The Birth of the Best Director

Chapter 153 The preview screening of "Real Steel" - a real big business opportunity!
……

Feng Xiaogang's sudden mockery of Jing Tian caught Zhao Shanshan somewhat off guard.

However, Jing Tian's reaction left Zhao Shanshan speechless.

She actually thinks that the box office failure of "My Beautiful Boss" is because someone wants to suppress her?

"Tian Tian, ​​don't joke around. Who can put you down?"

Zhao Shanshan is truly impressed.

If you don't suppress others, they should be grateful.

I wonder how Jing Tian's thought process works?
Zhao Shanshan knows very well why "My Beautiful Boss" grossed 300 million yuan on its opening day.

Firstly, the cinemas gave Miss Jing Tian a lot of face, providing her with a significant number of screenings on the first day.

Secondly, Jing Tian, ​​as the second female lead in "Upgrade," plays the role of the super CEO of YG Technology, marking her first time playing a female lead in a movie, and as a female CEO, she has attracted a lot of viewers.

Many viewers who hadn't seen the trailer thought it was a spin-off of "Upgrade".

I came in excitedly to take a look.

As it turns out, it really was a workplace romance.

The audience felt utterly deceived, and naturally, they then went online to frantically post complaints.

We live in the internet age now. After a movie receives bad reviews, coupled with mediocre marketing and a plot that isn't particularly special, it's no wonder that the film's reputation has soured.

Naturally, he failed miserably.

After all, movies require real money to support them.

Before spending money, if the audience has even a little bit of intelligence, they might stop the act of buying tickets after thinking for a second.

In this way, theaters will soon find that scheduling screenings for "My Beautiful Boss" is not cost-effective and will switch to other films.

In particular, "My Beautiful Boss" was competing with a major film like "Aftershock" at the same time.

The box office flopped.

The acting was appalling.

The design is unconventional.

It can be said that Jing Tian has nothing but beauty.

By piggybacking on the popularity of the female CEO in "Upgrade," Jing Tian lured audiences to the cinema only to watch a cringeworthy workplace romance film... Her fate was almost predictable, with everyone online condemning her.

—【I really can't understand! The same person, who was so aloof and superior in "Upgrade," looking down on the world like a god, why is his acting so awful in another movie?】

— [Brothers, remember this: Jing Tian's movies aren't necessarily unwatchable, the key is how much "Jing Tian content" they have. If it's less than 5%, it's absolutely a masterpiece!]

—[Your insight, Master! The "content" of *Real Steel* is less than 5% of *Upgrade*, probably only 2%. If nothing unexpected happens, it will definitely be a masterpiece! I heard it's releasing at the end of the year; I've already saved up my money and am waiting to see it in IMAX 3D.]

……

Miss Jing Tian was speechless as she looked at the comments online.

The food itself is the original sin.

But it doesn't matter.

In Lu Zhiyuan's "Real Steel," she once again played a super big shot, the mysterious leader of the "Pacific Rim Operation," Miss T.

Although he only appeared as a background character in the movie, with just a few scenes, his mysterious background and aloof demeanor... left a deep impression on viewers.

"Wait, then."

"By the end of the year, I'll make sure you all shut up!"

My boyfriend is a famous director, and we teamed up to make "Real Steel".

He handled the creative work, and I provided the connections, funding, and resources. In other words, I also deserve a great deal of credit for this film.

Miss Jing Tian thought to herself.

That's life; there are lows before there are highs.

She encountered only setbacks with others, which made her question the meaning of life. Only Lu Zhiyuan could give her climaxes, making her feel incredibly happy.

"what?"

However, amidst the endless criticism, one comment successfully caught Miss Jing Tian's attention.

It made her eyes light up.

—[If a movie fails, the director bears the greatest responsibility. Tian Tian has already done her best; you shouldn't be so harsh on her.]

—[In the entire 97-minute film, Tian Tian appears in approximately 350 shots. When she plays the girl next door, she changes into eight different loungewear outfits, effortlessly carrying off everything from simple shirts and cardigans to dresses—what stunning beauty!]

