Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 527 A group of the right people made the right movie

"Yesterday, Li Qiutang's fantasy adventure blockbuster 'Mojin: The Lost Legend,' four years in the making, made a strong debut in theaters with a screening share of over 60%. The film received numerous positive reviews on its opening day, with audiences saying it was the most thrilling and exciting movie they had seen this year. Book fans excitedly said that this is the right way to adapt 'Mojin' into a movie, and this is the authentic style of tomb raiding."

"The fantasy adventure blockbuster 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' hit theaters yesterday, breaking the record for the highest midnight box office in mainland China with 51.7 million yuan. It grossed over 100 million yuan in less than 11 hours and over 200 million yuan in 16 hours. The film also achieved great success in South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries on the same day."

"The popularity of 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' has dragged Lu Chuan into the fray. Both Lu Chuan and Li Qiutang are bound by the 'no ghosts' rule, but Lu Chuan's use of 'alien invasion' makes the mysterious events seem plausible, which obviously displeases book fans who find it too far-fetched. Li Qiutang, on the other hand, uses the 'radiation' theory to bring corpses in a Japanese chemical plant back to life and mutate monsters in ancient tombs, thus ensuring the story's fantasy and adventure within censorship limits. Elements from the original work, such as 'zombies,' 'black donkey hooves,' 'dragon-hunting incantations,' and 'geomancer divination,' are all preserved. Li Qiutang's approach seems to be more popular with book fans."

These press releases were issued early on the 19th, but just after 9 a.m., the official Weibo account for "Mojin: The Lost Legend" posted a themed data poster as soon as they arrived at work:
"The movie 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' grossed 3.72 million yuan on its opening day, setting a new record for the highest-grossing opening day for a domestic film. Congratulations!"

The creators really put in a lot of effort in promoting it, but Fast & Furious 7 was carrying the "dead man" buff at the time, making it really difficult for Mojin: The Lost Legend to break its record.

To be honest, Li Qiutang did consider buying box office tickets last night, specifically 30 million to break the record set by "Fast & Furious 7". However, after weighing the options, he decided against it, as buying a new record would be an unfair victory.

"Director, did you not sleep well last night?" Li Qiutang was going to Tian Tian's hometown with Xia Yu and Jing Tian to do promotions today. When Jing Tian saw that Li Qiutang looked listless, she asked with concern, "I didn't sleep well last night either. I kept checking the box office data online."

Xia Yu said, "He's not having sleepless nights because he's worried about box office numbers."

"Why is that?" Jing Tian asked.

"You'll understand when you start dating."

Liu Yifei's flight was this morning.

Although Jing Tian had never been in a relationship, she wasn't completely clueless. Once she understood, she fell silent.

Li Qiutang leaned back in her chair, resting and recuperating.

The publicity campaign was very demanding, and even though Li Qiutang was full of energy, she was exhausted both physically and mentally.

That woman doesn't care about her man. Taking advantage of the fact that she's leaving, she was particularly proactive last night and emptied Li Qiutang's savings.

"Mojin: The Lost Legend" grossed 3.72 million yuan on its opening day, more than half the box office of "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe".

The two films are bound to be compared by the audience, but Lu Chuan cleverly stays out of the spotlight, pretending not to see what people say about him online.

With the results speak for themselves, Li Qiutang refrained from making empty boasts. In promoting Chang'an, he generously stated, "I won't make comparisons; everyone has their own struggles."

If anyone thinks Li Qiutang's generosity is just showing off, then there's really nothing we can do.

Upon arriving in Chang'an, Jing Tian was exceptionally outgoing. At the event, she taught Li Qiutang and Xia Yu to speak the Shaanxi dialect. Not only that, she also learned to write the incredibly difficult character "biang" with Li Qiutang and Xia Yu at the event.

Even locals like Jing Tian can't write this character. The scene was quite lively, though.

At 6 p.m. that day, the official Weibo account of "Mojin: The Lost Legend" announced that the film's box office had exceeded 600 million yuan.

too fast.

That evening at 8 p.m., it received a high score of 8.2 on Douban.

"A typical example of Hollywood-style Chinese films, technically impeccable, with surprising special effects, a plot that closely follows the original work, and well-developed characters. A rare film without any flaws."

"Although the production company did not promote it, 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' deserves the title of China's 'Indiana Jones'."

"The brilliance of this film lies in its balance across multiple aspects while maintaining industrial standards. Unlike the almost naked auteur expression of 'In Time,' and unlike the structural and narrative flair of 'The Invisible Guest,' Li Qiutang presents his precise control over industrial production in 'Mojin: The Lost Legend.' The director did not inject too much personal emotion into 'Mojin: The Lost Legend'—directly criticizing 'Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe' for being made for the sake of Bureau 749—'Mojin: The Lost Legend' focuses on super production. As long as you have money, you can make it too. The replicability of 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' is its valuable feature and what the industrialization of Chinese cinema needs."

"I've always thought that Li Qiutang is the director in China who has the best grasp of the narrative rhythm of genre films. He seems to have a natural ability to know when to let the audience relax and when to stimulate them. The pacing of the whole film is well-balanced. After entering the ancient tomb, all kinds of crises come one after another, including radiation soldiers, mutated monsters, villain threats, and the tomb's own traps, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. If I had to nitpick, the only shortcoming is that the love scenes between Hu Bayi and Shirley Yang are a bit awkward. Li Qiutang really doesn't know how to film love scenes."

"A group of right actors, a right director, and together they made the right movie. Liu Yifei was deliberately imitating Angelina Jolie, but at least it wasn't bad, and she accomplished her task."

"Mojin: The Lost Legend" grossed 4.7 million yuan on its second day of release, Saturday, bringing its total box office revenue to 8.42 million yuan in two days, breaking Li Qiutang's personal best record.

But then, on Sunday, negative reviews and news began appearing online.

"Students' parents reported 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' because it was too terrifying."

"The movie 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' features terrifying monsters such as irradiated zombie soldiers, strange snakes, and zombie dogs. In addition, Li Qiutang used some horror movie techniques to create an atmosphere that would frighten the audience. Some parents are worried that the release of such a movie will scare their children and hope that relevant departments will restrict it."

Don't believe any reports from parents; it's probably a report from a competitor. But that's not Li Qiutang's responsibility. Go ahead and worry about it.

But I believe this kind of report will not yield any results.

Li Qiutang recently appeared on a TV program for an interview, where he recounted his creative process for "Mojin: The Lost Legend": "I recently rewatched movies like 'Indiana Jones,' 'Tomb Raider,' and 'The Mummy,' trying to find common patterns among them. What are the basic rules, genre characteristics, character relationships, and unavoidable elements of these adventure films? I wrote a paper and gave it to the screenwriter, asking him to clarify these things and create based on the basic principles of these adventure films."

Li Qiutang promised on the program that she would publish the paper online after New Year's Day, so that netizens and creators could download it for free and refer to it.

Li Qiutang boasted a little: "This kind of movie is replicable; it's not difficult as long as you master the basic skills."

Does Lu Chuan possess the basic skills?

(End of this chapter)