Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 690 The Troubles of "Investiture of the Gods"
Chen Sicheng has a bit of luck about him; this guy is playing the male lead.

Putting aside his acting career, just looking at his directing career, his debut TV series "Beijing Love Story" had very good ratings. In an era before ratings were inflated, being able to break 1 on a satellite TV channel speaks volumes.

Making movies, the film of the same name as "Beijing Love Story" broke 4 million yuan, making a stunning debut. The second film turned from a romance to a suspenseful detective. The first "Detective Chinatown" film grossed 8 million yuan, and the second film this year is even more unstoppable.

Even the previously most anticipated "Monster Hunt 2" couldn't stop "Detective Chinatown 2," which broke 10 billion yuan in 3 days, becoming the strongest blockbuster of the Spring Festival season.

This is also why Autumn Pictures was willing to give Chen Sicheng stock to bind him more deeply to the company.

This guy is making way too much money.

Actually, "Monster Hunt 2" did quite well, breaking 10 billion yuan earlier than "Detective Chinatown 2". This was thanks to the film's exaggerated opening day box office. However, "Monster Hunt 2" did not receive the same positive reviews as "Detective Chinatown 2".

"Monster Hunt 2" has started to be criticized by netizens who are bringing up old issues and saying some very unpleasant things.

"Don't you know how the first film became the highest-grossing film of all time? You're itching to watch 'Wolf Warrior 2' with its 56 billion yuan box office, aren't you? You can't keep up with the hype anymore!"

"Now I can finally say it, this is karma! When the first movie was released in 15, I thought Huba was not good-looking at all, even ugly. But people forced me to say it was cute. Zhejiang TV has been promoting the Huba IP like crazy for the past two years, and now it's backfiring. This is karma!"

"With 5.5 million on the first day, it was clearly aiming to break the record set by 'Wolf Warrior 2.' However, the competition during the same period was fiercer than ever, and the government also withdrew the ticket subsidies (this year, the regulations stipulate that the price of tickets after subsidies cannot be lower than 19.9 yuan, so the 9.9 yuan ticket price of previous years is no longer an option). It can't keep up with the box office!"

The words were harsh, but they weren't entirely without merit.

The hasty conclusion of the box office manipulation case for the first "Monster Hunt" film left many people feeling indignant.

They were really too arrogant back then. They just kept cheating, and we knew that changing actors and reshooting would cost a lot of money. Who would have thought that they would cheat and become the champion of film history!
That changes the nature of the situation!
Now that its reputation is declining, and it's very likely it won't be able to beat "Detective Chinatown 2" and "Operation Red Sea," so don't blame netizens for being merciless with their criticism.

There are still voices in the market pointing out the company's shortcomings exposed by the clash between the two films in the fall, but both films have achieved great success so far, and the joint marketing efforts of the two films have drowned out these voices.

"Detective Chinatown 2" broke the 10 billion yuan mark for the first time, and the official Weibo account of the "Operation Red Sea" crew posted a congratulatory message. Chen Sicheng also commented in a friendly manner: "Keep it up, waiting for you."

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, "Operation Red Sea" surged past 11 billion yuan, while "Detective Chinatown 2," which had already grossed 20 billion yuan, followed suit with its New Year's greetings.

It's a bit late, it's already the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, and the Spring Festival holiday is almost over. "Operation Red Sea" has only grossed 11 billion yuan, is it still too late? Many people have this question.

Li Qiutang's Weibo post reposting the news that "Operation Red Sea" had surpassed 11 billion yuan in box office revenue effectively responded to this skepticism: "The road to success for 'Operation Red Sea' has only just begun, and the market after the Spring Festival will be its stage to shine."

Li Qiutang's viewpoint was also agreed upon by Yu Dong.

Although Qiu Tian was the largest shareholder of "Operation Red Sea", Yu Dong treated the film as if he were in control and paid extra attention to it.

