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

Chapter 640 Everyone makes mistakes sometimes…

"One Step Away"...

Wanda Group guarantees a 1 billion yuan IPO!

Originally scheduled for release on the 20th, it was moved up two days to December 18th.

The box office was 8159 million on the first day, 7303 million on the second day, 10376 million on the third day, and dropped to 7806 million on the fourth day.
Yes, 3.43 million in the first weekend.

The box office performance was only so-so...

To be honest, it doesn't deserve 52% of the screenings!
On the fifth day, which was yesterday, a weekday, the daily box office reached 2300 million…

Keep in mind that this accounts for 48% of the total screenings, with 5.4 screenings scheduled…

In comparison, "Us and Them," which has been in theaters for a week, grossed 16 million yuan in a single day, with only 21% of screenings and 28,000 showings...

Box office numbers far surpassed those of "Gone with the Bullets"...

There's no way around it, "Gone with the Bullets" is just too awful...

The Douban rating dropped from an initial 8.8 to 5.9…

The magnitude of the price drop is unimaginable!
Many people say that "Gone with the Bullets" is a film that needs to be savored carefully. Jiang Wen himself commented that this is his favorite of the Beiyang Trilogy.

Some have called *Gone with the Bullets* an "absurdist drama"—while it's true that *Gone with the Bullets* isn't a conventionally commercial film, it's a theatrical film of high artistic merit, brimming with dramatic elements. Unlike most films whose framework is based on narrative content, *Gone with the Bullets* is a film with the framework of "absurdist drama." The entire film is permeated with a strong sense of absurdity, yet within this absurd and magical world, there is also a profound sense of reality and clarity.

It's full of metaphors...a very sophisticated film.

But the audience didn't like it!

This was mainly due to the excessive publicity campaign; Jiang Wen even boasted that he would break the box office record of "Transformers 4" in the same year.

《一步之遥》在定档2014年12月18日后就令观众望眼欲穿，片方也趁势提前47天开放预售（2014年11月1日正式网络预售），每天票房都是数百万级的增加，短短19天预售就达到1.2亿，形势一片大好。

Even before its release, pre-sales exceeded 300 million!

Then, upon its official release, its reputation plummeted...

Online reviews were overwhelmingly negative, with viewers complaining that they "couldn't understand what the movie was about at all."

You said you wanted to "break the box office record of Transformers 4", so why did you make such an obscure and difficult-to-understand movie?

The most widely accepted comment: "Gone with the Bullets" is a gorgeous pile of shit!
Actually, the main plot of the whole drama is easy to understand: The powerful Wu Qi, in order to launder a huge amount of embezzled military funds, hires Ma Zouri. Ma Zouri finds it hard to refuse and organizes a global flower kingdom election to launder money. After laundering the money, he immediately goes from being a lackey of the powerful to a wanted criminal…

But Jiang Wen got carried away...

It's completely incomprehensible!
During Shen Yan's live stream, he said, "I like drinking juice and cola. Once, you made me a cup of tea, and I thought it was really delicious."

You made me another cup this time, but I don't think it's as good as last time.

To be honest, I don't know much about tea.

Although I know this tea is precious, you still went to great lengths.

But I don't like drinking it.

Although I don't like drinking it.

But I know this tea is precious, and you went to great lengths to prepare it.

Neither of us is wrong.

So, I don't blame you for what happened, and you shouldn't blame me either.

Next time you make tea, I'll come back to try it, that's all! Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad movie… I don't like many movies, I don't like Ang Lee's *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, and I don't like most of Hou Hsiao-hsien's films, but that doesn't mean they're bad movies!

This can be considered a way of saving face for Jiang Wen.

However, dinner parties are just for casual conversation.

"After the huge success of 'Let the Bullets Fly,' Jiang Wen had the resources to make any film he wanted... and then he made 'Gone with the Bullets'... which nobody liked..."

"I watched it too, but I didn't really understand it..."

Han Yan told the truth: "I watched half of it, but I couldn't continue!"

"The main problem is the lack of dramatic conflict... There wasn't a single major dramatic conflict in the entire hour-long opening of the movie... It was incredibly tiring to watch!"

