Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 419 Filming Continues (24)

Shen Yan attended the dinner following the press conference with Ji Xiang…

Grandpa Ge is here too!

That's normal; his relationship with Feng Xiaogang is what it is...

Not only Ge You, but also Zhang Ziyi, Zhang Jingchu, Feng Shaofeng, and Jiang Shan attended, along with Gu Changwei, Zhao Baogang, Teng Huatao, Wuershan, Zhang Yang, Du Jiayi, and Ye Jintian, the costume designer for "Back to 1942"...

Ji Xiang noticed a detail and whispered to Shen Yan, "Chen Guofu really didn't come!"

"I heard they had a falling out... he might be leaving Huayi!"

"Leave Huayi...and go to Wanda?"

"Who knows?"

For a time, Shen Yan admired Chen Guofu. In his youth, he entered the industry as a film critic, founded the Golden Horse International Film Festival, established a film cooperative with Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang, and began to explore filmmaking on his own in the 90s.

"Personal Advertisement", "Double Vision"...

Excellent quality!

Unfortunately, after arriving in mainland China and visiting Huayi Brothers, he learned nothing but arrogance…

Once sexual and financial resources are fully satisfied, talent gradually fades away…

I struggled for a while afterward and made a short film called "Confessions of an Adult Filmmaker"...

But soon...the same mistake happened again!
These people are too far removed from the lives of ordinary people.

What's the most baffling thing about the movies "Shanghai Fortress" and "Bureau 749"?
It's a bar and a club...

It's the end of the world, bro, and you're still running a bar? And clubbing?

Are you out of your mind?
Of course, Chen Guofu is not in such a state; he still has ambitions—he has thought about filming Akira Kurosawa's posthumous work, "Black Mask."

Ji Xiang asked in a low voice, "I sense that you don't think much of 'Back to 1942'?"

Are you interested in this topic? Be honest!

“…Not that interested…” Ji Xiang answered honestly.

"That settles it then. If you're not interested and I'm not interested, how many viewers do you think would be willing to buy tickets to watch it?"

"But this was a national disaster... We should remember it!"

"…you're right!"

Shen Yan was too lazy to refute...

In any case, Feng Xiaogang has gotten what he wanted!

After all, the movie has already been made.

Currently, films that pursue a certain level of intellectual depth rarely achieve good box office results.

Let alone Feng Xiaogang, even Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman" and "Killers of the Flower Moon" struggled to find investors, ultimately ending up with funding from Netflix and Imperative Entertainment respectively…

The latter is a game company…

Shen Yan was sitting down when Feng Xiaogang walked over. Shen Yan quickly stood up and said, "Director Feng!"

"Thank you for coming, you've gone to so much trouble!"

"...We'll definitely be coming to see Director Feng's movies..."

"Thank you..."

……

Whether their gratitude was genuine or not, they still put on quite a show!

Well, the timing of the release of "Back to 1942" wasn't ideal; Ang Lee's masterpiece "Life of Pi" was already showing in theaters...

When "Life of Pi" was first released in China, it did not do well at the box office, earning only 1129 million yuan on its opening day. However, it later received rave reviews and its box office soared all the way up, which was simply incredible.

It's generally understood that a good movie usually makes a fortune on its opening weekend, but then its box office plummets afterward. However, "Life of Pi" did the exact opposite.

1.01 million in the first week;
1.8 million in the following week;
Week 3: 1.65 million…

The final box office was close to 6 million!
Many people praise Ang Lee, but to be honest, Ang Lee's status in film history is actually quite awkward. Almost all of his films were made in the United States or relied on Hollywood. He did not catch up with the Taiwanese New Wave. In this respect, he cannot compare with Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang.

In the US, the status of independent films is not as high as that of the Coen brothers or Quentin Tarantino…

Winning an Oscar is certainly impressive, but Kubrick and Hitchcock, who didn't win Oscars, were even more impressive!
Hitchcock has consistently topped various film and television charts because he laid the foundation for many cinematic techniques, and many groundbreaking innovations originated with him.

Kubrick was the same; he made almost every genre film, and what's most remarkable is that most of them became classics in film history, and were imitated by later generations.

