Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 505 The National Day Film Season Begins

Li Qiutang can boast in front of the media, but he can't fool the media like they're idiots. He would never do such a thing.

So many reporters and independent media outlets, without batting an eye, said every word as if it were perfectly natural.

No wonder he could become a vice president in Ali.

But regardless of whether you understand it or not, did Ahri respond?

If you can't understand, it's because you're incompetent.

The following day, "The Third Way of Love" and "Lost in Hong Kong" were released, officially kicking off the National Day film season.

"The Third Way of Love" also caused trouble, as it almost crashed into the most competitive National Day film season in history.

It grossed 1300 million on its opening day, but was overtaken by "Lost in Hong Kong" which grossed 2.09 million, and couldn't even maintain its screening schedule.

Despite the controversy surrounding the change of distributors before its release, "Lost in Hong Kong" still achieved a solid box office performance of 2.09 million yuan on its opening day.

The film's release date is Friday, and Huanxi Media's Hong Kong-listed shares closed at HK$4.12, giving the company a market capitalization of HK$95.11 billion. Xu Shanzheng's share placement price was HK$0.4, and he has already seen a 930% increase, making his personal stock value exceed HK$18 billion.

With the continued release of "Lost in Hong Kong," his market value is expected to rise even further.

So, how much money do you make from making movies? Is it as quick to make money as stocks?!
However, the road ahead for "Lost in Hong Kong" is bound to be difficult.

After the premiere, netizens gave unprecedentedly negative reviews to the performance of new actress Bao Beier.

"Bao Beier's performance was really annoying."

"It's not that there were no funny moments at all, but after watching it, I really just wanted to smash Bao Beier's head against the wall until it was smashed to pieces. It really lowered the bar for how annoying a comedic character I've ever seen in my life."

"The most hated movie character of 2015 was none other than his brother-in-law."

After grossing 6.8 million yuan in its opening weekend, becoming the first film in mainland China to break 2 million yuan in daily box office for three consecutive days, a certain opinion emerged online.

"Autumn Pictures' biggest regret is letting go of 'Lost in Hong Kong' and Xu Shanzheng."

"If we don't sell, then all 6.8 million will belong to Autumn Pictures, and 'Lost in Hong Kong' might reach 20 billion later."

"Li Qiutang is probably going to regret this to death."

In fact, Li Qiutang has no regrets at all.

With 7.8 million yuan in cash in his pocket, what is Li Qiutang not satisfied with?
You profited from the stock price, and I profited from the cash – a win-win situation.

The film "The Third Way of Love," which was tragically killed by the knife in "Lost in Hong Kong," only grossed a little over 4000 million in its opening weekend, and its Sunday screenings dropped to less than 10%.

With films like "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe," "Goodbye Mr. Loser," and "Saving Mr. Wu" set to be released next week, the platform believes that "The Third Way of Love" is unlikely to break 100 million yuan, marking another failure for Yang Mi's film career.

Feeling the pressure from "Lost in Hong Kong," the highly anticipated "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe" and "The Ghostly Swordsman" put in extra effort in their final promotional campaigns before their release.

Lu Chuan may be a bit pretentious, but he really puts in the effort when it comes to publicity.

However, he went a bit too far, and the focus of the publicity for "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe" has been on him, the director, during this period.

He has made more public statements and received more media exposure than the actors, and even more than Hu Bayi and Shirley Yang!
He kept stepping onto the stage to talk about Bureau 749, monsters, the industrialization of film, "Ghost Blows Out the Light," adaptations, filming, and visual effects. He stole the exposure that should have belonged to the actors.

If you are a director with a good reputation and track record, it's not a bad idea to promote yourself. Take James Cameron, for example. No matter how big the star actors are, they are just tools in his hands. Cameron is the one who carries the publicity, and the audience goes to the cinema because of Cameron.

But Lu Chuan isn't like that!
The actors were helpless against the director's behavior; after all, he was the boss of the crew.

