Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 163 The Self-Destruction of a Good Actor: Praise to Death?

Film production companies in Hong Kong have a habit of opening champagne halfway through the film.

Even before the movie has finished its run, Yang Shoucheng is already clamoring to throw a celebration banquet to celebrate breaking 1 billion yuan, and then celebrate again when the final box office results are released.

It seems that such banquets can bring some kind of benefit. Chen Shouzhe also heard that Boss Yang likes to hold banquets and often invites a bunch of celebrities.

Chen Shouzhe declined. He preferred a quieter atmosphere and didn't like the hustle and bustle of banquets where people he knew or didn't know would come to him, making it difficult for him to ignore them.

The publicity campaign is over; the rest is up to the market. Whether the movie is good or not, everything that can be done after its release has been done, and all the necessary promotions have been done.

The major platforms will work together, primarily in the area of ​​promotion.

Before the internet, when distribution relied on manual, on-the-ground promotion, it could only reach cities.

Nowadays, cinemas are not available everywhere; they are mainly concentrated in big cities, where the goal is to cultivate a love of watching movies among audiences.

At the same time, we also need to consider the quality of the film. An excellent film, with the support of word-of-mouth and publicity, can capture the entire market share for a given period.

The three films currently vying for the Lunar New Year release slot have already eliminated the villains.

Thanks to Huayi's powerful publicity tactics, the old bastard is still able to barely survive.

It's just that the old bastard director Chen Shouzhe doesn't like him that much. That guy is the same type as Lu Taro, they're both scoundrels.

"I never expected it to turn out like this."

Chen Shouzhe was drinking tea at the company, and Wang Changtian was sitting opposite him, drinking tea and complaining.

"His movies do have problems; they give off a very low-brow sense of humor." Chen Shou shook his head slightly, blew on his tea, and then downed it in one gulp.

"Over 100 million on the first day, leading the entire Lunar New Year film season. I didn't expect the content to be so lackluster. But it does prove that a good actor can bring extra value to a director. Enlight Media will continue to promote the support program for actors to become directors. Even if we hadn't encountered you guys this time, we would still have been marketed by those old bastards. So we might as well make a little money." Wang Changtian said casually.

This year, Enlight Media supported two new directors, Da Peng and Deng Chao. Da Peng's film grossed over 1 billion yuan, but the word-of-mouth was not good. Deng Chao's film is his second one. His first film made money, but the word-of-mouth also collapsed, and the female lead was Yang Mi.

The second installment, which is the current one, The Villain, had pre-sales and opening day box office exceeding 100 million yuan, but has now plummeted to 10 to 20 million yuan. The estimated box office should be around 500 to 600 million yuan.

For Enlight Media, it's definitely a profitable venture, but directors cultivated in this way are actually eroding the reputation of actors.

Both Da Peng and Deng Chao are actors who have accumulated a lot of experience over a long period of time. Many viewers who like them went to see the movie because of them, but were disappointed.

According to Chen Shouzhe, whoever has a problem is the one who gets criticized, so the internet is flooded with criticism of the two of them.

This also makes actors who want to switch to directing hesitant. A few days ago, Huang Bo called Chen Shouzhe and said he was very worried that if the movie was not well made, would he be criticized like them?
My acting skills and reputation are much better than these two, and I've won more awards. If I were to be criticized, Chen Shouzhe definitely wouldn't. His scripts are all good. Look at Stephen Chow, look at Jiang Wen, look at Wu Ershan, they're all good. It's only when it comes to you, Huang Bo, that you fall short?
Therefore, Huang Bo has been under a lot of pressure these days. Seeing the overwhelming online discussions about Deng Chao has made him feel uneasy and anxious.

Chen Shou kept comforting him, saying that it was okay to try things out with a small budget, and that he should be low-key and humble, let the audience give him pointers, and humbly ask for their advice. He could ask the audience to point out any shortcomings.

Audiences are actually quite tolerant, especially towards their favorite actors.

"The road ahead will be difficult for the two of them," Chen Shou sighed.

"Will the impact really be that big?" Wang Changtian asked worriedly upon hearing this.

"It's definitely not small. Although they made money, they lost their reputation and damaged their fame. Audiences will label them and it will be difficult for them to support them in the future. Even if the movie is good and the word-of-mouth is good, audiences will think that their movie is low-class and not worth watching, or even think that it is just marketing."

"Is there any way to salvage this situation? It's such a hard-won director that Enlight Media has nurtured," Wang Changtian asked, unwilling to give up.

Actually, his purpose in coming to Chen Shouzhe was very simple: to find a partnership. Chen Shouzhe's reputation could attract them.

The two realized this problem and knew that it would be difficult for them in the future; they would need someone with a good reputation to guide them.

A few days ago, Jiang Wen said in an interview that Chen Shou has a lot of scripts. No one in the film industry is invincible. Even Zhang Yimou has his Waterloo.

But Chen Shou was the only exception; he had never lost, and his reputation had been built up little by little.

Even if some people dislike him and look down on him because he came from a crosstalk background, they cannot deny that his movies are excellent and have a good reputation.

Chen Shouzhe has cursed a lot of people, but he has never cursed the audience. On the contrary, he doesn't care if the audience curses him. But if it is his peers who are targeting him, he will definitely fight back.

