I'm not a drama freak, I can really see through the script

Chapter 366, in essence, is something that the masses love to see and hear!

After watching the movie, Liu Meizhen's judgment of Li Xuan's values ​​reached a new level.

In the end, Li Xuan proved to be more valuable than one might imagine—he's more than just a talented actor who uses brilliant ideas and amazing acting skills to express himself, like in "Buried Alive."
Or perhaps, he truly possesses talent.

But it also possesses an incredibly solid foundation and a broad perspective.

A perspective that belongs only to oneself.

Lu Chuan's vision is recognized by the vast majority of middle-class and above people, while Li Xuan's vision seems to be even deeper and more rooted in the common people.

Something that few people in the art world truly value.
"This person absolutely cannot stand on the international stage! He can only be a small director confined to a small piece of land, destined never to see the world!" Qianyan Meichuan said angrily.

A lowly, condescending perspective can never see the sky from an international viewpoint!

Indeed, Liu Meizhen neither confirmed nor denied this. If one had to put it that way, this film about Nanjing would definitely not be able to be viewed internationally, while "Nanjing! Nanjing" could.

"However, his empathy and vision are invaluable. I still want to try and see if I can win him over."

"But he slandered my compatriots!"

“This world is very materialistic. There is so much evidence of what your ‘compatriots’ have done. It’s one thing for someone to choose to explore your ‘humanity’ and ‘forgiveness’, but if that person doesn’t choose to forgive, then you can’t blame others, can you?”

Liu Meizhen's words left Qianyan Meichuan speechless.
He turned his head away, clenching his fist.
But he had no room to refute Liu Meizhen, who said those words. He had no power to refute them.

after all.

Liu Meizhen is still in charge.

Damn it, that bastard woman
Chiiwa Meikawa clenched his fist.
You think Li Xuan is the best, right? As long as I live, he can forget about stepping onto the international stage.
Chiiwa Meikawa has high hopes for Lu Chuan's position in the international market.

And I heard that the screenwriter for this movie called "New World" is also a newcomer from Hong Kong.
At this point, the box office figures were also released, and actuaries from various companies had already predicted the upcoming box office results.

The best performing film was undoubtedly "The Forbidden Kingdom," an internationally co-invested movie with a projected box office of 1.8 million.

The actuarial results are a huge loss.
"The box office is 1.8 million, but I seem to know that the investment was about 4 million. It is impossible to make any profit with such a result. However, this is only the result of the first round of box office. There are still revenue sharing from DVDs and other products to come."

"The predicted box office for 'New World' is 1.6 million yuan, second only to 'The Forbidden Kingdom,' but the investment is only a fraction of that of 'The Forbidden Kingdom.' Focus Entertainment can be said to have made a fortune. This screenwriter named 'Sheng Chang' is really amazing. He can play the police and gangster genre like this. It's basically a wicked version of 'Infernal Affairs.'"

Wang Fengsheng stroked his chin, looking quite interested.

After watching "Nanjing Photo Studio," I watched "Nanjing! Nanjing!" and afterwards, I left a message saying that watching "Nanjing Photo Studio" would cause high blood pressure.
If it weren't for "Nanjing Photo Studio," he might have thought "Nanjing! Nanjing" was an excellent film from every angle, but the problem now is that there is this film, "Nanjing Photo Studio"!

After watching it, I felt very awkward about the humanity that "Nanjing! Nanjing" was trying to express.

If we have to say who put pressure on the film "Nanjing! Nanjing", then it would definitely be "Nanjing Photo Studio".

By adopting a more down-to-earth perspective, we achieved greater results.

"This time, the Beijing elite circle has suffered a huge loss."

Xu Xiang said, "It lost to Li Xuan in terms of reputation. The Sino-US co-production performed well, but the reputation was a bit bad, and the profit was not as good as the Hong Kong film 'New World'."

It's fair to say that Li Xuan really slapped the face of the Beijing entertainment circle this time.
A needle, a thorn, pierced the palm of an elephant. Though it wouldn't break any bones, it would certainly cause pain and a stinging sensation.
Xu Xiang knew that without "Nanjing Photo Studio," "Nanjing! Nanjing" would have achieved even greater critical acclaim and box office success.
The leader of the seventh generation of directors.