Having worked in film for decades, he naturally knows that the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival film seasons are typically dominated by family-friendly and comedy films, and that a brutal and realistic military action film like "Operation Red Sea" is not the first choice for audiences during this period.

So we have to wait, but wait for what?
We'll wait until we return to the city after the holiday, until word-of-mouth for the movie spreads, and until the enthusiasm of family moviegoers subsides.

This is when "Operation Red Sea" was launched.

"Oh dear, I can't compare, I can't compare at all." Li Qiutang and Liu Yifei were at a social gathering hosted by Song Ge of Yanjing Culture. He was praising Qiutian Pictures' performance during the Spring Festival season, saying, "We're hesitant to even release films during the Spring Festival, but you've managed to release two at once, and both of them are huge hits. It's so unfair!" This kind of social event should have been handled by Zhang Zhao or Chen Zhixi, but since neither of them was in Yanjing, Li Qiutang had to take the lead.

It would be best to invite Li Qiutang, not to mention that he also brought Liu Yifei along, which is a great honor for him.

With its scale and project success rate, no company in China wouldn't envy Autumn Pictures.

Song Ge and Li Qiutang had a fairly good personal relationship. Yanjing Culture was doing very well and was one of the top film production companies in China.

However, it seems that the two companies have never cooperated. Song Ge has extensive connections and resources in the industry, so he can't get anything from Li Qiutang.

While we may admire it, Beijing culture really doesn't need to rush to associate itself with autumn.

But he did have something he needed Li Qiutang's help with today, but he had to say something else before asking for help.

"It's that 'Investiture of the Gods Trilogy' thing, it's such a pain." Li Qiutang had already clearly rejected the investment invitation, and Song Ge wasn't here to talk about investment today. This is a super project, and if we don't do it this fall, plenty of people will want to.

"What kind of nonsense is he going to use, an all-amateur cast? I've given him a 30 billion yuan project to play like this?!" This is what Song Ge finds most intolerable about Wu Ershan. Song Ge understands and supports actors needing training, but Wu Ershan is ignoring the readily available actors and insisting on holding some kind of amateur selection. In Song Ge's eyes, this is just a case of having nothing better to do than being bored.

"Ji Fa uses new people, Yin Jiao, even King Zhou's son, uses new people, Yang Jian and Nezha also use new people, even Daji wants to use new people, what is this if not absurdity!"

At the dinner table, a vice president from Yanjing Culture, who was accompanying him, handed him a piece of advice: "He is definitely trying to make money through casting."

It's an industry norm that the total investment already includes a portion that the production company implicitly allows the director to pocket.

Let's assume for now that the "Fengshen Trilogy" really did have an investment of 3 billion yuan. Of that, at least 30-2 million yuan is the profit that the investors tacitly agreed to Wu Ershan could take away in addition to his salary.

"If you ask me, why choose a new actress for Daji? Just use Fan Bingbing. Who in the whole country can play her better?"

Li Qiutang laughed and said, "Are you praising Bingbing or scolding her?"

Liu Yifei laughed at this, saying, "I'll tell Bingbing what you said."

Song Ge lowered his voice and said, "To be honest, I actually told Bingbing about this, and she was quite willing to act it out."

Li Qiutang knew a little about Fan Bingbing. Actually, she was quite reluctant to play a fox spirit like Daji again, but she didn't expect that Song Ge could persuade Fan Bingbing.

Song Ge is currently facing a typical conflict between the director's team and the production company.

Wu Ershan is not a very obedient director. Although Yanjing Culture is powerful, it has lacked experience in operating blockbuster films since its establishment, and it doesn't have any good solutions for the problems with the "Fengshen Trilogy".

Therefore, Song Ge wanted to ask Li Qiutang for advice, since no one in China has as much experience as Qiutang in operating blockbuster films.

"That's easy, just cut off the money." Li Qiutang was determined to solve the problem at its root without saying another word.

(End of this chapter)