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

Chapter 551 Lunar New Year's Day (24)

"Brother Yan... I have to bother you again during the New Year..."

"It's nothing, ask me anything!"

"What are your thoughts on the particularly poor reception of 'Havoc in Heaven'?"

Shen Yan laughed: "Isn't this normal? You're telling an Eastern myth from a Western perspective, turning a proper havoc in the Heavenly Palace into a war between immortals and demons... No wonder this thing is so bad!"

"Havoc in Heaven" is actually a promotional video for an online game...

The plot of this lousy movie is so bad it makes that person want to vomit blood!

In short, the Bull Demon King wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace twice. The story has shifted to a war between gods and demons, and for some reason, the Bull Demon King wants to kill the Jade Emperor…

Furthermore, the film's arbitrariness in its attention to detail is truly outrageous!
Do whatever you want...

In short, it has the feel of a third-rate domestic online game.

Shattered!
"The movie 'Where Are We Going, Dad?' had a high attendance rate. What do you think is the reason for this?"

"This is a derivative benefit of the IP... I think the movie version of 'Where Are We Going, Dad?' is just enlarging the TV in the living room and moving it to the movie theater, with dozens of families watching a TV reality show together... Let's not judge this thing by movie standards... Back then, many cinemas in Changsha also broadcast the final of 'I Am a Singer' live!"

"Are you worried that the big-movie format of 'Where Are We Going, Dad?' will lead to imitation and the bad driving out the good?"

"How easy is it to imitate?" Shen Yan replied directly, "There are tons of variety show movies out there. 'The Voice of China' has 'The Voice of China Turns for You,' and 'Happy Camp' has 'Happy Home.' Why didn't anyone raise these issues back then...?"

After thinking for a moment, he added, "Besides, at least 'Where Are We Going, Dad?' made the audience laugh, which is much better than 'Switch' and 'The Treasure Hunter'!"

"Brother Yan, do you think 'Duckweed' can surpass 'Goodbye Mr. Loser' at the box office?"

"...It's a bit difficult. The English title of 'Duckweed' is similar to 'floating duckweed,' so you can get a feel for it. It's not actually a comedy..."

"I watched the movie. At the end, the last scene showed a pager lying on the bed. It was a piece of property that Xu Zhengtai left to his mother and son before he went to jail. It represents fatherly love. It may be out of place in this world, and sometimes it may even seem so outdated and ridiculous, but it truly existed and it made sacrifices... Is that what it means?"

Shen Yan smiled and said, "Actually, this is a joke I saw... I can't remember where I saw it, but I thought it was quite funny!"

"...Do you have any memories of your father?"

"No... He was gone before I could remember, and I can't be bothered to know where he is... Let's not talk about that anymore, let's continue complaining about 'Havoc in Heaven'!"

"it is good!"

……

Havoc in Heaven...

We're not saying that Journey to the West can't be drastically altered, but this alteration is just too bad!
Oh, this is a typical example of a film financed through fundraising!
Many people don't understand why, with such a huge investment in a film and having cast Chow Yun-fat, Donnie Yen, and Aaron Kwok, they didn't hire a better screenwriter.
Because... we've already got the money!

So many celebrities are just in it for the money.

Anyway, the movie is so bad that it has created a negative feedback loop—a lot of people on Weibo are complaining about it!

Today's box office figures are out. On January 31, 2014, the national box office totaled 3.42 million yuan. Of this, "Duckweed" earned 1.82 million yuan, "The Monkey King" nearly 60 million yuan, "Where Are We Going, Dad?" 52 million yuan, "From Vegas to Macau" 29 million yuan on its opening day, and the other films combined earned 15 million yuan…

"Duckweed" broke the record for the highest-grossing opening day and the highest-grossing single day for a domestic film...

This is understandable!

After all, it features Shen Yan and Shen Teng, and the theaters are strongly supporting it... giving it 44% of the screenings.

"Havoc in Heaven" grossed 6000 million on its opening day...

That's understandable; the title alone is enough to attract a lot of viewers!
Moreover, at this stage, Hong Kong stars still have a strong appeal in third- and fourth-tier cities.

The star-studded cast of "Havoc in Heaven" is indeed attractive enough... This is also the main reason why "Duckweed" had to spend heavily on pre-release ticket subsidies—Shen Yan and Shen Teng are not well-known enough.

However, "Where Are We Going, Dad?" garnered 5200 million views on its first day…

This thing is absolutely astonishing!
5200 million on the first day…

It's important to know that "Where Are We Going, Dad?" was filmed for five days and then edited for three days. That's the time it takes to film one episode!

Therefore, many filmmakers are unhappy...

In fact, to put it bluntly, the "Where Are We Going, Dad?" movie is a derivative effect of the variety show.

If a show like "Where Are We Going, Dad?", which has a huge fan base, doesn't develop related products, it would be a missed opportunity.

Someone took the picture, and then someone else paid for it…

The whole thing is that simple!
As for the sequel, the movie "Where Are We Going, Dad? Season 2" didn't perform as well at the box office. By the way, Wang Yuelun also tried to make a movie called "Dad's Holiday," which used guests from the first season of "Where Are We Going, Dad?", but it was a box office flop.

Of the variety show movies that followed, only "Running Man" did well at the box office, while "Go Fighting!" only grossed a little over 100 million.

And then nobody played this anymore!
The reason is simple: it's not profitable...

The audience isn't stupid; they won't fall for the same trick twice!

Most importantly, the Spring Festival film season is receiving increasing attention, with a bunch of key projects scheduled for this period, which is squeezing out the space for variety show movies!

……

As expected, after the release of "Duckweed", a lot of people said that Shen Yan plagiarized!

After all, the plot of "Duckweed" is too similar to "The New Brothers"...

In the movie "Old Time Buddy," a seemingly insignificant character eventually becomes Li Ka-shing; similarly, in "Duckweed," there's a character named Ma Huateng…

A bunch of people are stirring up trouble...

Shen Yan was going to explain.

After thinking about it, forget it.

Then Chen Kexin posted on Weibo:
I went to see it at the theater today. Director Shen Yan is so clever!

His cinematic sense, pacing, and aesthetic sense are just too good. I'm envious and jealous.

You cleverly solved most of the inherent flaws of time-travel movies. This includes our "New Brothers in Distress." Congratulations, Director Shen Yan!

Shen Yan also replied: "The story of 'Duckweed' is very simple. It tells the story of a father and son reconciling. The son looks down on his father, but by chance, the son travels back to his father's youth. The two become brothers and embark on a silly adventure together. In the end, the son understands his father..."

The reason I joined My Little Pony was actually as a joke—I am like this world, and this world will never change!

This line is from Edward Yang's film "A Brighter Summer Day".

I really like Mr. Edward Yang, so I used his lines.

But we all know that from the late 1990s to today, times have changed too fast…

I originally planned to call him 'Hao Technology' or 'Chen Internet,' but neither of them was as impressive as Xiao Ma's.

Also, thank you Director Chen for your recognition.

"Duckweed" did indeed draw inspiration from "The New Brothers" to some extent...

Actually, before making this movie, we bought the adaptation rights from Golden Harvest as a way to mitigate risk!
(End of this chapter)