I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

In addition to the male and female leads, the supporting roles for the new movie have also been filled.

The names Li Xiaoran and Zhao Yazhi appear in the supporting female roles.

Boom!

There's nothing surprising about Li Xiaoran playing a supporting role.

But Zhao Yazhi's appearance in Chen Kaige's new film immediately caused a sensation.

It's worth noting that Zhao Yazhi hasn't acted in a movie for a long time.

Could it be that Zhao Yazhi wants to use Chen Kaige's new film to re-enter the entertainment industry?

People born in the 70s and 80s were incredibly excited to hear that Zhao Yazhi had returned to the public eye, after all, Zhao Yazhi was the ideal woman of those two generations.

Online anticipation for the movie has surged.

The new film's popularity has surged even further.

Upon seeing this, Chen Kai almost fainted from joy.

With the hype, there's no need to worry about box office success in the future.

These days, Chen Kaige is all smiles whenever he sees someone.

If you didn't know he was a famous director, you'd think he was a kind old man!

Cheng Sheng closed the webpage and planned to go home after get off work.

Buckle up!

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Then, Xing Aina's assistant pushed open the door and said, "Boss, a man named Bi Zifei wants to see you."

Bi Zifei!
Cheng Sheng was taken aback upon hearing this.

He had heard Xu Xiaozhong mention before that Bi Zifei wanted to invest in him, but Xu Xiaozhong had not recommended that he meet with him.

Unexpectedly, Bi Zifei came to us himself.

This guy isn't trying to get me to invest, is he?

That doesn't make sense either!

He heard that Bi Zifei had already signed with Huayi, so what did he want to see him about?

"If you don't want to see me, just say I have something to do..."

Cheng Sheng was about to refuse, but then he suddenly thought of something: "Besides Bi Zifei, is anyone else coming along?"

"Yes, and also Mr. Wang from Huayi."

Mr. Wang is here too?

Cheng Sheng frowned.

If it were just Bi Zifei alone, Cheng Sheng would definitely refuse, but since Little Wang came along, it would be impolite not to see him.

After all, Huayi Brothers Media Corporation is a major player in the Chinese entertainment industry.

“Bring them to the office.”

"Okay, boss."

A moment later, the assistant brought in two people.

"Hello, Director Cheng."

"Director Cheng, I've heard so much about you. It's so great to meet you."

The two of them spoke at the same time as they entered.

Cheng Sheng stood up and said with a smile, "You're too kind, please have a seat."

Then he said to Xing Aina's assistant, "I put a packet of high-quality tea in the tea room."

"I know, boss."

Before Cheng Sheng could finish speaking, the assistant quickly understood what Cheng Sheng meant.

"Director Cheng, I heard that 'The Great Tang Dynasty 2' is finished. When is the premiere? Don't forget to send me an invitation card," said Mr. Wang with a smile.

"I'll have someone send ten tickets over then. I hope Mr. Wang will bring some of his stars to support him," Cheng Sheng said. "Definitely, definitely."

After exchanging a few polite words, Cheng Sheng got straight to the point: "I wonder what brings you two here to see me?"

Mr. Wang glanced at Bi Zifei, then sighed, "Director Bi is preparing a movie, and the crew is all set up, but the only thing left is that we don't have a suitable actress for the lead role..."

"Here's the thing, I'd like to cast Su Chang from your company as the female lead."

Before Xiao Wang could finish speaking, Bi Zifei interrupted him.

“You can contact Su Chang or her agent directly about this,” Cheng Sheng said, slightly taken aback.

Bi Zifei did not answer, but looked at Xiao Wang.

Mr. Wang said awkwardly, "I've already contacted her, but Su Chang didn't agree."

“Then you can change the actors. There’s no need to come to me. If my artists don’t want to take roles, I can’t force them,” Cheng Sheng said, his lips twitching.

Bi Zifei has absolutely no self-awareness; there must be a reason why Su Chang didn't accept his role.

And the reason for this is related to him.

Some time ago, Huayi Brothers contacted Su Chang, wanting her to star in Bi Zifei's movie.

If it were Su Chang before 2004, she would have immediately agreed to act in a movie if someone asked her to.

But Su Chang is different now.

Who is the biggest star actress in Victory Film Company?
The first person everyone thought of was Su Chang.

After all, Su Chang is now incredibly famous, and Hollywood is even inviting her to act in their movies.

Her first Hollywood film this year was "Iron Man," in which she played the second female lead.

Su Chang is still with the US right now!

There was simply no time for Bi Zifei's role.

Moreover, when Cheng Sheng heard that Huayi Brothers had approached Su Chang to star in Bi Zifei's movie, he immediately had Su Chang's agent refuse.

He knew all too well how terrible and awful Bi Zifei's movie was.

There is no doubt that "Dream Chasing in the Entertainment Industry" is of low quality.

This film even attracted a huge wave of public criticism.

But was it enough that it was simply "bad" to cause such a huge public outcry at the time?
If you look at the list of worst movies on Douban, you'll find countless low-budget domestic films scoring below 3 points, especially those from the 2010s onwards. However, none of them have received the same level of attention as "Dream Chasing in the Entertainment Circle".

Although "Switch" had caused a public outcry as a benchmark for bad movies several years before, it was a big-budget production with A-list stars like Andy Lau, Lin Chih-lin, and Tong Dawei. Like Chen Kaige's "The Promise," it had a reasonable reason to become the center of public opinion.

Although the movie was bad, it probably wouldn't have achieved such widespread and enthusiastic popularity just because it was bad.

The real reason was Bi Zifei's own doing.

At the time, Bi Zifei not only came out in person to "shamelessly" defend the film, but also clashed with Douban, claiming that he would file a lawsuit against Douban for "maliciously low ratings" for the film.

His shameless response greatly amplified the discussion and spread of this terrible movie.

A seminar for experts was held before the release of the film "Chasing Dreams," which brought together many big names in the film industry and gave the film high praise.

During the film's pre-production and promotional activities, various celebrities from the film and entertainment industry were invited to attend and show their support.

After a great deal of social discussion, the film ultimately grossed around 230 million at the box office, while its production cost was reportedly around 2500 million.

This movie lost a fortune.

But Bi Zifei did not think he was wrong.

As public opinion escalated, Bi Zifei and his team stood firmly on the opposite side of public opinion, insisting that their film was of a high standard.

Moreover, they are able to launch a serious counterattack against the criticisms.

What is the purpose of doing this?
If the goal was to boost box office revenue through so-called "black traffic" (referring to negative online traffic), the final result of around 230 million yuan clearly fell short of expectations.

It could be said that his original intention was to use the traffic to create hype, but he didn't expect it to have such a poor effect on boosting the box office.

This argument is also untenable.

In late 2017, even if a film wanted to boost box office numbers through hype and star power, it still needed big-name stars and a large budget. This was a common strategy for many high-grossing, low-rated films in those years. (End of Chapter)