Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 487 Meaningful 12 Billion

It has been more than a month since the writing team for "The Wandering Earth" was formed.

The script outline was released on July 1st.

China Film Group was extremely surprised by this speed!

The last time China Film Group collaborated with Li Qiutang was on "In Time," when Chairman Han was still in charge. Now, the personnel have changed, and the newcomers are not yet familiar with Li Qiutang's work habits.

The fact that a script outline was produced so quickly is thanks to Li Qiutang's strict grasp of the script's direction and clear requirements.

Li Qiutang proposed three principles for screenwriters: be special yet not special; proceed from visual to logical perspectives, from small to large and then back to small; and remember that humanity is so insignificant yet still fights with all its might.

The last point is Li Qiutang's distillation of Liu Cixin's authorial emotions.

Li Qiutang knew very well what she wanted.

After the outline was approved, Li Qiutang changed the screenwriter meeting to once a week, one day each time.

Li Qiutang's other script was not so simple. Li Qiang brought a new draft of "The Butterfly Lovers" to Li Qiutang's house, but the script was rejected. Li Qiang was so angry that she slammed her fist on the table with Li Qiutang, demanding that he give a clear explanation: "This draft is not acceptable? What exactly are you trying to express!"

Li Qiutang started to dissect the details: "Who asked you to write camera movement in the script? Horizontal panning and reverse shots, that's my business."

Li Qiutang often writes the camera angles in his own scripts, but he hates it when screenwriters write camera movement in other people's scripts.

"You didn't say that before."

As for what Li Qiutang wanted to express in "The Butterfly Lovers", his answer was: "What I want is the reality of life. Reality is not the truth. Reality is often vague. That's why I asked you to use a Rashomon structure. It means that everyone has their own reasons and you shouldn't get hung up on who is right and who is wrong. Right and wrong are too superficial."

Li Qiang is undoubtedly a genius screenwriter. As soon as Li Qiutang said that, he immediately grasped something deeper: "You want to film about communication barriers."

Li Qiutang smiled, as if his thoughts had finally been understood. His "The Butterfly Lovers" is on the surface about the emotional life of a married couple, but the deeper reason is the barrier to communication between husband and wife. To put it more broadly, Li Qiutang wanted to express the theme that people cannot fully communicate and understand each other through this story.

But Li Qiang then said, "Wouldn't that be too much like Edward Yang?"

Li Qiutang disagrees: "Basically all human emotional issues have already been filmed. If Edward Yang has filmed them, why can't I film them too?"

Li Qiutang asked Li Qiang to go back and write another draft.

The summer movie season in July was kicked off by director Kai Ge, and "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" achieved a respectable 40 million yuan on its opening day.

On the same day as "Monk Comes Down the Mountain," another film, "I Am Somebody," was released. It was directed by Derek Yee and starred an entirely amateur cast.

This is the first film to focus on extras working as laborers in Hengdian World Studios.

The subject matter is excellent, the filming is also very good, and it has great practical significance.

But it really didn't sell well, grossing just over 2000 million yuan on its opening day.

Li Qiutang went to see this movie specifically, and what she saw was compromise.

Many of the materials that Derek Yee collected for making this film could not be filmed. Did Derek Yee not know about the chaos on set, the problems with extras, and the underhanded dealings in the entertainment industry?

Derek Yee knows perfectly well that audiences want to see the sensational and exciting side of the entertainment industry, but these are things that can't be filmed!
In the end, it could only be made into a slightly melodramatic story about pursuing dreams in the entertainment industry.

On Monday, the two films, "Forever Young" and "Monkey King: Hero Is Back," which were released on the same day, chose to hold their premieres on the same day.

"Gardenia in Blossom" starts at 3 PM, and "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" starts at 7:30 PM.

Autumn Pictures booked the largest and most luxurious 1,000-seat hall at the Yaolai Theater in Wukesong for "Monkey King: Hero Is Back," determined to generate buzz for the film's premiere.

He Jiong has extensive connections in the industry, and Li Qiutang's connections are not bad either.

Furthermore, to attract young viewers, the autumn promotional team invited many cosplayers to the premiere, with the theme of "Journey to the West." However, none of the cheers and shouts from all the cosplayers' red carpet performances could match the roar of Liu Laoshi (Liu Shizhen) wielding a stick.

As soon as Teacher Liu appeared, the music on the red carpet was changed to "Yun Gong Xun Yin".

