Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 663 20 billion, all spent!
After Liu Yifei was officially announced as the lead actress for "Mulan," it generated two completely different reactions both domestically and internationally.

Overseas audiences mostly praised Disney's precise casting, commended Liu Yifei's performance in Hollywood in recent years, and expressed their anticipation for her "Mulan".

Domestically, the focus is more on Liu Yifei herself, with people saying that her role in a Disney live-action film represents the achievements of Chinese actors overseas, and that Liu Yifei has become a flag bearer for Chinese actors in Hollywood and the international market.

Liu Yifei's fans are celebrating the New Year in advance with champagne. These fans already look down on other actresses of the same age, and this year they've landed a role with Disney. It's no exaggeration to say they're incredibly arrogant.

When the news of "Mulan" was first announced and the media was reporting on it extensively, Liu Yifei herself was quite proud, which was certainly something to be proud of.

They thought that after winning the "Mulan" movie, they would become something extraordinary.

But after the revelry, she calmed down—thanks to the fact that she is now working alone overseas and has not personally experienced the fervor of domestic public opinion—and found that things were not as wonderful as she had imagined.

Liu Yifei often says that she is not very smart, but she is not stupid either; she can figure out some things on her own.

She is a Disney fan herself, watches the movies, and has visited Shanghai Disneyland four or five times since it opened.

Over the past few days, she has gradually come to understand that the Disney princess live-action movies rely on Disney's strong IP capabilities, and it is not strongly related to the actors.

So far, in the three live-action films, Elle Fanning, who plays Princess Aurora, Lily James, who plays Cinderella, and Emma Watson, who plays Princess Belle, have not achieved a major breakthrough in their acting careers because of playing princesses. They are still basically developing step by step, and there is no phenomenon of soaring to new heights after playing a princess.

In terms of film success, Beauty and the Beast's $12 billion worldwide is pretty good, but it still didn't propel Emma Watson to stardom.

In other words, the success or failure of princess movies has little to do with the actors.

Liu Yifei works in both China and the United States year-round. No matter how confident she is, she wouldn't be foolish enough to think that a pure Chinese story like "Mulan" would surpass the box office success of "Beauty and the Beast" worldwide.

Cultural confidence is one thing, but blind confidence is not advisable.

So she calmed down after the revelry.

While it was certainly gratifying to be favored by Disney, Liu Yifei also realized that this would be the hottest potato she had ever taken on since she started acting.

Mulan is a Chinese story, but the film is a complete Hollywood movie.

This is a fact that cannot be changed by having a Chinese director and a few Chinese actors.

Therefore, this inevitably means that "Mulan" carries the cultural tension between China and the United States.

Mulan reminded Liu Yifei of The Forbidden Kingdom. Jackie Chan once said to the camera, "The Forbidden Kingdom was made for Americans, so don't have too high hopes."

This statement proved true for "The Forbidden Kingdom" and will also be true for "Mulan".

But as an actress, all she can do is try her best to cooperate with the director and the crew to complete the creative process.

It's not Liu Yifei's style to be cowardly before the battle even begins. She knew this was a hot potato and that the film might not be very fun, but she still felt that she could play the role of Mulan well.

Disney's official announcement coincided with the pre-release promotional period of "Pacific Rim 2," which only added fuel to the fire for "Pacific Rim 2."

Recently, she has been receiving significantly more interviews in the United States than scheduled, but she doesn't feel tired at all and has accepted all the interviews she can. Even her mother flew over from China to take care of her.

“I’m already an adult, why are you coming over? You need someone at home too.” Liu Yifei disagreed with Liu Xiaoli coming to keep her company.

How could Liu Xiaoli not know what her daughter meant? She said, "It was Qiutang who sent me. She said you're all alone in America and it's so hard for you."

"I'm not alone; I always travel with the film crew." But since her mother had come, there was no reason to send her away, so Liu Yifei had no choice but to let her mother stay.

Liu Yifei even called her husband, half-scolding and half-playful, saying, "You sent my mom away so you could go off and fool around all by yourself, huh?"

Would Li Qiutang be afraid of this? He replied, "That's right. With my mother-in-law away, I'm having so much fun every day that I don't want to leave. Yesterday, I even went to Brother Qian's farm and ate crabs. One of the crabs was bigger than your face."

"I'm going back to China in a few days for the premiere." "So soon?"

“I’ve been gone for more than half a month, and you don’t seem to miss me at all.”

"Oh dear, an old married couple should have the awareness of an old married couple. What's with all this talk about wanting or not wanting?"

"That's a bit much, isn't it?" Liu Yifei laughed. "What are you doing over there?"

“What else are you doing?” Li Qiutang showed her the picture. “I’m in the studio looking at the color grading for ‘The Butterfly Lovers.’ When you come back, take half a day to go to the studio for dubbing so I can make the master copy.”

Liu Yifei also complained that the post-production of "The Butterfly Lovers" was too slow and that she couldn't catch up with anything.

Because of the huge time difference and the fact that they both had work to do, they hung up after exchanging a few words and went about their own business.

After watching the film's results, Li Qiutang went to the headquarters of Century Autumn in the afternoon.

Li Qiutang has completely handed over the TV drama business to Sister Cao Ping. At most, he will come to the company at the annual meeting to have a drink with the employees.

Many new employees at Century Autumn didn't even know that the company's big boss was Li Qiutang.

Li Qiutang's rare visit to the company caught the employees off guard.

"I'm not the King of Hell, what's with all those expressions?" Li Qiutang convened an impromptu meeting of senior executives today, with only seven or eight people in attendance.

"You are a rare guest."

"Am I a guest now?" Li Qiutang asked with a smile.

Li Qiutang didn't come to Century Autumn for a casual chat; she had serious business to discuss, and it was a matter of life and death for the company.

In the past two years, the TV drama business has flourished and made a lot of money, no less than that of Autumn Pictures. However, it also faces a problem: the cost of TV dramas is getting higher and higher, and has caught up with that of movies.

A large portion of the increased costs went towards paying actors' salaries.

This is a problem facing the entire TV drama industry. Countless directors and producers are cursing and complaining, but it's no use. This is a natural selection brought about by the blindness of the market.

Century Autumn, as a leading production company, has also suffered greatly, but there's nothing they can do. If you don't pay the money, people won't act in your shows. The TV drama market is overflowing with projects and money now; if they won't act in yours, there are plenty of other projects.

Li Qiutang couldn't solve this problem either.

Therefore, Century Autumn wanted to reduce costs by engaging in artist management business, but not engaging in artist management was a rule that Li Qiutang and Cao Ping set for the company at the beginning of their business. Changing this situation would also face huge resistance.

Li Qiutang is here today to discuss this issue.

The inherent conflict between artist management and production is self-evident, but the high costs cannot be ignored.

Times have changed. Li Qiutang is not a stubborn old man who is inflexible. He knows the current state of the industry, so he has now softened his stance.

However, he still disagrees with the company signing artists directly. He wants to buy shares in artists through investment and cooperation, such as investing in Jaywalk Studio. Jaywalk's actors will act in the company's dramas, and their salaries will still follow the market price. They will not be paid a penny less in the fall. However, part of the revenue will flow back to the company through investment returns, thereby reducing costs.

This model is more flexible and less risky than signing artists directly, and it avoids conflicts of interest between artists and companies. The downside is that companies lack direct control over artists.

If Li Qiutang agrees to open this door, things will be much easier for the people below.

Next, what Li Qiutang was about to say was a bit frightening: "I'm approving a budget of 20 billion yuan for you, and you have to spend it all within two years."

(End of this chapter)