Chinese entertainment, from radio love songs to superstars

Shen Lang did not keep the secret any longer and expressed his idea: "We can create the big IPs of China, Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods. These two mythological novels are very easy to be turned into entertainment, whether it is a movie or a TV series, or a game, or a film and television city or theme park. Moreover, this kind of subject matter is relatively easy to promote overseas."

Since the beginning of the last century, Marvel and DC have dominated the American comics market. During wartime, superhero comics have always been a form of fast-food consumer entertainment. In addition to satisfying people's cultural and spiritual enjoyment, they are more for national propaganda and raising war funds. The most typical of these is the character of Captain America.

However, if you compare American superheroes with domestic classical mythological materials, you will find that the gap between them is not a little bit. Whether it is "Journey to the West" or "Fengshen Yanyi", the many excellent mythological materials contained in them are by no means as simple as an ordinary novel. From the initial text form, they have already stood at the pinnacle of literature and art, and carry the wisdom, values ​​and cognition of the world of the Chinese nation. The depth and breadth of their connotation are far beyond those American superheroes born with short-sighted intentions.

However, one reality we have to face is that in the process of film and television adaptation, we will not have an IP that can be compared with the Marvel Universe or the DC Universe until 2024.

The reason for this is that, on the one hand, too many of our related works are still stuck in the conventional remake mode. The creators often just follow the plot framework of the original work and carry out relatively conventional film and television reproductions, lacking innovative interpretations and bold adaptation attempts. Moreover, they are independent of each other, competing with each other and forming no system.

In addition, there is a very big limitation on film and television adaptations in China, and that is that it is difficult to break through the limitations of adaptations of classic masterpieces. For example, Stephen Chow's 1995 "A Chinese Odyssey", although now regarded as a classic, was very controversial at the time and the box office was very bleak. The reason is that most people cannot accept and tolerate the nonsensical adaptations of classics. How can Sun Wukong fall in love?
Shen Lang personally believes that different times, different situations, and different people should be allowed to have different opinions and understandings. As long as it is not a spoof without any bottom line, why not? Creation that restricts thoughts is equivalent to "copying the gourd", and it will never surpass the classics. If the new version of "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World" still has the old-fashioned plot of making trouble with the Dragon King, causing disaster to Chentangguan, and then committing suicide to become a lotus root man, will it still be successful?

Marvel and DC are indeed interesting, but you have to know that what they present to everyone is big returns for big investments. However, the domestic film and television industry will slowly enter an era of "economic flow". Movies and TV series are no longer a way to pursue the pinnacle of art, but a means of commercial investment.

For the sake of box office, producers will spare no effort to dig out gimmicks and hire popular stars at high prices, even if they are totally incompatible with the role. Just like "The Fortress", which was said to "open the door to Chinese science fiction movies", it spent hundreds of millions of dollars to make not the audiovisual shock brought by science fiction, but the unrecognizable young man "pretentious", "showing off" and "making jokes" on the screen.

Therefore, after traveling through time, Shen Lang has always had a wish, which is to devote all his efforts to creating a grand IP that belongs to China itself.

This plan had not been put on the agenda before, mainly because his own influence was still insufficient. He did not have enough say in the fields of film, television, culture, etc., and it was difficult to gather the forces of all parties to promote the implementation of this plan. Moreover, to create such a large IP, it undoubtedly requires strong financial support. Whether it is the early preparation and production, or the subsequent publicity and promotion, it is inseparable from the investment of a lot of money. At that time, he did not have enough wealth.

After several years of development and accumulation, his influence and wealth are no longer what they used to be, and he can put this plan into practice.

After hearing what he said, Qian Guosheng's eyes instantly flashed with a brighter light. "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods" were both his favorite works. Now he was willing to develop related projects around them, so he said without hesitation: "No problem, you tell me the amount and I will transfer the money to you."

Fang Wanhua pursed her lips slightly, her eyes full of admiration, and smiled lightly: "Your idea is not immature at all, it's too mature."

