Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 726 Why is 85 Flower so good at fighting?
However, during the promotion of "The Meg," Li Bingbing showed a certain "uncooperative" attitude towards both the Chinese and foreign teams.

In terms of film promotion, she only attended the premiere in the United States and the premiere in China, plus a promotional event at Chimelong Water Park in Guangzhou.

He then withdrew from the publicity team.

The promotional tasks for "The Meg" were already limited, and Li Bingbing's "lack of cooperation" caused dissatisfaction among some people in the company.

However, Li Qiutang knew some of the reasons.

Li Bingbing's health is failing.

Li Qiutang has worked with many actors, and in terms of hard work, Li Bingbing is definitely in the top three among the actors she has seen. Even Liu Yifei is not as hardworking as her.

In 15, when Li Bingbing was filming "The Nest" in Australia, he had a high fever for 16 days and was so weak that he could not walk. However, the Australian hospitals could not make a diagnosis. When his life was hanging by a thread, his sister bought a ticket overnight and flew back to China, from Australia to Hong Kong, and then from Hong Kong to Beijing.

Li Xue carried three boxes of fever-reducing medicine with her and flew back to China with her sister.

The reason Li Qiutang knew so much was because he was the one who secured the two plane tickets for the sisters to return to China.

It wasn't a chartered flight overnight as rumored online. The procedures for chartering a direct flight aren't that quick. It was just that I grabbed the plane tickets overnight.

The tickets back to China that night were sold out. Li Xue begged all her friends in China to help the two sisters snag tickets for that evening. Her efforts paid off, and Li Qiutang managed to get two tickets for a flight that night.

Having narrowly escaped death, Li Bingbing later told Li Qiutang that after recovering from her illness, she lost all ambition.

She still wanted to act, she still wanted to work, but she didn't want to push herself like she used to. She knew her body couldn't take it anymore, and she had to rest.

Of course, this is what Li Bingbing said. Li Qiutang believed that this was what she was thinking at the time, and she also believed that her health was really not good. But whether or not to continue, Li Qiutang felt that they should observe her for a while longer.

After all, in this world of fame and fortune, many things are hard to predict.

Therefore, Li Qiutang was quite understanding of Li Bingbing's "lack of cooperation" with the publicity.

Co-productions don't usually have much of a promotional campaign, so it's already quite an achievement for Li Bingbing to attend two events in China.

After all, to put it bluntly, Li Bingbing is not an actress with a strong following, and the production team doesn't rely on her to sell tickets.

However, Li Bingbing still invited Li Qiutang and Qiu Tian, ​​along with other senior executives, to dinner that day to explain the situation and express his feelings.

Li Bingbing is, after all, one of the most prominent actresses in the industry, and people will still give her face.

Li Bingbing brought a little girl instead of her younger sister, Li Xue.

"This is Zhou Ye, the first artist we signed," Li Bingbing introduced. "Xiao Ye, greet him."

The young girl followed behind the boss, calling him "Boss X" repeatedly.

"Hello, Director." Zhou Ye called to Li Qiutang. Li Qiutang nodded and said, "Being signed with Bingbing's company gives you a head start over others. How old are you?"

"I was born in 98, so I'm 20 years old now."

Li Qiutang, ever the impolite one, chuckled and said to Li Bingbing, "You can give birth to her, huh?"

Li Bingbing laughed too: "If I had gotten married earlier, I could have had her."

"The company only signed her, so we have to treat her like our own daughter."

"Of course not," Li Bingbing laughed. "I wouldn't bring anyone else to introduce to you. Our Xiao Ye just finished filming a movie with Zhou Dongyu and Yi Yang Qianxi. It just wrapped up a few days ago."

"This is the treatment a biological daughter would receive," Li Qiutang said, giving her face.

Today's main character is definitely not Zhou Ye. She just came with the boss to have a meal and get to know someone. After greeting him, she obediently sat next to the boss and listened to others talk.

Li Bingbing wouldn't proactively say she wouldn't participate in promotional activities. After the meal, everyone understood, and the conversation at the table was just idle chatter. "I'm not saying anything bad about her in front of Xiao Ye," Li Bingbing said, placing her hand on Zhou Ye's arm. "I don't know if it's the people who have changed, or the market that has changed. They're making so many more films every year than we were back then, but the people aren't getting any recognition."

Someone in the audience said that while the big screen is indeed still dominated by the same group of people, there are many new faces on the small screen, with several emerging every year, so it's not fair to say that. Didn't the recently aired "Ashes of Love" make Yang Zi a star? "Just like when 'Eternal Love' made Yang Mi a star, she soared to great heights."

"If you want to become a household name across the country with a single play when you're in your teens or twenties, such plays are rare and hard to come by. It has little to do with the size of the market; it's all about luck at that time."

