The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 571 Making a Statement?
The film ends with Kui Shun by the lake, carving a monument for the righteous men and gazing out at the horizon. Then, the subtitles tell the audience that after Emperor Xiaozong of Song came to power, he exonerated Yue Fei. Kui Shun's descendants told the government where Yue Fei was buried, and eventually, he was moved to Qixia Mountain. Afterward, a Yue Fei Temple was built and four kneeling statues were cast.

As the lights came on, applause erupted. For the audience, ignoring the personal biases, the film's pacing was still very enjoyable, especially the key fight scenes, which were all very thrilling and felt more like a martial arts film than "Seven Swords".

In fact, when Xu Jiuyang was supervising the action scenes, he used "Seven Swords" as a reference and made sure that "every time he contradicted Cao Cao, things could be accomplished."

Putting aside the need to minimize incompetent teammates, the sound effects during fight scenes are also of paramount importance. While many of the fight scenes in "Seven Swords" are well-designed, the sound effects fall short, resulting in a somewhat weak performance despite the actors' powerful movements.

Thus, coupled with the major problems with the pacing, costumes, props, and color scheme of "Seven Swords," its box office failure was inevitable, and it has now become the inspiration for "Man Jiang Hong."

Under the guise of excellent action scenes, it's hard for viewers to immediately think about the hidden personal touches; they have to wait until later to appreciate them—or, more often than not, they simply can't be bothered to think about them at all.

However, those who could attend the premiere were certainly not among those who found it troublesome. So when the main creative team went on stage to thank the audience and interact with them, someone asked whether Qin Hui, who never showed his face, was using the past to satirize the present.

"Wang Huichun played Qin Hui. At first, we filmed his facial expressions, since everyone is very familiar with his role as Grand Tutor Pang. However, we later realized that Yue Fei never appeared in the film. If Qin Hui had appeared, it would have been unbalanced, since the focus of the film is on the minor characters."

"As for using the past to satirize the present, I think everyone is overthinking it. This sentence was mainly used to satirize Qin Hui. I think that no Chinese person who has completed nine years of compulsory education would stand up for Qin Hui and speak for him."

Xu Jiuyang below was dumbfounded. Could you believe that Zhang Yimou said this?!

“We anticipated this situation, so we prepared in advance,” Angela whispered in his ear.

"Really?" Xu Jiuyang still found it somewhat unbelievable.

"This can be considered a pledge of allegiance," Angela added with a smile.

“Oh?” Xu Jiuyang raised an eyebrow. “Even so…”

He didn't finish speaking because he suddenly thought of Chen Shou's evaluation of Liu Shan: "Plain silk is fickle, only what it is dyed with is constant."

Zhang Yimou's keen sense of politics is probably similar; he does whatever others say. Although he lacks his own opinions, he is very useful as a tool, which explains why Angela would use this method to get him to express his opinion.

“Alright, a pledge of loyalty.” Xu Jiuyang nodded.

After all, there are still many movies to be made in the future, but not many directors who can be used as tools. Guo Fan is still studying, not to mention that he has his own ideas.

As for Zhang Jing and Guo Zhenni, they do have some ability and can manage to make ordinary chick flicks, but they need to hone their skills for a long time before they can carry big productions.

Soon, the premiere ended, followed by a small-scale buffet. Many other companies attended, including some big names from Hong Kong and Taiwan. It was a good opportunity to get together, strengthen relationships, and expand connections.

"If you ask me, we could add some big names from Hong Kong and Taiwan; that would make the action scenes even more exciting," a middle-aged man in a suit and glasses remarked from a small group of three to five people.

“That’s true. We had already contacted Leung Ka-fai, but unfortunately he wasn’t available at the time.” Zuo Shan Diao nodded in agreement, then glanced at Xu Jiuyang, who seemed to be lost in thought.

"There will definitely be another opportunity next time." Xu Jiuyang, who was still listening attentively, nodded somewhat perfunctorily. When Zuo Shandiao suggested inviting Tony Leung Ka-fai, he had actually considered it, after all, he was the only Hong Kong actor who could play a People's Liberation Army soldier in "The Founding of a Republic".

However, the production team ultimately chose to refuse. It's simple: if they wanted to continue operating in the entertainment industry, their main goal now was to release movies with domestic actors and stars who could carry the box office ahead of time, so that the Hong Kong people would have to get out of the way and obediently accept the fact that they would have to start playing supporting roles.

Accidental injuries are inevitable in this process.

Actually, the idea that a company can carry box office revenue is incorrect, or rather, it's not as important as people imagine.

The idea that celebrities can carry box office success only works in the early stages of film development, or in smaller local film markets, such as Hollywood in the early 20th century or Hong Kong in the 8s and 90s.

Once film technology advances and the film market grows, box office success will depend on the quality of the films themselves.

To give a simple example, the movie "Mysterious Island" was considered terrible among horror movies, but it still managed to gross nearly 1 million yuan at the box office. It may not be entirely due to Yang Mi's performance, but her contribution was certainly significant.

And then? And that was it. The later "Tiny Times" films mainly relied on Guo Jingming's light luxury fantasies, and had little to do with the actors.

In fact, Hong Kong films did not surpass the 6000 million mark until after the millennium, thanks to "Shaolin Soccer." The box office threshold that "Jurassic Park" had already surpassed in 93 was only 6037 million, less than the latter's 6200 million.

So there are actors who can carry the box office, but they only reach tens of millions. To get over 100 million, you have to rely on the quality of the movie itself.

Even for Jackie Chan, without his signature fighting style and imaginative action sequences, and if he can't tell a good story, he'll at most earn a few hundred million at the box office, and his reputation will decline year by year. If it weren't for the perfect stitching together of "The Wind Chaser," who knows how far he would have fallen.

In short, the idea that celebrities can boost box office sales mainly targets their commercial hype and marketing. If you believe this, both audiences and investors will be ripped off.

Therefore, although Xu Jiuyang gave Zuo Shandiao face and came with him to meet with Wu Kebo and other film company bosses, he didn't seem to care about the specifics when it came to the details.

"It seems that Xiao Xu doesn't care much about them," Zuo Shandiao asked with a smile when only the two of them were left.

"No, Mr. Han, shouldn't you tell Angela about these things?" Xu Jiuyang said with a helpless expression.

"Isn't it the same as what I'm telling you?" Zuo Shandiao smiled meaningfully.

Xu Jiuyang couldn't help but sigh. Although he and Fan Bingbing had kept their marriage registration low-key, as the bandit leader Zuo Shandiao, he could still find out if he wanted to.

Then, considering his past relationship with Angela, and Angela's current relationship with Fan Bingbing, Zuo Shandiao didn't suspect he was being kept by them, and even tried to get close to him... So, if that scheming kid keeps touching your belly, Angela must have hinted at something to him.

No wonder Angela said something like he should stand up for himself when she insisted he attend the premiere's after-party, and even said he could bully men and women.

“I know what Chairman Han is trying to say, but we can’t always hold people back if they can’t keep up, right?” Xu Jiuyang said after thinking for a moment. “Many times, the charge relies on a few elite soldiers, and the commander-in-chief just needs to sit firmly in the center. As for the others, it’s already difficult enough if they don’t drag us down, so it’s better not to force them.”

(End of this chapter)