Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 674 Finishing

Liu Yifei was single and her career wasn't going well, while Yang Caiyu married Chen the Godfather and starred in Feng Xiaogang's movies, seemingly having a better future than Liu Yifei.

For women, who marries well is an important, and sometimes even the most important, factor in comparison.

Yang Caiyu certainly dared to take a jab at her during the early promotion of "Youth".

Now? Has she gone mad or is she just bored and dared to make a veiled criticism of Liu Yifei?

Pacific Rim 2 will be out of theaters in a few days, and its domestic box office has already reached 23.63 billion yuan, making Liu Yifei a superstar. Who would dare to mess with her?

Liu Yifei is practically the queen of the Chinese entertainment industry now; anyone who touches her will be crushed.

After being expelled from the real estate industry, Godfather Chen now focuses on playing with dogs and making some investments, living a comfortable life. Her ability to get involved with Godfather Chen can be considered a rise in status.

If you get something good, keep it to yourself and don't be too smug.

Despite the saying that lust can cloud judgment, Yang Caiyu was not so foolish as to be that blinded.

But Yang Caiyu refused; someone else was willing to do it.

The publicity team behind "Youth" clearly knew about the relationship between Yang Caiyu and Liu Yifei. Liu Yifei is incredibly popular right now, and people who aren't connected to her want to get close to her, let alone "Youth" with this connection.

Therefore, it's not surprising at all that articles analyzing the relationship between Liu Yifei, Godfather Chen, and Yang Caiyu are now appearing online.

Actually, this is not so bad. Back in July of this year, when Yang Caiyu officially announced her relationship with Godfather Chen, the relationship between the three of them was reported extensively.

Because the three do have some relationship, the most outrageous thing these self-media said was: "In terms of seniority, Liu Yifei should call Yang Caiyu her godmother."

This is nothing; Yang Caiyu can only gain verbal advantage over Liu Yifei, so Liu Yifei's team doesn't really care.

Now that the Lunar New Year film season is upon us again, especially with the added task of promoting the film, it's a bit impolite.

Fortunately, the publicity company for "Youth" was smart enough to understand that Huayi Brothers and Feng Xiaogang were not afraid of offending each other, while I, as an outsourced publicity company, had no reason to offend Autumn Pictures and Liu Yifei.

Therefore, instead of following Huayi's request to "bring Liu Yifei into the scene as much as possible," they only touched on the topic briefly.

Besides, Yang Caiyu isn't the female lead in "Youth." Why waste so much marketing effort on a supporting character? That's enough.

The biggest marketing asset of "Youth" is Feng Xiaogang himself; what's the point of marketing a cast of newcomers?

"Feng Xiaogang's Youth".

"The place where Feng Xiaogang's artistic dreams took flight."

"A breath of fresh air in the Lunar New Year film season."

This is the main focus of the show, so there's really no need to over-market the female supporting character's personal life.

At the premiere of "Youth", Wang Zhonglei made a rare response to the controversy surrounding Huayi Brothers over the past few months.

Including its failure during the summer season, dismal performance this year, and allegations of improper transfer of benefits with various celebrities, the film "The Thousand Faces of Dunjia" was also announced at the premiere to be targeting the Spring Festival next year.

Wang Zhonglei attributed all of this to the industry downturn, saying that there was too much hot money in the industry in the past two years, and now that the tide has receded, it will inevitably bring pain to the industry, which is completely reasonable.

They also assured that Huayi Brothers would not give up on film, that film would always be Huayi Brothers' main business, and that Huayi Brothers would continue to invest heavily in making good films.

The Lunar New Year film season has been excessively drained by the Spring Festival season. Any film with even a modicum of confidence wants to go for the Spring Festival. However, this year's Lunar New Year season is quite good. Films like *Youth*, *Legend of the Demon Cat*, *Bleeding Steel*, *The City of Light*, *The Ex-Files 3*, *Hanson and the Beast*, and *Miracles of the Namiya General Store* are all released in December, making it very lively, reminiscent of the years 2010-2012. Among them, *The Ex-Files 3* is an autumn release.

On the 15th, "Youth" premiered nationwide. Also on this day, the science fiction film "The Wandering Earth" completed filming its space scenes, marking the end of filming for the entire crew.

