Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 419 You Must Be Kind
"Director Cao Yang's film 'Love in the Seaside City' was officially released at midnight on April 1st. In midnight screenings in 4 cities across the country, it achieved a box office of 630 million yuan, setting a new record for midnight screenings."

Before "Love in the Seaside City" broke the midnight screening record, the films that held the record of over one million were Cao Yang's "Nine-Tailed Fox" (220 million for midnight screening) and Zhang Yimou's "House of Flying Daggers" (170 million for midnight screening).

Even earlier was Zhang Yimou's "Hero," which shocked the entire film industry when it grossed 80 yuan at midnight.

Now, director Cao Yang has raised this record to 6.3 million. In less than six years, the midnight screening box office has increased by nearly eight times, once again shocking the film industry.

This isn't just a simple box office of 630 million; it represents an increase in the domestic box office market and the number of moviegoers, and even more so, it represents…

Zhang Yimou was busy until very late again last night. As the Olympics draw closer, his pressure is increasing. Sometimes, even a small change can keep him up all night.

It wasn't that he spent the whole night discussing the plan, but because of this small change, he had to consider the chain reaction that this small change might cause, and he would think about it all night long, unable to sleep at all.

While eating breakfast, Zhang Yimou glanced at the news. When he saw the news that Cao Yang had raised the record for the midnight screening to 630 million, he paused for a moment, then took a big bite.

He knew in his heart that with this result for the midnight screening, even for an art film, as long as the word-of-mouth didn't collapse, it would be easy for it to surpass "Hero" at the box office.

An award-winning art film...is that even possible?
He took another big gulp of millet porridge, then involuntarily spat it back into the bowl. It was so hot, his tongue was burning and numb.

Zhang Yimou exhaled, pulled out a tissue to wipe his mouth, and said, "I'm not eating anymore, I'm not eating anymore."

These past two years have been busy with the Olympics, and the box office figures have become increasingly incomprehensible.

Forget it, forget it, I'm not going to think about it anymore.

Chen Kaige has already started working on the post-production of "Mei Lanfang," and he feels that this film has been plagued by many disasters.

The movie was supposed to be finished at the end of last year, but who knew that at the beginning of this year, those troublesome actors from Hong Kong would do something like that.

However, this kind of thing is not a big deal in the entertainment industry. This is nothing. There are many more explosive things. Why did you have to take so many photos and short videos?
So what if you took the photos? The important thing is to hide them well. What kind of situation is it if they're exposed?

Ugh!
Most importantly, he was a victim.

In his film "Mei Lanfang", Ah Jiao is a very important character with a lot of screen time. If the role is not recast and reshot, it could easily cause problems.

This resulted in the film taking almost two more months to complete.

Because Old Chen had to get busy with post-production work on the film after breakfast, Sister Hong would tell him about any news or important events during breakfast.

"Didn't Cao Yang's new movie have a midnight screening yesterday? The box office results are already out. I checked the news, and many media outlets are reporting on it."

Sister Hong broke the fried dough sticks into thumb-length pieces, arranged them neatly on a plate, and placed them in front of Old Chen, seemingly casually remarking...

Old Chen picked up a cigarette and casually said, "Although everyone is saying that art films are not doing well at the box office, that's in comparison to the rapidly growing box office of commercial films. In fact, the box office of good art films has not decreased compared to before."

After saying this, he put the small piece of fried dough stick in his mouth, chewed it a few times, swallowed it, and then continued:
"Cao Yang's new film won Best Director at Berlin, and with Jackie Chan joining the cast, he also won Best Actor at Berlin. Plus, Cao Yang won Best Director again..."

As he said this, the small piece of fried dough stick he had picked up fell onto the table.

From where Sister Hong was standing, you could clearly see that when Lao Chen said "Best Director," his hand paused for a moment, which caused the fried dough stick to fall.

As a virtuous wife and loving mother, Sister Hong quickly got up, picked up the small piece of fried dough stick that had fallen on the table, and threw it into the trash can.

Then he broke off a small piece from his own fried dough stick and put it into Lao Chen's plate.

She knew Old Chen's appetite and was worried that he wouldn't have enough to eat.

Old Chen skipped over the words "Best Director Grand Slam" he wanted to say and said, "Cao Yang's new movie has quite a few selling points. The box office for yesterday's midnight screening should be pretty good, right? Around 200 million?"

Don't think 200 million is a small amount.

That's a midnight screening, and it can't be shown nationwide. Only a dozen or twenty major cities can have midnight screenings.

According to the original trajectory, when Avatar was released, the midnight screenings grossed a little over 400 million yuan, but even that 400 million yuan broke the domestic midnight screening box office record at the time.

It wasn't until the release of "Transformers 3" in 2011 that the midnight screenings grossed over 1000 million, reaching 1200 million.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the higher the box office of the midnight screenings, the higher the total box office will be.