—【When she was a beautiful CEO, she changed into nine different outfits: evening gowns, haute couture gowns, and business suits. Every single one of them was stunning. What an exceptional aura she possessed!】

—[Based on my understanding of the film industry, to achieve this effect, she would have needed to change costumes at least five times a day. Each costume change, along with styling and makeup, would take five hours. Then there's still filming time left. Do you know how hard she works?]

—Why are you saying this about a hardworking and beautiful girl?

After posting these comments, the account was deleted without waiting for netizens to respond.

This has drawn countless insults and criticisms.

The general consensus was...

"What kind of world is this? Jing Tian has fans too?"

"I never imagined that someone could lie through their teeth!"

"If hard work were enough, what would be the point of acting skills?"

There are countless similar comments, all of which are negative.

"who is it?"

"At a time like this, you're actually speaking up for me?"

"That tone of voice, could it be..."

When Jing Tian saw the comment from this mysterious alternate account, she was initially very touched and wished she could send the other party a big red envelope so that he would say more, because she loved to hear it.

However, after a while, she suddenly realized something, stared at those few lines of text, looked at them over and over again, and a sweet smile gradually appeared on her lips.

It must be him!
Only our robot can say that with such confidence.

He knows me better than anyone else in the whole world!
As Jing Tian thought this to herself, she couldn't help but chuckle.

Not content with just secretly enjoying it herself, she deliberately handed her phone to Zhao Shanshan to show off: "Sister Shanshan, look, I have a true fan now."

As the saying goes, one fan can be more effective than ten haters.

"Everything he said really resonated with me. I want to give him a huge reward. Could you ask a Weibo staff member to help me find his IP address?"

No need to ask.

It must be Huairou, the China Film Digital Base.

Hey!
"You have a true fan too? Really? Is the other person an idiot?"

Zhao Shanshan was very puzzled and turned her head to take a closer look.

A moment later, she couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Tian Tian, ​​this tone of voice, talking nonsense with such a straight face, seems profound yet incomprehensible, and you can't refute it. Doesn't it feel familiar?"

They know someone who speaks in that tone.

Lu Zhiyuan!
Zhao Shanshan glanced at Jing Tian with a puzzled look, and then, seeing the other person chuckling to himself, she immediately realized what was going on.

"You brat, showing off your love in front of me again!"

Zhao Shanshan couldn't help but pounce on him and playfully wrestle with Jing Tian for a while, a look of envy on her face: "Although he's usually quite aloof, like an iceberg, and seems unapproachable, I didn't expect him to be so warm in private. This contrast is truly captivating."

Upon hearing this, Jing Tian immediately screamed and covered Zhao Shanshan's mouth: "Sister Shanshan, don't fantasize about our robot! He's mine!"

However, Sister Shanshan, you have excellent taste.

That's how our robot is. It seems indifferent on the surface, but it's actually very gentle inside and can't bear to see me suffer the slightest grievance.

Now they've even evolved to the point of creating a fake account online to secretly say good things about me.

This is so heartwarming!

……

The film "Aftershock" achieved unprecedented success at the box office, grossing 6.7 million yuan and breaking the box office record for domestic films.

For a time, Feng Xiaogang became completely arrogant.

His repeated criticisms of foreign countries have sparked huge controversy.

"Audiences aren't stupid; they can tell what makes a good movie. Some movies are just for laughs."

—【He's mocking Jing Tian, ​​I knew it, he couldn't help it!】

"Some people make movies to win awards, but I make movies to make people willing to pay for tickets. Box office revenue is the only thing that matters; everything else is nonsense!"

—【This guy is such a petty smug person. He can't win awards internationally, so he starts making sarcastic remarks and mocking the three major domestic directors.】

"What the Chinese film market needs are directors who can carry the box office, not people who spend all their time trying to please the judges."

—[He's mocking Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige; he really thinks he's the king of Chinese cinema. Arrogance always brings trouble. I'm waiting to see the show!]

"I dare say, without me, Feng Xiaogang, the Chinese film market would have regressed by at least five years!"

—【He's gone mad. Who does he think he is? Leaving aside Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige for now, he doesn't even respect Lu Zhiyuan? I'm waiting for "Real Steel" at the end of the year to knock his buck teeth out!】

Having broken the box office record for domestic films, Feng Xiaogang has truly become arrogant.

