Became the best actor, the system just finished loading

Chapter 424 The Judges Who Came to Our Door
The birth of the crown prince was naturally a cause for celebration within the entire group.

Old Tian waved his hand and announced that, to celebrate, the start-of-work bonus this year would be increased from 500 yuan to 1,000 yuan.

The group offers exceptionally generous benefits.

The annual start-of-work bonus alone is enough to make people happy, and they can't feel the misery of being treated like cattle or horses at all.

The "start-of-work red envelope" is a red envelope that employees receive when they return to their work positions after the Spring Festival holiday.

However, not all employees of the company are on holiday; some are still working.

Especially with Stephen Chow's "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" being released during the Lunar New Year, manpower was indispensable.

"Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" is a film co-produced by Zhonghao Entertainment, Feiyang Media, and Bigo Films, and distributed by Zhonghao Entertainment.

With a total investment of 1.5 million, it can definitely be considered a big-budget production.

Fortunately, the movie's box office performance was excellent, not only preventing Zhonghao Entertainment from losing money but also resulting in a huge profit.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it swept the Lunar New Year film season.

In fact, several big-budget films were released during this Lunar New Year film season.

For example, Li An's new film "Life of Pi", Feng Xiaogang's "Back to 1942", Hendrik Willem Van Loon's "CZ12" (directed and starring himself), Liu Weiqiang's "The Guillotines" (directed and starring Huang Xiaoming), and Wang Jiawei's "The Grandmaster"...

With so many great movies, the film truly shows the sincerity of its audience.

However, the audience did not appreciate it.

Even Stephen Chow's box office hit "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" still disappointed moviegoers.

No one but Stephen Chow can perform his comedies.

Lee An's "Life of Pi" is very good, but unfortunately many people didn't understand it; they just thought the visuals were pretty good.

Hendrik Willem Van Loon's "Chinese Zodiac" is not bad, but it's just average. There's really nothing particularly noteworthy about his movies these days.

Even the actresses who starred in "Dragon Girls" look like they've had plastic surgery.

The one who received the harshest criticism was Feng Xiaogang.

Moviegoers say they hate it when people like Feng Xiaogang, who reek of money, pretend to be profound.

It's like a woman who sells meat suddenly crossing her legs and refusing to have sex with you, instead starting to seriously discuss national affairs with you, but she's not a fairy godmother.

What's even more infuriating is that while he's playing the profound card, he's also gloating about how my film cost hundreds of millions and is expected to gross hundreds of millions.

Can't you just make a comedy film and earn some money on your knees? Nobody expects you to have ideals. Let Jiang Wen and Wang Jiawei handle those. You just need to make the audience laugh.

As Master Tang once said, "Making money is nothing to be ashamed of!"
Moreover, themes of suffering are really not suitable for release during the Lunar New Year holiday season when hundreds of millions of people are looking forward to watching movies for entertainment.

Furthermore, since it is a serious art form that reflects on history, there should be less commercial showmanship, so that people will feel that your attitude is more genuine and sincere.

Wang Jiawei's "The Grandmaster" is alright, but that's about it. Expecting Wong Kar-wai to tell a good story is like climbing Mount Everest.

As for "The Guillotines," starring Huang Xiaoming, hardly anyone talks about it.

They don't like to talk.

"Back to 1942" had an investment of 210 million yuan and a cumulative box office of 3.71 million yuan.

deficit!
"The Grandmaster" had an investment of 1.8 million yuan and a cumulative box office of 2.89 million yuan, breaking Wang Jiawei's box office record.

deficit!
"Chinese Zodiac" had an investment of 3.5 million yuan and a cumulative box office of 8.8 million yuan.

A small loss!

Actually, Hendrik Willem Van Loon's movies shouldn't have lost money if they achieved this box office performance; his box office appeal overseas is astonishing.

Unfortunately, even the rice cake market couldn't save this movie.

On its opening day, "CZ3" grossed only $19200, and its opening weekend grossed only $6. The film was shown in 102 theaters across the United States, with an average gross of $188 per theater on its opening day, setting a new low for the gross per theater for a Chinese-language film and also the lowest grossing film in North America for a kung fu movie starring Hendrik Willem Van Loon.

"Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" cost 1.5 million yuan to produce and grossed 13 billion yuan at the box office.