The scene was like a frenzy.

The public hasn't yet played the game of selling films at funeral parlors, nor the jokes about Sino-US co-productions and the flourishing of both arts and sports; Teacher Liu's golden statue is still intact.

Elsewhere, Liu Cixin might not be as popular as a typical second or third-tier celebrity, but today, at the premiere of the Journey to the West movie, he alone can energize the entire venue.

Teacher Liu is over fifty years old, but he is still quite agile.

His performance on the red carpet was stylish and impressive; even wielding the golden cudgel was captivating.

Teacher Liu is easy to invite, and his appearance fee is not high. He might not be cost-effective in other situations, but today he is undoubtedly the most cost-effective guest invited in the fall.

After the performance, Mr. Liu stayed on the red carpet for a brief interview. He said, "It's been many years since we've seen a Journey to the West movie on the big screen. 'Monkey King: Hero Is Back' is a good start. I hope that more Journey to the West themed movies will appear on the big screen in the future."

Changing the subject, he indeed began promoting his newly launched "Journey to the West" project: "We are currently preparing to launch a Journey to the West movie called 'Where is the Road Ahead?' It's a Sino-US co-production, and I will continue to play Sun Wukong. I hope everyone will go to the cinema to support it when it's released."

That's alright, the host let him go in first.

Next, Wu Jing, Zhu Yawen, Jing Tian, ​​Tang Yan and other friends walked the red carpet one after another. Shu Chang, who became a top star with "The Journey of Flower", walked the red carpet and caused a scream!
Other friends, including directors, screenwriters, and producers from the industry, took turns appearing on the red carpet.

The final guests were naturally the couple Li Qiutang and Liu Yifei.

The hall was packed, and looking up at the big screen, the scene was quite comical.

There were also about a dozen brightly dressed cosplayers sitting on the scene. The Spider Demon was sharing a bag of potato chips with Tang Sanzang, while Sun Wukong and the White Bone Demon were playing on their phones together.

At the premiere, director Tian Xiaopeng sincerely recounted his deep affection for Journey to the West and the hardships he went through in making "Monkey King: Hero Is Back".

"I am truly grateful to Autumn Pictures and Director Li Qiutang for their help." Tian Xiaopeng's sincerity was evident. "At that time, the crew was completely broke. If we couldn't find funding in a week, I would have to sell my house. I heard that Director Li Qiutang's 'Towering Tree Project' was looking for new directors and projects. I knew they were looking for live-action films, but I still decided to try my luck. That was in 13. I didn't even have a single minute of footage for 'Monkey King: Hero Is Back,' but Director Qiutang still chose to support me. Over the past two years, she has provided me with funding, talent, and equipment, allowing me to complete the production of this film. Thank you."

Li Qiutang, sitting in the audience, waved his hand, feeling that it was nothing to worry about.

Next, the movie began to play.

The entire movie "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" is only 89 minutes long, and it goes by very quickly!
As soon as the screening ended, thunderous applause and cheers erupted throughout the venue. At first, only a few people stood up, but then more and more people followed suit. In no time, more than a thousand people in the audience stood up to applaud and cheer for Tian Xiaopeng and others.

"Awesome!"

"nice!!"

Li Qiutang gestured for Tian Xiaopeng and other key members of the production team to stand down from the big screen to receive applause from the audience.

Tian Xiaopeng, along with a screenwriter, a producer, Zhang Lei (voice of Sun Wukong), and Tong Zirong (voice of Chaos), stood over and bowed to the audience!

The applause was thunderous and long-lasting. Tian Xiaopeng was deeply moved and gestured for the audience to sit down.

During the post-screening Q&A session, Tian Xiaozhi spoke freely and frankly, answering all the questions the reporters asked and sharing stories from both on and off screen.

"The first version of the film was completed at the end of last year. We originally planned to release it during the Spring Festival, but the company felt it could be refined further, so they gave me another sum of money to revise it again." He told everyone about this.

"This is the first time I've heard of a film company paying extra to rework a film even if it's not released." Tian Xiaopeng felt much more relaxed.

As for box office predictions, that's something Li Qiutang can boast about: "This film is the culmination of so many people's hard work. If I say too little, I'll feel unsatisfied; if I say too much, it'll feel like I'm just bragging."

"I'll just give you a moderate estimate, 12 billion, I think that should be fine."

(End of this chapter)