Speak without restraint.

He acts like a madman, stirring up hatred everywhere.

The media and reporters can't control him; in fact, they'd love for him to spout more nonsense so they can generate traffic and double their performance bonuses this month.

Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige have not had satisfactory box office results in recent years, and they have been ridiculed by Feng Xiaogang without being able to refute it.

The films "Under the Hawthorn Tree" and "Sacrifice" will be released one after another.

Unfortunately, judging from the film's subject matter, it's unlikely to surpass the box office performance of "Aftershock".

No wonder Feng Xiaogang is so arrogant.

He had his eye on these two big directors, who couldn't prove him wrong with box office numbers in a short time and could only watch him jump around.

However, Feng Xiaogang seems to have forgotten that Lu Zhiyuan's "Real Steel" has already finished filming and is currently in post-production.

It will be released at the end of December, around Christmas time.

"I understand."

"That guy, Little Cannon, just wants to have a good time before 'Real Steel' is released. He knows that once 'Real Steel' is released, he won't even have the right to brag anymore."

Although netizens felt they had discovered the truth, they couldn't patronize Lu Zhiyuan and boast about the box office success of "Real Steel".

At least for now, "Aftershock" is the highest-grossing domestic film!

Feng Xiaogang really seized the opportunity and showed off without restraint, as if he wanted to vent all the pent-up emotions from the past few years at once.

……

Huayi Brothers.

General Manager's Office.

"Big brother, can you keep an eye on Little Cannon? Has he gone mad? It's one thing to get into a war of words with the media, but has he offended so many people all at once?"

Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Lu Zhiyuan—these three great directors—were all offended by Feng Xiaogang with a single sentence.

In addition, they also offended Starlight Splendor.

Xiao Wang always felt that he was unreliable enough, but he didn't expect that Feng Xiaogang was even more unreliable than him.

Is this the talent his elder brother recruited?
"He's been suppressing his feelings for too many years, and now that he's doing well in life, of course he needs to let it out. Otherwise, what if he goes insane?"

The king always seemed indifferent.

As long as Feng Xiaogang can continue to make money for their company, he can withstand any amount of public pressure.

Although Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige are highly respected in the industry, they were not originally a company that had any cooperation with Huayi Brothers, so offending them was no big deal.

At worst, we'll never see each other again.

What can they do to themselves?
While Starlight Entertainment has a powerful background, Huayi Brothers is no pushover either. In open business competition, everyone follows the rules, and they can't really mess with each other. At worst, Huayi can back down and collaborate with Starlight Entertainment on future projects.

It's about Lu Zhiyuan's side... The difficulty of cooperating with him in the future will increase exponentially.

As for hatred?

That doesn't even qualify.

Lu Zhiyuan completely disregarded Feng Xiaogang.

The movie "Upgrade" earned 2 million US dollars. If Lu Zhiyuan took Feng Xiaogang seriously, he would be celebrating with champagne.

This shows that Feng Xiaogang has also become a world-class director.

Unfortunately, Lu Zhiyuan didn't take Feng Xiaogang seriously at all, and for so long, he has never responded directly to any of Feng Xiaogang's remarks.

Hey!
A great director is awesome; he has the confidence to back it up.

If it were any other young person, they probably would have jumped out long ago and wanted to teach Feng Xiaogang a lesson.

……

Huairou.

China Film Digital Base.

"Brother, have you read the newspaper? Little Bucktooth has gone mad. First he mocked Miss Jing Tian, ​​and then he tried to pick a fight with you, stirring up a debate about who is the number one director of domestic commercial films."

"What are you planning to do?"

Xin Yukun was very angry.

Feng Xiaogang is nothing. 6.7 million yuan at the box office, look how capable he is.

The box office of "Upgrade" is equivalent to nearly 30 billion RMB!

You said that it's unfair that "Aftershock" can't be shown overseas.

That's Feng Xiaogang's own problem. If he were so capable, he would sell his movies to Hollywood and get Apple to promote them for free!
If you don't have the ability, then you'd better keep it to yourself!

