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

Chapter 531: No Threats, All Performance
"Uncle, I saw that the reviews of Detective Chinatown 3 online were quite bad. Are you going to be in charge of the next one yourself?"

In the hotel room, Meng Ziyi looked at the movie reviews on the screen and said to Meng Bai who was sitting not far away.

Hearing his niece's question, Meng Bai casually said, "It's hard to say. The 'Tang Detective' film series is now a self-contained system. Even if I join in, I may not be able to adapt."

"Wouldn't this IP be scrapped?"

"That's not the case, but we can't continue with the fourth film. This series may have to be put on hold for now, and the project will be restarted after we work out the next film."

Meng Bai put down the documents in his hand and frowned slightly.

The question Meng Ziyi asked was indeed what he had recently discussed with Ruyi and Chen Sicheng. Although Detective Chinatown 3 was a big hit at the box office and won the Spring Festival championship, its reputation did collapse a bit.

Even the IP value of the entire "Tang Detective" series has been affected. If we continue to make "Tang Detective 4" according to the current thinking, then this series may really be ruined.

Whether it is Meng Bai, Chen Sicheng, or Chen Zhixi, none of them are eager for quick success. Seeing that there are problems with the movie, they naturally stopped the development of the sequel immediately.

As for how to solve this problem, several people had different opinions.

Chen Sicheng himself prefers a "soft reboot" and wants to make up for the loss of the main storyline by shooting works like a "prequel".

Meng Bai proposed another idea, which is to shoot a special episode to bring the "Detective Chinatown" movie version, which has gone off track, back to the "criminal investigation universe".

The second phase of ArcLight's "Green Ivy Series" has begun. The long-awaited "Forensic Qin Ming", "Day and Night Chase", "Hunting Crime Picture Book", and the sequel to the "Detective Chinatown" web drama will be launched one after another.

Just as Qin Feng began to face the "Q" organization in "Detective Chinatown 3", the second phase of the "Green Ivy Series" also brought Q to the surface, allowing several protagonists to officially start a showdown.

In this case, why not just bring all the protagonists together? To accommodate a story of this magnitude, a web series alone is a bit weak, so Meng Bai wants to make it into a movie.

Using the movie version of the "Detective Chinatown Universe" as the framework, a spin-off was created to bring out the "team battle" that fans have been longing for for a long time, and by the way, to whitewash the bad impression brought by "Detective Chinatown 3".

"So, which method did you finally decide to use?" Meng Ziyi asked curiously.

"How can we decide so quickly? We have to wait until the script is written and then compare the advantages of each." Meng Bai said: "Besides, Detective Chinatown 3 has just been released. Even if a new movie is released, the audience will have to wait for a year or two."

"Yeah, that's right. If time goes on for a while, there will be fewer people scolding me." Meng Ziyi said happily: "I searched my name online recently and found that I don't see many haters scolding me anymore."

"Is there a possibility that your disliked behaviors are remembered by big data, so now they are not pushed to you, trapping you in an 'information cocoon'?" Meng Bai said calmly.

"Ah, is that so?"

Meng Ziyi pouted: "It's okay, I'm happy too, since I can't see it anyway."

"It's okay, girl. There will be no problem as long as you have this mentality." Meng Bai gave her a thumbs up.

However, this girl's reputation on the Internet has indeed improved greatly compared to the past two years.

First there was the foundation of "Twinkle Twinkle Star", and then the show "Fifty Kilometers Taohuawu" gave her a space to show her personality.

Then came "Eastern Palace" in the second half of last year. Although it was not a big hit, it had a strong long-tail effect and attracted a large number of fans and passers-by. Even though the show has been broadcast for half a year, her role as "Qu Xiaofeng" is still compared to the heroines of other ancient idol dramas by countless viewers.

The labels given to her by netizens have changed from "resourceful person" and "internet celebrity face" to "stupid beauty", and even the name she calls her has become the respectful title "Sister Meng".

"Anything else, Sister Meng?"

"Uncle, why do you call me Sister Meng——"

"It must be said, this name does come out quite easily."

