Life in the Light and Shadow of Chinese Entertainment

In its first three days, "Love is Not Blind" grossed over 2.5 million yuan, averaging more than 8000 million yuan per day.

The domestic and international media were in an uproar, and the industry peers were green with envy. As capital continued to enter the market, it also fueled the soaring of actors' salaries and the production costs also increased exponentially!

Investments under 5000 million yuan are now considered low-budget films, while Wu Yang's "Love is Not Blind" only cost 4000 million yuan.

The overseas rights alone sold for a staggering $800 million, once again making money before it even aired!

Because of the popularity of "Manchester by the Sea", Wu Yang already had a large following, and Liu Yifei also had extremely high national recognition.

It's another female-centric movie, another Singles' Day collaboration, and the marketing and distribution costs are also paid by Cat Factory.

Coupled with the powerful publicity capabilities of China Film Group and Guangxian, the promotion was carried out simultaneously online and offline.

Upon its premiere, it utterly crushed the other films released at the same time!

This also gave a considerable fright to the upcoming movies, since the movie industry operates on a winner-takes-all principle.

If the release date hadn't already been set, they would have preferred to change the release date immediately.

Because they are about to face a double whammy: "Love is Not Blind" in front and "The Flowers of War" behind.

They only have two paths before them: either postpone or withdraw the release, or face it head-on.

The former investor wouldn't agree, and the latter director lacked confidence—this was an unsolvable problem!

Whether it will ultimately result in a loss or a profit remains to be seen.

Don't be fooled by their confident slogans during promotion; the actual quality of the film is questionable.

As professionals, they know better than anyone else.

It's simply that the current domestic film market is all about competing to produce the worst films, and Wu Yang and several other big directors like Zhang Yimou are also involved.

However, they are at a significant disadvantage in terms of numbers, even if they only make one film a year, as long as they travel at different times.

They can also use actors or press releases to trick some viewers into going to the cinema and buying tickets.

When traffic becomes the dominant force in the future, there will be a flood of bad movies, but they will still be able to recoup their costs in the first week thanks to traffic.

Although it may not break box office records, it can guarantee that it will not lose money, or even make a fortune!

The film was a box office hit and received positive reviews, scoring 8.1 on Yangdou and being widely reported by various media outlets.

Liu Yifei has been in Beijing for business activities these past few days, attracting a large number of fans and moviegoers every time she appears.

Before the studio could raise its price, the outside world had already increased Liu Yifei's film salary from the original 800 million to 1000 million yuan.

After all, the movie is a female-centric film, with 90% of the scenes focusing on Liu Yifei.

The film has now achieved both box office and critical acclaim, and many professional media outlets have recognized Liu Yifei's acting skills.

With her acting skills, box office success, and critical acclaim, coupled with her age, Liu Yifei is receiving a flood of scripts.

Unfortunately, Liu Yifei rejected all of them, as she had already agreed not to work this year and would be filming "Journey to the West: The Love of the City" next year.

Moreover, offers with high salaries are generally unreliable, whether it's the script or the production company.

Therefore, Liu Yifei didn't need to come forward; her agent had already rejected them all.

Unexpectedly, the more Liu Yifei refused, the more she was sought after by the outside world.

Fortunately, her current management team is very professional, and with Wu Yang's help, Liu Yifei's status has reached the same level as the "Four Dan and Two Bing" (referring to four top actresses and two top actresses in China).

While his film salary cannot yet rival Zhang Ziyi's, he has surpassed her in endorsement fees!

Clothes, perfumes, bags, cosmetics...

They're decked out in top international brands from head to toe, and their endorsement fees are all incredibly high.

A lot of negative information about Liu Yifei has surfaced online, and it's obvious that it all came from her peers.

Having too much debt doesn't make you worry; having too many lice doesn't make you bite.

Liu Yifei is immune to these old, rehashed rumors, and Wu Yang doesn't take them to heart either.

After all, you've made money and gained fame, so why can't your peers say a few sour things?

In the following period, Wu Yang led the behind-the-scenes team to complete the preliminary preparations for "Journey to the West: The Love Story of a Fallen City".

Workers have entered the industrial park and, under the guidance of Pei Le and others, have begun to modify the filming scenes according to the design drawings.

December 12th marked the end of the theatrical run of "Love is Not Blind".

After a month in theaters, the total box office reached 5.8 million yuan, although it did not break the 6 million yuan mark.

However, it broke the box office record of Wu Yang's previous film, which can be considered a kind of progress.

The main reason they didn't get the key to the extension was because there were too many movies being released at the same time.

The second reason is that the daily box office in recent days has been less than 10, even if we get the key to extend the deadline.

It also won't help the film's total box office surpass 6 million, so it's better to stop while you're ahead.

Moreover, in just three days, on December 15th, Zhang Yimou's "The Flowers of War" will be released.

This film had a very bumpy road to production, with Hollywood capital led by small-time capitalists resisting it.

Therefore, there are many obstacles from filming to distribution, and so far no overseas distributor has been willing to take it on.

In the end, Zhang Weiping could only collaborate with a small American distribution company for a limited release.

Don't count on box office success; after all, American moviegoers can't empathize with Chinese moviegoers.

Furthermore, since the US is essentially one of its own children, it's unrealistic to expect the US to condemn the US.

However, Zhang Yimou was not pursuing box office success, but rather the release of the film, widespread recognition, and popularization of film knowledge among global moviegoers.

Let people know the tragic truth of that history, so that they can remember the cruelty of daily life and the greatness of our ancestors!

This is a truly meritorious act!

Wu Yang was very impressed, especially since Zhang Weiping had also negotiated a 45% revenue share with the cinema chain.

Wu Yang's "Love is Not Blind" will still only receive 43% of the revenue, but starting with the next film.

They can enjoy a 45% share of the profits. Regardless of how foul-mouthed Zhang Weiping is, this is a great thing for the film and television industry, especially for production companies!

As for the practice of future competitors automatically reducing revenue sharing in order to increase screen time.

Wu Yang couldn't stop it, but he wouldn't follow suit. As long as the film's quality was excellent, Wu Yang believed that even without reducing the revenue share, he would still be willing to accept it.

It can still increase the screening rate, after all, the film market still needs to win with quality!

Only bad movies rely on high screening rates to fool moviegoers and make money.

If "Journey to the West: The Love Story of a Fallen City" becomes a box office hit, Wu Yang is ready to take over!

Even if we can't compare with Hollywood, we should still increase the revenue share to over 50%!

At that time, Wu Yang will truly have a status comparable to that of Zhang Yimou!

Unfortunately, Zhang Yimou, who hasn't broken up with Zhang Weiping yet, is now in a state of isolated PUA (Pick-Up Artist) manipulation.

Zhang Weiping made all the film production decisions by himself, and even China Film Group couldn't interfere.

Despite the lively premiere of "The Flowers of War," Han Sanye was conspicuously absent.

Wu Yang and Liu Yifei both received invitations and went to show their support.

After watching the movie, Liu Yifei was in tears, while Wu Yang kept a straight face throughout!

Especially that celebratory scene; Wu Yang frowned the entire time watching it. It was supposed to be a movie that celebrated blood and tears.

This scene alone lowered the average score by at least 2 points, even though it involves artistic embellishment.