The midnight screening best reflects the audience's level of expectation.

For example, the midnight screenings of "Avatar" set a record, but it was still significantly less than its domestic box office of over 13 billion yuan.

This only shows that at the time, because the film was directed by Cameron, the Chinese people had high expectations for him, but not to an absurd degree.

The subsequent box office of over 13 billion yuan was achieved as the film gained positive word-of-mouth.

When Sister Hong heard Old Chen's guess of 200 million, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly, but she quickly suppressed it and said calmly, "It's more than 200 million. The midnight showing set a new record and took in 630 million."

Old Chen dropped another piece of fried dough stick he was holding onto the table.

"Snapped!"

Old Chen slammed his chopsticks on the table and stood up.

Then, perhaps realizing he'd overreacted, he bent down, pulled out a tissue, wiped his mouth, and said, "Hmm, not bad, I'm going to get back to work."

Watching Old Chen's departing figure, Sister Hong's lips curled up again.

She knew Old Chen very well and knew why he was so distraught.

Cao Yang's highest-grossing Chinese-language film to date is "Nine-Tailed Fox".

Although this film won Best Director at the Venice Film Festival and is touted as an experimental film, it employs more commercial film techniques and is certainly not a pure art film.

Cao Yang's pure Chinese art films, such as "On the Beach at Night Alone," "Empty Room," "Secret Sunshine," and "Black Swan," were certainly high box office hits at the time, but what about now?
It's not very high anymore.

Old Chen, a man of strong will throughout his life, was holding back a lot of energy.

As Cao Yang has been developing his career in Hollywood in recent years, he has made fewer Chinese-language films. Old Chen has found a way to "overtake" Cao Yang.

That is to surpass Cao Yang in the box office of Chinese art films.

Although this comparison is a bit self-deceptive, what else can we do? Finding this "loophole" is already quite an achievement.

Are we going to compete for awards?

Are we going to compare the highest single-film box office or the total box office?
That's unrealistic, isn't it?

Only under specific qualifiers can a comparison be made. For example, if everyone is an art-house film director, then we can compare the highest box office gross of a single Chinese-language art-house film.

This is based on Lao Chen's confidence in "Mei Lanfang".

But now Cao Yang's "Love in the Seaside City" has already grossed 630 million yuan in its midnight screenings. How much will the total box office be? It's definitely going to exceed 1 million yuan!
As long as the film doesn't receive terrible reviews, it's highly likely to reach 2 million.

The key question is, can "Mei Lanfang" reach 2 million yuan at the box office?

Difficult!

Xiao Gangpao was also quite surprised by the box office performance of the midnight screening of "Love in the Seaside City".

"Wow, Cao Yang is really something. He managed to break the midnight screening box office record with an art film, and by such a large margin. I estimate that no one will be able to break it for at least three to five years."

Xu Fan was also shocked. She asked Xiao Gangpao with some curiosity, "You went to the premiere and saw the movie. What was the movie like?"

Little Cannon thought for a moment, then burst out laughing. "If you're going to watch this movie because of its title, expecting a thrilling and romantic film, you'll definitely be cursing."

If you're going to see this film because of Cao Yang's reputation, and the Best Director and Best Actor awards from the Berlin Film Festival, then it's truly excellent. Its narrative techniques, cinematic language, and analysis of human nature are all superb.

Now it was Xu Fan's turn to be curious.

Isn't "Love in the Seaside City" a romantic love movie?

How could it possibly express kinship?

"Let's go take a look together tonight. I'd like to see if the contrast is as big as you say."

Xu Fan said that he used an affirmative sentence, not a question.

Little Cannon grinned and nodded helplessly, but he still offered his suggestion.

"Let's go see it in the morning. I'm afraid you won't be able to sleep if we go to see it at night. Going to see it in the morning will give you some peace of mind."

After watching the midnight screening of "Love in the Seaside City" with her fiancé yesterday, Huang Yali expressed her desire to become her real boyfriend and to explore and understand each other more deeply.

Huang Yali had actually prepared before coming to see the movie.

However, when she thought about what her fiancé had said while watching a movie—that he hoped their relationship could be like the one between the male and female leads in the film—she felt a little awkward.

Of course, this is only one reason. Another reason is that after watching the movie, she felt empty and disappointed, and she no longer had that kind of impulse.

So, even though it was already 2 a.m. after watching the movie, she still insisted on going back.

Back home, I was still feeling down, so I wrote a movie review and posted it on my blog, and also shared it on the "Cao Yang Bar".

"Spoilers ahead, please watch with caution."

The male lead played by Jackie Chan changed my preconceived notions about him. Cao Yang is still the same Cao Yang; he can bring out amazing acting skills in anyone.

The male protagonist works abroad and is indifferent to everyone, even when he is complained about, he doesn't care at all.

He went to bars alone to drown his sorrows, resisting temptation and even picking fights. In this city, he had no home, no friends, like a lonely ghost...

