Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 523 Dialogue
Huayi Brothers' timing for their second visit was perfect; it was exactly the day after Autumn Films set its prices in Hong Kong.

Autumn Pictures is expected to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 28, with an offering price of HK$22.77-25.26 per share, valuing the company at approximately HK$628.35 billion. This is the highest valuation ever for a Chinese film and television company, exceeding that of Huayi Brothers by about HK$20 billion.

According to Hong Kong stock listing rules, there is a 40-day quiet period after the pricing date of a listed company. During the quiet period, the listed company is prohibited from making any promotions regarding the stock price and company performance, as well as excessive project promotions.

Huayi Brothers visited again, with the same request: to secure a collaboration opportunity for "Pacific Rim 2".

However, this was once again brushed off by the company, which stated that it was still researching relevant plans and did not require project financing at the moment.

After the start of the Lunar New Year film season, the first films to hit theaters were "Fall in Love Like a Star," starring Yang Mi in her second collaboration with Li Yifeng, and "Oh My God," produced by Zhang Ziyi. The two films were released one after the other, with the former performing slightly better, grossing 2500 million yuan on its opening day.

The production team was really lazy, casting Li Yifeng as a celebrity and Yang Mi as his manager.

Is this even an act?

The company internally said this was a way to allow the two to "date" on company funds.

In contrast, Zhang Ziyi's "From Heaven to Earth" fared much worse, earning only 1200 million on its opening day.

Zhang Ziyi is currently in the United States preparing for childbirth and is unable to provide effective support for the film.

It seems that Teacher Wang hasn't arranged a wedding for Zhang Ziyi yet.

Teacher Wang is not getting married for the first time, but Zhang Ziyi is. However, it's hard to say. Zhang Ziyi got engaged to a foreign tycoon boyfriend in 08 and even showed off her diamond ring at the time. The two later broke up, so it's hard to say whether that counts as a second marriage.

Other people's family affairs are the best for gossip.

"Fall in Love Like a Star" successfully grossed over 100 million yuan in its first four days, while "Oh My God" grossed less than 40 million yuan in its first three days. The former got off to a good start, while the latter can already be classified as a flop.

After the first week of December, the pre-release promotion for "Mojin: The Lost Legend" officially began.

At the same time, pre-sales of merchandise related to "Mojin: The Lost Legend" also began.

Li Qiutang finally persuaded Wan Da to produce movie merchandise, but it was already too late. According to Qiutang's team's plan, the pre-sale of the merchandise should have started a month ago. The fact that the pre-sale has been delayed until now is entirely due to the Wan Da team's lack of cooperation.

In collaboration with publishing houses and online shopping platforms, a commemorative edition of the "Ghost Blows Out the Light" novel and film series is being launched. In addition to the eight novels, the set includes a Tomb Raider Handbook, an Ancient Tomb Strange Picture Book, a Tomb Raider Trio doll, and pendants featuring a Vajra Umbrella, a Flying Tiger Claw, and an entrenching tool. It's a year-end promotion for only 299 RMB. Customers who share their purchase online will also receive a ticket to the premiere of "Mojin: The Lost Legend" on the 18th. First come, first served, while supplies last.

This is a real promotion; those few free gifts alone would cost over 200 yuan if bought separately.

They also launched a very luxurious 3D puzzle model of the ancient tomb from the movie "Mojin: The Lost Legend", limited to 199 sets, with a crowdfunding price of 1999.

They've also launched an offline haunted house/escape room game, which will be available in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen soon.

As for dolls, keychains, T-shirts, co-branded games, and so on, they have everything.

With "Mojin: The Lost Legend" drawing ever closer, "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe" is bound to be compared to it again.

China Film Group and LeEco felt a mix of emotions seeing how things were going on in the fall.

Although the domestic and surrounding markets are difficult to penetrate, their willingness to explore and operate in this way is truly admirable and worthy of learning. This is what we call an industry chain, and this is what we call professionalism.

Lu Chuan, however, felt that the side businesses surrounding movies were just a side hustle; if you could make money selling toys and games, why bother making movies at all?

That 3D puzzle set was indeed quite expensive, and pre-sales were only so-so, but the books and other small items sold quite well.

Ba Chang is delighted with this. He may not make much money from other merchandise, but he earns more money for each physical book he sells. Working with a professional team is worry-free and comfortable.

These past few days, Li Qiutang and the lead actors have been doing campus promotional activities, and Liu Yifei won't be back for a few more days.

On the day Liu Ye and Jing Tian were promoting their work at Wulin Normal School, Li Qiutang came to Tsinghua University and held a dialogue with Li Jian there.

Li Jian has successfully made a comeback this year thanks to his excellent performance on "I Am a Singer".

The dialogue began with Li Jian's opening remarks: "Good afternoon, everyone. It's been a long time since I've been back... Today I've invited an extra good friend. I won't go into how popular he is or how much people hate him because of his wife."

The students in the audience laughed.

