Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 415 International Filipino Flower

Although it's only the beginning of August, Autumn Pictures has already secured its place as the biggest winner of the summer movie season.

Li Qiutang's film "The Invisible Guest" has grossed 6.6 million yuan in 31 days and will continue to be shown until the end of the summer movie season.

Autumn Pictures' new film "Brotherhood of Blades" also hit theaters nationwide this Thursday. Thanks to Autumn's vast distribution network and proactive marketing and promotion strategies, the film achieved a good opening day gross of over 2700 million yuan.

This result isn't particularly impressive for a summer blockbuster season, but for a new director and a fading martial arts film, 2700 million is certainly a respectable amount.

Autumn Pictures' imported film "Lucy" has grossed over 4 million yuan in mainland China in 17 days. Although it is not as good as "The Invisible Guest", the significance of "Lucy" cannot be matched even if all three "The Invisible Guest" films are combined.

"Lucy" has surpassed $1 million at the North American box office. Do you know what that means? It means that Liu Yifei has become the second Chinese-language actress after Jackie Chan to achieve this feat, officially becoming a significant symbol of Chinese culture overseas, and it's no exaggeration to say that she has become a major face of Chinese culture abroad!
Unlike Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Lucy is an art film that relied on awards and promotion to achieve such a high box office success.

"Lucy" is a purely commercial genre film! It will attract a much larger audience than "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Actually, Pacific Rim had already grossed over $100 million at the North American box office. At that time, the authorities wanted to promote Liu Yifei, but the focus was on the fact that the box office in mainland China had surpassed the North American box office for the first time. From the perspective of the overall market, this news had higher strategic value.

Now that we've brought this up again, there's even more to write about.

The day after "Lucy" grossed over $100 million at the North American box office, it was reported on the news in China's morning news.

Morning news usually reports on people's livelihood and international news. Even when it reports on movies, it usually focuses on the overall market, such as "the summer movie market is booming, causing a movie-watching trend." It rarely reports on a specific movie. But today is different.

"Let's look at the movie news. The summer movie market is booming, and the sci-fi movie 'Lucy,' starring Liu Yifei, has caused a huge sensation in both China and the United States. 'Lucy' has grossed over 4 million yuan at the domestic box office, and its North American box office surpassed the 1 million US dollar mark last night."

In its detailed report, the news channel invited film scholars to comment on "Lucy" grossing over $100 million in North America: "This is a very significant achievement for Chinese actors in the mainstream Hollywood market, and it has milestone significance."

At noon, the midday news reported on it again, and later that day, CCTV-6 followed suit, giving "Lucy" a longer coverage and more specific and detailed commentary from scholars.

Liu Yifei's fans are overjoyed!
With its North American box office exceeding $100 million, a feat previously achieved only by Jackie Chan and Ang Lee, Liu Yifei became the third person to achieve this, and she was only 27 years old at the time. If we also include the $1.01 million North American box office of Pacific Rim, then Liu Yifei was 26 years old at the time.

"Who dares to say that Sissi isn't a top-tier actress?! You can't find another one like her in all of Asia!"

"Sissi suffered from debuting early and being young, which made people mistakenly think she was a young actress, but in fact, when Sissi debuted, she was benchmarked against the Four Great Actresses! She has grown into a leading actress now!"

"No one would disagree that Sisi's career has taken a precipitous leap forward, right?"

"I can already guess that some fans will try every means to drag Sisi down and prevent her from ascending, otherwise their master will look very incompetent."

It's no surprise that someone will try to diminish the value of Liu Yifei's achievement. Even when Zhang Ziyi won all three gold medals, the outside world questioned "The Grandmaster," and Liu Yifei is no exception.

No great flower's ascension is without its trials and tribulations.

Official publicity is official publicity, what does it have to do with my fandom?

"What kind of skill is it to rely on a sugar daddy when you're young and on your boyfriend when you're older?"

"The guy keeps dragging his feet on making it official and not giving her a formal title. What kind of boyfriend is he? Who else but her would acknowledge him?"

"They're promoting her to make money. Once they've made enough, they'll move on to someone else to promote and play with. There are plenty of pretty young girls in the industry."

Unable to attack her achievements, the haters resorted to attacking her private life. Liu Yifei's team, as always, ignored these comments, allowing her to focus on filming in Huairou. The team is actively negotiating new endorsements and events for her—the success of "Lucy" has attracted many big names.

There's no time to deal with these clowns—Liu Yifei's achievements are now rock solid, and her team has high standards. Unless something serious happens, they won't bother with these people.

Thanks to Li Qiutang's team's excellent management skills and thorough preparation, the "Mojin: The Lost Legend" crew returned to Yanjing without wasting a single day; they went straight to the studio after getting off the bus.

The China Film Group Huairou Base has a total of 16 sound stages. The film crew rented 13 of them, and the other three, which were 800 square meters each, were deemed too small and were not used.

Even so, the Huairou film studio didn't have a single soundstage large enough to accommodate the entire ancient tomb. The crew had to build it, film, dismantle it, and then rebuild it again. This resulted in a huge additional cost.

But that's the reality; even going to Hengdian wouldn't improve the situation much.

It's August now, 30 degrees Celsius outside, and 40 degrees Celsius inside the shed. The ancient tomb scenery is also a bit dirty, and the staff are all wearing masks, which makes it even hotter. The working conditions are indeed not good.

"Director, why is tomorrow's schedule changed to a night shift?" the production manager asked Li Qiutang. "Isn't it supposed to be daytime shooting?"

Li Qiutang said directly, "I have something to do during the day tomorrow, so the filming will be changed to nighttime."

Even Liu Yifei asked him why he changed the schedule at the last minute. Li Qiutang told her more specifically: "I have to go to a meeting tomorrow, so I can only film the night shift."

Liu Yifei knew Li Qiutang's work habits; he wouldn't easily change the filming schedule, so this must be something big.

"What kind of meeting is this? Even the film crew has to be put aside."

Li Qiutang didn't need to hide it from Liu Yifei: "Changchun Film Studio wants to build a film theme park in Harbin and is holding a promotional event in Beijing. They asked me to lend a hand."

The three northeastern provinces are one family, and when Changchun Film Studio asked him for help, he was willing to do his part.

Liu Yifei's eyes widened: "You're so amazing! You can even do projects like this." Building a movie-themed amusement park would cost at least four or five billion yuan. Liu Yifei was a seasoned amusement park enthusiast; if only she could have her own amusement park...

“Hey!” Li Qiutang said, “How did the amusement park become mine? It belongs to Changchun Film Studio. They asked me for a favor. After all, I have some influence and reputation in the film industry.”

With Uncle Benshan's retirement, Northeast China has indeed lacked a benchmark figure in the film and television industry.

The next morning, Li Qiutang and Zhang Zhao arrived at their target hotel together.

Originally, Zhang Zhao wasn't supposed to come, but he insisted on coming along, saying he wanted to learn from their experience: "We can't build an amusement park right now, so let's listen and learn first."

Zhang Zhao and Li Qiutang both wanted to create their own movie theme park, but Qiutian doesn't yet have the capability to do so.

Upon arriving at the scene, I saw a large group of over a hundred people, including representatives from various central ministries, local governments and their functional departments, banks, Changchun Film Studio, and private investment institutions. Many of them were acquaintances.

After exchanging greetings, Li Qiutang's phone rang. It was Wang Zhonglei calling, and he went outside to answer it.

"Qiu Tang, the company is going to hold a promotional event for the movie town next week. Leaders from various ministries, banks and local governments will be there. Please come and sit down and support us."

Li Qiutang: …………

(End of this chapter)