However, Lu Chuan stopped mentioning Zhao Liying in the promotional materials these past few days. He also realized that there was little need to promote the supporting actresses, as the focus of the filming should still be on Hu Bayi and Shirley Yang.

Regarding why Mark Chao was chosen to play Hu Bayi.

His explanation was: "He has played some roles, but he hasn't been typecast yet. In addition, I think his precious simplicity, integrity, and naivety have not been fully released, and these are exactly the things that Hu Bayi also has. I said to him at the time, 'Are you willing to fight with me? Right now, the doubts about you from the outside world are just as great as the doubts about me.' He said: 'Brother, I'm willing to fight with you.'"

In the interview, he reiterated his reason for not making tomb raiding films: "Due to some objective reasons, the element of 'tomb raiding' cannot be realized in the film, but I believe that 'adventure' and 'monster fighting' will broaden the audience's horizons."

That's actually correct, and through his description, his grasp of the core of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" is also accurate. He once summarized "Ghost Blows Out the Light" as tomb raiding, adventure, and monster fighting.

But in practice, he may not have put much effort into it, or he may have been too eager to film 749. Even though "Ghost Blows Out the Light" has nothing to do with 749, he still tried to force it into the story.

Reviews of the advance screenings of "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe" are out, with some praising it and others criticizing it.

"Lu Chuan made a fierce monster-fighting movie, but it has nothing to do with 'Ghost Blows Out the Light'."

"This is not Ghost Blows Out the Light! This is not Ghost Blows Out the Light! This is not Ghost Blows Out the Light! -- I'll say it three times! Lu Chuan, don't hide! This is a complete overhaul! The tomb raiding elements are reduced to ashes! There are absolutely no fantasy elements! How much courage did Lu Chuan need to tell reporters that he had read all eight volumes of Ghost Blows Out the Light until they were worn out? His imagination is extremely poor. He can't even plagiarize properly!"

"Fans of 'Ghost Blows Out the Light' can wait for 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' at the end of the year."

Audiences are waiting for the release of "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe," but there has been no news from Autumn Pictures for some time.

However, the day before the release of "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe," news suddenly broke in the industry.

Tencent invested 50.4 billion yuan in Autumn Pictures, acquiring a 7.2% stake and becoming its third-largest shareholder.

Autumn Pictures is seeking an IPO, and accepting investment from Tencent at this time is undoubtedly a major positive development.

Limited information has been disclosed regarding this investment, but it can be easily deduced from the percentage of investment that Tencent values ​​Autumn Pictures at 700 billion yuan, ranking first in the film and television sector. Previously, the film and television company with the highest market value was Huayi Brothers, at just over 600 billion yuan – this year's stock market crash and the scarcity of film releases have severely impacted its market value.

Tencent's explanation for this investment is easy to understand: "Autumn Pictures is a leading film company in China, possessing advantages in production, distribution, cinemas, and derivative product development. Investing in Autumn Pictures can effectively make up for the company's shortcomings in the film and television industry and is in line with the company's strategic development requirements in the cultural and entertainment industry. In the future, the company will strengthen its cooperation with Autumn Pictures, while also strengthening its own capabilities to bring more and better high-quality film and television works to the audience."

Sun Zhonghuai, who is in charge of Tencent Penguin Pictures, even said: "We didn't expect the cooperation to be achieved so smoothly. We hope to learn from the industry leaders."

It sounds like Tencent actually benefited from its successful investment in Autumn Pictures.

Autumn Pictures' explanation was even simpler: "This is a powerful alliance, and the company's original intention to focus on film and television creation will not change. Tencent is a high-quality partner, and they will not interfere with the company's development strategy and daily operations."

Regarding the high valuation of 700 billion, the secretary of the board of directors of Qiutian Pictures remained calm: "Of course we are happy about the high valuation, but numbers don't write scripts or make movies. Our focus is still on our future works."

He's finished showing off, and Li Qiutang has nothing left to show off!

Fortunately, Li Qiutang doesn't like facing financial reporters.

"700 billion, how much of it can you take?" That evening, Yang Mi asked Liu Yifei this question on WeChat.

(End of this chapter)