If Chen Shouzhe is willing to give them the script and let them film it, perhaps they can salvage their reputation.

"Take it slow, let time do its work, hone your own good films, and once the audience's word-of-mouth builds up, they'll return to normal and become true directors," Chen Shouzhe said.

"Alright, what are your film plans for next year?" Wang Changtian asked.

"Looking for business already?" Chen Shou asked with a smile. "Of course, you need to book in advance. Don't let them leave you empty-handed. It'll make me jealous watching 'Let the Bullets Fly.' You have no idea how smug Yang Shoucheng is. He talked about you in front of the reporters yesterday," Wang Changtian said with a knowing smile.

Chen spent a long time playing with his daughter, and the two of them went to bed early. In the morning, he drove to the company, and while driving, he mostly listened to music and crosstalk, and didn't listen to the news channel much.

"What did he say?" Chen Shou asked in surprise.

"Look for yourself, it's trending on entertainment news," Wang Changtian said with a smile.

Chen Shouzhe opened his phone and glanced at it; it really had been uploaded.

Yang Shoucheng was too smug. He told reporters with great pride that the luckiest thing for him in recent years was meeting Chen Shouzhe, and that Chen Shouzhe was the number one director in China.

This statement was tantamount to offending people, and there were many angry comments below, mostly directed at Chen Shouzhe.

"He's the top director in China? Why not give him the title of the world's top director?"

"The Imperial Advisor, the Great Poet, each of them is adorned with honors and has won international film awards. Why is Chen Shouzhe the number one director?"

"Yang Shoucheng, shut up. Don't bring trouble to Director Chen Shou."

“I agree that he is the best commercial director. His movies are indeed good, and I am willing to buy tickets to support him. But I disagree that he is the best director in China. I only watch his movies like popcorn, not like I would savor them.”

"Did you give the title of 'First Director'? I've never seen anyone offend people like you, and you've offended all the directors in the country at once."

"Director Jiang Wen made you money one minute, and then you betrayed him the next? This isn't how you try to please Chen Shouzhe. You're making enemies for him. I think you're getting senile."

Emperor Entertainment quickly issued a denial, saying that he had drunk too much yesterday, and that the so-called "first director" statement was just that the media had taken his words out of context in recent years.

Despite their explanations, netizens still wouldn't let them off the hook. Some even started cursing, saying they'd been annoyed with Chen Shou for a long time and finally got the chance to smear him.

Others were criticizing the British monarchy and Yang Shoucheng.

Chen Shouzhe glanced at the phone, then put it aside. This kind of thing was common, and he believed that Yang Shoucheng had made an unintentional mistake. If it were really a case of praising someone to death, things wouldn't be like this now.

Before Wang Changtian had even left, Huo Wenxi arrived to apologize, while Wang Changtian watched with a smile.

If this incident could get them kicked out of the King's Palace, that would be even better.

Chen Shouzhe said yesterday that he wanted to cut China Film Group's budget, and now Emperor Motion Pictures is another one. If we can kick both of them out, then Enlight Media will come back, and we can take on even more.

The reason Huo Wenxi arrived so late was that she had gone to prepare a gift. Yang Shoucheng had returned to Hong Kong and couldn't make it over, so he asked Huo Wenxi, who was in the capital, to give him money to buy a gift. Knowing that Chen Shoucheng liked antiques and collectibles, she specially went to an antique shop in Panjiayuan to buy a genuine antique that was quite valuable and sent it over.

After some initial refusal, Chen Shouzhe accepted it anyway. If he hadn't, it would have meant he would have no further connection with Emperor Entertainment Group. He would still have to cooperate with them in the future, so it wasn't a big deal to him. It wasn't like he was trying to flatter Yang Shoucheng to his detriment. He knew Yang Shoucheng's personality; he was just trying to curry favor with him and maintain their cooperation.

Netizens have short memories and forget about it in a few days. After all, in this era of self-media, there is all kinds of news.

There are many incidents of people biting dogs, but news of dogs biting people often tops the trending searches.

The internet has made many fantastical things commonplace, allowing us to see all sorts of wealthy people flaunting their riches online.

There are even people who teach others how to get rich.

If he can teach others how to get rich, why can't he get rich himself?
It's like taking off your pants to fart; you don't even have money yourself, how can you teach others to make money?

How do you get rich? By selling courses. Give me money and you'll get rich. Why? Because I've already gotten rich.

Yang Shoucheng was planning to come in person, but Chen Shou told him to postpone it and come during the bullet celebration banquet. He also mentioned that the premiere of WALL-E would be held then, and he could come and attend the premiere as well. He said that at his age, he shouldn't travel around so much, as it would be tiring.

Yang Shoucheng said he would attend in person and regretted saying the wrong thing.

With three films igniting the Lunar New Year film season, the most brutal period, the Spring Festival film season, will follow after the New Year's Day period.

Although Shouzhe Pictures has released an animated film, it is different from their other films.

The problem lies with the investors. They spent 700 million to create an animated film. Who would dare to do that? There was another animated film released at the same time, also from Ning Hao's company, but it was not even in the same league.

That animated film had a very low budget, only tens of millions, how could it be compared to a film that cost 700 million?

The strongest animated film in China, and the biggest investment film in China to date, is about to be released, and no producer is unafraid of it.

(End of this chapter)