"What do you think, Brother Yan?" "I think it's great. The highest level of a director is like Jiang Wen. He has investors, he can make whatever he likes, and the audience can choose whether to watch it or not... Plus, he has die-hard fans to help him defend himself!"

If it were a different director, they would have been torn to shreds by now…

Everyone seems to be particularly lenient towards Jiang Wen!
It's normal. You received the same treatment when you made "Let the Bullets Fly". Moreover, it's obvious at a glance that Jiang Wen put his heart into "Gone with the Bullets".

Han Yan took out his phone: "This is a post on WeChat Moments from a film critic I'm quite close to..."

Shen Yan took it and read it aloud: "At noon, I went to a restaurant for lunch. After we finished eating, I called the chef over and told him that the food here was not good. He said that the characteristic of our dishes is that each dish is related to a historical event... I said that the food was not good, and he said that the name of each of our dishes has a story."

I said, "Brother, it doesn't taste good!" He said, "Our dishes all have meanings; let me tell you about them..."

I stood up and said three words to him: "Go play with your balls!"

Is this a criticism of "Gone with the Bullets"?

“It should be…”

Shen Yan thought for a moment, then said, "You could recommend that he watch 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'... That movie is also very stylized and personal, but it's just so interesting!"

"The Grand Budapest Hotel?"

"right…"

"Releasing a movie like this during the Lunar New Year season is practically a crime..."

"So, our company is moving up the release date of 'The True Story of Swordplay in the Martial World'?"

Shen Yan nodded in agreement: "The movie was originally scheduled for release on New Year's Day, but 'Gone with the Bullets' ruined it..."

"The True Story of Swordplay in the Martial World" is a film produced and presented by Liu Shishi, featuring Hu Ge and Liu Yan...

There's no way around it, Wang Cui is a big-breasted girl, and the most famous big-breasted spokesperson in the industry is Liu Yan!
Oh, Yang Mi counts too... but the production cost of "The Legend of Swordsmanship" was only 3800 million, so they couldn't afford Yang Mi—she got Lao Hu by using her connections.

The female lead sought out Nazha…

That's right, Shi Shi didn't appear in it...

"The Swordsman's Journey," with Tangren Media investing 10%...

Spark Studio was the main producer, accounting for 40% of the investment. Liu Shishi's personal studio invested 20%, China Film Group invested 20%, and the remaining 10% was invested by Free Whale…

Shen Yan watched the movie and found that the overall plot was not much different from the original, except that the scale was larger—it was produced by Lu Yang.

According to his prediction, it should gross around 200 million yuan at the box office…

However, with its release date moved up, it grossed 4900 million yuan on its opening day, and today's box office is estimated to be over 3500 million yuan!
"Jianghu Swordplay" and "Unexpectedly" collaborated on a promotional campaign...

The appeal of "Unexpected" is still very strong - Wanhe Tianyi has always wanted to make a movie.

Hit it off immediately!
Shen Yan estimates the total box office should exceed 3.5 million... and might even reach 3.8 million.
It's unlikely to go any higher, after all, "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" will be released on the 23rd.

Wan Qian interjected, "When will our movie 'Major Events in Life' be released?"

Han Yan casually replied, "May Day holiday!"

"Next year's May Day holiday?"

"Um…"

"Is this the hairstyle you always have for Yan Ge?"

Shen Yan touched his buzz cut: "It suits the character quite well, since Mo Sanmei just got out of prison!"

After thinking for a moment, he asked Han Yan, "How about getting a tattoo on your arm?"

Han Yan shook his head: "No, I've talked to a lot of people in the funeral industry, and very few of them have tattoos!"

Qiao Shan nodded in agreement: "I've also talked to many crematorium employees, and they said the job postings clearly state: no tattoos on exposed parts of the body, veterans preferred..."

"Alright then... Actually, I feel that getting a Zhong Kui tattoo would be a perfect fit for someone working in the funeral industry!"

"You're overthinking it... They're just ordinary people... But they are indeed looked down upon!"

(End of this chapter)