Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 363 The Chinese Zodiac: The Chinese Film Market Is About to Enter the 500 Million Era
"I feel that many of Ms. Deng's ideas are quite different from mine."

Liu Yifei shook her head.

The producer of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is Wendy Deng, the wife of the owner of Fox.

“You were right not to get involved!” Gu Bei nodded in agreement. “Wendy Deng has strong social skills, but her production skills are clearly lacking. She can’t understand how a movie is made.”

In fact, the entire production team of Snow Flower and Secret Fan, from in front of the camera to behind the scenes, is world-class.

It perfectly matches the success standards of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon from back then.
Originally, Zhang Ziyi was cast as one of the female leads, along with Jun Ji-hyun from South Korea, and even the director was Wang Ying, a stand-in for Lee An.
Fox Searchlight originally intended to compete for an Oscar.

But the strange thing about this movie is that...
Everyone performed quite well.

But the film, when all the results are put together, is quite boring.

The most exciting part of the entire movie is actually what happens after the film begins.

Oh, right, and there's also that Hugh Jackman song, "Give Me a Bowl (Give Me a Kiss)," which is so catchy it makes you want to kneel down.

However, during this period of time

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, however, is a project strongly supported by Shanghai Film Group, with a renowned director, two top-tier female leads from China and South Korea, Hollywood A-list stars, and global distribution—a project that all top stars are vying for.

When such projects came knocking on her door, Liu Yifei was able to resist the temptation and refuse, which shows that she has a clear understanding of the situation.

Next,
Gu Bei and Liu Yifei spent all their time at the China Film Digital Base.
He focused intently on filming the gravity scene, ignoring all the outside noise.

A 'bubble' in the physical sense.
Liu Yifei is filming weightless action scenes in space in this underwater studio specially built by China Film Group for the purpose of depicting gravity.

"Your filming style is quite novel!"

Looking at Liu Yifei's agility in the underwater studio, Cheng Long praised her, but his tone was somewhat insincere.

As a top action actor

At 55 years old, he's actually not that old.
But his swimming skills are average.
The next few days will be spent filming in an underwater studio.

Even Jackie Chan felt a chill run down his spine.

“We’ve prepared a ventilator for Brother Cheng Long. Just take it slow, like you’re learning to snorkel. This is much easier than the underwater maneuvers you’ve done before.”

Gu Bei said with a smile.

Jackie Chan has filmed quite a few water scenes, and every time there are some minor issues. Underwater studios are much more controllable than outdoor sets.

"Technology is so convenient!"

Looking at the ventilator next to him, Cheng Long said with some emotion.

"China Film Group's underwater studio is already the largest and most advanced underwater studio in Asia!"

Gu Bei recommended the underwater studio at China Film Digital Base to Cheng Long, saying, "Audiences have seen plenty of thrilling scenes already. If you have any ideas in the future, Brother Cheng Long, you could also arrange for a movie to have action scenes in space!"

After all, it's an underwater film studio that China Film Group specially developed for Gravity, so we can't let them sit idle forever.

And those vegetarian chicken cars are even flying in the sky!
Isn't it much more reasonable for Cheng Long, the furniture store war god, to ascend to heaven?

"That's a good idea!"

Cheng Long nodded seriously.

He has a stubborn streak in his personality, or rather, every successful person has a stubborn streak in their personality. Without stubbornness, it would be impossible to forge a path that no one has ever taken before when everyone else thinks it is a dead end.

If any other director had suggested this to Jackie Chan, he probably wouldn't have even considered it.

But as the newly crowned box office champion of Chinese-language films and the most successful Chinese-American director in Hollywood history, Jackie Chan couldn't help but take Gu Bei's ideas seriously.

Moreover, he is interested in trying out all kinds of stories.

After a pause, Jackie Chan brought up the upcoming Golden Rooster Awards: "Aren't you planning to participate in this year's Golden Rooster Awards?"

"They did invite me, but you have a movie to participate in, while Sisi and I don't, so we're not planning to go. We'll focus on filming."

Gu Bei said lightly.

The China Film Association does want Gu Bei to go and offer his support.
If the Golden Rooster Awards were held in Kyoto, Gu Bei and Liu Yifei could spare a day, but since the awards were held in Hongcheng, Jiangxi Province, they simply couldn't make it.

"I think you don't want to see Director Feng receive the award, do you?" Cheng Long said with a smile.

"That's one reason, isn't it?"

Gu Bei shrugged and readily admitted it.

