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

Chapter 760 Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils (23)

Last year, during the filming of "Zhou Chu," it was announced that the film would be released on July 22nd...

Then, Jackie Chan's "Skiptrace" announced its release date of July 21.

I have a feeling it was done on purpose!
Okay, probably not. After all, it's the summer movie season, so there's always a movie to compete with – basically, there are more than two new movies released every week.

Next week, there will be "League of Gods", "Mysterious World Adventure" and "Baby's Home Alone". The week after that, "The Lost Tomb", "Sweet Sixteen", "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "Door Lock" will also be released!
As an aside, "The Door Lock" was released six months earlier than originally planned...

It is mainly used to target "Summer Trees".

Who told Wu Fan's fans to speak rudely to Shen Yan!

According to Ji Xiang's instructions, they should suppress Wu Fan and beat him!
No matter what he wants to do, if he releases a new movie, the company will release a new movie; if he appears on a variety show, the company will make a variety show to compete with him!
Even including business resources…

The deal with Mercedes and Smart was almost finalized, but Li Xian snatched it away.

It's difficult to snatch up fashion resources, because his patron, Yaolai's Xiao Qi, built his fortune on luxury goods...

They secured the distribution rights in China for numerous top-tier, ultra-luxury brands…

They sell luxury cars such as Bentley, Lamborghini, and Rolls-Royce. Initially, over 90% of the company's business was selling luxury cars.

By acting as an agent for luxury cars, the company gathered a high-end customer base, laying the foundation for the network that Yaolai Group would later use to operate top-tier luxury cars and luxury goods.

With a high degree of overlap with these luxury car customers, Yaolai Group is also an agent for top-tier watches and jewelry.

Richard Mille watches, Parmigiani watches, Boucheron jewelry, and other very expensive luxury brands with very limited quantities were also acquired by them!
They even own a 15% stake in Burberry!
Therefore, Wu Fan immediately secured a global ambassadorship with Burberry upon returning to China…

Unless Shen Yan personally intervenes...

However, everyone knows Shen Yan's attitude towards luxury brand endorsements: you give me money, I'll promote you, but I have my own pace, and I won't participate in any of the activities you arrange!

Don't people have any pride?
That's high-end!
However, Burberry ended its agency contract with Yaolai last month, and then Ji Xiang arranged for Dilraba Dilmurat, Li Xian, and Jiang Qiming to make contact...

I reckon we can successfully intercept the deal.

As I said before, Shen Yan doesn't care, but the people around him will definitely retaliate.

However, "Skiptrace" is not a film produced by Yaolai, but a project of Tangde!
Tangde's film business did indeed start with Jackie Chan—their first film investment was "Little Big Soldier," followed by "CZ12," "Skiptrace," and even "Raging Sandstorm"...

However, Jackie Chan movies…

It's not the 90s anymore!
Shen Yan has completely crushed the Hong Kong film industry's "Two Chows and One Jackie" (Chow Yun-fat, Stephen Chow, and Jackie Chan). During the same release window as *The Martian*, Jackie Chan's *Dragon Blade* only grossed 400 million yuan, while Chow Yun-fat's *From Vegas to Macau* series never surpassed 600 million yuan at its peak…

As for Stephen Chow, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" was completely outclassed by "American Dreams in China," and "The Mermaid" was overtaken by "Detective Chinatown" by 10 billion yuan at the box office!
So, what kind of tricks can we play with Skid?
……

Okay, Skip to Earth grossed 1.04 million yuan on its opening day (including midnight screenings), and the reviews... were as expected!
It has a Douban rating of 5.8...

That's normal. Which of Jackie Chan's movies in recent years has a rating higher than 6.5?

However, to be honest, even by recent standards, "Skiptrace" is among the worst. The film is awkward from beginning to end, and its various flaws are magnified repeatedly due to the filmmakers' self-abandonment, making it simply unbearable to watch.

In fact, Jackie Chan has made various efforts in his films in recent years, but unfortunately, after being the big brother for so long, there are no people around him who can give him reliable advice. Perhaps they wouldn't listen to what he said anyway. The core issue is that his aesthetic sense has become so outdated that it's unbearable to look at.

Two or three decades ago, this kind of Peking Opera-style acrobatic action design was perhaps a style of Hong Kong cinema's golden age.

However, over the past decade, under the influence of the Bourne series, the aesthetic styles of action design and editing in spy films around the world have been evolving!

Jackie Chan still insists on making movies from thirty years ago, appearing on the screen like a resurrected dinosaur fossil.

The plot can be random or unpredictable; what matters is the authenticity of the emotions, which can be moving.

But from beginning to end, all you can see in this film is a bunch of creators just slopping things up, rushing to wrap things up hastily, which is really speechless.

Absolutely terrible movie!

The following day, "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" was released, and "Skiptrace" saw its daily box office drop to 4600 million... The former's opening day box office was 2.76 million!
That's right, 2.76 million on the first day!
This is Shen Yan's appeal.

The gap exists.

In terms of screening schedules, the difference isn't that significant.

"Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils" only had 46% of the screenings, with a total of 8.6 screenings nationwide, while "Skiptrace" had 29% of the screenings, with 6 screenings nationwide...

But the occupancy rate was far worse!

Moreover, compared to the criticisms of "Skiptrace," "Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils" is mostly met with praise like "It's so explicit!" and "It's awesome! So enjoyable to watch!"

Okay, a more serious film review: This film borrows the story of "Zhou Chu eliminating the three evils" to tell the tale of a killer's tragic end, using killing to find the value of existence, only to discover in the end that the beginning was nothing but an absurd lie. Shen Yan deserves praise; his acting is masterful, his action scenes are realistic and intense, perfectly complementing the film's atmosphere.

"The audiovisual style, the action-packed scenes, the ensemble acting, and the social commentary are all extremely captivating. Shen Yan has created a charismatic serial killer who ranks among the top in the history of Chinese cinema, who is extremely insane yet infinitely innocent, and who is so obsessed that he cannot live without being mad."

Even after blurring the lines between good and evil, sin and punishment, and the carnage has reached its peak, the audience will still be moved and brought to tears by the inevitable end.

The exploration of issues such as mind control, religious belief, and the legitimacy of the death penalty is all governed by the "ego-attachment" of greed, anger, and ignorance; seemingly scattered, yet actually unified. A strong contender for a top 3 Chinese-language film of the year.

"Shen Yan is truly amazing! After holding back for half a year, the mainland cinemas have finally given us a refreshing surprise. What a film that exceeded my expectations—not because the subject matter is particularly novel or the audiovisuals are particularly outstanding, but because it's such a delightful surprise to see such an openly violent and brutal film in mainland cinemas. There's no deliberate exaggeration, no convoluted summaries, no illogical plot twists; it's clean, crisp, every shot hits, every blow draws blood, every punch feels real! It's incredible!"

……

The promotional material featured a trio of Shen Yan, Lu Yang, and Yang Mi running together.

"I don't think the content is that explicit... Our film itself is about fighting cults and drugs, and I think the main message is very positive..."

"In the final scene, I discussed it with the director, and it felt very natural. Chen Guilin said, 'One minute, anyone still in this room will die.' He meant what he said. If the cult members want to die, let them die. One shot, one kill. There's no need for any more nonsense!"

"It's just a pure action movie!"

(End of this chapter)