Meng Bai stood up and pulled her clothes to lift her up: "Alright, the filming is about to start. If you have nothing to do, go back to your room and prepare for your role. Don't keep coming here to chat with me. If you don't perform well later, I will really replace you."

"Don't worry, I promise to work hard!"

Meng Ziyi made a "don't worry" expression and then opened the door. However, she did not rush out, but stood at the door and turned to look at Meng Bai.

"Uncle!"

"what happened again?"

Meng Bai looked over, but saw that the girl didn't smile as usual, but looked at him with complicated expressions. "..."

Meng Ziyi opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. She took a deep breath, put on her usual look, and said with a smile: "It's okay, I just want to thank you."

"Okay, you have a conscience."

"Of course, Sister Meng has always been grateful and repays kindness."

As she said that, she opened the door and made a heart shape to Meng Bai, pretending to be greasy: "Uncle, I love you!"

"…Go outside and close my door immediately."

"Go now!"

Seeing the pretty figure disappear outside the door, Meng Bai couldn't help but smile, but then he restrained himself.

After a long silence, he finally sighed.

Walking to the window of the room, the balcony window was open, and a gentle breeze blew in from outside, gently caressing Meng Bai's face.

Although it is only March, the temperature outside is not chilly at all, and the scenery is pleasant instead.

This is certainly not the chilly northern Beijing. "All or Nothing", which has completed its preliminary preparations and is about to start filming, he and the crew came to the filming location in Danzhou, Hainan.

The crew used the Danzhou campus of Hainan University as the main location for the "electronic fraud park" in the movie. Hainan's climate and old teaching buildings are very similar to the real "park".

The role of "Liang Anna" was finally given to Meng Ziyi, who was the one who "dealed the cards online".

As for the other leading actors, the male lead "Mr. Pan" was played by Peng Yuchang, and the villain leader "Manager Lu" was played by Wang Chuanjun.

In addition, Meng Ziyi also recommended her new bestie Zhou Ye, who is also one of the leading actors. However, in the movie, it is another story line, and there are not many scenes between them.

As for the director of the film, I chose Shen Ao, who I had worked with once before. Although his previous film "The Beneficiary" did not perform well, his level is still online.

Meng Bai pulled Ning Hao over to be the producer. After all, he was his man, so he had to take the responsibility.

"Xiao Shen, you don't have to keep thinking about the previous project. Don't be so nervous."

On the movie set, Meng Bai patted Shen Ao's shoulder to comfort him.

Although he was two years older, Shen Ao did not mind being called "Little Shen" at all, and said gratefully, "I understand, Mr. Meng. Don't worry, with Brother Ning helping to supervise the production this time, there will definitely be no problem with the movie."

"Yes, I believe you." Meng Bai smiled and asked, "By the way, I heard that you received a threatening text message some time ago?"

"Ah, that's what happened."

Ever since the Ministry of Public Security announced that it would join hands with Arc Light Pictures to create a crime film with the theme of "anti-fraud", there has been no discussion about this film on the Internet.

Although the "Northern Myanmar Industrial Park" and "Internet fraud" have become hot topics among the public in the past two years, "All or Nothing" is still the first one to be adapted.

Audiences are naturally very interested in this story, especially after hearing that it is based on a large number of real "escaped persons", they want to see what the mysterious "park" looks like.

In a sense, this can be considered as "cutting off someone's financial resources". What is unexpected is that some practitioners actually dug up the director's Olympic bid and sent him a lot of threatening text messages.

"It's okay, Mr. Meng, these are just some harassing text messages." Shen Ao said with a smile, "If you want to shoot abroad, I'd be a little worried. But we're shooting in China, I don't believe anyone would dare to come."

Meng Bai nodded and said, "Indeed, I have talked to the leaders of the Ministry of Public Security about this matter. They have already started investigating the mobile phone number and account that sent you the message. As long as they are in the country, no one can escape."

"That's great, and it gives the police officers another boost in sales."

Shen Ao said this with a smile, and at the same time he felt a lot more relaxed.

Although he had thought nothing would happen before, he was still a little nervous as it was his first time to encounter such a threat. Now that he heard that there was official protection, his worries immediately disappeared.

(End of this chapter)