Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 405 The Honor of the Golden Statue, Winning Your Heart

Transformers 4 broke Avatar's box office record in mainland China in just 11 days, becoming the highest-grossing film in mainland China's history.

By the 10th, Transformers 4's total box office in mainland China had exceeded 15 billion yuan, constantly breaking records and demonstrating the boundless potential of the mainland market.

Previously, some people hoped that Li Qiutang could dethrone "Transformers 4" from its daily box office crown with "The Invisible Guest," which received the highest praise during the summer season. However, now that the film has grossed 15 billion, no one is mentioning that anymore.

On the premiere day, the 10th, Li Qiutang and her entourage were in Chengdu. The publicity company, together with the local organizer, innovatively arranged a hot pot promotional trip for the film crew.

Right there in the square in Taikoo Li, a table was set up with a hot pot, and the film's creators and the host chatted and ate. A crowd of onlookers surrounded them.

Li Qiutang, feeling the spiciness, gulped down her water.

At noon on the 11th, Li Qiutang and his group appeared in Hong Kong, 1800 kilometers away.

Many mainland viewers have overlooked the fact that "The Invisible Guest" was deliberately made into a co-production between mainland China and Hong Kong to avoid censorship.

But that's exactly what "The Invisible Guest" aims to achieve; the production team wants to obscure this fact as much as possible, and mainland audiences are best left unaware that it's a co-production.

Hong Kong audiences weren't very supportive of "The Invisible Guest," for a simple reason: the film only used a handful of Hong Kong actors, such as Zeng Jiang, and didn't feature well-known names like Gu Tianle, Liu Qingyun, and Liu Dehua.

The three main actors with the most screen time, the male lead, the female lead, and the second female lead, are all from mainland China, so Hong Kong audiences are not very receptive to them.

The Hong Kong premiere was very simple. The film regulator knew that the movie was not very popular in Hong Kong, so they didn't make a big fuss about it.

While waiting in the lounge, Li Qiutang finally received the first-day data for "The Invisible Guest" from yesterday.

"Let me announce something," Li Qiutang said, holding his phone. Huang Xiaoming, Xi Meijuan, Qin Lan, and the staff all looked at him. "Our first-day box office results are in."

"How much?" Qin Lan asked.

Huang Xiaoming laughed and said, "You can tell from his smug look that he won't be low."

Looking at the numbers on her phone, Li Qiutang read aloud: "Including midnight screenings, the total box office for the first day was 4013.75 million, beating 'Transformers 4' and becoming the single-day champion!"

Everyone exclaimed "Oh!" No one expected that "The Invisible Guest" could actually dethrone "Transformers 4"!

Then they clapped in perfect unison.

The boss of the Silver Supervision Company, Song Dai, cursed: "You're awesome, you managed to take this down."

"Damn, in Hong Kong, Transformers 4 is like a ghost; nobody can mess with it."

The first victory is certainly a cause for celebration, but Li Qiutang is not so arrogant as to think that "The Invisible Guest" can defeat "Transformers 4": "I can only be arrogant for a few days. I definitely can't win."

Zeng Jiang said, "Winning even one day is already quite impressive; no one in Hong Kong has ever won a single day."

At the premiere later, the host informed the guests and audience of the news that the single-day box office had surpassed that of "Transformers 4," which was a commendable achievement. Perhaps some viewers who saw this news would be curious enough to go to the cinema to see what "The Invisible Guest" was all about.

The Hong Kong premiere wasn't particularly memorable. Li Qiutang even said in an interview: "It's a fact that I'm very reluctant to admit but must acknowledge: there are no more Hong Kong films, and no more Taiwanese films. From now on, there will only be Chinese films, only Chinese-language films."

It wasn't that Li Qiutang was expressing her emotions, but rather that this was the current situation, and it would inevitably continue to be so in the future.

Films from Hong Kong and Taiwan may still retain their own unique flavor, but Hong Kong and Taiwan have confirmed their loss of their status as major markets for Chinese-language films and will not have another chance to rise again. After the interview, "The Invisible Guest" will pass through customs this afternoon to attend an event in Shenzhen.