The idea of ​​letting foreigners see how valuable these treasures left by their ancestors are is exactly what they want.

In this way, movies, TV series, animations, novels, games and theme parks of "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods" were all arranged.

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The next day, Shen Lang and Fang Wanhua rushed to Yuqing without stopping.

This afternoon, the premiere of "Crazy Stone" will be held at the Spark Cinema here.

Although it is a low-budget and small-scale film, if you want to achieve great results with small efforts, you must have adequate publicity.

Director Ning Hao and leading actors Huang Bo, Liu Hua, Guo Yao and other creative team members were all present.

在新闻发布会上，柠浩准备了一份特殊的礼物——编号为000001的《疯狂的石头》的正版DVD，标有完成制作时间2004年2月9号15点08分。

A lucky audience member was picked at the scene. When giving out the gift, Shen Lang said: "Crazy Stone has a very special meaning to Ninghao and Julang. It is the first movie shot by Ninghao and also the first movie launched by Julang. So I specially left the first DVD completed on the production line as a souvenir."

After receiving this precious and meaningful gift, the lucky audience member said that he would treasure it well. He was extremely happy because the cover of this DVD was not only densely signed with the names of the film's main creative team, but also with Shen Lang's signature.

After the brief press conference, the film was screened in the largest theater.

The more than 100 seats in the theater were all filled. Not only fans came today, but also media reporters and film critics.

The movie premiere is undoubtedly a grand celebration for the film industry. It is not just a simple movie release ceremony, but also an important interactive platform between movies and audiences, the industry and the media.

Its main function is to carry out the final and most critical publicity and promotion work for the upcoming film, and to spread the word of mouth of the film by leveraging the power of different groups such as the audience, media reporters and film critics on site.

However, this is a double-edged sword. Word of mouth can be a "good reputation" or a "bad reputation".

Of course, if you pay someone to do something, then the premiere will only get good word of mouth, which is tantamount to deceiving the audience into going to the cinema.

But with the quality of "Crazy Stone", there is no need to do this at all.

However, some people come with a "finding faults" attitude, such as Jiang Wanyi.

He is an online film critic who has gained a lot of attention on Sina Blog with his sharp reviews of movies.

This time, he will not give Shen Lang any face.

The host left the stage and the lights in the theater dimmed.

The origin of the story is a "stone", or more precisely, a piece of jade dug out from the toilet. It tells the story of a group of people who are crazy about this stone.

A handicraft factory that is about to go bankrupt accidentally discovers priceless jadeite, and uses it for exhibition to maintain the livelihood of the factory, which leads to all the relationships between the characters.

On one side are the "guardians" headed by Bao Shihong, the head of the security department of the handicraft factory;
On one side, the real estate company hired the international thief Mike;
On one side is a gang of bandits led by Dao Ge;

Finally, there is a person who connects the head of the security department and the thief, Xie Xiaomeng, the disappointing son of the factory director. These four parties have different goals and different offenses and defenses, but they stage a farce of truth and falsehood.

[Mike, who accepted the job of stealing jadeite, appeared in the crowd at the airport in a cool outfit, wearing black sunglasses and carrying a black suitcase. His outfit was very eye-catching. He walked to the side of the road, took off his sunglasses, and was about to wave his hand to stop a car.

Hei Pi suddenly covered his eyes from behind and asked, "Guess who I am?" Mike: "Sir, you got the wrong person."

At this time, Dao Ge and Xiao Jun quickly picked up the suitcase that Mike placed next to him and got into the taxi that had just stopped.

Heipi: "Can't you hear it? I'll give you another chance!"

The taxi drove away.

Mike: "Sir! Let go, I don't know you."

Heipi let go of his hand, turned around and disappeared into the crowd behind him.

Mike opened his eyes, rubbed them and looked back. There was no one behind him. He was a little confused. He looked at his bag, but it was gone. He frowned and said, "Shit!" He looked back again and saw a huge crowd. He gritted his teeth and said, "I'll beat you to death!"