"We started preparing for this film at the beginning of 2015, and it's been three years until the end of 2017. This is the most difficult film I've ever made, but also the most comfortable one." At the wrap party, Li Qiutang was genuinely excited and had a lot to say. "In 2015, everyone advised me not to make science fiction, saying the conditions weren't right yet, and that it wouldn't be too late to wait another five or ten years. But I just wouldn't believe it. I'm a stubborn person; if you tell me not to do it, I'll do it anyway; if you think it's impossible, I'll still do it. If I hit a wall and die, that's my own fault, but it's better than doing nothing at all."

"Fortunately, I have some experience in science fiction. Whether it's making movies or doing anything else, we certainly hope for a good result, but what's more important than a good result is that you start doing it. I can wait five or ten years, and domestic science fiction films can also wait five or ten years, but why wait? I'm going to do it now."

"This movie started filming in May and has been shooting for seven months now. I'm too embarrassed to say anything more. Thank you all so much." Li Qiutang raised her glass to the entire audience.

The next day, after sobering up, Li Qiutang returned to Beijing.

"The science fiction film 'The Wandering Earth,' directed by Li Qiutang, quietly wrapped up filming yesterday at the Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis. The film will now enter the intensive post-production stage and is expected to be released to audiences during the Lunar New Year holiday next year."

"Filming for 'The Wandering Earth' has quietly wrapped up, and Li Qiutang and Wu Jing have returned to Beijing, looking relaxed."

Despite the immense popularity of "Youth," the low-key "The Wandering Earth" didn't garner much attention.

Compared to "The Butterfly Lovers," Li Qiutang didn't need to oversee the post-production of "The Wandering Earth" from beginning to end. He could confidently leave it to the editor to handle first, only needing to focus on the key procedures.

The post-production of "The Butterfly Lovers" is basically complete. In another week, we will be able to finish the final compositing and create the master copy.

Li Qiutang didn't rush him. He had already done all ninety-nine prostrations for this play, and only this last hurdle remained.

His biggest concern right now is the clash between "Detective Chinatown 2" and "Operation Red Sea" during the Spring Festival.

It was said that Li Qiutang personally took charge of the publicity and distribution coordination for the two films, but the actual work was done by Zhang Zhao and others.

Li Qiutang returned from Qingdao at 3 p.m. and arrived at the company at 4:30 p.m. to inquire about the current publicity and distribution of the two films.

With two months to go before the Lunar New Year, the promotional campaign for films scheduled for the holiday season won't start so soon, but some materials and resources need to be prepared in advance.

Both "Detective Chinatown 2" and "Operation Red Sea" are big-budget films that the company has high hopes for, but simultaneously promoting two big-budget films is indeed a challenge for the company, as it has never done this before.

This fall, they're definitely going to bleed money, throwing huge resources into two films.

More than 10 publicity and marketing companies were invited.

"The two films target different audiences, so the marketing and distribution are relatively easy. We have come up with some synergy plans for the two films, such as bundled ticket sales."

Upon hearing this, Li Qiutang said, "Bundled ticketing is illegal. Do I really need to explain that?"

"The bundled ticketing I'm talking about isn't the kind that's mandatory. I'm talking about compliant ticketing linkage. For example, if you buy a ticket for 'Operation Red Sea,' I'll give you a 5 yuan coupon for 'Detective Chinatown 2' or a cinema Coca-Cola coupon. The same goes for buying a ticket for 'Detective Chinatown 2.' You can use these coupons as you see fit. Then, we can offer a combo ticket for viewers to choose from, so they can buy both movies together and get a discount. That would be legal."

"The labeling must be clear, otherwise it's easy for people to accuse it of forced bundling."

"We understand this."

Li Qiutang also came up with an idea: "We can organize another one-day movie-watching challenge. Viewers who watch two movies in one day and check in will be entered into an official lottery for prizes such as free tickets, merchandise, or meet-and-greets. Let's show some sincerity. I've even thought of a trending topic: #TheBusiestDayOfTheYear# or #HighEnergyInTheMorningAfternoonFunny#."

Don't forget, when Director Li first started out, nobody paid any attention to him. He would pay for articles to report on himself and do marketing, so he was practically an expert.

(End of this chapter)