During the lunch break, former Hong Kong Film Awards chairman Wen Jun paid a visit.

Wenjun went north very early and had a thorough understanding of the markets in both places. Although Li Qiutang spoke roughly, he agreed with the reasoning behind it: "The decline of Hong Kong films is beyond human control. They will not die, but they can only prolong their lives, which is worse than death."

Wen Junlai certainly didn't come to discuss the rise and fall of Hong Kong films with Li Qiutang.

He's here to discuss cooperation.

To circumvent censorship in mainland China, "The Invisible Guest" was made into a co-production between mainland China and Hong Kong. The upcoming film "Mojin: The Lost Legend" also used last year's Miss Hong Kong winner, which made Hong Kong bigwigs like Wen Jun feel that Li Qiutang was negotiable and willing to help Hong Kong films.

Li Qiutang was certainly open to discussion, but he didn't quite understand the cooperation model Wenjun had proposed.

Wenjun should know that Li Qiutang is neither short of money nor manpower. Qiutian's base is in the mainland, so if he wants to cooperate with Qiutian, he must show great sincerity.

Therefore, his proposed solution was for both parties to cooperate in the general co-production model, with each party contributing money and personnel based on specific circumstances. However, Wen Jun hinted to Li Qiutang that he could take care of Qiutian's project at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

"For example, I watched 'The Invisible Guest' and I think Xi Meijuan's performance was the best among actresses this year, and the script was also a rare gem in recent years."

Wenjun's words make sense, but the key issue is that Li Qiutang doesn't believe them!
The Hong Kong Film Awards are a members-selection system, with as many as a thousand members of the Hong Kong film industry participating in the award selection. Even if a few old guys like Wenjun are willing to vote for Qiutian, how can Wenjun convince the others?
Is the Hong Kong film industry a monolithic entity?

Those willing to move north and integrate are ultimately a minority. Most Hong Kong filmmakers still insist on sticking to Hong Kong. Although Wen Jun is the chairman and one of the big shots behind the Hong Kong film industry, he and a few "uncles" may not be able to turn this big ship around.

So what if he's Jackie Chan? The Hong Kong Film Awards still treat him like a monkey, refusing to give him the Best Actor award for decades.

Fun fact: Jackie Chan is just one step away from becoming a triple crown Best Actor winner, and that one is the Hong Kong Film Award.

Li Qiutang stated frankly that she had no interest in the Hong Kong Film Awards. Wen Jun was taken aback, as this was an answer he hadn't expected, but he quickly said, "Of course you can be indifferent if you have a Golden Globe Award, but you still need the people under your command."

That's true. It's true that the Hong Kong Film Awards have become a regional awards ceremony, but it would be a good thing if the actors and behind-the-scenes teams could win awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

But this did not dispel Li Qiutang's distrust of the Hong Kong Film Awards: "Compared to the awards, my brothers care more about the remuneration and job opportunities."

Awards are just icing on the cake; what they really care about is the substantial remuneration and the ability to work on more films a year.

Li Qiutang was unwilling to beat around the bush and proposed his own cooperation plan, which was simple and straightforward: you invest, don't worry about anything else, we'll split the profits and share the risks if we lose money, and don't try to put people in my way. I'll do what I'm supposed to do, and you can just stay behind the scenes.

Many people want to bribe Li Qiutang but can't find an opportunity. Li Qiutang's willingness to accept Hong Kong funds already shows great consideration for compatriots.

But this plan posed a problem for Wenjun; he couldn't make the decision on funding!

Hong Kong cinemas are almost broke themselves, so how can they afford to be someone else's cash cow?

But he also knew that movies made a lot of money in the fall, so investing in them would certainly be a good option.

Li Qiutang continued, "Actually, our company is not short of money. Many big bosses in mainland China want to invest in us, but I can decide to share a portion."

Can Li Qiutang be the master of autumn, and can Wen Jun be the master of the Hong Kong entertainment circle?
"You can think about it carefully. Once you've made up your mind, you can come to my company to discuss it."

(End of this chapter)