The most dazzling film at this year's Golden Rooster Awards was undoubtedly Feng Xiaogang's "Assembly" from two years ago, which garnered nine nominations. The second most dazzling film was "Mei Lanfang," which was released last year and received eight nominations.

Basically, these two films will take the two spots for Best Feature Film.

The other two films, *Lichun* and *Gaokao 1977*, were just filler.
Moreover, there is a high probability that Feng Xiaogang will win the Best Director award.

The struggle between Gu Bei and Huayi

This National Day film season has escalated to a battle between Gu Bei and Feng Xiaogang.

Gu Bei had already outmaneuvered Feng Xiaogang during the National Day holiday, so there was no way he would go to the Golden Rooster Awards this year to watch Feng Xiaogang win the trophy. Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?
While the two were chatting,
Liu Yifei has emerged from the underwater photography studio.

She greeted Jackie Chan while wearing a towel draped over her shoulders: "Brother Jackie Chan, it's been a long time!"

"It's been a long time!"

Looking at Liu Yifei, Jackie Chan said with some emotion, "When we were filming The Forbidden Kingdom, I felt that with your attitude, you would definitely be able to make it."

I didn't expect you to develop so quickly, becoming so popular in both mainland China and Hollywood!

"The success of the story mainly benefited from the original work; it's not my contribution!"

Liu Yifei smiled and looked at Gu Bei, indicating that Gu Bei should be the hero of Xingyun, "After Xingyun came to China, its performance was not as outstanding as in North America."

With the combination of Gu Bei and Liu Yifei, both locals, and the strongest opening performance among North American Chinese actors, China Film Group originally had high expectations for Xingyun.

But after Xingyun came to China...
The final box office only barely exceeded 100 million.

This achievement is not even as high as that of the artists Gu Bei collaborated with, such as Xiao Li Zi.

Actually, if you break it down...
Liu Yifei definitely has more box office appeal than Leonardo DiCaprio in mainland China.

Romance films also have more commercial potential than silent films.
However, when combined, the star-studded cast doesn't perform as well as the artists; they can only tell stories about star-studded life. While this has some universal value, it's still more suited to North America. "Actually, this is quite normal."
I have two groups of viewers around the world.

One group likes my kung fu movies, while another group prefers my Western films.

When Jackie Chan heard Liu Yifei's question, he could only say that he had already fallen into this trap before. "That's why every time I make a Western film, I have to make two kung fu films, otherwise I can only satisfy one group of viewers."

I just finished filming two Western films, and my next step is to prepare for Project Eagle III.

Liu Yifei nodded.

These are all valuable lessons learned from the past!
Liu Yifei has to walk the same path that Cheng Long took.

Unless the Chinese film market is completely conquered by Hollywood like Taiwan and Europe, Liu Yifei must alternate between Chinese-language and English-language films if she wants to develop her career in Hollywood while maintaining her market share in mainland China.

"Is Project Eagle finally getting a sequel after all this time?"

Seeing Liu Yifei deep in thought, Gu Bei took over the topic. He didn't seem to have heard that Jackie Chan had made a sequel to Project Eagle; it must be some film project that was canceled.

"Mainly, I saw the rat and rabbit heads at Christie's auction house in France in February this year, and then I came up with an idea."

I plan to use the struggle for the remaining bronze animal heads as the main plot of the film, connecting the entire story through the protagonist's initial motives of money and eventual awakening of patriotism.

Cheng Long recounted the outline of Project Flying Eagle, his tone intense and tinged with indignation, clearly indicating that the auction of the bronze animal heads earlier this year had instilled a great deal of anger in him.

Why does it sound more and more like a movie I've seen before?
Gu Bei felt like he had seen this movie before.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "It's a very classic adventure story. Brothers and Tigers was your most successful model in the 1980s. Returning to the classic model and addressing the pain points of the new era is a pretty good choice!"

"I'm old now!"

Looking at Gu Bei and Liu Yifei, both of them were so young, which made Cheng Long even more emotional. "I also want to spend more time with Xiao Fangzi. I can't keep living this kind of life of constant struggle."

I intend to use this film to end my action film career, so I chose the iconic Eagle Project series.

However, since Warner Bros. bought the rights to Project Eagle, I probably can't use this name. I'll come up with a new title after the movie script is finished.

Jackie Chan began his transformation in the new century.
This year's Shinjuku incident also garnered praise for his dramatic acting.
His recent films, such as Little Big Soldier and The Karate Kid, no longer rely on his action scenes as a selling point. His transformation is about to be successful, so he wants to use a movie as the ending of Jackie Chan's film career.