It seems we've met our nemesis!

"This time, 'Nanjing Photo Studio' grossed 1.65 million yuan, and Xiao Li earned at least 2000 million yuan in profit from it."

According to publicly available information, Li Xuan has already made a profit of 20 million yuan from this round of box office revenue.

It can be said that Li Xuan has made a profit in this round so far, a real and substantial profit.
Reputation, box office, and profits—all of these things have solidly and truly gone into our pockets, not even including subsequent DVD releases and overseas distribution.
Both of them congratulated Li Xuan.

"I think this movie will have some difficulty being shown overseas."

Han Ping also gained a lot this time, but the biggest difference between the film "Nanjing Photo Studio" and "Nanjing! Nanjing" is that Lu Chuan's film still achieved some overseas success, especially the Tokyo Film Festival, which is an obvious achievement.

Based on current information, it is certain that "Nanjing Photo Studio" will not be able to attend the Tokyo International Film Festival.
This movie can only be watched domestically.

But so what?
It doesn't matter if we can only eat domestic food.
We cannot distort the truth just to 'please' certain people.

At this moment, Xu Xiang, Wang Fengsheng, and Han Ping were all gathered around one person—the protagonist.

Beside Li Xuan.

"Overseas box office doesn't matter. I definitely want to secure the overseas market first. But 'Nanjing Photo Studio' is different. This is a film written for the Chinese people." Li Xuan paused and said, "A film commemorating the victims of the Nanjing Massacre."

A memorial that never forgets national humiliation.

Han Ping also noticed Li Xuan's choice of words.

It is not a 'commemoration of the Nanjing Massacre' but a 'memorial for the victims of Nanjing'.

It's this subtle difference.
This gave Han Ping an idea: Li Xuan, who was still a long way from turning thirty, and Lu Chuan, who would be forty next year.
If they were to compete for the title of the leading seventh-generation director, who would be more successful?

Previously, he preferred Li Xuan, but felt Lu Chuan had an objective advantage. Now, however, who seems to have the better chance?
In the future—regarding artistic achievements and awards—will it be...?
With the two Nanjing films performing at roughly equal box office numbers.

The only thing that can be compared is the awards.

Even Nanjing! Nanjing was aiming for awards from the very beginning.

This is the real heart of the drama. This is the real, most important part of the drama.

Even now, with an advantage in box office and critical reception, they will be even more ruthless and unscrupulous in their pursuit of awards. "This time, they lost ground in both public opinion and box office performance. The old guard in Beijing will definitely not give up. They have put a lot of effort into promoting this next generation leader. As far as I know, their expectation is that he will be the next successor, the successor to Zhang Yimou, and continue the dominance of the next generation of the Beijing circle in China."

Han Ping's words are very clear.
It wouldn't be surprising if some ruthless methods were used to promote this seventh-generation director.

This is the principle behind maintaining a ruling position.

Box office, awards.

"Successor, do you think Zhang Yimou is willing to be the successor?" Wang Fengsheng joked from the side, wondering if the one being succeeded knew he had been chosen as a 'replacement'.
It's obvious that Zhang Yimou is unhappy, but that's exactly what the industry needs to maintain its dominance.
"Winning an award is also my goal."

At this moment, Li Xuan was also thinking about winning the award.

Two years later, in what was known as the most prestigious year for Chinese-language awards, works from the past three years battled it out to win the Golden Man award.

This is also the key to whether I can truly replace the leader of the seventh generation of directors.

It is a ladder of desire, a requirement of the system, and a banner that one needs to become part of the 'circle'.

When they think you're going to create a new circle, you'd better actually have the disruptive power to do so.
Looking in the rearview mirror, everyone vaguely understood that Li Xuan's reason for not choosing any particular circle was correct.

So what if you chose the Beijing circle back then?

