should I call Xiao Shen?
Who knew that Shen Santong became a celebrity after "Red Cliff"!

Shen Santong said helplessly: "I didn't say anything. What does it have to do with me? It was the idea of ​​the producer of Mei Lanfang."

Cai Kangyong thought there was something interesting: "Director Chen, can you tell me what's going on?"

Chen Kaige said: "He provoked me. Chen Kaige + Mei Lanfang, can't they beat Ip Man?"

"When I heard that, I realized that the general of an army can be taken away, but the will of a common man cannot be taken away!"

"I am not someone who is afraid! Let's just go with the same period, and it will also give the audience more choices for watching movies."

Cai Kangyong asked Shen Santong: "Director Shen, you haven't seen the two films, right? Why are you so confident? Is it about Director Chen or Mei Lanfang?"

"It's still like what the outside world says. You have opinions about some areas. Shouldn't I, a Wandao native, be afraid?"

Shen Santong had to answer: "Mr. Zou said that I am the hope of Chinese-language films. Am I proud? I didn't shout."

There was laughter.

Shen Santong's answer was irrelevant, but he also responded to the question cleverly. Since the former overlord of Hong Kong Island, Jiahe, recognized him, what else was there to say?

And it is in line with Shen Santong's usual style: he is very confident and always exalts himself.

Cai Kangyong said: "Haha, Director Shen's answer is very humorous. You are not just encouraging Director Chen casually, are you?"

Shen Santong hesitated: "Some things are not suitable to be said publicly."

Cai Kangyong was afraid of being caught off guard: "Then tell me."

Shen Santong waved his hand: "Stop talking."

Cai Kangyong provoked, "They say Director Shen is bold in speaking out, but now he's being conservative?"

Shen Santong looked at Han Sanping and said, "I can say it, but don't you accuse me of talking nonsense after I finish speaking?"

Han Sanping said: "Pick out what you can say."

Shen Santong cursed: "I just think it's ridiculous. One ear has become the Black Cat Sheriff. The world is really fucked up."

"45 years ago, Ip Man was a puppet soldier, arresting patriots who fought in the war of resistance against Japanese aggression."

"In 46 years, I served as the captain of the criminal investigation team of Foshan Police Department, inspector general, and acting director."

"It sounds OK now because the meaning of the police name has been recreated."

"Before, it could only be called the Public Security Bureau because the original name was too bad."

When Cai Kangyong heard that it was about their bad party, he wanted to interrupt: "Wow."

Shen Santong ignored him: "In 49, Ip Man fled to Hong Kong Island. There are some things I don't want to say too clearly."

"This kind of guy says he's patriotic, like he's a hero, what a bullshit."

"I told Director Chen Kai at the time that if you are afraid of this kind of people, you might as well retire."

Shen Santong intuitively felt that the reason why some media outlets liked "Ip Man" so much might have something to do with the background of the characters.

The puppet army traitors stood on the other side during liberation, which I can relate to.

Then the Patriot was created and put on the big screen.

It's like shitting on the heads of all the viewers.

A very disgusting behavior.

The guests and audience present were in an uproar.

"Ip Man" and "Mei Lanfang" were released at the same time. Shen Santong's influence was so great that he directly criticized the film, saying that it had a very bad impact on "Ip Man".

When "Mei Lanfang" was initially moved up in release date, China Film Corporation stated that it was very confident in the quality of "Mei Lanfang" and was not afraid of competing with other films at the same time.

The reason why the release date was brought forward this time is actually to leave time and space for the films produced by other sister companies to be screened later, so as to fully showcase the achievements of more domestic films.

Even though this year's Lunar New Year box office is turbulent, "Mei Lanfang" returned to the 12th and maintained basic decency.

Shen Santong didn't even have the decency to do anything and directly attacked "Ip Man", the contemporary competitor of "Mei Lanfang".

Many people had different expressions, wondering if it was a double act between Han Sanping, Chen Kaige, and Shen Santong in the audience.

Let him say some words.

Cai Kangyong's face was not looking good. He was from the island. "Director Shen, I really don't believe you when you say you have no problem with us."

Shen Santong said: "I like to tell the truth. If it is not the truth, the Ip Man production company can sue me and I will compensate you."

Chen Kaige in the book is just better than other personifications, and everyone still has a clear understanding of it. Brother Kaige himself has no ideals, as can be seen from the volunteer army movie he led.

The film industry is in tatters, and only a few laymen can look forward to it.

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(End of this chapter)