"Next, please welcome Director Li Qiutang."

Li Qiutang went on stage, greeted the teachers and students below, and the two took their seats.

Li Jianxian said, "Do you mind me saying that you married a wife who is hated by many people?"

“I don’t mind,” Li Qiutang said with a smile, “because it does attract a lot of hatred.”

The teachers and students in the audience all laughed. Who talks about themselves like that?

Li Qiutang continued, "After I went public with Yifei, I received tens of thousands of comments and private messages on Weibo every day that were cursing me."

How long did this situation last?

"About two weeks, it happened every day." "Will it affect you?"

"No, I just won't watch it. I was filming 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' at the time, working fifteen or sixteen hours a day, so I didn't have time to care about this."

The conversation had no specific topic; the two simply sat there chatting.

They started by talking about their college entrance exams. Li Jian talked about his life at Tsinghua University, while Li Qiutang talked about his life at the Beijing Film Academy.

Both of them were from Northeast China and studied in Beijing, so naturally they talked about staying in Beijing.

Li Jian said, "I started school in 1993 and graduated in 1998. Back then, it was a five-year program. In 1996, the job assignment system for college graduates was abolished. At that time, you had to try every means to stay in Yenching and get a Yenching household registration."

Li Qiutang asked him, "Did you manage to get a Beijing residency permit?"

Li Jiandao said, "You've made it. What about you?"

"not yet."

The two got along fairly well. Li Jian didn't know much about movies, but Li Qiutang knew a bit about music. During the conversation, Li Qiutang publicly admitted for the first time that he had also played in a band and was a drummer of average skill. Even now, he still secretly goes to bars to perform with his old buddies when he has free time.

Li Jian was very surprised and said that it was rare to find a drummer. He never expected that "a director like you could play the drums."

The conversation naturally turned to work. Li Jian understood that one of the purposes of today's event was to promote Li Qiutang's "Mojin: The Lost Legend," so he encouraged Li Qiutang to talk more.

Li Qiutang said that he had already made a lot of money with his small studio before and after graduation, but he still felt that since he graduated from the directing department, he should at least try making movies.

"And then I kept filming until now."

"Mojin: The Lost Legend is the longest movie I've ever made, taking about six months, or 180 days, from start to finish."

"Because you can't have ghosts appear, and you can't actually go tomb raiding, since tomb raiding is illegal. How can the protagonist break the law? Also, all the supernatural phenomena in your play have to have a materialistic explanation, so we have to solve these things during the scriptwriting stage."

"This is also the most expensive film I've ever made. Including marketing and distribution costs, the total cost exceeds 3 million yuan." This is the first time the outside world has heard the most reliable cost data from the core creators of "Mojin: The Lost Legend".

The movie promotion lasted 10 minutes, followed by casual conversation.

They talked about life and their hobbies.

Li Qiutang said she likes water sports: "I can do swimming, diving, surfing, jet skiing, windsurfing, and so on."

Li Jian said, "Several of these are extreme sports that are somewhat dangerous."

Li Qiutang agreed, but added, "Exercise helps me relax quickly and clear my head. Yifei said to me at home, 'You like swimming first, and I'm the second one you like.'"

Everyone laughed again.

Li Jian also asked, "Is Yifei right?"

"No, my second favorite thing to watch is swimming competitions."

The audience was laughing so hard; the director is so witty.

Speaking of reading, Li Qiutang said of herself: "I have a reading habit, but I wouldn't say I'm always engrossed in a book, and I read slowly."

Li Jian asked him to share the books he was currently reading.

Li Qiutang said that she had recently been reading "Siddhartha," and coincidentally, Li Jian had also read many of Hesse's works. The two began to exchange ideas about Hesse and their own reading experiences.

"Hesse was keen on writing about young seekers of the Dharma; this is true of *Siddhartha*, and it's also true of *Steppenwolf*. Several of Hesse's short stories also deal with similar themes." Did he think Li Qiutang was showing off? He'd actually read them! He's really a good conversationalist.

Li Jian largely agreed with Li Qiutang's viewpoint, and the two began to discuss what values ​​people should pursue.

“‘There is only one heroism in the world: to see the world as it is and still love it.’ Romain Rolland’s quote is too lofty,” Li Qiutang said. “It’s a very accurate summary, but sometimes it can seem too abstract. We all know that the future is bright and the road is winding, but many of us can’t actually predict the future, and many of us will stumble on the winding road.”

"Are you a pessimist?" Li Jian asked.

"No, but I won't be blindly optimistic. I acknowledge the difficulties, and I also acknowledge that some difficulties are beyond human control. There are just some insurmountable obstacles in this world."

…………

The entire dialogue lasted nearly two hours, with the film promotion lasting only 10 minutes. Li Qiutang spoke very sincerely, winning applause from the teachers and students in the room.

After the conversation ended, Li Qiutang said, "I forgot I'm here today to promote my movie. Will you be going to see it on the 18th?"

"meeting!"

(End of this chapter)