Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 530 Please invite Mr. Meng back!
Chen Sicheng has always been a very commercial person, which is reflected not only in movies, but also in his career outside of movies.

Seeing that short dramas have become a new trend, he has been considering whether to follow suit.

But since Meng Bai said that it is difficult to make money from investment, then he will think about it - this man's vision is well-known in the entire industry, not to mention that the popularity of this short drama came from him, so who else can he believe if not him?

"What are you two talking about?"

Chen Zhixi walked over and looked at Chen Sicheng: "Did you tell me about the movie?"

"No, I was just about to ask."

Meng Bai narrowed his eyes and glanced at the two people in confusion: "It sounds like there is some information that I don't know."

"Well, it's nothing actually. I just have a new film project and I want to ask you for help." Chen Sicheng said.

"New movie? Then you can go find Sister Xi. She has the final say now."

"Hey, don't say that. I'm just an employee. You all are my bosses."

The three of them joked for a while, and Meng Bai brought the topic back: "So, what exactly do you want to talk to me about? It can't be that you can't find investment for your new movie."

Chen Sicheng waved his hand: "It's actually very simple. I just want you to help invite someone to guest star in it."

"You're specifically asking me for help? Who are you looking for to give you such a big honor?"

"Teacher Li Qin."

"...Tsk, this guy is really impressive."

Seeing Meng Bai's silent expression, Chen Sicheng and Chen Zhixi smiled at the same time, "As expected." However, they did not tease him any more, and explained to him.

Chen Sicheng’s new film project is called "Her Disappearance", and like "The Accidental Murderer", it still chooses the theme of "Southeast Asian Crime".

The story is inspired by several old films from decades ago, including the former Soviet film "The Trap for Bachelors", the American "The Missing", and the source of this series, the French detective comedy "The Trap for the Lonely Man".

Chen Sicheng mixed the stories of these three films together, combined with the classic urban legend of "the wife disappeared and was sold to a foreign circus", as well as the previous case of "a pregnant woman falling off a cliff in Thailand", and finally stitched together this script.

The general plot of the movie is that Li Muzi, a rich girl who inherited a huge inheritance, disappeared unexpectedly while traveling abroad with her boyfriend He Fei. Just when He Fei was searching in vain, a strange woman appeared in front of him and insisted that she was the other party's girlfriend Li Muzi, and also produced various evidences.

Trapped in the conspiracy, He Fei grasped the only lifeline, "gold medal lawyer" Chen Mai, who also promised to help him find the truth. Unexpectedly, after several twists and turns, the real murderer was actually He Fei himself, whose purpose was to kill his wife and defraud the inheritance.

This project started preparations last year, and the main cast has been roughly determined. The male lead He Fei was chosen by Zhu Yilong, who had previously worked with him in the online drama "Detective Chinatown", the fake girlfriend was chosen by Wen Yongshan, and the "lawyer" Chen Mai was chosen by Ni Ni.

Chen Mai is a lawyer on the surface, but in fact she is the head of the drama troupe, Shen Man, and she is also the best friend of the real Li Muzi. She went to He Fei to seek revenge for her good sister.

The character of "Real Li Muzi" is a key figure in the story, and her position is very important, but she does not have many scenes. Apart from appearing in flashbacks, she has basically no scenes.

This kind of role can actually be played by any ordinary actor. But Chen Sicheng remembered that Ni Ni and Li Qin had worked together in "The Golden Years", and their "best friend CP" was quite popular.

In addition, the two girls have a good relationship in real life, so they thought of inviting Li Qin to guest-star as the role of "the real Li Muzi", which would add more gimmicks to the movie.

"That's it. No problem. I'll ask her later." Meng Bai agreed without hesitation, and then stroked his chin and said, "But speaking of which, the subject of your movie this time is a bit..."

"Why, inappropriate?"

"No, it's perfect."

Many viewers have always felt that Chen Sicheng is a very "cunning" person.

When youth films were popular, he made "Northern Love"; later, when comedies were popular, he made "Detective Chinatown"; later, when suspense was popular, he made "The Accidental Murderer" and so on. In short, he made whatever was popular. If we talk about the hottest topics in the past two years, they are naturally "female protagonists" and "gender opposition". This "Gone Girl" obviously has this tendency.

If it were Meng Bai, he would not like to make this kind of film. But everyone has their own ideas, and this project itself seems to be quite profitable, so he did not try to persuade Chen Sicheng.

“Are you going to Thailand to shoot?”

"That's what I thought at first, but now the situation there is too complicated and safety is not guaranteed, so I finally decided not to go out and shoot in Hainan."

"Hainan? That's perfect." Meng Bai said with a smile, "The movie 'All or Nothing' that we are preparing recently will also be filmed in Hainan."

Chen Sicheng's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Then it's easy for me. I can just borrow your scene for use."

"Easy to say."

The two of them roughly reached an agreement, and the subsequent details would naturally be handled by the directors of both sides. Coincidentally, the premiere was about to start, so this topic came to an end.

Compared with the first two films in the same series, "Detective Chinatown 3" far exceeds in terms of cast and popularity, and is considered a big hit during this year's Spring Festival.

However, "Detective Chinatown 3" is not the only big production during the Spring Festival.

"The Battle at Lake Changjin", which just won the domestic box office championship during the National Day holiday last year, followed up with its second film "Watergate" during the Spring Festival holiday.

In addition, there is "Sniper" directed by Zhang Yimou, "Miracle: Silly Kid", Wen Muye's new work after "Dying to Survive", and "Boonie Bears" which appears regularly every year.

This is how the Spring Festival period is. Every movie looks very promising before it is released, but as soon as it hits the screen, the good and the bad can be immediately distinguished.

……

Although the influenza situation in various places has worsened with the spread of new variants, there has not been a large-scale closure like when it first appeared in 20 years.

Thanks to the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies, this year's Spring Festival data hit a new high. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the total box office revenue exceeded 18 billion.

The most eye-catching one is naturally "Detective Chinatown 3". Relying on the popularity of the previous two films, it won 10 billion box office on the first day of its release, accounting for more than half of the box office, and also broke the first-day box office record of domestic films.

In the following days, the cumulative box office performance of the movie continued to grow rapidly, reaching 18 billion in the first two days of its release and 25 billion on the third day...

By the end of the Spring Festival holiday, the total box office of "Detective Chinatown 3" had reached the 40 billion mark.

Following closely behind is "The Battle at Lake Changjin", which ranked second with a box office of 25 billion.

As for "Miracle: The Little Thing" and "Sniper", the gap is quite large. The former barely made 10 billion yuan at the box office, while the latter was less than 5 million yuan.

Judging from the box office data alone, this year's Spring Festival period performed quite well and has almost returned to its pre-flu level.

However, the audience's evaluation was not satisfactory. First, many people said that the ticket price was too expensive, and second, the quality of several movies this year was a bit poor.

The first to bear the brunt is "Detective Chinatown 3", in which the reasoning elements are further weakened and the comedy elements are increased. Although the scenes are full, the plot seems very weak.

This can be seen from the ratings, hundreds of thousands of viewers gave it 5.3 points, which is below the passing line. As a result, the IP of "Detective Chinatown" has also been somewhat damaged.

[The second part was not very good, and the third part is even worse. Chen Sicheng, we beg you to stop using those dirty jokes and invite Mr. Meng back immediately! ]

This message under the official movie blog received nearly 100,000 likes, and many fans begged Meng Bai to continue to direct the "Detective Chinatown" movie.

I don't ask for the quality of the first part, it's enough to maintain the plot level of the web drama.

(End of this chapter)