Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 318 First, determine the protagonist; a martial arts film.
The April release window is about to close.

No one expected that Chen Shou would ultimately take the top spot at the box office this month.

The Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Yunnan Insect Valley achieved a staggering 31.24 billion yuan at the box office, and this was all without any promotion or marketing.

Some industry insiders analyzed that the film would normally gross around 20 billion yuan, and the fact that it reached 31 billion yuan is entirely due to the marketing efforts of the theaters.

The marketing strategy employed by theaters claimed that this was the last big-screen film adaptation of "Ghost Blows Out the Light," and that viewers would only be able to watch it on video websites, specifically online movies, which would not meet the requirements of a big-screen film.

Just as we all feel we owe Stephen Chow a movie ticket, many book fans chose to support the final big-screen film of Ghost Blows Out the Light.

Sometimes, word-of-mouth doesn't need advertising; good things naturally attract people. The event concluded at the end of April, and its achievements were the envy of many in the industry.

They are still working hard to break 1 billion yuan in box office revenue for their films, while Chen Shouzhe's series of films has already taken 7 billion yuan in box office revenue with only three installments. No wonder it is said that the IP of Ghost Blows Out the Light is worth 10 billion yuan.

This 10 billion yuan is for the company that controls the film industry; in reality, the value of the derived IPs has far exceeded 10 billion yuan.

Therefore, many people are focusing their attention on "Journey to the West". The movie has entered the preparation stage, and the actors need to train for another month to get used to green screen shooting.

Filming will begin in June and be completed before September. Chen Shouzhe will be relatively free in May, waiting for the script for Operation Red Sea to be approved. He doesn't believe these people would dare to block his mainstream commercial film script.

Entering May, Yunnan Insect Valley came to a complete end. In theory, this achievement should have been eligible for an extension, but both Wanda Pictures and Watchtower Pictures remained quiet, with neither company planning to apply for an extension.

Naturally, the film grossed 4721 million yuan on its last day, marking its final swan song.

As the director of the trilogy, Wuershan couldn't help but speak out on his Weibo account.

[Thank you so much to all the viewers who supported the film. Thank you for bringing the Ghost Blows Out the Light series to a satisfying conclusion. The Ghost Blows Out the Light IP will continue to be developed in the future, and the web series Yunnan Worm Valley will soon be available on Tencent Video. We hope you will support the web series. Thank you again to all the fans and viewers for your support of the film. Next, I will be joining the cast of Journey to the West and working with director Chen Shouzhe on the filming of Journey to the West 1: Havoc in Heaven. We hope you will continue to support us.]

Chen Shou saw the Weibo post and, after some time, also posted a message.

[It's alright, I'll leave the Journey to the West series to you from now on. I trust Director Wuershan's abilities and he definitely won't let this IP down. By the way, let me just say that Little Dream's second animated film, Kung Fu Panda, will be released on June 1st next month. I hope everyone can go to the cinema to support it.]

The first of the two Weibo posts was alright; people were just lamenting that they wouldn't be able to see a Ghost Blows Out the Light movie anymore. But the second post, where Chen Shou made an announcement, shocked many people.

The second animated film for Little Dream is coming soon, even though Wolf Warrior 2 achieved a record-breaking box office of 56 billion yuan.

When it comes to truly groundbreaking films, many people will think of The Martian, The Wandering Earth, and WALL-E, produced by Little Dream. These three science fiction films have achieved extremely high box office returns worldwide.

Currently, WALL-E is ranked second in the country, almost surpassed by The Wandering Earth.

Many animation film fans love the new animated film for Little Dream after two years, especially since it features elements of Chinese national treasures, making it even more appealing.

This is not good news for the film and television industry. The summer movie season starts on June 1st, and the real holiday will definitely be in July. June is after the college entrance examination, so the film and television industry will definitely absorb a wave of box office revenue from students taking the exam.

In July, they already knew that "Infernal Affairs," produced by Shou Zhe Pictures and Emperor Motion Pictures, was going to be released, and at the same time, "The Departed," an independent film by Chen Shou Zhe in the United States, was also going to be released.

"With two blockbusters releasing in July, they're sure to deliver a unique cinematic visual spectacle. 'The Spring Festival season was completely dominated by two films, then Yunnan Insect Valley in April, and an animated film in June, followed by two big movies in July, and Yang Mi's film in August. Are they even letting us live?' Chen Shou said to Wu Jing with a wry smile."

As a director, he is desperate. Of course, he doesn't dare to make movies easily now, because there are too many people watching him. If his movie doesn't do well at the box office, it will definitely affect public opinion, which will be a blow to him.

What he needs to do now is to be steady and pragmatic, to be a good filmmaker, or even just an actor, and not to worry about his high status.

"Stop talking nonsense and sign it." Chen Shou handed him the contract with a smile.

Wu Jing immediately took it, and his wife Xie Nan was also beside him. The couple looked at it together.

"The project hasn't even been officially approved yet, and they're already signing a contract?" Xie Nan couldn't help but chuckle after taking a look.

"It'll be soon. The script has been submitted, and it should be ready in about half a month. It's fine to sign it now. Anyway, it's mainly for you. I called you here to tell you that filming might not be until the end of the year. If you have other time, you can also film some other movies," Chen Shou said.

"Forget it, I don't dare to film now." Wu Jing picked up a pen and wrote her name on the contract.

“There are indeed many people watching you. If you’re interested, you could make a martial arts movie. I have a script here, and it’s pretty good,” Chen Shou said.

"A martial arts film?" Wu Jing asked in surprise.

"Mm." Chen Shou nodded.

"Can I take a look at the script?" Wu Jing is a former martial arts athlete who has dreamed of becoming a martial arts hero since childhood. If it's a martial arts movie, she'd like to give it a try, provided it's a good one.

"Here you go." Chen Shouzhe took out a script from the safe and handed it to Wu Jing, then pulled out a script and started reading it as well.

Xie Nan leaned over to look at the script with Wu Jing, while Chen Shou looked at the script in his hand, frowning from time to time, and then writing and revising on it.

Half an hour later, Wu Jing and Xie Nan finished reading the script and saw that Chen Shou was still writing. They asked curiously, "Director Chen is writing a new script again?"

"This is the script written by Yi Jie. A cinematographer who doesn't aspire to be a director isn't a good cinematographer." Chen Shou laughed and put down his pen.

“Yi Jie also wants to be a director. That makes sense. Ning Hao, Director Zhang, and Director Gu all started as cinematographers. We can talk to him about it.” Wu Jing smiled.

"How's your script? Are you confident? It's not a martial arts film with a military theme," Chen Shou asked.

"I want to give it a try," Wu Jing said, glancing at the script in her hand and looking up.

Xie Nan, standing next to her, has become a fangirl; this is truly her tough-guy husband.

“Then take it back. You can draw the storyboard yourself. If you really want to shoot it, you can start preparations this year and shoot next year.”

"no problem."

(End of this chapter)