"I don't think much of his talent, and I have no intention of messing with him."

Lu Zhiyuan paused for a moment, carefully considering Feng Xiaogang's talent. He thought it might be an S-level talent, but most likely a relatively low-level S.

What are Feng Xiaogang's talents?
Beijing-style humor?

Sharp lines?
Does it satirize society through the lives of ordinary people?
Upon closer examination, Feng Xiaogang has actually directed quite a few films of various genres, including historical epics like "Assembly" and "Back to 1942," which involve large-scale scenes.

Ultimately, none of these films have any particularly distinctive visual characteristics.

Replace him with Tim Burton.

When audiences enter a movie theater and see "Alice in Wonderland," they don't need to read the plot; just looking at the visuals and costumes will naturally remind them of it.

This is what visual labeling is all about!
Does Feng Xiaogang have his own visual signature?

Perhaps there are, but they're not unique enough.

As a director, he's still far from world-class!
As for historical level... that's even further from the question.

"Bro, you're really something. You said the most hurtful things in the most casual tone!"

"If Little Bucktooth heard your evaluation of him, he would probably vomit three liters of blood on the spot and die suddenly."

Xin Yukun originally thought that Lu Zhiyuan would sneer a few times, then throw out a bunch of data to show that he was much better than Feng Xiaogang.

Feng Xiaogang is nothing special.

When "Real Steel" is released at the end of the year, it will definitely slap him in the face and make him never dare to make such a fuss again.

To everyone's surprise, Lu Zhiyuan fell silent for a moment, then stood there for a long time, as if trying to remember who Feng Xiaogang was.
That expression, that dismissive attitude, is just too awesome. He doesn't take Feng Xiaogang seriously at all.

"Brother Kun, stop talking nonsense. Have you managed to get those bands I asked you to find to do the soundtrack for 'Real Steel'?"

As a director, Lu Zhiyuan never engages in empty talk.

Director, let the film speak for itself.

The box office will provide the final answer.

The green screen shots for "Real Steel" are almost finished.

The rest is all special effects.

Lu Zhiyuan is preparing to move to the company "Black Hole Horizon" and camp out in the office, spending every day with Schwarzschild.

In terms of visual appeal, Lu Zhiyuan believes that he possesses an S-level talent that is absolutely second to none among the world's great directors.

However, he couldn't handle the music issue.

However, he provided a limited scope.

"Brother Kun, when you're looking for a band to do the soundtrack for the movie 'Real Steel,' they need to meet the following criteria, based on the theme and style of the movie."

"First, it must have a mechanical feel. For example, the sound of gears rubbing together, the sound of metal striking each other, full of industrial rhythm."

"Secondly, this is an action movie, so a sense of excitement is also important. We could add some high-energy rock or rap music."

"Third, this is a heartwarming family film, so the melody should leave room for the delicate emotions between the grandfather and grandson, accompanied by a little piano or orchestral music."

"Fourth, I like American country rock, which, combined with the female lead fighting monsters with a robot, will show that kind of dandyish violent ritual."

As Lu Zhiyuan listed his conditions, Xin Yukun wished he could pull out a gun from his pocket, point it at his own head, and say, "Brother, say it again, or do you believe I'll shoot myself?"
What a demanding guy.

They have high expectations of themselves and others!

However, it was all for the sake of the movie.

"Brother, I'll try my best to handle it."

Since he didn't have to make the music himself, he simply relayed the conditions to James and asked him to find a suitable band to help Lu Zhiyuan get things done.

There are so many bands playing music in North America, unlike in China.

Xin Yukun believes he will definitely be able to find suitable background music.

"Take a rough cut of the film, find the band, and a month later, I'll ask you for the answer."

Suddenly remembering something, Lu Zhiyuan earnestly instructed, "By the way, don't go too wild in Hollywood. It's best to ask them for your medical examination report."

……

The basic editing of the film is complete, but the post-production special effects will require a long rendering process.

Some areas required complex special effects, so Lu Zhiyuan first used placeholders to mark the locations, which will need to be finely adjusted later.

This process won't take too long, but it will still take about half a month.

Special effects are the most important aspect of this movie.

