Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 402 No rush, let's play around with him.

The cast and crew of "The Invisible Guest" concluded their activities in Chongqing today, and a manager from Pacific Cinemas invited the cast and crew to experience Chongqing's late-night snacks.

A group of people sat together, chatting idly about all sorts of things.

"The ancients were right. When choosing a wife, choose a virtuous one. We don't expect her to be a great help; it would be good enough if she didn't cause us any trouble. What do you say, Xiaoming?" A manager from Autumn Film Studio asked Huang Xiaoming pointedly.

Huang Xiaoming had drunk a couple more glasses, but he still knew what the other person was talking about. He glanced at Li Qiutang and saw that he hadn't noticed him and was still talking to the cinema managers. So he just smiled and said, "When you marry a wife, you should definitely marry a virtuous one. Those who like to cause trouble and make a fuss will only be a disaster if you marry them."

Don't think the production team doesn't know who's been pushing the online backlash against Qin Lan lately. One is Lu Chuan, and the other is Huang Xiaoming's troublesome young model girlfriend!
The production crew couldn't say anything, but the company didn't care. They would give him a warning if necessary. The company wasn't interested in Huang Xiaoming's family affairs, but they couldn't let his family affairs affect the company's films.

"Director, eat something, stop looking at your phone." Li Qiutang had checked her phone quite a few times tonight.

Li Qiutang said, "Well, I'll reply to Deng Chao's message. He's so worried about 'The Breakup Guru' versus 'Transformers 4' that he can't sleep all night. I'll just say a few words of comfort to him."

"The Breakup Guru" vs. "Transformers 4" is the opening battle of this summer's movie season and also the most anticipated showdown.

Nobody thought "The Breakup Guru" could win.

"Deng Chao was really unlucky to run into such a competitor. How did Guangshan manage to release the film? How did it end up clashing with Transformers 4?"

There's no other way to make it happen. Film schedules are getting harder and harder to manage these days. The first three weeks of June each have a number of big-budget films, but we have to release "Transformers 4" in the last week, otherwise China Film Group won't be able to explain it to Paramount.

Should Transformers 4 be released in July or August?
Who would dare to do this? Does China Film Group even need to maintain its standards?
But Li Qiutang has a different view: "It's definitely going to be a loss, but the box office performance might not be bad. This film has a low budget, and with Guangxian and Deng Chao's abilities, it shouldn't lose money. The question now is whether it will make more or less money."

Li Qiutang's words were agreed upon by the theater chain.

By the time "The Invisible Guest" arrived at Pengcheng to meet moviegoers, the opening day box office results for "The Breakup Guru" were already in – 3960 million!
This is a really good result.

The next day, Saturday, "Transformers 4" was released. It was thought that "The Breakup Guru" would be overshadowed, but unexpectedly, "The Breakup Guru" bucked the trend and grossed 4700 million!
Transformers 4's opening day box office reached a staggering 2.19 million! Another new record!

Transformers 4 grossed a whopping $630 million in its first three days!
"The Breakup Guru" grossed 1.53 million yuan in its opening weekend, breaking even and making a profit!

While Transformers 4 achieved high box office results, its record-breaking performance was expected. However, the fact that Breakup Guru managed to snatch $1.53 million from Transformers 4 is something that deserves serious attention.

Based on the theory of three times the box office in the opening weekend, it's no problem for "The Breakup Guru" to earn 4 million. Such a huge success for a debut film is already a great achievement.

Deng Chao was incredibly excited.

With such a return on investment, eight years ago, he could have been considered a genius director alongside Ning Hao and Li Qiutang.

The pressure was put on the films that were released in early July.

"What am I worried about?" Li Qiutang was actually relaxed. "It boosted the market and I benefited from it too."

The company doesn't think Transformers 4 will affect The Invisible Guest.

On the last day of June, Chen Zhixi, Senior Vice President of Autumn Pictures, returned to China after completing her 17-month study in the United States.

Her return also meant that Guo Fan was about to embark on his North American journey. The first thing Chen Zhixi heard upon her return was that Xu Shanzheng wanted to separate from Qiu Tian regarding the film "Lost in Hong Kong".

Chen Zhixi fully understood Xu Shanzheng's desire to take the initiative and make more money, but in the eyes of those in the industry, his actions were somewhat greedy.

Autumn had already made huge concessions on "Lost in Hong Kong" to guarantee his profits, but he still felt that the success of the two "Lost" films was his own achievement, and that Autumn had only given him money and had not helped him in any way.

He did all the work, but Qiu Tian took the lion's share of the profits.

This is unfair.

Chen Zhixi participated in the entire filming of "Lost in Thailand" and also invested in it, so her first task after returning to China was to handle "Lost in Hong Kong".

But the actual situation of "Lost in Hong Kong" was worse than she had imagined.

Xu Shanzheng not only wanted to separate from Qiutian, he also didn't want Baoqiang, a key figure in the "Lost in..." series.

Bao Qiang was very interested in "Lost in Hong Kong" and was even willing to exchange his salary for a share of the profits and invest another sum in Xu Shanzheng, but Xu Shanzheng refused.

He didn't want Qiu Tian to make the lion's share, nor did he want Bao Qiang to get any of his money!
He was even unwilling to ask Huang Bo to act again!
The script for "Lost in Hong Kong" is not yet finalized, but judging from the current draft, although "Lost in Hong Kong" continues the style of road comedy, the trip to Hong Kong has become a one-man show for Xu Lai, played by him!
Chen Zhixi knew what the bald guy was thinking as soon as she saw the script: he wanted to have it all to himself! He wanted the money and the spotlight role!
Eating alone is a major taboo in this industry!

Chen Zhixi spent about three days figuring out the plot of "Lost in Hong Kong". Just then, Li Qiutang returned to Yanjing to organize the convoy of "Mojin: The Lost Legend" to be shipped to Inner Mongolia, and she came to talk about "Lost in Hong Kong".

Major issues are decided in small meetings. Chen Zhixi and Li Qiutang took a half-hour walk at the Huairou Film and Television Base and settled the matter.

"Don't rush into it. Let it sit for six months or a year. It won't affect us at all if the film isn't released, but it will drive them crazy." Qiu Tian has this ability now: I can't stop you from doing it, but if I want to, I can definitely mess things up for you.

In fact, Li Qiutang already had a plan for how to handle "Lost in Hong Kong," but as he himself said, he wasn't in a hurry to do it and would just let it sit.

Chen Zhixi went to the United States to study as a producer. Li Qiutang couldn't help but ask her a few more questions about her learning progress in the United States. Chen Zhixi said, "I will be giving a report at the company in a few days. You can come and listen then."

"I don't have time to go back to the company. Both film crews are at a critical stage, and I have to leave Yanjing this afternoon." However, Li Qiutang invited Chen Zhixi to manage her film crew, but Chen Zhixi refused her boss's request.

“I wasn’t involved in your production team. It would be difficult to work if I suddenly joined in, and no one would listen to me anyway. I have my own team.”

"What group?"

“I’m in the US, but some people in China still send me scripts. Have you seen ‘Men’s Diary’?”

"Seen."

“That director wants to make a movie. He gave me the script last month. It looks good, and I think it’s worth doing.”

Li Qiutang knew which drama it was.

"The company should support me, right?" Chen Zhixi joined Qiutian and was sent to the United States by Li Qiutang. She hasn't made a single film for the company in over a year.

"The company won't refuse to approve this amount of money. You're making a fuss over nothing." Li Qiutang told her to relax. How could a vice president like her not be able to manage that small amount of money?
(End of this chapter)