Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 774 The Director is Very Popular

Li Qiutang has won championships before, including the season championship, the annual championship, and even the all-time Chinese music championship.

But none of the previous championships had been as powerful as this one.

The biggest reason, of course, is that the market has been made bigger than ever before.

3月1日晚上8点，电影《流浪地球》总票房达到57.1亿，《战狼2》56.9亿的票房记录在保持了19个月后被打破。

Almost everyone, whether they knew her or not, congratulated Li Qiutang.

Everyone is sharing the record-breaking poster on Weibo, congratulating The Wandering Earth on becoming the world's biggest film ever.

Li Qiutang's phone kept ringing, with countless messages flooding in.

"Look," Liu Yifei said, her face flushed from the wine. If her mother-in-law hadn't been there, Li Qiutang would have loved to hug her and kiss her. "I'll give them a piece of my mind, otherwise we can't eat this meal."

Amidst a flurry of ringing messages, Li Qiutang opened his phone. He quickly scrolled through a few messages—ordinary congratulatory messages, all heartfelt wishes from his friends.

Unable to reply to everyone individually, Li Qiutang posted a long message on her WeChat Moments.

"...I won't reply to everyone individually. Thank you for your congratulations. This isn't just my honor; it's the achievement of the entire crew and a testament to the industrialization of Chinese cinema. Let me take a break; see you in the second film. P.S. We had hot pot at home today; here are a couple of pictures to whet your appetite."

This post on WeChat Moments will naturally be shared. Following producer Chen Zhixi's confirmation earlier today that there will be a sequel, director Li Qiutang has also officially acknowledged that "The Wandering Earth 2" will be filmed.

After Li Qiutang posted this on her WeChat Moments, she received just as many congratulatory messages as other messages.

The first message from President Lü of the Spring and Autumn Period was just one sentence: "Qiu Tang, when is the second part coming out? Just say the word. I can't come up with more than that, but I've got 2 or 3 million ready for you."

The glamorous CEO Wang quickly sent a voice message: "Qiu Tang, I'll co-produce the first one, but you'd better upgrade the second one."

Bernard and Wan Da had the same idea: as long as Li Qiutang asked, they would give him whatever amount of money he wanted. Wan Da should know that many companies were eyeing the position of the main production company. China Film Group is a state-owned enterprise, and Qiutian is the copyright holder and also Li Qiutang's company. Wan Da's position was the easiest to be replaced. Therefore, Zeng Maojun specifically said: "Let's make the second film together with the three of us, and don't add any more."

Despite the current difficult situation, Wanda still has to set aside funds for "The Wandering Earth" to maintain its position as the main producer.

Li Qiutang has received many such messages recently. Although he repeatedly emphasized that even if there is a second part, it will not be so soon and it is not the right time to collect money now, they still tirelessly said that they were willing to pay, and they were willing to give Li Qiutang as much money as he wanted.

They were afraid that if they arrived too late, they wouldn't be able to slip the money in.

Li Qiutang had to reply to each of these bosses, explaining that Zhang Zhao and Chen Zhixi had always been in charge of the money matters, and that he hadn't handled them. He also said that it was too early to talk about money now, and the company wouldn't be in such a hurry to discuss it, so they should be patient.

"I said this to reassure the fans. Lately, too many people have been asking about a sequel. Let's confirm it first, and we'll see what happens next. There's no rush."

Countless people wanted to invite Li Qiutang to dinner and outings, and some even dug up the fact that Li Qiutang and Liu Yifei had previously said they wanted to go to the Arctic and Africa, saying they could invite the couple to go.

But Li Qiutang politely declined, saying, "I'll eat at home. I haven't been home for a month. If I eat out again, my wife will complain." He had to use his wife as a shield in this crucial moment.

"No, no, we'll arrange it ourselves, don't bother."

It took a lot of persuasion to calm things down.

"The director is really popular." Liu Yifei found it amusing to see her husband frantically replying to various messages, not even eating a bite of food.

"There's nothing we can do about breaking records. Let's eat."

After breaking records on Friday, "The Wandering Earth" continued its winning streak over the weekend, earning another 2.7 million yuan and pushing the total box office to a staggering 59.8 billion yuan.