Make big money!

Zhonghao Entertainment not only fulfilled its promise to Stephen Chow that if the box office exceeded 500 million, it would give him a larger share of the profits, but also gave him an extra big bonus.

Zhonghao Entertainment is never stingy when it comes to directors who can make money.

This also motivates directors who collaborate with the company to actively make films.

Wu Jing went into seclusion to work on the script for "Wolf Warrior".

Lu Yang began casting for "Brotherhood of Blades".

Chen Sicheng has already left for Thailand to start filming "Detective Chinatown". Xue Xiaolu's self-written and directed film "Bridget Jones in Seattle" has started filming.

Many other art-house films are also starting to be filmed.

"You mean... you're not making 'Lost in Hong Kong' anymore?"

Qi Hao had just started working when someone came to his door.

"Yes, the script is not perfect yet."

Ye Weimin nodded sadly. Although he had not yet lost his title as the highest-grossing film in mainland China, seeing other people's films repeatedly break the billion-yuan mark, he knew that his time was running out.

"Actually, Lao Ye, not every film we make is a classic. Ups and downs are the norm. No one can break the record of the previous film every time."

Qi Hao offered a few words of comfort.

"I understand, I just changed my perspective. Like when I was drinking with Brother Big Dog during the Chinese New Year..."

Big Dog Brother is Li Ming, the boss of Little Horse Galloping.

Within the company and in the film and television industry, he is affectionately known as "Big Dog Brother" by his friends and employees because of his righteous character.

Ye Weimin and Li Ming were originally completely unrelated.

Unfortunately, the entertainment industry is not very big to begin with.

Everyone has become part of Qi Hao's circle to some extent.

At the dinner table, Yip Wai-man complained about how much pressure he was under, saying that he was so worried about "Lost in 3" that he was losing almost all his hair.

Then Ning Hao, who sat next to him, said he had an idea.

After chatting for a while, the two unexpectedly left the table halfway through and went to a private room next door, turning their enjoyable time together into a private moment for just the two of them.

"You mean you want to use his idea, directly insert the story into 'Lost in 3,' and then the two of you can collaborate as writers and directors?"

Qi Hao was amazed; he had no idea that it could be done this way.
"Yes, what I actually meant was to have him direct 'Lost in 3'. He said it was about the concept, but the story was already very mature, and I guess he already had a complete script."

Ye Weimin doesn't mind sharing his private IP address with others.

"how about you?"

Qi Hao didn't care too much about how they operated; Ning Hao was also a top director.

In terms of both box office and critical acclaim, it belongs to the top tier.

"I'll continue studying 'Lost in Hong Kong'."

Ye Weimin stated matter-of-factly that he did not disregard his "囧" series IP.

Unfortunately, he couldn't write a satisfactory script in a short time.

In addition, both Ning Hao's skill level and the stories he presents are worthy of his "囧" series IP.

This is a win-win process.

Ning Hao wants to leverage the popularity and reputation of the "Lost in..." series to package his story and sell it for a good price.

Ye Weimin wants to maintain the popularity of the "Lost in..." series IP and give himself enough time for creative work.

"In principle, there's no problem. You can discuss and decide for yourselves."

Qi Hao didn't even ask how much the production cost would be; such a thing was too insignificant to him at the moment.

He was recently working on the Capital International Film Festival.

Qi Hao originally wanted to be a judge at the College Student Film Festival, but now the College Student Film Festival has been absorbed by the Capital International Film Festival, which is an important part of the Capital International Film Festival and exists as a sub-section of it.

Therefore, he was ousted by the Capital International Film Festival.

Previously, the Capital International Film Festival was merely a platform for exchange and trade, but starting this year, it has also taken on the function of awarding prizes.

从2013年4月17日起，15部中外影片将角逐“天坛奖”的10个奖项。

Qi Hao was a judge who came to him by chance.

Although he is not very old, he has won the Golden Horse Award for Best Director and the Venice International Film Festival Best Actor Award, so he is more than capable of serving as a jury member.

The student film festival is a place where people dare not speak out against their anger.

Qi Hao couldn't very well refuse.

These days, getting by in the world requires connections and influence, and the Capital International Film Festival is clearly more prestigious and powerful.

(End of this chapter)