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

Chapter 934 Different Circles, Don't Force Your Way In (23)

"I haven't seen 'The Kingdom of Women'... but I've read some reviews and can roughly guess the plot..."

Actually, this part of the "Daughter Kingdom" plot is a bit redundant. There was already the "Four Sages Test the Mind of Zen" before, so why arrange for it to be combined with the Daughter Kingdom of Xiliang?

Upon meeting you, can a mortal or half-demon queen compare to the incarnations of the four bodhisattvas in terms of temperament and appearance?

Of course, these are not the biggest reasons for the failure of the film "The Monkey King 3".

The biggest reason is that the investment is too high!
"This subject matter can only be invested in for a maximum of 1.5 million... the upper limit is definitely not high... and director Soi Cheang and screenwriter Man Ning, I don't know what they were thinking, added a love story between the river god and the national advisor... it's a distraction and completely meaningless!"

Shen Yan continued, "I read the comments. Actually, the beginning was a very good introduction, setting the Queen of the Women's Kingdom as a naive woman who is untouched by worldly affairs and doesn't understand what love is. She knows that 'men are poisonous,' yet she's willing to risk getting close to them... Following this line of thought, the story should have explored the nature of love... I don't know why, but the plot suddenly changed..."

Zhao Liying sighed: "Lin Zhiling and Liang Yongqi are both big stars. If we invite them, we definitely have to give them plenty of screen time!"

Shen Yan couldn't help but ask, "...Then...why not cast Lin Chih-ling as the Queen of the Women's Kingdom?"

"Director Zheng is looking for me!"

"...Just because you're famous doesn't mean you're right!"

"Alas, it's a pity that 'The Monkey King 3' was a box office flop!"

"You're an investor too?"

Zhao Liying nodded: "The co-producers... invested 1500 million!"

"So the production cost of this film was really 5 million?"

"No, not really... it's around 3 million, the publicity and promotion costs are quite high!"

Last October, individual posters of the four main characters and the Queen of the Women's Kingdom appeared on bus stop signs in multiple cities.

According to reports, thousands of banners advertising the "Daughter Kingdom" project occupied 30 major roads in Shanghai, and more than 20 themed buses toured the city for 30 days.

In addition, on the evening of February 5, a giant screen weighing 1.3 tons and about 5 stories high was erected at the National Stadium for the film "The Monkey King 2: Kingdom of Women", and 3000 people watched this grand "world premiere".

In addition, Star Shine Pictures, the main producer of "The Monkey King 3", revealed that the joint promotion cost for "The Monkey King 3" reached as high as 1 billion yuan!
Of course, this is definitely just bragging.

However, "The Kingdom of Women" is a case of a damaged IP, with basically no derivatives or merchandise, and can only rely on the copyright.

As for copyright fees, previous news reported that iQiyi spent 2 million yuan to buy exclusive rights…

It must be true!
Because the exclusive rights to "Detective Chinatown Prequel" sold for 1.8 million yuan, and the exclusive new media rights to "Operation Red Sea" sold for 2.6 million yuan!
However, even if iQiyi really did spend 200 million yuan to buy the copyright, since it is an exclusive copyright, the 200 million yuan will be the main source of revenue for "The Monkey King 3".

Anyway, they couldn't make any more movies about Journey to the West...

After returning to Hong Kong, Soi Cheang dabbled in films such as *Wisdom Tooth* and *The Murder Case*, and later *Kowloon Walled City*...

Thankfully, he's still a top-tier director!
However, the production company, Star Shine Pictures, is in trouble...

They've basically disappeared!
……

Shen Yan had no idea why Zhao Liying wanted to see him...

He and Zhao Liying are clearly not from the same circle...

Shen Yan has his own faction, and he uses a very fixed cast of actors, mostly artists from his own company, or Ma Yili, Qin Hailu, Song Jia…

They're all leading ladies in Qingyi!
Zhao Liying's resource network is clearly within the Beijing entertainment circle...

Moreover, her resources are quite formidable—a certain Yi, Director Feng, and famous Taiwanese directors all fawn over her…

In terms of TV dramas, "The Story of Minglan", "The Wind Blows in the Summer", and "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes" are all invaluable resources!

What kind of help can Shen Yan provide?
Even if he could, he wouldn't want to!

Okay, they just came over to catch up, and we talked about a lot of things from the past...

Finally, he asked, "Do you think Shishi and I can get back together?"

Shen Yan scratched his head: "...You'll have to ask her about that...I don't even know what happened between you two!"

Have you ever had any conflicts with people in the industry?

“There probably are,” Shen Yan thought for a moment, then said, “but I don’t usually care much… mainly because I don’t have time to think about these things.”

"That's true, you're so busy..." "Take your time!"

"Take it slow, I'm already 31 years old this year!"

"So what do you want to do? Rise to stardom with just one film?"

That's exactly what "The Monkey King 3" did...

By partnering with a movie, if the movie is successful, even just at the box office, she will immediately become a leading actress with a box office of 15 billion...

However, "The Monkey King 3" was a complete flop...

"Sigh..." Zhao Liying sighed, then asked softly, "Do you have any scripts similar to 'Riding the Waves'? The kind about young women from small towns!"

"...No more!" Shen Yan shook his head: "If you want to play a small-town girl... you can contact Han Han. Han Han's movies always have a small-town girl in them!"

"Han Han?" Zhao Liying shook her head: "I don't know him!"

"...Then there's nothing I can do..." Shen Yan shrugged. "Why don't you go find Huang Bin?"

"Huang Bin... although he helped me secure a lot of business opportunities, film and television resources..."

Shen Yan was speechless: "Be content. Do you know how many people wanted to act in 'The Story of Minglan'?"

"Shi Shi definitely wouldn't act!"

"What are you comparing yourself to her for? Shi Shi has gradually moved behind the scenes..."

"What about Yang Mi?"

"Yang Mi... is transitioning to family dramas and period dramas, and she's not taking on any historical romance dramas for the time being!"

"The Most Beautiful Youth and the Age of Glory... are both great resources!"

"I don't know..."

"The Most Beautiful Youth," a work by Guo Jingyu's team, is a CCTV-produced drama based on the advanced deeds of several generations of foresters in Saihanba. It tells the story of 369 people, including vocational school students and forestry cadres and workers from Weichang, Chengde, who actively responded to the call of the motherland to reclaim wasteland and plant trees in the 1960s.

"The Age of Glory," written by Wang Chenggang and directed by Xu Zongzheng... is also a good project!

For both projects, Yang Mi's salary was less than 2000 million...

Knowing it's a good project, they proactively lowered the price!
It was a deliberate price reduction – Yang Mi's market price: at least 80 million for one drama.

"They're all thinking about changing careers..."

"She's in her thirties, does she still want to go for a teenage girl image?"

Zhao Liying rolled her eyes at him: "...Talking to you is so boring!"

"What's so interesting about this... I'm just telling the truth."

"So what movie are you going to film next?"

"I won't be directing for now..." Shen Yan replied subconsciously, then shook his head: "No, I'll be making a black-and-white landscape painting film about Su Dongpo's exile to Hainan..."

"What?"

"The great Confucian scholar has been exiled!"

Zhao Liying was a little confused: "Why?"

"what why?"

"Why did you decide to make a film about this subject?"

"I think it's interesting..." Shen Yan shrugged. "Besides, someone is investing in it, and I like it myself, so why not make it?"

"What if the box office is poor?"

Shen Yan smiled and said, "For this kind of subject matter, do you think it's necessary to care about box office revenue?"

(End of this chapter)