"The Wandering Earth" is poised to lead Chinese films to the 6 billion yuan mark. At 10:00 AM on Monday, the official Weibo account of "The Wandering Earth" announced that the film's box office had surpassed 6 billion yuan. This marks the birth of the first film in Chinese film history to reach 6 billion yuan at the box office.

However, the stock market is the opposite of the box office performance.

On Monday, Autumn Pictures' stock price continued to rise, reaching a high of 97 billion yuan in a single day, just one step away from a market value of 100 billion yuan.

However, on Tuesday, Autumn Pictures' stock price plummeted, with a single-day fluctuation of 40% and a drop of over 10%, resulting in 270 billion yuan of funds being trapped.

That's how project-based production works. "The Wandering Earth" is an exception. It's impossible for Autumn Pictures to achieve such results with every film. Autumn Pictures remains the highest-quality film and media stock, but investors will inevitably have doubts about the sustainability of its subsequent works.

When the impulse subsides, what remains are retail investors who are trapped and cursing in the streets.

The company has no choice and doesn't plan to make any public statement.

Everyone knows this is a short-lived capital frenzy, but everyone thinks they won't be the one left holding the bag at the top.

At 9 p.m. that evening, Autumn Pictures issued an announcement that "The Wandering Earth" had been granted a one-month extension key, and the film would be shown until 24:00 on April 7.

Logically speaking, since the movie broke records, Li Qiutang should at least go back to the company to make a show of it. Just as emperors in ancient times received congratulations from their officials, it seems reasonable for Li Qiutang to go to the company to receive congratulations from her colleagues.

But he did nothing. He didn't go back to the company, and he didn't attend the management dinner either. He really just stayed home and rested.

If his wife didn't have to film a new movie in a few days, he would have liked to take Liu Yifei on a trip.

That day, Li Qiutang received Chen Sicheng at home, and he brought a new woman to meet Li Qiutang.

“This is Ke Wenli, whom I met in Taiwan.” He was the first new director Chen Sicheng discovered after he started his own company. “He said he wanted to meet you and see what a director with 60 billion in box office revenue looks like.” Chen Sicheng said with a smile.

"I don't have many hands either, what's there to see?" Li Qiutang laughed.

Chen Sicheng created a web series called "Detective Chinatown" to complete the Detective Chinatown universe. Ke Wenli is the director. After filming this web series, he will take over another movie produced by Chen Sicheng, "Sheep Without a Shepherd".

Chen Sicheng is already a very mature director of genre films. The two "Detective Chinatown" films have made him a top-grossing director, and he no longer needs Li Qiutang to produce anything for him.

The copyright for "Sheep Without a Shepherd" belonged to the company, which bought it in 15. They originally wanted to give it to Xin Yukun, who focused on crime and suspense, but Xin Yukun wasn't interested in the story, so Chen Sicheng took it instead.

"It's in Thailand again?"

“We couldn’t film without going to Thailand,” Chen Sicheng said. “Our crew in Thailand is quite experienced, so filming there is no different from filming in China.”

Chen Sicheng wanted to release "Sheep Without a Shepherd" during the December Lunar New Year holiday season, and Li Qiutang had no objections. As long as he could make it, the company wouldn't transfer him.

Li Qiutang said, "This year, the company will adopt a defensive stance to ensure cash flow. There aren't many films, and you can negotiate the release dates with the company; there shouldn't be any major problems."

So far, the company has only confirmed one film for release this year, "Ne Zha," scheduled for the summer season, with all other release dates empty.

This is very different from the company's usual practices. Li Qiutang told Chen Sicheng that it was a normal adjustment for the company. "It was too hot in the past few years. We can't keep pushing like this forever. It's not realistic. It has nothing to do with you. You can take your time. The company won't shortchange you."

"Sheep Without a Shepherd" is just a small part; the real big project is Chen Sicheng's own "Detective Chinatown 3," which is also scheduled to start filming in the second half of the year, aiming for the 20 Spring Festival release. Li Qiutang didn't ask him to withdraw the film because it was useless to say anything; once things happened, Chen Sicheng would withdraw it himself.

"I have an idea, can you give me your opinion?" Chen Sicheng asked Li Qiutang for advice. "There's a female character in my play named Lin Nai, a Japanese orphan after World War II who was adopted by Chinese people. She doesn't have many scenes, but the role is crucial. Do you think Yi Fei would agree to a cameo role?"

(End of this chapter)