Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 329 International Film Festival, Film "Blood Mine"

"I really envy you. The company keeps releasing movies one after another. You've already had five movies released this year."

As the chairman of Xi'an Film Studio, Wang Yun said with envy.

It's hard to believe that Xi'an Film Studio was once incredibly glorious, but in just over a decade, it has become so desolate.

The changing times made it impossible for them to keep up, and of course, the above-mentioned factors also played a role. Starting with the era of film studio transformation and changes, the decline of Xi'an Film Studio was inevitable.

Although Chen Shouzhe's company is not publicly listed, its staggering profits have made countless people envious, and it can be said that it stands at the pinnacle of the industry.

Xi'an Film Studio produces many films every year, but most of them fail to make a splash in the market.

As the market becomes more stable, while good movies are sought after, a large number of movies are lost in obscurity.

The market is cruel. Wang Yun could only look at Chen Shouzhe with envy, but at the same time he was very happy. Because of Chen Shouzhe, Xi'an Film Studio had a decent track record in recent years. They were involved in several patriotic films. In "Operation Northern Myanmar," Xi'an Film Studio ranked second, higher than China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group. This time, "Operation Red Sea" did not involve China Film Group or Shanghai Film Group.

Of course, there were also people who mocked him, saying that a prestigious film and television company like Xi'an Film Studio needed a private enterprise to lead them, which was a disgrace to state-owned enterprises.

To this, Wang Yun could only say that they were just a bunch of sour grapes. Let them be envious; the grapes in the Northwest are very sweet, and he hoped they would come and taste them.

“Anything else?” Chen Shou smiled.

"Two movies are going to be released in July, right? I remember Yang Mi's movie is also going to be released in August," Jiang Wen said.

“Yes, there are two in July and one in August. If it's the Lunar New Year release, you'll be competing with Huang Bo,” Chen Shou said with a smile.

“Huang Bo? I didn’t expect it to be him. Has his movie wrapped up?” Jiang Wen asked.

"Filming wrapped up last month," Chen Shou said.

Huang Bo's film was planned before the Lunar New Year, with filming scheduled for April or May. Filming was completed in just over a month, and he directed and starred in it very quickly.

"He's been making movie after movie since he latched onto you, but I'm not going to lose to him. Just you wait and see," Jiang Wen said fiercely.

Good release dates are limited, and we can't expect Chen to hold onto his films without any screenings. Excellent films aren't afraid of fierce competition; what they fear is having their market share divided.

It's like if a viewer only wants to watch one movie, then if they have to choose between two excellent movies, they will only choose the one with better reviews.

The competition comes down to the film's promotion and word-of-mouth. The more it's promoted and the better the word-of-mouth, the more likely audiences will be drawn to the cinema.

Chen Shouzhe and Huang Bo are a guarantee of quality. When facing Jiang Wen, Jiang Wen is actually quite insecure.

Are you going to the Shanghai International Film Festival this year?

Wang Yun returned after walking around, sat down next to Chen Shouzhe, and took a sip of tea.

The Shanghai International Film Festival is on the 16th, and the entertainment industry is in a state of panic right now. I doubt many people are in the mood to attend the film festival.

"I'm not going, to avoid embarrassment," Chen Shou said, shaking his head.

Wang Yun and Jiang Wen both heard that at the celebration banquet for "The Wandering Earth" and "The Mermaid," Chen Shouzhe rejected Ren Zhonglun's investment from Shanghai Film Group, and the two had a falling out, which was very unpleasant. The Shanghai International Film Festival is Shanghai Film Group's territory, and every year unless he is abroad, Chen Shouzhe would still give Ren Zhonglun face and support him if he was in China.

After all, there are only a handful of directors in China who can compete internationally. The problem is that Chen Shouzhe is the only commercially successful director on the international stage. Everyone else is actually quite intimidated when facing those big American directors.

"It seems a lot of people aren't going this year," Wang Yun said, without continuing. Why are so many people not going? They're all cooperating.

After seeing the two off, Chen continued making movies, despite the great turmoil outside.

Actually, we gave them chances, and several times. On the 24th, we exposed the scandal, and then Miss Fan jumped out, only to be ousted on the 28th.

You could say he brought it on himself, and it also conveniently exposed that other thing.

The media outlets didn't continue their attacks on Huayi Brothers, but everyone knew this time that Huayi Brothers was finished. The next step was to thoroughly investigate their films and the source and destination of their funds.

How can someone earn 60 million yuan in salary for filming a movie in just four days? Where did this 60 million yuan come from? How much of it was lost? What about the film's investment filing, how did the money come in, and has the film been released yet?

The dark industrial chain behind it is chilling to think about.

It's actually not difficult to find out, but the specific reasons are naturally too complicated to explain in detail.

Chen Shouzhe began to diligently film his own movies.

The latest list released by the Film Bureau has once again drawn the attention of the film industry to Shou Zhe Film Studio.

[Film Bureau Announcement: Shouzhe Pictures' script for "The Wandering Earth 2" has passed script review and is permitted to be filmed. The first film in the series was released during this year's Spring Festival, grossing a total of US$13.46 billion worldwide.]

[Film Bureau Announcement: The script "Blood Mine" submitted by Shouzhe Film Industry has passed the script review and is permitted for filming. The film tells the story of a mining accident in the last century that led to a 30-year-long lawsuit.]

The outside world may have forgotten, but those in the film and television industry certainly remember that Shouzhe Pictures submitted two scripts in May. Unexpectedly, they were delayed until now before being approved. Obviously, the tax issues have had a significant impact, and even the review process has been much slower.

They already knew about The Wandering Earth 2. He was very envious of this project. It was impossible to block it, so he could only avoid it. However, according to Guo Fan's filming schedule, it was expected to be released during the Spring Festival of 20. The production cycle of science fiction films is long and requires polishing of special effects.

The second film is clearly a realistic subject matter. Chen Shouzhe hasn't touched this subject matter yet, so it's obviously not his direction. He currently has two films, Journey to the West and Operation Red Sea, and the scripts have been approved. He doesn't have the time or energy to film them. Moreover, Chen Shouzhe has already said that he only has two film plans for this year.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, many people still contacted Chen Shouzhe, hoping to get a ticket.

For listed companies, acquiring The Wandering Earth 2 would undoubtedly be a huge boost to their stock prices.

Everyone is now envious of Wanda Pictures. After Chen Shouzhe invested in Wanda Pictures, the two became one entity. Chen Shouzhe will definitely leave a share for Wanda. Over the years, Wanda Pictures has never had any problems with profitability.

The company is set to resume trading in July, and if the announcement is made, it will likely provide another boost to the stock price.

Moreover, Wanda Pictures received the same gold business card as Shougang Pictures, meaning they had no tax issues whatsoever, something other companies simply couldn't achieve.

This undoubtedly gives Wanda Pictures confidence, and once trading resumes, the stock price will definitely not be lower than it is now.

“You can start preparing now. Filming in September shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Chen Shou said to Shen Yijie.

"Thank you, Director Chen." Shen Yijie was at a loss; he had been excited all day after seeing the announcement.

"Don't be shy, and don't be embarrassed. Be more thick-skinned in the future. The female lead is very important in terms of actors."

"Don't worry, I will definitely choose the actors carefully."

(End of this chapter)