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

Chapter 750 "Warcraft"? (13)

The claim that bad audiences create bad movies is actually quite shameless!

Because the audience is innocent.

Without an audience, where would the film industry come from?

Shen Yan added at the end: "Unlike other commodities, the final price of cultural products is often unrelated to product quality."

To put it bluntly, a good movie sells for 30 yuan a ticket, and a bad movie sells for 30 yuan a ticket. From a rational capital perspective, for a movie to make money, it only needs to accomplish one thing—reach as many viewers as possible.

So the issue becomes how to acquire "as many" viewers as possible. The quality of the audience is really irrelevant.

"I've noticed that many works, no matter how badly they're made, can still rake in audiences if the actual production cost is low enough and the marketing is good. Then, by packaging them with terms like 'artistic,' 'daring,' 'awakening,' or 'subjective,' they can garner a lot of praise..."

"I suggest everyone read 'Selected Works of Mao Zedong.' There's a passage in it that says: 'Some works are only favored by a minority, while being unnecessary for the majority, or even harmful to the majority. Yet, they are insisted upon being published and used for propaganda among the masses for personal or narrow-minded gain, and then the masses are blamed for their utilitarianism. This not only insults the masses but also shows a complete lack of self-awareness…'"

"What's the consequence of lacking self-awareness? Being abandoned by the times, abandoned by the market..." After a pause, Shen Yan smiled at Feng Xiaogang: "Of course, I'm not talking about you, I'm just quoting Mao Zedong's Selected Works!"

Feng Xiaogang looked quite grim...

However, Liu Zhenyun quickly changed the subject, talking about "Pan Jinlian"...

Shen Yan simply shut up!
……

This year's Shanghai International Film Festival... everyone was still bragging!
Major film and television companies held film slate release conferences. Besides traditional names like Huayi Brothers, Bona Film Group, LeTV, Wanda Pictures, and Enlight Media, Ali Pictures and Tencent Pictures also followed suit…

Among them, Ali Pictures is definitely the one that boasts the most!
The Savage Chronicles, The Ferryman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Out of the Shadows, Star Trek Beyond, REAL, Eternal Love...

There are also films based on brand-new IPs such as "Zhengtu", "The Turbulent Thirty Years", "No Other Love", and "Gu Jian Qi Tan".

In addition, there are special effects blockbusters like "Asura," as well as genre films aimed at young audiences like "Fantasy Journey" and "Youth High School."

Shen Yan was quite surprised after reading the report…

Is there any connection between "Asura" and Ali Pictures?

Okay, the main production companies behind "Asura" are Ningxia Film Group and Zhenjian Pictures...

The main two people involved are Yang Hongtao and Yang Zhenjian.

The two collaborated on "Painted Skin," which was released in 08 and grossed 2.3 million yuan, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year. "Painted Skin 2" followed, grossing 7.02 million yuan.

Who knows if "Asura" will be successful?
It's perfectly normal for Ali Pictures to get involved...

However, the movie version of "Gu Jian Qi Tan"...

It should be "Legend of the Ancient Sword: The Moon's Illumination," starring Wang Leehom, Victoria Song, Godfrey Gao, and Karena Ng, and directed by Hollywood director Renny Harlin...

Renny Harlin is a fairly well-known director, with representative works including *Die Hard 2*, *Cliffhanger*, *The Spy Who Loved Me*, *Deep Blue Sea*, and even Jackie Chan's *Skiptrace*…

I heard that the production cost of "Gu Jian Qi Tan: The Legend of the Moon" was 100 million yuan.

It can only be said that Ali Pictures is indeed rich and powerful, and it produces big-budget productions every time it makes a move!
That's great. They don't make low- or medium-budget films at all; they go all out with a blockbuster! After all... no other company has spent more than six months making a romantic urban film—"The Ferryman" had a six-month shooting period, while a film of the same genre usually only takes about 40 days!
Bragging... is normal!

With the influx of hot money into the industry, the battle for film slates at the Shanghai International Film Festival has also experienced a "great leap forward" - according to statistics, in 2016, more than 20 companies released film slates of more than 400 projects, with dozens of press conferences during the day and three or four "XX Nights" at night. Filmmakers, investors, and media reporters were busy running around amidst various banquets.

It's great, of course, but Shen Yan doesn't really like it...

He left on the third day!

This left us with plenty to talk about…

Topics trending on social media include "Don't shift the blame to the audience," "I suggest everyone read more of Mao Zedong's Selected Works," and "Shen Yan and Feng Xiaogang have a falling out!"

……

"It's not a complete falling out... we've never been on the same wavelength!"

"Commercial genre films are all about selling character designs, setting, and special effects."

Claiming to be the highest-grossing film director in the Chinese-speaking world, yet unable to master such basic techniques while consistently monopolizing prime release slots, only capable of exploiting the sentimentality of middle-aged men in Beijing… such a director is actually quite uninteresting!

Back in Xiangshan, Shen Yan answered netizens' questions in the live stream…

"Currently, the pre-release publicity methods used by Chinese commercial films, such as various fancy promotions, posters, trailers, and media hype, are all highly deceptive to the audience. Their purpose is to prevent the audience from knowing the true production level of the film."

"The worst movie I've ever seen in a theater was 'The Treasure Hunter.' I watched it for ten minutes, then couldn't take it anymore, muttered 'garbage movie,' and left!"

"Then why did I buy a ticket to see 'The Treasure Hunter'? It was because of the advertising... It's a tomb raiding movie, and I had just finished reading 'Ghost Blows Out the Light,' so I was really interested in that genre..."

"So if I watch a bad movie, am I a trashy viewer?"

"Fortunately, at least for now, audiences are still willing to go to the cinema. What if one day everyone completely loses interest in movies... then what will happen to the film industry and the workers in the industries that depend on it?"

Upon hearing this, many netizens questioned, "How is that possible!"

"Why not? Ticket subsidies have been completely eliminated, and movie ticket prices will soon return to normal. Moreover, entertainment options are becoming increasingly diverse... the habit of watching movies to pass the time will soon be replaced..."

"Let's not talk about him anymore... Have you been watching Warcraft lately? I haven't... Mainly because I'm not the Warcraft audience... I don't play World of Warcraft, and I'm not interested in Warcraft..."

The conversation shifted to Warcraft...

The movie "Warcraft" is quite bizarre. It was released on Wednesday, and its box office was 2.5 million yuan on the first day, 3 million yuan on the second day, 2.1 million yuan on the third day, Friday, 1.37 million yuan on Saturday, and 7300 million yuan on Sunday!
Most importantly, Warcraft only grossed $2416 million in its first three days of release in North America.

It lost to "The Conjuring 2", "Now You See Me 2", and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Ground" which was in its second week of release...

Many netizens who previously predicted that Warcraft would easily gross $20 billion have been proven wrong.
Even netizens who previously predicted that the mainland box office would easily surpass 30 billion yuan... have been proven wrong.

The current discussion is whether it can exceed 15 billion...

"I don't care much about the box office of 'Warcraft'... 'Moon,' starring Andy Lau, will be released next week, please give it your support."

(End of this chapter)