Gu Bei found it increasingly familiar; wasn't this the Chinese zodiac?

The Lunar New Year film "Lost in Thailand" achieved a box office miracle with 12.7 billion yuan.
But in the same Lunar New Year film season,
Jackie Chan's Chinese Zodiac also grossed nearly 9 million yuan at the box office.

If it weren't for the monster that is "Lost in Thailand," the champion of the Lunar New Year film season might have been "Chinese Zodiac."

“I think this story is excellent. Brother Jackie Chan must make it into a film. If you need partners in mainland China, feel free to contact Linlang Entertainment.”

Gu Bei said to Cheng Long with a smile.

Jackie Chan's company is, after all, just a simple film production company.

Then he would definitely need distribution companies from both mainland China and Hong Kong to co-produce the product.

"Then let's have a good talk about this story tonight!"

Jackie Chan responded enthusiastically.

The mainland Chinese film market is growing larger and more important.
He naturally wanted to find a good partner, and Linlang Entertainment, with its rapid development, was a very suitable partner.

"no problem!"

Gu Bei smiled slightly.

As Jackie Chan's best work of the 10s, Chinese Zodiac was already quite profitable.

Furthermore, the "Lost in..." series is currently also owned by Linlang Entertainment.

With just a slight adjustment to the schedule
If we put "Lost in Thailand" at the beginning of the Lunar New Year film season and "Chinese Zodiac" at the end, we might just be able to get two movies that gross over a billion yuan each.

The key is,

If we don't get the movie "Chinese Zodiac" approved,
Then there's a high probability that it will be acquired by Huayi, just like before.

If I remember correctly, right after that strongest Lunar New Year film season, Stephen Chow's Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons broke 1.2 billion yuan, and Huayi Brothers was also responsible for its distribution in mainland China.

Or... should we take it while we're at it?
Gu Bei and Cheng Long finalized the cooperation agreement in just one night.

For Jackie Chan, participating in Gravity not only allows him to make money, but also provides him with a huge investment for his final film.

A movie of this scale as the Chinese Zodiac
The minimum investment is 200 million, but they're claiming it's 300 million.
There are very few film and television companies that can afford to invest in such projects. They must be companies with certain production and distribution capabilities; otherwise, they would not be able to support the distribution of the film in mainland China.

Linlang Entertainment is a great partner, with both funding and achievements.

Cheng Long's only concern was that Linlang Entertainment's distribution capabilities might be a bit weak.

However, Linlang Entertainment already has the successful example of Fengsheng before it.
Furthermore, he invested in Enlight Media, and through his distribution contract with Enlight Media, he is rapidly enhancing his own distribution capabilities.
If all else fails, we can release it together with Enlight Media, since Enlight Media is one of our own.

For Gu Bei

The twelve zodiac animals are also a great find.

In addition to box office profits, they will also be able to acquire the exclusive digital rights to the twelve zodiac animals.
This kind of thing might not be very valuable in this era, but the value of the copyright has been increasing, especially for films like this, which are representative works from the later stages of Jackie Chan's career, the rate of increase is much faster than that of other films.

October is gradually coming to an end.

At the recently concluded Golden Rooster Awards, Feng Xiaogang's "Assembly" was a resounding success, winning Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Music.

But Feng Xiaogang's expression didn't show any happiness.
Everyone knew this was because of the box office failure in 1942.

Even now in 1942, they are still struggling to reach the figure of 200 million in investment.

The public's attention has turned back to The Message, as it is about to break the 500 million mark. Once it does, it will signify that the Chinese film market has officially entered the 500 million era.

Actually, the long tail effect of movies in this era is still quite good.

Two years ago, Assembly garnered 7000 million yuan in its opening weekend and ultimately grossed 2.5 million yuan.
Last year's disastrous Red Cliff grossed 1.08 million yuan in its opening weekend and ultimately reached 3.2 million yuan.
Including the film "The Founding of a Republic," which grossed 1.25 million yuan in its opening weekend of four and a half days last month, it is about to break the 400 million yuan mark.

This is because there are simply too few movies in this era.
Once a film becomes the box office champion, there are very few competitors that can challenge it.

Especially this October, in previous years, after the summer movie season protection month ended, Hollywood blockbusters would be scheduled to be released, but this year there were none. This is all preparation for the founding of the People's Republic of China.

But in the end, this October, devoid of any competitive environment, ironically protected Feng Sheng.

(End of this chapter)