The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 568 The Premiere of "Man Jiang Hong"
06 has passed just like that. A lot of things happened, many things that are different from what some people remember. Some are worth remembering, and some are insignificant.

Xu Jiuyang didn't care much. Just like when Huayi collapsed, other companies would naturally fill the vacancy. Orange Sky might be one of the companies that would fill the vacancy, but if it jumped too high, it would still be dealt with.

Although the News Corporation scandal still happened as expected last year, and China began to clean up foreign investment in the media sector, Angela's Sun Capital was clearly not among them.

On the one hand, they did help produce several blockbusters and even distributed them overseas, so they can be considered friends. Moreover, they also built a basic industrial film framework. On the other hand, we are still doing business with outsiders. You see, in another time and space, some communities, led by Bilibili, are very active in deleting and restricting information related to Japan and Taiwan.

Given Angela's relationship with Li Yunxin and the others, it's one thing for Orange Sky to compete normally, but if they dare to use underhanded tactics, they'll know why the flowers are so red.

So, even though "Chinese Paladin 3" was still a little short of wrapping up filming, Xu Jiuyang still attended the premiere of "Man Jiang Hong" to show his support.

Last year, Kai Zi made a huge mistake, which also dragged Huayi Brothers into bankruptcy—this kind of manipulation of public opinion, this forced connection, was clearly intentional—although the box office looks okay, his reputation in the industry has already been somewhat tarnished.

After all, the entertainment industry is one of the most superstitious circles. It doesn't matter if his movies don't do well at the box office; in fact, it might even attract money launderers or people who play the film finance game.

However, the movies they make not only flop at the box office and require significant financial support just to break even, but they also drag down the investment companies behind them, which is very worrying.

Huayi Brothers is no weak company; it has grown from the mid-90s to the present. But because of its investment in "The Promise," not only did the company go bankrupt, but Wang and his wife had their assets confiscated and were restricted from entering the United States. If they were to suffer the same fate, they would be finished.

In short, China Film Group originally considered "Man Jiang Hong" to be just a mediocre project. However, the extremely poor reviews of "The Promise," coupled with Kai's desire to sue Hu Ge for further damage to his image, and Huayi Brothers' involvement in insider trading and bankruptcy liquidation, forced them to find ways to boost market confidence, as this was closely related to their own performance.

So when the promotion of "Man Jiang Hong" began, resources poured in like a flood, and they almost held the premiere at the Great Hall of the People.

However, all the big productions in recent years have gone through this kind of ordeal, and the public has become immune to or even somewhat disgusted with this form of publicity. So, they ultimately chose another venue, but at the same time, they sent out invitations widely within the industry to invite people to come and support them. As the second Cannes Best Actor winner, Xu Jiuyang was naturally not left out.

"With such a big production, is the movie even going to be any good?" Xu Jiuyang, who had already entered the screening room and was sitting between Angela and Fan Bingbing, muttered to himself.

“You’re the producer, what do you think?” Angela countered.

"I didn't participate in the preview," Xu Jiuyang replied with a grin. "But since President Han and the others previewed it and increased their promotional efforts, it should be alright, right?"

To be honest, he was also very curious about what the final product of this movie would look like. After all, this was a movie he had never seen before in his life. So even though he designed several of the emotionally charged scenes himself, he still did not participate in the preview screening and waited for the premiere.

"Hard to say," Fan Bingbing shook her head beside her.

"Why is it hard to say?" Xu Jiuyang turned around and asked.

"I don't think a guy who takes half an hour to go to the bathroom is very trustworthy," Fan Bingbing said matter-of-factly, adding a hum at the end.

Xu Jiuyang coughed awkwardly twice; the reason he would spend half an hour in the bathroom was self-evident.

Fortunately, Fan Bingbing stopped talking after retorting to him and turned her attention elsewhere, which made him breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Normally, Xu Jiuyang could control himself very well, but this time it was Chen Hao and Fu Ying. They already looked alike, and this time they even wore the same makeup. Although they couldn't reach the level of Liu Tao and Cao Xiwen, they could still compare to Zhang Shuang and Zhao Shu.

In this situation, it's perfectly normal for someone to sneak a bite and die.

Moreover, this also reminded him who Fu Ying was. In his past life, there was only one female artist who looked like Chen Hao and could sing.

Then Xu Jiuyang had a bit of a headache. It wouldn't be a problem if all the women in the companies wanted a piece of Tang Monk's flesh from him. After all, even Fan Bingbing's other secretary, Qin Fang, hadn't been left out. It wouldn't matter if Yang Yuying wanted to drag Zhang Hanyun into a master-disciple relationship in the future.

However, some people are still in a somewhat awkward position, such as Yao Beina, Yao Beina, and Yao Beina.

Xu Jiuyang wasn't too surprised that Yao Beina had signed with Six Degrees Music and was responsible for singing the theme song for "Chinese Paladin 3". After all, she was one of Liu Qianqian's few childhood playmates, and could be considered... fellow townsmen.
As long as she gets rid of her power-hungry father, she doesn't care where she goes. The reason she likes heavy metal rock is simply because she's been too oppressed by her family.

But because of this, his relationship with Liu Qianqian was already quite delicate, and if he were to make a move on Yao Beina, their relationship would truly become a tangled mess.

"Don't let your mind wander. It's not even close to being a done deal yet, and Xixi might not even be willing," Xu Jiuyang comforted himself as he waited for the movie to start.

It didn't take long.

After the theater went dark, the screen quickly showed an aerial view of Lin'an Prefecture at dusk.

Although it was CG-generated, because they were willing to invest money, the quality is far superior to "The Promise," and even better than China Film Group's "Red Cliff."

Then it shows the ordinary life of the male protagonist, Wei Shun, and his family. Although it is only five minutes long, it takes into account all aspects. As long as Zhang Yimou doesn't do anything outrageous, he still has a knack for filming scenes of happy families at the bottom of society.

After this scene, Kui Shun kneels before his mother to bid her farewell, saying that he is going to do something important that is true to his conscience.

The mother was naturally modeled after the image of a virtuous mother from ancient times. Although she was sad and reluctant, she still told her son to go for it.

Up to this point, everything was normal, and everyone was waiting for the plot to unfold. But when Wei Shun arrived at the prison and bowed to the body wrapped in straw mats, with only two black feet sticking out, and addressed him as Marshal Yue, Xu Jiuyang personally heard a shout from the ordinary audience seats behind him: "Holy crap!"

Who would have thought that "Man Jiang Hong" is not about helping Yue Fei, nor about saving Yue Fei, but about saving Yue Fei's... corpse?
Xu Jiuyang smiled, then breathed a sigh of relief. He had been very nervous when he made the decision to keep this topic a secret.

Audiences are sometimes easy to please; as long as the camera work is well-paced and the visuals are compelling enough, a mediocre story is fine. But sometimes they are hard to please, for example, if the story is irrelevant to the theme, such as saying that you're making a movie based on "Man Jiang Hong" but in the end, a fake Qin Hui comes out and recites the poem in public.

However, Angela was very confident: "You said it yourself, what the audience really cares about is not liking to be treated like fools by the production team, so as long as the story is well told and does not violate public order and good morals, they will at most grumble a few words."

That made sense, so Xu Jiuyang didn't think much of it. Now that it was finally served, he just had to see how the audience would react.

(End of this chapter)