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

Chapter 435 is a bit difficult (24)

In fact, independent films with an art-house style usually have a low budget.

Converted to RMB, *Whiplash* cost 2200 million, while the Oscar-winning film *Moonlight* cost 1100 million…

Even the cost of "Dallas Buyers Club" did not exceed 3000 million RMB.

The main reason is that major studios are unwilling to invest in independent films. They would rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a limited number of large projects than spend a million dollars on an independent film!
Disney Studios president Alan Horn bluntly stated, "We can't make low-budget films anymore. We spent $160 million on 'Queen Katniss,' which is based on the true story of a 14-year-old Ugandan chess champion. It's a beautiful and touching film, and it grossed $850 million in the US. But 'Beauty and the Beast' achieved that in just four hours over a weekend!"

Independent film studios willing to invest don't have much money...

The Oscar-winning films in the following years, with the exception of "Oppenheimer," were all low-budget…

That's how a mature film market works.

Unlike in China, where a project can easily cost 6000 million!
A movie with a budget of 6000 million yuan needs at least 2 million yuan in box office revenue to break even.

Oh, we chatted a bit more about "My Love from the Star" later—"My Love from the Star" will have its second run on Zhejiang TV and Dragon TV tomorrow…

This episode should air on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, exactly two days before the Lunar New Year...

……

After the recording ended, the group returned to the hotel, and the publicity staff also came over.

Shen Yan glanced at the publicity plan and shook his head: "I won't go to 'Happy Camp'... There are only two movies in the Spring Festival season, either 'American Dreams in China' or 'Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons'..."

"007 is still showing in theaters!"

Huang Xiaoming interjected, "There's also 'Hotel Deluxe' and 'Better and Better Village Gala'... those also had a star-studded cast..."

Yang Siwei shook his head: "...Theatrical releases gave 28,000 screenings of 'American Dreams in China' on its opening day, and 23,000 screenings of 'Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons' on its opening day...All other films combined had less than 10,000 screenings...How can they win?"

"We're getting so many screenings?"

"Our pre-sales have already exceeded 3000 million... We should be able to reach over 5000 million before the first day of the Lunar New Year!"

“…Let me see.”

Shen Yan picked up the pre-sale form, glanced at it, and then whispered to Yang Siwei, "Buy some more!"

"...OK!"

Deng Chao asked curiously, "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing..." Shen Yan waved her hand, then asked him, "Have you seen 'The Magic Hour'?"

"After watching it, it felt a lot like a stage play..."

"Yes, it's a stage play... So, we need to put some effort into the set design, props, art direction, and cinematography. If you're willing to do it, we can do it together!"

"...Me, a director?"

"Yes, since you want to be a director, 'The Magic Hour' has a classic structure... and the budget is right. Just rent a location at the film studio... find a few suitable actors, and it can be made for a maximum of 20 million!"

"The Magic Hour" is the same as "The Killer Isn't Calm," and the plot is simple: 'A loser with minor roles pretends to be a top assassin...'

That's exactly what we're looking for – a sense of contrast.

Deng Chao nodded: "Then I'll give it a try..."

"If there are any problems with the script, you can talk to Lu Yang and the others..."

"I have Yu Baimei..."

Shen Yan shook his head: "Yu Baimei is good at making farces, but... the premise of 'Magic Hour' is already absurd enough. What the screenwriter needs to do is to straighten out the whole logic and make the audience more convinced, rather than adding more jokes... otherwise, it will be too chaotic!"

Yu Baimei worked as a screenwriter for Yingda, starting with sitcoms. He participated in shows such as *Xi'an Tiger Family*, *A Family in Northeast China*, *Internet Addict's Diary*, and *Idle Ma Dajie*. Later, he collaborated with Shang Jing on shows like *Before and After the House* and *Invincible Three-Legged Cat*.

Later, she and Deng Chao hit it off.

Together they contributed "The Breakup Guru" and "The Villain Angel," especially the latter, which is enough to be recorded in the history of bad Chinese movies!

Huang Xiaoming interjected, "Director, do you know about '1949'?"

"...1949? The founding of the People's Republic of China?" "I mean John Woo's film, *The Sinking of the Taiping in 1949*..."

“Oh,” Shen Yan nodded, “I’ve heard of it!”

The film "The Crossing" was originally called "1949"...

This is a new project officially announced by John Woo at the Cannes Film Festival. It's rumored that Song Hye-kyo will play the female lead and Chang Chen the male lead…

Back then, there were reports that Zhang Yimou and Wu Yusen had both chosen war-themed themes.
Stephen Chow and Andrew Lau plan to bring "Journey to the West" and "Water Margin" to the big screen;
Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tian Zhuangzhuang will continue the trend of period martial arts blockbusters with "The Assassin" and "The Wolf Warrior" respectively.

Ang Lee and Tsai Ming-liang, on the other hand, have each set their sights on the Woodstock Music Festival and the Louvre Museum in Paris, respectively, both of which have a significant impact in Europe and America…

And there's Johnnie To's "Red Circle Club"...

Ultimately, none of them were very successful, and many projects even failed!

Andrew Lau's "Water Margin" didn't come to fruition, but Tsai Ming-liang did manage to film "Face" at the Louvre...

Du Qifeng's "Red Circle Club" ultimately failed to materialize...

Huang Xiaoming continued, "...Director John Woo wants to talk to you..."

“I have no interest in working with him,” Shen Yan interrupted him before he could finish, “I absolutely hate his movies!”

"...Then...never mind!"

Shen Yan changed the subject: "Brother Dawei, has filming for 'Switch' finished?"

"Sigh!" Tong Dawei sighed, "Filming's finished..."

"How does it feel?"

"I don't even know what I'm filming..." Tong Dawei shook his head: "I just acted opposite Lin Zhiling every day, who was wearing different clothes... The director even made me call her 'Mom'!"

Deng Chao, who was drinking water, almost spat it out: "What?"

"Is it okay to film this?"

Tong Dawei shook his head: "I really don't know, but there are action scenes, romance scenes, and car chase scenes..."

"No script?"

“There’s no script at all…” Tong Dawei shook his head: “The screenwriter was fired… there’s not even a complete storyline!”

"Tsk tsk, it's likely to be a bad movie!"

"It's alright," Tong Dawei smiled, "It's not like I haven't acted in bad movies before!"

Uh… Tong Dawei has indeed acted in quite a few bad movies, such as "The Mysterious Events of the Twelve Constellations," "With a Heartbeat," and "Three Unmarried Mothers"... all of which have a Douban rating of around 3.5.

He never imagined that "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" wasn't just any bad movie; it was a phenomenally bad movie...

The group chatted for a while, then went to rest.

……

Yan Ge has planned his schedule and estimates he won't be able to rest before the New Year...

After all, their competitor is "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," so they definitely need to do thorough preparation to ensure their own exposure and the exposure of "American Dreams in China"...

I'll definitely accept interview invitations from Sohu, iQiyi, Youku, Tencent, and Sina.

In addition, TV variety shows…

He also has to record an episode of "Let's Talk"...

The biggest problem with "American Dreams in China" is its lack of brand recognition. Even the combined brand recognition of the main creative team is not as high as that of Stephen Chow.

Then do more promotion...

Just then, I heard a knock on the door... It was Nini!

(End of this chapter)