Li Bingbing then laughed and said, "Our generation of actors will soon run out of roles."

Li Qiutang disagreed: "Don't say that. There are two generations of actors in the Chinese entertainment industry with very long careers. One generation is your generation of 70s. You're only in your early 40s, which is the time when your acting skills, experience, and mindset are at their most mature. Good resources are still in your hands. Think about it, super resources like 'White Deer Plain' and 'Red Sorghum' are most suitable for actors of your age. Now people say that middle-aged actresses over 40 don't have many roles to play, but you can't go and act in shows like 'Ashes of Love' and 'Eternal Love,' can you? Your resources and the resources of young actors are not the same category, and there is no competition between them."

"What about the other generation?"

"The other generation is the 80s-85s generation. The prime of this generation of actors will be longer than yours. Let's be frank, for your generation of actors, being popular for 20 years is probably the limit."

Li Bingbing nodded. Indeed, Zhang Ziyi, the top of the Four Dan Actresses and an international star, would have been finished if it weren't for "The Grandmaster".

She debuted early enough, becoming an overnight sensation in 98. In 13, "The Grandmaster" was released, but in 15, she almost didn't make it. Now, she's no longer in the film industry; she's gone to work on variety shows and TV dramas.

Xu Cainu has already fled to the United States and is semi-retired.

The 20 years of fame truly represent the limit for this generation of actresses.

“But it’s different for actors born between 80 and 85, especially actresses. As long as they don’t break the law, they can keep making films and stay popular. In fact…” Li Qiutang glanced at Zhou Ye, “these post-90s and post-95s actresses will be completely overshadowed by the post-80s and post-85s actresses.”

Zhou Ye nodded. Although she was still a fringe figure in the entertainment industry, she had already felt the dominance of the post-85 actresses, which was even more terrifying than that of the post-70s actresses. Small screen resources were all in the hands of Yang Mi, Shu Chang, Zhao Liying, and others. Only Liu Yifei had broken into the big screen among this generation of actresses. Young actresses like Zhou Ye couldn't yet enter the film industry and couldn't yet feel Liu Yifei's terrifying dominance.

"Because this is the normal career path for an actor: debut as a supporting actor for a few years, seize an opportunity to try out a low-budget lead role, and by the time you climb to the lead role in a big production, you're already in your thirties or forties."

This isn't a phenomenon unique to the Chinese entertainment industry; it's the same all over the world. The best resources are always in the hands of middle-aged actors aged 30-50.

In their early twenties, they were destined to act in idol dramas and soap operas.

As for why the flowering period of the 80s-85s generation is so long, it has to do with the two rounds of rural appliance subsidies and the rise of the Internet.

Most of the actresses born in the 1970s benefited from the first "Home Appliances to the Countryside" program in the late 1990s, which brought televisions into thousands of households and established their unparalleled national popularity. After the second "Home Appliances to the Countryside" program in 2008, these actresses generally transitioned to the big screen, but unfortunately missed out. By the time the internet age arrived, they had generally successfully transitioned and no longer needed to compete with others in the traffic-driven game.

The post-85 actresses perfectly capitalized on the second wave of the rural appliance subsidy program and the internet boom, which is why their bloom period will be exceptionally long.

One of the oddballs was Liu Yifei. She was the only actress of her generation to benefit from the first wave of the "Home Appliances to the Countryside" program. She became famous far too early.

After 08, she stopped filming TV dramas. Logically, she shouldn't have been included in the second round of the "Home Appliances to the Countryside" program. However, her works before the age of 18 were so good that she indirectly benefited from the second round of the program thanks to the long-tail effect.

However, there is another actress who is even more typical and extreme than Liu Yifei in catching all the media's benefits: Fan Bingbing.

This is the objective external reason why Fan Bingbing has been able to maintain her popularity for so long.

Anyone can try to get on the red carpet and engage in black-and-red marketing. Zhang Xinyu wanted to replicate that, but she didn't have Fan Bingbing's resilience.

“The post-85 generation can remain popular for another 10-15 years without any problem.” Li Qiutang pointed to Zhou Ye. “This generation is completely playing the internet game. They will become platform workers and it will be very, very difficult for them to stand out.”

After listening to Li Qiutang's analysis, Li Bingbing was truly impressed: "So there's more to this than meets the eye."

Li Qiutang laughed and said, "With such a big company, it's not enough for me to just know how to make films. Without industry observation and analysis, how can I lead everyone forward?"

“Then I have to learn from you,” Li Bingbing said with a smile. The two clinked glasses and joked with Zhou Ye, “He’s the second largest shareholder in our company, so he’s practically your boss.”

A banquet where both the guest and the host enjoy themselves.

(End of this chapter)