It seemed that he was really angry. He cursed in both English and Cantonese. When the lines with a heavy accent came out, they instantly formed a very strong contrast with Mike's original image of a fashion elite.

"Hahahaha!"

The audience's laughter suddenly filled the theater.

Someone laughed and joked: "Oh, the accent came out, you can see how angry he was!"

Another person chimed in, saying: "The local petty thief has no moral principles, and the international thief has a bad start. This plot is so funny."

Another viewer couldn't help but sigh: "Fuck, I've been tricked before. When I was surfing the Internet in an Internet cafe, my phone that I left on the table was taken away. It's exactly the same as this plot!"

However, someone like Jiang Wanyi, who has a high sense of humor, did not laugh with everyone else when he saw this scene.

Not only that, he even had deep doubts about other people's reactions of laughing.

What's the funny part? Have you never watched a real comedy?
As an important source of revenue for domestic genre films, comedies are always the darlings of the market and a hot spot for creation.

As long as it can satisfy the basic need to laugh, even the atypical comedy "Cell Phone" can become the box office champion of domestic films in 2003 because of its half-suspense, half-funny mix.

However, there are many comedy movies that are mostly made of exaggerated body language and some use vulgar and "borderline" topics to create jokes, which is distorted in values.

This is what Jiang Wanyi expects domestic comedy to be like. It is a realistic work with both grain and rough edges, which can reveal "the smallness under a person's fur coat". It is neither calculated nor exaggerated, and can make people smile knowingly with its upright expression and ideals.

Simply put, it does not rely on actions that challenge public order and morality to attract attention, does not rely on exaggerated language that acts crazy and stupid to attract attention, and does not rely on piling up online jokes or ridiculing a certain group to make jokes. Instead, it uses the original vocabulary of film and audio-visual to create a sense of humor.

However, although he came with a "nitpicking" attitude, he did not hastily classify "Crazy Stone" as a "bad movie". After all, it has only been aired for ten minutes, and he has to watch it to the end before drawing a conclusion.

In the following plot, the two replacements of real and fake jade in Luohan Temple constitute the biggest highlight of the movie.

During this period, Bao Shihong discovered that the jade had been swapped, but in the process of looking for the real jade, he did not know that the three thieves had already "returned the jade intact to Zhao", so when he found the fake jade in the room of the three thieves, he replaced it with the real jade from the Luohan Temple.

The two exchanges seem absurd, but they are logically reasonable. At the same time, the details echo each other, paying attention to the comparison between cause and effect.

Security guard Sanbao scratched the bottom of the tray while observing the jadeite, which paved the way for Bao Shihong to discover that the jadeite had been replaced. Sanbao accidentally found a winning number of 50,000 yuan from the room of three thieves, and a note saying "wait for my good news", which became the most favorable evidence for Bao Shihong to suspect Sanbao of replacing the jadeite.

These endless layers of humor allow the audience to maintain a relaxed attitude and enjoy the viewing experience from beginning to end.

"Hiss... this movie has something to it."

Jiang Wanyi was so impressed by the film that he felt it was a better comedy than Feng Xiaogang's "Cell Phone".

From his professional perspective, the focus on the survival reality of the little people and the display of the true Chinese background is another factor in the success of this comedy.

From mobile phone ringtones to the fake "Dragon Fist" song and dance performance, from "The First Snow of 2002" to workers who only earn 500 yuan a month but have no jobs, from the inconspicuous Luohan Temple to the coolies "Bang Bang", every detail and every joke in the movie comes from the common life scenes of ordinary people, and these subtle irony and reasonable exaggeration of social reality have become the key to capturing the audience.

"thanks for your support."

After the movie ended, Shen Lang and the film's creative team came on stage and bowed in unison, expressing their heartfelt gratitude to the audience, media reporters and film critics.

The premiere of "Crazy Stone" has come to an end, and the word-of-mouth it brought is spreading rapidly and continuously.

So, whether it has a good reputation or a bad reputation can be known from the box office and ratings on the first day of its official release tomorrow. (End of this chapter)