Lu Zhiyuan was very grateful that Cameron had created a "virtual camera" when filming Avatar, which could be used to preview special effects.

This improved his communication efficiency with the special effects team by more than double.

Otherwise, following the usual work pattern, it might not even take a year to complete the post-production work.

Now, with overtime work, it can be completed in a maximum of 5 months!

……

Before we knew it, it was November.

Special effects, post-production editing, background music—it's finally all done.

This is Lu Zhiyuan's most painstakingly crafted film, the culmination of all his abilities.

"Finally done."

"From project conception to filming to post-production, it took me almost a year!"

After countless hours of hard work, the film is finally finished.

The visuals and effects of this movie are not exactly the same as what Lu Zhiyuan imagined, but at least he has done his best.

As for whether the movie will be a hit?

That's something we'll have to leave to the market.

"Apart from the name 'Real Steel,' the entire movie is completely different from the 'Real Steel' in another timeline."

This film is almost 90% original work by Lu Zhiyuan.

He only used the concepts of "robot competition" and "family warmth"; the rest of the elements were all created by himself.

However, Lu Zhiyuan was confident.

This version of "Real Steel" is sure to be even more popular and receive better reviews!
……

Los Angeles.

YT Pictures.

This is a new company that has had almost no presence since its establishment.

If it weren't for the fact that James is a big shot in Hollywood and became the CEO of YT Pictures, people would think it was just a shell company.

However, even so, the YT Pictures building is usually empty and almost deserted.

This is no way.

The company's top executives spend most of their time in China.

However, something is really wrong with YT Pictures today.

The usually empty building was suddenly filled with people, almost bursting the building.

In addition to executives from Universal Pictures, there were also distributors from important markets such as Europe and Japan.

In addition, a department head from Apple's communications department also came.

The product placement in "Upgrade" last time was quite effective, and this time, they have chosen to continue their collaboration with Lu Zhiyuan.

However, none of these people were the most important guests.

Among today's guests, the most important are the derivatives developers.

Mattel, Hasbro, Funko bobbleheads—all these toy companies are here.

In addition, there are high-end model companies like Hot Toys, which specialize in making posable figures, clearly aiming for the cool robots in the movie.

As for the game company, it's still their old partner, Ubisoft.

After several rounds of negotiation, Ubisoft acquired the game rights to the movie "Upgrade," paying a $100 million licensing fee and a 15% revenue share.

Using the movie "Upgrade" as an IP to develop games is actually somewhat inappropriate.

However, Ubisoft still managed to secure the rights, primarily to establish a good relationship and ultimately win over Real Steel.

According to their internal estimates, if the movie's effects are indeed as described by Lu Zhiyuan, the IP value of "Real Steel" may be close to that of "Batman".

The latter's game IP is worth as much as $15 billion!
"Welcome everyone to our company for the preview screening of the movie 'Real Steel'."

Zhao Shanshan, as the company's major shareholder and chairperson, took the stage to speak.

Those who are able to sit here today are basically the world's top companies and major partners, which gives her a strange sense of excitement.

The combined market capitalization of all the companies present here is estimated to exceed one trillion US dollars.

The representatives of these companies were all there because of Lu Zhiyuan's movie "Real Steel".

If all these contracts are successfully secured, the total profit that the entire film can bring to YT Pictures will definitely be over $10 billion!
In addition to the subsequent Pacific Rim series, and the MonsterVerse...

If this series can be successfully developed, the direct profits it could generate would exceed 100 billion US dollars!
If we add the appreciation of some listed companies' stocks... the resulting industries and profits will be astronomical!
This is what you call a big business, a big event!

That idiot Feng Xiaogang, with a measly 6.7 million RMB box office, what is he bragging about? He gives off the impression of a country bumpkin who's never seen the world.

No wonder Lu Zhiyuan didn't want to talk to him.

The two sides are on completely different levels.

Looking around and seeing everyone eagerly waiting, Zhao Shanshan smiled and said, "I know you're all here for a reason, not to listen to my nonsense."

"Next, let's watch the movie."

"Let's talk big business after we finish watching the movie!"

(End of this chapter)