As for "Back to 1942"... it's a good movie, but it's definitely not a classic; it's not good enough to be widely praised by audiences.

To be honest, Feng Xiaogang's reputation played a significant role in the box office success of 3.64 million yuan.

It is said that before "Back to 1942," Feng Xiaogang had promised his boss that if the film lost money, he would make a comedy as compensation.

He who sought benevolence attained benevolence…

……

Filming continues in Hengdian for "Fame and Fortune"...

As I said before, he won't join the fun if there's no Shen Yan movie in the Lunar New Year film season.

By the way, "Sheep Without a Shepherd" is nearing the end of its run; its final box office is now 4.83 million yuan...

It's unlikely to exceed 500 million!
As a last resort, after the five major distributors issued a joint statement, cinemas retaliated by reducing the screenings of "Sheep Without a Shepherd"...

It's worth noting that before the statement was released, "Sheep Without a Shepherd," which had been in theaters for half a month, was still able to compete with "Cold War" on equal footing, with similar screen times.

On the evening of the 15th, the statement was released, and the next day, the number of screenings of "Sheep Without a Shepherd" dropped to 11%, with fewer than 7000 screenings per day...

Doing this will result in a box office loss of at least 8000 million!
Shen Yan didn't say anything, but felt a little sorry for Liu Dehua.

I've made a guarantee that "Sheep Without a Shepherd 2" will be approved as soon as possible!

Oh, the overseas rights to "Sheep Without a Shepherd" sold quite well, with 47 countries and regions importing it...

Moreover, the buyout price exceeded $1800 million.

The main reason is that "The Big Shot" has performed very well at the box office in South Korea. In just two weeks, it has attracted more than 200 million viewers and is sure to break the record of 271.3 million viewers set by "Red Cliff Part II"!
The total number of moviegoers is expected to be between 350 million and 400 million.

The box office is estimated to be between $1900 million and $2300 million.

However, high box office revenue has little to do with profits—the copyright was sold for only $150 million!
Who the hell knew that "The Big Shot" would be such a box office hit in South Korea?

Then, Ji Xiang offered a staggering $300 million for the South Korean rights to "Sheep Without a Shepherd"... and CJ Entertainment bought it!

The copyrights to Nihon Shot were sold as a package deal, including "The Big Shot" and "Sheep Without a Shepherd," starting at $300 million...

Currently, only a few television stations are interested.

That's right. To distribute foreign films in Japan, you have to go door-to-door and knock on doors. And there are very few cinemas in Japan, only about 500.

In recent years, Japanese films have almost disappeared from Chinese-language films!

With such a high asking price, there are definitely not many people willing to take the risk...

Let's get back to "Making a Name for Oneself"...

The film captured Lu Ziye being reminded by Guan Jingnian, "We have a unit that went to India... It's best if the film's content doesn't involve military or political topics!"

Lu Ziye realized his mistake and decided to give up...

Lee Ka-fai was displeased: "Just because he's a soldier? We're not going to film?"

Zheng Qianli exclaimed in surprise, "What? A soldier? Qi Leshan? What about those rumors about the three elders..."

"I suspect they were silenced because they were involved in an arms deal!"

Lu Ziye: "Alright, let's go... This kind of thing is not something we should be concerned with!"

Then Li Jiahui angrily retorted: "You're all just afraid!"

Zheng Qianli chuckled: "Improving on the spot is an instinct for film directors!"

"If you could adapt to changing circumstances, you wouldn't keep making bad movies!"

"What's wrong with a bad movie? So what if it's a bad movie?" Guo Jingfei retorted, "I make investors money, I fill cinemas to capacity, and during the most difficult times, I'm the one who ensures everyone can work and have food to eat. I'm the king of bad movies, and I'm proud of it!"

"...If you're so great, why would you plagiarize my movie?"

"Someone doesn't want your name to be in the movie!"

"What? Who?"

After filming this scene, Shen Yan glanced at the monitor and nodded: "...Not bad, that's a wrap!"

Guo Jingfei suddenly said, "Director, why do I feel like I've heard those lines before? Where have I heard them before?"

"Wang Jing's confession!"

"Director Wang Jing?"

(End of this chapter)