All of this suggests that the male protagonist is a man with a story, a wanderer, and such a person is more likely to create incredibly romantic love stories—if a wanderer falls in love with someone, he will definitely throw himself into it without hesitation.

Yes, at least that's what I think and expect.

However, things took an unexpected turn that completely defied my little brain's expectations. As for what happened, I won't spoil the details.

It can only be said that there is a special reason why the male protagonist is the way he is now. Because of this special reason, his wife left him, but he does not hate his wife... his ex-wife.

However, all of that is in the past.

His ex-wife forgave him and encouraged him to start anew. He stood hesitant and wavering at the gates of hell, but his ex-wife's words gave him the greatest comfort.

However, he dreamed of the child he had with his ex-wife, and it all seemed to be in vain; he was still the same prodigal son.

The root of all suffering is ultimately self-imposed confinement; the soul cannot save itself, the heart cannot find liberation, and one cannot reconcile with one's inner self.

Everyone is an island, but I hope that everyone can find that little boat in their life, sail across the ocean, carry their lonely soul home, and never give up hope.

Finally, I want to say that Cao Yang is still the same Cao Yang, truly awesome.

However, I still want to advise Director Cao Yang: You must be kind!

Although this movie review contains a few spoilers, the moderator still marked it as a featured post and pinned it to the top.

"I've read a lot of film reviews, but the more I read, the more confused I get. Some say 'Love in a Seaside City' is an extremely romantic movie, while others say it's an extremely healing movie..."

OP, I have a sincere question: Is the movie as the title suggests? How's the quality?

Huang Yali thought for a moment and replied to this comment:

"If you look at the movie title, well, you can also interpret it as the male protagonist leaving all his feelings in that seaside city; as for the quality of the movie, I can only say that Cao Yang is Cao Yang, and you can unconditionally trust the quality of the movies he makes."

"OP, why did you ultimately advise Cao Yang to be kind?"

Huang Yali replied: "You'll know after you watch the movie. I can't guarantee anything else, but the movie quality is definitely top-notch."

……

Online, whether it's blogs, forums, or portal websites, there are countless film reviews. Some say the movie is incredibly romantic, some say it's a genuine emotional experience, and some even contain spoilers...

However, precisely because the film reviews are so diverse, some potential viewers who want to watch a movie based on the reviews don't know who to believe.

Judging from the title, it should be a romantic movie, but some people seriously say it's an incredibly depressing film... Strangely enough, despite the wide variety of reviews, no one says the movie is of poor quality.

This has piqued the curiosity of some potential viewers who are not interested in art films.

So, they all went to the cinema.

Then, after leaving the theater, they all began to question their existence and felt incredibly depressed.

Damn it, I can't be the only one depressed!

So, people started posting their thoughts or reviews, or calling their friends to recommend this movie, which they knew from its title to be incredibly romantic.

Of course, if the movie was of poor quality and people were "tricked" into watching it, they would have already started cursing it online.

Even if ordinary viewers don't know things like narrative structure or cinematic language, or understand sophisticated expressions like exploring human nature, the movie still tells a great story, and the actors' performances are undoubtedly excellent.

Whether you act well or not, the audience can tell very easily.

The audience isn't stupid; it's not something that can be achieved by online trolls stirring up trouble or fans desperately promoting it.

Just like Jackie Chan's performance in the movie, it is subversive to everyone. When the audience sees his performance, they can naturally feel a sense of sorrow in their hearts. This is the actor's ability to empathize.

Yes, there were indeed criticisms online, but not for the poor quality of the movie. Instead, they criticized the person who "tricked" them into going to the theater, and some even criticized Cao Yang for being heartless and advised him to be kind.

Cao Yang led the crew to promote the film in seven cities over three days, and then he returned to Beijing. However, the crew did not return; instead, there was a plan to promote the film in twenty cities, with Cheng Long leading the promotion.

It's worth mentioning that perhaps everyone was keen on "hyping" the audience, which led to more people going to the cinema. In just three days, "Love in the Seaside City" achieved a respectable 4600 million yuan in box office revenue.

As an art film, this is actually a huge hit.

Adding the 630 million from the midnight showing, the total reached 5230 million in three days.

Just three days after the release of "Love in the Seaside City", "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon", which many people were optimistic about, was also released on April 3. However, the box office results will not be known until tomorrow.

On the same day, "The Children of Huang Shi," starring Chow Yun-fat, was also released, and its box office results will not be known until tomorrow.

Cao Yang returned to the capital for an important matter, for which he had purchased the adaptation rights to a novel in advance.

It's not that I want to make this movie myself, but rather that I'm "giving" it to Xiao Gangpao so that he, who loves hype, can have a good time creating buzz this month and act as a "gunman." I'll then add fuel to the fire, hoping it will help with what's about to happen.

(End of this chapter)