If they truly relied on the resources of the Beijing elite circle to get to where they are now, then if Li Xuan and Lu Chuan were to compete, they would undoubtedly try to take away those resources without hesitation.
A circle held together by blood ties and family. Without blood ties as a bond, Li Xuan ultimately seems not close enough.
If there is no blood relation, one is ultimately not qualified to touch the core interest circles.
Looking in the rearview mirror, Li Xuan had chosen the most correct path.

Instead of believing that those who "got rich first" would help him, who was "getting rich later," he relied on his purest self-reliance and hard work.

Make yourself strong, wealthy, and powerful.
Han Ping knew that.

You can tell his temperament just by looking at Li Xuan's movies.

There has never been a savior.

Only you can save yourself.
Such wildness, passion, and temperament are all incorporated into the work.

He possesses the charisma to produce 'high-quality works'!

Absolutely
At this point, everyone had a celebratory banquet to celebrate the box office success of "Nanjing Photo Studio".
China Film Group and Shengchang Film Group both made a fortune. In terms of return on investment, "Nanjing Photo Studio" was the highest-returning film on the day of its release.

This is the best production since the start of the year.
"Over 100 million in box office revenue! I never thought our box office would one day join the 100 million club." Wei Ming smiled at this moment: "Now, you've truly reached the top tier."

"Unbeknownst to many, Brother Li has become one of the most watched directors in the entire Chinese-language film and television industry."

Liu Yifei was also nearby at this time, watching Li Xuan.

At such a young age, he has become one of the most watched A-list directors.

To become a director of this caliber at such a young age.

It should be noted that Lu Chuan is almost forty years old this year. Although he is the seventh generation, he is no longer considered "new".

And Li Xuan is truly the blazing sun.
This is something that no one in the industry can deny or avoid.

Li Xuan is really young.

Students from the Performance Department of Beijing Film Academy, class of 2002.

A true prodigy, young and talented.

Those in the inner circle know what Li Xuan's extremely young age signifies.

It represents possessing new vitality, but also something completely different from that new vitality—a powerful and overwhelming force.
strength.

The film "Nanjing Photo Studio" alone revealed its potential to rival Lu Chuan's work in vying for the seventh generation's discourse power.
Seriously, I could compete with him for the award!
One of the things that truly made Liu Yifei only able to see Li Xuan was from a position of looking up to him.

"If they knew that 'New World' also belonged to our Li Xuan, I wonder how shocked they would be," Wei Ming joked. He knew that in this round, the movie "New World" was also considered Li Xuan's.

The script, storyboards, and thematic expression were all directly handed over to Focus Entertainment.

Why is Brother Li hiding it?

Liu Yifei was slightly curious; if the news about "New World" were leaked directly, they could gain more information.
Currently, apart from Yingyi Entertainment and its cast, no one knows that Sheng Chan's true identity is Li Xuan.
"In the Hong Kong film industry, I want to use more commercially oriented works to open up the market, which is also a way to 'survive' first. You know, if Li Zi uses her real identity, she will face a lot of pressure. At least for now, everyone thinks that Li Zi will develop more towards art-house films."

Wei Ming knew that commercially successful films, films aimed at consolidating market position, and films aimed at winning awards—one overt and one covert, a two-pronged approach.
Awards and status are two different factors that lead to different types of films and the status they seek.

Commercial value, historical value, and cultural value all contribute to a single outcome.

Crystallized into something called 'literary or artistic works'.

Commercial value, in essence, is what the people like and enjoy.

To make movies that everyone loves to watch, and art-house films, there still needs to be a certain threshold for viewing and a certain threshold for expression.

To reach the pinnacle, one cannot rely on the artistic guidance of a few, but rather on creating high-scoring films that are enjoyed by the majority of the public.

Films that need to impact box office and awards are all important factors.

While still 'fragile' in the commercial film sector, they began to expand their territory and establish their position in other areas.
Perhaps this film, "The New World," could even find a niche in international markets.
at this time.

Someone Li Xuan had anticipated also arrived: Liu Meizhen from Lionsgate. This was the first time he had met Liu Meizhen since "Buried Alive," and the first time he had met her again during the filming of "Nanjing! Nanjing!"

(End of this chapter)